Marionette
Chapter 21 - A Traitor's Due
Warnings: Sexual themes
"I know it's only been a year since you became Elsa's bodyguard, Jack. Has it been fun so far? It must be right? Spending time carelessly with a little girl that knows nothing about the truth about this corrupt world, spending time within that bloodstained household that hides it all behind the guise of a perfect family. It's disgusting, isn't it, Jack? Especially when some of the blood on their hands belongs to no one other than your parents."
"...My parents…?"
"They never wanted to abandon you, Jack. They just had no other choice. They loved you very much, wouldn't you like to show your thanks by killing all the people responsible for their cold blooded murders?"
Jack's hands trembled, wondering how he should even begin to comprehend this information that was thrown at him. He had parents that loved him and unwilling had him ripped out of their arms by a cruel twist in fate. How was he supposed to respond to that?
"Your real parents, Jack, they were noble people. The Guardians...your adoptive family never told you about them, did they? They've kept a lot of secrets from you Jack, more than you can imagine." A long sigh drew out from past the man's thin lips. "I suppose that they're just looking out for themselves in the end. If you knew who your real parents are and that the Winters killed them, it would harm the Guardians and turn you against them."
"N - North...Toothiana...they would never do that! They love me!" The young man's face fell, his expression turning dismal at the reality of the situation. He started to feel cheated, lied to - he had thought the Guardians were all people he could trust, but the glaringly harsh truth remained. They were withholding information from him. Did they just not trust him enough or did they still view him as an outsider?
"...You want answers don't you Jack? Do you want to know why you need to suffer while everyone else has it so easy? ...Don't you want to know who you are...Jack Frost?"
His blue eyes stared at the dark silhouette of the man standing before him.
"I can give you all the answers you desire, Jack. You can trust me."
"How…? How do you know all this? Why do you want to help me?"
"Because - the Winters ruined my life just like they did yours and countless others. Revenge is a powerful thing that brings upon the greatest change. Don't you agree…?"
A warm sunlight flooded the bedroom, slightly dimmed by the light green curtains that were draped over the large rectangular windows. A bundle of thick bed sheets moved slightly. Finally a puff of disheveled strawberry blond hair peeked out from the top and finally a head emerged.
Anna let out a loud yawn, sleepily blinking as she reached out her arm to feel around on her nightstand for her phone. When she grabbed the device, she brought it towards her and stared at the display screen to look at the time. It was a little bit past noon already. With a low groan, she slapped the phone down on the pillow above her head as she burrowed her face deeper into the warmth of her bed sheets provided her. Even though her sister loved the cold weather, Anna hated it. It was an absolute torture to try and wake up in the mornings when it was chilly.
With much difficulty, she moved slowly, knowing that she needed to get up eventually. She sat herself up in bed, her thick bed sheets resting over her head like a hood. Her blue eyes were unfocused in a sleepy daze as she stared off into nothing for the longest of time before she moved again. She grunted as she ungracefully stumbled off her bed and let out a soft whimper from how cold the air felt in her room. Although the sun was out, Anna knew that it would be another cold day. She had to remind Wendy to turn on the heaters as soon as she got out of the shower.
Anna grabbed her green bathrobe and slipped it over herself. It provided some warmth, but not too much, not as much as she wanted at least. She opened the door to her room and shivered even more at the feeling of even colder air sweeping past her. Compared to her room, the hallways were even worse.
She walked around, hoping to locate Wendy somewhere without venturing too far. The thought of using the intercom built into the house did not occur to her as she stumbled down the hallway. She passed by Elsa's study, then past one of the bathrooms. That was when the door to it opened up.
Kristoff walked out, still in the same clothes he had been wearing last night and apparently having just woken up as well. He rubbed his eyes and the two locked gazes for a second before sleepily mumbling to each other 'good morning,' even though it was past noon. They nearly went their separate ways before a realization dawned on Anna.
Her blue eyes shot open wide and she whipped around towards Kristoff, who had already begun trudging back towards the guest bedrooms. "Wait a minute!" she screeched.
The lumbering blond man stopped in his tracks and simply looked over his shoulder at her. "...Huh?" he mumbled back.
"Don't 'huh' me!" she shouted, "what are you doing here! I thought you left last night!"
"Your sister's bodyguard or butler or whatever told me I should stay. The snowstorm last night was intense - "
Anna cut him off with a loud scoff as she placed her hands on her hips. "All the other guests left! Why didn't you - ?" She stopped when she saw Kristoff walking off, still in his sleep-induced daze, completely ignoring her. "Hey!" she shouted out after him, "don't just walk off when I'm talking to you! ... Kristoff!" The young girl let out a frustrated growl, a hot blush across her face. She stormed off, intent on searching for her older sister. Again, the thought of using the intercom did not cross her mind.
She did not have to go far to find her, luckily. Elsa was in the downstairs lounge, presumably looking for a change in setting for her studies since she had all of her schoolwork laid out in front of her on the long coffee table. Sitting across from her was Jack, who seemed to be helping her out with some paperwork.
"Elsa!" she snapped, catching the attention of the couple.
"Oh, Anna," the platinum blond said as she pulled herself away from her studies. "What's wrong?" She quirked up an eyebrow as she looked over her. "Why aren't you dressed?"
"I wanted to find Wendy so that she could turn on the heater since it's so cold in here - "
"Is it?" Jack asked her, adjusting his thick black rimmed reading glasses, earning him a sharp glare from the red head. He quickly averted his eyes back down to the documents in his hands, wordlessly, hoping to avoid getting caught in the ensuing crossfire.
Anna returned her attention back onto Elsa. "On the way, I ran into Kristoff!" she snapped.
"Oh, Jack told me. He wanted to leave last night, but it was almost 2 AM and he needs to take the public buses. Most of them stopped running because of the snowstorm, so Jack suggested that he stay here for the night. I thought it was fine. We have plenty of guest bedrooms after all."
"You guys should have told me!" Anna huffed. "He saw me in my pajamas just now!" She looked mortified, letting out a whine in frustration. Anna looked mortified as she hid her wildly blushing face in her hands. "He caught me so off-guard and surprised me - !"
"Why do you care if he sees you in your pajamas?"
"Because, Elsa, he's a boy!"
" - I see you in your pajamas all the time - "
" - You don't count, Jack!"
