Hey everyone! Happy Monday! New chapter is here! Hope ya'll like it!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! This story is really starting to pick up now, and Jelsa is coming! Slowly, yes, but I promise it's coming! There's a highlight in this chapter that'll really kickstart everything!

Anyway, enjoy everyone! Don't forget to review and tell me what you think!

Chapter 16: Heartbreak

Kristoff and Eugene picked Elsa up gently and carried her back to the room where Jack got his memories back. They laid her on the bed carefully, and Anna and Jack were sitting at her bedside immediately. Jack took the Snow Queen's hand, and Anna watched as he looked like he was about to cry. Pitch moved to stand at the foot of the bed, and Pabbie was trying to use his dream sand to fix things. Elsa was screaming in her sleep from the pain, and tears were streaming down her face only to freeze as they crossed over her cheekbones. Anna began to cry watching her sister suffer.

"What are we going to do? We have to help her!" Jack screamed at the others, but no one knew what to say.

"We haven't found a way to help her yet," Kristoff told him gently, and Jack turned on him.

"What do you mean you haven't found a way to help her yet?" he demanded, and Eugene stepped forward.

"Mate, we only just found out two days ago. This is Medusa's doing, and our priority was giving you back your memories. We thought we would have time after you remembered to cure her," the giant bunny said. Jack held onto Elsa's hand as if his life depended on it, and Pitch watched the annoying winter spirit with pity and compassion.

"If we all split up, we can find a cure faster. Jack can stay here and monitor her condition while the rest of us search," Pitch suggested, and Anna shot up indignantly.

"I want to stay with her too! She's my sister!" the colorful girl exclaimed, and the queen in question screamed in pain again, causing everyone to flinch.

"Anna, we don't know how much time we have, and you're the fastest of all of us, and you can cover more ground thanks to your mini fairies. We'll have Faylinn wait here with Jack and Elsa, and if anything happens she can come find us," Kristoff told her firmly, and the purple-eyed girl nodded silently, not trusting her voice. Jack took her hand gently.

"I promise I'll protect her to the best of my ability," he swore to her, and Anna nodded again. Jack had always been Elsa's Guardian, and he wouldn't break his promise.

"We need to go," Eugene said, and everyone nodded and left. Anna flew out the fastest, wanting to get a cure as quickly as possible.

Once they had all gone and the door was closed, Jack allowed his tears to fall freely. He couldn't believe that he just got back his memories and remembered the girl he loved, they told him she was dying. He didn't even know spirits could die. He thought they just lived forever. The Spirit of Winter rested his head on the mattress next to the sleeping girl, and more tears fell when she screamed again.

Elsa's world was black at first. She saw nothing and she couldn't move, but she could hear and feel the things around her. She felt two sets of huge hands—well, one set of huge hands and one set of abnormally large paws—pick her up from where she collapsed on the floor, and she felt them lay her down in a bed. She heard a scream, and heard arguing over who would wait with her, then she felt a familiar hand take hers. She heard a door click shut and heard broken sobs coming from the person sitting next to her. The mattress dipped and she heard another pained scream, and then everything faded away.

She opened her eyes, and she was standing on the balcony of her ice palace, using the light of the moon to watch over the children of the world. She watched as her Guardians used their unique talents to protect them. Pabbie was giving the children good dreams to help them sleep. Her sister and the mini fairies flew from bedroom to bedroom in the blink of an eye, collecting teeth and leaving gifts. Kristoff was taking a break from building toys with his yetis, and was riding around the world on Sven, bringing wonder to the children even though Christmas was still a few months off. Eugene was painting with little Sophie in the warren, who was now beginning to grow up. Elsa smiled when she watched Eugene play with the growing girl, who looked to be eight now, and knew that in just a few years she would be ready to remember her life as Rapunzel. She already acted like the spunky, free-spirited princess she once was; she was just waiting on the memories to make her fantasies a reality.

She saw black shadows cross over the lands, but didn't worry. None of the golden lights proving the beliefs of the children went out as these shadows passed. She smiled, knowing Pitch was proving himself as a Guardian and that the children were accepting him. None of them feared him, and he used his power of fear to keep the kids from doing things that could hurt them, and to make horror movies, scary rides, and haunted houses more fun for everyone attending, both adult and child.

She smiled and turned her attention to the now-snowy areas where Jack was supposed to be working, but saw no one. In her curiosity, she released a few snowflakes into the area, adding to the snow day the children would have, and sent a light breeze down to warm their hearts. She saw Olaf emerge from one area with a huge smile on his face, and the bubbly snowman waved up at her without a care in the world. He was bringing joy to the children in the area the way he had brought joy to Anna, Elsa, and the other children in Arendelle centuries before. She smiled and waved back, then returned to looking for a certain Guardian of Fun. She saw nothing, but felt an arm snake around her waist from behind, and suddenly a hand was covering her eyes loosely. She smiled and her right hand rested on the hand around her waist, while her left reached for the hand over her eyes.

"You have to guess," a voice behind her said, and it was a voice she would recognize even if it were sick and raspy and unrecognizable to anyone else. She smiled brightly and leaned back against him.

"Jack!" she exclaimed, and he smiled before spinning her to face him. She hugged him tightly and he hugged her back tighter, and it was her favorite feeling in the world. She shrieked when she felt her feet lift off the ground, but started laughing when Jack began to fly her around the room. He laughed at her and finally set her down before tugging gently on her braid.

"Hey Snowflake," he greeted her with a smile, and she nudged his arm playfully.

