A/N: Finally got this chapter finished and while short it introduces an important theme.
A big thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this for me, it really does keep me going!
Have I mentioned I hate the formatting for this website? I have to use line breaks for both separating A/N's from the story and scene changes - I'm so sorry :(
She was running. Her legs took her through corridor after corridor, up stair after stair as she ran from her assailants. Her hands gripped the hem of her dress as she dashed through the hallways that seemed to stretch for miles. No matter how fast she ran nothing seemed to get any closer, and the hallway just stretched into eternity. Her legs burned with exhaustion and her lungs screamed for rest but she could not stop now. They were all around her, and nowhere, hot on her heels and far behind: they were everywhere. Finally she reached the end of the corridor and burst through the oak doors that led into her study – her sanctuary. She pressed herself against the door, barricading it with her body to stop their advances.
A mighty thump shook the door as her pursuers thrust themselves against it to break it down. Her arms and legs shook with the effort of keeping them out as her mind raced to find better solutions. Her eyes scanned the room for nearby objects when she got a thought - her desk! She rushed to the old oak and pushed it with all her might until it was flush against the door. Still the pounding continued. The poor door creaked and groaned against the assault, the corners and top splintering from the chaos.
Backing away she felt her heart clench as she raised her hands to defend herself, she would make a final stand here in her sanctuary – she would die protecting herself. Yet as she retreated her back bumped into something- something tall, and something warm. Its hands rose to grip her arms and she nearly melted into the embrace: it was Jack. She didn't even have to look to know it was him. Yet his hands did not stay gentle, they suddenly gripped her arms tightly, his long fingers digging painfully into her flesh. As her eyes moved from the door to the hands upon her body she realized that it wasn't Jack's soft white fingers that had her in their grip. The fingers that held her were blackened, ugly and dead. Where beautiful pale white skin once was it was now ashen, grey and claw like. Her eyes went wide as she trembled in his grip before her gaze slowly made its way to her captors face. Fear sliced through her mind like a knife as she took in the continence of the man behind her.
This wasn't Jack; no this was something else completely. His tussled white hair was fading to grey-ish black, giving contrast to his ashen skin in the most grisly of ways. His beautiful blue eyes were now bottomless black voids; his pale pink lips now blue and frozen, and his pearly straight white teeth were yellow and pointed like fangs. He was ugly and grotesque and above all he was frightening.*
"J-J-J-Jack…?" She heard herself stutter out, his name sounding foreign upon her lips as she applied it to this ugly monster before her.
The laugh that ripped from his throat was loud, bitter and cruel. He threw his head back and laughed wildly, allowing his mouth to fall open and show those rows of ugly yellow fangs. He snapped his head back to her before his hands squeezed into her arms tightly and she let out a yelp of pain. "Jack's not here…he's gone…leaving just me…" He snarled out.
He leaned forward, lips pulled over his teeth in a grotesque snarl as he moved towards her neck, ready to bite into the flesh and sever her precious lifeblood from her body. She screamed.
"Elsa!"
She bolted upright in her bed and looked frantically around the room with wide, fearful eyes. A few candles had been lit and flickered in the breeze that filtered into the room from her open window. Confusion replaced the fear for a brief moment as she looked at the window and then to her left, only to realize she wasn't alone. Standing at the side of her bed, looking highly concerned was Jack.
To her absolute relief he was normal, not a thing out of place about him. His skin was the same creamy white, his hair tussled and silver and his eyes beautiful and sparkling blue. He was normal, absolutely and completely normal. She had never been happier to see him as normal as he was now. Before she could stop herself, Elsa threw her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him, squeezing him as tightly as she could while holding onto him for dear life. She needed to make sure he was real, make sure he was okay, and make sure she was safe.
This time Jack managed to keep his footing when she crashed into him. His staff fell and clattered to the floor as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and enclosed her against his chest. She was crying by now and it made his heart break. He had been flying around the kingdom bringing some winter fun when something caught his attention. Gold eyes and black sand had rocketed past him towards the castle and before he knew it he had made chase. The beast he was following was frighteningly similar to Pitch's nightmares and in an instant he was in full attack mode. He followed the beast until it vanished in the shadow of the castle and the next priority was to check on Elsa.
When he arrived outside her window he found that she was struggling in her bed, her mind gripped in a nightmare. Her face had scrunched up in pain and her arms would jerk outwards in an attempt to fight away the fear. Whatever she was experiencing must have been horribly vivid, because her whole body was protesting.
"H-how d-did you g-get i-in?" She stuttered between her sobs, hands gripping onto the front of Jack's hoodie with all her might.