The two stared at the young girl as if she had gone insane, which was a plausible guess with how she was overreacting to Kristoff seeing her in her pajamas. Elsa frowned slightly as Anna stormed off, stomping as she went upstairs once again.
"It's probably just hormones, plus Anna's never really a morning person anyways. Don't worry about it," Jack said with a soft chuckle, seeing the blond's worried expression.
"You sure? She was overreacting...a bit," Elsa muttered, returning her focus back to her studies. She peered up at Jack, who was being helpful at the moment and reading over a draft of her thesis, fixing any grammatical errors and general awkwardness in her wording. "Thanks," she said to him and when he blinked at her curiously, she pointed at the papers in his hand. "...I know all that business drivel isn't exactly the most interesting thing in the world."
"Please," Jack scoffed, smirking. "Try having to read through a dozen scientific articles on thermodynamics and biodegradability all in one night."
"I'll pass," she replied with a soft giggle. "Science was never my strong point." Elsa sighed, smiling as she propped her elbow up against her knee as she leaned her head against her hand. "Why did you want to do it? To get a degree in chemical engineering, I mean. It's one of the hardest degrees to get. Did you want to become an engineer?"
"No," Jack simply answered with a gentle laugh. "I'm perfectly content being your bodyguard forever."
Elsa, touched by his statement, blushed a little, but pressed on with her question. She was curious. "But if you just wanted to be a bodyguard, you could have just done any easy major...or just not attend an university at all."
The white haired man answered back, "I could have, but your father was insistent that I attend Burgess. He was willing to pay all my school fees and expenses, couldn't really turn down a generous offer like that. Plus, the Guardians really warmed up to the idea that I study chemical engineering, especially since Sandy is a professor in the field. I could help him out with some of the tech we use."
"Oh I see." It made sense to Elsa. She had always wondered why Jack decided to take up a major that usually studious bookworms like her were interested in pursuing. "I don't know how you managed to balance your schoolwork with everything else," she said, "It must have been hard."
When all Jack did was give her his signature dorky smile, coupled with a shrug of his shoulders, Elsa could not help, but laugh.
"It was alright. It could have been worse," he said, his eyes falling back to her thesis paper as he shared in her laughter with a low chuckle of his own.
"How?"
"Well...I could have been forced to read this," he replied while raising the papers in his hand.
Elsa rolled her eyes at him, before breaking out into a smirk. "You were the one that volunteered to look over it."
"Hm." Jack stood up from the sofa and walked over to her side. He plopped himself down on the sofa she was sitting on and held out her thesis in front of her. "This part sounds awkward," he said in a slightly taunting manner and with his trademark smirk.
She narrowed her eyes at him as she swiped the papers out of his hand. Darting her eyes back and forth, Elsa silently read through the part where Jack claimed that it sounded awkward. She became engrossed in searching for it, intent on arguing with him that it was written perfectly, just to wipe that smug smirk off of his face.
As she did, Jack smiled gently as he watched her so determined to prove him wrong. He found that he liked that about her. Whereas most other people would see it as an unrelenting stubbornness that would wear them out, Jack saw it as her drive to reach her goals and that was what he liked about Elsa. While she seemed passive and calm on the outside, he knew that she had a fiery, commanding spirit deep down inside of her.
"...It doesn't sound awkward!" Elsa suddenly exclaimed, "the wording just needs to be like that!"
"Really?" he asked, his voice just a decibel above a soft whisper.
"Really. It just sounds awkward to you since this part is more technical, Jack - " She stopped when she finally turned to face him. Elsa blinked, finding him uncomfortably close to her and quickly turned away. She scooted away a little, a fresh blush blooming on her cheeks from the close proximity of their bodies. "A - Anyways," she stammered out, trying to ignore the fact that he was practically boring holes through her with his stare. "That's why...I probably shouldn't...change...it - Jack!" she sharply scolded him when she felt him place a feather light kiss on the nape of her neck.
Elsa clapped her hand over the area where he kissed and practically flew back away from him. She looked at him indignantly, even more so when he flashed her a playful smirk.
"What's the matter, Ice Queen?" he asked, feigning innocence as he propped a knee up onto the sofa. He leered down at her, moving closer as she kept scooting away from him.
"Y - You know damn well what's wrong!" Elsa let out a surprised squeak when the middle of her back met the armrest of the sofa. She shrunk down, squeezing her eyes shut, and crossing her arms over her chest - subconsciously believing that doing so would ward Jack away from her.
A startled gasp escaped past her lips when she felt him gently prod her neck with his nose. No sooner did she feel his soft lips placing another kiss upon her pale skin once more. Her eyes shot open when she felt him flick out his tongue, sending shivers down her spine. The feeling felt foreign to her, but the blush upon her face intensified at the sensation. It tickled, but most of all, it felt nice.
"Ah - Jack…! Wait! My thesis - !" she protested, as he moved in closer. She held onto her papers tightly as he tried to pull them away from her clutches, just to get it out of their way. Elsa let go of the document with a sharp gasp when Jack took hold of her wrist and pressed his body up against hers, practically pinning her against the armrest.
The papers crashed onto the hardwood floors, eliciting a whine from her.
"Y - You jerk!"
" - Don't worry," he murmured, dotting kisses around her neck, "they're clipped at the top. Your papers are fine. It's only the rough draft after all. It's okay if they get a little bit messy?"
"No it's not - ah - !" Elsa immediately shut her mouth after emitting a lewd sound. She kept her lips tightly clasped together in fear of becoming too loud. As much as this act was embarrassing, she felt shockwaves of pleasureable goodness pulse throughout her body with each caress, each lick, and each kiss.
Jack pulled himself away, looking down at her curiously. "...Is it - bad?" he asked.
"H - Huh?" she managed to stammer out in her daze.
"You look like you don't like it."
Elsa came to a realization that her body language could come off in that way. Her arms were held in front of her, her eyes were squeezed shut, and her lips were in a firm line - but only to make sure that she would not elicit anymore strange noises. "No," she breathed out, shaking her head, "well - I mean - I guess not. What I mean to say is - !" She stopped when she felt him place a kiss on her cheek.
Jack pulled away again, a shy blush upon his face, and asked her, "do you...want to try it again?"
"What…?"
"Kissing - "
Elsa was confused. They had kissed plenty of times before. Why was Jack treating it as if it was their first time? Despite her skepticism, she nodded shyly and sank back against the armrest again as soon as she felt his soft lips capture hers.
