(Author's Note: *peeks out from behind screen* ...You guys? Is anyone...alive out there?

Sorry for the almost-a-year delay. I finished writing my novel. Now to get it published. But first a little fun-finishing this baby! Here's the next chapter. The one after this is coming up soon. I mean that this time! Thanks to some motivation from a friend of mine, I cranked out a new chappie. Have some feels and a minor heart attack. I'd be surprised, though, if even two people will continue reading this fic after such a lengthy hiatus. Yikes. Enjoy! -Doverstar)

Elsa was turning 17 today.

Anna had left a huge piece of chocolate cake outside the door that morning. It was dripping fudge frosting and moist to the very center. Elsa had never tasted anything so wonderful. Her parents had visited her each hour with a new form of celebration—new gloves to fit her perfectly, a pure silver tea set painted with snow flakes passed down from her mother's side of the family, a painting of Arendelle's fjords in autumn, twelve downy pillows for her bed, and several different kinds of perfume sent from other kingdoms.

All these gifts were nice, of course, but there were only two that Elsa knew she would remember for the rest of her life.

The first was Anna's. Yes, the cake had been extraordinary, but Anna had also somehow managed to make a ribbon threaded with gold and purple, royal colors, twinkling with jewels so small they could have been stardust. She had stitched in the words to my favorite sister on one side. It looked as if she might have tried adding a smiley face beside the inscription, and had failed miserably—it was a ball of ice-blue twine that didn't look like much of anything. But Elsa loved it. She swallowed the lump in her throat and wove it into her braid. From that day on, with every hairstyle she chose, the ribbon was included in some way.

The second was something nobody else could've done. Something nobody else ever got on their birthday for the next 400 years, and every day after. Elsa heard a knocking—not on her door, but on her window. She had been setting up her new tea set on the little table against the wall when it came. Elsa picked up her skirts and peeked outside.

She had been born in winter, so every time this day rolled around, it was tenderly covered in a blanket of white. It wasn't surprising to see the snow wrapping Arendelle in its heavy arms. Down in the courtyard, however, inside the gates on castle grounds, the snow had been cleared away in one spot. A circle of frost, a perfect, round circle, replaced it. Around the circle was a ring of frozen flowers, all different sizes, all different shades of blue. They glittered and sparkled and beckoned her. An ice tree rose in the center, branches curled as if made of the finest string, dotted with crystal white leaves.

It was enchanting.

But none of it, not one detail of the shimmering sight, was what took her breath away. No, we owe that reaction to the boy in the middle of it all, casually leaning against the trunk of his sculpted oak, arms laced behind his head to hold his staff across his shoulders. His smile poured color into her cheeks that hadn't been there before. His eyes were warmer than the roaring fireplace or being tucked in beside Anna when they were toddlers.

Well—perhaps not warmer than that—but an equal kind of warmth, a different kind.

Elsa, convincing herself it would be all right to leave the castle (after all, it wasn't like she was going outside the gates), grabbed her purple cloak and headed for the courtyard.

Jack perched on the curve of his staff now, watching as she rushed to the edge of his display. "What do you think?" he called from beneath the ice tree.

Elsa had already seen the glistening foliage. Her eyes were on the boy. "This is just…beautiful!"

"Yeah." Jack smiled halfway. "It's kinda shiny, huh?"

She laughed.

Jack hopped down from his staff, holding out his free hand to her. "Looks better up close."

Elsa picked her way over the flowers and delicately moved to take his hand. She was unaccustomed to slipping on any kind of ice, even frost, but she found she did need a little help balancing on her high heels as Jack pulled her to a thicker patch.

"You could put an eye out with those, Princess," Jack observed, watching the heels. "Not the best skates."

Elsa smirked. "But I'm still standing."

Jack made a grand gesture of letting go of her hand. "How 'bout now?"

She crossed her arms. "I barely moved."

He raised an eyebrow, impressed.

Elsa rubbed her arms, though of course, the cold wasn't bothering her. "I noticed there aren't any roses."

He shrugged, glancing to the side for a moment before looking back at her. "I don't like repeat gifts."

She smiled.

Frost grinned back. "Happy Birthday, Elsa."

