A/N: Finals week is coming but I'm posting anyway. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: You know the drill.
Chapter 2: Now That's Ice
"So your sister caused this storm?" Jack said, repeating back what he had been told.
From waking up to going through introductions, a snow storm had picked up and they had to find shelter. That came as a relief to Jack, as he didn't know if he wanted to tell them about his powers yet. The three of them were now holed up in a cave somewhere not too far from the cliffs. Since most of the man's cargo fell off the cliff with the dearly departed sleigh, Kristoff had to build a small fire without flint and steel; a skill he was apparently very capable of seeing as his hands deftly rubbed a stick down against wood shavings and straw piled atop a log with a thin indent running through it to ventilate air.
Just like that there was a spark and then with a bit of coaxing, a warm fire.
Anna huddled towards the fire, letting her hands soak in the warmth. "Yeah, I know. Crazy, right?"
"Not at all." Jack smiled. Anna blinked at his response, befuddled.
"You're not surprised? Astonished? Or experiencing any aversion whatsoever?" Anna raised a sceptic eye brow.
"No. Why would I?" Jack stated before letting a charming grin flash across his face. "It's not every day you come across magic."
Through the roaring winds outside the cave, Sven the reindeer came trotting in with a bundle of wood carried on top of his antlers. The reindeer panted from the exertion and with a tilt of his head, dropped the firewood to the side of the cave before dropping like a sack of potatoes next to Kristoff. The man in the wool hat patted his companion and offered him a carrot.
"Well, that's why we're here." Anna declared. "I'm going to talk to my sister, and bring back summer."
Jack nodded. He'd like to see this other person who could use ice magic.
"Speaking of which, why are you on the mountain?" Kristoff asked.
"That's easy." Jack smiled. He didn't want to give too much away. So he kept the fact that he had frost magic on hold. It sounded kinda strange, but he didn't want them freaking out about him turning the continent into ice as well. "I got lost."
"Wow, you must have a worse sense of direction than I do!" Anna said, her eyes wide. "How did you end up lost enough to find yourself on a snowy mountain far away from civilization and any signs of life?"
"Um...I guess I just went wherever the wind took me?" They had no idea how true that statement was.
"Seems like the storm passed. We should get going. The sun is just past the noon line, we don't have long until nightfall." Kristoff threw snow onto the fire, dowsing the flames. Anna huffed in disappointment at her warm heat source being depleted.
"But that fire was so warm..." Anna coughed and changed her tone to make herself sound tougher than she actually was, "I mean, sure let's get to it! Ice and cold...yay."
Jack followed them out of the cave. Before long they were traversing through trees where the winds ceased. A quite and peaceful sight met the group, as they walked passed trees chiming with ice drops on the ends of their branches.
With the icy lake, the frozen three-step waterfall, and the white winter canvas the place was the most serene that Jack had ever seen. Walking by a few low hanging branches he held out a hand to have the willowy branches full of icy crystals cling together against his palm with a natural music that filled the air like bells. At his touch, they frosted over and began to glow blue and pink with the shine of the sun glancing off the frost in different angles.
Sven hopped around excitedly, getting his antlers all tangled up in the thin string-like branches.
"I never knew winter could be so...beautiful." Anna spoke in a soft voice as Sven caught up to them, his antlers full of adornments from the trees.
"Welcome to my life." Jack said quietly under his breath with a chuckle.
"Yeah, it really is beautiful isn't it?" Said a voice not to far from them that had the group's heads turning for the source of it. "But it's so white. You know, how 'bout a little color? I don't know, maybe some crimson, shartruce, oh how 'bout yellow..."
Jack stumbled when he saw the thing walk by him. Was that a...
"Wait, no. Not yellow. Yellow and snow? Brbrbl. No go." The thing laughed as he walked between the two humans; completely oblivious to their shock. "Am I right?"
"Agh!" Anna screamed and kicked the thing in the face, dislodging it's snow-packed head and making it fly into Kristoff's arms.
The head smiled at Kristoff, "Hi!"
"You're creepy." Kristoff noted before tossing it back to Anna.
"I don't want it!" Anna tossed it back to the guy.
"Woah, back at you." The head was tossed back.
"Please don't drop me." The head said.
Before Jack could say anything in the matter, the head was tossed at him and he caught it. The eyes blinked at him and he blinked back.
Something else that could see him. As far as Jack knew, it was a talking snowman, and it could see him due to them both having a similar affinity with ice, snow, frost and pretty much anything cold.
"Hello. I'm Olaf!" The snowman head greeted him. "And I like warm hugs!"
"Well you're not going to be doing much hugging in that state." Jack said before looking around for the body of the snowman. Finding it walking around heedlessly, he snatched it and put Olaf together again.
"Awe, thank you." Olaf raised his stick arms and looked down at his snowy self. "Now I'm perfect!"
"Well, almost perfect." Anna dug into her pack and brought out a carrot while the snowman got distracted talking to Kristoff. Without warning ahead of time, she shoved a carrot deep into Olaf's head.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Didn't mean to-"
"Whew! Head rush!"
"...Are you okay?" Anna ended her apology.
"Are you kidding me? I...am WONDERFUL!" Olaf threw his arms up in the air. "I've always wanted a nose."
Jack chuckled before coming closer as the magical snowman started fussing happily over his itty bitty nose and pushed the back of the carrot forward into the right spot. "There you go, that should be better."
Olaf gasped with a wide smile. "I love it even more now! Okay, let's start this thing over. I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"
Anna gasped. "Olaf?...that's right, Olaf!"
"And you are...?" The snowman said.
"Oh. I'm Anna." Anna pointed to herself.
"Uh huh. And who's the funky looking donkey over there?"
"That's Sven."
"Okay. And the reindeer?"
"...Sven."
"Oh, alright. Makes things easy on me. Is he Sven too?" Olaf pointed a stick arm in Jack's direction.
Anna laughed. "No, that's Jack Frost."
"Why can't I be Sven?" Jack joked.
Sven the reindeer tried to bite at Olaf's nose and missed. Olaf crooned, "Awe look at him trying to kiss my nose! I like you too."
"Olaf, did Elsa build you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Do you know where she is?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Do you think you could show us the way?"
"Yeah, why?"
Kristoff got slapped trying to figure out how the arm-stick worked, "Stop it Sven! I'm trying to concentrate. Yeah, why?"
"We need to help her." Jack said. "And then bring back summer."
"Oh I love summer!" Olaf went on and on about the hot season.
Someone's gotta tell him... Jack thought with a slow shake of his head, clutching his staff as they began moving towards their destination once more, following their walking talking snowman guide.
Soon, they strode into a stretch of mountain where sharp icicles grew at a menacing horizontal angle.
"So my ice business is riding on you talking to your sister?" Kristoff asked Anna.
"Uh huh."
Not having watched where he was going, Kristoff's nose was then prodded by the end of a very sharp and pointy slab of ice. He backed away slightly fear lacing his throat with nerves, "So you're not at all afraid of her?"
"Why would I be?" Anna said cheerily.
"Yeah, I bet she's the nicest, gentlest, warmest person ever." Olaf, having done the same as Kristoff by not watching where he was going, looked down when he noticed his body was no longer connected to his legs. "Oh look at that. I've been impaled. Ha!"
Jack laughed too. He was impressed with the ice display, as the power behind such strong winds would have had to be beyond his own capabilities to make such sculptures of ice shards. It did make the spirit unnerved, however, towards the possibility that this sister may not be all that Anna was describing. Olaf did get impaled, after all.
Jack drifted forward to help Olaf slide off the spear of ice and back onto his feet.
Olaf lead them further to where Jack had to shake his head at his companions' antics as Anna tried to climb a cliff and - after Olaf found a bridge - play a crazy trust exercise with Kristoff.
Everything stopped though, when Jack saw the ice staircase leading up in a wide arc to the tall, beautiful castle glistening in blues, pinks and golds from the evening sun.
Resting atop the left side of the pristine snow-covered mountain, the structure glowed from the base foundation with a brilliant crystal light, where inner cracks and crevices broke in perfect symmetric design, creating outer walls that had measured intervals of clear, see-through ice and opaque ice. The towers rose in tandem with supporting beams that held up a railed balcony overlooking the mountainside, smooth and aesthetic in style.
"Woah." Anna breathed.
"Now that's ice." Kristoff soaked in the sight before him. "I think I might cry."
"Go ahead, I won't judge."
Jack, gripping his staff, flew up on the winds just a bit to land and walk along the rail of the staircase. Laughing at seeing the reindeer slip and fall over the steps, Jack marveled at the durability of the structure to withstand the movements of the large animal.
"Flawless." Kristoff said under his breath, examining the stairs.
Curious, and making sure he was behind the others and out of sight, Jack Frost leaned his staff out along the ice of the stairs and gave the part of raining ahead of him a little tap. Ferns of frost traveled in spirals all around place that had been touched with Jack's magic, embracing the ice magic already present and strengthening into ice-shaped fern designs. Laughing, Jack ran atop the rail running his staff against the side of the staircase, making both rails cover themselves in shimmering frosty crystals.
