Author's note: Hi! So, since I posted a chapter early, and I've been wanting to write this chapter down, and I don't want you guys to wait long for the next update, here's Chapter 11. Hope you enjoy :) As usual, reviews are more than welcome, and faves/follows are deeply appreciated. Thanks for continuing to read my story guys! :")

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the story line and plot of this story.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Jack
Cold Descent

"Elsa!" Jack yelled. He had just gotten back from picking up food from Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna, which he paid for by leaving behind a small ice statuette of the Arendelle castle. It wasn't his best work, but he had hoped that it would still be worth a fortune—and it should, as he spent the entire morning trying to get the tiniest details right. He inadvertently dropped the food on the palace balcony along with his overcoat, which he had taken off upon landing, when he saw Elsa standing on the ravine's edge, her beautiful blue gown in tatters. Behind her was a man he knew all too well from the stories he heard; it was Pitch, the Boogeyman, a long since defeated enemy of the Guardians—along with twenty or so shadow monsters. He didn't understand why they were there, and what they wanted with Elsa. He shouted her name to get her attention, but she didn't seem to hear him.

But the shadow monsters did.

Pitch pointed at Jack, his silvery eyes glinting maliciously, and the monsters took off in his direction, evaporating from solid figures to their ghostly appearances. Elsa was still teetering over the gorge's edge as if in trance while Pitch seemed to be speaking to her. Whatever he was saying, Jack saw that it made Elsa take another step closer to the gorge.

He dove, leaving behind the food and his overcoat, his staff at the ready. He blasted the monsters out of the air; one touch of his staff causing them to solidify to ice and crash back to the earth. He got distracted however, when he saw Elsa take yet another step—a shadow monster slammed right into him, ramming him against the ice palace's wall. He hit his head hard, his vision blurring for a few brief seconds. When his vision cleared, he raised is staff just in time as another monster came right at him, its long fingers ready to grab him, freezing it instantly.

Snow fell from the edge as Elsa stepped closer to it—she was about to fall forward. Jack pushed off the wall with all his might, shooting like a bullet through the air, too fast for the monsters to catch him. But Pitch saw him, and from the shadows on the ground, he conjured a large scythe made of shiny black metal that Jack didn't recognize. He swung it at Jack, the scythe long enough to reach him that he had to hit the deck into the snow. He rolled out of the way just as Pitch came bearing down on him, slamming his scythe down so hard that the ground shook. The force of the swing startled Elsa, breaking her from her reverie, causing her to lose her balance. She yelped as she slipped and fell, but Jack caught her by the waist with the hook of his staff just in a nick of time. He pulled her up, both of them tumbling to the ground away from the edge. Jack stood quickly, swinging his staff around at Pitch. He simply deflected Jack's blasts with his scythe; for a large weapon, it seemed as light as his wooden staff, as Pitch flung it around effortlessly. "I thought Boogeymen stayed under beds," Jack snarled angrily, aiming his staff at him and the remaining monsters that surrounded them.

"Do not call me that," the Boogeyman hissed, "I will not be called that condescending name given to me by children."

Jack scoffed. One of the shadow monsters growled at him, but Pitch held it off, raising a hand in restraint. "You have no business here," Jack said, "or have you just come to pine over how the Guardians kicked your ass?"

"Watch your mouth, Frost," Pitch warned, a menacing grin tugging at the corners of his lips, "You ruined my plans the last time you faced my Fearlings, but I suppose I should still thank you."

"Oh, yeah? For what? Killing your precious Fearlings?"

The Boogeyman chuckled maliciously. "No, you daft boy," he said, "for her."

Jack didn't understand what he meant, and he didn't get the chance to ask. Pitch and his Fearlings turned into shadows, crawling on the snow beneath his feet and into the depths of the gorge. Jack followed suit, diving a few feet down after them. His staff gave off an ominous blue glow as he shot blasts of ice, aiming for nothing in particular, just the darkness below him. When he was satisfied and sure that not a Fearling was in sight (which was hard to discern in the darkness), he flew back up; he felt his forehead crease with worry for Elsa when she was nowhere to be seen.

"Elsa?" he called, looking around. The sky above was still dark and steely gray, snow dust falling gently from the clouds. But Jack didn't stop to marvel. He flew through the doors, forcing them open, hovering above Elsa's frozen fountain. "Elsa, where are you?" he bellowed, spinning in a circle and still not finding her. He shot up the stairs, practically leaping off the walls and railings in his haste. He reached the chandelier chamber, zooming past it so quickly that he nearly overlooked her; she was sitting on the floor, clutching at her heart, her head down. "Elsa," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank God you're alright. I swear, if that Boogeyman comes back I'll—"

"Tell me it isn't true," she whispered. Though her voice was small, it echoed in the chamber, cutting through Jack's heart like a blade. Jack froze on the spot, his feet suddenly rooted on the ground mid-step. She looked up at him, her eyes swollen and her tearstained face slightly flushed red. Jack paused. "What are you talking about?" he asked quietly. His chest felt tight, his breathing shallow. His hearted pounded in anticipation. His gut told him that he already knew what she meant; he felt his staff vibrate in his grip.

"Who gave me my powers, Jack?" she demanded, her voice rising. She stood up, her bloodshot eyes staring daggers at him. The sky outside darkened; it looked as if it was already nighttime. The walls of her ice castle began to change in color—from deep, ocean blue to bright, blinding amber. Jack was at a loss for words. Of course he knew the answer to her question, but he couldn't find the strength to speak. His muscles felt weak, and though Elsa was a few feet away from him, he felt the tension in the air radiating from her. "Answer me!" she yelled at him.

He flinched, dropping his gaze—which only confirmed what Elsa already knew.