Elsa slipped forward and gave him a hug. "Thank you, Jack."

Jack's heart burst. This was always going to be the closest thing to warmth for him. A hug from the most isolated princess in the world.

Suddenly she pulled away. She'd realized something. It electrocuted the happiness surging through her, until that joy writhed and disappeared. "Jack—I can't be out here."

"What?" Jack ruffled his hair with a hand. Her fear was ruining yet another moment. "Are you serious?"

"What if Anna comes outside?" Elsa was all but biting her nails. "She'll think I did this!"

"I know you've got skills," Jack smirked, "but uh, not even you could do something like this."

"I beg your pardon?" Her tone was light.

"You gotta have that little special touch."

"And you do, I suppose?"

"Well." Jack jerked his head to the creation around him.

She laughed, his favorite sound in the world. Then, as if catching herself, Elsa turned her back to him. She wanted to be cross and was trying to stay that way, but he was making it pretty hard. "You always do this."

"Do what?"

"I have to keep Anna from discovering my powers," she began, arms folded again. "So I think being cautious is a good thing. And then every time I get worried, you pull me in."

Jack was confused. "Pull you in?"

Elsa had been having a very nice birthday so far, and she adored her gifts, especially this one, but she was only just realizing how foolish it was to come out here. Anna would notice she wasn't in her room. She'd figure out where Elsa had gone. And then she'd want to join her, and Elsa couldn't risk that. And Jack hadn't even thought of these consequences? He'd known her this long; surely he could put two and two together and come to the conclusion that this was a bad idea? Why couldn't he bring his grand art indoors? Boys were all the same.

"Elsa?" Jack came up behind her and waved a hand in front of her eyes.

Elsa blinked.

"Birthday girl. Hey—what do you mean, pull you in?"

Elsa put her forehead in a hand, frustrated. "I mean, you! You give me those big blue eyes and that…adorable smile and you make me laugh, and then you expect me to just forget everything in a heartbeat like you do, and I can't—"

She started, hearing her own words echo back to her through the courtyard. She placed both gloved sets of fingers over her mouth, thoroughly embarrassed. A Princess didn't go blurting compliments to invisible winter lads. Especially charming Jack Frosts. Charming, egotistical Jack Frosts. Mischievous Jack Frosts who would have a field day with one slip of the tongue.

Elsa turned to look at him over her shoulder tentatively to see his expression.

Jack's eyes were bright with amusement and pleasure. "Adorable smile?" he repeated.

"I didn't mean—"

"Adorable."

"Jack."

"How adorable?"

"I was just trying to—"

"Since when were my eyes so big and blue?"

"Stop it." Elsa tried her hardest to hold in a giggle at his tone, and finally let it out. He just grinned at her.

"I love my gift," she assured him. "but it can't stay out here forever, Jack."

Jack's staff hit the ground with a small thud, a sound that perfectly described his disappointment. But he summoned his strength and his creation started to dissolve.

The ice beneath Elsa's feet disappeared. Unbalanced, she lurched forward and he caught her with his free hand on her shoulder. She smiled her thanks.

"Come on, Princess," Jack sighed. "Let's get you back inside. I'll handle cleanup."

When Jack had finished clearing out his gift, he flew to Elsa's window to see what she'd gotten up to in his absence. Elsa had set up a little table with a brand-new tea set and a couple handfuls of treats set out on silver platters. Steam rose from the teapot.

Elsa glanced up from her work and spied Jack, grinning. She motioned for him to come in. Jack blew open the window, and the force of the breeze knocked one or two chocolates off the table. He caught them in a hand as he landed, stuffing them into his mouth before Elsa could do anything about it.

"Jack!" she huffed, hands on her hips, feigning exasperation. "It's not time to eat yet!"

"I'th not?" Jack replied with a mouthful of deliciousness. "Oh. Th'orry."

"You're impossible."

He swallowed the chocolate and grinned. "I do my best."

"Have a seat." Elsa smoothed her hair and folded her hands in front of her, moving to sit.

"Oh no you don't," Jack interrupted, slipping over to her chair and pulling it out for her. "I saw Prince Sandwich's party skills."

"Thank you. So you did learn something from Hans' visit, then?"

