Tooth groaned and rubbed her temples gently after her head ache began to return. It wasn't exactly easy having telepathic updates on every lost tooth in the human world.
And not just this world but other ones too. Since Jack had gone and found himself a girlfriend it had occurred to her that this alternate universe he was connecting with was actually the same universe she had discovered centuries ago when she was sucked through that same portal in the Siberian wilderness while on her way to a Russian village.
As it turned out she had been to the kingdom of Arendelle me on occasion now that Jack was there so often, should she want to visit him she'd have to make her way there.
At least now he had a set place in which he could be found, if you looked at it one way, but on the other hand Jack was beginning to get lazy with balancing how much time he spent in that world rather than his own, which was pretty much a huge problem.
The guardians were like Tooth's family, and Jack since he wasn't interested in her was more like a brother to her now than he ever was and she spent her days constantly worrying that something bad would come of this.
Now she initially was jealous, but that's long since passed. She was happy for him, and she could see how happy it made him to have someone so close, but that still didn't take away from the fact that children were actually seeing him less and less in their own existence.
"Oh..." She groaned as she went over this in her head for the millionth time, "I can't stand the thought of him losing his believers... Especially after all we went to in order to GET them!" She cried silently.
Baby Tooth squeaked and nodded, worrying just as much, flitting about after her sister.
"Baby tooth, I bet you he's out there right now procrastinating!" She called waving her arm in the direction of Arendelle and then scoffed, rolling her eyes.
She hovered out and then staring at the horizon to the north, looking back at her palace she decided that finally she was going to try and intervene before anything bad could come of this.
In Arendelle it was a pretty average day, the villagers going about their business, Kristoff was returning in the late afternoon from his day out on the glaciers and lakes and Olaf had just opened a flower shop, which was... More or less just him and the village kids decorating everywhere and everything with wild flowers.
Elsa breathed in deeply and had a look at the scene below her from her window and smiled. Everything couldn't get more perfect.
She turned around and then snorted at the sight of Jack sloppily lounged across her floor, drooling on his own staff, probably completely exhausted from the crazy day/night they had had the night before.
She sat down carefully next to him and rested her hand on his side, just enjoying the silence. He was the perfect one for her, they were both cold on the outside (literally) but warm on the inside. He was childish and fun and she was serious and mature, but at heart she yearned for that place back in time before it had to be that way. he brought out the part of her which she had thought had died all those years ago.
He was innocent and didn't try to come on to her, or make her uncomfortable, and he never suggested ot tried to make her do something she didn't want to, like trying to butt into matters that didn't concern him, and he always knew when to back off and give her time alone.
On the contrary He also made sure that she ws never let to be alone for too long, bcause he didn't just care about her but about Anna too, and knew that Elsa was reclusive by nature and woud eventually become antisocial again. He was a perfect intervention.
As a matter of fact, sometimes she thought he was too perfect for her. With all his obvious and some, not so obvious, flaws aside if he were only human this could work out so well.
He may not be 'king' material but he was definitely husband worthy...
Elsa shot up out of her fantasizing and shook her head, shunning the preposterous thought from her mind. Of course that would never happen. He was immortal and she wasn't. Eventually she'd either grow too old for his childish ways, or he'd grow bored with her ever maturing personality.
she stared at the snowflakes that began forming in the room. Her heart sank and she tried to shut out the thoughts that she had just created in her heart causing her powers to spiral out.
What was wrong with her? This was stupid, she shouldn't be so upset over something like that!
She told herself to not feel it... conceal it...
The snow and ice began to recede and she took a deep breath and then stood up.
So what? Even if one day they were forced to part, it would most likely be on the best of terms, heck, it might even be happy for all she knew.
She couldn't sit there and mope, she went into this knowing he'd live forever and vice versa, he knew what he was getting into as well.
Jack stirred in his sleep as the icy patch thawed on the floor soaking his shoulder a little and he sat up, confused for a moment.
