(A/N: First foray into the crossover territory. What can I say, this OTP sucked me in.)
THE HOURGLASS CHRONICLES
one
arendelle
Back to square one.
That's the first thing that runs through Jack Frost's head when he reaches out his hand to tap the nearest person on the shoulder—heyyy, yeah,'scuse me, do you know where I am?—and his finger passes right through them with a sick, cold ooze.
Back to square one. He hadn't minded that in hopscotch. It just meant he could play longer, especially with Nelly. But then again, the last time he'd played hopscotch, he'd kinda... died.
Apparently he wasn't meant for hopscotch.
But just to make certain, Jack strides, jumps, flies around, makes noise, waves his hands, anything, anything to catch attention.
There's no reaction.
He's back to being invisible. Invisible, and alone.
"Wow."
His head jerks up and his eyes slide over to fix on a slender girl who's currently staring at him—at him, not through him—with big, inquisitive blue eyes as bright as the sky.
"And I thought my sister was impressive," she said. "Not that she's not impressive or anything, you know, but she can't fly. She can make a huge ice palace out of pretty much nothing, though, so I guess that counts, kinda?"
She can see me. "You know me?"
"Nope," she says cheerily. "Am I supposed to? Although, you know, if I'd met you before, I definitely would've remembered you. With that face and all. I'm happily married, I'll have you know, but—"
"Wait, wait, wait," he says. "You can see me, but you don't know who I am?"
Her nose wrinkles and her eyebrows pull down in confusion. "Uhh... yeah? I mean, I don't have to know someone to be able to see them."
She can see him without knowing his identity as a Guardian. This is a revelation that he wasn't quite ready for. He's not exactly sure how he feels about it. He can be seen without being believed in?
"So, where ya from?" the girl says, plopping down next to him.
He flourishes his staff and settles it on his shoulder. "I can only answer that question if I know where I am," he says with a slight smirk.
The girl blinks. Once. Twice. Then a strange spark lights up her eyes.
"Come with me," she says. "You need to meet my sister."
It's abrupt and it's sudden but from the looks of it, she won't take no for an answer because she's already grabbed his arm and is dragging him towards the looming castle in the distance. He decides to just go with the flow and be entertained with the reactions of passers by.
::-::
The girl's name is Anna, she explains, and this is Arendelle, which sits right in between the icy peaks of the Northern Mountains and the lush waters of the Coronean Sea. On your left is the castle, on your right is the rest of the village. That big building is the mill, the one across from it is the church, the one to the left-left-right of it is some kind of store that's apparently important but Jack can't really keep anything straight in his head because she keeps talking. Welcome. Oh, welcome again. Hey, did I welcome you yet?
Then once she's satisfied with the village tour, she starts leading him towards the castle and he attempts to recall what little he remembers about the Dark Ages.
"Wait, are we even allowed to go in there?" he says. "We won't, like, get beheaded or something?"
"Beheaded?" Anna says with wide eyes. "We still do that?"
Oh, lordy. "Yeah, probably." He gives the gate a once-over and then smiles. "Wanna try another way?"
::-::
If the guards think they see Princess Anna of Arendelle flying through the air over the castle battlements, they certainly don't say so.
::-::
Jack Frost touches down on the inner courtyard of the castle. He's never been especially fond of the medieval ages, but man, even he has to admit that this is a breathtaking piece of architecture. Ornate patterns intricately carved in every wooden surface, magnificent swaths of cloth draped from door to door—
Whoa.
Jack's vision tilts sideways and his head spins and he stumbles back. There's this strange push of raw power flooding into the courtyard, tipping him over; then a foreign breeze twines around him, cradling his body and setting him back on his feet.
"Oh, hey Elsa!" Anna says cheerily. "Perfect timing!"
Jack blinks to clear his blurry sight, his eyes drifting to the large oaken double doors to which Anna is directing her voice.
Well, crap.
A slender angel of a being strides towards them, crystalline-blue dress flitting about her ankles and gently kissing the earth. Piercing blue eyes cautiously examine Jack from head to toe while dark lips press into a concerned frown. Strands of pale hair, pulled from a single elegant braid, float tantalizingly around her ears and neck.
Then Jack realizes, wait, he's a spirit and she's a human, and no, no, no, don't set yourself up for failure—so what if she's kinda pretty, she probably has a terrible personality—
She turns to Anna. "Are you alright?"
