Chapter 6: Freezer Burn

Contrary to the size of the munchkins inhabiting it, Elfsburg was very large and had an equally as large history to match. From the moment Christmas magic began to gather where the city and the Workshop now stood to the moment when Jack had almost had Christmas to himself permanently, there was never a dull moment in the colourful past of the North Pole. When the Christmas magic started gathering, Kringle Elves had moved to the pole, hoping to study it and find a way to control it before it caused a magic overload and damaged magic irreparably. This had led to the discovery of Winter magic as a conductor for it, which had led to the Dome and eventually the pact between Kris Kringle and Saint Nicholas that created the Santa Clause.

Naturally, when the Kringle elves moved up North, they had had a settlement on the outskirts of what was now Elfsburg. Centuries of wear and tear had reduced it to ruins, of course, and the permafrost and snow had covered it completely. But if you knew where to look, it made for a lot of nice little inlets. And Jack did know where to look. He had found many of them throughout his post-thaw year, away from the hustle and bustle of the Workshop, where all was quiet and he could sit and reflect and just think.

His personal favourite lay on the outskirts of the ruins of Old Elfsburg. Here, thick evergreen trees had grown, and had been cut near the top multiple times. They had grown back in such a way that they intertwined with each other, the trunks and branches all combining to make one large tree that also functioned as a natural treehouse of sorts—minus the little built wooden house, and such.

It wasn't anything grand. The inlet in the tree had enough room for Jack to sit and peer out of the branches as the snowflakes dwindled and then all but disappeared. He was able to lay down in it comfortably as the Dome became duller and duller. And there was enough room for him to pace back and forth as the headaches started, alerting him to the melting, and his attempts at giving the Dome a fresh layer of permafrost all but failed. Best of all? He didn't have to worry about falling out of the tree as he paced back and forth, trying to figure out what was happening to him.

At first, when March came around and his powers weren't as strong as they were before, Jack thought that perhaps Mother Nature or Father Time was playing a cruel prank on him. He dismissed that quickly when he recalled the whole "our powers don't work on other legendary figures" thing. Because of that, there was no way Mother Nature or Father Time could take away his powers. And then, when even they began to question why he wasn't doing his duties, Jack had had to rethink.

And this was where he came. The scent of pine, the cold breeze, the winter silence that even now permeated the air as he made his way to the tree, it was all a familiar comfort that helped him forget about how each and every passing day, his powers grew weaker.

This was where he would go when he felt particularly…emotional, which was a very new and weird feeling for him. But something Jacqueline was used to feeling.

Which is why he should've guessed that she would have come here!

Sure enough, as he approached the wide evergreen, he could make out a dark blue shape between the branches: Jacqueline's dress. He stopped at the base of the tree; she was silent. Jack glanced up, then back down. Shoved his hands in his pockets. The silence pressed on. Why were words so hard?

"I didn't forget about it, you know," Jack finally said, eyes downcast. "I could never just forget. I know it may seem like I did, but it wasn't…it's just…"

There was a rustling in the branches. He glanced up quickly; Jacqueline had moved a bit closer.

Jack pressed on. "Every time I thought about it, something stopped me. So I'd put it all in the back of my mind and ignore it. I never forgot, though. And when this happened," he said, gesturing to all of him, "I wasn't sure I wanted to look back at all. I thought that maybe, if I left it alone and didn't talk about it, I could forget about it. Which I suppose," he said, tilting his head, "Doesn't help my case much at all, really."

He hazarded a glance upwards again. Jacqueline was visible now, standing with her arms crossed, eyebrow raised.

"But I guess if I really want to start fresh, I'll have to talk about it instead of just leaving it in the past and pretending it never happened."

Jacqueline still stood there. Her jaw was clenched, Jack noted. Her face looked shiny, as well.