It was not long before she realized what he actually meant by 'kissing.' Her entire being shivered when she felt him run his tongue over her lower lip slowly, back and forth, until she hesitantly parted her lips for him. Once he was allowed access, Jack snaked his arm around her waist and held her close, seeking to deepen the kiss.
'So that's what he meant - '
It was messy, sloppy, and uncoordinated since they were both amateurs when it came to the art of performing the open-mouthed kiss - which was to be expected since they were both each other's firsts when it came to romantic intimacy. Despite the sloppy technique and execution, it did not take away from the pleasure that Elsa felt from it.
Her small hands went up to him, briefly resting upon his chest, clutching at his dress shirt. As the kiss deepened, the sound of wet smacking growing louder and she felt herself needing more from him physically. Sensually, but still innocently, Elsa slowly wrapped her arms around his neck. She then slid the tips of her fingers underneath the collar of his dress shirt, desiring to touch more of him.
They finally pulled away with a wet pop of their lips. A thin string of saliva connected them until Elsa broke it by wiping her lips with the back of her hand. There was a new look in her blue eyes, a smoldering, heated look that captivated Jack. It was as if she was casting a spell on him, hypnotizing him to do whatever it is she wanted him to do. Needless to say, Jack fell for it.
He moved in close, crawling towards her as she led him in by a gentle tug of his necktie. Jack could have sworn that he saw the slightest bit of a smirk on her face. She was having him wrapped around her finger, but he had no complaints. He considered himself a lucky man to be at the mercy of a woman of her caliber.
Elsa brought up one of her hands to pull off his thick-rimmed glasses and promptly dropped them on the floor next to the sofa.
"Hey...I need those," he murmured in a low grumble - not that he cared too much on what happened to them as he buried his face into Elsa's flowery scented neck.
"I'll just buy you new ones if they're broken," she answered him, moving her hands over to his tie. She tugged at it insistently and ordered in a firm, but soft tone, "off." Her blue eyes narrowed, demanding that he comply with her commands.
Jack gave her a wry chuckle. He found it interesting that she would be the one that led when they were intimate, even though normally she seemed like she had no affinity towards such acts.
"Yes, Your Majesty," he replied with a smirk as he untied his tie.
Elsa frowned at the way he responded. "Don't give me that sarcasm, Frost."
"What makes you think I was being sarcastic?" he asked, pulling on one end of the tie and letting it fall onto the sofa beside Elsa's shoulder. "You're a queen simply ordering around her knight, are you not?"
Elsa drew in a sharp breath through her nose when she saw him unbuttoning his dress shirt. He stopped at the third button, giving her a teasing view of his prominent collarbone and a portion of his chest. A heavy blush tinted her cheeks and it definitely did not help her cognitive function when he leaned over close to her, providing her a generous view of his smoothly muscled torso as the shirt hung low.
"I - I am," she managed to stutter out, trying desperately to collect her thoughts before her mental state was beyond repair. She tried to avert her eyes away from the view he provided down his shirt before he would start teasing her about being a closet pervert - even though she did feel like that description would fit her well right now.
"Then...I should respond accordingly - especially since this queen has been so kind to her knight so far." Jack licked the shell of her ear, causing her to involuntarily shiver. He smirked at her reaction. "...I'd like to show my thanks," he whispered lowly, almost lustfully, earning another pleasurable shiver from the blond.
Jack's eyes fell sinfully lower, taking in every contour and detail of her slim body that the plain, tight long-sleeved teal shirt outlined perfectly. She was practically ripe for the picking - her cheeks flushed a bright red, her swollen pink lips parted slightly, and her chest heaving up and down according to each shy pant. She was tempting him greatly. He leaned down, taking the hair tie that held her braid together in his index and middle finger. He pulled it off in one fluid motion and proceeded to run his fingers through her hair, releasing the soft waved light blond locks.
Elsa drew in sharp, short breaths, clearly nervous, but slightly less fearful of him since their last intimate encounter. "Jack…" she whispered, giving him a tantalizing half-lidded gaze.
He smiled at her as he eased her down onto the sofa so that she was lying down instead of being uncomfortably pressed up against the armrest. She made a little startled noise when the tips of his fingers flitted around the hem of her shirt.
"J - Jack," she stammered out, "...we...uh -" Her mind was reeling when his hand gently eased up her shirt, revealing more and more of her taunt stomach. "Wh - What if - ah! - Wendy...what if Wendy or another servant walks in here? Or Anna?"
The young man chuckled softly, gently caressing her face with the back of his hand. "Do you want to take this upstairs then?"
Elsa wrinkled her brow as he got off of her. She fixed her shirt and warily took his hand as she said to him, "but...I think the maids are cleaning the bedrooms today."
Jack smirked, pulling her up onto her feet. "Then I guess we'll have to use another room."
She pouted a little as he led her out of the lounge. Their pace was fast - or rather - Jack's was. When they walked up the stairs, she told him in a stern, flat tone, "hey - just because I told you yesterday after that movie that I'm okay with doing these sorts of things - "
"You're the one that said it, not me," he replied, laughing lightly.
Elsa's face grew hot from embarrassment. "Still!" she exclaimed indignantly, "...aren't you a little too eager - ?!" She gasped when Jack suddenly pinned her up against the door leading into her study. There was a deafening silence between them, with Elsa staring up at Jack and him staring down at her.
Faintly from down the hall, Elsa could hear the low whirring noise of the vacuum that one of the maids were presumably running. Worried that they would see her and Jack like this in the open, she stammered out, "u - uh, Jack - ? The maid might see us..."
"...You're right."
"Huh?"
"I am eager...but only because it's you."
Elsa's heart raced at the bluntness of Jack's statement. She wordlessly stared up at him, even when she felt him cup her cheek. He was staring at her lovingly, although pensively at the same time. There was an underlying sadness reflected in his dark blue eyes and Elsa wondered why he looked that way all of a sudden.
Before she could question it, he reached behind her and twisted the doorknob. The door swung open, catching her off-guard and causing Elsa to nearly lose her balance. She stumbled backwards, letting out a frightened yelp.
Jack caught her by the waist and pulled her back towards him in a smooth motion before she could even fall. He walked her into the study and closed the door behind him just as the maid down the hall came out from one of the bedrooms.