Anna's face lights up. "Alright?" she echoes. "I'm better than alright! Elsa, this guy's just like you! Except he can fly. You shoulda seen us, he flew us over the castle walls!"
Elsa regards Jack. Bad personality. Bad personality. Bad personality.
"I suppose we'd need to tighten up some of our air security," she says amicably.
Jack smirks. "If they can see me, be my guest," he says.
And then he realizes.
"You can see me too," he says.
Elsa looks at Anna. Anna shrugs.
"Don't ask me," she says. "He thinks he's invisible."
"I am." They look unconvinced. "Watch this." With a wink at Elsa—yeah, yeah, whatever, he couldn't help it—he soars a few yards over to a maid carrying out some laundry and settles next to her. She passes right by him without a glance. Ugh. He'd never get used to that.
"Hold, there," Elsa calls to the maid.
The maid immediately drops into a curtsy, a strange fear in her eyes. "Y-yes Your Majesty," she stammers.
Hurt flickers across Elsa's face. Hmm. Interesting. "At ease," she says. "I simply want to know—besides my sister and I, who do you see?"
The maid twists and turns this way and that, her gaze passing right through Jack Frost. "Er—the guards, Your Majesty?" she says tentatively.
Anna's jaw drops. Elsa only nods, primly, elegantly. "Thank you. You may go."
The maid scuttles away and Jack slides back over to them. "Well?" he says.
"So," Anna says in wonderment. "You can fly. You're invisible and people can pass through you. What else is new?"
Jack grins at her, then looks at Elsa. Elsa's jaw clenches.
"Who are you?" she says tightly. "Where are you from?"
"Name's Jack Frost," he says with his signature smirk. "You could say I'm not from around here—"
In the blink of an eye, ice flies from her fingertips and throws him down, pinning his sweater against the grass. "I said," she hisses, "Who. Are. You."
"Elsa!" Anna gasps. "What are you—"
"Not now, Anna!" Elsa says.
Ice.
She has the power to use ice.
She takes his silence for defiance and brings her hand into a claw, holding it in front of his face. "Let me rephrase," she says coolly. "Who sent you? Someone who can easily get past all guards and obstacles, someone who's invisible to the ordinary eye—a perfect assassin if I've ever seen one."
Fix situation now. Be in shock later.
Jack's grip tightens on his staff and he feels the familiar spark of excitement jolt through his veins. "You sure you wanna play a game with ice?" he says, grinning.
A tinge of confusion furrows her delicate brow, but her shoulders remain stiff. "Answer the question," she says.
"Oh, no," he says. "You answer my question."
And the tip of his staff touches the shard fixing his hoodie to the ground. Immediately, the shard dissipates into the air. Elsa jerks back her hand and fires an abnormally large blast of ice—she's shocked, she's nervous, she's protective—which he easy redirects with a shield of whirling frost. Elsa raises her other hand, but Anna leaps in front, waving her arms frantically.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out!" she squeaks. She turns to Jack. "You have ice powers too?"
Jack looks to Elsa. Her hand is still extended, but her face is completely blank with shock.
"I could ask the same," he says.
Elsa steps back. "I..." Apparently, the situation is a bit too much for her. "I need to think. I apologize. I'll... I'll speak with you later."
She gathers her dress around her and strides very quickly back through the double doors. Jack feels his staff sink lower in his hands as the weight of what exactly just happened clicks in his brain.
"Your sister can use ice," he says.
"Yeah," Anna says.
He looks at the towering castle before them. "Your sister is a queen," he says.
"Yeah," Anna says.
"I'm in the Dark Ages. I went back in time." He squats down, fixing his gaze on a single blade of grass, trying to not feel sick.
"Uhh, sure?" Anna says.
How the hell did he get transported back in time? Not only in time, but... he can't even be certain that this is the same world. He didn't lose all his memories—he knows North and Tooth and Sandy and Bunny—but it feels like there's this strange gap in his brain where there should be a recollection of a journey.
He raises his head, staring straight at the moon. "Really?" he yells. "Just when I was getting used to being a Guardian, this happens?"
The moon stays there. Stoic. Silent.
I should've known better than to ask.
Jack slumps away. But when Anna looks at the moon, it seems to twinkle as if it's smiling.
::-::
Anna gives Jack an empty room and promptly apologizes that there will be a lack of servants, but, well, there's just this slight complication of you being invisible and everything, not that being invisible is a bad thing, but it'd be a little hard to serve someone you can't see, so sorry, no servants, but we do have a fantastic art gallery this way—
Jack nods and smiles and assures her that sure, he'll take a look at the art gallery, and slams the door in her face as politely as he can.
