After that, things were different.

Not big things but small hardly significant things. Like how she never noticed the bird's nest that was perched outside the window of the mess hall until Jack whispered it to her. Or there was a blind spot on the security camera that was placed between their rooms and that the janitor with a thick handlebar moustache nursed a soft spot for one of the staff.

She was still uncomfortable of his presence.

He kept pushing into her comfort zone and he didn't seem to mind her sometimes snappish retorts and sharp replies whenever she found him worming into places he's not welcome. She then found his purpose in her life, the annoying busybody. He didn't ask intrusive questions but the way he kept badgering her with nonsense had grated her nerves that she almost threw her porridge on his face during breakfast.

Plus, he was attracting attention everywhere he went, which was usually by her side and that automatically meant that she was bound to get noticed as well.

She glared at Hiccup and Merida when they openly stared at them when Jack stacked the plastic spoons one on top of the other and whistled an upbeat tune, a bit too cheery for a place like this. Hiccup immediately turned his back on them but Merida held her ground, curiosity filled her light blue eyes and watched them with an unwavering stare, clearly not affected by her hostile front. Elsa decided she liked the brave and stubborn redhead.

She took the plastic cup and held the small flesh coloured pill before she popped it into her mouth and washed it down with water. Call her paranoid but she knew that the staff was always watching them; monitoring if they indeed were taking their medications. Sometimes she took them, sometimes she didn't. The side-effects gave her more suffering than her current 'ailment', at least she wasn't throwing up every few hours or clutching her head in agony as though it was being split open by a large chisel when she had her crying fits.

She bit the inside of her cheek when she remembered what day it was; Wednesday. And Wednesday meant group therapy sessions. A man wearing a doctor's coat walked in the eating area and clipboard on hand. Elsa never knew his name, didn't even remembered his face before Jack snickered in front of her and subtly pointed out the doctor's unusually bulbous head. It didn't fail to make her giggle as well. When they both realized that she made that sound, her face re-arranged itself to a blank stare.

No one except Anna heard her laugh like that before.

The group therapy room was large. Shale gray linoleum covered the floor and the walls were painted in a soft eggshell white. It turned out that there were quite a lot of shades of the said colour. Small wooden chairs were placed on the middle to form a circle and a rotating chair was smacked dab on the middle.

It was some sort of power play, she thought of it once when she first arrived here. Whoever gets the seat on the middle has the power, hence the freedom to ask anyone of anything but they can't easily extract the answers. Patients weren't required to answer any questions but it was mandatory to sit with the others and listen to their ordeal.

For the first time since she attended it, she actually listened to what the patients were in for. Merida had anger-management issues; a single off-comment will light up the bomb and she will just explode. The older man had schizophrenia, seeing his lost daughter; Alice in his mind's eye and imagined that they were having a tea party (which explained his peculiar fascination with the caffeine drink) and the twins were a bit loopy to begin with, they talk in strange garbled words that only they could understand. Hiccup had a nervous breakdown from psychological anxiety and it turned out that he admitted himself into the facility, which was rather brave of him to do.

There were some stories of other patients she didn't pay any attention to but when it was Jack's turn, the usually talkative boy clammed up. Dr. Mind, the bulging-headed doctor peered under his tortoise shell glasses to observe the white-haired teenager.

Even she was staring at him.

"Err, Jack I know it's kinda scary at first especially when you're talking in front of other people but don't you worry, we're all friends here!" he confided.

His large smile was fake, she could see it and Jack might have as well because his frown didn't falter and he just shrugged, "I don't know why they brought me here. As far as I know... I'm the most normal guy in this group." His words had brought a tense atmosphere in the room; it was like almost everyone stopped breathing.

"Wait- the 'most normal guy', then what does that make the rest of us? A couple of screw-ups?!" Merida roared as she jumped to her feet with her fist poised to deliver a punch. Hiccup shrunk in his seat while the twins clapped at the possibility of a fight erupting.

Jack turned to her for help but she was glaring at him as well. The way he singled out himself from them with a tone, it was like he was calling them freaks and he was just there for the show. But as Merida took quick strides towards him, Elsa held up a hand, which (by some miracle) Merida heeded before she said, "You'll just waste your time and energy."