The study was dimly lit, with only a single stand lamp in one of the corners, immersing the room in a warm, yellow glow. With the door, closed and locked behind Jack, along with the curtains drawn over the large windows, it provided the utmost privacy for the two as they stood there.
"Jack…?" she asked softly, concerned with his sudden change in mood. Elsa blinked, keeping her curious eyes on him even when she felt his hand gently touch her face. He touched her as if she was made out of the thinnest glass - lightly and with soft, gentle caresses.
He wordlessly leaned down and kissed her, pulling away slowly, and kissing her again. They were were only innocent kisses, but they were enough to send Elsa's mind into a blank state. She parted her lips slightly, expecting another kiss from him when he pulled away for the third time, but instead he hovered his lips just barely over hers and let out a wry laugh that was soon followed by a relaxed sigh. He leaned his forehead against her shoulder, keeping still and silent for several minutes.
"Jack?" she questioned him on his odd behavior. She had thought that he dragged her into her study so that they could continue from where they left off earlier, but the way he was acting now was hardly the case. He was so bright and cheery earlier, but his mood seemed to take a somber downfall at the mention of her, which struck Elsa's suspicion.
"We've been together for nine years…"
Elsa nodded her head in response. "Yeah."
"That's a long time," he muttered.
"It is." She was not quite sure what he was trying to get at, but she went along with it, wondering if she could find out why he was suddenly acting differently.
"...I wonder why I never really thought about it - about how many years have passed. Maybe it's because I never really counted our relationship in years...hm." He let out a dry chuckle. "Even with it being nine years…" his gaze dropped and his voice barely above a whisper, "...why does my heart feel this restless when I'm around you?"
Elsa blushed softly when he pulled away and took hold of her small hand.
Jack brought it to his chest and placed her palm flat over his heart. He saw her staring at her hand, then back up at him with her curious widened blue eyes.
'It's beating fast...' she thought to herself, her cheeks turning hotter as she moved her fingers slightly, feeling the smooth skin of his chest. Underneath her palm, she could feel his heart hammering away against his chest. Each beat felt strong and defined, with its tempo picking up speed the longer she kept her hand there.
A faint red tinted Jack's cheeks and he said to her, "I know I said that I would be more selfish...but, you know, it's difficult to be selfish when you love someone so much. You want to give everything to that other person, even if it means throwing away pieces of yourself in the process."
"...What are you saying, Jack?"
"I've held myself back all these years because...I'm not allowed to love you. Nine years is a long time to get over a little crush, but instead I've been falling more in love with you and…" Jack sighed in frustration. "I can't bring myself to let go of this feeling."
Elsa's breath stilled when she felt him gently brush away her hair from her neck and hook his index finger underneath the thin chain of the necklace she wore - the necklace he gave her yesterday. She silently studied his face, taking in the sullen expression he wore. Her lips pursed tightly.
"I love you, Elsa," he told her, only to be met with a retaliation, much to his surprise.
"How could you say that with such a sad look on your face?" she asked incredulously. Elsa pursed her lips tightly and bowed her head, hiding her face from him. The hand she had over his heart curled into a loose fist, which was slowly tightening out of frustration. "...I want to ignore the fact that you're clearly keeping something from me because I trust that you'll tell me sooner or later...but how could you say such things and not expect me to do anything about it?"
"Elsa - "
"You told me before that you didn't mind getting hurt by me, but you're hurting yourself more, aren't you? Why do you sacrifice yourself for my sake? What do you mean you're not allowed to love me?" Her voice increased in volume gradually. Elsa found herself getting angry with him now. He presented her with so many questions, but no definite answers. "Isn't loving someone something you do on your own terms?"
"Elsa," he sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "It's not that simple. You don't understand the circumstances that revolve around this."
"You keep saying that! Of course I don't understand, because you're not telling me anything!"
"I -" Jack let out a frustrated sigh, gritting his teeth. "I need to protect you, Elsa - "
"Jack!" She cut him off sharply, as if she was scolding a little kid. It rendered him speechless. It was the one of those rare moments where Jack heard her raise her voice to such a degree. It was a good indication that she was extremely annoyed with him.
She willed herself to relax, to bring herself down from the apex of frustration in order to carry out a proper conversation about this matter. "...Why don't you get it?" she questioned him lowly. "I never asked to be protected by you. My father was the one that hired you to protect me. Ever since we met, I thought of you as my best friend. Even after you told me that you were actually my bodyguard, my feelings never wavered, in fact...they grew, just like yours." Elsa dropped her head and raised a hand up to touch the necklace that Jack had given her. "I've thought about it and initially I did think that you were angry with me. You started acting distant a few days after we've agreed to be an actual couple, so I couldn't help, but also think that you weren't serious about the relationship in the first place."
Jack watched her as she walked over to the sofa with a heavy sigh.
"...But I know you're not that kind of person. You may act like an irresponsible goofball, but you're not the type of person to play around with another person's feelings...I realized this the last time we fought." Elsa eased herself down onto the sofa, keeping her hand wrapped tightly around the little blue crystal bird. She had a solemn look on her face, speaking up again. "If you don't want to get me involved in whatever it is that you're keeping from me and cause misunderstandings, then I just want to ask of you...don't say things like 'I love you' with such a sad look." She looked to him, her blunt nails digging into her palm as she held the necklace. "...Because love's supposed to be a positive emotion, right? It's not supposed to be tragic or depressing."
Her last words struck a chord within him. The last thing Jack wanted was an unhappy ending for the both of them. "...I understand," he muttered.
Elsa gently slid her hand across the sofa, towards him. "That's also why...don't self-sacrifice for my sake." She slowly raised her hand out towards him in a silent gesture for him to come over to her.
Jack found himself obediently listening to her silent request, lifting his foot one after the other, until he was by her side on the sofa. He felt her take his hand and smile up at him warmly.
"Because I love you too and it hurts me to see you smiling all the time even though you're sad."
She was right. Jack knew that he deflected things as a joke, laughed it off, or smiled in the face of adversity - all to hide the true emotions that he truly felt.
"If I smile...even if I'm angry or upset, won't I eventually be happy...?" he asked her. He found himself repeating what Jaime had told him all those years ago. Then and now - there was no difference. He was still unhappy and he wished that he could be freed from the strings that held him from being happy.
Elsa wrinkled her brow at him, confused with what he was saying. She studied the dismal look in his dull blue eyes. Finally, she said to him in a softly gentle voice, "...You don't become happy by smiling, Jack."