"Look, I won't come up if you don't want me to, Jacqueline. I'll just make a seat down here and wait for whenever you want to—" he waved his hand, thinking of a snowy chair. Nothing happened. "—talk, or—" he waved his hand again, picturing the snow moulding into the shape he wanted. Yet again, nothing. He sighed, squatted down, and began to push snow in a small mound by hand.

"Wow. They really are gone, aren't they?"

"Y-yeah. I don't. I don't know if I really wanna talk about it just yet."

"We will have to, though."

"In time. But I think that there are some other things we have to talk about first." Jack said, finally making direct eye contact with Jacqueline.

She was holding back tears, he realised.

Jacqueline turned abruptly, moving deeper into the tree. He waited for a moment before walking right up the tree trunk and into the heart of the thinking tree. She had slid down a section of thick, intertwined branches and sat slumped against it, hugging her legs, her face buried in her knees.

Jack crossed the rest of the space between them in four quick strides. His hand hovered above her head for a moment; he pulled back. Instead, he leant against the branches and slid down beside her, stretching his legs out.

"That was so embarrassing," she finally said, her voice heavy. Her shoulders were slumped, and she looked kind of shaky. She was crying! Thinking quick, Jack patted her shoulder, so very incredibly fast before shoving his hand back into his pocket.

"Don't worry Jacqueline. It was equally as embarrassing for me, if not ten times worse! The entire pole saw me get my butt kicked by my little sister! Me! A Legendary Figure!"

That got a very snotty snort out of the younger sprite, though she still hid her face. What was it Santa had said? Baby steps?

Finally, she lifted her head, palms pressed against her closed eyes. "You are so full of yourself," she said, sniffling and wiping the back of her hand across her nose. Her head now rested on her other hand, her blotchy face surveying Jack with a wobbly smile. "Did you walk up the tree?"

"Well of course! What, did you expect me to climb, like some kind of child? Or animal?"

"You can still defy gravity. At least that still works," she said, wiping the eye closest to her hand with her palm.

"Straight to business, I see," Jack replied, equal parts relieved and disappointed. You blew it Jack, he thought, resting his head against the tree. He adjusted his legs, one bent now, his wrist sitting atop his knee.

"You didn't blow it, you absolute blizzard brain," Jacqueline said. "You cheered me up a bit so I figured I'd try to return the favour."

"Ah." He rolled his wrist. "At least something still works."

The wind blew through the branches, a few pine needles falling down around them.

"Listen, I—" they both began. Then stopped, glancing at one another with identical looks of surprise. They both laughed, and looked away,

"Apologies, Jacqueline. I've been told I have a tendency to be a little bit chatty."

"No, really?"

Gotta love the sarcasm, Jack thought. "Listen, I know it probably doesn't do much of anything to make up for everything, but you're right. I didn't go home the moment I thawed. I probably could've done things this year…differently. Very differently." His eyes flicked upwards briefly before he turned his head to focus on Jacqueline. "I did stop to think, every so often. I'd have these moments of clarity…but they'd be gone like that," he said, snapping his fingers. "When I thawed, I think it was the one moment I had ever stopped to think for longer than a couple of minutes. And when I really and truly thought about it…well, I froze completely, if you'll pardon the pun."

"Absolutely not. Dad puns all the time. Any pardons I may have held for puns have been long gone," she replied, squinting off in the distance and looking truly jaded. Jack had to hold back a laugh.

"I guess I'd have known that if I had bothered to check in at home, huh?"

She shrugged in response.

"Jacqueline, I gotta be honest with you. Since I thawed? I think that it was the first time I had ever been really, truly afraid. I was so afraid, I couldn't bring myself to go back home. And for that, I'm sorry. Really and truly sorry. And not just for that," Jack said, lifting his hand and sticking up his index finger when Jacqueline opened her mouth to speak, and only continuing when she paused. "I'm sorry for…for everything, Jacqueline. The Day of Darkness, the…the stabbing bit, the fourteen hundred years of silence, the hurt I caused you, all of it. I—"

"Jack, stop. You're rambling."

