Hello everyone!

Thank you so much for the incredible reviews! I cannot believe we're almost at 100! Not once did I imagine that this story would receive the response it has!
Thank you! All of you! Everyone! Just thank you!

I probably should have mentioned this earlier and it really saddens me to deliver this news to you guys, but we are unfortunately nearing the end of this story:,( Can you guys believe that?! I sure as heck can't. God I don't want this to end! This story has been both an amazing pleasure and absolute blast to write and it's all thanks to you wonderful readers, followers, favorites, and ESPECIALLY to you incredible reviewers! But alas my dear readers, we have only four more chapters to go, (including this one).

I want to express my gratitude further to all of you amazing fans but I will go on forever. So I promise to save my long sappy, acknowledgment speech for my final chapter:)

In the meantime, please enjoy this chapter and do let me know your thoughts:) Feedback is always greatly appreciated!

And to the lovely ChapterScript: When I had first heard of Jack and Elsa as a couple, I didn't pay much mind to it. But after reading several amazing fanfiction stories about them, (all of which I will be listing out with my long sappy, acknowledgment speech), taking a look at some incredible fan art of them and even sketching some myself, I was inspired to put my own little story for them together.
Youtube crossover videos have also heavily influenced this story. In fact, I would have to say that the Elsa and Jack Frost-Say Something video by toufinus is the major inspiration for the scenes I used in my story. So please, go take a look at that awesome video:)

Okay everyone, without further ado, here's chapter 27 and I hope you all enjoy!

-birdywings


27

Black & Blue


Jack

Blue.
That is all I see.
All that paints across my vision until I can't see anything else.
And I'm not sure I want to.


Jack

My eyelids lift to reveal a space illuminated by the warm glow of a fire that crackles in the corner, sending sparks into the air and to sizzle against the stones that build the hearth around it, keeping the flames contained.
I blink a few times, the blue patching my vision as it melts away, to adjust to the dim lighting as I scan my surroundings.

The stone walls around me are dotted with the flickering ember flares of candles as they wave with the air, their forms bending and weaving with the flow. My eyes trail down the smooth surface as stone dissolves into hardwood, the material glossy with the glow of the flames. A large window dominates the opposite wall, its curtains drawn, allowing only a sliver of daylight to leak into the room at the foot of the glass and through the crack in the space between the two drapes, giving me just enough light to distinguish the legs and edges of the desk that sits in the center of the room, its surface littered with tools for creating and parts and pieces of creations that have yet to be made.

I'm at the North Pole.
In Santa's workshop.
In North's domain.

I push against the soft quilt I sit on, the patches crisscrossed by the greens and reds that slither across the fabric, and onto my feet, teetering for only a moment as I balance on the floor beneath me, my body still heavy with sleep.
I locate my staff propped against the stone where the two walls meet before taking the two wavering steps I need to close my fingers around the thin middle, the wood rough against my palm. Yet I grin, drinking in the familiarity of caressing the object in my hand, because at the moment, it feels like the only familiar thing I can bring to mind.

How did I come to be here?

I cross the room, my gait clumsy and groggy, and reach the the set of double-doors that separates me from life beyond these walls with effort. I inhale deeply before shoving them open, revealing to me the lively motion of North's creations at work as yetis hustle throughout the workshop, their arms loaded with a bundle of tools to be put into use or toys to be packed away for the children scattered around the world. Elves scurry across the floor, chasing each other with paintbrushes tipped with green or hiding out in corners where they dare one another to thrust their fingers into defective electrical outlets.

I smirk at them, laughter bubbling within me as I launch into the air in pursuit of North with questions that require answers.

I find him in the heart of the workshop, where the globe glitters with the lights of all the believers that dot the world like the paths of stars in the night.
He is surrounded by my fellow guardians, my view of him obscured by their figures, but I can just spot his 'Naughty' and 'Nice' tattoos peeking out from under his sleeves as he whispers to the group around him, his tone hushed and just radiating tension, with Sandy by his side, who's brow is furrowed in thought as a question mark hovers above his golden crown while Bunnymund leans against the wall with his arms folded as he tosses one of his boomerangs into the air and catches it repeatedly without effort, his features fixed into a frown, with Toothania hovering over the floor, her expression difficult to read as she stares intently at North, absorbing the words that are silent to me as they pass through his lips.

Moments tick by before anyone becomes aware of my presence, and when they do, the circle immediately parts, the hushed conversation dissolving into silence as their features relax into false smiles.
It is North who finally breaks the thick silence hanging in the air and closing in around us.

"Ah, Jack, you're awake!" He shuffles past the other guardians and claps me on the back with one of his brawny hands, his palm dominating my shoulder blade as I refrain from cringing a little at the force. "Good to have you back." He tells me.

I grin a little. "Good to be back," Then pause, my words hanging in the air as my eyebrows knit in confusion. "Where have I been exactly?" I ask, catching sight of an elf stumbling around below us with its head jammed into a miniature trumpet.

Silence.
That is what they answer my words with.
Hot, thick, heavy silence.