He shifted his gaze to her, a curious light in his eyes as to what she was saying to him. Jack saw her give him a half-smile before looking away to the side. "You smile because you're happy, but you don't smile in order to make yourself happy. The only way you could be happy is if you do what you want, not caring about what other people think, not living to their expectations, but only yours. ...Someone told me something like that a long time ago."
Jack gave her a wry chuckle, turning his eyes downwards in the process. "Really? Who?"
"...You did...that time when you took me to Burgess."
With a cross between a scoff and a sigh, Jack took a seat on the sofa beside Elsa. "You were beating yourself up for being a perfectionist. You seem stressed by it - "
" - Like you are right now."
He laughed at her dryly. "Listen, I'm not a perfectionist, Elsa - "
"But you still do things to please other people, don't you Jack? It's either one of two things - that or you do things because you want to, but if it was the latter you would be happy, wouldn't you?" She began to see that she was getting through to him by the change in his disposition. Seeing this, Elsa decided to ride this wave all the way to shore. She smiled gently as she laced up her fingers in her lap. "You seemed happy last night at my birthday party. You were joking around, laughing, behaving like the Jack I knew a long time ago. It was nice. ...You must have done something that you wanted to do on your own."
Jack blinked, widening his eyes for a brief moment before relaxing his entire body. He parted his lips to let out a breathy sigh in agreement. In a sideways glance, he let his eyes rest upon the bird necklace that he had given her as a present last night. After a moment's pause, "...I did," he answered verbally. A slight, comforted smile graced his face when he raised his eyes to meet hers.
The bottom of her eyelids creased as she gave him an ardent smile. Elsa reached out to him, resting a feather-light hand against the smooth plain of his cheek. She saw him close his eyes and bring his other hand up to rest upon hers. He kept her there for a while, enjoying her touch, before he turned his head slightly to give the base of her wrist a brush of his lips in a chaste kiss.
Elsa felt her heart speed up again when she saw him bring his other hand up to gently push down the sleeve of her shirt, exposing more of her arm. He dotted kisses, slowly and softly, then reopened his eyes. Her heart fluttered in an expectant nervousness when she saw a gradually growing look of need in his eyes.
"...It's okay, Jack," she told him in reassurance. "You're not bound by anything...or anyone, even myself." Her blush grew hotter as she shyly averted her eyes. "You can...do what you want."
Although Jack knew by her behavior and by the apparent blush on her face that she was implying something different, he took her words to heart.
In an act of dominance, he pushed her back onto the sofa. It was not so hard as to harm her, but it was forceful enough to elicit a surprised yelp from the young woman.
Elsa trembled underneath him, not out of fear, but out of anticipation for what would happen next. It was new experience for her, not to mention that this was a side of Jack that she rarely saw. She blushed harder when he took the little bird charm on her necklace in his hand. He smiled fondly at it as he ran his thumb over the smooth blue crystals.
"...Thank you, Elsa."
She stared up at him, perplexed. "Thank you...for what?"
Jack did not provide her a response. Instead, he simply brought the necklace to his lips and kissed it. "...Just because." He chuckled and Elsa responded with a light giggle of her own.
"Weirdo," she commented lightheartedly as she hooked her arm around his neck. With her lips turned up into a crooked smile, she brought herself up to give him a sweet kiss. As she pulled away, he gave her a slight pout at the name that she called him. "...Just because," she responded with a smirk.
Chuckling at her sly response, Jack brushed away some stray strands of blond hair away from her face and leaned down to give her another kiss. While he normally felt guilt or a reprimanding hesitation keeping him back from embracing Elsa, this time he felt no such thing.
It felt as if the strings around him were unraveling, disentangling themselves from his body and releasing his heart.
'Thank you for freeing me...'
"Thanks for letting me stay the night. Tell Jack and Elsa I said thanks too!"
Anna was not sure what irritated her more, the fact that Kristoff was acting so languid about the entire thing or than he was so casually referring to her sister as if they had been close friends for several years. He was definitely different from Hans, who kept his manners around Elsa and Jack even though they had known each other longer.
She sat there beside him at the bus stop just down the street from her house since she did agree that she would walk him down to it and see him off. Anna ignored him droning on about Sven again. She had a lot on her mind to worry about some dog.
" - Sven would really like you, Anna. You should come over to my house and visit sometime." Kristoff looked over at the red head, only to see her eyes with a distant look in them. "...Anna?" he asked her, grabbing her attention.
"Huh?"
His brown eyes lowered in concern and averted from her. "...I'm sorry. I probably freaked you out this morning. I should have been more considerate - "
Although Anna was actually annoyed with the events that had transpired earlier in the day, she felt guilty for even blaming him. "N - No. It's fine! I - uhm - I just have a lot on my mind. I shouldn't have snapped at you before." She let out a sheepish giggle. "I don't really work well under pressure like Elsa does…"
Kristoff gripped the strap of his backpack and looked up at the soft gray skies contemplatively. "...Was...the guy with the coppery-ish colored hair your boyfriend?"
For some reason, Anna felt embarrassed to admit it to Kristoff in particular, but she nodded anyways.
"Hm." He seemed indifferent as he asked again, "are you happy with him?"
She snapped her head towards him, stating in a defensive manner, "of course I am!"
"Woah, just asking," Kristoff responded as he held up both hands towards her, hoping to show that he meant no harm with his previous question. It seemed to calm Anna down as she turned away from him, albeit with a disgruntled grimace. "...You seemed unhappy around him yesterday at the party - even more so when he left without really saying goodbye. That's why I'm asking."
Anna felt her throat tense up. "...You saw?"
"I wasn't sure if I should've gone to you afterwards. I try to stay out of other people's relationship drama."
The young girl frowned deeper as she pulled a leg up to rest her chin upon her knee. Somberly, she muttered, "I wouldn't really call it a drama. I don't really know what to call it exactly. Maybe it just died out...we had such a strong spark between us right when we met. He liked me and I liked him. Hans was really nice to me...and I liked that from the very start. Maybe...I overwhelmed him. I talked about all these things about the future - getting engaged, then married, then having kids - "
"Woah, woah, woah - how long have you two been dating and have known each other?" the blond man asked, unconvinced that what he was hearing was what he actually heard.
Anna blinked, then seemed to be counting off her fingers. "Around a month."
