Well, it has been a while. College eats my time plus I got tons of other stuff to do. *cry* But yeah, it's also because I do various fan art for a dear friend of mine who you probably have heard already. The wonderful and talented Arialene, the author of Frostbitten and respective sequels. She is also my beta-reader so my stories won't suck too much. Lol.
Enjoy this next chapter and leave a review~
"Are you sure you will be fine, Elsa?"
A bright young woman graced with red hair and bright green eyes. Freckles dotted her face, but didn't do much to hide the worry in her.
Elsa just smiled as she prepared her horse. "I will be fine, Anna. You always told me I could use some time alone from my royal duties. I just...want to practice a bit. And you know I prefer to practice somewhere isolated. I don't want anyone getting hurt."
They were both in the stables where Elsa was preparing her horse. She had made plans to go up the North mountain to practice more of her abilities but, of course, but Anna was worried for her being all alone up a snowy mountain.
Anna stepped forward to take Elsa's hands. She sighed, the worried look never leaving her eyes.
"I know you want to practice but everyone accepted you. You don't need to hide anymore. The kids will be sad with no snow later. They wanted to build another snowman with you."
"I know, but for now I still want to make sure I am really capable of controlling them. And besides," Elsa said, smiling, her head tilting in a teasing manner. "It's not like I am going to live there again. I will be back soon. It's just for 3 days."
"3 days?" Anna squeezed Elsa's hand, as if asking for reassurance.
Elsa smiled, her other hand moving to hold Anna's. "No more, no less."
And with that, Anna finally smiled and hugged her sister tight. It still felt like Elsa was still afraid of her power despite the growing acceptance of the kingdom. But she knew Elsa will be fine on her own. Who would want to mess with the Snow Queen?
It took a few hours but finally the unlikely pair of Cece and Jack arrived to what seemed to be like a Victorian-looking kingdom located near the sea. It was a nice spring morning, although a little on the warm side but nevertheless pleasant.
Jack lazily draped himself on a rooftop, watching the clouds go by in the sky. He was waiting and he was damn bored of it. He and Cece both just arrived and the first thing the girl did was balance on top of the bell tower and look at her monitor and stayed like that. For 2 hours.
Jack groaned in boredom, sitting up. His curiosity had to get the better of him, yet again. He glanced up to Cece a hand covering his eyes from the sun "How much longer are we going to wait anyway?" One more minute of waiting in utter boredom, and he might just give an early winter to the kingdom.
"Be quiet, I need to check out every resident to find my target," she answered, her brows furrowed in concentration. She added "Some of us actually have to be serious in our job," Cece shot at him,not taking her eyes off her monitor screen.
"Well I didn't think we had to wait for hours to find ONE target. Your monitor is broken," Jack grumpily crossed his legs, leaning his staff on his shoulder.
"Ignoring you now," Cece said in a deadpanned tone.
Jack scowled further, and looked at a bunch of kids and thought of an idea. He clasped both hands and opened them slowly, conjuring up a snowball. Smirking, he was about to throw it when a rock hit his head instead.
"Ow!"
"Don't even think about it," Cece said, her eyes not leaving the screen.
"Spoilsport," Jack muttered and continued his silent sulking.
Finally, Cece finally said "I got something!"
Jack jumped up in the air, flying next to her to see what her monitor showed.
"What!?"
But Cece just sighed. "...nope. False alarm. Mind waiting again?"
A loud string of curses was her only answer.
Jack wanted to cry, really he did. He was not used to this kind of waiting at all but his curiosity won over his boredom a few hours ago so he had no choice but to wait. Wait for all the agonizing hours he had to endure just to hear Cece say-
"There. Finally found the target!"
"FINALLY!" Jack yelled out in excitement and flew up to hover a bit above the female spirit. "Come on, let's go! I swear I almost saw the light and a choir of angels-"
Cece glared up at him, cutting him off. "Don't be such a drama king. It's just few hours, at least I didn't take days."
She pocketed her monitor, her wings expanded and she took off flying north with Jack following close behind her.
The pair flew on, Jack looking down to see the people in their old-fashion clothes and still quite antiquated way of life. Looking back to Cece, he yelled as the winds were blowing a bit hard.
"Hey! Where are we anyway? Did we go back back in time or something?"
"No!" Cece yelled back, taking out her monitor again to check their location. "Arendelle is just was too small to be seen in the map so not many really bothered to pay attention to them. When you bother to explore enough, you tend to realize there are still some people unknown to the world out there."
She looked back at her monitor again "Don't ask me why they are still in the 19th century, even I am baffled."
The winter spirit just silently contemplated and looked back at the hustling people going on with their daily lives. It was then he felt something in the wind. It was a bright day with the sun shining down, but something in the wind felt strange.
Strangely….cold.
