Disclaimer: This work of fan fiction uses characters from Rise of the Guardians, The Guardians of Childhood, and Frozen which are trademarked by DreamWorks Animation, William Joyce, and the Walt Disney Company respectively. The author of this story claims no ownership over them. The story the author is telling is of her own invention and it is not purported or believed to be part of the canon storyline. This story is made for entertainment purposes only. The author is not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story.
Author's Note: This is a one-shot Halloween Special.
For he being dead, with him is beauty slain,
And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again.
– Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis
Memory – Ib OST
Requiem
Jack.
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Jack?
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Do you remember?
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Jack?
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When we went up the mountains that one time?
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We decided to go for a picnic one summer's day. I packed a picnic basket and you lead the way up the mountain. When we reached the top, we stopped for lunch and spent afternoon in each other's company. We lost track of time then, and when we descended, you insisted that you knew the way down. But we ended up getting lost, and it was becoming much too dark to continue. So we spent that warm summer night under the stars, laying in each other's arms.
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Do you remember that, Jack?
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It was the first time you said 'I love you.'
Elsa rested her head on his still chest, his arm was wrapped around her and his fingers were tangled in her pale-blonde hair. She played with the button on his shirt, content with just the weight of his arm against her as they lay together in bed.
"Jack – do you remember that time we went to the mountains?" she started in a gentle whisper, her voice shattering through the crisp morning silence. "Let's go again. I miss it, don't you?"
There was no reply.
The only sounds in the cold and sunny bedroom were morning songbirds singing through the open window and the sound of Elsa's breath.
"Are you still sleep?"
Silence.
She smiled softly at the thought, wrapping her arm around him in a hug before closing her eyes.
"I love you."
Jack.
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Jack?
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My baking isn't the greatest, is it? If the kitchen didn't end up in flames after each attempt, it was a miracle. But everything I made you ate without fuss, finishing it even when I couldn't stand the horrendous taste. Perhaps it was because you had an endless pit for a stomach, so everything tasted good to you. Or perhaps it was because you loved me so much that you couldn't bear to say no.
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I am trying to learn, to improve my skill. One day, Jack, I'll make pastries that you'll enjoy eating.
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I promise.
She pulled the steaming oven open, reaching in and lifting the red currant pie out. It was a masterpiece if she ever saw one, with dark, vibrant berries oozing between golden brown pie-crust, the smell of buttery pastry and floral sweet filling wafting around in the cold and frigid kitchen.
Her baking has improved immensely over the months.
She smiled to herself, and turned to place the pie on open windowsill, letting it cool in the cold wintery breeze beside the many other untouched and perishing pastries stacked up on every available space in the small kitchen.
Jack will so be proud.
Jack.
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My love.
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Remember our first winter together?
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The snowfalls were thick and fluffy, the days were short and cold, and the nights were long and lonely. But we spent every possible waking moment together did we not? When you weren't in the blacksmith and I wasn't in the shop, we were with each other, sitting underneath our favourite tree beside the lake.
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That winter was when you proposed to me.
They sat together, leaning against a winter-barren tree by the edge of the lake, frozen save for a large hole in the center, covered now by a light dusting of fresh snow. She propped her head against the listless weight of his shoulder, placing her forehead in the crook of his neck.
Elsa sighed, enjoying the view of the frozen lake surrounded by evergreens and pure untouched snow except for a single set of footprints and a smooth trail beside them. She raised her left hand to the sunlight, admiring a silver band inlaid with a pale blue stone resting on her ring-finger.
Then she reached for his left hand laying motionlessly by his side. His fingers were colder than the snow beneath them as she enfolded them in hers. She raised his fingers to her lips, kissing the same silvery band that adorned his hand.
"And I love you." She murmured.
"And I love you, Elsa." He should have said.
Jack.
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Why were you so reckless?
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Jack?
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You should have known that the ice on the lake wasn't solid enough to hold your weight. You've been doing this for so long, and yet, you went anyway.
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I remember sitting on edge of the lake, watching you slide around the ice in your shoes. I called out to you, asking you if the ice was solid enough. You laughed it off, telling me that it was the middle of winter, of course the lake would be frozen.
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I remember hearing the ice crack beneath your shoes, feeling my heart sink to my stomach, seeing your crystal clear eyes widen in shock.
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Do you remember that, Jack?
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Then, you fell.
She fastened the small, white buttons on his dress shirt. Bending down over him where he sat rigidly in a wooden chair, his arms resting motionlessly on the armrests. Elsa smoothed down the creases with gentle hands before reaching for his unmoving wrists to fasten the cuff buttons. She stopped to carefully grasp his fingers in hers, kissing his cold and ashen pale hands.
You promised me a forever, did you not?
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Jack?
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When you proposed to me that day before the lake.
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You pledged your love and life to me.
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And I pledged my love and life to you.
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Forever, Jack.
She reached over for the neck-tie lying on their bed. She looped the dark blue fabric around his neck and then knotted it with the skill only months of practice could attain.
"You are always hopeless at tying ties." Elsa murmured, tightening the knot against his neck.
Jack.
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You never surfaced.
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No matter how many times I called your name, you never came out of the water.
"There," she murmured, adjusting his collar around the dark blue fabric, standing up and smoothing the wrinkles out of her dress.
She admired her work, smiling to herself at the sight of him dressed in a pair of dark coloured trousers, white dress shirt, deep blue tie, and a dark brown vest.
It was too late.
Elsa reached down and brushed his brown hair out of his glazed, glass-like eyes, trailing her fingers down his bloodless cheeks and tracing his blue-tinged lips.
She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his icy forehead, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her face into his hair, breathing in the familiar scent that has followed him and become him since that day: rotting flesh.
"I'll love you," she whispered, "Forever, Jack."
Author's Note: This is a little delayed of a Halloween Special, but it up and out! I hope you guys enjoyed it. I wanted to write something a little darker and morbid for the occasion. =D
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Cordially,
EireneHarmonia