"I told you I like to talk."

"I think it's more like you like the sound of your own voice a little too much," she teased, with the briefest of smirks.

"Well, I personally think this wordy apology of mine is way better than the disastrous attempt at small talk from earlier."

"It's not like I was making it easy for you either, Jack." She paused, then practically blurted, "I'm sorry too."

Jack was taken aback. "You? Sorry? For what? You have nothing to apologise for, I—"

Now it was Jacqueline's turn to stick up her index finger. "I knew I was angry," she said, effectively cutting him off. "How could I not be? With everything that happened, and Frostmas still so fresh in my mind? All of that anger at you, at everyone at home who would give me those sad, sad looks…at myself just built up and I guess. I just snapped, you know?"

"And you got to take it out on me, you lucky duck!"

A gentle stream of snow hit him in the face. He blinked, coughing dramatically. "Yuck, you got me with my mouth open!" he said, dusting the snow off of his shoulders. It would've been really fun if he had been able to wave it off and throw it right back at her. You don't know what you got until it's gone, I suppose, Jack thought (minding that he kept it to himself).

Jacqueline had gotten less tense, Jack noted, as he settled back against the tree. She nearly mirrored his pose now. One leg was still close to her chest, the other stretched out. Her head rested on her knee, hands hugging her one leg, staring right at him with a look Jack couldn't quite place. That was one heck of a roomy skirt, Jack thought (making sure this one was not kept to himself) for that much movability.

"A roomy skirt is better than a tight one," Jacqueline said, with a small smile.

"You did have every right to snap, Jacqueline. Really, it was only a matter of time and it wouldn't have been good for you to keep it bottled in. At any rate, you were absolutely right, sister dear. But I promise you, I did spend the entire year feeling remorseful and regretful. You can even fact check if you'd like," Jack said, tilting his head forwards.

Jacqueline straightened her head, staring at Jack with a furrowed look of concentration. He felt her chilly presence in is head, unsure where to look. So, he gave her a hand and showed her what he couldn't quite express in words. The helping hands, the good deeds he did, the apologies, and the overwhelming feelings he had felt of warmth, and love, and remorse, and regret—all of it.

She pulled away. "I believe you, Jack. Thank you for that," she said.

"It isn't even the least I could do for you, Jacqueline. Everything you said back there…it was all true. I missed so much. An entire set of siblings! I don't know why I acted so surprised, really. I'm fairly certain I met them during Frostmas."

Jacqueline stiffened. Neither sprite moved. The wind blew, a healthy chill through the branches. The pine needles rustled.

"I'm sorry about that, too. The whole. Frostmas thing. Do you remember—"

"It's fuzzy," she said, a little too quickly. "And I don't think I want to talk about that just yet because I may snap all over again." She sniffed.

A pause. "So they don't…know about me?"

Another pause. "Mom and Dad conferred with Mother Nature and asked her if they should tell them about you. She left the decision in their hands and didn't tell them what they should and shouldn't do. Ultimately, Mom and Dad thought it best to keep them from knowing."

"And Mom and Dad? Did she really—?"

Jacqueline nodded, her cheek against her knee now. She looked lost in memory. "She was sad for…a while. Thinking back now, it was pretty obvious that she had frozen. But I was five hundred, how was I supposed to know? And also, out of it for that entire week. Because of the stabbing bit, as you so eloquently put it."

Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, not-not my best turn of phrase. Sorry."

Jacqueline laughed. "Words are hard. It's fine. I mean, the turn of phrase, not the actual event that's very not fine but we BOTH know that," Jacqueline said.

"Who's rambling now?" Jack teased.

"Oh, hush."

A few stray snowflakes blew in, settling on the floor.

"Is she still—?"

"She's not as bad as she used to be. Still sad sometimes but things have gotten much better in the past year. Good things all around, I guess," Jacqueline said, elbowing Jack gently.

"Dad must be furious," Jack began.

