A/N: Wow. Truly, wow. 460 views in the last day. I feel so loved... Ok, finals are on, and updating may see a little decrease in speed. That, and I've caught the cold virus going around. Ugh. This chapter is one of my longest ones I've ever made. Took me thirty minutes just to get the formatting correct using my phone. I've introduced more Disney characters to fill the three judge slots. That, and you get to hear from Anna! Enjoy, and review!
Disclaimer: Blah blah, don't own anything.
Chapter 4: Welcome to Week One!
(Two hours until show time)
Jack paced the backstage hallway in long, quick strides. His hands fiddled with anything in reach; he wrung his hands, twiddled a pen, drummed a table with that same pen, messed with his 'outfit', and cursed at the gel in his pristine white hair.
The show was starting in two hours, and he was rigid with nerves. Did they call that gut feeling 'butterflies'? Jack chuckled, no, they weren't butterflies. Nerves gathered at the pit of his gut like shrieking banshees trying to get free.
Jack never felt this way before, this anticipation that brought with it the time to worry, question, and doubt. On the slopes and white top mountains he was in his element, being himself. Singing was definitely not his element. Here it was as if he was a penguin placed in the wrong exhibit, having to face a pride of lions.
Sure, he had learned all the basics within one day, leaving two days for him and Elsa to get the harmony of two parts in the song in the right pitch, choreograph their movements on stage, and prepare for their performance doing repeat practice drills.
There was so much to remember, and only three days to get it right. When snowboarding, Jack was isolated in his own little world until he reached the finish line, only the wind reaching his ears, only the snowy path ahead in his sights. On stage, he would be watched from every angle by cameras, audiences, and judges.
Jack slowed his pacing down and sat down in the nearest chair, pulling out his cell phone, the newest apple phone from Verizon. Not bothering to unlock the screen, he held down the main button below until a voice activated search pulled up.
"Where is the nearest ski resort?" Jack asked it. The tone pinged and Siri responded.
/"There are three ski resorts close by. I've listed them by distance:"/
- Snoqualmie Summit 4.5 Stars
- Steven's Pass 4.5 Stars
- Crystal Mountain 5 Stars
"Hmm... Crystal Mountain huh? Located in Mt. Rainier National Park, possible viewing of gorgeous snow-top mountains...best beginners slope in the state-!" Jack said to himself as he did a brief research. He had planned on getting Elsa to lighten up a bit, after all. After the show they had the rest of the day to themselves before they would be called back the next day for eliminations. There was plenty of time to get a run or two, and teach a certain Ice Queen to learn how to have fun. "South about 82 miles? That sounds great!"
Already he could feel the jitters leaving. Yes, he would perform in front of millions...but he could handle that if it meant he could have a bit of fun afterwards.
(One hour until show time)
"Hello, Anna."
"Hi sis. How are you doing?"
Elsa chucked as she held her phone to her ear, the long-distance call costing her minutes but she didn't care. "I should be asking you that."
"I'm fine. I'm at home, waiting for you to pop up on the television. Can't believe I have to wait two whole hours to see it after the live showing, time zones suck."
The professional singer giggled, leaning back against the white walls of an empty hallway. Anna's voice was noticeably stronger now, after overcoming her cold she had last time the famous singer saw her. Elsa's worries came back to her like a pulling tide, her smile falling. "W-what's the latest news from the hospital?"
"Elsa, you have to stop worrying about that. Fibromyalgia is not cancer. In fact, I've got a job now! The adoption center nearby accepted my resumé. The work's not too exerting, and I get to work with animals!"
A small, hesitant smile breached Elsa's glossed lips. "As long as your safe, I'm okay with it. Don't work yourself too hard."
"Ya, ya, the usual. So tell me about your partner! Is he handsome?"
"Anna!" Elsa reproached, feeling her cheeks blush with embarrassment. "Working on set is strictly business. You know that."
"Yeah, but what about 'off the set'? Is he cute?"
"Anna, I don't date my co-workers."
"Who came up with that rule?"
"I did."
"That's a stupid rule."
"Why are you so fixed on playing match-maker?" Elsa asked, calming down some and pulling at the designs in her stage dress.
"Elsa, you're all alone out there. What's worse, you avoid getting close to others! Don't deny it, sis. You've done so much for me, putting me before yourself every minute of every day. It's time you put yourself first. Do something for you. You don't have to be alone."
Pushing down the churning sadness and pain, Elsa faked a smile and kept her voice steady. "Anything for my little sister."
"Good. Now go get them, sis! Blow the roof off that stage!"
Elsa chuckled before noticing a flash of white hair racing around a corner. Uttering a quick goodbye, she ended the call and hid her cell in her bag.
