A continuation of Quaxl's Jelsa series on YouTube. Watch his videos before reading this story.
"The Big Five will stay together forever!" Merida's words still tingled inside Jack's ears. Yes. That would have been a dream. Fighting evil as a team of friends. Saving people, earning recognition and being together with the ones he loved the most for all of eternity. But sadly the emphasis remained on would. Of course, it did. It had to be. Life would never give you the benefit of staying happy for such an amount of time. Jack knew that. He knew it, oh too well. And life interfered with his happiness once again, making this perfect sounding dream of his just as impossible as returning to his old life as a human. To be honest, while thinking back Jack realized, how childish the dream had been and how paradox it was that Hiccup was the one presenting it to them, whereas he was - at least as far as Jack's memory went- the most mature one of the five. Needless to say, Elsa had to keep her duties as Queen of Arendelle. Simply giving up her former life was not as easy as it sounded after all. There were traditions to be met and surely she did not want to put this gigantic burden on top of her innocent sister's back. That's why he decided to give up his freedom and place as a guardian to become king of Arendelle. North and the other guardians had not been happy about his decision, but even the old conservative Christmas guardian understood why Jack wanted to quit his old - seemingly perfect - life as protector of the children. He was inexperienced - very inexperienced as Elsa had to find out. But with a lot of patience from his personal adviser and loving support from the royal family, Jack finally turned into a useful helping hand for Elsa - signing papers, representing Arendelle for her and visiting the people of Arendelle - their schedule was jam-packed and did not leave any space for adventuring.
"Are you alright, dear?", a soft voice suddenly pulled the white-haired boy out of his thoughts. Jack shuddered and his eyes quickly darted at the person the voice belonged to. "No, I mean, yes, I mean...", he stuttered before catching his breath and looking back into Elsa's pale, royal face. "I'm fine, it's just...the memories." "I know..." Elsa's eyes shortly observed her feet so Jack could take a swift at the side of his wife's face. When he first met her, his heart had stopped for multiple seconds and every time he looked at her closely he remembered why. Her skin was like silk, so tender, her eyes were a heavenly light blue and her platinum blonde, almost white hair with the faint innuendo of color was a beautiful display of her icy powers to Jack. Ice - that was what defined her, even though she did not want to admit it. Her hair was white like the winter, her body was shaped like an icicle and her words colder than the palace she had created on the saddest day of her life. But her heart was contrasting all of these factors. Because although she was the embodiment of cold, she made him, Jack Frost, the edgy manifestation of winter, melt to the bone and completely fall for her. And Jack loved every bit of her. "You are doing great.", Elsa said and looked back to Jack, a hint of a blush emerging on her pale cheeks which instantly mirrored Jack's. She was smiling. Tentatively, but it was enough to make Jack's insides push together in excitement. Every moment in which Elsa smiled was precious. Because those moments were so rare. During daytime, Elsa was usually stressed with writing letters, scheduling appointments or worrying about the health of Arendelle's population. But usually, whenever she was alone with Jack and had a minute to catch her breath, she would smile this wonderful smile of hers that was so genuine and true, full of hope, trust, and relieved emotion that it almost made Jack cry every time he saw it. "Thanks.." Jack couldn't help but smile back.
These kinds of auditions in front of gigantic crowds of people were not his thing. Neither his nor Elsa's one. And his little experience did not help him either. But they endured them together and especially today, it was easier for the two to distract themselves with the rejoicing of being able to spend an entire weekend with their closest friends. Jack heard Anna and Kristoff who were standing beside them, yell down to their friends as if they were able to hear them from up there. Jack chuckled at the silly thought. Anna and Kristoff were angels to him and Elsa. Anna on her side was the most loyal person Jack had ever met and he was impressed every time Elsa told him about her sister trying to save her from loneliness after finding out about her powers. And after their experience with Pitch, Anna immediately started helping Jack to make sure Elsa was getting enough sleep, breaks, and food and not skip anything just for her mental health to be as good as possible. She and Jack made a great team when it came to worrying about Elsa. And Kristoff was probably working harder than any of them and even still he sometimes took his time when Jack needed some guidance and neither Anna nor Elsa were available, which sadly, wasn't an uncommon thing to happen. 'Yes, life is tough, much tougher than with the guardians.', Jack thought. 'But it is worth it.' His hand found Elsa's and he clenched it softly, making her visibly shiver but a look to the side and a consensual smile ensured Jack that Elsa was feeling safe with him. They were together.
Under the balcony, Merida and Hiccup who had been the tail-end of the queue leading to the castle were entering the big gate which meant for the royal family to get moving. "Well, let's go see our friends...", Jack said to break his and Elsa's silence, only to be interrupted by a high-pitched squeal by Anna: "I'm so exciiiteeed! I can't wait to meet everyone! I haven't seen all of them in ages...Hiccup, Merida, Punzie, and Eugene, oh, how I've missed all of them!" Kristoff laughed, audibly a little pressured by his wife's euphoria. "Me, too, come on, Anna, calm down, you'll see them in a minute!" And while saying that he gently grabbed his dancing girlfriend by her shoulders and held her still until she stuck up her nose and closed her eyes. "Pshaw!" With raised shoulders and nose, she flounced past Kristoff, Elsa, and Jack, jokingly acting like a prima donna while walking straight back into the castle. Her husband chuckled and looked at the King and Queen who were staring at him insecurely. "I'm going to...head after her, you guys take a moment." He winked at them and Jack and Elsa nodded thankfully, inhaling and exhaling deeply at the same time which made them both laugh. Jack's stomach was prickling with butterflies from listening to Elsa's faint voice. "Are you ready to see them all again...?", he asked and Elsa dodged his look, observing her feet again. "No, not really...", she said honestly and Jack smiled, wrapping his arms around her, making her gasp and blush adorably. "Me neither.", Jack grinned, amused by her cute wordless response. "Snowflake." This word was like a code between them. Whenever Jack would use this nickname for Elsa, the Snow Queen would calm down and instantly become happier again, no matter what was bothering her. It was like the magic that was running from Elsa's finger's when she was too scared to handle it. "Let's follow them...maybe things won't turn out as bad as we think.", Elsa smiled and shivered as Jack placed a tender kiss on her neck. "Yes", Jack agreed, "They're probably already waiting for us."
The crowd roared unbearably when Jack and Elsa finally appeared on the royal balcony, welcoming the popular guests that were visiting the palace of Arendelle - Queen Rapunzel of Corona; King Eugene Fitzherbert of Corona; Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III., leader of the Viking tribe and Princess Merida of DunBroch - the first real reunion of their little group of friends since the meeting in Walt Disney's Forest was seemingly perfect. Rapunzel was waving her hand with an enjoyed chuckle, she was the perfect Queen on the surface in contrast to Merida, who struggled with being awkward and uncomfortable when faced with a gigantic crowd of people. Attention was not exactly her thing. 'Good thing Hiccup's with her', Jack thought. He'll keep her calm. For now. Hopefully, they were doing better than the last time he encountered them as a couple. By looking at them one could not have told whether there had ever been any doubt about the future of the two but Jack knew the full truth. And the truth was: There never was enough doubt about the future of the two. But right now they were smiling, arms locked and Toothless, who had developed to be a fan favorite among the people of Arendelle whenever Hiccup had visited, was obviously having the time of his life. Man, had they all come a long way. Back when they fought Pitch, they had just been teenagers, now they all were well over twenty, Hiccup was even 26, closer to thirty than to twenty. Well, Jack had to correct himself - not all of them were just in their twenties. He himself was way older than all of them. Hundreds of years. But still - he died being roughly Merida's age and mentally he was still very much on his friends' level. Jack had to grin at that thought and once again, Elsa had to release him from his thoughts by stroking his hand gently: "Jack, we should get going." "Your majesty, your friends are going to be waiting in the entry hall.", one of the servants underlined Jack's wife's statement and Jack nodded, pulling himself together and turning around slowly and royally as expected from a King. Giving a reassuring side glance to Elsa, he started moving with her, looking forward to the reunion with his closest friends. He could hear voices downstairs, Anna and Kristoff were audibly greeting their guests more or less effusively. Jack breathed deeply before walking down the stairs gracefully.
"Jack!"