"He was, and maybe has his moments still. He's calmed down a lot though. I think he's just tired of being angry now. We've had a lot of time to process, the three of us. I think Dad just misses you, if I'm being totally transparent."

Jack found that hard to believe, but didn't press.

He must have looked pretty dejected though, because Jacqueline spoke up pretty fast. "The Twins do know about you now, though!"

"Oh? They do?"

"Yeah! They're two very curious and explosive twelve-hundred-year-olds. They came across some ancient photos and got the sense that Mom and Dad wouldn't be best to ask about the strange kid they had never seen before. They saw a tiny me in the photos and came right up to see me."

"And you told them?"

Jacqueline shrugged. "It didn't feel right to lie to them when they had proper proof in their hands, you know. And I guess…deep down…I really wanted my big brother back. And telling the twins all about you was one way I could have that for just a moment."

The snow fell silently, more stray flakes appearing in the tree. Both sprites stared, lost in thought. Jack was unsure how to reply to Jacqueline's confession. It made him feel warm inside all over again though, just like when Lucy had hugged him. He also felt relieved. He looked up and smiled.

"Well, here he is! In the flesh, and better than ever! Well. Not quite." He paused, staring at the snow that was blowing its way in. "If we stick around for any longer, I may blend in with the snow!"

"Yeah, that white suit is really something," Jacqueline taunted.

"I cannot begin to tell you how much I miss the blue. I would trade this for your dress in a heartbeat!"

Jacqueline laughed. "Oh, please. I think you'd need a few more curves to pull this off. I almost wish it had a corset with it just so I could see you flinch at that," she said, laughing again.

"Well I'm glad you decided to ditch the corset the moment more comfortable alternatives appeared."

"Oh please, I've been avoiding corsets since the middle ages." Jacqueline smiled. "I'm glad you're back, Jack."

"I am, too. I just…I wish I could do something to make up for all the self-doubt you had to feel! It wasn't fair that you've spent your entire life in my shadow when I wasn't even there. I wish I could've—"

"Could've what? There's not much you could've done Jack, and you shouldn't keep dwelling on the past and what you missed and what you could have done if you were there. I managed, you know. Bernard was a real big help and ended up becoming a really great friend. And when the Twins arrived, Mom and Dad seemed to be doing a lot better—they had to be, after all. The Twins are two flaming hot spitfires so we're always on our toes," Jacqueline said. She was attentive now, grinning and wiggling her fingers (since her toes were booted).

"But what about you? With the Twins taking up the parents time, I'm sure you didn't get much attention, and with everything you were going through? Bernard could only help so much."

"Which he did! And if it makes you feel better, I made the big leaps of self discovery without his help. Here, maybe it would help if I showed you?" She asked, tilting her head forwards the way Jack had moments ago.

"Only if you're okay with that," Jack said.

And the walls fell down.

In his mind, Jack found himself in the middle of a bright space, snow gently billowing by. Jacqueline had a completely open mind, and he didn't have to search far at all—she showed him exactly what he needed to see. The snow turned to light blue mist, twirling around him and forming images and shapes as he whirled around, trying to take in everything. Her decision to leave home, their parents supporting her and her happiness that they backed her up. Jacqueline standing down an entire battalion of knights, the pride she felt when she managed to fend them off and keep the place she was saying at, for herself and the multitude of other magibeans that were there. Her years of discovery (that involved far too many close calls at the stake for witchcraft for Jack's liking), the joy she felt as she grew and made her own way. Lost love, the start of a prolific career in piracy, the moment decades later when she finally realized that it wasn't her fault, none of what Jack did was her fault, and the relief she felt when realizing this.

See Jack? I was okay. I managed, she thought at him, as he was assailed with images and memories and thoughts and feelings of all sorts. The happy, the sad, the bad—she did not hold back. In the end, I was okay, she continued. And so were you, she added, showing him their reunion from her perspective, all up to the moment where she tilted her head forward and dropped the mental wall she had built between them properly.