She broke down and sobbed, running her hands through her braid, clutching the sides of her head like a mad woman. She turned her back to him. "All this time..." she gasped in between sobs, "... I-I thought P-Pitch was lying. I didn't believe him when he showed me..."

"What did he show you?" he asked. Elsa didn't answer; she continued to sob, drowning out his voice. "Elsa, what did he show you?"

"EVERYTHING!"

She shot at him, raising sharp ice shards from the ground with a wave of her hand. Jack flew up to avoid the icy stalagmites, their pointed tips tickling his foot. "HE SHOWED ME WHAT HAPPENED! HE SHOWED ME WHAT YOU'VE DONE! HE SHOWED ME EVERYTHING!" Elsa growled. Her eyes narrowed, her dark gaze following him as he wove in and out of the air, narrowly avoiding the ice spikes she conjured.

"I was going to tell you—" he began, only to dive back down as another shard sprouted, this time from the wall, shooting past his ear. "—I can explain—"

"ALL THIS TIME, YOU KEPT THE TRUTH FROM ME!" she bellowed, her jabs getting faster now, sending pointed ice as thin as needles like arrows at him. She had good aim; he flew up, down, and around, missing each icicle only by a hair. "YOU MADE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU SO IT WOULD EASE YOUR CONSCIENCE, DIDN'T YOU?"

"No, Elsa!" he said, pleading, deflecting an icicle with a wave of his staff. He landed on the ground in front of her, his arms extended in a cautious manner. His staff was glowing, the energy contained within pulsing under his fingertips. "What I feel for you is real—"

"LIES!"

Elsa threw her hands up, and a column of sharp ice shot up from the chamber floor, aimed right for his heart. Jack's eyes widened; upon instinct, he gripped his staff hard with both hands and slammed it in front of him. The column Elsa created parted at his staff like the Red Sea with a mighty bang that reverberated off the walls, shaking the entire castle and the chandelier above. The force pushed Jack backward, his knees braced against the impact. The chamber was filled with bright white light and bluish white powder that drizzled over them. When the dust cleared, he saw Elsa getting up from the ground; it seemed as though she, too, was thrown back by the blast. The glow of his staff dimmed like a dying ember until it faded away. Jack saw that the ice column was entirely split in two, its spikes pointing outward on the sides instead of their original direction. There was a large crack on the center of the snowflake design on the floor from the tip of Jack's staff to Elsa's toes. Jack swallowed, walking slowly to Elsa. He made a move to help her get up, but she waved his hand away weakly. "I trusted you," she whispered.

"Trust me now, please—"

"Why should I?" she snapped. Tears fell from her eyes and onto her lap.

"You said that you would accept me, all of me, regardless of my past," he snapped back. She finally looked at him, her defeated blue eyes boring into his soul that he almost felt guilty for raising his voice. He sighed and shook his head, running his hand through his hair exasperatedly, taking deep and calming breaths. "You don't know how many times I wanted to tell you, Elsa—I tried so damn hard. I was supposed to tell you today because you deserved to know the truth before you decide if you still loved me. But I was scared—I was scared of losing you because I love you and I'm that selfish."

She was silent, tears slipping out of the corners of her eyes with her consent. "Whatever Pitch showed you is just his way of manipulating you, Elsa. Please, believe me—"

"That's all everyone ever does to me!" she yelled, standing up and walking away from him to her balcony. He followed her, watching her pace and throw her arms around angrily as she spoke. "You, Pitch... you're all the same. I thought you were different. When we first met, I thought, finally, someone who understands me, someone who's not afraid of me."

"But I do understand—"

"No, you don't!"

He grabbed her by the arms, turning her to face him and forcing her to look at him. They were so close that he felt her breath all over his face, spreading heat throughout his entire being. They were so close that he saw the lighter blue specks in the pattern of her eyes that was entirely unique from his own. "Elsa, I've been on my own for a hundred years. I know what it's like to be alone. And not a day goes by that I don't regret what I've done to you, that the guilt doesn't swallow me whole whenever you blamed the powers I didn't mean to give you," he said, his voice quieting down to barely a whisper in the end. Her breathing hitched and she was still, her fists balled tightly at her sides, her pulse quickening. He could kiss her right now, but he stopped himself. Jack inhaled deeply, breathing in her lovely scent, and with all the sincerity that he could muster, he said, pleadingly, begging, "If it still means anything now, I am truly, very, deeply sorry."

Elsa looked into his eyes as he looked into hers. He longed to caress her face and wipe that stray tear from her cheek; just as he was about to, Elsa stepped away from him, shrugging his grip off of her shoulders. He was frozen in place, his mouth slightly parted, watching her back away from him. She hugged herself, wiping that tear with the back of her hand, her eyes on the floor.

"Leave," she said.

She wouldn't meet his eyes. Jack's heart felt like it froze over and shattered into a million tiny pieces. His vision blurred, and for the first time, he felt out of balance, like the world around him was shifting rapidly. He was lightheaded, and he was panting and having difficulty to catch his breath. His chest felt constricted, his entire being hurting to the core. He wanted to collapse right now. "What?" he asked. He had to make sure he heard her right, otherwise he won't accept it.

"I said," Elsa repeated, "leave." She was struggling to get her words across; it was almost as if her body rejected saying the word, and that she had to physically fight to get herself to say it twice. He felt that she didn't want him to leave—he knew that she didn't want this. But as she turned and walked back inside, with the doors closing silently behind her, what remained of that hopeful spark in Jack's heart was extinguished. He was surprised as a few silent tears cascaded down his cheeks, turning to frozen droplets before hitting the floor. Shocked with the hurt and ache in his chest, Jack took off in despair, not knowing where he was going, noticing how the sky cleared gradually, and how the snowflakes falling from the flurries above his head hung in the air as if time stopped and ceased its ticking.