Chapter 25: The Worst is Yet to Come
(Guyss, I have a cold so I'm trying my best to save you all from the cliff hanger, I'm so sorry. I'm all drowsy right now oh dear. And I had to do some research for this chapter so it took a little longer to update.)
Sirens blared and stopped in front of Arendalle University, the principal was summoned, as well as some other curious students who loved sticking their noses into other people's business, Tink was among them.
Medics scrambled inside, searching for the ice rink. When some nosy students finally decided to show them the way, they found a group of students, hovering over a girl's limp body.
"Step aside!" A big burly one yelled, obviously the leader of the group.
The students cleared a path for them, but all of them still tried hovering close as the medics tried doing their work.
"Will she be okay?" Jack chocked out, staring down at the result that he had caused by telling Elsa to show him a trick.
The head medic sighed, "Maybe, how long as she been out?"
Anna replied, her voice cracking, "About ten minutes now…"
Kristoff wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head and whispered, "Don't worry, she'll be okay."
He checked for a pulse, "Well she's alive; we have to take her back to the hospital, just to be sure everything inside is alright."
He called forth some of his minions, the fellow medics, and hoisted her up onto what looked like a rolling bench to Anna, and pushed her out of the rink out to the main entrance.
Anna held Elsa's hand in hers, running in rhythm with the rolling bench, her feet barely touching the ground. Flynn, Eric and Rapunzel followed close behind, but Jack stayed back, his head hanging low, he staggered after the others, his thoughts running wild in his head.
He was still processing what had happened, when Flynn said at him, "I think he should go…"
Jack looked up, eyes full of freight, "Where should I go?"
Anna backed Flynn up, "Yeah, I think the first person Elsa wants to see is you, Jack."
"Oh no no no no, Anna you go," Jack protested, not wanting to show his face to Elsa just yet.
Rapunzel ran behind him and shoved him towards the medic that was shifting his weight from his left leg to his right impatiently, "G-Go."
Jack knew Rapunzel was crying by how she talked and agreed, "If you guys want…"
The medic lead Jack into a small car, a private car, and drove off in the direction of the local hospital, "So you her brother?"
The ambulance carrying Elsa had already taken off.
Jack hesitated, what were they, were they dating, or were they just friends? "She's… a friend."
The medic raised an eyebrow and looked in the review mirror, "Just friends? I see…"
Jack didn't reply, all he could think about was all the pain Elsa was going through at that moment. He stared out the window, naked trees swayed in the cold night, was this how Elsa felt when I was unconscious?
Moments later, they pulled into the parking lot, the one for staff only, and raced into the Emergency Room. The medic rushed into the back, asking where they took the recent patient and signalled to Jack to wait in the waiting room, with all the other troubled people.
He took a spot in the corner, his head hanging in his hands. The atmosphere was heavy, the feeling of anxiety everywhere. The walls were tiles that were shiny white, the place smelling of sanitizer, a smell that stung the nose. The floor was glossy, as the walls are.
A familiar hand suddenly squeezed Jack's shoulder, he looked up, surprised to see Kristoff standing over him, "Hey man, Elsa's a strong girl, and she'll get through this."
Flynn stood behind him, "Where's Anna and Rapunzel?"
"They're back at their dorm; they're not ready to be here yet…" Flynn trailed off, looking around.
Jack nodded in understanding just as a doctor came out of the back and called, "Who's family of Elsa Valentine?"
Jack stood up and the three rushed over, "Her family isn't here, we're her friends."
The doctor nodded and led them into the room where Elsa was being taken care of. Elsa was hooked onto machines that beeped ever so often. Blue and white striped curtains were swept onto the opposite side of where the boys were standing. A single plant decorated the pale room, two medium sized windows stood on opposite sides of the tiny clock.
"Is she okay?" Jack asked, rushing over to the bedside of Elsa.
The doctor looked down at his clipboard and stated, "Yes, but she might suffer from amnesia, since she hit the back of her head pretty hard."
'Amnesia' danced around in Jack's head until a headache started to bloom like flowers in the spring, "Major amnesia or just minor?"
"Well we'll just have to see," was what the doctor said as he took his leave.
Jack dragged a chair quietly over to Elsa's bedside and sat there, staring down at her, "Thank god you're okay…"
Flynn and Kristoff accompanied Jack for a while, but knew they had their own troubles back at their university, and left, thirty minutes later.
Jack rested his elbows on Elsa's bed, praying that her amnesia only stretched to what had happened at the ice rink, so that it wouldn't interfere with her daily life. But secretly, he didn't want her to forget him.
The tiny hands on the clock met each other at the top of the clock, indicating that it was a start of a new day.
Jack's eyes felt like they were made of lead, he could barely keep them open, but he had to, just in case Elsa woke up.
