Refulgent Winter

Just a head's up: you'll need to have seen Rise of the Guardians to understand what's going on when it comes to RotG references :)


When he first sees Elsa, nothing makes sense to him. All he can think is, 'Why her?'

She looks beyond the age of childhood, and the laughter that erupts through her body—as she slings an arm around a red-haired girl—gives him the impression she's entirely content with her life. What does she need a guardian like him for?

Jack barely knows what to expect when orders come from The Man in the Moon (then again, Jack never in a million years imagined himself rising from his death as a chosen guardian either, so he holds himself back every time he considers running to North for some answers about Manny's requests).

When The Man in the Moon had painted the shadow of Queen Elsa of Arendelle against the rooftop he'd been walking on one evening, Jack knew this wasn't just any other task.

His only job has been to watch over the children of the world—his children—but with Pitch gone and out of the picture, Jack guesses his sole purpose in this world isn't to just feed off the kids' beliefs towards him anymore. Maybe this is what Manny is trying to tell him, since of course, the moonlight from above is always watching, always aware of what Jack is capable of.

Perhaps it's time for him to explore what his powers are truly made for.

And explore is what Jack does.

It's night time as he continues to examine the girl with white-blonde hair through an open window. He can't seem to understand what is needed of him in that moment, but he waits—as if his patience will be granted with a promising reward. Resting his weight against his magical staff as he floats outside by the top of the castle, Jack brings a delicate finger to the glass and allows frost to spread in elegant patterns along the surface.

He doesn't really know what his fingers are making, but as he draws a shape that loops into a spiral, his frost immediately dissolves and Jack almost loses his balance from the sudden unfamiliarity. With his brows furrowed intensely, he tries to design his ice against the window again, but it melts away like it had before.

"What?" Jack whispers to himself. With more force than he intends to use, he straightens and grabs his staff this time before tapping the bottom against the window. A flurry of ice hardens the glass. Fog exhales from his work, but swiftly—almost in the blink of an eye—the window melts its coldness away all over again.

Jack kind of staggers back in midair. He has confusion written in his expression, and not knowing what else to do, he glances up at the night sky in frustration. "What's going on?"

The Man in the Moon doesn't say a word, but it's like Jack knows the silence is a response saying, "You'll figure it out. Keep trying, don't give up."

Sighing as he drops his gaze back to the window, Jack decides on using his staff once more. He's only used a handful of extreme power when he went against Pitch Black, the Nightmare King, but now it's like this simple window is much more complicated than getting rid of the dark monster himself.

So with a focused grunt, Jack pulls his arms back with his staff in his hands before sending the bottom of the stick straight towards the glass. However, in absolute milliseconds, the window shatters loudly and Jack recoils backwards with a racing heart.

A screech follows immediately as the glass pieces fall into the large room of the castle. A panicked female voice cries out, "Elsa!"

"Anna, get out of the room. Now," a firm voice commands.

"No! I'm not leaving you!"

A few seconds pass, and although Jack wants to peer into the window to see what takes place of the panicked conversation, he assumes the two ladies he'd seen the backs of earlier are staring at one another like they're standing their ground, too stubborn to listen or follow orders.

"Fine." The firm voice grumbles momentarily, and then quickly adds, "But stay right where you are, Anna. I'm going to see what's up there."

In a matter of seconds, there's a layer of fog that filters outward from the broken window—like winter is coming towards him. Jack is too stunned to bolt or do something reasonable like hide rather than get caught like a deer in headlights, but he can't think of anything else aside from the fact that he feels stupid for still being in shock at what he'd just done.

He could fail Manny's mission if he doesn't scurry. However, his feet feel frozen.

Before Jack can even blink, the white-blonde head he'd studied the back of just minutes ago appears into the view of the window. She seems to be standing on what looks like an ice staircase.