It took a while, but Elsa managed to get back to the one place she knows she will be alone. The Ice palace, the place she built for herself a year back. It was one of the places she knew she can be who she can be. Away from the eyes of her citizens, away from the snooty, judgemental nobles, away from it all.
Her horse neighed a bit, pulling on the reins gently before getting down. Elsa bent to her bag to feed the animal a few apples she had packed. As much as she wanted to let it stay, it can't survive much in the cold so it was best to set it free to go home once she arrived. Tucking the reins on the saddle neatly, she rubbed it's nose affectionately before slapping it's hip signalling it to go home. The horse neighed and ran back to the kingdom, Elsa watching it disappear into the woods. When she couldn't see it anymore, she took her luggage and made the climb up to find the main entrance.
She trudged on to find the main staircase, going up the steps to the doors. She was about to open them when she heard a loud snoring. She lightly laughed and opened the doors, to find a sleeping Marshmallow cuddled up on the floor. Elsa walked to the giant snowman and lightly placed her hand on his arm, bending to see if his eyes opened yet. When it did not, she cleared her throat.
"Marshmallow? Wake up".
The giant snowman shifted and eyes slowly opened, standing up to bow respectively when his eyes processed the owner of the voice. Elsa smiled and gave a nod back.
"Marshmallow, I'm just going to stay for 3 days. Will it be alright if you stand guard again for me?" She placed her hands on her lap. "I just need to do some things." Marshmallow just nodded "Queen….safe...".
Elsa gave a short curtsey. "Thank you, Marshmallow. You may go back to sleep if you wish."
Elsa then turned to go to the stairs. With a nod, Marshmallow went back to curl up making sure not to snore and bother her. Elsa just looked back for a moment her hand on the banister, smiling to see Marshmallow soon fast asleep before going up the steps with her luggage.
"Is this it?" Jack looked up, eyes wide.
"That's what my monitor said." Cece also looked up, eyes just as wide.
They landed at what looked to be like an edge of a cliff but when they saw a staircase, they both looked up and there it was. It was a palace on the side of a mountain. A palace made of ice. ICE. The pair of spirits stood at the base in wonder over where Cece's monitor had led them to.
The tall structure stood tall and majestic at the mountain's peak. The sharp towers looked intimidating at a glance but the sun hitting the side emitted colorful gradients of purple, blue and green hues only enhancing it's beauty.
Cece whistled. "Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"Whoever did this, got you beat," she smirked.
Jack scowled at the smirking Cece.
"I can build an ice palace anytime I want. I just...don't have anywhere to build it in. Besides, I am perfectly fine in my place in Burgess," he looked away, folding his arms.
"Yeah, the little patch of frozen water you go to that is only useful in autumn and winter and melts in the summer and spring. Whoopee," Cece shook her hands in mock enthusiasm, earning a glare from him. Cece's smirk only turned to an amused grin and turned to go up the steps.
Jack's scowl only deepened but followed her to the other side. As they both approached the door, Cece knocked for a bit. No answer. She knocked again. Again, no answer. Jack finally decided to push the doors open, both doors opening to reveal the crystallized foyer.
"Man, who made this thing?" Jack stepped inside still awestruck, circling a little to get a full view.
Cece looked up to marvel at the chandelier. "Whoever did really did blew you right out of the water."
"Shut up."
She was about to comment again when the entire castle shook. She looked at Jack who also looked perturbed but another shake silenced them both. It sounded like stomping. Cece turned to Jack.
"Frost, what do you suppose it…...is…" she dragged on and looked at the figure behind Jack.
"What? what is…" He stopped and saw a large shadow suddenly covering both of them and he turned.
Jack looked and blinked up at a giant snow man looking imposing and mean. He immediately took a few steps back, his staff held up and pushing Cece back. "I'll handle this. You get back where it's safe."
"Excuse me, I can fight too you know!" Cece placed her hands on her hips in offence, but Jack only focused his attention on the advancing giant who was looking meaner by the minute.
"Easy big guy, we're just passing through. No need to get violent," Jack tried to calmly talk to the still nearing snow giant.
Just as Jack was about to wave his staff and strike, he was stopped by a feminine voice from above them.
"Who's there?"
He looked up and his eyes widened at what he thought looked like a dream.
A beautiful woman came out from the side going near the handrail of the balcony, resting her hands on it. She wore this intricate ice blue off-shoulder dress that framed her every curve. The bodice looked like it was sewn with ice crystals, with the sleeves colored powder blue, accented with twinkling snowflake patterns shining down on the upper arm. At the back of her bodice was a long, transparent cape of sheer material that draped down to the floor, also decorated with more snowflakes.
"Beautiful" was the first thing that came to his mind.
He couldn't lie. She was indeed, stunning.
Jack felt his jaw slacken but was caught off guard when she was looking at both of them sternly.