He caught the ice receding away and then, a little worried he floated up and then once on his feet strode over to where Elsa now sat, by the window.
He sat down next to her quietly but she didn't seem to notice. She had been upset before he had awoken, and he could tell that she was still remotely disturbed by something. He waved his hand and a snow bunny hopped onto her lap and then up her shoulder.
She was a little startled but then giggled as it rubbed it's translucent face on her cheek before dispelling.
"Something the matter princess?" He whispered, holding her hand carefully.
She looked at him and then her eyes flicked to the sky and then away again to the ground.
"Oh, it's nothing really. I just got worked up over something useless and I'm okay now. I'll be fine, you just keep being... perfect." she giggled and covered her face with a palm, having said, or thought rather, that specific word one too many times and the word had begun to sound silly in her mind.
Jack was still sure there was something wrong but then shrugged and then grabbing her by the wrists he flew them out the window and then brought them up to their favourite part of the roof.
There they laid back and stared at the blue summer sky and talked about little things here and there. Eventually the topic of sisters came to be.
"Yeah, So I guess I had a sister once, but I lost all my memory of her when I became who I am now." He admitted.
Elsa furrowed her brows and looked at him, "You did? Why did you forget about her?" she asked.
Jack sighed and shrugged. "I dunno, but for some reason when I became who I am I lost all my memories of my whole life, even the fact that I had a life before I was this." he continued.
"How did you get it back then?" She asked.
"Teeth. My teeth..." he said.
He only seconds later realised what he had just done, Elsa was giving him the "um-okay-will-you-elaborate-please" look and he was going to have to tell her about Tooth.
"Uh.. It's a long story.. basically when I got my baby teeth back it unlocked all my childhood memories and I have been able to remember my life... vaguely... ever since." he continued.
Elsa was still confused and shook her head, "But how did your teeth do that? was there something significant about them?"
Jack groaned mentally and then offered, "I dunno, it was just sort of magic? I was stuck in the middle of antarctica and I'd been thrown in a gorge, I just guess something triggered me and I remembered. Anyway I guess the reason I forgot my life unlike the other guardians was because I actually died before I became like this, but they were all alive." He tried changing the subject by admitting the fact that he was actually dead.
Elsa's eyes widened at this and then she looked away, ready to stop pressuring him for answers. She hadn't meant to pry so much, but she couldn't be blamed for being intruiged.
"Sorry," she began, "it was just... my sister lost her memories of my powers, and it was really unfair on her to never truly know. And even now that she knows my powers... she still hasn't found out why I had to hide them. I still haven't told her properly what happened." She admitted.
Jack looked to her and then asked, "Why don't you just tell her? is it too difficult or... do you just not know how to go about it?"
She shook her head and then replied, "Well, I guess that's a lie sort of. I have told her, but she doesn't believe me. She can't remember it, and all her memories have been altered and changed. some of it was left the same, Pabbie the troll king said so, but a whole lot of our lives has been taken from her and I just.."
Jack was catching on, "Why didn't you ask him to give them back? can he do that?"
"No, Kristoff actually asked him first and he was told that just like ice in your heart, it's harder to take out than it is to put in but with memories it's reverse. You can change the memories but putting them back the way they were is not easily done. he mentioned... he mentioned something about teeth. That's all." she finished.
Jack smiled sadly at her and then as he thought further about it, he decided maybe he should go and talk to this Pabbie and those trolls, as stupid and unpleasant as that sounded.
"Hey, Elsa, look whatever it is that's bothering you," he held her face and kissed her nose, "It's going to be okay!" he flew up and then they waved a short goodbye.
Tooth shivered and shook the last bits of snow off her wings and feathers and then rubbed her arms, looking around. Naturally this side of the kingdom has stayed the same, as had most of the scenery.
