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Chapter 1: The Snow Queen

279 years ago

Everything was screaming.

The terrified people running around Jack, the howl of the dark sky overhead, and especially, the monstrous wave of snow heading towards Arendelle.

This was perhaps the avalanche of the century, a horrifying combination of four of Arendelle's biggest mountains collapsing under the weight of their snows. Jack had witnessed avalanches before, but they had been much calmer, much smaller. Little snowfalls practically.

This was a ravenous beast determined to devour everything in its path; even Jack, with his powers could not hold it back. It was too late for the kingdom.

"Jack!" he heard a voice call out.

He spun and gazed down from his perch in the air. In the middle of the town square was Queen Elsa, his closest (and only) friend.

"Jack, where are you?" she shouted.

He rushed to her side and stopped in front of her, producing a few snowflakes: their code. Elsa relaxed, then worry creased her face again.

"Can you help me? I think, I think we might be able to do something about this. Together."

Because there were no surfaces to write on, Jack had to get creative: he used his snowflakes. About the size of his palm, he wrote this message: "How? I can't even touch you."

"I know, but if we focus our energies, it might work."

"Let's give it a shot," the following snowflake read.

"Thank you, Jack."

Jack gripped his staff and closed his eyes. He could sense Elsa's power thrumming in the snow and ice, as his did, and it gave him hope. Perhaps together they could accomplish something.

Stop, he commanded fiercely, releasing every ounce of power he had. It drained him, but he went on, sensing Elsa's magic doing the same. Stop!

And it did.

Jack sensed the snow slowing and slowing before stopping at the harbor, spilling into the frozen waters. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"We did it, Elsa!" He opened his eyes, and his body went rigid at the sight before him.

"Elsa!" a familiar voice screamed. Princess Anna ran to her sister, her husband, Kristoff by her side. She fell to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Oh, Elsa."

The snow queen was encased completely in a chunk of gem-shaped ice.

Jack inhaled sharply. "It's just a glitch," he told himself. "You can make the ice go away."

He placed his staff on the ice and willed it to go away and free Elsa. Although his magic was mostly used up, it didn't take that much to melt ice. It should have vanished in a puddle around Elsa's skirts as she blinked and laughed at the blunder.

Except it didn't. Elsa remained frozen.

"Don't panic," Jack said, and tried again. And again. And again.

The ice refused to melt.

In a fit of rage, Jack banged his staff against the ice, to no avail. It didn't even crack.

"No, Elsa. Elsa!" He struck and bashed the ice in a crazy frenzy, but it had no effect. He smashed his fist against the chunk one last time. "Elsa..."

"Anna." He turned to see Kristoff helping Anna to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "You're our leader now. What should we do?"

For a moment, Jack saw her fear, her hesitation, but Anna swallowed it up as well as her sister would have. "Bring Elsa to the palace. Let's try and break through that ice."

Several men came to haul Elsa onto a wagon, before proceeding to the palace. Kristoff went to gather his tools while Anna started to search for craftsman skilled with ice.

Meanwhile, Jack floated on the breeze, watching the happenings in a daze.

"Maybe I am sucked dry," he said aloud, knowing no one else heard him. That was the most likely reason why he couldn't make a bit of ice go away.

Kristoff and the other men would be able to free Elsa soon, within the day even. By tonight, she and Jack would probably be talking all about the entire ordeal, and how he had kicked up a fuss over nothing.

Only Elsa never awakened from her frozen slumber.

For days, they tried and tried again with all manner of tools and machinery. Not even a tiny speck came off.

They placed Elsa next to a roaring bonfire in the palace courtyard for a whole week. Hardly a drip of water could be seen.

Jack had thought they would bring Elsa back inside, but Anna decided it was best if her sister remained in the open air. She even stationed guards in the courtyard, just in case.

As for Jack, he stayed in Arendelle longer than he ever had before, in hopes his power would grow strong enough to release Elsa from her icy prison. But he didn't have any luck with the ice block either.

One night, after Jack had collapsed in a sweaty heap after yet another attempt at melting the ice, he decided to speak to the moon about it. Surely the moon had some notion or useful advice, even if it hadn't spoken a word to him since the day he awoke.

Lying on the hard tiles of the courtyard, the full moon hovered high above him, its silvery glow lighting up the blackness of the night.

"Please help me," he begged. "Elsa is..."