It was good to know that in the face of another kind of ice magic, Jack's had no trouble working the same it had always done.
Jack nodded, hopping off the rail to land at the front door soft as a feather behind the other three. The door to the castle was tall as an elder tree; two slabs of ice, crystal blue in iridescence and covered with a large, embossed snowflake spanning the door from the base to the top.
"Oh, you guys should probably wait out here." Anna suggested when they all caught up. "Last time I introduced her to a guy she froze everything. No idea how she's gonna take two guys at once."
"But, it's a palace made of ice! Ice is my life!" Kristoff threw his hands in the air at the castle.
How do you think I feel? Jack thought with stars in his eyes as he gazed at the frozen ramparts. I wanna live here.
"Just wait out here, please?" Anna pleaded. Jack and Kristoff huffed and their shoulders fell into a slouch.
"Fine." They both agreed half heartedly. Jack with his fingers crossed behind his back, and a smirk hidden in the corner of his lips.
Anna went to knock at the door and froze, her fisted hand in the air hesitant and shy.
"Knock. Just knock. ...Why isn't she knocking?" Olaf said to the side not-so-quietly. "Do you think she knows how to knock?"
Slowly, Anna stepped forward and gave the door three solid knocks. Almost instantaneously after her third knock the ice-slab doors opened inward. Anna gasped and took a step back. Staring at the doors with rapt attention she laughed awkwardly and muttered, "It opened. That's a first."
"Bye Sven, Jack." Olaf said as he started walking towards the open door.
"No, you need to wait out here Olaf." Anna said. "Just give my sister and I a minute, alright?"
"Okay." Olaf said. Watching Anna walk through the doors he went down to sit with Kristoff and began counting the time till a full minute would pass. After he said "three", Kristoff joined in.
Jack, assuming Elsa wouldn't be able to see him, planned to sneak in behind Anna. However, he had a magic snowman and an ice cutter watching him. So, while they had their eyes looking away from him, he quickly used his magic to conjure a snow version of himself. He couldn't add color to it or make it come to life, but he could drape his cow-hide cloak over it's back to make it look like him sitting slouched forward while facing the door.
With no more time to waste, Jack then slipped into the palace on the wind and flew behind Anna. The princess felt a breeze and looked back, but nothing was there. Shrugging, she turned and started to call out for her sister. Jack, pressed to the ceiling in a quick effort to hide out of Anna's sight, let out a breath of relief, which quickly changed into a breath of wonder.
The entrance hall was amazing.
Jack smiled in glee at the sight before him. Wide ice cube pillars from floor to ceiling spanned two floors, the upper floor accessible via a curved wide staircase hugging the back wall. Just in front of the stairs on the second floor stood an open archway, no wait...that was a clear glass door! On the first floor in front of Anna was a beautiful fountain adorning the center of the large, empty room.
Jack's smile dimmed, and his expression turned serious and inquisitive. Something felt wrong about a room so grand being empty. If it was him, he would have chosen to furnish the place up a bit more. Ice mirrors, ice benches, snow-pillowed ice couches, tables and ice glasses to hold clear mountain water...yeah the place could have much more added to it. If this sister of Anna's could build such a grand palace, why would she not make usual comforts with it?
Why was it empty?
Jack slipped down behind a pillar as Anna's wondering gaze looked up to observe the white and blue patterned snowflake on the ceiling. He watched as she looked up towards the door on the second floor.
"E-Elsa? It's me...Anna." She said, slowly. Stepping forward and expecting the floor to be like all other floors, she lost balance with her foot when it made contact with the slippery ice it was truly made of. She held her hands out to steady herself and regained her balance.
"Anna?" Said princess in the purple overcoat looked up in surprise to see ...her sister.
Jack froze, his eyes widening. Jaw slack a bit, Jack pressed his back against the pillar, away from the side around which he'd been spying. Clenching his palms to shake off the nerves, he shook his head to rid himself of whatever it was that was filling his head.
"Woah, Elsa you look...different. It's a good different!" Anna held up a gloved hand in assurance. "And this place, it's amazing."
Taking another look, Jack was hit again with that feeling inside that made him light up like a sun. Anna's sister was beautiful. Elsa. Her name was Elsa. Wearing a long flowing blue dress of ice and magic, everything good about her multiplied tenfold. Her hips, her curves... everything. The queen's platinum blond if not flaxen white hair was down in a braid, hanging over one shoulder. Elsa's sky blue eyes shown with a recent-found confidence, her face round and soft as the petal on a white rose. Jack moved closer by a few inches to get a better look, not that he wanted to be closer to her somehow, he only needed to see a bit more since his vantage point wasn't that good. Yeah, that's it.
