A/N: I seemed to have run into some trouble. When trying to upload the last two chapters I found out was not a fan of the way I space out different parts of the chapter. When the story switches in time or perspective I like to see a line or something separating the two paragraphs. Trying to fix it, but I'm not sure how. Until I do, I might have to improvise. Hope you guys enjoy the story regardless.

Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen or Rise of the Guardians. If I did I'm sure such problems as a mediocre upload system would not be bothering me.

Chapter 3: Smile

Jack wondered to himself why someone would build an entire castle out of ice. The way those people made it sound, it seemed like the entire place was built by a single person as well. Even Jack himself doubted he was capable of such a thing. Though in his own defense he never actually tried.

For some reason Jack felt nervous, anxious even. He had no idea for what, but he felt like something was about to happen as he flew over the slightly snow covert hills towards the mountain. Then he saw it. A giant peak became visible over the hills right next to the peak of the mountain as he approached it. It looked like a giant Christmas tree peak, made of crystal blue ice. It didn't look much like a castle yet though, until he got closer and more and more of the structure became visible.

He had never seen anything like it. It looked nothing like any castle he'd ever seen. More like a large ice spire. It was an impressive sight regardless. The sun was setting behind the mountain, shining a bright red light behind and through the structure. The structure itself consisted of a single large tower in the middle with two smaller towers at either side. Which as far as he could see served no further purpose other than aesthetics. A single large bridge connected the castle with the rest of the mountain, with a large door just behind it and a balcony above that. It wasn't as complicated an design as other castles he had seen before. No other wings, yards or exterior structures. Just a large hall behind the front door, and a second level above connected to the balcony. But the level of detail, was simply... breathtaking. Never before had he seen such decorations on a building. More finely crafted than any stone building could ever dream of being, if they could dream that is. The walls weren't made of individual ice blocks, everything seemed carved out of a single impossibly large block of ice.

Jack hadn't even realized he had reached the structure minutes ago and was studying it up close until just now. How was this possible. Even he had never created something of ice in such detail, yet alone on such scale. And for it to be crafted out of a seemingly single block was... unimaginable.

Jack was lost in thought as he heard a deep growl behind him.

"... Erm... Hi?" He said sheepishly when he turned around and faced the massive ice giant that had approached him. The creature looked less than pleased, and growled at him again.

'How is this thing even alive? I've never heard of living ice creatures before. You would think I would know right?' He thought to himself wondering what the thing in front of him was. It wasn't a puppet of some kind, there were no stings. It was moving on its own, even though it seemed to be made entirely of ice and snow. Moving rather quickly he might add as the creature moved its arm in Jacks direction with the intention of slamming him of the mountain.

"Whoa there big guy!... Can we talk about his? I come in peace!" Jack tried to argue in vain as he dogged the arm by flying into the air so the arm went underneath him and missed, barely. The creature looked at Jack in surprise, apparently not used to seeing people fly around. It snapped out of its confusion quickly and launched another strike in Jacks direction.

As Jack moved back a few feet a thought came to him. 'Wait... he can see me?' No one had ever been able to see him at this point. Jack hadn't met any of the other guardians or spirits like North and Bunny before at this point, and he was amazed at the fact that this creature could see him. If only it wasn't trying to kill him.

Jack thought it wisely to retreat for now, pissing the creature of even more could ruin his chance to get into its good graces in the future. And he wasn't about to pass up a chance at real contact with someone, even if that someone was a murderous ice giant.

"What's happening out here?" He heard a voice ask right before he slipped away behind the trees. The voice had come from the door that was now slightly opened. He didn't have time to see who it was though. One thing was for sure though, the ice castle wasn't uninhabited.

Who could that person have been Jack wondered to himself. It didn't take a genius to come to the right conclusion however. The people of Arendelle had confirmed the rumors Jack had heard about the event that happened here a few days ago. He sure as hell didn't do it, and lo and behold... here was a giant ice castle. The voice at the door had sounded feminine to Jack, which could only mean one thing. The ice queen was real.

And if her guard could see him, maybe so could she. It was a bit of a stretch, but not impossible jack figured. He didn't want to get his hopes up though, it was always a possibility she couldn't see him... and if her guard was any indication she might not appreciate his presence even if she could.

'Well only one way to find out...' He thought to himself, before thinking of a plan to sneak into the castle. It was almost nighttime. He wasn't sure the guard would need sleep, like himself. But without the light he might be able to fly unto the balcony unseen and sneak inside.

Elsa had only been queen for a few days, and already felt like exploding. She had been able to keep her powers in check for as long as she could remember. But after letting go on the day of her coronation and finding out what she could do, the urge to unleash was greater than ever.