But the moon did not reply, and Jack felt his heart sink. A scream of frustration ripped through the air, going unnoticed by everyone in the palace.

~.~

Present Day

"What do you do after you defeat a guy who almost wipes out your existence from the world?" Jack inquired merrily, as the group walked into North's workshop. "Oh, and after you become a Guardian?"

"You shut up and go to sleep," Bunnymund said grumpily.

"Yeah, I can see you doing that. Not me."

"Well, you should start setting up shop, Jack," Tooth offered.

Jack frowned. "What, like North's workshop?"

"She means setting up your holiday," North clarified. "Your base, the date, helpers; important things like that."

"Really? You guys did that?"

Tooth nodded. "It's a lot of work. I was lucky to have my Mini-fairies."

"I was lucky to have Coryzus," North said. One of the yetis nearby grunted. "All of you as well."

Jack looked at Bunnymund. "I had help too; these guys came over after I became a Guardian."

Sandy created an image of Bunnymund's walking eggs.

"Them too." Bunnymund nodded. "I suppose since this whole fuss with Pitch is over, there's no harm in helping."

"What about you, Sandy?" Jack asked.

Sandy just gave an enigmatic smile.

"It's best to start with thinking about how to fulfill your role as a Guardian," Tooth said. "North spreads wonder by delivering presents. Sandy guards children's dreams every night. Bunny-"

"Sure, sure," Jack interrupted, his mind whirling. He had known he was taking on a lot of responsibility, but this sounded an awful lot like work. And true to his nature as Guardian of Fun, organization and order weren't his strong points.

They were her strong points.

Jack halted, as he usually did when she came to mind. He felt his heart throb in his chest painfully, as his grip on his staff tightened.

"Jack?" Tooth's voice sounded distant.

"Sorry. I, I need to go." Without another word, Jack turned, heading for the doors.

"What was that all about?" he thought he heard North say, as the doors slammed behind him and he stepped into the cold.

~.~

Let the wind carry you to a place far, far away from the great North; a forest reserve where the kingdom of Arendelle once stood.

Arendelle had been peaceful and prosperous for about a hundred years following Anna's succession to the throne. But nothing lasts forever: a terrible tsunami had washed over the land, wiping out virtually every trace that Arendelle ever existed. It did not help around that time, foreign invaders were threatening the kingdom.

The people of Arendelle chose to abandon their country, and sought refuge elsewhere. Jack never did discover where exactly they went.

Jack lounged comfortably on empty air, as he contemplated the freezing waves beneath him. It would be a chilly swim, but then again, it wasn't like the cold bothered him anyway.

With a dramatic twirl, he leaped into the waters.

Swimming reminded Jack of the day he woke up from that icy pond, the moonlight guiding him back to the surface.

He made his way to an almost invisible hole carved into the side of the land, which was covered in a solid layer of frost; not that anyone noticed the frost was there all year-around. Jack touched the icy surface and willed it to disappear. He always felt satisfied when it did go away, opening up a path for him.

After replacing the ice barricade, he swam through the tunnel. It was dark, but he had journeyed this way so many times he could do it with his eyes closed.

"Ah!" he gasped as he emerged from the water. The tunnel had led him to a pool in some sort of cave. Jack waded to the edge of the pool before hoisting himself out.

He shook himself out of habit, but his clothes were still soaked and heavy. As if he wasn't used to it. He pulled his hoodie off and continued walking.

This was the darkest part of the cave, inhospitable and plain creepy. There was barely any light at all, and Jack was sure there were bats somewhere inside, which meant the floor was probably covered in droppings. Not to mention stalagmites and stalactites were everywhere, poised to injure the unwary explorer.

He made a point to hover over the ground once he exited the pool.

Once Jack had trudged through the cave for what seemed like an eternity, he spotted the soft radiance up ahead and his spirits lifted. He called to the wind to carry him faster; the next thing he knew he was zooming towards the light like a mad whirlwind.

For it was here, where moonlight shone down from a large crack-like hole in the ceiling, that Queen Elsa was kept.

After a year had passed with no sign of any change in Elsa's condition, Anna and Kristoff had resolved to hide her away.

The people mourned their young queen, but it was time to move on. They didn't need to wake up and see the ice block in the palace courtyard and be reminded of the hopelessness of their situation. At least, Anna didn't.

The trolls had shown her this cave and they had assisted with building the secret passageway that connected it to the palace. The passageway had been destroyed along with Arendelle's palace all those years ago.