Well, mostly okay, Jack thought back at her. Dark blew mist flew from behind him, and Jacqueline was able to see all of Jack's own memories of his power dwindling to nothing.

Look at the bigger picture, Jack, she thought back. The light blue mist poked at certain parts of his memories that the dark blue mist formed. The acceptance from the Council, Santa's friendship, babysitting Buddy, the laughs and intellectual discussions he and Carol had had a handful of times. The elves helping him out, Bernard giving him the smallest nod of acceptance after he had successfully fixed something or other on the floor…and those were only some of the memories that she pointed out!

You make a very convincing point, Jack thought back. The mists receded, and Jack found himself back in the thinking tree. He blinked a couple of times. The floor was getting covered in snow, and Jacqueline sat on her knees now, hands clasped in her lap, giving Jack the most sincere smile he had seen as of yet.

"See? Things will be okay. And yes, while there were some bad feelings." Jack could feel the ones she sent his way. The confusion small Jacqueline had experienced between the aftermath of the Day of Darkness and the Twins being born, the sadness when she was a bit older. And the anger! So much anger. How could someone this small have so much anger? Jack thought, before that anger revealed what was driving it: fear.

Fear of him. Fear of…herself.

"You and I both know now that the good feelings ended up being far more powerful in the long run," Jacqueline said. Jack didn't need the reminder flurry of emotions she sent his way. Just thinking about the memories she had shared with him nearly purged the bad ones she had briefly shown him just now. "And now," she said, happy tears beginning to form in her eyes, "I have the best feeling memory of all to add to that."

"And what might that be?" Jack said, pushing himself off of the wall and stretching his back.

"I have my big brother back," she said, standing up and offering him her hand.

"Does this mean I'm forgiven?" Jack asked, his hand hovering.

Jacqueline's fingers curled in, though her hand was still outstretched. "Forgiveness is…hard. And complicated. And above all, a process. I was so, so angry," she said, her hand balling into a fist, her face furrowed. "And sad, and hurt, and maybe I'm still a bit of all of that. But," she continued, smiling once again. "You're back now. And I'm so happy that you're here! You're really here and thawed and, and everything!" her hand was outstretched once more. "And now that you're back, I can finally start to properly forgive you. We can start that process together."

Jack paused. Jacqueline's words were impactful. She was without a doubt grown up—and he had missed it. Now she was a young sprite, too big for him to coddle and throw in snowbanks. He had lost so much and in that, he had made everyone else around him loose just as much. Jacqueline especially, he was realizing.

But even after all of that, she was offering her hand to him?

It was all very overwhelming.

"I am so, so, so sorry Jacqueline, my dear, dear sister," Jack surprised himself in saying, his voice heavy.

"And I accept your apology, my dumb, dumb brother," she replied.

And finally, Jack placed his hand in hers and accepted her help up, the breath nearly leaving his lungs in a whoosh when she pulled him towards her (with a strength he couldn't begin to fathom her having) and hugged him, his arms outstretched in surprise.

It shocked him, at first. A hug! He hadn't had one since Lucy had left after the holidays last year, he realized.

But this hug was different. It was a hug from his sister, the person he had hurt the most in all of his frozen years. He hugged her back in no time at all, squeezing just as tight as she was. He poured all of his thoughts and feelings and remorse into that hug, everything that he wanted to say but couldn't say. It may not have been possible to make up for fourteen hundred years in one hug, but Jack really, truly, tried. Finally, after one final squeeze and a particularly chilly breeze, the siblings parted.

Jack had done it. He had gotten his sister back. And this time, he silently vowed to protect her no matter what; he refused to lose her again. Not by his own doing, or anyone else's.

"I've really missed you, Jack," she finally said, sounding a bit surprised. "I'm really happy you're back."

"I've missed you too, little flurry. And I'm happy to be back, which is something I never thought I'd say. Ever. At all. In my life. I'm happy to be all warm and icky and gooey and melted on the inside. Though I could do without the power loss."