Jack stopped in front of her, his hair gelled up in purposefully messy strands of white, his face assaulted with make-up despite the fight she saw him put up earlier, just a brush of color to make his eyes stand out more. Elsa couldn't help but stare at this rendition of Jack; the clothing fitted his slim figure perfectly and she found it very distracting as she wondered at his firm chest and soft lips.
Outfitted in attire for a prince, his costume was a midnight blue rimmed with silver on the sleeves, shoulders and buttons. White gloves were supposed to adorn his hands, but he had stuffed them in the pants pockets. He left the coat open, revealing a tight-cropped white vest with an unbuttoned collar, the second button loose and showing off more skin than intended. Fern-frost like patterns spiraling in silver decorated the inner vest and silver sleeves of the dark blue coat.
"Elsa, how much time do we have after performance until they release us for the day?" Jack asked. "Oh, you look good, by the way."
"Wah?" Elsa said intelligently, before mentally slapping herself to attention. "Oh, um...about three hours, then they let us go at 6:00pm. Why? "
"I have a surprise for you." Jack smiled in what had become his signature smirk in the last three days Elsa had gotten to know him.
"Shouldn't you be focussing on our up-coming performance?" Elsa knit her eyebrows together in question.
"I did for ten minutes until the nerves began eating me alive." Jack chuckled a bit in response. "How do you manage it? Waiting for hours like this?"
Elsa grinned. Jack had been right about her looking good, though she would never see it herself. A short, oceanic blue dress of soft material flowed strapless from her chest to her lower thigh with a color spectrum fading darker to a deep blue at the dress rim. Her back was exposed through a web of darker blue strips patterned like a loose corset. Her hair, instead of up in her bun or loose in its usual french braid, was let free in a wave of platinum blond locks flipped to the front on her left side, the ends strategically curled by her meticulous hair stylist.
"How do I manage it?" Elsa repeated, her eyes going to her painted nails. "I suppose I can tell you. There's a trick I use to get rid of nerves."
Jack jumped forward at the chance to learn how to get rid of the foreign feeling of panic before an audience. "What trick?"
"I imagine myself far away from the stage, in a place that mirrors the song I sing. That, or anyplace I like really. I only do this before performing." Elsa elaborated, "I still have to do the choreography and watch my steps. After a while, it gets comfortable enough that you can look at the audience and they become a source of confidence instead of fear."
"Ice Queen once again teaches a most valuable lesson." Jack smirked as he bowed mockingly, playing the prince role in good humor.
At that moment, a staff worker came around the corner, calling out to all contestants to meet in the green room where they would walk on stage. Time was closing in.
"You ready?" Elsa inquired to the blue prince.
"Absolutely." Jack smirked.
(Showtime in 3, 2, 1...)
"Hello America! Welcome to this year's Singing with the Stars!" Anastasia greeted the world from the audience, her coy smile and bright eyes charming the cameras. In the background, hundreds of people screamed from their seats, cheering for the program as loud as they could. Anastasia walked the aisles to the stage, all the while hearing the intro music to the show blaring through the speakers. The music died down as she stood center stage.
"Wow, what a welcoming audience, you guys are great. With us we have our three judges. Phil Satyr!"
One of the many cameras moved to capture the two time Emmy winner and music producer. His brown hair was short and sideburns ran down to a stubbly beard below a firm and serious face, at the moment relaxed enough to smile and wave.
"Mr. Lumière Candelabra!"
The cameras switched to view the gold suited man possessing a wide smile. His blond hair wispy with a tuft of grey that brought out his warm brown eyes.
"And Ms. Ariel Waters."
A beautiful red haired woman smiled, her charm sweet and kind. Red hair cascaded down her back and an emerald dress glimmered against the lights.
"Are you ready to see this year's contestants?!" The roar of the stadium grew to astounding volume, the ruckus loud enough to be heard from blocks away. "Alright then, come on stage everyone!"
They all did.
Jasmine and Eric lead the group, followed by Rapunzel and Eugene. Next came Phillip and Aurora, Westley and Buttercup, Mulan and Li Sheng, Gaston and Drizella, Esmeralda and John, and lastly... Elsa and Jack.
Introductions went out to the audience, introducing the pairs and showing a brief segment on each person on the large screen dominating the wall of the stage. Each star chosen to be on the show had given a small interview on what they expected from the show, and what brought them to the show.
"I see myself learning something new, something great that can be shared with the world." Aurora said on the screen.
"Singing in a competition with so many great vocalists will definitely be a challenge, but if I pull through then I've climbed that hill of achievement." Buttercup said against a backdrop of meadows.
"You know, I never thought I'd ever sing for an audience." Li Sheng said in his Chinese accent. "But if I can help others by doing it, all the better."