"Donnae give me that pathetic excuse blondie, I'm gonna punch the daylight outta him!"

"You know that if you punch another patient, they'll put you back in solitary confinement."

The redhead bit back a snarl and stomped back to her seat, eyes glowering at Jack as sharp as knives before Dr. Mind, who was cowering behind his chair, cleared his throat and uttered "I think we'll just skip Jack's part today."

The boy gave out a burdened sigh as he relaxed in his seat but he kept stealing glances to her, which she promptly ignored. Elsa didn't protect him; she just saved herself from an oncoming migraine. The angry girl had an impressive set of lungs and her shouting had Elsa gripping the sides of her chair to fight off the headache.

She needed a pill... fast.

"Uh... Elsa?"

She tried to ignore him.

He softly knocked against the wall and spoke in a soft tone, "Elsa, c'mon talk to me."

Even when she had muffled that wall with her pillow and closed her eyes to sleep, his voice beckoned her to answer, to give him her undivided attention. There was something about him as a person that made it impossible for her to ignore. He had been here for a month now and she still can't shake him off. Even after that tiff he caused earlier (she was still sore with his off-handed comment) she hadn't completely shut him out like how she does to other people.

No matter how different they may seem, they found comfort in solitude. Whenever they (mostly he) found nothing else to talk about, silence would come but it wasn't awkward in any way.

With a defeated groan, she leaned her back against the wall. "What?" she huffed. He better not whine about what happened at the therapy room; he's not that stupid to not know that he earned a few enemies in there.

"... I wasn't lying when I told the quack that I have no idea why I'm here" he whispered, like there was a possibility that someone might overhear them.

Elsa rotated her head to get the blood flowing, "Are you saying you have amnesia? That's impossible, they don't put people with memory loss in here with... us."

There was a sound of a fabric shifting in his side and his voice was so close like he was standing right behind her. "I didn't mean to make such a mess back there. I can't really remember what I did to have me land in this place. One moment I was at my room looking at my ceiling, the next was a bunch of guys wearing white uniforms hauling me into a van while my mom... my mom was just crying outside our house."

There was a wave of empathy that made her press a palm against the wall, an unseen gesture of comfort. He sounded like a lost child; confused and distraught. She saw it, the very moment she looked at his face; she saw something she was quite used to, an unwanted friend.

Loneliness

She knew Jack can hear what Belle was saying during her sessions but she wondered why she can't hear anyone other than Jack in his room. Does he not get any session at all? It wasn't like she was snooping but sometimes she was curious about his case. He must've known about Anna and her sudden bouts of depression by now, but she didn't know a single thing about him. Jack was silent in the duration of her sessions. There were times that he didn't say a single word at all as if he wasn't there until nightfall and she would find him sitting on their table picking at the white gauze with a lost look in his eyes. If he saw her enter the hall, his smile would click on like a switch and ask her what she will have for dinner. One thing she discovered about him was that he hated all vegetables except for the mashed potatoes because he said they don't look like potatoes at all.

He sure loved apples though, seeing as he always tried to snatch hers even if he already has one. She reluctantly asked him why he was fixated by the fruit; all he said was that the colour reminded him of something he can't put his finger on.

The next day was miraculously better than she had expected. But then again, she was looking at the glass half-empty recently so this was a rather pleasant surprise. Merida didn't try and pick a fight with Jack and it was the first Saturday of that meant that meant one thing.

Chocolate

Each month they will be given desserts with their meal and she found out that this time, it was chocolate bars. The last time she had eaten one was right before the day Anna was scheduled to get onboard the train that will take her to the finishing school for girls.

Elsa remembered how she and Anna emptied the whole carton and their mouths were stained with the dark sweets but tears trickled from their eyes because they both know that they will be separated. If she closed her eyes for a little while, she could still feel the heat on her chest where Anna had rested her head and slept the whole night as she wrapped her arms around her.

"Chocolate's good and all but don't they have any licorice whips or even a bag of chips?"

Jack's voice caused her musings to vanish and she realized she was still inside the clinic. He was poking at the chocolate bar with his spoon, aware that she was watching him, before he placed the sweet into her tray.

She stared.