"Yeah. How to be a stick in the mud. With perfect hair." He plopped down in the chair opposite her and reached for the chocolates.

Whack!

"Ow!"

Elsa had hit his hand with a little silver spoon.

"I told you," she said, "it's not time for snacks yet."

"When is it time?"

"Haven't you ever attended a proper tea party before, Jack?" Elsa rolled her shoulders back, as if she needed to help her posture become any better than it already was.

"Well, my number of friends has been down to one for like…ever, so no." Jack cracked a half smile, looking at her out of the tops of his eyes.

Elsa started pouring steaming hot tea into the cups. She looked up at him sympathetically. "You know, sometimes I forget other people—"

"Think I don't exist."

"I was going to say, 'Can't see you'."

"Same thing."

"Have you figured out why?" Elsa set the teapot down, and Jack looked into his cup distastefully.

"That stuff is liquid fire, Princess." Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Don't change the subject."

Jack leaned back in his seat, arms behind his head. His brown shawl fell over the back of the chair. "I dunno. I try not to think about it."

"Why?" Elsa blinked, eyebrows knitting in confusion. "Don't you want to know?"

Jack did want to know. He wanted to know more than almost anything. He wanted to know how to change things. He wanted people to wave back when he flew overhead. He wanted them to yell and point at him accusingly when he hit them with snowballs, instead of giggling and starting a fight without him in it. He wanted people to say his name. Jack Frost. He wanted to hear it in several different voices, calling out to him, greeting him, being angry with him, laughing with him. Why couldn't they see him? Why was he chosen to be this way? Sometimes the loneliness suffocated him.

But he had Elsa now. He had one person, a royal just as lonely as he was. He had a friend. She said his name and got angry with him and she laughed with him and, more often than not, she'd cry in front of him, and that made him feel needed. He loved feeling needed. So the lonely didn't bother him as much as it once had. He'd had ten years of Elsa, and he didn't have to think about being invisible anymore.

Slowly, he nodded.

"Maybe we can figure it out together." Elsa said quietly. She offered him a small smile.

"Hey, it's your birthday," Jack grinned. "You don't wanna waste it talking about me. Is it time for chocolate yet?"

Elsa rolled her eyes and handed him a piece. It started to stiffen and freeze in his hand, and he quickly popped it into his mouth. That didn't do much good. The inside of Frost's mouth was just as icy as the rest of him, and he swallowed the hardened pieces quickly.

Elsa wasn't going to give up. Here was something she could help Jack with, instead of the other way around as it always was. And the best way to think things through was to talk about them. She'd learned that from hanging about with him all these years.

"This is what I'd like to spend my birthday doing," she insisted. She shrugged one shoulder delicately. "Part of it, I mean."

Jack's blue eyes came up and struck her, a little surprised. She really meant it. Did he want to discuss this? If this was what she felt like doing today, he'd oblige. It was her day, after all.

Finally, taking another piece of chocolate, he said, "Shoot."

Elsa thought for a moment. "Well…let's start with your earliest memory."

Jack swallowed again, staring at the far wall. He messed the back of his hair with a hand. "Darkness."

Elsa tilted her head. "Darkness?"

"That's the first thing I remember." Jack's eyebrows came down and he looked at his reflection in the little silver teapot. "It was dark. And it was cold. And I was scared."

Elsa listened, fascinated.

"I remember—I-I was floating." Jack's voice was quiet, thoughtful. "Like I was underwater. But then…then I saw the moon." He chortled. "It was so big, and it was so bright…seemed to chase the darkness away. And when it did…I wasn't scared anymore."

Elsa smiled. "Where were you?"

Jack shrugged. "I dunno. In a lake. But…i-it was frozen. I broke right through the ice..." He made gestures to demonstrate with his hands. "And I was lifted way up in the air…and there was the Moon. Told me my name."

Elsa frowned now, setting her teacup down. "The moon told you your name? Isn't that a little far-fetched, Jack?"

"Hey, you took advice from trolls made outta rock."

"Good point."

Jack's smile fell. "Anyway. Long story short, that's all he ever told me. Why I was there and what I was meant to do…that I've never known." He glanced at his staff, dormant against the side of his chair. "And a part of me wonders if I ever will."

Elsa looked at her lap for a moment. Then she exhaled slowly. "Maybe…you were born with your abilities. Like I was."

Jack grunted softly. "Maybe. I don't remember anything before that, though. Wasn't anyone before I was Jack Frost."

Elsa bit her lip. "And you've been on your own…how long?"

Jack sighed. "Couple generations. No big deal."

"Well." Elsa smiled, wider this time. "Now you aren't."

Jack smiled back. "Yeah. Guess I'll have to settle for you."

Elsa huffed. "Very funny. Drink your tea."

"Oh, is it teatime?" Jack looked into his cup again. "Who makes these rules, anyway?"

"Just try it! You'll like it."

"Does it taste like pears?"

"Drink it, Jack."

"It tastes like pears, doesn't it?"

"Jack!"

Jack picked up the cup, sloshing the tea around in it for a bit. He'd never…drank anything hot. Or even warm. He usually didn't even need anything to drink—he was immortal, as far as he could tell, and he didn't get really thirsty like normal people did. But if he ever felt like it, all he drank was water from a few cold streams.

Elsa was watching him with her large, blue eyes.

He took a swig. He coughed. "Hot!" Setting the cup down, his mouth felt sticky and stung, like it had frostbite. His entire throat hurt. It was like being blasted in the face with too much steam. He got weak in the legs.

The Princess sitting across from him didn't notice, thinking he was just unused to a little tongue burn.

"I thought it would cool down by now." Elsa took an experimental sip of her own. Bewildered, she dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. "It's fine to me."

Jack almost fell out of his chair. He stood up. He'd taken too big a gulp. Breathing out slowly, a puff of smoke came from his mouth. His hands shook. "Ugh…"

Elsa saw his eyes watering. "Jack?"

Frost put a hand on his throat. It still hurt. One gulp! Just one gulp and he had an extreme reaction? He opened his mouth to tell Elsa he was fine, don't worry, but all that came out was more smoke.

He wasn't fine.

Elsa stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

Jack shook his head.

Elsa paced around him, panicked. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Jack spluttered. "Hot!" he said again. It was all he could think.

"I'll help you." Elsa started to summon the chill she was so familiar with. But she stopped. "No…I-I can't help you. Not like this." She curled her fingers inward. "Jack! What do I do?"

Oh, I don't know, Jack thought. Not dying would be nice, but hey, take your time. He sank to his knees. What was going on? He drank a little tea! Tea. And now he felt like his insides wanted to be on his outside. He started quivering. He undid the tie to his shawl and it crumpled to the floor around him. His white, long-sleeved shirt wasn't doing him much good either, but he wasn't taking that off, thank you. He felt feverish. He never ever ever ever ever felt feverish. Ever. Not once in his entire existence, which hadn't been long—but really it had been longer than most. Lack of actual childhood memories made it seem short. If his whole life passed before his eyes right now, he wouldn't have much to look at, would he? He wouldn't mind replaying a few pranks, though.

The heat spread to his head and interrupted his mental babble. "Ow, agh!"

Elsa was still pacing, stress creeping back into her eyes. "Okay…all right, where does it hurt?" Maybe she could…

Jack gripped his head with both hands. "Everywhere," he groaned.

Elsa stooped down and put a hand on his shoulder. He wasn't warm or even his normal icy. He had acquired an unnatural, writhing layer of heat. It was like when ordinary people got high temperatures—but this was branding and felt fatal.

She withdrew, gasping, "Jack—y-you're so hot!"

Jack managed to raise an eyebrow at her. Shivering, he grinned through clacking teeth. "You're not so bad yourself."

Elsa blushed, but irritation still knitted her brow. "You really are impossible!" She stood up, looking out the window. No one was coming. No one was even in the courtyard. The halls outside her closed door were silent. Knowing Anna, she was probably in the wardrobe of her room, snipping and tying and crafting out Elsa's next gift. As aforementioned, it was customary in their family to receive more than one each hour. The wardrobe was where Anna liked to hide if she was preparing a surprise or had just knocked something very expensive over. She thought it had supernatural properties involving invisibility. Something to do with the mothballs and how it always smelled like sweet potatoes. She'd been 3; it was hard to remember.