"Okay... now I just have to remember to be cool about it. I'm not trying to get in the way, I just want him to be more responsible! I'm not jealous, I'm happy for him. Okay, I can do this!" She muttered.
Suddenly a foreign voice appeared, "Yeah, sounds like you got a real problem there sweet heart." Tooth practically screamed and some feathers of hers fell out when a little stone woman appeared from behind a conveniently shaped bush.
Suddenly a million little stone people unrolled themselves and then crowded around to look at her.
She shook nervously at these strange new creatures, but clearly they meant no harm so she tried starting off with some manners, "Oh.. Um, hello, I'm tooth, you know... the-"
"Tooth Fairy?!" one of the little ones piped up, t which Tooth lit up and nodded, her nervousness going away almost instantly.
"Oh, so you've all heard of me! I didn't know any other creatures but humans knew.. I mean, I do only collect human teeth after all..." she began,
The woman from earlier spoke up again, "Why of course we know about you dear, we were here when you discovered this place!" she explained.
"And we've been expecting your return!" another one said.
Tooth was a little confused but decided just to ask, "Wait, how have you been expecting me? what is there some prophecy of something?" she guessed.
"No, not at all dear, actually a young man just stopped by speaking about you. Said he was looking to find our daughter in law's memories from her childhood. He's a very sweet boy, you know. He treats our Anna like his own sister!" She gushed.
Tooth hummed suspiciously, "He was asking about me then? Well he sure knows the right person to go to... or did you tell him that?" she asked flying alongside the trolls as they lead her away to the middle of their little home.
When they were there Pabbie, the king troll, explained that despite Elsa's efforts to revive her sister's memories She refused to believe her, or simply couldn't.
"As a result of my tampering I've caused her to be unable to fathom such a thing happening because I took all magic out from her life. It was okay at first because we never intended for her to find out about Elsa's powers again." he explained.
Tooth understood what they hoped that she could do for Anna, but at the same time she wondered.
"Why? Why would she want to remember something if it was something so terrible? Isn't it better to leave her this way, and let her never know?" She asked. Her purpose was to remind people of the good memories of child hood, not the bad ones like nearly being killed by their sisters.
"Yes, but you see, it's not just that, Because she was hit in the head she already had some memory loss to begin with which is why she has such difficulty coming to terms with it. I could only fix the ones she already had still. It wasn't obvious at first but from what your friend Jack tells us, it's clear that the problem is bothering Elsa, and it's also bothering him very much. They just want her to know the truth."
She could understand that but still was finding it against her nature to do something like this. and besides, she had come to this world with a different intention in mind.
"There's something else I need to do first. I'll see what I can do about Anna, but right now I need to speak with Jack. Do you know where he went after he stopped by here?" she asked.
They were able to point her in the direction of the north mountain and with a whole new situation to worry about in the back of her head she trudged on.
"Oh, you worry about other people more than you should..." she scolded herself.
Finally she reached the mountain, but she wasn't expecting what she saw.
It was constructed completely of Ice, almost glass like and it towered above her, even in mid air. This must be the ice castle he was going on about. humbled by it's presence she floated to the ground and gingerly took a few steps up the staircase leading precariously over a gorge and onto the landing where the tall and cold doors stood.
She knocked three times and then marveled as it opened on its own.
For a moment in the main room, possibly even the ballroom, but she wasn't sure, she was totally lost in it's beauty, as on the inside it was tens of times better than it's outer appearance.
She touched the engravings in the walls gently and traced the snowflake patterns and the random spirals and other shapes that decorated the walls and floor.
"It really is as great as you always said it was." She muttered.
Up by the roof Jack watched her half in shock and half in exasperation as she continued on. His heart beat rapidly and he swore he was sweating despite being in a below-zero temperature.
He took some deep breaths and then hurried off to Elsa's room and peeked in. She was sitting by the window gazing out into the distance.