"Who are you? What are you two doing here?"
Cece blinked and murmured to Jack "She can see us?"
When he couldn't answer, she bit her lip and attempted. "You can...see us?".
Elsa raised a brow. "Why shouldn't I be?"
An odd question but still they were trespassing and Marshmallow was not in a happy mood. "You are not safe here, this is no place for anyone."
Cece inwardly gulped a bit. She needed to be careful as to not rile up anyone. "Uhm, may I ask if you are the resident here, m'lady?"
"Yes, yes I am." Elsa calmly answered.
"Well, we are just passing through and we didn't mean any harm. We only wanted to know who lives in this beautiful palace."
"I do, so please leave."
Cece blinked and felt something from her as it was strange that she was in a hurry to make them leave. It felt like sadness and...fear. The woman was afraid. Being the spirit of desire, she of course still can sense strong feelings. And this woman's fear is still pretty much alive inside her. Pausing for a moment, she spoke again.
"M'lady, I am sure there is nothing to fear in this place. Sure, you have the," Cece paused, looking behind her. "Giant snowman just right beside us but other than that there doesn't seem to be anything that can harm us here. Would it be alright for us to stay for a while? We travelled for a long while and would just wish to rest a bit."
Jack looked back at Cece like she was out of her mind but the quick glare she gave him gave the non-verbal reply for him to play along. Looking back at the still glaring snowman, he looked back at the woman who still looked skeptical.
Elsa was hesitant. She secretly didn't mind the company but the possibility of the strangers reacting negatively to her powers was a frightful thought. She didn't realize her hands gripping the railing was slowly starting to frost and create icicles down.
That did not go unnoticed by Jack. 'Did she just…' he thought.
Elsa also noticed but quickly removed her hands in fear. Hugging her arms, she looked back at the pair. "No. You may not stay, just...don't come back here. It's not safe. Marshmallow will escort you out."
Jack could not help but giggle and look at Cece. "She calls that huge thing, Marshmallow…".
But that did not go unheard by the huge snowman who roared and swiped at the two, grabbing them both by their clothes.
Cece yelped and shaking her arms. "Put me down you overgrown snowcone! Great job, Frostie!"
Jack was also trying to break free his hand gripping his sweatshirt's collar. "I was trying to save you from getting squished!"
Their argument was cut short when Marshmallow tossed them outside to a nearby snowbank. Once Marshmallow disappeared back inside, Jack flew up gripping his staff in anger. "Oh I am going to melt that chunk of ice!"
He was about fly up but was stopped by Cece pulling on his foot.
"Hey let go!" he yelled trying to shake her off but her grip was tight.
"No! We need to assess the situation first."
"What is there to assess? A giant snowman just threw us out and that lady has ice powers-" Jack just shot back.
"Whoah whoah whoah-hold up," Cece held a hand up to stop him from talking. "Ice powers?"
Jack ran a hand through his hair.
"Yeah, I just...I just saw her grab the railing and frost started to come out." He sighed, looking determined. "I gotta talk to her. I need to know how she got them."
"Oh no," Cece shook her head. "We are NOT going in there without a proper plan."
Jack looked at her like she had grown two heads, "This is no time to be technical! She has powers like mine! Isn't that a good enough reason to try and meet her?"
"No. It. Is. Not," Cece glared heatedly, cutting the Guardian before he interrupt her again. "You don't know the extent of this woman's fear alright. As a fellow female myself, I need to think of the best possible ways to approach her. THEN that's the time you go talk to her without her freaking out on you."
"You don't even look old enough to be called any gender," Jack muttered and dodged a rock in the air.
"I'm serious here, Frost."
"Yeah, yeah, I got you," he only grumbled and floated down to but a few inches off the ground, crossing his legs and his arms, his staff leaning on his shoulder.
Cece looked at him incredulously and went to take out her monitor and start to type, the silence broken by the sound of beeps and incoherent mutterings. Jack could only watch and wait as she slowly got lost in her world on the little screen she was typing on. When a few minutes went by and she was still typing, he had an idea.
"She really should know by now not to let the Guardian of Fun get bored." Jack could only smirk, mischief practically molding his features. He was never one to follow any orders from anyone. Ever.
He quietly hovered upward as she continued to type until he managed to get a good height that might not make her notice. Then he shot out of sight to go inspect the castle.
Elsa sighed and hugged her arms, a comfort mechanism for her. It may have looked cold, throwing out the strangers but it was for the best. Once she controls her powers a little better, they can come back. But for now, she still felt a bit dangerous. Call her paranoid but her emotions triggered her power, so it was for the best.
She closed the crystalline door before going up to the top floor to her room. It was where the giant chandelier dropped on her when Hans and his men cornered her.
She had the idea of fixing it a few months ago and put some furnishings in case she felt like coming back. It contained a bed, dresser, side tables, chair, book shelf and a reading desk.
