chapter word count: 744
noir heart: eighty-four
"Stop it," Jack growls.
Elsa tilts her head. "Stop what?"
"This," Jack says, staring unblinkingly into her eyes, "Whatever 'this' is."
Her lipped smile widens slightly. The pressure against his Glock increases. "What do you mean?"
Jack's eyes darken. Whatever adrenaline coursed through his body has by this point receded, leaving him at the mercy of the maelstrom of emotions coursing through his heart. Thanks to Rapunzel's visit, he's off-balance and vulnerable. So, even though he tries to give off the unflappable, unbreakable facade...inside he's acutely aware that Elsa has appeared at the worst time ever.
"Pretending you care. Pretending you can feel."
She pouts, and momentarily looks stung. Probably faking it. "I can feel…"
"Not empathy."
"Not sentiment," she says immediately. Her smile drops, and there's a flash in her eyes that tells Jack she's either sincere, or antagonised. "I don't see the attraction in chasing the ghost of a lost love."
Whether he wants it or not, he flinches - and the curling of Elsa's lips is a neon sign that she got what she wanted. The Glock lowers slightly, and his hostile expression falters. "Why are you here?" he asks quietly, watching her with wary eyes.
"I asked you who left who first, and you never answered. So I visited Rapunzel, and though I found out that it was she who left you, I was not satisfied with why. So, I came to ask you. Why did she give up on you?"
The hostility returns. "None of your business," he snaps defensively.
"Did she no longer love you?" she asks, circling around him.
"Fuck off."
"Did she cheat on you?" Her voice is behind him now, and though he wants to, the simmering mess of emotions inside root him to the spot.
"No."
She asks, louder. "Did you cheat on her?"
"No!" His frustration builds. He's going to explode.
"Did you grow tired of her?" She persists, louder. Her voice comes from practically on top of his right shoulder.
"No! No!"
"Did you abuse her?"
What blurts out of Jack's mouth is formed way before he even knows it, though there's a strange sense of liberty in amongst the crippling shame.
"Yes!" he snaps.
His heart, his mind, is a raging storm. He whirls around, face twisted with pain and frustration, and no matter what he wants, the words keep coming. "What you, Beatrice, none of you seem to get is that she left 'cause I was killing her, alright? Every day I was slowly killing her. The job took everything from me," he yells, waving both free and gun-hand wildly, "and when I had nothing left, it took from her too! I couldn't stop, so while I didn't use my fists, I sure as hell abused her heart and her mind! I took and I took and I took. I wouldn't let her help me, so she did the only thing she could and that was to save herself from me. She left to save her soul, and I'm glad she did, 'cause I'm toxic!"
Silence falls between them. Jack's breaths are heavy and nasal. He stares in anger at Elsa, who is almost completely unmoved. No fear. No smug victory. No frown of judgement. Not once in his tirade did she even blink. "Interesting…" she murmurs.
Seething, Jack snarls, "There, you happy? She left 'cause she knew when to call it quits. You got what you wanted."
She curls an infuriatingly pleased smile. Jack glances up just as the Super, a short, golden-blonde man appears in the doorway with a cellphone in his hand. He signs rapidly with the other. "I heard a gunshot. Called nine-one-one, is everything okay?"
"Everything's just dandy, Sandy. Tell them it's a false alarm. She was just leaving," Jack says firmly, glaring daggers at Elsa - who, even more infuriatingly, isn't affected in the least.
Sandy glances nervously between them, before nodding and disappearing out of sight. Elsa, hopefully satisfied, utters a quiet hm as she turns away from him and sways toward the door.
Yet, just as she rests her hand on the handle, she turns and utters something that does little to alleviate his tempestuous emotional state before she leaves. In fact, it only adds to it - bewilderment and confusion.
"I would never give up on you, Jack."
slowly losing my mind here. Okay, two things. Firstly, I'm writing another one shot, but it's not Jelsa. Rather, it's an Avengers one shot, taking place between two scenes in Civil War, involving Wanda and Hawkeye. No shipping.
Secondly, I feel I need to point out something: I am not trying to bash Rapunzel in any way, it is not my intention at all. I love her character, and I dislike it when people portray her as a massive bitch to justify a Jelsa pairing. So I don't get why it's coming across that way, and I can only assume I must be doing something wrong. In any case, in the story so far, the only person to bear any negativity to Rapunzel is Elsa, because of backstory and character exposition that I have yet to go into. She has her own agenda and her own goal. I am hoping - praying - that the above update clarifies things, 'cause I don't know how to make it any clearer without the next update being a complete plot explanation.
special thanks to everyone that reviewed, particularly Guest who boosted me with a lot of confidence in this rather confusing time. With FFN being weird, I can't actually see them, including Failwhale's. I'm going to lay down in a dark room with a bottle of vodka and a tennis ball.