"Jack?" she called. Jack flinched at his name but then was quick to recuperate. He flew over to her and sat by her side.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Are you sure we can really help Anna get back her memories? I mean your friend doesn't even know us, and they sounds like they're so busy all the time.. what if they won't help.. what if they can't?" Elsa began to worry.
Earlier that day he had flown off and spoken to the trolls. They knew about tooth but just hadn't been fully aware of her capabilities. Jack had told her in the least obvious way possible that his 'friend' could help her out. They had then moved to her ice castle and here they were.
Jack was still distracted with the fact that Tooth happened to actually be IN th castle right now and was late in his response, "I-it'll be okay, I'm their friend I'm sure they'll be fine. You know, with it I mean, they'll be fine with it..." he awkwardly stuttered.
Elsa sternly gazed at him reading his face. He felt as translucent as the ice around them and wanted to melt into the floor to avoid the intensity of her gaze.
"What's going on Jack, you sound stressed." She asked. The walls began to turn a shade of pink. Jack cursed the Ice, which was mood sensitive and would change colour based on the tension levels and emotions within the room.
Elsa gasped and looked around and then back at Jack, questioningly.
"N-nothing, it's just something unrelated that I'm worried about, it's fine!" he assured her, but she wasn't taking it.
"I'm not so sure I can believe you Jack, something is clearly wrong and you're not telling me!" She raised her voice a little,
Tooth was taken out of her distraction and followed the voices, noticing the ceiling above her turning a bright scarlet colour, half red and half amber.
"What's going on up there?" she whispered to herself.
By the time she had flown up the stairs, Elsa was standing over Jack, her hands on her hips and an unimpressed look on her face. Tooth paused and stared at the display.
"E-elsa, please if it was important I would tell you." He tried.
Elsa scoffed and haughtily responded, "If it wasn't important the walls wouldn't have turned red, you can't hide from me Jack, something is wrong and you KNOW how I feel about secrets!" She said in a slightly calmer voice. the orange in the room on her side began to dwindle into a more yellow colour as she tried to gain her composure.
Tooth narrowed her eyes and her feathers ruffled seeing someone talk this way to her friend. She knew it was none of her business but the fear in his eyes was so strong. What was he so afraid of? Didn't he trust this girl? And why was she so persistent if something was clearly bothering him?
Jack began to take some deep breaths too and the color red began to fade away to a pink and Elsa backed up giving him some space. Then just as he had almost gotten away with this his eyesight caught a glimpse of Tooth in to door way and he impulsively yelped and the whole room creaked with a deep crimson colour and Elsa turned around to see what he was so afraid of.
And her heart sank as she caught sight of the strange girl floating there giving her a dirty look.
"Jack? What is going on? I've been looking for you everywhere!" Tooth snapped. So much for grace under pressure.
Elsa stepped forward and then in as calm a voice as she could asked, "I'm sorry but we're busy right now. If you could please leav-" she was cut off by Tooth flying up to her and hovering to be taller than her,
"No, actually I think YOU should be the one leaving! Can't you see he's clearly uncomfortable, and you keep on pestering him! If he doesn't want to talk about something then take a HINT and give him some space!" she stated haughtily.
Elsa narrowed her eyes and then looked at Jack and back at her.
"Oh... I see how it is." She whispered.
Spikes of ice began to form in the heart of the castle where they were. Jack looked around frantically cursing himself tenfold.
"TOOTH! WHY did you have to just.. just SHOW UP? You couldn't have waited for me to get BACK? what was SO important that you had to hop dimensions just to tell me something?" He yelled at her, so enraged he instinctively tried to push the blame onto her.
She looked shocked and hurt. All she was trying to do was stand up to her for him. her feathers drooped and she was about to apologise for being out of line, but Elsa wasn't called the Snow Queen solely based on her powers.
'No! Say no more. You both can leave this place, and YOU!" She pointed at jack a few icicles leaving her fingers as she swung out her arm, "You HID this girl from me? And you expected me not to find out? I can't believe I've.. I've fallen for this! I can't believe it!" she cried.