And it wasn't just suppressing her powers that was bothering her. The pressure from the town folk was also increasing every day. She feared what she would do to them if she ever lost control. And by now they seemed to fear her just as much. She tried to reassure them by putting on a show. She even let them ice-skate in the courtyard, but she was running out of idea's. Not everyone feared her though, just a minority. But it was a vocal minority, and should she ever slip up she feared more people would join them.

Thus she did the only thing she could think of. She isolated herself again. Making sure that when she slipped up no one was around to see it.

It was the best she could do for now, but she hated it. After almost losing Anna, they were closer than ever. Anna didn't understand why Elsa had to come back here so often. She feared Anna blamed herself, that she wasn't doing a good enough job of helping Elsa. But that wasn't true. For the first time since she was 6 she didn't feel completely alone anymore.

It was just that the fear of hurting Anna was greater than ever. Sure she knew how to thaw her ice now, but that didn't mean she had more control over her outbursts. And if she ever struck Anna's hearth again, or anyone else's for that matter she wasn't sure she could save them. Now that she knew what she was capable of that seemed inevitable. Thawing some ice was one thing. But unfreezing another person's hearth was a different matter altogether.

And so she shut herself away again. Not completely, Anna wouldn't let her. But every time she felt like losing it she came up here. Which was a lot. And the worst part was that over the last few days she found out she actually preferred it here. She felt safe here. Safe from herself and she hated to admit it.

Wasn't she supposed to prefer the company of her people, her own sister over isolation? She was supposed to be the queen dammit! But no matter how hard she tried she never felt at home there. She still had duties to perform, to her people, to her kingdom and her sister. But as soon as those were done the only thing she could think about was coming to her ice castle and letting of some steam... Err, ice.

The first few days she tried to resist the urge, and nearly froze the entire dining hall after some servant managed to piss her off. The poor lad had dropped some hot tea over her lap, unto her favorite dress. One of her mothers. It wasn't the lads fault, she knew that. But she couldn't help herself, she had yelled at him. She couldn't even remember half the things she said, but let's just say they weren't very nice. As soon as she came to her senses again half the room was frozen over. She quickly apologized to the servant, unfroze the room and excused herself. That was the first time she came back to her ice castle. The moment she stepped through those doors she screamed. Letting all the frustration out. Being the queen isn't as easy as some would have you believe. Especially not if you have to keep your citizens safe from not just the kingdoms enemies but yourself as well. The latter caused most of Elsa's stress. The kingdom didn't have many external enemies, and ran pretty smoothly. In the time between her coronation and the death of her parents the prime minister had done a good job, a job which he was more than happy to continue in her absence.

Today was the 6th time she came back here since her coronation. Even the smallest things seemed to set her off now. Her coffee was a little too hot for her liking that evening so she tried to cool it down. When she did so however she accidently froze the entire cup, which earned her a few strange looks from the staff. It seemed such a small incident, but similar incidents happened all over the day. And they added to her frustration bit by bit. After doing the paper work and talking to Anna for a bit she moved to her castle for the night, figuring she could use a little break. And what was the harm of sleeping there as opposed to her own bed. Surely she would be fine, nothing interesting ever happened so far up the mountain so why would tonight be any different she wondered.

Her strain of thought was rudely interrupted however by sounds coming from the front door. Well at least the guard was doing a good job she admitted and moved over to the door. When she opened it and asked what was going on, she could see a figure slipping behind a tree. Was it flying? Surely not... right?

Was she beginning to see things now too? Great, this day just kept getting better and better.

Jack wanted to wait several hours until he tried his plan, by then the night would have reached its darkest point. The fact that the ice giant had seen Jack had really unsettled him. For over half a century Jack had tried to be noticed. From freezing random things in front of people to leaving written messages. Well... not exactly 'written' messages. Jack couldn't write at this point in time. That was a skill that would take him a few years to learn still. Though the person who would eventually teach him was now on the receiving end of his conniving plan. To this point Jack had left symbols made of ice to get the attention of people. But they merely thought it coincidence, a sign of god or anything other than an act of Jack Frost. People could be so dense sometimes. Though admittedly his ice sculptures weren't nearly as detailed and beautifully crafted as the castle of the ice queen... but a small pool of ice roughly shaped like Jack Frost himself, come on... how could that be a coincidence?

The fact that people didn't know what he looked like didn't help he supposed.

But now... half a century later, someone, or rather something had finally seen him. And then proceeded to try and kill him. Just his luck.

He had to get in contact with this ice queen though. Tonight. If she could see him he could have a real conversation with someone. For the first time in more than a few decades he could talk to someone again. Even if she would shout at him and tell him to leave, that was better than nothing.