"Hey, America!" The audience girls screamed loudly as Jack appeared on screen. Elsa took a moment to raise an eyebrow at the Jack next to her, earning a cocky smile in return. He knew he was popular, and he loved it. "Singing is a very different world from the Olympics. I expect it to be challenging, full of expectations, and full of fun. I wouldn't have it any other way."
Elsa didn't pay as much attention to the other videos as Jack's message processed through her mind. It didn't show any hint of why he wanted to sing in the first place. She had to admit she was curious of why he was here, but as she heard the host take the microphone once more Elsa placed her thoughts to the side. The stage was cleared and the first ones out were Mulan and Li Sheng singing 'Pompeii' by Bastille.
Backstage, Jack started as Elsa's hand found his shoulder. "We're up next."
Jack swallowed his bundle of nerves, trying to beat them down to submission. Remembering Elsa's advice from before, he let his mind drift off and imagine standing on top of the icy slopes as snow flakes fell in flurries of white.
At once he felt a change as his stiff muscles loosened and his breathing grew calm. Too soon, the first pair finished and they were called up.
"Come on." Elsa encouraged him with her smile, and he couldn't help but smile in return. She had a gorgeous smile that brightened every corner of the room.
As the lights grew dark, Jack and Elsa took their places on either side of the stage, a large space keeping them apart. The music started up and the screen filled with story books and fables flipping pages and becoming a collage of words from fairy tales. The lights above then turned a faint blue, lighting upon smoky wisps that crawled over the stage from smoke machines built in below the stage.
Written in these walls
are the stories that I can't explain.
I leave my heart open,
but it stays right here empty for days.
Holding a mic, Elsa sang the words with feeling, her smooth voice an octave higher than the regular tone, to fit her range, moving gracefully from soft to eloquent in relation to the lyrics. Their version was slowed down by almost half the original rhythm, the interpretation one of sadness and revelation. While singing, she held her arm out to the audience, as though the 'word written on walls' weren't behind her, but in a world all its own.
Just as rehearsed, Jack observed. Now it was his turn. Bringing up his cordless mic, he reached up to grab the uniform at his chest in feigned agony. The lights fell on him as he sang.
She told me in the morning
she don't feel the same about us in her bones.
Seems to me that when I die,
these words will be written on my stone.
His voice took the low octave, grating effectively on the passionate words and loosing himself to the joy of the stage as he followed the arrangement Elsa had laid out for them.
They both joined forces in song as they walked toward each other through the smoke on stage in time with the music.
And I'll be gone, gone tonight.
The ground beneath my feet is open wide.
The way that I've been holding on too tight,
With nothing in between...
Nothing was between them now, as they reached out and touched hands. A brief moment of pause in the song allowed them to hold it longer until the chorus, where they broke apart again and sang loud and proud facing the audience. The lights blew up to a brilliant gold, and the paper collage scattered into a animation of falling book pages.
The story of my life,
I take her home!
I drive all night to keep her warm,
And time... is fro-oo-ozen!
The story of my life,
I give her hope.
I spend her love,
Until she's broke
Inside.
The story of my life!
Elsa took up the song again, the sway to her hips slow and smooth. The lights dimmed to match gold with blue, and a white spotlight hit her from behind, casting her silhouette on the audience. On stage, she was a completely different person than the Elsa Jack knew. He watched her, never missing a beat in his step as he watched her spin her magic with music.
Written on these walls
are the colors that I can't change.
Leave my heart open,
but it stays right here in its cage.
Elsa felt a strange likeness to these lyrics, and sang that out with all her soul. Jack answered her next, his arms sweeping out in expression. He looked rather handsome, singing in this prince outfit. If her sister found out she'd never hear the end of it.
I know that in the morning now
I see us in the light upon a hill.
Although I am broken,
my heart is untamed, still.
They joined again, and sang at each other in challenge, each changing it up with harmonizing notes and frills. Their voices melded to fit each other like no other two voices could; his baritone with her alto, together reaching all the ranges that the song could hold.
And I'll be gone, gone tonight.
The fire beneath my feet is burning bright.
The way that I've been holding on so tight.
With nothing in between.
The story of my life,
I take her home!
I drive all night to keep her warm,
And time... is fro-oo-ozen!"
The story of my life,
I give her hope.
I spend her love,
Until she's broke
Inside.
The story of my life!
The song ended with a powerhouse note, and though Jack ran out of air Elsa stopped with him so it appeared deliberate. The lights back on in regular lighting, the pair stood side by side as the crowd went nuts. The judges tried to put in a few words, but the noise level wouldn't drop.
Finally, after a minute the audiences quieted, save a few whistles and calls toward Jack. He smirked and made a princely bow to his fans, almost starting the cheers up again. Elsa muttered a 'not helping' in his ear. He chuckled in reply.
Turned out singing wasn't that bad after all.