Jack had followed Anna through the passageway a few times, before figuring out a different route. As long as people like that damned Hans-of-the-Southern-Isles existed, Elsa would never be completely safe. In fact, Jack had resolved to destroy the passageway himself should any danger arise.

His own route was near-impossible for any ordinary human to access; the forest reserve was off-limits to developers and the like, and with a couple of favors from the Guardians, he had made sure it stayed that way. Visitors were banned from swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving and performing any underwater explorations.

To reach the entrance itself, you had to be able to hold your breath for seven minutes, and that's even if you could find it in the first place. Drilling through the ice using any machinery would take a good fifteen minutes; explosives would automatically destroy the underwater tunnel. Traveling to the pool in the cave would take another twenty, maybe even thirty minutes.

The cave had many branches, some lead to dead ends, some lead to other caves. The passage to Elsa's part of the maze was the darkest and the longest, but unfortunately, the path did not diverge; anyone with enough patience would reach what lay at the end.

As a precaution, Jack had scattered traps around the area where the moonlight shone; none could be avoided unless the wind itself carried them like it carried him.

"Elsa," he said softly, though he knew she would not answer. He didn't mind; he just wanted to hear her name. Anna, Kristoff, even Olaf were no longer here to remember her, to call out for her.

Jack landed on the soft moss padding the floor. Elsa had been placed in a niche of the cave that was slightly higher than the rest of it. There was no ceiling here, so the sunlight and moonlight could shine freely. Come spring, there would be wild flowers too.

Once, he had worried about the lack of a ceiling, before he discovered the trolls had got it covered. When Jack had atempted to chart a route from the palace to the niche, he had always found himself circling the area for hours on end. Only when he used Anna's path or his own would he find Elsa again.

He didn't know how those sneaky little creatures had done it, but they had made the niche invisible to both humans and spirits alike.

If Pitch had found Elsa...

Jack shook his head. He didn't want to imagine it.

"He's gone now anyways," he said loudly.

He's gone now anyways, he's gone now anyways, the cave echoed back at him.

Jack laughed. "Oops."

Then he froze. He had expected to see Elsa, her eyes closed peacefully, her arms outstretched as if to touch him. He hadn't expected...nothing.

The niche was empty.

Jack marched deeper into the space. There was nothing but a puddle where Elsa had been, probably from the rain or a late snowfall. He gazed up at the ceiling; had someone breached the troll's magic?

All of a sudden, he couldn't breathe. What if it was Pitch?

Don't panic, don't panic, he told himself as he turned back to the exit. But if it was true, Jack wouldn't be able to rescue Elsa on his own. He'd have to tell the other Guardians-

"What?" To his utter astonishment, there was a staircase leading from the side of the exit to the roof of the niche. And it was made from- "Ice."

It can't be.

Jack whistled to the wind, and it whisked him up. When he saw where the staircase lead to, his jaw dropped.

On the roof was a huge ice platform, though that wasn't what took his attention. It was the figure standing there, clad in a familiar gown, their hair flying about in the breeze.

Jack's voice wobbled as he spoke her name, "Elsa?"

"Yes?" She turned and stared at him in surprise. "Who are you?"

It really was Elsa. That stern gaze touched with the slightest hint of curiosity, the regal queenlike manner she held herself.

For the first time in his life, Jack couldn't find his voice, couldn't find any words to explain who he was to her, who she was to him. Instead, his body moved on its own: he raised his hand and produced three snowflakes.

That beautiful cerulean he never thought he would see again lighted up, and she smiled the loveliest smile he had ever witnessed. "Jack?"

There was a delight in her voice that broke his heart.

"I can see you!" she exclaimed excitedly. "I can finally see you! And I can hear your voice. Oh, Jack." She rubbed her sleeve against her eyes. "It's like a dream come true."

He smiled gently, feeling himself tearing up as well. There would be waterworks later.

"Elsa..." He floated down to the platform, and put up a finger to catch the tear she had missed.

Except, his finger went right through her cheek. A gasp escaped him.

"What is it?" Elsa asked. "Jack?"

"I can't touch you," he whispered in horror. "I can't touch you."

Then, Jack realized that wouldn't be the worst thing he would be telling her today.

I'm afraid it's a little clumsy, but I hope you like it! Please review and favorite/follow if you can! ^_^