The figures disappeared and Jack looked over to Anna. She had to know someone. There had to be someone in the kingdom that could love Elsa like her sister. But the look on Anna's face showed that she was having trouble thinking of anyone else. Then suddenly she looked to Jack.
"You…"
Jack looked around thinking she was talking to someone else. But all the rock trolls were staring up at him too. "What? Me?" Jack shook his head. "I mean, Elsa's my friend and everything but we have only known each other a couple of days. No way I'm her true love." Now Jack was panicking fully. Elsa did mean a lot to him, more than a friend if he was being completely honest, plus they had that kiss, but still….the title of true love was not to be taken lightly.
Anna came over and took his hands in hers. "Please Jack…" She pleaded. "You said that you would protect her no matter what. You have to at least try."
Jack looked away, unable to meet Anna's gaze. She was right. He had promised to protect her no matter what and he knew that he couldn't sit around and wait for someone else to save her. The more time they spent looking for someone else, the longer Elsa would stay controlled by that monster. And he couldn't let that happen.
"Fine…" He looked at the group. "I'll do it." Anna gave him a smile before he turned to look at Grand Pabbie. "Do you know where I can find her?"
Grand Pabbie waved his hand and an imagine of Arendelle appeared. "They are hiding in the mountains not far from the Ice Palace." The imagine flowed through the landscape of the kingdom stopping at the image of Elsa's creation. "In a dark cave hidden from view." The imagine following the landscape once again, making twist and turns, before stopping at the entrance of a cave that was hidden behind a large ice formation. "Inside you will find Elsa along with Pitch Black. But be careful Jack Frost, for you have seen what happens when ice meets black sand."
Jack nodded thinking about his battle with Pitch. "Thank you." He nodded at the group. He got into position to take off but Anna stopped him.
"Wait, we are going with you."
"No." Kristoff put his hand on Anna's shoulder and she looked at him in confusion. "Jack can fly a lot faster than we can sled." He gave the winter spirit a nod. "You go on and we will catch up as fast as we can."
Jack gave him a nod of thanks and jumped into the air allowing the wind to take him back to the Ice Palace and back to Elsa.
"I can tell you one thing," Bulda broke the silence. "He's no fixer upper for sure, not like this one." She pointed with her thumb at Kristoff.
Kristoff simply groaned.
Jack willed the wind to send him flying faster than ever before. He just hoped his feelings for Elsa…whatever they were, was enough to break the spell Pitch had over her. He couldn't fail her, not again.
He soon landed in front of the Ice Palace and looked around, doing his best to remember the path towards the hidden cave.
Feeling that he had a good grasp on the path he needed to take, Jack flew off with another blast of wind. And just like the imagine Grand Pabbie showed them, hidden behind a large ice formation was a dark cave. He would have to thank those rock thingys later, he knew that if it wasn't for them that he would never have found the place.
Right when he was about to enter the cave he heard a horrible roar, so loud that it made the icicles around the cave shake. Jack had to jump back before being impaled from one as it crashed to the ground.
"Woah…" He looked up at the ice and then around. "Where did that come from?"
From the entrance of the cave he saw glowing eyes first and then the rest of the creature made his heart drop. The creature was large and it was constantly shifting into all different types of combinations of creatures, unable to pick on to stick with. But, as soon as he saw the monster he recognized instantly that it was made of ice and black sand.
It was a mix of Elsa's and Pitch's powers which meant that they were already working together. Jack gritted his teeth and prepared an attack.
The monster shifted into a panther-like creature standing on its hind legs and its claws extended and pounced. Jack got ready to send out his own ice blast but he never got the chance because the monster was pushed away and sent flying into the side of the mountain by someone else or should Jack say someTHING else.
He looked over at the large creature made of ice and snow and smiled. "Thanks Marshmallow."
Elsa's creation gave him a smile full of icicles.
"You knew something was wrong didn't you?"
Marshmallow nodded and quickly turned to grab the monster by each of its arms, as it had transformed into a gorilla creature but with horns. Marshmallow looked at Jack and then at the cave entrance.
Jack's eyes widened. "You want me to go in while you take care of this guy?"
Marshmallow nodded and let out a low growl.
Jack smiled at the white creature. "Don't you worry, I'll get our snow queen back." He took off into the cave.
Jack stayed cautious once he was inside the cave. The darkness quickly consumed him as he walked further in, he created a blue light at the end of his staff so not to fall or trip on the stony ground. A thin sheet of ice seemed to cover every nook and cranny and his blue light showed his reflection on every flat surface. Jack couldn't help but gulp as he continued moving deeper into the space. He honestly didn't know what he was going to do once he found Elsa.
Grand Pabbie and Anna wanted him to some how show his love for her, saying it was the only way to break the spell that Pitch had. It wasn't that Jack doubted what they were saying. He had read plenty of fairy tales to know that love was a powerful emotion and had abilities like no other. What he was scared of was failing. Heck, Jack didn't even know that there was someone out there like him until a few days ago.
But Elsa had known about him since she was a child. And it wasn't just that she read about him in her books.
She believed in him.