He chuckled as he slowly sat down on the edge of her bed, one of his arms falling to his knee while the other rested around her shoulders. He allowed her to pull away if she wished, but for now she didn't. "You left your window unlocked." He explained in a soft tone, wishing to soothe her as best he could. "And when I saw you having a nightmare, I came in to wake you up."
She pressed her face into his shoulder then, her hand relaxing against the front of his tunic as she slowly calmed down. After a few sniffles and a hiccup or two the tears stopped and she fully disengaged from him, sitting quietly at his side. Her hands roamed up and began to fuss with her massive bed head and to her horror Jack chuckled at her!
Her cheeks and ears burned a bright pink as she glared at him, "What's so funny?!" She demanded, which was met with a wide grin instead.
"Nothing Els, you're just funny. It's three in the morning and you're fussing about your hair?" He pointed to the clock on the wall near her bed to prove his point and when she looked at it in disbelief he laughed heartier. "Not to mention you just woke up from a nightmare, so stop worrying about how you look." His hand reached up to pry one of hers from the mess that was her tangled hair. "You look fine for a half asleep Queen."
She smacked his arm again while averting her gaze to conceal her blush. No one had ever said such nice things to her. And to top that off no man, sitting on the edge of her bed, at three in the morning, had said such nice things to her. Realization suddenly smacked Elsa hard and she let out a shriek of mortification as she grabbed the covers and yanked them up over the front of her body up to her neck. She was in her nightgown! Jack lost his balance from the force of her sheets being yanked out from under him and nearly fell ungracefully to the floor. He caught himself however and when he got sight of Elsa - now completely entrenched in her covers -he lost it. His head fell back as he laughed as heartily as he could, his arms circling around his sides as the hysterical laugh let loose from his throat. He fell back onto the bed as he continued to laugh, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes as he tried in vain to get a grip.
Elsa's cheeks and ears were so red she would put the ripest tomato to absolute shame. Jack was laughing at her! Her eyebrow twitched as she pulled a foot back and with a mighty kick, pushed him right off the foot of her bed. He rolled and crashed to the floor with a clatter and soon the laughter was pierced by a few groans here and there. He was still snickering and chuckling well after he had been ejected from the bed.
With a roll of her eyes Elsa grabbed her robe from the nearby rack and threw it on before tying the knot and walking around her bed. She found Jack spread out completely on her floor, his left arm high above his head and his right draped over his eyes. His legs were spread wide and he was as limp as a boned fish. His chest still shook with sporadic laughter as he lay there, like he wasn't aware of the smoldering fury that was building up at his feet.
Well that wasn't entirely true, she wasn't smoldering with fury, but she was rather upset at him. First he breaks into her room, comforts her from her nightmare and then has the audacity to laugh at her! She kicked at his foot with her own and glowered down at him, but when a single bright blue eye peeked out from under his arm she felt the anger die in her throat. Her previously tense shoulders relaxed and soon she found herself trying to contain a giggle that was forcing its way out. How could she be mad at him? It was his nature to be goofy and stupid and there was just something so endearing about it all.
She rolled her eyes and sat down on the edge of her bed again, hands moving to play with her hair subconsciously. She tended to do it when she was nervous or didn't know what to do with her hands. She heard Jack chuckle, roll over and get to his feet before feeling him sit on the edge of the bed next to her.
There was a good amount of space between them this time however, which was both welcome and confusing. She wanted him to be closer, but knew that any closer would be improper. As the conflicting feelings raged within her mind her fingers worked diligently to fix her hair into a coherent braid. When she managed to get it as best as she could she tossed it over her shoulder but found that her bangs hung over her eyes. Letting out a gruff she was about to move them aside when the feeling of Jacks warm fingers gliding over her forehead stopped her. He took a particularly long piece of hair and smoothed it behind her ear and when she met his eyes she found that they were warm and soft.
They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, each one lost in the eyes of the other. Something electric seemed to pass between them and pull them forward like magnets and without even realizing what they were doing the two were leaning towards one another. The closer they got the stronger the spark seemed to grow. They were mere inches from one another when a yawn forced itself from Elsa's throat.
Jack laughed and pulled back, shaking his head to ward off the daze he had been in before smiling down at Elsa. "Someone's tired." He commented, his smile turning into a grin as she tried to fight down another yawn.
"I'm…" Another yawn, "Not…" She said only to have her eyes become increasingly heavy.
Jack chuckled and shook his head he averted his gaze to the wall across the way, but didn't move to get up. Silence fell between them and from the corner of his eye he could see Elsa struggling to stay awake. Knowing she'd be asleep soon, he decided to just talk to her and ease her into a comfortable slumber. "So…" He began, "How long have you been having nightmares? It's been a while since you've had one huh?"