Jack tried to back it up, "No! no, no, no, no, no you don't understand! I wasnj't "hiding her" from you! I... just.."
"You 'just' what? Jack?" she hissed at him.
"I thought there would be problems if you found out I knew another girl... and well..." he muttered.
"So you take me as the jealous and vengeful kind of person who would even CARE? You just ASSUMED?" She confronted him again, this time tooth joined in having been totally oblivious to the whole thing.
"Jack, you didn't tell her about me? How could you do something like that? What is there to hide if there isn't anything between us?" She asked, albiet more quietly than Elsa but still jsut as hurt.
Elsa glanced around the room and then at Tooth, half angry and half guilty. "I'm sorry I lashed out at you. This incompetent idiot is in the wrong here. I ask that you both leave so I can compose myself." She looked at Jack and then whispered, "I'll decide what to do you YOU later."
Tooth flew by Jack, who was from a thrid person perspective completely untouched or harmed by the words being said, but on the inside he was shattered. He should have just told her, and he shouldn't have assumed that of her.
He had ruined everything. Unhinging a window he leapt off and let the wind carry him. Tooth stayed a while longer in the corner, concerned for Elsa and following her figure as she paced back and forth with her eyes.
Elsa was muttering something to herself and then half way through it instead of being angry or sad, she started ironically laughing. It was a combination of laughing and crying.
"Are you sure you're okay?" she whispered.
Elsa looked up and then sighed shakily. "The last time this happened was when my sister told me I'd accidentally frozen my own kingdom in the middle of summer. It's just ironic that I'm in the same place... chanting the same thing to myself..." She muttered.
He slid down to the ground and sat with her knees up against her chest. Tooth sat down by her side and placed a hand on her shoulder, to which Elsa was a little frightened at first but then welcomed the friendly gesture.
"You sound pretty close with your sister." Tooth began, recalling the conversation she had with the trolls.
"Yeah. We were such great friends when we were little. We're working on getting close like that again." she looked at the open window and then sighed.
"Jack... he's really been a great help in doing that for us. He's brought us together... so much..." She told her.
"Yah. He has a habit of making people happy. He's the Guardian of Fun after all." she replied.
there was a silence and they stared out into space, just being in each other's company for a while.
She looked at Tooth and then smiled. "You're... really pretty." she said, a little lost for words at the moment.
Tooth laughed and blushed. "You're pretty too. Really you're nothing like I imagined you, even from what he's told me about you."
Elsa snorted and then shook her head. "So he tells you and not me."
Tooth stood up and tried to think of something to cheer her up with. She couldn't think of anything very good, but ... teeth.
She looked up and gasped, remembering the teeth and the trolls. The room was turned a lavender-like cyan and Elsa got up too.
"What's the matter?" She asked.
Tooth grabbed her hand and then said, "Elsa, the trolls I ran into on my way here told me you wanted to get your sister's memories back, right?" she asked
Elsa was a little bewildered but nodded. When had the trolls come into this? How did... nevermind. She listened in as tooth contiued.
"Well, you know, Jack is the Guardian of fun, but I happen to be the Guardian... of Memories!" She replied happily.
Elsa's eyes widened and then it all made sense. Jack's blabber earlier about his teeth and his past... it was almost too perfect.
"Is that why you came here?" she asked.
Tooth shook her head, "It was something else, something a little petty even, but I promise you that I'll put this first. I sort of caused a bit of trouble between you and Jack, but I can help you with your sister! All you need to do is find your sister and come back here. I'll go get your teeth and maybe we can fix things again!"
She held Elsa's hands tightly and then added on, "I can help you remember all those good times, that have been clouded over with the bad! You'll see..." she promised.
Elsa nodded and then Tooth flew out the window. Without further ado, and still a little confused, Elsa set out to go find Anna.
To be continued...