Even after growing up and spending all those years alone, in her heart, she stilled believed and still hoped that the Great Winter Spirit Jack Frost was real. He knew this because she was able to see him without any help. Without having someone explain him or a magic snowflake landing on her nose, she saw him. She saw him like no one else.
"Don't worry Elsa…" He said into the cave's darkness. "I'm coming."
Elsa was standing in the middle of Pitch's little liar listening to him explain his plan when suddenly her hand went to her chest. For a moment it felt like it was being squeezed and the air left her lungs. But why could that be? What did it mean? But she pushed that aside and listened to Pitch like the good little queen she was.
Pitch had told her that he was going to take care of the fear that had been consuming her for so long and he did. Once she accepted the monster that she was then the fear disappeared. She could now be the powerful ice maiden she was meant to be. She looked to her hand and watched and a miniature ice storm was created in her pale delicate hands. How could something so strong be contained by someone so small? She clenched her fist and the small storm dissipated and a wicked grin spread across her face. She was going to make those people pay for making her feel so isolated and unwanted for so long.
Jack was starting to lose hope. He had been walking through the cave for who knows how long and he still hadn't seen any sign of Pitch or Elsa. He hadn't even seen any of Pitch's Nightmares and they were usually everywhere. Just when he was about to give up hope he heard voices.
Jack quickly hid behind one of the ice formations and peeked around it to see what was happened. When he saw Elsa standing in the middle of the room he felt a mixture of emotions.
He was happy to see that she was safe and it didn't look like Pitch was harming her. But she didn't look like Elsa. Her hair was black instead of her unique platinum blonde and her outfit, once blue with sparkles that glittered like snow was now black with iridescences that shined in colors of purple and greens. But killed Jack the most was her eyes. They were one of his favorite things about her. She had large wondrous blue eyes that could see right into his very soul, but now they were a sharp unnatural red.
She was still breathtakingly beautiful, no amount of darkness could hide that but she wasn't the Elsa that he knew, the one that had snowball fights with him or ice skated with and most definitely not the one that he shared a kiss with in the middle of the forest. He wanted, no needed, to get his snowflake back before it was to late.
But how?
Trying not to rush into things like in the past, Jack continued to observe from his hiding place.
"Now we understand the plan correct?" Pitch asked the dark queen for the third time. He knew that he was being a bit obsessive but he was not going to have any mistakes like in the past. He was not going to let that silly Frost boy mess things up yet again.
"Yes." Elsa rolled her eyes. "We will be heading down to Arendelle and show them what happens when we combine ice and darkness."
Pitch nodded. "And once they see our powers together they will scream in fear, giving me even more power, and once we make sure that Arendelle is under our control we will move on to the next kingdom and so forth, until we have all the world under the reign of darkness and cold."
Elsa folded her arms across her chest. "In case you have forgotten, I am already the queen of Arendelle so its already under my reign."
Jack had to muffle his laugh into the sleeve of his shirt. It was good to see that this Dark Elsa wasn't completely under Pitch's control. And it seemed like she had quite the tongue.
If Pit ch was upset by the queen's comment he did not show it. Instead he sauntered up to her and surprisingly gently grabbed her chin. "Yes my dear. I know this. Which is why it will be the perfect place to start. They may already see you as their queen but with you standing right there next to me, they will be able to see that we are together and that no matter what they try, no matter what they do, we are an unstoppable force."
Jack nearly came out of his hiding spot and sent a blast of ice straight at Pitch when he touched her and he was ready to slice the guy in half when he said the two of them were together. Elsa would never, in a million years, go for someone as heartless as Pitch. She was only there in the first place because he had put a spell on her.
Luckily, to Jack's relief, Elsa's moved her head to get out of Pitch's grasp and looked at him with a glare. "I am only in this because I am sick of hiding my true self from the world around me. If my powers cause them fear then that is their problem."
Pitch simply smirked and turned around and walked off. "Yes, I know, but that doesn't mean we can't help each other out. I helped you to be honest with yourself and now you can help me to take what I want. Understand?" Jack could tell that Pitch was getting tired of talking. The way he said that last word was not a question. It was a command.
And it seemed to have some effect on Elsa because as Jack watched her, he saw her eyes glow for a moment and then she sagged a bit, nullified.
"As you say." She said in a monotone voice.
Pitch had more control than Jack had originally thought. He needed to end this soon.
"Good, now follow me." Pitch walked out of Jack's line of sight and Elsa followed suit. Jack leaned forward trying to keep them in his sight but he leaned to far and nearly fell, he caught himself but his misstep caused a rock to stumble, catching the attention of Pitch and Elsa. Jack pulled himself back and tried to lean as flat as possible against the ice formation, praying they didn't see him.
The two looked down at the rock and then up to find the source but they saw nothing.
"It was nothing." Pitch said. Jack letting out a silent sigh of relief. "Probably one of those annoying nightmares messing around. Come! We have much to do." Pitch continued on his path but Elsa did not follow right away.
She wasn't as easily fooled at the Boogieman was. She stepped closer to where the rock had come from and after a moment she saw nothing and was about to follow after Pitch when something caught her eye on the other side of the cave.
It seemed there was a reflection on the ice of a young man holding a staff.
