Fleeting Moments

"Tempus enim non cessat. Time stops for no man Jack Frost."

Ch. 4

"Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?"

Jack landed softly on a particular window sill and peered through the glass. He could feel something here, something familiar—it tugged at his mind to see it, eclipsing rational thought with a ravenous curiosity that was almost frightening. Within was a child's room and sitting hunched up against the headboard of her bed was a young girl no older than eight years old. Her platinum blond hair was disheveled and messy; she must have been sleeping before something had awoken her. Her little face was pressed to her knees as her shoulders shook; she seemed to curl into herself to hide from something in the room.

"No…" Jack whispered softly as he looked around the room and counted all the shadows, watching as every now and then they would move. A familiar fearful shiver crept down his spine. Pitch was here, there was no denying it. Jack pressed his hand against the glass to see if perhaps it was open and while it didn't budge, frost began to form upon the glass. Desperation found a way into his heart: he ached to help the girl and his anger toward Pitch came back as if he was mid-battle once more. Jack gripped his staff firmly in his hands, ready to smash it through the window. He closed his eyes and braced for the sound of shattering glass, but he halted himself when a small voice came from just outside the room.

"Elsa? Do you wanna build a snowman? Come on lets go and play!" The small girl in the room suddenly tensed up and her head snapped up to look at the door. She hesitated for just a moment, but then her little legs swept off the bed to go towards the door. A smile crept onto Jack's face as he watched: he had a bit of a soft spot for siblings. As the little girl got closer to the door, the voice just outside of it grew more and more insistent. Elsa suddenly stopped, though, her hands balled into fists as she looked at the door. She looked down at her hands, and after a moment of hesitation she turned her back to the door. There was another beat of silence before she spoke. "Go away Anna!"

Silence stretched on for what seemed like an eternity. Anna—the girl just outside, Jack concluded—called through the door, her voice laced with defeat. "Okay, bye…"

Little Elsa just stood in the space between her bed and the door for another long moment, her small arms defensively wrapped around her center. Her tiny brows had knitted together and her large, grey-blue eyes were transfixed on the door. Her body was rigid and tense, as if she was poised for something else—something much more frightening—to happen. In the blink of an eye, the girl whirled around, her eyes narrowed while she looked at everything in her bedroom: her bed, her nightstand, a few toys strewn about on the floor. She seemed at odds with the things around her, as if they were the source of her anger. Her breaths were ragged and shallow, her tiny chest rising and falling rapidly while her face contorted into a look of utter confusion. As she continued to look disgusted at her own room, she grew more tense: her breathing quickened, her knuckles became white. Suddenly, her arms released their hold on her center and flew out to either side while her foot hit the carpet with all the might she could muster. Her eyes were squeezed shut now; while her mouth had opened as if she might scream, nothing came out. From her miniature fingers came a sizable blast of ice, the impact causing the glass to be covered in thick snow.

"WOAH!"

Jack leaped away from the window, shocked at the sudden outburst. Just a moment later, all was quiet once more; he returned to the window to find that Elsa had fallen to the floor, once again curled up and unmoving, though now he could see a tear sliding down one of her cheeks. He had had his guesses before, given the familiar feeling and characteristic platinum hair, but now it was certain: this was the Snow Queen that Horatio mentioned. The strange man must've taken them both back into the girl's uneasy childhood. Immediately, it came to him: right now, the girl needed some good, old-fashioned fun. With a quick hand, he drew the outline of a bunny, much the same way he had with Jamie; with a press of the hand, he animated the drawing in snow that materialized inside of the girl's room. With a few hops, the rabbit took off, jumping over the bed, upon the nightstand, on the little girl's head and then around the room. Little Elsa looked up and spotted the rabbit. Her eyes grew wide in wonder as she watched it, a smile finally returning to her tear-stained face. Scrambling to her feet, she chased the rabbit around the room, giggling as she went until with a mighty leap, she grabbed hold of the rabbit and it burst into snowflakes.

"Wow…" She smiled as the snow filtered around her bed and floor, little Elsa looked to the window, where she saw the frosted patterns begin to form. "Jokul Frosti…."

When little Elsa had said that name, Jack peered at her curiously: maybe she could see him? He pressed his hand a little more firmly against the window: it needed to frost over even more as Jack tried to think of things to do to make this poor little girl smile. While lost in his thoughts, the girl ran towards the window and climbed upon the bench that rested before it. Her little hand pressed against the window as well, right over where Jack's was. She stared out into the distance, eyes full of wonder as she seemed to search the patch of sky that was directly behind Jack. "Are you there, Jokul?" She called out timidly.

A wide, genuine smile spread across Jack's face. "Yes, yes I'm here! Hey there!" he replied, unable to hide the enthusiasm in his voice as he looked expectantly at the little girl. When she did not respond to his words and continued to stare through him, however, his expression fell. Though he should have numbed himself to this by now, he couldn't help the sinking feeling that overtook him. It wasn't in his nature to give up, though—not just yet. Moving to the frosted window again, Jack wrote a simple word within the frost. Yes.

Elsa's face lit up the second she read it and there before her eyes formed the figure of Jokul Frosti. She looked him over, mouth agape with awe as she smiled brightly, bouncing up and down upon the bench. "Jokul! Jokul! Mama and Papa said you were real… and you are!"

Jack couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him as he smiled at the little girl—he would never get used to the warm feeling that came over him when he saw a child recognize him. He lowered his voice, leaning his staff upon the window sill. "Hey there, what's your name?"

"I'm Elsa," she replied nearly inaudibly while her cheeks colored themselves a bashful pink.

"Well Elsa, I'm Jack. I'm here to help you, okay? I see you have special powers, huh?" Elsa looked away from Jack then and down to her hands, which opened and closed a few times. As the small digits moved, she looked crestfallen—her eyes were trained on these disappointing hands now, rather than on Jack. Trying to recover from the slip up, he spoke again. "It's alright, Elsa, really, its okay! You're not alone, I promise."

Her grey-blue eyes moved back to him, a hint of a smile crossing her otherwise uncertain expression. "I'm…I'm not…?"

Jack shook his head, his mouth opening to reply when something odd caught his attention. He heard the sound of a ticking clock, even though there were certainly no clocks around him. Looking below and behind him, Jack found that Horatio was standing below, his pocket watch swinging side to side before him. His telling expression left Jack with no questions: time was up, it would seem. Turning back to Elsa, Jack smiled and pressed his hand to the glass over hers again. "No Elsa, you're not, I promise. Whenever you feel scared or alone, just look at the frost on your window okay?"

"Jack—" the girl began, her eyes searching his expression. The ticking, though its rhythm was even, seemed to grow more and more urgent. Jack looked once again to Horatio, but immediately returned his gaze to Elsa.

"Promise me, Elsa, okay? Promise you'll look at your window. You're not alone." With his free hand, he grabbed his staff, a smile breaking his worried expression when Elsa gave a small nod.

"Promise."

"I'll see you soon." He lifted his hand from the window, giving just a small wave before drifting down to Horatio's side. Elsa waved in return, though as soon as Jack had departed, he saw her turn away.

"Its time, Jack." Before he could even respond, darkness and rushing wind took over. Once again, Jack was falling.