"Maybe he's just really doing a number on one of the southern countries?" Tooth threw in her two cents, as unrealistic as they may have been, to the discussion at hand, and the discussion was this: Where was Jack Frost?

Three pairs of scathing eyes looked in her direction until she retracted her statement, "Okay, all I'm saying is we should give him the benefit of the doubt. I mean we don't know whether or not he's… you know… with her…"

Mund let out a derisive snort, "C'mon Tooth. We all know where he is and who he's with. The most important thing we know is that he's not doing his duties. I mean for cryin' out loud he's only been a Guardian for a couple o' days and he's already slackin' off. I think we were bleedin' mad to bring 'im in."

With a glare that almost made Mund regret his words Tooth again spoke up, "He just got his memories back. He's just trying to cope in the only way he knows how. The human princess, believe it or not, is the person who understands him best at the moment, and he's trying to cling to that. I mean, you all have to remember how hard it is adjusting to the change! We should just give him some time!"

Immediately, however, North shook his head, "No. We cannot give him time. What he is playing at is dangerous." Tooth opened her mouth, ready to interject, but North spoke over her, "We all know what happened the last time a Guardian got too close to a human! The effects have not been good."

Silence fell over the table as each Guardian recalled their own dark memories brought to light by the mention of Pitch before North continued, "And just because Pitch has been quiet does not mean he has given up. He will return, and it will be with a vengeance. If we are to have any hope of winning this fight against him we will need the boy."

"Tooth, North is right. We've let this go on long enough.

Tooth caught her bottom lip between her teeth, chewing it softly, deep in thought. After a few silent moments, she let out a deep sigh, "Okay, you're right. We are going to need him and he's going to need to be trained."

Sandy gave her a small half-smile and nodded his head before taking flight and disappearing through the open window.

"It's a lot to take in, I know." Jack looked up from his hands for the first time since the beginning of his long-winded explanation to see how she was taking the news. It was the first time he had attempted to explain the entirety of his existence. It was turning out to be more of an ordeal than he had anticipated. First there was the extended explanation about his being immortal, having ice powers, his duties as a winter spirit, and everything that went along with that. Which led to a whole other explanation about his becoming a Guardian, the existence and duties of the Guardians and ending with Jack's lack of and subsequent return of his memories.

He was careful to skirt around any explanation of Pitch Black, giving Elsa a vague non-reason for his sudden promotion from normal winter spirit to Guardian. She didn't need to worry about that at the moment.

To her credit, Elsa accepted it all in silence, allowing Jack to speak until he felt he had no words left within him.

When he finally looked up at her she gave him a soft half-smile. The two of them sat with their legs crossed on her bed, facing each other, knee to knee. Elsa reached out a soft hand and brushed aside a lock of white hair, briefly cupping his cheek.

"So that is what has been happening then. The memories are causing you headaches as they return?"

Jack nodded as her hand fell away from his cheek, "More intense than any pain I've ever felt."

She looked at him silently for a moment before asking, "What did you remember?"

The remembered shouts of Jack's most recent memory echoed in his ears but this time they didn't scare him. He stared down at his own clasped hands, a small smile rising on his lips.

"I remembered the day my sister was born."

"You have a sister?" Elsa asked wonderingly, and just like that, Jack's small happy moment soured.

"Had a sister." He corrected her quietly, his heart squeezing painfully with each beat. He still stared down at his hands, but didn't see them. Instead, he saw his sister falling safely on the shore, smiling at him with relief. The last time he had seen her before…

"That memory was from over 60 years ago. For all I know, she's probably dead."

Elsa accepted this without a word, giving him a moment to process his on-going grief.

"What was her name?"

Jack looked up at Elsa's murmured question. Her expression was soft as she looked at him with sadness and understanding.

He realized then that she knew what this felt like; this loss that seemed to swallow him whole. She was still feeling it and she wasn't about to pity him or give him empty condolences. Instead, she simply lent her presence and the possibility of conversation and distraction.

Jack loved her for it.

"Cassandra," he whispered and her lips pulled up in a slight smile in response, "Cassandra Overland."