North purses his lips.
Bunny's mouth forms an 'O' as he begins to whistle, the tune emerging from deep within him.
Sandy's eyes shift to the floor and remain there, the golden rings in his orbs moving as they study the cracks between the wooden planks.
Tooth's eyes dart everywhere but toward me as her wings flutter nervously behind her.
I catch Baby Tooth's eye, and she seems to be the only one telling me anything, yet no words pass between us.

"I said," I say, my tone tense and a little irritated, when the silence has become unbearable. "Where. Have. I. Been. Exactly?"

The words come out more aggressive than I mean to, but it's too late to bite them back, and so I leave them suspended between us.

Tooth swoops to my side, her hand finding its way to my shoulder as the words come spewing from her lips. "Oh Jack, we're all thrilled that you're alright!" She says, before enveloping me in a hug while Baby Tooth plants a peck on my cheek.

"Well, some of us are." Bunny grunts from his corner without glancing my way. But despite his words, I can detect even the smallest hint of relief in his tone and I have to smile.

Everyone then begins to file around me, clapping me on the back or enveloping me in an embrace as they tell me that they're glad to see me again until I break the chain.

"Okay," I say. "But that doesn't answer my question."

A brief moment of silence follows and I'm about to speak up again when Tooth handles it for me.

"We found you Jack," She tells me, her voice gentle as her hand grips my shoulder tighter with her every word. "You were missing for days and we found you."

"Where?" I demand. "Where was I?"

"Just off the border of Norway and Sweden," Bunny grumbles. "In a little town called 'Arendelle'."

My breathing ceases.
Time comes to a halt.
Everything around me folds in upon itself as I remember.

I remember her.
I saw her.
Elsa.

I remember flying to Arrendelle and visiting the last place I saw her before she melted from my world.
I remember wandering the streets we tread together as the specters we were, where the memories appeared at every corner.
I remember finding her in the midst of the ocean, bobbing above everyone else.
I remember calling to her, my voice drowned out by the overlapping of waves and prevented from ever reaching her.
I remember losing her to the waves.
I remember stumbling away from it all for longer than I could register before finally collapsing in the snow with my last sight for days being of the distant stars burning fiercely above me.
I remember.

"Elsa..." Her name rolls off my tongue without my meaning to, and I find myself relishing the exhilarating sensation of hearing it again. Still as pure and untouchable as ever.

Five heads turn in my direction, (including Baby Tooth).
Five pairs of eyes boring through me as if I have just jumped off the deep end, thus plunging myself into a bottomless pit of darkness, and I don't care.
I don't care.
I don't care.

She is alive.
Elsa is alive.
I have to find her.

"Elsa's alive," I say without thinking. "Elsa's alive and we have to find her."

I peel Tooth's hand off my shoulder one finger at a time and push past the others toward the doors that hold my ticket out of here.

"I have to find her." I say in a hushed tone, but clear enough that they can hear me as my hand encloses around the cool handle before twisting the door to reveal the world beyond these wooden walls and glass windows.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the fruitcake," North speaks as he reaches past me and slams the door closed, cutting me off from the howling wind and snow-covered ground that lies outside. "You're not going anywhere until you do some explaining Jack."

He locks the latch into place before turning his gaze on me, his eyes glinting as they search deep within me for answers.
I don't give him any.

"Who is this Elsa?" He prods.

The other guardians gather around, closing in around us, and I suddenly can't find any air.

"It doesn't matter," I wave him off. "We're wasting time. We have to find her." I say as sternly as I can, which is fairly difficult to do with Santa Claus giving you a stare so hard you feel as if his eyes will set you ablaze from the inside or melt you into a puddle. Or maybe both.

"Jack," Tooth breathes gently. "Who is she?"

I expect the anger to rise within me.
I wait for the irritation to spill from my lips.
I anticipate the frustration to reveal itself in the ice that I imagine to seep from my skin.
But it never comes.

Instead, she does.
The story we wrote.
The freedom we found.
The fun we had.
The love we shared.
It all comes spilling out.

I eventually abandon the doors and perch myself atop the railing that trails along the staircase lining the floors as they ascend higher than I can see.
I feel a smile forming in my features when I speak of the fun we created together.
I feel the adrenaline beating through my heart in my chest when I tell them of the freedom we found in each other.
I feel the blush in my cheeks as the color seeps into my skin when I whisper the brief outline of the love we shared.
I feel the anger course through my veins as my hands clench into my fists when I utter the visit from Pitch through gritted teeth.
I feel the sting in my eyes from the tears that threaten to emerge when I voice the conclusion of her days.

Brick by brick, the walls come tumbling down, collapsing over me.
The words hold a lifetime of memories, yet only a moment of them spent.
A breath of happiness.
An eternity of torture.

"I never spoke of her to anyone," I finish with as I become conscious of the weight that has planted in my palm, and I glance down to discover an iced flower cradled in my hand, the glaze cool against my skin. I smile, now realizing just how much she reveals herself when I least expect it. "Not even to Jamie."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you fell completely and hopelessly in love with her. Can we get on with this mate?" Bunny snaps, but I catch the slightest trace water glistening in his glassy green eyes as tears pool in them.
I smirk at him. He glares at me.
I smirk again. He grunts and shifts his gaze.