"You don't like chocolate?" she asked, mildly surprised to meet someone who'd just pass it to her like it was a small plate carrots. His eyes zeroed in on the rectangular object, he was thinking about something. The corners of his mouth twitched as though he was trying to say something but he shook his head and said,

"I dunno."

The brunette lightly grinned as her eyes roamed over Elsa's sitting form. "Something is different about you" she commented, making Elsa raise a brow at her psychiatrist.

"How can you tell that something's different?"

Belle clicked the top of her pen and leaned against her chair, legs crossed and clipboard on her lap. It was a sleepy afternoon; there was a fine drizzle of rain that made Elsa feel groggy and so far she hadn't had a single crying fit for the remainder of the week. It was odd but Belle was happy about it.

"There's a sparkle in your eyes" she replied, beaming widely as she wrote hastily on the paper.

Elsa lifted a hand to her eyes, expecting to touch a particle that gave the illusion of a starry-eyed girl. Belle hid a grin behind her hand as she cleared her throat.

"So, have you been taking your medicine?"

"Yes"

The psychiatrist paused for a moment, assessing if whether or not she was telling the truth before she nodded. "That's good. It's progress and if you keep it up, you'll be out of this place sooner than you think."

Elsa shifted in her bed; partly because she felt a knot form in her throat. As much as she wanted to see the bright side, all she could see was a dark tunnel that stretched as far as her eyes would permit but she didn't want to see Belle's disappointed face and breathed out, "I suppose so."

Two months.

It's been two months since Jack arrived but she still didn't know why he was here. His bandages were frayed, evident that he had been tugging on them and the shades around his eyes were darker. But despite his haggard appearance, he was still as upbeat as ever and goes on about his way. As much as Elsa wanted to deny it, she found ease in his company. The pace of activities was but a blur to her. They would talk about anything, be it on her- more accurately, their table during meal times or in their rooms where they would share exchange stories of everything under the sun although it was more like he was initiating the conversation and she would offer her input on the matters.

Spending time with him had influenced her to take notice to others as well. Elsa found herself talking to Merida about the changing seasons and the definition of destiny or sometimes she would strike a conversation with Hiccup about geometry and the stars. Slowly, the four of them formed a friendship that was so odd, so dysfunctional that they somehow made it work.

But there was something between the two of them, like they had their own world. With him, she distracted herself from Anna, keeping her mind off of the fact that her parents never came to visit her for more than two months. Between the lines of friendship and insidious, she found herself struggling whether she just needed him for that purpose or she really did want his company.

People, in the end; will always weigh the need over the want, it was practical, it was realistic. But sometimes she can't help but compare her situation to a parasite's. She needed him, a necessity to distract herself from the harsh reality that surrounded her. She cherished the silence between them but she wasn't sure whether he was in the room or not. Whenever she cries in her sleep, he would tap against the wall and softly call out her name. Then she would curl up against the wall with the blanket covering her shaking body while he would stay awake with her till dawn came or until the relief of sleep would claim her.

It was like walking on eggshells with him. She needed to be cautious, careful to hide her sudden fits of depression or moodiness that would hold on to her in a certain period but he latched on to her like a leech. Elsa didn't know why he was so attached to her.

It went on like that for a few days more like clockwork. They talked and shared knowing glances during group therapy and she was contented with that. But Jack just had to ruin, he just had to distort the pattern that made their frail and unusual friendship change towards something.

They were taking a break outside the facility since protocol demands that they should at least had the privilege to enjoy a fresh air outdoors every now and then. The winds were now cooler and the nights were freezing but she welcomed the drop of temperature. The cold never bothered her.

She couldn't remember what they were talking about- something about squirrels and the way their cheeks puffed out to store their food. She was watching a bird fly across the blue sky and she turned her head to him to reply at his theory before he did it.

He kissed her.

A/N: As always, reviews are encouraged and appreciated.

I would love to thank the reviews from the previous chapter:

Guest 1 (anon)

Guest 2 (anon)

fireninjafox

Happypenguin117

Trapid (Guest) : And I thank you for those kind words.

For the readers of Finne Min Senter: I will update it by Saturday

And for Iridescent: I'm afraid I will have to delete this due to disinterest.