Chapter 4: Memories
Elsa stared at Jack and Jack stared back. Nothing happened while they stared at each other. Elsa's brain was going haywire. This couldn't be the Jack Overland Frost that she once knew? But he knew her name. Everyone who once knew Elsa was all dead, weren't they? Elsa stared into the face of a man who once meant everything to her. Everything about him seemed the same, his hair, his eyes, everything. He looked just like the same boy that Elsa once knew one hundred and seventy five years ago – except of course the clothes. How could this be real? How could this not be a dream? For decades, Elsa had wished that she could see Jack again and tell him everything that she couldn't back then. Now it looked like he had a lot to tell her. Elsa could sense the Werewolf smell on him.
They both got shakily to their feet, each unable to process that the other was right in front on them. Elsa wanted to reach out and touch him to make sure he was real and not some hallucination brought on by who know what.
"Elsa?" Jack whispered again. "Is that…you?"
Elsa could only nod. Her voice had vanished. Her fingers stretched out to touch his face – to see if this was happening. Voices then erupted around her.
"Did she go down here?"
"Where is that blasted dogman?"
The voices of Anton and Ragnar could be heard and Elsa brought to reality. She was a Vampire and she was hunting a Werewolf who happened to be Jack. If Jack stayed here, he would be found and killed. Elsa couldn't let that happen.
"Go," she said.
"What?" Jack looked confused.
"If they find you, they will kill you," Elsa explained. "You have to go, get out of here."
"But I just found you," Jack said. "I don't want to lose you again."
"You could never lose me," the corners of Elsa's mouth twitched as if she was going to smile.
"Can I see you again?" Jack asked.
Elsa hurriedly looked around. Her eyes fell on a park that was nearby.
"Tomorrow, midnight," Elsa whispered, "the park that is across the road from here."
Jack's eyes fell on playground that Elsa's eyes had momentarily before had. He nodded.
"Now go," Elsa said in a scared voice. "Please, hurry."
Jack nodded and he took off. Elsa watched him leave with a sad look. She saw Jack race down the street and take a right. Elsa was stuck in a daze until she felt someone's hand on her shoulder which brought her back to reality. Elsa turned around and found it was Anton gripping her shoulder.
"You okay?" Anton asked.
Elsa quickly feigned annoyance. "Bloody Werewolf feigned left when he went right. By the time I managed to figure it out, he was gone and I have no idea where."
"Bloody dogboy," Ragnar said.
"We should head back," Anton said. "Elsa did you get a good look at him?"
"Not really," Elsa lied. "He had a hood up and I was concentrating more on where he was going rather than what he looked like."
"Understandable," Anton nodded. "Well, like I said, we should head back. I can smell him anywhere so I gather he is truly gone."
"Right," Ragnar and Elsa both said.
Together, all three of them turned around and started to head back to the convent. Elsa gave one last look behind her. Had she really just run into Jack after one hundred years and seventy years being apart?
Elsa remembered the last time she had seen him. It had been about a week after she had become a Vampire. She had felt like had turned into a monster, one that she could never control. So she had shut everyone out, she had isolated herself from society. She kept herself locked up in her bedroom which her parents had moved down into the basement – no sunlight down there. Jack had come to see her every day but every day, he got told by Elsa's parents that she didn't want to see him. Elsa felt disheartened having to tell her parents that she didn't want to see him when they were desperate for Elsa to talk to someone but they had gone along with Elsa and told Jack to go away.
One day she had heard him shouting at her parents. He accused them of not wanting him to see Elsa. Elsa had watched from the door that led into the basement. Jack had not seen her; she had kept to the shadows. Elsa watched Jack loose it in front of her parents. Elsa had nearly lost it herself. It had kept everything to stop herself to yell out to Jack and run to him but she had forced herself to stay back. Elsa knew that Jack would be in grave danger if he ever came too close to her. Jack had to be taken away by the guards that Elsa's parents hired to protect their family. He had gone kicking and screaming, begging to see his best friend in the entire world. Elsa didn't know if he had ever come back.
That was the last time Elsa had ever seen him. She confided herself to her room from then on and only left during the night. Elsa didn't know what had become of Jack. She always thought that Jack had moved on, married and had children. She had always thought that he married one of the local merchant's daughter – Monika, she thought she was called. Monika always did like to flirt with Jack. Elsa had been a little jealous herself but the feeling always passed.