"But Jack, I thought Jamie was your first believer." Tooth speaks, her expression puzzled.

I shake my head. "No. She was. Elsa was the first."

We all stand around, shifting our weight from foot to foot as we absorb my words through the awkward silence.

"We have to find her," I tell them. "Before Pitch does." My tone hardens, my features darkening at his name.

"Jack... Are you positive it was her? That you really saw your Elsa?" North asks, his tone cautious as if he thinks he's crossing a line. He could never be more correct.

"I know who I saw! I saw her! I know I did, and every minute you all waste digging for evidence of her, is another minute that Pitch spends looking for her!" I can feel the ice pulsing through me now as I grip my staff, my knuckles growing a shade paler.

All eyes leave mine as they study the floor at their feet with low heads.
All except two.

"Okay," Tooth says, floating over to me. "We'll find her," Her hand skims my arm until her fingers lace with mine, our palms meeting as she gives me a small, yet confident nod of her head. "Together."

"Alright then," North says, surfacing from his swimming thoughts as he clasps his hands together. "Whatever you need us to do, we'll do it."

I nod at him. "Okay, well, first we'll need her teeth."

"Teeth?" Bunny questions.

I roll my eyes. "Yes Bunny, her teeth. Tooth, you must have them somewhere right?"

Her teeth dig into her lip as her eyebrows knit in thought. "It's, possible... But why do you ask?"

"Because I have this feeling she no longer possesses any memories of her life as a human just like I did. So, we'll have to divide; two of us will search for her teeth at Tooth's palace while the other three search for her."

"Feeling you say?" North asks, eyes twinkling.

I grin. "Yes, feeling. In my belly." I say, placing my hands on my torso and jiggling the soft flesh of my stomach.

North laughs, tossing his head back as the sound echoes within his body, causing his round belly to ripple. "Alright Jack, Tooth and I go to palace and search for teeth while you, Bunny and Sandy find your Elsa."

Sandy gives me two thumbs up and I return the gesture when I hear a groan escape Bunny at the edge of the room. "First we have to set out on a wild goose chase for a figment of Frost's imagination, now I'm stuck with him?" He complains.

I smirk, unable to fight the tug in my lips. "Aw come on Bunnymund, you know you love me. Kind of like how you'll always be my favorite kangaroo."

His green eyes flash at me, his nostrils flaring as his tail whips to the rhythm his foot taps at against the floor, and he's about to respond when North interjects. "Just be glad you no ride in sled Bunny."

I stifle a laugh as we prepare to disperse when a trumpet blares throughout the room, and I have to cover my ears at the sound, watching as my staff clatters to the floor, but I barely hear it. My eyes dart around the room to find Sandy standing in a corner with an elf in hand, who holds the miniature trumpet that Sandy presses to his lips as he blows into the spout.
The racket ceases once all attention is focused on Sandy, who then tosses the elf to the floor at his feet and directs our gazes with a golden finger to the opening in the ceiling above us, where the moon shines brightly against the blue dome slanting over us.

"Manny!" North exclaims, extending his arms out to The Man in The Moon. "Don't get me wrong old friend, we love you, but now not best time."

The moon answers North with silence and only the beam of light that pours in through the wide, gaping opening above us as it shines down upon the diamond of tiles positioned in the center of the room. Each tile is etched with an image that represents every guardian as they surround a single circular tile marked with a 'G' at the core of the formation, where a pedestal with a single crystallized stone emerges from the dark opening in the floor.

I almost choke on the gasp that catches in my throat, and we all watch with tense shoulders and our breaths held as a figure takes shape from the blue, transparent stone sprouting from deep within the floor before us.

No one breathes.
No one speaks.
And I can't even imagine that anyone is able to think at the moment as we all slowly attempt to process the figure materializing before us.

North is the one to break the stunned silence.

"The Snow Queen."


Elsa

Darkness.
That is all I see.
All that stains my vision until I can't see anything more.

A chill weaves through the space.
The frigid air numbing my thoughts and sending shivers through me.
It pricks at my skin and stings at my eyes until I can't feel anything else.
Except the cold that surrounds and envelops me.

I hear not the howl in the wind.
Or the echoes of hushed voices.
Not even the silence that normally occurs before the darkness consumes you.
I hear only the frightened cries of children slicing through the pitch blackness.
I cringe as their miserable wails enter my thoughts and clutter my mind.

Yet, through all the darkness.
Through all the cold.
Through all the pain and misery.
Through all the fear.
There remains to be one thought left untouched by the shadows.

One thought that echoes through my mind.
One thought that surfaces from the scattered chaos raging within the walls of my head.
One thought that gives me hope through the silhouettes that claw at me, trying to drag me down into inescapable darkness.

This one, pure thought pulses through my mind even as it leaves my lips.

"Jack."


P.S. Am I ever going to see my regular reviewers again? Where are you guys at? I miss you all:( I loved reading your words and I really hope you all return when you can!:)