A voice whispered in his left ear: Sleep, sleep, it won't do any harm.
Another voice countered from his other ear: What if she wakes up?
He brushed off the obnoxious words coming from each side of him. The least he could do is stay awake to see Elsa when she wakes up.
The voice in his left ear finally took over, and sleep consumed him, plunging him into darkness.
—
Jack awoke to the sound of a steady beeping sound, hospital. Right, I'm still here.
His head was rested on Elsa's bed; he pulled away quickly, hoping that he hadn't disturbed Elsa in any way.
Elsa was still unconscious, or sleeping, Jack couldn't tell. She didn't look as if she was in pain; she looked as if she was just sleeping.
There was a slight knock on the door and Jack rotated in his seat 180 degrees and found Anna in the doorway, holding a cup of something and a brown paper bag.
She walked over, trying to avoid eye contact with her sister, "I see you were here all night…"
Jack nodded, taking the cup, of what smelled like hot chocolate, and the brown paper bag.
Anna sighed, and stared down at her sister, "Has she woken up?"
Jack shook his head, taking a bite into his ham sandwich.
"You feel okay?" Anna asked, pulling up a chair beside Jack.
Jack nodded, focusing on his sandwich; he didn't want Anna to worry about him too.
Anna whispered, "I see…"
The tiny clock seemed to make time seem longer than it really was, tick…tick…tick…tick…
"You should go back to campus and get some sleep; I'll stay here and watch Elsa." Anna suggested, looking over at Jack.
"No," Jack said, "I need to be here when she wakes up; it was my fault she fell…"
Anna sighed, "Probably not, she used to be amazing at a double lux, but after the incident, well she wasn't so amazing."
Jack was interested now, "What incident?"
"Well not really an incident, more of, I don't know how to explain, let me just tell you," Anna explained, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tight.
"You know how she locked herself up at age thirteen right? Well before that, Father made her skate. But it isn't the skating that's for fun, it was like, competition skating. But Elsa didn't enjoy it. She would complain to me how much she dislikes skating for competition. She was referred to as the 'Ice Queen' in the skating world. She was truly amazing.
"When she was about eleven, Father entered her into a big competition, like, big. They had scouts and everything. But Elsa refused to enter; she was tired of Father always pushing her to do things she didn't like. But being only eleven, Father told Elsa that she was just being silly and that she had to compete. You know that Mother committed suicide, right?"
Jack felt Anna tense when she said those words in a sentence, "Yes."
Anna nodded and continued, "Well that was two years later, they argued less, but they still argued. Elsa would never complain about skating to Mother, only to me. Father would hear it, but he wouldn't care. Elsa was forced into that competition, but she didn't care for it. She practiced without effort, which made Father really mad. But Father believed that Elsa would do well in the competition.
"When the competition happened, Elsa still didn't want to compete, so she skated like how she did in practice. Lifelessly, and no effort at all. The judges were shocked; they all thought how could someone like Elsa skate so lifelessly? Father was obviously mortified about Elsa; he had invited all his friends and family to come watch so he could brag about how his daughter was the best."
Anna sucked in a breath, "When the competition ended, Father was furious at Elsa. He scolded her, grounded her and did everything to show her how bad of a child she was. Elsa didn't feel a thing; she never wanted to compete in the first place. All she wanted to do was skate for fun. So she stopped skating entirely to show Father how much she hated it."
Jack watched Elsa carefully, thinking about all the things she had to go through as a child, "So that's what happened, that's why she stopped skating…"
"Anna, dear sister, please do not go around telling random strangers about my past," a weak voice called from behind them.
"Elsa!" Anna and Jack exclaimed at the same time.
Elsa looked mortified, "Anna, why's there a stranger in my hospital room?"
Anna looked around the room, not aware that by stranger, she meant Jack, "Who?" she pointed at Jack, "Him? He's no stranger; you guys are practically in love."
Jack blushed, "Hi, Elsa."
"In love!? How could I be in love, no Anna, don't trick me," Elsa shook her head.
Jack was stunned, "Y-You don't remember me?"
"Afraid I don't sir," was her weak reply.
Anna reassured Jack with a pat on the shoulder, "Don't worry, she'll remember she just woke up, remember? And I think we should tell the doctor she woke up."
Anna got up, walked towards her sister and pressed the 'call' button on top of Elsa's bed frame, "R-Right, just temporarily…"
Moments later, a doctor and a nurse came rushing into the room, "Oh, hello Elsa, nice to have you back."
Elsa smiled her award-winning smile and waved her sister and the mysterious stranger out of the room so they medical people could do their jobs.
Anna gave Elsa a swift hug and pulled Jack out of the room with her.