"I was looking for you!" she mock-scolded him, and felt her heart melt when he flashed her the smile he only ever used with her.

"Well, you weren't looking in the right places then. I was around, just one step ahead of you, like always," he teased her, and she playfully shot snow at him.

"Excuse you! I'm one step ahead of you! I brought you back to life, and I planned on you being a Guardian centuries before you knew anything about them," she challenged him with sparkling eyes, and he picked her up again.

"True, but no one can beat the Guardian of Fun," he claimed, and the Snow Queen rolled her eyes.

"No one but me," an ominous voice from behind them said, and Elsa froze. This was a voice she had heard before, but never with the malice she heard now. She saw Jack's eyes widen, and saw an emotion she never wanted to see in her Guardian's eyes: fear.

Elsa couldn't turn to face threat behind her. She heard the hiss of snakes and knew they were coming towards her, and watched as Jack stood in a defensive stance in front of her, pointing his staff at the threat behind her. She instinctively knew he wasn't pointing it at the snakes, and she tried to warn him but couldn't. She couldn't move, and she couldn't speak. All she could do was watch sadly and fearfully as the snakes slithered closer and closer to the spirit she loved. She had to listen to him scream when the snakes bit him. He collapsed in front of her and she watched as the life drained from his sparkling blue eyes, before they closed and his skin lost any and all color it once had. She began to cry silently and heard slithering behind her, but she still couldn't move. The sound moved to her side and then in front of her, and Elsa saw something she knew would haunt her for all eternity.

There was a scaly creature, which looked like a giant snake, but had the torso and head of a woman. There were smaller, pale white snakes cascading from her head like hair. She had long, thin arms and claw-like hands, but none of these features were what scared Elsa the most. The most terrifying feature the creature had were her big, almost luminescent blue eyes that glowed with a threatening aura, and they were eyes the Snow Queen knew she had seen many times before.

The creature was leaning over Jack's lifeless form with a wicked, satisfied smirk, and Elsa found her voice as a wave of intense pain coursed through her body. She screamed from fear and pain, and she stared into the monster's blue eyes. She remembered her coronation as she stared, and realized that she wasn't a true monster—the creature standing in front of her was. She felt another pain move slowly through her body, causing every one of her limbs to feel stiff and solid and heavy. The monster smiled evilly at the suffering Snow Queen, and Elsa's world turned black again.

Jack had fallen asleep when it seemed as though Elsa had calmed down, but he was jerked awake by another of her pained screams. This one was different, however. This scream had an element of fear in it, something Jack hadn't seen in her since before he died. His Snow Queen hadn't moved from where she laid, but her face was contorted into a look of immense pain. He brushed his hand along her cheek lightly, not knowing how to calm her down, when he heard a noise behind him. He turned and saw Baby Tooth—who he learned was actually named Faylinn—flitting over Elsa's box. She was trying to lift the lid to get at the locket inside, and by the urgency in her movements, Jack knew she had an idea.

He stood quickly and helped her open the box, then watched as she pointed from the sleeping Elsa to the locket repeatedly. He realized the little fairy wanted him to put the necklace on Elsa, and he picked it up and carried it over to her quickly. He clasped it around the queen's neck, and the pained expression on her face eased slightly. Faylinn motioned for him to open it, and he looked at her in confusion, but Elsa screamed again and he knew he didn't have time to argue with her. He opened the locket and a memory flooded his senses momentarily. It was just enough for him to realize it was the memory of their first dance after she built her ice palace, and when the memory faded from his eyes he watched as Elsa's features calmed completely. She went from being in immense pain—which was a sight Jack couldn't bear to see—to looking as happy as she had that day, and he smiled down at her sleeping form.

On impulse, he leaned over the girl he loved and kissed her forehead lightly. He wanted to kiss her properly, but it wouldn't be right to take Elsa's first kiss from her while she was asleep. He wasn't even completely sure she still loved him, but he hoped she did. A small blizzard began to swirl around the room, gaining strength until the only thing Jack could see was white. Faylinn sped into the pocket of his hoodie quickly, seeking cover from the snowstorm.

All of a sudden, the snowflakes burst into a wondrous display of blue sparkles, similar to Jack's snowflake tricks. The sparkles settled over everything and resembled something Peri had once shown him called blue pixie dust, which they got from blue moons. I wonder if they use Elsa's magic to fly, Jack thought. He held out his hand to catch some of the settling dust, and smiled at it. Faylinn came out of his pocket and stared in awe at the blue glitter coating the surfaces in the room. She began to play in it, and Jack watched her with a smile until he heard a quiet moan from the sleeping figure on the bed.

He snapped around to watch the fair-skinned queen move slightly on the bed. He could tell she wasn't quite awake, but she had a faint smile on her face. He watched her with loving eyes and sat next to her again before taking her hand. He began to rub soothing circles across her knuckles with his thumb, whispering soothing words to her sleeping form. He raised her hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand, the way so many people did in the fairy tales children read and the movies they watched. It was a kiss that wanted nothing more than to show her he cared—and to remind her that he was by her side to help her fight the monster that did this to her—without pushing any unspoken boundaries.

A faint blue glow emerged from Elsa's sleeping form, and blue sparkles like the others in the room traced a path from the kiss Jack left on her hand to her heart. When the magic reached her heart, it lifted up off her body to form an intricate snowflake hovering above the Snow Queen's center. The snowflake began to spin, rotating faster and faster until it burst into sparkles once more, falling onto Elsa's heart and disappearing. For several long moments, