"Well, that happened…" Jack sighed in pain, landing on his back in the powdered snow. He had blacked out upon impact and was now lost in an unfamiliar place. "Okay, roller coasters are one thing, Bunny's rabbit tunnels are another, but that was one intense joy ride."
Jack pulled himself up; he started looking for his staff. He knew for a fact he was holding it when he got swept away by the wind. "Ah, there it is!" He cheered triumphantly, pulling his staff out of the snow. "Wait, wasn't Arendelle sunny when I was thrown in here?" As he grew increasingly more anxious about how long he was out, he finally shot into the air, staring at the stars in the sky.
"No, this isn't right. This is all wrong. The stars say it's still summer. But… why is there snow? Arendelle!" Jack shouted, recalling what North had said. "A cold weather never seen before. Haven't seen a lot of summer snow and it ain't my fault!" He shot a glance at the moon. Then he saw it, a kingdom in the fjord. Game time! He darted towards Arendelle.
As he charged towards Arendelle, a smile spread over his face. The first time in over 300 years, the Man on the Moon finally gave him an answer, a real answer for his loneliness. What could it be? He thought more and more about what could perpetually end his lonely world. However, he began to recall North's words. This wasn't a time to be laughing and smiling. Lives were at risk. His guardian heart kicked in the closer he got. Time was being messed with and he had to figure out why.
The closer he got the Arendelle, the grayer the clouds were. The snow was filled with a feeling of dread and he could feel it in each flake. Finally, he was in Arendelle. Landing in the town square, it was clear everyone was in their homes. He didn't mind it, however. He'd much prefer people not walking through him if he could avoid it. Dragging his staff on the ground, leaving ice patterns in its wake, something caught his attention.
"All the windows of the castle looking crystal clear, why is that one frosted?" He pointed his staff to the highest tower in the castle. With a piercing whistle and a tap of his staff, the wind rushed him into the air and towards the frozen glass. What he didn't anticipate was the wind not listening to him, again.
"Alright! Perfect, go ahead and land me… Um, hello? Oh no…" Jack yelped. The wind had no intention of stopping and the window wasn't going to magically open. "This is going to hurt." was his last thought as he went barreling into Arendelle castle.
"Your majesty! Are you alright?" an older woman cried out.
"Yep, yep, totally fine. Just seeing stars, that's all." Jack spoke in a half dazed state.
"Yes, we're fine. Please, hurry to the window!" The decorated man asked, using his body to cover the lady in bed.
"Ah, right… invisible… it's still a thing." Jack frowned, watching an older man and woman hurrying towards the window to close it shut. As Jack pulled himself up from the ground, he noticed the woman in bed crying. "Whoa, what's goin' on here?"
"My lady, how is she?" the man's voice asked her, fearing the answer.
"She won't stop shivering! I don't know what to do! What can we do?!" The lady was clearly frantic. Despair filled her voice. "What do I do? Please, someone, help! Please!" she sobbed, clutching to the heavy amount of sheets in her arms. Stress, sleep deprivation, sadness, frustration, and a bit of anger could be heard.
Guilt began to flood through Jack's body. "This… this isn't what I wanted to happen… I'm… I'm sorry." Jack whispered, making his way towards the couple who he believed were the king and queen of Arendelle. He stood at the bedside opposite of where the king sat. He could see it clearly, the child held tightly in the queen's arms.
This was no joke; the baby was shivering like mad. What could possibly make something shake this much?
"Can we light another fire? Get more blankets? Heated blankets! Kai! Heat up some blankets and bring it to us, quickly!" shouted the king. He was at wits end and it was clear he was at his breaking point. "She'll make it through this, I'm sure… Gerda! Hot water and rags! Now!"
"Yes, my king!" they both spoke in unison before running out of the room.
"She's so cold, she keeps getting colder. I'm scared she won't make it." The queen cried, leaning her head on his neck, tears were no longer there. Her eyes were completely dried out, her voice cracking.
The king wrapped his arms around the queen. "Stay strong. We can get through this. You, me, her… We can be a big family, together… Please, keep believing." Where her tears faded, his started to trickle. His composure and his strength were crumbling. He could not hold out for much longer and neither could she.
Jack couldn't say a word. He had no idea what to feel. 300 years of loneliness felt like a blessing compared to what these two must be going through. He was having difficulties breathing; the air felt heavy, heavier than he'd ever experienced. He looked to the door in hopes that the maid or butler would come rushing in with a remedy, a cure, a ticket to perfect health, anything to give this a happy ending. As he looked to the door, his heart sank. He raised his left hand to his chest, clutching his fist. Life wasn't so convenient.
He turned back to the parents; they were quiet. The kings embrace was able to ease the distraught queen. The queen's presence quelled the king's sorrow, if only for a moment. Jack let out a sigh of relief and a slight smile. It faded quickly as he turned to the child. She was no longer shaking. He wanted so badly to think she was okay. However, he could only assume the worst.
