"Hey, Elsa, you in here?"

Jack opened the door to her chambers, staff over his shoulder. He'd taken the indoor route this time; thought he'd shake things up a little.

"You gotta come see this. I just iced the wigs off parliament." Jack glanced toward the bed. "The whole thing!" She wasn't by the bed.

He turned toward the fireplace, the vanity, the window seat. One quick look told him she wasn't in the room at all. Really? She wasn't here? When was she not here? He ducked out of the chamber and slid down the bannister. She had to be somewhere. Just yesterday she'd talked of running away, when they were on the roof. She hadn't left, had she? She should've told him. No, she wouldn't just go. She couldn't. She was way more responsible than that—which was sometimes a downer, but he admired it anyway. She was here in the castle. He just had to poke around, like always.

It felt strange, looking for her instead of Anna in these halls. She wasn't in the kitchens, not the gardens, not the Great Hall, not the throne room, not the study...there! Jack slid to a halt outside the parlor. She was there; he could hear her mumbling to herself.

"What's goin' on?" Jack stuck his head in, trying to behave as if he hadn't been spending half the afternoon looking for her.

"Oh—Jack!" Elsa turned, looking rattled. Jack caught his breath. She was wearing her hair tightly in its usual braided updo, but apart from that, she looked pretty different today. Her dress seemed to come right out of a storybook; dark magenta with swirls of sky blue along the hem and dotting the sleeves. Her makeup was fainter than ever, and she didn't need a bit of it anyway. Her shoes looked as delicate as glass. The outfit was so new, Jack had to take a moment to register everything in front of him. He didn't mean to stare. He was just so used to the teal-and-black gown she always wore; this was a fresh—and very welcome—change.

Elsa smiled at him, but it looked a little bit strained. "What do you think?"

Jack blinked. "Y-You…you look…" He cleared his throat. "Looks great. What's the occasion, Princess?"

Elsa sighed. "I have to attend parliament today. They're waiting for me in the throne room—and I'm late. I had to—Jack?"

Jack grinned. He grinned really big. He couldn't help it; he laced his staff across both shoulders and hooked his arms over it. "About that."

"What?" Elsa folded her arms. "What's so funny?"

Jack's words rode on his laugh. "They're gonna need a few minutes. You got some time."

"All right, what did you do?" Elsa's fingers drummed on her arm, and she tried to keep a stern face.

"Uh, let's just say I'm out of their hair for now." Jack's attempt to keep in his mirth failed miserably.

Elsa waited, biting the inside of her cheek to keep it together.

"I blew off their wigs." Jack demonstrated, holding up his staff to let wind jingle the chandelier above their heads. He looked back at her, still beaming like a little kid.

Elsa held herself in perfect composure for another whole minute. "Jack, that is not funny…you…you blew off their…" She burst into chortles. "You blew off their wigs?"

"That's not even the best part." Jack held up his free hand, tone hushed even though no one but his Princess could hear him. "They're all—all of them—bald."

Elsa gasped and tried harder not to laugh. "The wigs aren't there because they're bald! It's just tradition to wear them!"

"I know!" Jack cackled.

"They were all bald? N-Not, not even a single head—"

"They were so shiny!"

"Jack!"

"I thought I was gonna go blind!"

"Jack, that is incredibly rude," Elsa began, smothering her chortles in a gloved hand. "I can't believe you did that."

"Nah, it was stuffy in there. They needed a cool breeze." Jack shrugged, loving her laugh.

Elsa covered her whole face with her hands this time. Her laugh slowly died away. "Oh, this is my first parliament meeting and I…I don't think I can—"

"Hey, you'll be fine," Jack assured her.

Elsa looked up. "No, no, you always say that. Just listen!"

Jack leaned against the fireplace mantle, arms folded, staff leaning with him.

"They want to discuss Arendelle's trading partners. I don't know anything about our trading partners! I-I-I've been stuck inside my bedroom for 12 years!" Snowflakes started to swirl around her head. She jerked her head up to glance frantically at them. "There, see? I'm already so frightened. What if I can't control it? What if everything comes out, right in front of the royal court? I'll ruin—"

Jack had listened long enough. "Elsa, hey, calm down. Just calm down. Take a deep breath."

Elsa rolled her eyes, nostrils flaring in a cute, frustrated gesture, and he stood up off the mantle. If she could keep her emotions in check, she could keep her power in check. At least for the next few hours.

"Inhale."

She obeyed.

"Release."

She exhaled, and the snowflakes started to wink away, three by three. Elsa straightened up a little, relieved. She gave him a fond look. "There."

"I know I say it a lot," Jack reminded her. "But I'm serious. It's gonna be okay."