That life seemed so long ago. Her life before becoming a Vampire seemed like someone else's – that it didn't belong nor deserve to be hers. Somehow Elsa couldn't believe that she had once been in love and had a happy life, not now since her life had been nothing but misery.
"You okay?" Anton's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
"Yeah," Elsa faked a smile. "Just zoning out."
"You're wondering whether or not you could have caught him," Ragnar said. "You're reliving the chase and seeing if there was a place where you could have caught him."
"Yeah," Elsa lied, "I just couldn't see an opening."
"Dogmen are known to be clever in the game of cat and mouse," Ragnar shrugged. "Don't beat yourself up. We've all done, I myself, have done it in the not too distant past."
Elsa faked another smile. If only they knew what was going through her brain. Would they call her a traitor for letting him go? Would they believe she had gone rogue? Well, Elsa would hopefully not ever find out. Their leader, Pitch Black, practically called anyone a traitor if they didn't kill a Werewolf on sight. Elsa looked at her friends. Ragnar would probably side with what Pitch said. He didn't like Werewolves very much. He had too many scraps with them in the past to let bygones be bygones. Elsa's eyes sided over to Anton. He was engrossed with her fingernails for some reason. He was a bit of a question mark for Elsa. There would be days when he wouldn't care about the war, say that it must end, and others, he would be calling for Werewolf blood.
Elsa just hoped they wouldn't turn against her. Ever since she became a Vampire, she had isolated herself from everyone, preferred to be a loner. This worked well for Elsa. She didn't have to worry about getting too close to someone if she accidently attacked them or something. However, it was also a sacrifice. She didn't have anyone she could turn to or rely on until she met Doctor Frasier but even then, she preferred her own company. Anton and Ragnar had slowly earnt her trust over the years and she was glad they had. Having Vampires for friends meant that she knew that she couldn't accidently kill them if she lost control and attacked them.
"Elsa," Anton's voice came from nowhere.
"What?" Elsa quickly jumped to and looked around. Both Anton and Ragnar were looking at her.
"We've arrived," Anton pointed in front of her and Elsa could, in fact, see that they have indeed arrived back at the convent.
"You okay?" Ragnar asked. "You look pale."
"I'm always pale," Elsa said. "It's part of the Vampire charm."
"I mean you look as if you've seen a ghost," Ragnar said.
"I'm okay," Elsa lied. She forced another smile. Ragnar was right. She had seen a ghost. She had thought that Jack had long been since dead. Seeing him again brought back both amazing and scared memories that Elsa had long since thought were dead and buried. Seeing him, brought back the past and Elsa wanted to forget the past. Her time with Jack had been a happy time. It almost felt fake.
"You sure?" Anton asked peering into her fake.
"I'm sure," Elsa said. "Honest," she added when she saw that they didn't believe her.
"Hmm, okay," Anton said and Elsa wasn't sure if he bought it or not. They had known each other a while and knew when the other was lying or not.
"Think I'm going to bed," Elsa said.
Before they could say another world, Elsa had bolted inside and raced up to her bedroom. She didn't stop until she had closed her bedroom door behind her. She slid down it until she reached the floor. She buried her face into her arms. What was going on? Jack was back and he was a Werewolf? When did that happen? Did it happen before or after she had left Arendelle? By her guess, it happened after. She hadn't seen any indication of it before she left. Well, would she though? She had spent so much time by herself, she didn't really think she knew anyone anymore.
Elsa got to her feet and opened up a small antique box. She had brought it with her from Arendelle when she left. It was one of the only things she had left from her life there. She opened it and inside was all that was left of Elsa's old life. There were a few photos bounded tightly together by a hair tie. Elsa took the hair tie off and started to look through the photos. There was one of her sister Anna that was taken when she had just turned fifteen. She looked so young in the photo. Elsa didn't know a lot that happened to her sister. She knew she had married a local ice harvester that Elsa's family knew – Kristoff Bjorgman – and had a life with children with him. She was glad that Anna's life turned out to be amazing. It was what Elsa wanted. It made her quite envious. Anna had the life that Elsa always wanted – married to the person she loved and had a life with that person. Elsa never had a chance at this, not when she was Turned.