"A month," Kristoff repeated, deadpanned by her response. "You two only started dating for a month...and you already started talking about marriage with him."
She narrowed her eyes at him hostily. "Don't talk to me as if I'm crazy. I'm in love with him, it's natural to say things like that, isn't it?"
"Not if you want to chase the guy away."
" - He agreed to it, Kristoff. He was just as enthusiastic about it as I was when I mentioned it."
"Really? Didn't look like it last night."
"Last night was - " Anna stopped herself, biting back her tongue. She turned away from him sharply, feeling frustrated. Kristoff just didn't get it. She and Hans were still in love with each other - at least that was what she would like to think. Anna found that could not say anything to him again, knowing that last night was not the first time Hans made her feel unwanted or neglected her. She felt as if she was just a second choice to him.
"Listen...I don't know if it's my place to say this, but you shouldn't trust people just because they're nice to you. People are only nice to you if they want something from you."
Anna dryly laughed. "Right and you're suddenly an expert on humans when all you do is spend time with your dog." She knew she probably sounded rude to him, but she thought it was ridiculous that he was the one giving her advice just because he did not agree with her relationship with Hans.
Kristoff seemed unaffected by her sharp words, however. He looked down the street instead, spotting the bus coming towards them from the distance. "...Just saying. There's a reason why I prefer to spend my time with animals. At least they're straightforward with their feelings, whereas people tend to want something in return for their kindness."
"Well you're nice to me...what do you want?" she questioned him.
The bus roared up the street, pulling up next to the bus stop where the two sat. Kristoff heaved himself up onto his feet and responded, his answer surprising her.
"I just want to talk to you. It's kinda nice finding someone that I could talk to - that isn't Sven." Kristoff stood in front of the awaiting opened bus doors, pausing before he went in. At the last minute, he turned around and offered the young girl his genuine words. "I hope things work out between you and your boyfriend."
Anna saw him give her a warm smile before boarding the bus. Not soon long after, the bus roared as it pulled away from the curb and powered down the street, leaving the luxurious hillside community. She glanced at it briefly, before returning her attention to the gray skies above her head. For the longest time, she stood there motionless, thinking about what Kristoff had said to her.
'What is it that you want from me, Hans?'
Elsa did not know how much time had passed since she and Jack came into the study, nor did she know what time it was. However, time was of little importance to her when the only thing she could focus on was the sensation of kissing and touching the man above her.
Her entire head felt as if it was turning into a finely ground stardust and the pretty little pieces were being scattered around everywhere as her kiss with Jack deepened. Elsa wrinkled her brow and arched her back as Jack plunged his tongue in deeper. She let out a gruttle moan, raising a fist and flattening out her hand when it made contact with Jack's bare shoulder.
His blazer was long forgotten on the floor and Elsa was still working on taking off the dress shirt from his body, but it was a little harder than she had thought while they were locked in a passionate kiss. It was hanging sloppily off one shoulder, revealing half of his toned torso, much to Elsa's delight.
"Fuck…" he murmured against her lips as he pulled away. He let out a breathless, frustrated sigh as he straddled her waist and attempted to strip off his shirt. "Who's bright idea was it to turn on the heater?"
"Blame Anna," Elsa answered in a low whisper, enjoying the view he was providing her. She was comfortably lying down on the sofa, taking her time to appreciate what life generously offered her. Jack had her straddled and standing on his knees above her as he peeled off his dress shirt, revealing his smoothly muscled body. He was not ripped and he definitely was not lanky like a stick when she had first met Jack when they were preteens.
This was probably the first time Elsa ever got a good look at his body ever since they grew older. It was probably a good thing that she was lying down because if she were standing up on her feet, witnessing Jack stripping himself, she probably would have grown light-headed and fallen over.
He seemed to have given up on pulling out his shirt that was tucked underneath his pants. With a low growl, he went back to fervently kissing Elsa. He ran his hand along the hem of her shirt and started peeling the skin-tight clothing off of her body.
"Wa- Wait...Jack - "
She was also sweating, not too much, but enough to make it hard for Jack to peel off her shirt.
"Wish we could make it snow or something in here," he said with a playful smirk, pulling her shirt up halfway and pausing.
"Having ice powers would be nice right now, wouldn't it?" she replied with a soft, nervous giggle.
"Yeah or air conditioning," he sighed in frustration again, getting off of her. "Maybe I'll go to the intercom and tell Wendy to turn the heater off - " He stopped when Elsa grabbed at his dress shirt.
"Stay," she ordered him, sitting up on the sofa. "...A little heat never bothered anyone."
He gave her a dry laugh. "You really don't mind, Ice Queen?" Jack obediently returned to her, propping an arm up against the backrest of the sofa as he stood over her. He brought his voice down to a low, baritone murmur as he leaned into her. "You might melt…"
Elsa scoffed lightly. "Says the winter spirit."
Jack felt his mouth drying up when he saw Elsa, in an act of bold defiance, take off her shirt. He hovered over her, mouth agape and blue eyes wide as she tossed the shirt aside, crossing her arms over her chest in a vain attempt to cover herself up shyly.
"Don't stare at me like that," she grumbled, a bright red blush on her face as she averted her eyes away from his. Elsa threw him a sideways glance. "I - I just thought it would be unfair to you since you're the only one undressed…"
"How considerate of you, Ice Queen," he teased with a slight drawl.
She pursed her lips tightly and snapped her head towards him. "Hey! I - mmph - !" Elsa let out a series of soft moans as Jack gave her a passionate kiss. Their tongues swirled around each other's, performing a little dance before he pulled away from her. Perhaps it was because of how many kisses they had shared, but they both thought that they had improved on their 'kissing technique' already.
Jack let out a soft, stifled laugh as he moved both his hands to her wrists. "Although...you're still covering yourself up." He attempted to gently pry her arms away from her chest, only to do so with no avail. Some verbal coaxing should work - he thought. "Elsa - "
"It's embarrassing! It's - ! Wait I changed my mind!" she exclaimed, frantically looking down at her discard shirt on the floor.
"You still have your bra on, it's fine."
"No it's not! - Jack - !"
He managed to pry her arms away at the very last minute when they both fell back down onto the sofa. Jack had her arms pinned on either side of her head, allowing him a full view of her.