Jack was still too stunned to think straight, "She doesn't remember me…" he thought out loud.
"Don't worry, my soon to be brother-in-law, my sister will remember, she loves you, remember?" Anna sighed, happy that her sister was alive and not dead.
Back in the room, the doctor and nurse talked to her about what had happened and what they were going to test her for, but the words went over her head. She nodded ever so often, seeming like she was listening but all she was thinking about was the mysterious boy that had shiny silver hair and stunningly beautiful blue eyes, it's like they were a mirror image. Elsa felt as if she's known him before, the memory dangling in front of her nose, but yet she couldn't reach out to grasp it.
The way he looked at her caused her to swoon, yet she couldn't believe that they were in love. She thought, I remember clearly that I swore on my soul to never fall in love. But here she was, being told that she had fallen in love with a mysterious, yet somewhat familiar boy.
"Okay, Elsa?" the doctor asked, snapping Elsa back to reality.
"U-Uh yeah, sure," she replied awkwardly.
The nurse gave the doctor a look, but he brushed it off and started up some machines.
As the doctor guided Elsa through some steps on what to do during the tests, Elsa's mind was still stuck on one thing or person in this case. Jack. Why does he sound so familiar, yet I can't remember who he is? She thought to herself, scratching her head.
"Wondering who that boy was?" The doctor asked, copying some things down onto his clipboard.
Elsa stammered, "Y-Yeah, do you mind telling me?"
"Jack, Jack Frost, he was the one who called the ambulance since you fell and hit your head on the ice rink at Arendalle University," he replied, eyes focused on his clipboard.
At the sound of his name, Elsa felt a weird feeling rush over her, what is this feeling? She knew him, but couldn't tell who he was, or why they knew each other. Again, the memory danced in front of her face, making fun of her.
"A-Ah, thank you," Elsa said politely.
The doctor nodded and continued with her tests.
5 minutes later, the doctor finally said, "Done, you are good to go, you seem fine."
Fine? Elsa thought, looking up at the doctor. He wore big round glasses with thin rims that covered eyes with dark bags under. His name tag read 'North', he had a white beard and a belly that stuck out of his white coat, "Fine? As in how, can you tell me why I'm forgetting things?"
"Amnesia, it's very uncommon people get amnesia from hitting their head, but you're special." North said, getting ready to leave.
"I don't feel so special…" Elsa muttered.
Elsa heard North chuckle, quite a jolly one too, and head out of the door, with his assistant following close behind.
She lay down on her bed, covering her eyes with her arm and ran the name 'Jack' again and again through her head. Elsa thinks she might have forgotten everything from the day she started university, but she remembered Hans and how her poor sister had fallen for him, but that's when the road ended into an abyss of lost memories. She knew she had to rebuild the bridge to find out who this Jack guy was, but she wasn't sure how to start.
A knock from the door returned her to her hospital room, "Elsa? Mind if I come in? Or we in this case…"
Jack stood in the doorway, with Anna and group of people gather behind them, "Uhm, sure?"
Anna stepped in the room and hugged her sister, "Oh I'm so glad there wasn't anything severe, it's just amnesia, we'll overcome it."
Next, a girl in a purple dress with extremely lengthy blonde hair approached her, "Elsa, hi, how you feeling?"
Elsa held up her index finger, telling her to give her a moment and racked her brain for answers, "Rapunzel! You're Rapunzel right?"
Punzie's eyes lit up, glad that she remember her, "That isn't the answer but, yes I am."
Elsa giggled, looking over to a tall guy with chocolate brown hair standing beside Rapunzel, "And, and you're Flynn! Flynn Rider!"
Flynn raised his hands above his head and yelled, "She remembers!"
"Shush, babe." Rapunzel said, tugging at his shirt that lifted up over his stomach when his hands flew up.
Flynn apologized and asked, "What about him?"
Flynn was looking in the direction of Kristoff, Elsa replied, scratching her head, "I-I don't remember…"
Kristoff huffed in disappointment, "Don't worry darling, we'll just get to know each other, again."
"I don't know if this is a good time to tell you, Elsa, but he and I are dating…" Anna muttered, looking down at her ballet flats.
"Dating!? Already, did you just meet him? Like that Hans guy again?" Elsa said sternly.
"Don't you worry, I am much better than Hans, I helped beat him up," Kristoff replied proudly, intertwining his fingers with Anna's.
Elsa nodded, "I approve then."
Anna beamed at her sister, "Oh thank god! I thought you were going to scold me again."
Jack was still standing in the doorway, "Hiccup and Merida are on their way here."
"Hiccup? Merida?" Elsa thought out loud, but nobody seemed to notice.
"Come in, silly!" Anna said, tugging at Jack's sleeve and pulling him into the room.
Jack walked stiffly into the room, avoiding eye-contact with Elsa.
"Sis, remember him?" Anna's eyes shone like stars.
Elsa shook her head, "Sorry, I don't remember…"
Jack smiled a weak smile, "its fine, uhm, I'll be outside if you need me," and left the room, head hanging low.
"You really don't remember him?" Anna asked, looking worried now.
"Hey, we shouldn't push her," Punzie said, "She'll remember in time."
Everybody nodded in agreement, "So can you leave the hospital today?" Kristoff asked.
"Ah, yes, the doctor said everything looked fine, but it might take some time to heal from amnesia," Elsa stated.
"I'll go fill out your forms then," Anna suggested, already half way across the room.
"I'm going too," Kristoff said, taking two huge steps and was already beside Anna.
Anna giggled and walked out of the room with Kristoff behind her.
"Those two," Flynn sighed, watching them leave the room.
Elsa laughed and sighed, "I'm glad to be awake and not unconscious."
—
She remembers everybody but me? Okay, maybe she doesn't remember Kristoff but still, she told me she loved me. Well I can't really blame her since it was my fault I made her trip, but still, she would remember the person she claimed to love. But it's amnesia, she might recover tomorrow and remember everything, there's still hope, Jack thought to himself, staring at the shiny white floor of the hospital.
Anna and Kristoff walked out, "Hey Jack, we're going to go fill out the forms, you wanna drive Elsa back to the university?"
Jack looked up, "Sure, why not?"
"Thanks bro," Kristoff said, saluting him as he ran up to catch up with Anna.
Moments later, Flynn and Punzie left the room, "You driving?"
Jack nodded at them, and Punzie gave him a reassuring smile, "It'll be okay."
As soon as they left, Jack walked into Elsa's room and found Elsa ready to go, "Uhm, I'm driving you so, mind if I bring my car around front so you don't have to walk in the cold?"
"The cold doesn't bother me," Elsa stated, getting ready to walk out the door.
"Ah yes, but I should, since it's what a gentlemen would do, so wait by the main entrance and I'll bring the car up front," Jack protested.
Elsa laughed, "What a child, fine, I'll wait."
Jack smiled and ran off into the halls of the hospital. He was halfway to the main entrance when he remembers; I don't have my car here. He had totally forgotten that he drove with the weird medic here. He shot Flynn a text:
J: Man, I don't have my car, can't drive.
Flynn replied seconds later:
F: We drove it here last night; it's there, in the parking lot.
J: Aw shit? Really, thanks so much man.
Jack opened the front doors and an icy wind hit him smack in the face, he huddled over and raced towards the parking lot, looking for his Jeep Commander. He found it parked next to a grey minivan, which looked oddly familiar, but he pushed the uneasy feeling away.
He reached into his back pockets and pulled out his keys and unlocked the door.
Back inside the warm hospital, Elsa had made her way to the front entrance when she was stopped by a tall man with pitch black hair and dark smudges on his face, "Hello, Elsa, I'm Hiccup."
"Hiccup? You're Hiccup?" Elsa asked, not sure if the mysterious man was lying or not.
"Yeah, it's me. And this is Merida," Hiccup said, pointing to a girl with a blonde bun on top of her head.
"Oh hey guys, I'm supposed to be meeting Jack so uhm, if you'll excuse me…" Elsa tried side-stepping them, but 'Hiccup' copied her.
"Jack told me to pick you up, his car won't start so he went with Flynn and Rapunzel," 'Merida' said, holding out her hand.
Elsa took it, but she felt strange, "Oh, well then, let's go?"
'Hiccup' snickered, "Let's."
The three walked out of the main entrance, and made their way to a grey minivan. 'Hiccup' helped Elsa in and 'Merida' sat in the back, "Can you tell me about Jack?" Elsa asked, playing with the tip of hair.
'Hiccup' started the car and backed out of the parking spot, "He's your ex and you're dating me now."
"Really? Why'd I leave him?" Elsa asked her supposed boyfriend.
"He was a jerk," 'Merida' piped up from the back.
"Ahh," Elsa nodded, "So I'm dating you?"
'Hiccup' nodded, a smug smile crawled its way up to his lips.
Moments they had left the hospital, Jack had run inside, looking for Elsa. But found nobody. He texted her:
J: Where are you?
He got a reply moments later:
E: Sorry, the person you are trying to contact now doesn't like talking to her ex's, especially the ones that are jerks.
(CLIFF HANGER! OMG, IT'S SO LATE AND SNOT IS LIKE, RUNNING OUT OF MY NOSE AS I SPEAK. ARE YOU GUYS HAPPY? DO YOU STILL LOVE MEE? :c )