Elsa then heard the door open and in walked Anton. He smiled at Elsa and she smiled back at him.
"What are you doing?" he came over to look at what she was looking at. "Is this your sister?"
Elsa nodded. "Her name was Anna. She died a long time ago."
Anton's warm smile made Elsa feel better.
"Did she know the truth?" he asked.
Elsa sighed. "She guessed it. When I had Turned, my family grew quite secretive about it all. They kept it all hushed from everyone including Anna. However, Anna is quite a resourceful person. She soon discovered the truth." Elsa sighed again.
"She was never told what had happened?" Anton asked.
"No," Elsa shook her head. "I didn't want anyone to know. I was terrified back then."
Still kind of now, Elsa added in her head. Elsa flicked to the next photo. It was a family photo that was taken when Elsa was quite young. The picture had her father standing proud and tall with his hands behind his back while Elsa stood in front of him. Her mother was sitting on a chair and Anna was on her lap.
"Family photo I see," Anton laughed.
"Yep," Elsa said. She pointed at herself. "I'm the little blonde one."
"I can see that," Anton laughed.
Elsa flicked to the next one. It was a picture of her and her friend Rapunzel and Eugene. In the background, behind Rapunzel and Eugene, was Merida. She almost laughed. She had forgotten that the picture was in here.
"Who are these?"
"My friends Rapunzel and Eugene," Elsa explained. "They didn't live in Norway like my family but rather in Corona which is Germany. They had married a couple of years after I left Arendelle. I had gone to Germany and saw them on their wedding day. They never knew I was there."
Anton placed his hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay," he said. "Who's the person in the back?" he pointed at her.
"That's Merida," Elsa said. "She was Scottish. Never married. Preferred to stay single."
Elsa turned to the next photo which was a photo of her just before she turned eighteen. She was dressed in a purple full length dress and a high collar. The top was almost like a jacket. It had black trimming down the front with buttons as additions. She wore a blue stone in the middle of her neck. She wore her blonde hair up in an elegant bun and wore blue gloves.
"Wow," Anton said. "You look different."
Elsa laughed. It was a change from her usual causal outfit of shorts, a t-shirt and a hoodie.
"Girls had to dress like that back then," Elsa said. "Surely you would remember."
"Yeah but it's another thing to see someone who you have only known dressing in modern and casual clothes dressing in neat and proper clothes."
"True," Elsa laughed again. "There isn't much difference for you though."
Elsa looked at Anton's black suit. He wore a black elegant suit jacket over a black shirt with no tie. His long and tailored black pants touched his black leather shoes. Elsa didn't think she had never seen him in anything else – except of course when he went chasing after Werewolves.
Anton laughed at Elsa's comment. He knew what she was talking about. He grinned at her before they heard someone calling for him. He gripped her shoulder affectingly before he left the room. Elsa smiled at him when he left.
Elsa looked back at the photos. She continued to flick through them. The photos she had were just of her family and friends. They brought back so many memories. The last photo she looked at was of Jack. She almost cried when she saw it. She stared at it for a few minutes. Her fingers touched the smooth surface of the photo. There was one thing that she had never told anyone. She opened her antique box again and pulled out a small silver locket on a silver chain. She opened it. Inside was a small picture of Jack. She had worn it always but she had stopped wearing it when she left Arendelle. It was an incentive and she could never go back, ever. She stared at the photo. Jack becoming a Werewolf, there was a twist she didn't anticipate in coming around the corner. The questions were still burning in her brain. She would probably get her answer when she talked to him.
Elsa placed the locket around her neck and fastened the clasp. She let it hang there. The cool metal against her skin didn't feel weird, it felt familiar. She reached up and touched it. It felt smooth. It was almost as if the locket had been waiting to come back. She let a smile come over her face. Elsa then threw herself onto her bed and continued to look at her photos getting absorbed in the memories that came with it. For the first time, she didn't feel sad when looking at them.
Jack headed back to the Werewolf den completely caught up with his thoughts. He had seen a woman who he that thought was long dead. Elsa Winters had been everything to him. He had loved her with all his heart and then she gets engaged to someone else before racing off. He sighed as those memories came back. The day she told him that she was going to marry someone else was one of the worst in his life.