Elsa—who Jack presumes is her name—holds her hands out in front of her to form the last of her steps. Jack blinks in awe and his lips part, but he's uncertain as to whether or not she's seen him yet.

"Elsa," Jack murmurs under his breath as if to test the waters, but it seems that he's more-so testing the way her name falls from his lips. Elsa doesn't react. Instead, she continues to build her staircase until it leads her outside of the window and onto the rooftop of the room.

"Anna, I'm fine—everything's fine," Elsa calls towards the other girl inside. "I'm going to repair the window. I'll be back as soon as I'm finished."

Jack doesn't hear the response, but he thinks it's because he can't take his eyes off of the gorgeous woman in front of him. He feels his breath hitch, but he holds it for as long as he can before he inhales sharply—only to breathe in a scent of coldness, apples, and cinnamon.

Jack gulps.

Elsa props her light blue sleeves up until they reach the inside of her elbows, and then she uses her hands once again to create a replica of the window Jack had broken. One thing that Jack doesn't suspect though is when she turns her head slightly so that he can only see the side of her face. "I can see you, you know," she says coolly, her hands finishing up the repairs.

"Wha—you can?" Jack asks dumbly, but then reaches for the back of his neck. He rubs along the ends of his hair near the nape, and he almost smiles sheepishly at her. "Of course you can. Glad to know you believe in me."

"Believe in you?" This time it's Elsa who's pausing and turning around to face him fully. "What do you mean?"

"What—I-I—uh," Jack stutters, and then swallows down his uncertainty. "Um, nothing—of course you can see me. Because I can see you," he quips experimentally, being sure to include a lopsided smile for good measure.

Jack is unknowing as to why he decides to hide his position as a guardian, but he feels as if it's the only right way to go. Especially since Elsa has no clue who he is. Saying he's a guardian would most likely result with a laugh in his face.

That is until Elsa drops her gaze to his bare feet. And then the staff held loosely in his hand.

"You're floating," she states obviously, but her voice is steady—like she's trying to figure out the possible backgrounds that this stranger in front of her might have. "Why."

She isn't asking; she's interestingly demanding the answer. Nonetheless, Jack finds it amusing.

He feels that he admires this about her. The corner of his lips tug upward and he eyes her like she's the reward he'd been waiting for since he first arrived. It's like Jack can see that she means no harm towards him. And that gives him enough pleasure to smile even further and press onward, "You seem to question my capabilities, your majesty. Though I'm not questioning yours," Jack says with his voice as smooth as velvet.

Elsa drops a brow while crossing her arms in front of her. She gives him a sweet but scrutinizing gaze and then she points a hand towards the ground far below them. Morphing another staircase towards the lower levels, Elsa offers an interesting smirk before she leaves him floating where his feet still feel frozen.

Quickly, Jack looks up at Manny. He's kind of frustrated, perhaps overwhelmed by beauty and confusion and ice and Elsa, and it all causes him to whisper questioningly at The Man in the Moon, "What now?"

He stares and stares until he thinks it's official that The Man in the Moon is shaking his head at him with a hearty laugh. Jack realizes Manny hadn't planned on seeing him break a window as his first encounter with the Snow Queen.

Jack laughs at himself as well before glancing towards the foot of Elsa's second ice staircase. He watches as the solid melts beneath the summer night air. It brings a sense of sparkle onto the garden beneath him, but what he finds more beautiful than the flowerbeds is the look Elsa gives him before she enters into her palace.

He doesn't understand how she's so calm about coming across a person who floats—a person who isn't even alive—but he figures this is just the beginning.


Author's Note: Hi! (not sure if i'm doing this author's note thing correctly but anyways) I'm loving this ship so far and I just had to start writing some JELSA! I have so much in store for this story that I'm secretly hoping none of you readers are expecting ;)

This is my first fan fiction ever, so please just put up with the ugly mistakes I never tend to find while editing! Hahaha thanks for reading!

(I'll be creating a music playlist for this story along the way!)