Right. Time to think this through.
First. He's in a foreign place that vaguely resembles some of the old European castles he dropped by back in the day. Different time? Definitely. Different world? Possibly, but the generate climate and atmosphere and species of life are so similar to the Earth he knows that he considers it unlikely.
Second. The rules that governed him before appear to still apply here. He can guide the wind. He can manipulate frost. And he can only be seen by people who believe in him. Except...
Third. Two girls, sisters, can see him. For Elsa, he'd guess that there were some special circumstances involving her ability to use ice like he can. Anna, though... Anna, he has no clue. A blessing given to her at birth? Some kind of bizarre gene mutation? Her ability to see the spirit world without having any foot in magic herself is disconcerting.
And fourth. Elsa. What exactly gives her those powers when she's clearly not a spirit? The sheer amount of raw potential almost overwhelms him whenever he's around her, so it can't be a learned skill. Is it possible for a human to be born with such abilities?
"Why am I here?" Jack says, eyes turning to the faintly lit moon outside his window.
Silence.
"Fine, then," Jack says. "How did I get here? How do I go back?"
Silence.
"You suck," Jack says.
Silence.
A soft knock on the door turns his attention. "Heyyy Jack! Elsa'd like to talk to you, if you're not too mad at her for almost killing you."
Jack glances from the door to the moon. "This isn't over," he says.
As he stands and walks over to meet Anna, he swears he can hear a soft voice murmur, No, Jack, it isn't.
::-::
Anna leads him to the castle gates, where Elsa stands, the reins of two horses held in her hand. Interesting. Jack thought she'd be looking to assert control—meeting at the throne room, maybe, or a conference chamber where her seat is elevated. But no. Equal footing, equal ground. At the very least, she respects him.
"Would you mind riding with me?" Elsa says placidly, holding out one of the reins.
Jack takes it from her, attempting to ignore how his hand tingles when it brushes against hers. "Horseback?" he says.
"We can't all fly," Elsa says with a slight smile. She then turns and nods at Anna. "Thanks, Anna. You can go."
Anna sends a not-subtle-at-all wink at both of them, then skips away with a light tune on her lips. Jack releases the reins, stepping towards Elsa. She instinctively shuffles back, causing him to smirk.
"So. Where to?" he says.
"Get on your horse," Elsa says.
"Aww, just tell me," he says.
Elsa turns, looking to the large mountains that tower over the castle walls. "There," she says. "If you can see, that top peak, right there..."
"I see it." Before she can stop him—heck, before he can stop him—he wraps one arm around her waist, pulls her close, and lifts off into the wind. "Let's go!"
Elsa gasps and clings to him, fingernails digging painfully into his shoulders. "Jack Frost!" she yells. "Get me down!"
"As you wish!" he chuckles, and sends them plummeting down.
"J-JACK!" Elsa screams, throwing out one hand. A torrent of ice slams into the ground below, forming a crystalline slope which guides their descent into a slow slide. They tumble softly against the grass, which crackles lightly with frost.
Jack gets to his feet, dusting his jacket off. "Nice," he says. "But you know, I wouldn't have actually let us fall."
She shoves him away, eyebrows boring down on her forehead and lips pressed into a thin line. "No, I don't know," she says. "I don't know you're not trying to kill us. I don't even know who you are or where you're from or why you can use ice like—like—"
"Like you," Jack says softly.
Her fingers ball into tight fists, and she strides past him, pushing him away.
"Hey, whoa, whoa," he says. "Look, I'm sorry. Just wanted you to lighten up a little."
She wheels on him, her translucent cape rippling over her shoulders. "Lighten up?" she repeats disbelievingly. "I thought you were going to kill me! Excuse me if I have a hard time making fun out of it!"
His hands clench on his staff. Elsa closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, forcibly relaxing her hands.
"All I wanted to do was apologize to you for... for the hostility earlier. Please, don't make this more complicated than it has to be."
Jack raises an eyebrow, keeping his tone light. "Apologize? You need to go all the way to the mountains for that?"
She smiles inadvertently, but quickly masks it. "There was something I wanted to show you in the mountains."
"Wanted?"
She evaluates him for a moment. "Want," she finally says. "As long as we go by horseback."
"Flying's a lot faster." He straightens his shoulders and gives her his Serious And Trustworthy expression, holding out a hand.
She glances from his hand to his face and back.