Taking a deep breath, Elsa turned back toward her friend, taking off her gloves. Jack, with one eye, watched them drift to the floor. Elsa was shaking even harder than he was. Her stomach turned in on itself. What if she hurt him? She couldn't hurt Jack. She couldn't. Not Jack Frost. She would never be able to live with herself. Hurting Anna had doomed her happiness. Adding the weight of Jack's suffering would be too heavy. She would collapse.

A small, still-flustered part of her brain wondered why he couldn't fix it himself. He was made of the cold. Every molecule in his body was frosted and swirled. Didn't he have little snowman antibodies ready to bash whatever the heat from the tea was doing to him?

Whatever the heat from the tea was doing to him. Heat. Hot. All either of them knew was that no part of Jack's body had ever encountered something so painfully opposite of everything inside it. Outside it, sure. A fireplace—he didn't really feel that—the sunshine, his stiff-with-ice shawl. Hugs from Elsa. All that was warm. Some of it was hot, even. But none of it had ever entered his inner being. And now that it had…Elsa's head swam. He looked like he was folding into little lines. He didn't melt or sweat. He just shuddered. Like he was…cold. But he wasn't, he was burning.

Elsa eyed the teapot with hatred. No more Peppermint Delight in this chamber. This tea wanted to kill her best friend.

"When I am Queen," Elsa murmured, still trembling as she knelt beside Jack's jerking form, "I'm outlawing every bag of tea in the kingdom."

Jack chortled through his teeth, but it cut short. "I like that plan." His eyes tightly shut, he exhaled. Hot hot hot hot hot hot. Ow ow ow ow.

Elsa wanted to chew a strand of her hair, something she'd done when she was little. She didn't even know how to do this. She didn't know where to start. "What if…what if I…" What if she was six years old again, holding Anna her lap, crying for Mama and Papa as the ballroom closed in around her?

Jack curled tighter into a ball. It had reached his chest. He opened both eyes, clouded and warm and agonized, looking up at her. His pupils shrunk in panic.

Elsa didn't think about it anymore. She put both hands down, one on his chest and the other on his stomach. The storm spiraled from her heart to her collarbone to her shoulders, down her arms, sparkling on her wrists, dancing across her knuckles, fireworking out of her fingertips. Completely lighting up Jack Frost with iridescent blue.

Jack gasped, the sky-white magic cocooning him, then dying out, encasing the spikiest parts of his hair last and shooting off the tips in a little finale. His lips got bluer than usual. The pale in his hands became less gray. He went limp.

Elsa watched him, eyes darting across his face, mouth open in a silent plea for him to move.

He didn't.

Jack, get up.

Her eyes stung.

Then he sucked in through his nose, knuckles cracking as he pushed himself into a sitting position with both hands. The sides of his bare feet scuffed on the floor.

"You're all right!" Elsa lurched forward, throwing her arms around his neck.

The ground beneath his toes got a fresh coating of frost. He returned the embrace with one hand. "No offense, Birthday Girl, but I don't think I care for your tea." Not an ounce of steam came out.

Elsa laughed long and loud, and she squeezed him tighter. Then she remembered he'd just been through an ordeal and gasped, "Sorry. I'm sorry," and pulled away.

"No, no, no, no you don't," Jack growled, pulling her back. "I've been traumatized. Don't you move."

Elsa chuckled. "If a servant comes in and sees me hugging air…"

"Who cares?"

Who indeed. Not her.

Jack breathed in, glad to feel the complete lack of any warmth in his throat. "You did it, Princess."

Her magic had saved him? She hadn't even known if the sudden exposure to the heat would kill him. But she'd certainly solved something. He was going to be okay, and it was because she'd controlled it. She'd been scared, yes, and uncertain, yes, but she'd done it when it counted. She'd pushed past all that and she'd saved a life. If anyone could be saved by something so dark, it was Jack.

"You know what this proves, don't you?" Elsa said, sitting beside him now.

"That you're awesome?"

"That we're not made of the same things after all." Elsa glanced at the tea table. "I drank it at the same temperature you did. And I'm fine."

"Aw, I dunno." Jack leaned back on his palms. He smiled at her. "I think we're made of some of the same stuff."