"Don't you worry Jack! We'll get you right as a snowfall in no time, I'll bet. And then you can enjoy that warm thawed feeling to its extent, just like me! You were frozen for so long it's probably just a little bit of freezer burn you've got going on there," Jacqueline said with a wink.

"We're not calling it that."

"Oh yes we are," Jacqueline said, smirking. "It's the perfect name! We can't not call it that! Besides, I thought you liked puns."

"And I thought you didn't like them."

"Don't call me out like this."

Jack sighed, looking at his hands again. "Maybe this is just a bit of freezer burn," he murmured. "It was fine, when I was originally thawed. Everything was working fine, for a bit. But when they started going…"

"I can imagine it was tough," Jacqueline said. She tried to picture herself without her own powers. Getting places would not be fun. "It probably is tough. But if they were working before…it's gotta be temporary."

"Well winter's come already. I thought maybe they would come back when November rolled around, since we always start with the snow around there you know? But November came and…nothing. I feel so mortal."

"Mortals aren't that bad. Besides, it's probably only temporary."

"What if…what if it isn't?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if…what if I had to be frozen and evil to be powerful?"

Jacqueline frowned, deep in thought. "I doubt it. Impossible, I think."

"What makes you think that?"

"I'm your Legate. I've never needed to be frozen to use my powers, seeing as how I've been thawed all my life. And we have the same powers, more or less."

"You can fly, though. I can't."

"And you can walk on anything. I can't."

"It makes presentation better, at least," Jack murmured. Jacqueline laughed.

"You're too much, Jack."

"Thank you. What about Winter?"

"What about?"

"Well…do you think she needs to be frozen to, y'know…" he gestured with his hands, trying to blast snow everywhere. A few snowflakes moved out of his way. Jacqueline laughed.

"Winter is winter. I don't think it matters. She's been in both scenarios and has never had freezer burn."

"We're really going to call it that?"

Jacqueline shrugged, hopping out of the tree and gently floating to the ground. "I like it. It's better than power failure."

Jack walked down the tree, scratching his chin. "It'll have to do for now, then. Freezer burn. It's catchy at least."

"It'll grow on you," she said, grinning, hands on her hips.

"I'm sure its not the only thing that will grow on me." He smiled at his sister, beginning to walk back to towards the Pole. She blinked, grinned, and caught up to her brother.

"For the record, today is all snowballs and fun times," she began. "Tomorrow though, we're getting to work."

"Oh?"

"I have a job to do, and the sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better."

The better indeed, Jack thought, looking up, noting the dullness of the Dome. He could make out the faint crevices slowly making their way back.

"Jacqueline?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for giving me this chance. I know I don't deserve it, but I'm glad you're here. With me."

"Oh," she said, momentarily taken aback. "Well…you're welcome, Jack. I told you, I'm glad you're back."

"Me too, Jacqueline," he said, as they walked towards the very short skyline of Elfsburg. "Me too."


A/N: Do you ever just. Start doing a small edit to fix one feature that went all the way back to your first chapter because in your twenty-third chapter you realize it doesn't really work how you thought so now you have to fix ALL INSTANCES OF THIS and then when you get to chapter six go "wow, I fucking hate this!" so you decide to rewrite it a SECOND time but then can't find the proper words, and have notes and snippets in several different pages under your "Crystal Springs" OneNote Notebook and only a YEAR LATER, do you get it all put back together and making sense in a way you're happy with, thanks to one lovely scene in Frozen 2? Mood over here, tbh. Edited as of December 30/2019, and I started fixing this up nearly a YEAR AGO. And this chapter! Is why Crystal Springs Rewritten! Did not get updated at ALL in 2019!

It's a lot better now though. As always, please R and R! Tell me your favourite parts, thoughts, feelings-the fluff begins next chapter, along with some plot hints. This will be so much fun! :D