Jack was a terrible liar.
"Thank you." The queen's voice drifted down the stairs with ease as she herself looked at the work around her. "I never knew what I was capable of."
"I'm so sorry about what happened," Elsa backed up as Anna climbed up the stairs. "If I'd have known–"
"No no no, it's okay," Elsa held her hands out in a gentle gesture that suggested an effort to keep away from her sister. "Y-you don't have to apologize." The queen rubbed her hands together softly and looked away. "But you should probably go...please."
"But I just got here."
Jack walked out from behind the pillar, concerned. As he expected, the queen couldn't see him. He had a feeling she forgot how to believe a long time ago.
"You belong down in Arendale."
"So do you." Anna insisted.
"No, Anna, I belong here. Alone. Where I can be who I am...without hurting anyone." Jack couldn't believe his ears. How could such a power be feared so much by the one who possessed it? And Elsa looked so sad. That power was spectacular! It could help so many people, if only she knew...
"Actually, about that..." Anna was interrupted by Olaf's voice outside coming in.
Jack shot back behind the pillar.
"HI! I'M OLAF AND I LIKE WARM HUGS!" Olaf shouted across the room.
"Olaf?" Elsa said, puzzled as to how familiar that name seemed to her.
"You built me...remember that?" Olaf said sheepishly, his stick hands clasped together in front of him uncertainly.
"And you're alive?" Elsa asked, amazed.
"Um... I think so?"
"He's just like the one we made as kids." Anna said, lowering down to Olaf to take his hand.
"Yeah." Elsa said, her eyes shining as she remembered a joyful part of her childhood.
"Elsa, we were so close." Anna said softly. "We can be like that again."
Jack saw Elsa's happiness break away in the midst of fear. She folded her arms across her embroidered waistline, her posture shrinking away. "No, we can't. Goodbye Anna."
Elsa turned away to run behind the door and up another case of stairs.
"Elsa, wait!" Anna ran after her.
Jack stepped out from behind the pillar once they left.
"Hey! You! You slipped inside when you weren't supposed to." Olaf accused Jack. Before he could defend himself the snowman went on conspiratorially, "Don't tell Kristoff, but I thought that was fun. Tell me how you did it! Come on!"
Jack laughed and explained his simple trick. Kristoff came in a few seconds later, a bit peeved but not upset, and gave Jack his brown cloak back.
"You forgot something."
"Thanks."
Jack put on his cloak, welcoming the familiar weight on his shoulders.
"It's a nice tanning job on the leather. Where did you get it?" Kristoff asked.
"I don't know." Jack answered hesitantly, fingering the coarse fabric. "I've just always had it. What about you? How long have you had Sven?"
Kristoff smiled and looked up the staircase, taking in all the wonderful ice work around him. "Since I was four, oh look at that fountain! Perfectly symmetrical, hanging shards and glistening ice shavings like tensile..."
Kristoff's tangent on the ice palace became background noise when Jack felt magic levels rise in the air. Getting an ominous feeling from it, he gripped his staff tight and - checking that Olaf and Kristoff weren't looking - flew up the stairs, zooming passed the intricate details and rooms that weren't where the overwhelming magic he was sensing was.
Up the last set of stairs he flew, bursting into the room where a miniature snow storm was flying at high speeds. In the center of it was Elsa, tugging at her hair in distress. Anna was just inside the storm, trying to talk reason with her sister.
"Elsa! We can fix this thing together!"
Jack felt the magic ease back into a pressurized central point where Elsa stood. Knowing the magic would break it's containment and burst from all that dark fear, Jack ran to Anna.
"Get back, Anna!"
Anna looked back. But it was too late.
"I CAN'T!" Elsa shouted, the energy releasing itself from her in a wave of pure magic.
Jack pushed Anna out of the way, afraid that if he jumped in front of her, Elsa's magic would phase right through him.
He was wrong.
The queen's magic hit him full force in the heart, shocking him to where he bent down on his knees for air.
Her ice magic came in contact with him, because it was magic.
And magic recognizes magic.
The queen's magic familiarized itself with Jack's magic, and recognized him as a spirit of winter. After that attack, Elsa felt a jolt and turned around...to see a white-haired stranger kneeling on the floor holding his chest.
"Who are you?"