Elsa shrugged and rubbed at one of her eyes as she fought down another yawn. "Since I was a child." She explained but when Jack turned his piercing gaze to her she felt compelled to elaborate. "They're always sporadic and never really a chronic thing. I would get a few bad ones and then nothing for months." She shrugged then, taking her eyes from Jacks so she could look at the swinging pendulum of her grandfather clock. "They're not as bad as they seem really."
Jack sighed and shook his head, "No one should have nightmares. Especially you." He allowed his gaze to linger on Elsa's profile. He liked the way her cheeks turned rosy when he would compliment her and found that look suited her rather well.
Comfortable silence filtered between them, and Elsa was loosing an uphill battle to stay awake. Her shoulders drooped and her head would now and then drop or lull to the side and she would have to blink several times to keep her eyes open. Jack had to bite his lip to stop from chuckling at her.
However in the end, sleep won out and without even thinking Elsa laid her head upon Jack's shoulder and dozed off. Jack chuckled softly and while gently cradling Elsa in his hands slowly eased her back down onto her pillow. He pulled the blankets up over her and once sure she was comfortable stood straight and smiled down at her.
"Go to sleep Els, I'll be here when you wake up." He said softly as he made his way to the still open window. He climbed outside and onto the ledge before he crouched down and got ready to close it. He hesitated however when he saw Elsa sleepily looking towards him.
"Good night Jack." She murmured as her eyes finally closed for good.
Jack smiled, whispering, "Good night, Els," before closing the window. He turned to sit on the window's ledge, a warm feeling beginning to pool in his chest as he looked out to the bright, full moon above.
Horatio stood stoically before a headstone in a massive cemetery. His cane rested in his hands as he stared for long moments down at the old gravestone. His amber eyes scanned the surface, reading the names over and over and over again. The air was still and silent around him as he stood, neither a muscle moving nor an eye blinking. He heard footsteps approach him but did not turn to acknowledge his new companion. He heard them stop beside him, but his eyes were trained upon the stone, all else washed from his vision and his mind.
"A cemetery. Even for you that's rather morbid." He heard the voice say. It was a man, with a deep baritone voice and a carefree, light tone. Still, the Lord of Time did not turn to see his new companion.
"A curious thing – the tombstone – why place a marker that holds so much sadness? And why make it of something that is almost immune to my touch…" He mused to himself and his companion, eyes scanning the small cracks and chips that had formed on the corners of the stone. It must have stood here for a very long time and yet it showed barely any signs of aging or crumbling. It stood strong against the elements and defiantly against time – against him.
Horatio felt the man next to him shrug his shoulders. "Perhaps people come here to remember happiness, not sorrow."
A bitter laughter rang from Horatio's throat; his amber eyes grew just a little darker as he now glared at the tombstone before him. It was almost as if the simple stone had spit a curse at him, for he was seething in his bones. His hands gripped the handle of his cane so hard his knuckles turned white and his yellowing teeth gnashed together as he snarled silently at the unassuming stone. "There is nothing happy about death." He grit out.
"I don't think people come here to remember death Horatio, I think they come here to remember life. Death is easy, life is hard." The voice said understanding laced within his tone.
Reaching into his pocket, Father Time withdrew his pocket watch and flipped open the top. He read the hands upon the face and then looked to the stone. He snapped the watch closed with a flick of the wrist and gripped it hard within his palm; his long nails dug into the butt of his hand. "It doesn't matter what they come here for. They always come to me first."
"You think he'll come to you for this particular stone?" The voice asked, and Horatio got the notion that the man had pointed nonchalantly at the headstone before them. He sounded rather unconvinced.
Horatio shrugged, as if indifferent to truly answer. "Of course he will. Who else would he choose?"
"I think we know the answer to that."
"He will choose this."
"But we've seen it."
"Things can change."
"Not these things."
The banter back and forth effectively silenced the Elder Guardian as he stared at the stone before him. His eyes bore into the flat surface as if trying to pry the knowledge from its depths. If there truly was more to this stone than meets the eye, why was it that it still stood? If he truly cared for who rested beneath this stone he would come for her. Horatio allowed his eyes to blink as he relaxed his hands upon his cane. "I am Time. I said he'll come for this stone and so it shall be."
"We will see." Said the Voice.
With that the old Time Keeper strode away, leaving behind an empty cemetery and a headstone that read: Emma and Jackson Overland**
NOTES:
* Nightmare Jack's design was heavily inspired by Pooka Curse's OC Jokul Frosti. The design is completely their own and all rights go to them for their amazing art and character design. Check them out, they're very talented and do amazing work!
**Emma Overland – "Emma" has been a name I've seen used for Jacks sister throughout the fandom, so I figured I'd use it. "Overland" is Jack's official last name. I also figured that Jack and his sister would be buried either right next to each other or on top of each other because of their close relationship and Jack's early death.