Elsa brushed a bit of snow off her shoulders fussily. "I can't do this forever, Jack. Someday someone will find out."

"Someone already did." He blew a snowball into his hand and tossed it up and down, spinning it on a finger lazily. "And I ain't scared of you."

Elsa chortled a bit. "Well, thank you, I appreciate that." Her smile slipped. "But I mean what I said. If my secret ever comes out, I…I don't know if I can handle it."

"Doesn't matter," Jack scoffed.

She blinked at him, confused.

"Because I know you can handle it."

Three Years Later…

At the coronation party, Jack was getting bored. He wanted very, very badly to talk and joke with Elsa and show off to her—causing accidents and spilling things and making a general fool of himself, just so she'd smile at him. But of course, she couldn't see or hear him, so that would be a waste of time and just…just no fun anymore. This revelation startled him. He could make anything fun. Little bit of frost, couple of snow flurries—everything was a party then. But he was learning rather quickly that fun came with friends. And he only had one.

Correction—he used to have one.

Well, tough, big guy,he told himself curtly. So she can't see you. Get used to it. He could still have fun. He froze the punch bowl and had a few formal snobs slip on ice that just "came out of nowhere". He did most of it outside, of course, near the fountain. That way none of it could be traced back to Elsa somehow and she wouldn't hear anything of it. She wouldn't worry.

He slid past a few twirling couples to Elsa's side. She was off the dais by now. He was just finished a chuckle when he reached her. "You'll never believe what I just saw. Berna fell in the fountain. You gotta go—"

Turning to greet a couple, she wafted through his body and it successfully shut him up.

As Elsa curtsied to her guests, Jack could hear Anna behind them, struggling through the crowds with Hans at her side. Jack rolled his eyes. His Royal Sideburns had a smug look in his eyes, but the rest of him was all charm and sweet smiles. Jack wanted to give him frostbite.

"'Scuze me. Sorry—oh, there she is! Elsa!"

Elsa turned around once more, and Jack stepped backward so she wouldn't move through him again. He couldn't feel it for the fourth time in a single night. It hurt too badly. To drown out his self-pity, he focused on Anna.

"I mean—Queen! Me again." Anna twiddled her fingers, their earlier spat seemingly forgotten. "Um, may I present…Prince Hans of the Southern Isles!" She pulled Hans forward by an arm.

"Uh, little late there, Freckles," Jack informed her, frowning at Hans.

Elsa looked baffled and a little surprised to see Hans. What was he doing with her little sister? But the auburn-headed blueblood didn't miss a beat; acted like they'd never spoken, much less shared a day together once.

"Your Majesty!" Hans bowed, and there was excitement and a chuckle in his voice, something urgent like he couldn't wait to get it out. "We would—"

"—like—" added Anna, clinging to his arm.

"Ah, your blessing!" Hans continued, smiling widely.

"Uh oh." Jack's blue eyes cut to Elsa and back to the too-happy couple. Both young royals were giggling to one another with barely contained delight.

"Of…our marriage!" finished the two, heads together, looking up at Elsa imploringly.

Jack cleared his throat. "Well, this is giving me cavities."

Elsa's entire body stiffened up. Her eyes popped open. "Marriage?" she breathed, blinking as if she had something in her eye. Her brow knit.

"Yes!" squealed Anna.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm confused." Elsa looked positively stricken.

Jack shared her bewilderment. "Yeah, how long did that take? Two seconds? Smooth, Long Nose." He iced the ground just beneath Hans' feet, only thick enough to be slippery, thin enough not to be noticed.

This was ridiculous. Who got married to someone they met an hour ago? No, that was being unfair. Who got married to someone they met an hour and a half ago? Jack straightened his shawl a little. What was Anna thinking? The answer was obvious. She'd been alone so long, and Hans was so 'perfect'. He was the solution to her emptiness. He seemed happy to play the part. Jack gritted his teeth. He'd heard of humans, ordinary humans, falling for each other pretty easily, but this was just stupid. Even he'd never get this dopey over anyone, and he'd had centuries to think it over.

A glance at Elsa betrayed that thought, but he tried to ignore it.

"Well, we haven't worked out all the details ourselves," Anna responded, walking on air. "We'll need a few days to plan the ceremony. Of course, we'll have soup roast and ice cream and then—wait, will we live here?" Anna grabbed Hans' shoulders, the question suddenly striking her.

"Here?" Elsa sounded like she wanted to toss her krumkakes.

"Absolutely!" Hans gushed.

Jack thickened the ice beneath his feet. "Oh yeah, make yourself at home." He looked at Elsa. "He's sleeping in the stables, right?"