"I didn't even get your name." Jack said to the tiny, fragile body. "I wish I could show you just a little bit of the fun in this world. Just a tiny bit would be enough." He placed his hand on her head. Ice cold, he thought. No movement, no sign of breathing, she was lifeless. He dropped his staff to the ground. It was over. He was shaken, quivering. He couldn't describe the emotions building in him, he had only met this girl, spent only a moment in this world, but his entire life could not prepare him for this.
He took back his left hand from the child's head to wipe the tear building in his eye. Hah. Tears. That's a first. He never knew he could cry. Looking to the child once again, he placed his palm on her chest. He wished for a miracle, begging that a beat could be felt or heard. Nothing. This was it, no more hoping. She was gone.
"This isn't some stupid fairy tale." Jack spoke quietly, barely able to breathe let alone speak.
He stood there, silently. His eyes closed, biting his lip. All he could think of was, Why? Why did the Man on the Moon send him here? Anger was enveloping him. Anger, sorrow, hate, anguish, resent, his heart was burning. He thought only of the Man on the Moon being his enemy. The Man on the Moon set his heart on fire. It was raging, burning hot, hotter than he had ever felt… Wait… Fire? Hot?!
Jack's eyes snapped open as he regained his senses. He could feel a heartbeat. Her heart was beating! He looked at her, a smile spreading to both ends of his face. "She's alive!" he exclaimed. Joy was surging through him. He smiled, looking at the child and then to the parents. They had yet to notice the beautiful child with the beating heart. Forming a pair of snowflakes in his right hand, he lifted them into the air, landing it delicately on both their faces. Both parents got up immediately, looking to each other and then their child.
"She's alright!" The queen spoke excitedly, placing her hand on her head. "She's warming up. She's breathing. She's okay! Oh my god she's okay!" tears forming in her eyes once again.
"She's… she's okay." The king spoke with a sigh of relief, clutching to his wife. The weight of the world lifted off his shoulders. His daughter was okay.
Jack's smile only grew larger knowing the parents were okay. Then, he noticed his chest getting hotter and hotter, almost painful now. With a wounded look in his eyes, he looked towards the baby girl. His hand on her chest was glowing and shimmering white. She was sucking away his spirit. Every cold, winter feeling was draining from every fiber of his being. He wanted to pull his hand away. He stopped himself. No! You need something nice and cold? I'll gladly oblige!
Kicking his staff back into his free hand, he stamped it to the ground. A blizzard began to spiral within the hook of the staff. "Winter is my domain, and there is plenty where that came from!" Jack roared.
With that being said, a torrent of wind and snow flooded through the window, taking in the winter storm and surging through him. The cold air and snow blew past the king and queen as they covered their heads and the child from the oncoming gale. With every passing second, Jack's eyes began to glow brighter and brighter, exhaling fog with every breath. He felt vitalized, energized. All the energy was surging through him like a flood. He never felt a sensation quite like it. Suddenly, it all stopped. Jack's hand was no longer glowing, the wind no longer blowing. Everything had settled down.
Jack was gasping heavily. Before he could question what just happened, a sudden shockwave unleashed from the little girl's body. It sent Jack flying to the wall opposite of the bed. He laid there, out cold, for a lot longer than he could possibly imagine.
Darkness… That's the first thing I remember… It was dark, it was cold, and I was scared. But then, then I saw the moon— Wait. This already happened! Jack's eyes snapped open, quickly sitting up from what looked like a bed. Frantically looking around the room, he was trying to pinpoint anything that could tell him where he was. However, nothing looked familiar. Where was he?
"You're up early." A mysterious voice spoke. "Relapse of time travel usually takes a heavier toll on people." Jack's head jolted, looking towards the source of the sound. He noticed an older man sitting calmly at what appeared to be a poorly crafted desk. Jack began to scan the rest of the room with much more focus. It looked somewhat similar to North's workshop office but far less refined. He looked back to the man to see him chatting to himself. Then, he noticed a butterfly on the desk fly off past his face and through the open window.
Okay, long beard, pointy hat, stick at his side, talks with animals. "Oh god, Gandalf? Am I here to find the one ring?" Jack chuckled, thinking he was dreaming. He began coughing furiously after his giggle fest.
Picking up his cane, the old man walked over to Jack's bedside and bonked him on the head. "No, stupid, this isn't a movie. No, you're not dreaming. Gandalf was based on me! And you should still be sleeping." The man spoke, commandingly. "You've been giving me a lot of trouble these past few years, you know that." He proceeded to bonk Jack's head again.
"Ow! Stop that! Sticks hurt you know!" Jack said, irritated. Holding his hands on his head, he noticed something. This old guy could see me. "Wait, wait, how do you see me? Who are you? Also… wait…" another thing occurred in his head. "What do you mean 'past few years'?" Questions filled Jack's thoughts. "And how did you know I thought this was a dream? Also where am— mmph!" His sentence was cut short as the man covered confused boy's mouth.