"I'll behave," he says. "Promise."
She tentatively slips her fingers into his, sending an electric jolt down his spine. He tightens his grip and sweeps his staff; a gentle breeze sends them airborne.
"Where're we headed?" he says to Elsa, definitely not glancing at her lips.
She looks to the mountains, her expression unreadable.
"The palace."
::-::
How on earth he could have missed this two hundred years ago, Jack has positively no clue. The large, spiraling structure appears to spring from the mountain itself, touching the sky with a glow of amethyst and morning snow. He touches down on its rooftop, swept away by its ethereal beauty.
"Norway," he mutters, his gaze flickering back and forth between the ice palace and the surrounding mountains. "I can't believe I didn't visit Norway." He frowns. "Where was I? Japan? Russia?"
"Jack."
He turns to Elsa, who is sitting on a ledge of the rooftop, arms crossed.
"This isn't what I wanted to show you."
He blinks. "What?"
She stands and unexpectedly grabs his hand. "Can you take us down to the balcony?"
He levitates them down, definitely not thinking about how soft her hand feels in his. Definitely, definitely not.
"Thank you," she says, releasing her grip the moment they land on the tip of the balcony. (He tries not to feel disappointed. Bad personality. Bad personality. Bad—aw, hell, her personality isn't bad at all.) "This is it," she says, gesturing around her.
Jack's attention switches to his surroundings. It's another part of the ice palace—a vast, beautiful, frightening chamber, with walls of a thousand facets that catch the sunlight in a large colorful prism. But there's something fundamentally wrong.
Everything is broken.
Innumerable shards of some delicate structure—a statue, maybe, or some kind of ceiling decoration—lie scattered across the floor to every corner of the room. Large, jagged spears of ice protrude from the ground and walls like barricades. In one of them, a single arrow is embedded.
"What... what happened here?" Jack says quietly.
A smile gently tugs at her lips—a distant one, a sorrowful one, like a broken treasure swept away by the sea. "Fear," she says. "Fear happened here."
She waves her hand and two ice chairs swirl into being. She sits on one and gestures to the other, but Jack remains standing.
"I've been able to control ice since I was a child," she says. "My parents told me I was born with the powers."
"Sounds fun," Jack says. Being able to keep his powers and be seen by everyone? That would've been nice to have from the start instead of having to wait 300 years.
Elsa's shoulders stiffen, but she takes a slow breath and relaxes. "I almost killed my sister with those powers," she says coolly.
Whoops.
"When I became of age and went through the coronation ceremony, some... some complications occurred. I ended up leaving the kingdom and coming here." She stands and fingers the tip of the arrow, almost fondly. "I thought I'd finally be able to keep the people I loved from harm. It... didn't quite work out that way."
A snarky comment rests on the tip of Jack's tongue, but sensing Elsa's moody air, he manages to keep it at bay.
"Eventually, Anna fixed things," Elsa says. "It took sacrifice—a lot of sacrifice—but now the country is functioning harmoniously."
"Why are you telling me this?" Jack says. She had been, after all, trying to kill him just a few hours ago.
Elsa pauses, biting her lip, as if carefully considering her next words. Suddenly, she strides forward and grabs his hands, her eyes pleading.
"Tell me, Jack, please," she says earnestly. "Where are you from? Where... where am I from?"
Oh.
"No, no, Elsa," Jack says, pulling his hands away. "It's not what you think. You definitely didn't get your powers the same way I did."
"You can't know that for sure," Elsa says, her voice breaking slightly.
Jack only grips his staff and turns away. "I'm sorry, Elsa," he says.
He doesn't even have to see her to sense that her face is crumpling and she's sliding to the ground and wrapping her arms around herself and using every last bit of self-control to not burst into tears. That he'd done the one thing more cruel than blatantly injuring her—giving her hope, then taking it away.
"I'm sorry," he repeats.
He steps to the balcony. He's stayed too long. He needs to find the way back to his own world.
Then... something flickers in the peripheral of his vision. A shadow. A dark streak against glittering ice. Jack turns, his gaze settling on the glassy wall behind Elsa. For a split second, he sees a form meld from the shadows, grinning at him. Then it melts away, just as spontaneously as it had come.
"Fear. Fear happened here."
Fear.
The Dark Ages.
You have got to be kidding me.
(A/N: This story will also feature darling cameos by some characters you may find familiar... *coughTangledcough* *coughHowToTrainYourDragoncough*. Hope you enjoy the ride.)