Elsa and her sister Anna were both intended for two of the Westergaard brothers. The Westergaard family was a high ranking noble family from The Southern Isles. Elsa's family, the Winters' family, was another high ranking noble but from Arendelle. Jack was from a working class family. There was no way he had ever thought that a girl like Elsa Winters would fall for someone like him but she had. Jack had wanted to run away and get married. Elsa did too but she felt like she would be betraying her family and didn't want to leave everything she knew. It wasn't long after that was her engagement to Mikael Westergaard was announced. Elsa had developed this huge crush on him and for good reason. Mikael was a decent looking guy and wasn't a horrible one either. Unlike his brother, Hans Westergaard, who Elsa's sister Anna had been intended for. Jack had got the worst feeling from that guy but it didn't matter what he thought. Anna was heads over heels in love with the guy and wanted to marry him as soon as possible. Since Anna was a little young at the time, she was only fifteen when the announcement was made, her marriage was to be put off until she turned eighteen like her older sister. The wedding for Elsa went ahead as planned and should have taken place the following year.
Neither sister didn't actually end up getting married to them. After a few months from when the announcement had been made, the engagements were suddenly called off for no apparent reason. Jack had always wondered what had happened. Both girls were very eager to marry both brothers. He had always thought that maybe a disagreement between the Westergaard and the Winters families but he hadn't heard of anything of the sort. It wasn't the only mystery that Jack had encountered during that time.
Elsa had stopped seeing and talking to him for some strange reason. Jack knew it didn't have anything to do with the wedding. Even after the announcement was made, she still hung out with him. Jack had no idea what it was. For ages, he would go around to her house and ask to see her. The first few times, he had just thought that maybe she was busy with wedding plans or maybe just busy in general but that didn't make sense for him. She would always make time for him. After a while, it felt like she was avoiding him. That made Jack angry. He wanted to know why she did and what he might have done. The only reason that Jack could think of was that she didn't want to see the man she was actually in love with when she was about to get married.
Then it got stranger for Jack. Suddenly, someone breaks into their house, murders her parents and Elsa disappears. Anna said that the intruder had taken Elsa with him but wouldn't say much further than that. To Jack, it sounded as if Elsa was the main target and the parents got in the way and so he got rid of them. Anna always seemed reluctant to talk about that night for some reason. Jack always got the feeling that she was holding back the truth of what really happened. Rumours started to float around and one of them was that there was no intruder. Rather, Anna had witnessed her own sister kill her parents and then run off. Jack found this rumour to be ridiculous. Why would Elsa kill her own parents?
Jack found the Werewolf hideout and headed down the ladder that allowed him entrance. No one was around which he was glad about. He wanted his privacy. He had just found out that a woman he once loved was back from the dead. He needed time to think about this. He needed time to process this. Jack was about to take one foot forward when a voice echoed around him. Guess he hadn't been alone like had thought.
"How was your outing Jack?" Jack turned around and saw Tooth standing near him. Jack faked a smile.
"Hello Tooth," he said. "My outing? It was okay."
Tooth's eyes narrowed and she folded her arms. "You're lying."
Jack started to get a little nervous. He wasn't exactly the best of liars.
"No," he said forcibly. He tried to sound offended at being called a liar. He wasn't sure it came off.
Tooth unfolded her arms and stared right into his eyes. "Yes you are."
"No I am not," Jack said even more forcibly. Could he tell Tooth the truth? He wasn't sure he could. He wasn't sure that he could tell anyone the truth about what happened.
"Jack," Tooth's voice became more kind, "you can tell me anything. Did something happen while you were out on the recon mission North gave you? Did a blood-drinker give you some trouble?"
"No," Jack shook his head.
"Then what?" Tooth asked.
"Nothing," Jack said again but this time more firmly.
Jack left before Tooth could ask any more questions. Tooth had a habit of digging until she came to what she wanted. Nobody could hide anything from Tooth but Jack was going to try. He had hidden Elsa from Tooth so far, in fact he had hidden her from everyone. They knew that his past was a bit of a sore spot and so they never bring it up.