"Quiet, you. Let's go about this one at a time. First thing first, I am Ombric, one of the last few wizards left in the realm." Ombric explained to the perplexed young man. "I can see you because I'm old enough to know that everything is real in some way. I don't need to know who you are to believe you exist. I also knew what you were thinking because I read it in your heart." poking his staff on Jack's chest. "The mind's tricky but the heart is an open book. You, for one, are a jokester but you mean well, nonetheless." Pulling his staff from Jack's chest and hit his head a third time.
"Would you quit that?! Also what do— ow!" Jack exhaled as Ombric tapped his head once again.
"Like I said, you've caused me quite some trouble in these past few years. I went to check on the anomalies of time line tampering and you caused a big one." Walking over to grab a book on his bookshelf and tossing it to Jack. "I found that at the center of the disturbance. I assume it's yours, seeing as you and the book smell of the same time."
"Smell? What…" This time, Jack didn't bother to question further. This old geezer was already full of mysteries, asking another would only make him even more confused. His thoughts were now preoccupied by the book in front of him. It was North's book. Did the book fly into the portal with him? "How did you find this?"
"Like I said, I found it where the anomaly was. I was going to start looking for you as well until I saw a gust of wind pulling the snow around the area. Doesn't take a genius to figure out that the source of one issue may be the cause of another." Ombric noted smugly, shooting a glare at Jack's staff at his bedside. "It was a bad thing you did, saving her life." He walked over to Jack, opening the book to the later end of the pages. To the boy's amazement, they were blank. "As an overseer of time, books are the first to change, rewriting itself alongside the changing events. Books are always the first to show time travel tampering." He continued to turn the pages until he reached some texts. "They will slowly rewriting with the current time until history starts realigning with itself."
"I don't understand." Jack turned a few pages back until he found it. "The Arendelle miracle…" he read softly." On the birth of the princess of Arendelle, the sudden winter storm vanished from the lands, greeted by the rising sun. The child of winter, Elsa, was now herald as the child of hope and the beacon of Arendelle's prosperity…" he sat their quietly. "Heh, so her name's Elsa." Jack smiled.
"Don't get too smiley." Ombric stated, tapping his staff on the winter boy's head and then on the book. "Did you not notice the first time?" He turned the pages back to where the text was last only to reveal the book was rapidly rewriting itself.
"Wait, what's going on? It's going so fast now!" Jack shouted, watching pages and pages being written into the book.
"Time's realigning. That's why I said it was bad of you to save her. Arendelle will be lost soon." Ombric said in dismay.
"No…" Jack whispered, despair filling his eyes as he recalled North talking about the second heir. "No!" He grabbed his staff and held the book close, ready to leap from the window. Just as he was about to jump out, Ombric caught his hoody.
"Hold it!" Ombric commanded, glaring at Jack.
"You're not stopping me from saving her!" Jack roared, pulling himself free and catching the wind, disappearing in the night.
"Wasn't planning on it." Ombric said to himself. He looked down at his hands where he had grabbed Jack's hoody; specks of black sand were on his fingertips. "This is why you sent him here, Tsar." He out to the sky.
Soaring through the night, Jack was desperate to find the location of Arendelle, but where does he start? He had no idea where he was, how far he was, what continent he was. Hell, he didn't even know what year it was! He was still disoriented from the experience; he had yet to fully recover from the incident.
" Where the hell am I?" Jack yelled, forming a snowball in his hand and throwing it at the moon. "Tell me!" he shouted, panting heavily. The snowball took more effort than he was used to. His energy was draining. Flying felt like a chore. Commanding the wind was getting progressively more difficult. Suddenly, the wind left him.
"Oh no." Jack yelped, falling towards the earth. Before he landed, he called forth another gale moments before impact. The breeze flung him towards the forest and into a tall pine tree. The leaves cushioned the impact. Jack was now hanging by his hoody on a branch. "Okay, let's think this through. Come on, help me out here. You wanted me here, I'm here. Where do I go?" Looking to the moon, he was hoping for a reply. "If you're there, speak up! Hard to talk to a sil— Oh, snow globe." He recalled, tapping himself on the head. He proceeded to climb to the top of the pine tree to get a better view of the moon.
Now that he was perched at the top, Jack began forming a snow ball. "Alright! Step one complete. Time for step two." With his left hand holding the snowball and the right hand over it, it was time to turn this into a ball of ice. He kept thinking that anything round and clear should work fine as a delivery mechanism. Channeling his energy into the palm of his hands, the snowball in his hand began to liquefy, slowly become more transparent. When the form in his hands was completely clear, he focused all his energy into the water, freezing it into a perfectly transparent ice.
"Haha! Alright big guy, show me the light!" Putting the orb into the light of the moon, the ball of ice began to glow and a beam of light shot to the left of Jack. "Now you're speaking my language!" Jack cheered, summoning the wind once again. Next stop, Arendelle.