Elsa coughed. "Anna!"

Anna wasn't listening. "Oh, we can invite all twelve of your brothers to stay with us!"

"What? No no no no no—" Elsa waved her hands.

"All twelve?" Jack added at the same time. "I don't think so, Freckles. If they're anything like Señor Smiles over here—"

"Of course we have the room, I don't know, some of them must—"

"Wait! Slow down." Elsa's voice rose, becoming firm and cold. Anna finally stopped talking. Jack closed his mouth too. He knew that voice—you did not mess with that voice. She was getting tense. "No one's brothers are staying here. No one is getting married."

Both faces fell. Jack could almost see Anna's heart sinking deep down inside her. "Wait, what?" The redhead's tone held a warning. There wasn't any bounce to it.

Elsa leaned in, fingers curled. "May I talk to you, please?" she hissed. "Alone?"

Anna hesitated, the word alone bringing her eyebrows down in a harsh expression. "No." She took Hans' hand. "Whatever you have to say, you…you can say to both of us."

Hans looked equally as upset as Anna did. He watched Elsa with a guarded, almost neutrally pained expression; one Jack couldn't undo to see the truth beneath it.

Elsa barely stopped to take a breath. Her voice was soft, cool. "Fine. You can't marry a man you just met."

Jack nodded, but he didn't feel the need to say much. It wasn't like it would matter if he did. All he wanted to do was watch now. Something was going to give soon; he could feel it. Anna had been rejected for a long, long time, and Elsa had been composed on the outside for even longer. Hans was the card that was too heavy for the deck. He'd topple the already-swaying tower.

"You can if it's true love," Anna argued, still clutching Hans as if he might disappear.

Jack's eyebrows rose. He glanced between Hans and Anna. Did she really think this was love? This passing fancy with a guy she didn't know? Jack thought for a second, just a second. What was true love? Did he even understand it himself? It couldn't be this. Had he ever felt it? The memory of Elsa's laugh tickled his mind and he shoved it away. That wasn't true love. It couldn't be; she'd given up on him and he'd abandoned her. Love was selflessness, wasn't it? Wasn't that what he'd seen, the surest thing in 200 years? Giving yourself up for another person was love. There couldn't be anything greater to show it. He hadn't been selfless for Elsa. Not when it counted. He couldn't love her. No way.

Was Hans selfless toward Anna? Something told Jack it was quite the opposite. There was a hunger in those dark eyes. And Anna…she had good intentions, Jack knew, but all for herself. Hans was the pitcher pouring water into her thirsty soul. He was perfect for her, he liked spending time with her, he wanted to marry her, he made her feel wanted, he made her feel good. That wasn't love. That was self-construction. That was building something to make yourself feel better.

Elsa's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He was a boy; he didn't think through things so deeply, so often, but this seemed so important.

"Anna, what do you know about true love?"

Jack turned to glance at her. Her eyelids had lowered, her chin was high. What was she thinking of? He wished he could ask.

In truth, Elsa was thinking of him. She didn't know why. She didn't like it. Arendelle's ruler couldn't be smitten with an imaginary spirit. Especially not one that had let her down. It was silly. But she couldn't get his smile out of the back of her mind as she spoke. If anyone, however make-believe he was, could show what true love…no, don't be a fool, Elsa. He was never real.

And what did Anna know of true love? Wasn't Elsa the one who had kept herself shut away? For Anna? Wasn't Elsa the one who had protected her family from herself for so long, while enduring the misery of solitude because of it? She knew what love was. Of course she did. Love was doing whatever it took. Love was locking the door when someone knocked, because should she open it, should she touch them for a moment, she could hurt them. Love was keeping yourself to yourself and dealing with your own problems, your own fear, so that no one else would have to deal with them for you. Love did not need anybody else.

"More than you!" Anna retorted. "All you know is how to shut people out!"

Jack flinched. Elsa's eyes widened, and Hans looked away for a moment. Anna didn't seem to regret a single word. She stared Elsa down, the bitterness welling up inside her.

Elsa's own bitterness came up too, rivaling Anna's. "You asked for my blessing, but my answer is no." She took a deep breath, and Jack saw some of the tension start to edge away, slower than ever. "Now…excuse me."

Hans interrupted her exit on the scene, lifting a hand. "Your Majesty, if I may ease your—"

Elsa stopped, but she didn't look at them. "No, you may not, and I…I think you should go."

However much Jack agreed with Elsa's sharp words toward Hans, he couldn't watch Anna's heart break all over again. He darted into Elsa's path. "Hey, listen, listen—"

Again, she went through him, addressing one of the guards. "The party is over, close the gates."