Jack quickly headed up to his bedroom and closed the door. He opened his jacket by using his zipper. There were inside pockets within his jacket. Inside one of them was the picture of Elsa that he always kept on him. Bunnymund kept teasing him about the photo. Jack lay back on his chair as he stared at it. It was a picture of Elsa that was taken before she turned eighteen. Elsa was dressed in a purple full length dress and a high collar. The top was almost like a jacket. It had black trimming down the front with buttons as additions. She wore a blue stone in the middle of her neck. She looked very elegant in this photo. Elsa wore her blonde hair up in an elegant bun and she had on blue gloves. Jack always preferred Elsa's hair to be down in a braid rather than up. It looked more like Elsa like that.
Elsa had bribed the photographer to give her an extra photo so that she could sneak it to Jack. Jack had wanted one. He had given her a photo of him which she wore in her locket every day since. Speaking of, Jack didn't think she had been wearing it when he had bumped into him. Maybe she had stopped wearing it as she believed it brought back memories of a time she wanted to forget. The reason for that, Jack didn't know.
Jack continued to stare at the photo of Elsa. Seeing her again was like something out of a dream. It didn't seem real. He had wanted to see her again for so long but he had long since come to conclusion that she was dead, that she was long gone and never coming back. That thought hadn't been easy to accept, it had been painful to think that the only person that Jack ever loved was gone. But now she was back and this time, it came with even more questions. But Jack knew that he had been ecstatic to see her again.
The only thing that had changed was her clothes. Her face, her hair had all changed except the eyes, of course. They were no longer the sparkling blue that he remembered but were a deep red colour. All Vampires had this; it was a trademark of them. Apart from that, she still looked like the same Elsa that Jack once knew.
Elsa had become a Vampire. Like him, her human side was gone. Did that mean that Elsa was still Elsa – the woman he adored and spoiled. Elsa must have hidden herself away from life. That explained why she didn't see anyone anymore. It explained why her engagement was broken off. It explained why she didn't want to see him anymore. Jack sighed as he looked at the photo. It was like a whole other world; one where bad things didn't exist and full of hope and possibilities. He missed that world. He missed it very much.
Jack propped the picture up against a glass that was on his bedside table before turning on his side and staring at it. He allowed the memories of the past to fill him up with happiness. Not a day had gone by where he hadn't not thought about Elsa. Jack had always wanted to know what had happened to his long lost love. Looks like he finally got his answer.
A/N: Here is the next chapter. I hope that everyone enjoyed this update. Please review =)
Reviews:
Gracialoveme: Nothing happens to a Vampire if they get bitten by a Werewolf. They just get a nasty scar that is permanent as all Werewolf bites are. But they don't become some weird hybrid and vice versa.
firefoxninja: =)
Me ofrezco como Tributo: Thanks!
Kat-IlluminatedPurity: Glad to see that! Hopefully each chapter continues to hook you even more. Glad to see that your questions have been answered. Yep, Jack and Elsa know each other. They have a past. Hmm, yeah Pitch would probably would.
Guest: Yeah they finally do! Yep, Elsa was the girl in the picture (as confirmed by this chapter) and Jack was the boy that Elsa was talking about in the previous chapter.
archbaldmatthe1: Bit jumbled up but okay.
Guest: Thanks so much!
Guest Reviews: Yeah not going to be some Twilight wannabe fic, I loathe Twilight. It is based off Underworld though which is a great series of Vampire films. I haven't really made it clear that Jack and Elsa knew each other but I have hinted it. Yeah when I made Ginny, my mind did drift vaguely to Harry Potter, although I based her off Anna more than Ginny Weasely from Harry Potter. Question; I am updating both at same timeish. Question; Every single one of my stories has Pitch has the antagonist and this isn't so different. Although a future story of mine may not. I try and use the same characters and put them into different situations which is why I use characters like Anton and Ragnar over and over again. Anton has black hair, tall and thin. Is neat and always well groomed and tailored. Thin face but kind eyes which are brown coloured. Ragnar is broad shouldered, attractive looking and is athletic built. He has light brown hair and falls onto his face. He has green eyes and a hard built face. That's a basic description of them as requested. Uni is almost over for the semester. Last day is Saturday (my final exam). No more essays for now. We'll have to see until next semester. I like how you put the time.
KAMICAKES: Things did indeed get real!