"Cassandra Overland," she repeated, "That's a beautiful name."

Jack nodded in agreement, "We always called her Cassie." A tight knot unraveled in his chest as he said it. A weight that he felt had been pressing down on him was now shared between the two of them. He took a deep breath, reveling in the sense that his lungs seemed to fill just a little bit more than they had a breath ago.

Elsa's smile grew wider when he again met her eyes and the bed bounced below them as she shuffled around on her knees, pulling him with her, and then laying down on the bed beside him.

When they had both settled shoulder to shoulder on the bed, she reached over and grabbed his hand in hers, holding it tightly as she posed another murmured question, "What do you remember about her?"

"She was beautiful," he mused, "She was always smiling and laughing." The ease with which the words rose to his lips surprised him and he smiled, "She put up with all my jokes and tricks." His chuckle shook the bed as a memory surfaced of a time he had hidden beneath her bed as she got ready to go to sleep and he had jumped out and scared her, "I don't know how she did it. She had the patience of a true saint."

The more he spoke, the more easily the memories of her came to his mind. Soft memories of sunny mornings that the two of them had spent sharing a picnic by the pond. He could almost feel her little hands in his as he remembered teaching her to walk, her chunky feet perched on his own as they toddled around the house.

And he told Elsa everything. Examining each memory as it surfaced, turning it over and over in his mind as he used his words to paint it in the air above them. And then when he was finished, he tucked the memory away in his mind. Not locked away and unreachable as they had been before, but safely stored where he could reach out and hold them when he needed them.

After what must have been hours, he fell silent. There were many more memories that he had, but he didn't feel that same urgent need to share them as he had before. His breaths came slowly and comfortably now, the complicated knot of emotion all but disappeared from his chest. The sadness was still there, of course, Jack figured it probably always would be. But it was easier to hold at the moment.

He turned his head and saw that Elsa's face too was turned toward him. At some point during his flood of memories, she had shifted so that she lay on her side, one arm tucked up under her head, her other hand still intertwined with his. Her eyes were closed and Jack was certain she had fallen asleep. It had to be getting fairly late. They hadn't bothered to light extra candles or torches before night had fallen so they lay in almost darkness, the only light coming from the moon outside the window.

Elsa opened her eyes as his silence filled the room.

"Did I wake you?" Jack's voice was barely audible, not wanting to break that silence that had fallen on the room.

Elsa shook her head in response, "I was just seeing your memories. Trying to picture them from your point of view."

The thought made Jack want to smile but he didn't. The moment felt too heavy, too taut with words spoken and unspoken.

Again the silence pressed in on them. It was a silence Jack had felt in empty cathedrals and near the freshly packed dirt of a burial ground. A sacred silence. Silence that signified letting go.

Neither one of them moved in that silence for several long minutes, laying eye to eye in the darkness.

And then, "Thank you, Elsa."

Even inches away from him, Elsa barely heard the words that passed like a breath across his lips.

"You're welcome, Jack."

He released her hand momentarily and turned so that he too lay on his side, mirroring her. He then grabbed again for her hand and pulled it up between them, pressing his lips softly to her knuckles and tucking it into his chest.

Within moments, both of them had fallen deeply asleep, blissfully unaware of the struggle that took place just yards from their window. The struggle that would prove to be the beginning of the end for all of them.

A/N:

I kid you not when I say that this story has been haunting me for almost 6 years. I am here for myself more than I am here for any of you. I must finish this story.

I can make you no promises about the time frame in which it will be done, but I make this promise to you right now: It. Will. Be. Done.

I know the story is riddled with errors, inconsistencies, and perhaps more than it's fair share of cringey moments up to this point (what can I say, I was 18 at the time) but I have 5 & 1/2 more years of writing experience behind me now and I'd appreciate it if you could stick it out until the end. It's gonna be a ride.

So, whether you're a first-time reader or a friend who just received a notification that this fic has been updated for the first time in 5 years, 6 months, and 12 days who thought to themselves "Wow, she must've gotten really bored in quarantine" I bid you all welcome and hope you enjoy your stay.