Elsa loved to read. It was one of the comforts she had as a child, being inside her room all day.
"Most especially fairy tales and mythology books," she thought to herself as she plucked a book out of her bag. It was a fairytale book, of different tales from distant lands. It was her favorite, it told of far off places she hoped to see one day.
She opened the book, flipping pages to find the chapter she was looking for before placing a hand on the page.
"Winter Spirits and other tales," she mouthed the title, before she looked at the page that had a mural of what looked to be a man in military clothes while holding an elaborate white staff. Hair as white as freshly fallen snow, features as blue as the sky, the herald of winter he was often known to be called.
"Jack Frost," she whispered.
"You rang?"
Blue eyes widened and Elsa sharply looked up to see another pair of blue eyes looking straight at her. But it was not just a pair of sudden blue eyes looking at her, but the fact they were upside down and looking at her so close inside her room.
And with that, she screamed.
Jack quickly backed away, flipping upright at the sudden scream, a finger in his ear.
"Man, quite a pair of lungs you got there."
He winced as he tried to shake off the ringing in his head. After a second, he looked down to see a frightened woman with her hands out at him.
"W-what are you?! Why are you up here, how did you even get in-WHY ARE YOU EVEN FLOATING?!" the rapid pace she was asking was accompanied by a mixture of shock and disbelief.
Jack raised his hands reassuringly. "Easy there Queenie, take deep breaths. I can explain. My name is Jack Frost-."
"J-Jack Frost?."
"Jack Frost." he echoed.
"...Jack Frost?" Elsa just repeated.
"Are we playing a repeat game? Because this is seriously annoying."
Elsa flushed, embarrassed. How dare he use that tone with her. But she quickly composed herself and stood tall.
"Isn't that just a fairytale?."
Jack smirked in amusement.
"I assure you that I am not just a figment of your imagination. Who brings the blizzards and the snow days anyway?."
It was Elsa's turn to smirk. "I do."
"Pardon?" Jack raised a brow.
"I do. I bring the blizzards and snow days in my kingdom whenever they wish it be." Elsa folded her arms. "I also can "thaw" it whenever I wish it to be. So obviously, I am lightening your load for you."
Jack chucked, a playful glint in his eye.
"Well thanks. So obviously, you know now who does for the rest of the world and it ain't Santa Claus."
Elsa chuckled, amazed at how quickly he turned her from being a frightened female to suddenly joking around with him like she knew him forever. He has quite a charm in him that she couldn't explain.
Feeling invigorated he made her laugh, which was cute to hear by the way, he landed on the floor and held a hand out to her.
"Please to meet you, the name's Jack Frost as I repeat again. And hopefully this time you won't scream," he grinned.
Something unfathomable inside the queen's heart urged her to take the hand but her mind was still wary. She looked at the hand silently before looking at the gentle smile the floating young man gave her, a thought whispering to her ear telling her that he meant no harm.
In what felt like forever, she answered.
"I won't, and I am Elsa," the young queen slowly held his hand for a shake before letting go. It was strangely warm, for someone who looked so cold. But then, the cold had never bothered her before.
"It is kind of strange, how an ice palace stood on top of a mountain and airplanes don't see it. You think this is some kind of Bermuda Triangle or something…"
Cece stared at the black sleek screen, digital letters and numbers moving upward the more she typed, thumbs darting quickly to press the keys of her keypad. She was puzzled by a lot of things; the very conspicuous palace made of ice, a mortal with powers-ice powers at that, and how easily she could see her and Jack.
Sure, many humans have seen spirits now and then with their so called paranormal machines that read energies and temperatures. But there were also some people who were born naturally gifted; that have enough power that could potentially tip the scale. It was then she paused at that thought.
"Could it be…"
Her thumbs furiously typed on her keypad, sounds of beeps noisily filled the silence. After one final tap, her monitor whirred with rows of numbers, analyzing what the cupid spirit has just inputted in it's database. It was then it flashed it's answer, resulting to Cece just staring in amazement at the results, her jaw slackening slightly.
"Jack! You won't believe this! That girl is-" she looked up, only to find she was alone.
Cece blinked and looked around, trying to find the frost spirit. Nothing, not even up at the skies.
"...Jack? ….Hello!?" she yelled, hoping that he was just nearby playing tricks. But a moment turned to a minute, and a minute turned to two. And it turned to five, to ten as she searched the small area.
It was then a vein popped on the side of her temple, her teeth gritting and her fist clenching before she threw her monitor to the ground in anger.
"YOU'RE GOING TO BE SORRY WHEN I FIND YOU! YOU-."
In those next moments, while she searched the North Mountain for him, the landscape was serenaded with every curse word, in every imaginable language that Cece had been privy to, and even more that she had made up.