A Chance Encounter

The young man walked down the cobbled street, careful to avoid the carriages and the people on the street. Not because he was being nice, or had somewhere to be, but because they would pass right through him.

Jack Frost hated that empty feeling that came over him as they walked through him. Like he wasn't real, like he didn't exist. The only thing that was worse than the constant existential crisis was the loneliness.

He put his staff to the ground and let it trail behind him, knowing that frost was following his every step. The almost floral patterns never ceased to amaze him. They always talk about how unique snowflakes are, but always forget to mention frost. He noticed a toddler slipping on his trail before their older sibling catching them before the child hit the ground.

Ever since he had woken up in Burgess he had witnessed countless conversations, endless little communications between people. Jack wished for that, a simple wink, a "hello". But apparently the moon had created him to be lonely, and Jack was doing a good job at it.

But sometimes Jack liked to pretend he was one of them. He walked to an older gentleman. "Good day, my good man." He said, imitating the way he walked down the street before moving onto a young couple. "Just kiss her already!" He then ran to a young woman sitting on a bench reading a book. "Beauty and brains, nice qualities in a person." He was about to move onto another person when the young woman stiffened.

She looked right at him. "You can see me?" She said.

Jack froze. Was she talking to him, the invisible man?

She spoke again. "Can you see me?" Jack looked straight at her, not sure what to say. This is what he's wanted for so long now, for someone to acknowledge his existence, but now that someone is talking to him, he didn't know what to do.

So he just winged it. "I can see you, but can you see me?" He whispered.

Then she smiled. "Of course, you're a spirit. Am I right?"

Jack nodded, but wasn't sure what a spirit was. But Jack knew she had answers, answers he needed.

"I'm Elsa, winter spirit." She held her hand out to shake. Once again Jack knew that he was supposed to take her hand, but he has never felt the touch of another. He was scared.

He just took a deep breath and slowly put his hand in hers.

The instant they touched, something very odd happened. Snowflake patterns stretched across their hands and up their wrists.

"Whoa." Jack said. He hadn't meant for that to happen.

"I'm sorry." They said at the same time. Their eyes met in confusion. She's sorry?

"You have ice powers? I've never met another person who could do what I can do." Their hands still remained clasped. "What's your name?" She said, getting up from her bench.

"Jack Frost." Her aqua blue eyes were all he could focus on, they seemed to hold such emotion just underneath the surface.

"How old are you, Jack?"

"I'm not sure. 18? 19?" Jack's age had always been a mystery to him, he could only guess.

"No, I mean when did you wake up? Could you remember who you were before?"

"No, I couldn't. I woke up five years ago in a frozen lake." Her questions confused him a little, but he answered them anyway.

"Frozen lake, of course." She mumbled. "I'm sorry, I should probably explain myself. This is probably your first conversation with anyone, right?"

Jack nodded. "Like I said, my name is Elsa. I woke up over two hundred years ago in Norway. I can't remember anything from before, but every other immortal remembers perfectly. Anyways, I woke up on a frozen fjord."

"Other immortals?" Jack asked her, getting over the initial shock of meeting Elsa.

"Yeah, there are more of us than you'd think. But I believe this is a conversation we should have somewhere else."

Jack looked around at the oblivious people and then raised an eyebrow at the girl.

She laughed. "I know they can't see us, but them just being here gives me a sense of being watched. Come on." Elsa gestured for him to follow and started walking away.

Jack rushed to hurry up. "Where are we going?"

She shrugged. "I've got a cottage nearby."

After about twenty minutes of casual conversation about the weather and Jack wondering if he should mention that he can fly, they stopped.

Jack was stunned. Elsa hadn't mentioned that she was talking about an ice cottage. The exterior was icy blue and opaque, from outside he couldn't see in. It was rather small, but probably because it was made just for her. There were no windows, and from what he could see, only one door. It was breathtaking; Jack had never seen anything like it. He had no idea anything like that was possible.

But there was still so much about this girl he didn't know about. Yet again she was the only one who'd been able to respond to his words.

"Welcome to my little home, Jack." Elsa said, opening her arms in a grand gesture to introduce her quaint cottage. Elsa then walked right up to it and opened the door. "Are you coming?"

Jack realized he'd been staring at Elsa and her ice creation with an open mouth. He blushed and then walked up to Elsa and into the house. Inside, it didn't have much furniture, just an icebox, a couch, a bookcase, and two doors that led elsewhere, he assumed her bedroom and the washroom.

Elsa walked and put her book back on the shelf before she took a seat on the geometric snowflake patterned couch. She then glanced at Jack. "Have a seat."

Jack wasn't sure, but he sat down right next to her, all too aware of the beautiful woman so close by and looking at him expectantly.

He decided to ask her what he's been wondering. "Are you lonely?" He blurted out before he could think.

Elsa got a faraway look in her eye. "Yes, but I don't really have much of a choice. Do I talk pointlessly to people who can't see me and hope for the best, or do I track down an immortal and hope they can stand my snow?" She shook her head.

Jack didn't really understand, but then again he wasn't a two hundred year old winter spirit. So he kept his silence.

"I know what you're thinking, anything to make sure you're real. Those first few years are the worst, aren't they? Oh please Jack, say something I can't stand this silence I might as well be talking to myself." Elsa sighed in frustration.

"I'm sorry, but how do I respond?" Jack met her eyes, and got lost in them for a moment before snapping himself out of it. "I've been going from town to town wondering what I am and now you're telling everything I've needed to hear. How was it for you when you first woke up?" He looked at the walls and let his eyes trace the patterns.

"It was horrible and couldn't understand anything. But then one day I met this girl, she was a fairy, and she told me everything and gave me hope."

"What happened to her?" Elsa laughed darkly, as if she was mad. "It was just her and me, but then Manny made her a Guardian, and I haven't seen her since. I hear she's got this big place to run and that she's got fairies working for her now." She thought for a moment and smiled. "But I'm still grateful I had her as a friend." She looked at Jack with a smile.

Jack wasn't sure how friendship worked exactly, but he knew that he needed to say something. So he took a breath and just said it. "I know you probably have better things to do, but would you considering being what she was to you, for me?"

Elsa's smile got brighter, she stared at him for a few moments before answering him with such a light and cheerful voice.

"I'd like that Jack, I really would."