She writhed underneath him, moving her legs slightly - crossing one over the other in a shy manner. His eyes went from the waistband of her baggy white capris to up her navel and taut stomach. Jack made sure to savor this moment, to enjoy the sights. It did not surprise him to see her wearing a teal-blue brassiere, it was her favorite color after all. It definitely something that she would be inclined to wear - not too basic, but not too 'wild.' Above all that, his heart thumped wildly at the sight of the necklace he gave her nestled cozily in the soft valley between her breasts.
Throughout his silent inspection, Elsa kept her eyes shut tightly with her face red as a tomato, too embarrassed to make direct eye contact with him.
"Well...I'd say we're even now," he said, chuckling, prompting her to reopen her eyes slowly.
Elsa saw him over her and her shy expression quickly turned into that of a fierce irritation. She fired back at him, "your shirt's not even completely off!"
"If I need to have my entire upper body bare, you need to too," Jack replied playfully.
The blush upon her face intensified as Elsa set her lips into a firm line. She narrowed her eyes at him dangerously, momentarily struggling against the hold he had on her, before resorting back to glaring at him. It was a power struggle and Elsa had no intentions of losing to him.
"Fine," he said with a dejected sigh, "you win."
"Really - ?"
" - I'll just do it myself."
"What!? Jack!" Elsa drew in a sharp breath when she felt him kiss and gently nibble at her neck. She writhed, feeling that it was unfair that he was attacking the most sensitive spot on her body. A series of whimpers and moans escaped her mouth, and at the same time, Elsa felt her own body relaxing. Euphoria flooded her mind as she felt Jack attach his mouth to one particular part of her neck, an area smack dab in the middle of her throat.
"J - Jack…!" she breathed, letting out an airy moan in the process as she tilted her head back to allow him better access. She arched her lithe body, pushing her breasts up against him. Elsa felt him release her wrists and rest his hands on the soft curve of her hips. A sharp whine came from her when he bit down, rather hard. When he pulled away, Elsa shivered as he gave the tender, red area a gentle lick and a kiss.
Before she could even scold him for being rough at the last minute, she froze when he went back down to her neck, nuzzling the junction between it and her shoulder, all the while using his hands to slide the straps of her bra down her arms.
"Wa - Wait, Jack!"
"Shhhh," he whispered against her skin. Jack stopped for a moment. "...are you scared?" he asked her.
"Huh? ...Well...no, but - "
He pushed himself up, raising his head so that he could look down at her face directly. "If you're scared...we can stop." Gingerly, he brushed away some loose strands of blond hair away from her face and traced her smooth jawline with the back of his hand. "I know you must still be traumatized after what Edwin did to you," he murmured softly. "It's only been a few weeks after all. If you don't feel comfortable, then I could wait - "
Jack wore a look of surprise when he felt Elsa lean up to wrap her arms around his neck. She hugged him tightly, while shaking her head against his shoulder. "No...I am comfortable. I'm just...nervous...and embarrassed," she admitted. "...What he did and what you're doing right now is under a different context. You understand...don't you? You don't make me feel scared. Not at all."
His eyes lowered, relaxing at her words. He wrapped an arm around her waist, supporting her as he gently brought her back down onto the sofa.
Elsa kept her arms wrapped around his neck and stared up at him with a shy, but ardent smile. Wordlessly, she brought him down towards her and buried her face in his neck. It was a small nibble at first, but Jack knew immediately that she was doing the same thing that he had done to her. He did not mind though - the queen was simply marking what was hers.
He kept himself propped up on his elbows, trying not to rest his full weight onto the young woman beneath him. However, that in itself proved to be a difficult task when Elsa proved that she could also render him weak by hitting his sensitive spots. His arms shook as he let out several low groans in response to her suckling and licking at the side of neck. "Elsa…" he breathed out.
She did not respond to him. Instead, she went up to bite at his earlobe, nearly sending him crashing down on top of her. Seeing as how he could not go on any longer in this position, he opted to switch their positions and Elsa agreed to it wordlessly.
With a simple turn of their bodies, he was now the one lying on the sofa while Elsa was on top, stuck to his neck like a leech. He felt her find one particular spot on his neck just beneath his ear - the one spot that she had teased him with before during their last physical encounter.
Jack, rendered powerless underneath her, stared up at the ceiling with a half-lidded gaze. He breathed through his mouth, unable to calm himself down as she suckled and bit at that same sensitive area, surely leaving an angry red mark. Vaguely, he could hear his cell's text message ringtone from the low coffee table beside the sofa, but he ignored it, thinking that he was just imagining things.
The whimsical melody played again.
"I think someone's calling you," Elsa murmured against his neck.
"...Leave it," he said in a half-groan. "It's just - ngh - the sound of a...text message."
"What if it's important?" she asked, pulling herself away from him.
"Then - ah shit - Elsa…" he hissed her name as he felt her thigh brush up against his crotch. Almost lifelessly, Jack laid there, panting heavily with his head turned away from her. He swallowed several lumps down his throat as he tried to calm himself down and as he tried so hard not to look at her as she straddled him. Even though she was still covered up to a degree, it was enough to drive him wild. Her waist was small, but in a wide curve, her hips were of that of a temptress. Her flat stomach begged to be littered with kisses and the bra that he just barely got off was hanging off of her arms and providing him with a teasing peek of the top of her modestly sized breasts. On top of all that was her damn near perfect heart-shaped face that was framed by her wind-blown blond hair that honestly looked as though it was messed up already due to heavy sex. Jack definitely was not going to let a mere text message ruin this moment for him, not when she was practically tempting him.
Elsa, on the other hand, was reveling in her own right. There she was straddling a young man that probably had the most perfect body she had ever laid eyes on, along with a handsome face to boot, and was willing to do anything for her. She slowly ran her hands up, from the waistband of his dress pants. Her hands could feel the faint outline of abs on his stomach, his broad chest, and his prominent collarbone. She kept her hand on the tattoo he had received from the Guardians that was stamped on his right pectoral. At the faint memory of when she had first discovered that he had a tattoo, she could not help, but let out a soft giggle.
"...What's wrong?" he asked her.
The young blond sat on his stomach as a soft smile adorned her face. "Sorry, I just thought of that time when I saw you treating this tattoo in the bathroom. Remember? When we were kids."
Jack chuckled at the fond memory. "You thought I was going to become a delinquent before of it - or get mixed up in some bad stuff."
Elsa laughed girlishly. She traced the black snowflake pattern with the tip of her index finger lightly. "...It looks pretty now that I look at it."
