The words echoed loudly in Jack's brain. You need to leave. He couldn't leave. Not now that she could see him. There was nothing that could possibly make him leave, he had promised himself that, and to some extent he had promised Elsa that. The squeezing of his heart lessened as he thought.

He would not leave her. Something about her touched him, it flared up an instinct within him that he hadn't felt before. It made him braver than he'd ever been.

And so with an air of reckless abandon he retorted, "No."

Elsa was clearly surprised by his answer, "What?" She asked in complete disbelief. He was refusing to leave?

Jack nodded stubbornly and sat down in the chair again, "No. I will not leave." He crossed his arms over his chest in protest as he stared down the princess.

Elsa too crossed her arms over her chest in anger, "You cannot stay! I have so much that I need to do and I cannot have you here distracting me! I…" she fumbled over her words a little but pushed on, "I am the queen of Arendelle now and I have to start acting like it. I simply cannot have you here. I cannot harbor some boy in my room when I am the queen. You must go."

She again watched in disbelief as Jack shook his head thoughtfully and raised himself slowly to his feet. As he rose he didn't look at her. He glared at the ground as he tried to form the words in his head that would make her see how much she needed him, and how much he needed her.

After a few moments of silence, he raised his head and looked Elsa in the eyes, "Elsa," he began, rubbing the back of his neck, "I know I don't know you very well, and you don't know me at all, but I cannot leave. Since I've been here, you've made me feel like I have never ever felt before. Like I could have someone who cares about me. You make me feel… man…" he struggled to find the words, "You make me feel like I am alive and that's something I've never felt before. For fifty years I've been alone," he saw her eyes widen at the number, "With no one able to see or hear me. It has been the worst existence, but then… then I met you.

Here, he again looked up and met her eyes, "I met you and it changed. You captivated me since the first time I saw you. Not just because you are ridiculously beautiful," a blush set fire to the ice in Elsa's cheeks at these words, "But also because you know loneliness. I've seen it. I see it in the way you talk to your sister. I can see it in this room. But I've also seen something else. Just after I kissed you," again he fumbled over his words in embarrassment, but he plowed on, "There's something in you, Elsa and I don't think you've even figured it out. And if you make me go, you might never get the chance to."

Jack took a tentative step toward the frozen girl, "But if you let me stay, I can help you." That was where he ended his little speech. He didn't want to tell her how much he needed to stay, that if he left he might not ever fully recover. She was his first believer, that would always make her special in his mind. Jack was afraid if he told Elsa these things he might scare her off. So he swallowed them down and watched expectantly as Elsa digested his words.

Just as Jack had done, Elsa looked at the ground as she gathered her words. She simply did not understand why he cared so much. Didn't he understand what a danger she was to him? And then it hit her: he didn't know. He didn't know how dangerous she really was. He was completely oblivious to her powers. Or so she thought.

Her hands shook as she brought them out in front of her and pulled the gloves from them. This was necessary, she told herself. Jack had to understand what she was. She was a monster who could not be trusted. A monster who had almost killed her own sister. With a quick flip of her wrist, she discarded the gloves to the side. With a great shaking breath, she dropped her hands to her side and allowed her powers to take ahold.

Jack watched with great anticipation. He knew somewhat that she had powers, but he wasn't at all certain what she was capable of. Great icy spike grew from the ground beneath her and the temperature dropped dramatically. Not that it bothered either of them really.

A sad look crossed Elsa's face as she watched his face for the fear she knew was coming. She would lose him, she had prepared herself for that before she had reentered the room. As much as she protested that he needed to go, in her heart of hearts, she knew that when he left, it would hurt. But she was no stranger to pain. She had just lost her parents after all. If she could live through that, she could live through the loss of this practical stranger.

The ice princess watched closely, but didn't see the fear as ice daggers grew around her. In fact, he didn't even look startled. He almost looked excited. She balled her hands up in fists and bent down to pick up her gloves.

Jack almost smiled at the confusion that darkened the woman's face, "You're not as terrifying as you think you are."

Elsa looked as if she wanted to be mad, but she couldn't get past her confusion, "Are you not frightened?"

Jack laughed aloud and tapped his staff on the ground. The spiked began to recede until they were just a coating on the ground. With another slight tap from him, the ice swirled out until the room looked like a pond in the middle of winter. Elsa's eyes were wide as she watched.

"I am not frightened of you. I will never be frightened of you, Elsa." Jack took another step toward her until they were just inches apart from each other. His voice dropped until it was just a murmur, "The real question is: why are you?"

Elsa stared up with wide frightened eyes. Flashbacks of the accident shot across her mind, the tale just on the tip of her tongue until all at once the words spilled out in a frantic whisper,

"It happened when I was really young. Back then Anna and I were really close. My powers were already strong, and I didn't know how to control them at all. Anna and I were just children. We used them for childish things. One night, Anna talked me into going to the ballroom to make a snowman. That was our favorite thing to do, by far." Jack had a sudden vision of the younger Anna in a pile of his snow, looking around with bright eyes at the other village kids, asking: do you wanna build a snowman?

"Anyway, we were just playing around and she was jumping off of my snow mounds. She was going to fast and I couldn't keep up. She jumped and I tried to catch her, but I slipped on my ice and instead I hit Anna. It was right in her head," Elsa's eyes looked haunted as she shivered at the memory in her head, "My parents rushed her to the trolls who were able to save her, but they took away her memories of my powers. My parents decided it would be best if until I could control my powers that they keep me away from all people, even Anna. They helped me to conceal my power. Conceal. Don't feel. Don't let it show." She repeated her mantra and her heart stabbed with pain because of the loss of her parents, "I've been in here ever since."

Jack's throat constricted as he listened, feeling slightly sick as he imagined it. No child should ever have to go through that. No one should ever have to live being afraid of themselves.

"Elsa," There were tears in her blue eyes as she looked up at Jack, "That was not your fault. None of it was your fault. You have nothing to be afraid of."

A shiver ran down Jack's spine as the room darkened suddenly and a voice whispered out of the shadows, "Oh, but I think she does."

A/N -

Oooooooo things are really getting started now. Not really. I still have some fluff I want to write before we get into the really heavy things.

Anyway I know I didn't get it in yesterday. Technically right now it is 12:20 and it's tomorrow, but I haven't slept yet so to me it's still today. I'm gonna finish another chapter tonight. I promise.

So, you know the drill.

Love you guys :) Thank you for the reviews!