Jack turned to face her again. "Wait, what?"

"Elsa, no, no, wait!" Anna pleaded, rushing after her sister. When Elsa didn't turn to acknowledge her for the ten hundredth time in her life, Anna grabbed her hand. To Elsa's horror, the glove on her hand came loose, and Anna clutched it in agony.

Behind them, Hans moved to join Anna, but he slipped on a strange, random patch of ice and fell on his back. Jack stepped over him, whistling.

Elsa whirled around, eyes frantic. "Give me my glove!"

Anna held it out of her reach, hoping to keep her sister there a moment longer. "Elsa, please, please, I can't live like this anymore!"

The two sisters stared at one another, Elsa's eyes tearing up. She tucked her hands under her arms, aware of all the eyes on her. Jack put a hand on her shoulder, but it melted into it instead of resting there comfortingly. He looked at the ground, nodding in his own bitterness. This was how it had to be. This was what he deserved. They needed him—no, they needed their parents—they needed someone, each other probably, and he couldn't do anything to help. And it was his fault.

"Then leave." Elsa's voice trembled, and Anna blinked, despair washing over her features.

Elsa turned to walk toward the door. But Anna stood in her long shadow, still holding the glove, all the years and years and years of silence and one side of a door and echoes in the corridors hurtling out of her.

"What did I ever do to you?"

Jack halted, looking between them, heart beating faster. What could he do? He couldn't do anything? He had to try. He waved a hand up and down in front of Anna's face. "Look, look, she's just scared! She wants—"

"Enough, Anna!" groaned Elsa, speaking through her teeth, trying not to draw more attention.

Jack flew in her path. "Elsa, stop."

She walked through him and he fought the lump in his throat, standing between the two girls, wishing for everything he was worth—which admittedly wasn't much—that he was flesh and blood. He dragged his fingers through his hair, exasperated. "Come on!" He turned in fury to the window, looking out across the ballroom through it at the full moon in the sky beyond the glass. "I have to do something!"

"No, why?" Anna was screaming. "Why do you shut me out?" Her voice became thick. "W-Why do you shut the world out? What are you so afraid of?!"

Jack felt a tingle in the air, in his fingertips, in his center. As if on instinct, he turned to look at his Queen. Elsa whirled one more time, hand previously on the door handle, now outstretched in desperation.

"I said enough!"

Jack sprang backward. A flash of blue danced before his eyes. When he regained his vision, his heart almost stopped beating. "Oh no…"

Massive shards of ice covered the floor in a wide half-circle, cutting Elsa off from the partygoers and revealing her abilities to everyone in the room. Hans looked from the ice to Elsa, but Anna never took her eyes off her sister. Jack saw the pain and the terror on Elsa's face and his heart twisted, making him sure it was beating. But with every beat he wanted to take Elsa in his arms like he had when she was little, make her feel safe. She was so far from that little girl now. She was so far from 18, the last time they'd spoke. He couldn't rescue her this time. She was, she thought, truly alone.

And now her worst fears were apprehending her entire being.

The Duke of Weselton said something, pulling his bodyguards close, but Jack didn't hear it. The sounds around him blurred into background static, and he watched as Elsa fumbled with the door, flinging it open, and rushing outside.

"Elsa!" Anna darted for the back door, skirting the ice and immediately taking off after her older sibling.

Hans, after a moment of stupidity that was evident on his face, ran in Anna's wake. The Duke of Chickens with Monkey Faces (or whatever he was called) took his thugs, who broke the ice to make a path, and headed out the way the frightened Queen had.

Jack had a few seconds to think now. Elsa was running. He knew where she'd go. He'd seen her looking out that way, once, against a bright sunset, longing for things to be different. He could get to her without any roadblocks. He could help. So she couldn't see him. She couldn't hear him. She didn't believe in him, and she certainly didn't care about him anymore. But she was his best friend. He could help. He had to. He was the only one who understood.

With one last glare at the moon, Jack flew out the back door, which Anna had left open, passing right into and out of the guests in the ballroom. Elsa needed him.

When he finally, finally caught up to her, she had reached the sea. As she stepped into the shallows, the water became ice against her shoe.

"Elsa!" Jack flew overhead; trying to get his head clear enough to control the winds so that they would drop him without actually, you know, dropping him. He wasn't looking forward to a swim.

He saw realization dawn on her face. Elsa raced across the water, and to Jack's surprise, the lake lit blue beneath her, creating a path of ice for her, all the way to the fjords on the horizon.

Jack heard Anna yelling her sister's name behind him. He couldn't stay behind with Freckles. Not this time. His decision had been made 12 years ago. Without hesitation, Jack followed Elsa.