"You think so?"
"I'm not too fond of guys with tattoos...but for you I'll make an exception."
Jack pouted adorably at her before relaxing his face. "Fine. Fair enough." He watched her as she spread her hand over the pattern, feeling his heartbeat as well. "...Do you know why the Guardians told me to get it?"
"No."
"Well, aside from other things, I think the most important feature is that it helps keep track of me."
"What do you mean?"
"Should you ever lose where I am...there are hundreds of microchips embedded within the ink. The Guardians will always know where I am and you will too. Should I ever get lost...I expect you to find me."
Elsa stared down at him, concerned. "Why are you telling me all this now?"
"Just...keep it in your thoughts," he said with a lighthearted chuckle. "It's useful isn't it? If your guard dog ever runs away from home, you can find him again."
She rolled her eyes, scoffing at him in the process. Her lips slowly turned into a smile as she leaned down towards him. "I highly doubt that this dog will run away from home," she whispered before kissing him fully.
As the two tangled themselves with each other, Jack's phone chimed again, indicating that another text message was sent. He and Elsa ignored it, continuing to kiss each other.
When the phone chimed once more, Elsa pushed herself off of Jack, who let out a low growl at the interruption. "You should probably answer that...it might be the Guardians," she told him.
Jack reached out for the phone, turning it on as he lightly commented, "maybe I'll just chuck the damn thing out the win - " His breath hitched in his throat when he saw his phone screen and the text messages that have been sent so far.
Elsa glanced at the screen, although she could not see much from where she was sitting. She then looked over at Jack, who's face seemed to lose all signs of blood as he stared at the screen with a frightened stare.
"...Jack?" she gently questioned, holding her arms over her chest in a worried manner.
He quickly shut off the phone, hiding the display from her. "Sorry Elsa," he hastily replied, "I need to actually head out somewhere."
"O - Oh," she stammered, getting off of him. Elsa was confused by his abrupt leave, but she allowed him to go with no opposition. "Is it the Guardians?" she asked as he quickly straightened out his clothes.
"Yeah," he muttered, lying to her. "I guess North wants to talk about some more information concerning who's targeting you. Or just mundane stuff that he normally bothers me with," he managed a slight chuckle. Sensing her concern, once Jack slipped on his blazer again, he gave her a quick kiss on the lips and flashed her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. It's nothing major. I'll be right back in a few hours, okay?"
Elsa gave him a small smile back. "Okay. Hurry back and...be careful."
Jack picked up her discarded shirt and handed it to her, giving her one last kiss on the cheek. "I will."
She watched him until he left the study. Once the door closed with a soft click, she let out a soft breath and lowered her blue eyes to the floor. In a tight fist, she held the necklace charm. Despite Jack's reassurance, she knew that he was lying. He would never look that frightened unless it was a major threat.
A bitingly cold wind stung his face like daggers as Jack stepped out of his car. The smell of the ocean's salt water filled his senses as another blast of cold wind swept past him and the empty parking lot. He secured his crossback holster and threw on his blazer again, before looking out at the horizon line. The sun was quickly setting, immersing Arendelle in a pitch black darkness.
Jack closed the car door and took a look out at the empty boardwalk. He took out his phone from the pocket of his pants and turned it on. Aside from the text messages he received while at the Winters estate, he received no new ones.
His icy blue eyes rested upon the words displayed on his phone's touchpad screen.
Ring-a-round the rosie
A pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes,
The texts ended there. It was chilling, it was frightening, but also, Jack knew exactly what it meant.
With a determined look in his narrowed eyes, he marched over to the boardwalk and sought out the old payphone. The wooden boards of the boardwalk creaked underneath his feet with each step. From the far end of the boardwalk, he could hear the ocean waves crashing into the rocks that surrounded it. Not a single soul, other than himself, was out there that night.
He finally reached the old payphone and dialed in a phone number, without putting in any money into it. Not a moment after the first ring, someone on the other end of the line picked up.
"...It's cold," he said, just loud enough so that he could be heard above the howling wind.
"...Oh, Jack...how rare to have you calling me for a change. Did you give Elsa the necklace I gave you?"
"I did."
A low chuckle and then an ominous pause. "...No you didn't," he said in a taunting manner.
Jack felt his heart beat faster as he tightly held the phone in his hand. "I did," he reaffirmed, only to be met with another teasing answer.
"Uh-uh, Jack. You know better than to lie to me." A dry laugh. "Oh, Jack. Did you really think you could fool me? Did you forget that I can still hear everything from that room?"
He clenched his jaw tightly. 'Elsa probably kept the listening device inside the drawer of her desk, unsure of what to do with it. Damn it...' The device's existence slipped his mind and he only had himself to blame for that mess-up.
"Tell me, did you have fun with Elsa? Sounded like you did earlier."
"...You're sick," Jack whispered dangerously into the receiver.
"Am I?" He laughed again. "No matter. I guess I'll just have to send 'her' to finish the job."
The white haired man tried to keep his cool as he spoke, even when Elsa's life was being threatened. "...Is that who the texts were for? For Elsa?"
"Ah, so that's why you came to speak with me. Such a lovely song, isn't it? A cute little nursery rhyme with a dark history of death behind it. Yes...someone's going to die soon, Jack, but it's not going to be Elsa."
A pause.
"...It's going to be you."
Jack's eyes widened as he heard his phone going crazy, chiming every second. He looked down at his phone in his other hand and felt his heart racing as the lock screen was flooded with texts that were being sent in rapid succession of each other from the same unknown number that sent the previous texts.
We all fall down!
WE ALL FALL DOWN!
FOUND YOU
FOUND YOU
FOUND YOU
FOUND YOU
They kept coming, even as Jack heard the man give him his parting words.
"...I don't take kindly to traitors, Jack. You should have known better than to double-cross me. Die with the satisfaction that Elsa will join you soon after."
As soon as the busy tone reached Jack's ear, he heard a footstep behind him. With a startled gasp, he dropped his phone and released his metal staff from his back. He spun it as he turned around, extending it to its full length.
"You…" he whispered with widened eyes as he stared at a familiar black cloaked figure - the female mercenary he had fought before.
She raised her hand up to her smiling mask and removed it. With the same sickly sweet smile, she revealed her face to him.
Jack took a step back, gripping his staff tightly. It was Sera.
A cold wind stirred and she giggled happily. "Found you, Jack."