His mind made up, and his plan about to set in motion. As the night reached its darkest point Jack moved out of his hiding spot and flew around the mountain in an attempt to flank the ice giant. As he came around the mountain the ice castle came into view again. Taking his breath away ones more. It amazed him anyone could build such a thing. And for him to be impressed that much was no easy feat. He had been all around the world. Seen everything there was to see. And he was the master of all things ice and snow related, at least in his own opinion. But this... this was on a whole other level. It looked surreal almost.

He landed on the balcony quietly hoping not to alert the guard, and slowly moved to the door of the second floor. As he put his hand on the handle however he heard a loud thud behind him, followed by a large exhalation of cold air right into his neck. He ice giant had seen him coming.

"Err, hi there.. again." How was he going to get out of this alive Jack wondered. He turned around and faced the giant, putting on the best poker face he could muster. "What can I do for you tonight?"

The giant grinned at him and cracked his knuckles. Jack gulped. The giant quickly put his hand around Jack making sure he wasn't going anywhere this time. He lifted Jack into the air, moving his other arm back getting ready to strike.

Jack closed his eyes and wondered why there weren't any images flowing through his head right now. Wasn't your entire life supposed to flash in front of your eyes when you were about to die?

The images and the strike never came though. Jack opened his eyes again and saw that the door had opened. And in its opening there stood a figure.

It was dark outside so it was hard to see. But every bit of light was reflected in the ice, making it seem that the castle was lit from the inside out. The figure was a woman, the ice queen Jack realized. He got himself caught even before he got past the first door. Some spirit he was. Wasn't he supposed to be invisible? What's the use of being invisible if you can't sneak into places.

Then he saw them. Bright blue eyes staring at his own. Instantly interrupting his strain of thought. The blue eyes held a far brighter blue color than any of the ice around. They seemed to shine in the dark night. And they were looking straight at him, he was dumfounded. Those eyes seemed to look right through him, but not in the bad way as those of the other people did. No, these seemed to look right into his soul. Past all the barriers he put up to shield himself from his own loneliness.

Despite the situation he was in those eyes didn't seem angry. No trace of anger or disappointment could be found in those blue eyes staring at his own. maybe she couldn't see him after all though he wondered briefly to himself. He 'had' tried to sneak into her place after all. Why wouldn't she be angry.

Those thoughts were all blown away though when a smile formed on her face. She was smiling at him. A shiver ran down his spine and for the first time ever he felt goose bumps, and not from the cold. Jack didn't get cold... ever.

It was the kind of smile people have when they see other people do something silly, and are ashamed for them but amused at the same time. Not a full blown happy to see you smile sure, but it looked like the most beautiful thing in the world to Jack. The ice castle looked like a square snowball compared to this. The fact that the woman giving the smile was astonishing on her own certainly didn't hurt. She had bright blonde hair covert in small ice crystals and was wearing a blue dress that seemed to be made from the same ice as the castle. Only darker and more opaque. And just as beautifully crafted as the castle itself. Seriously who made all these things Jack wondered. Surely not her. What queen made her own clothes? Yet alone her own castle. The thought vanished quickly however. His mind went numb and he was paralyzed by her smile. Nothing was going on inside his mind. The place was usually fuzzy with excitement. Or filled with doubt and confusion when he was feeling down. Which happened more often than he liked. But right now he felt none of that. He was to dumbstruck to notice of course, but his mind was calm. The only thing that filled it were those eyes, and that smile.

The two looked at each other for what seemed like minutes to Jack, but which where only seconds in actuality until she spoke.

"Uhm... Hello there, why are you trying to sneak into my bedchambers?" The woman asked, sounding slightly amused by the situation and how her guard was holding Jack... only a nod away from punching his head off.

"... Err, I uh... No I wasn't trying to...!" He had no idea what to say. He was having a conversation for the first time in decades. And he was being accused of being a pervert and/or a burglar. How in the world was he supposed to respond to that? The fact that her beauty was making it hard for his brain to form any kind of coherent thought certainly wasn't helping matters. He starred at her for a few moments. The smile was still set on her lips. He shook his head trying to fight the confusion, realizing what it must look like for him to be staring at her like that. He wouldn't be surprised if he was drooling.

"Wait!... I wasn't trying to spy on you I swear!... But, hold on... You can see me?"

"... Sure, why wouldn't I be able to see you?" She asked him looking slightly confused, but still smiling.

A/N: I had a blast writing this story so far. And we've only just moved passed the prologue. Hope you guys are liking this. I certainly am.

Grizzly out...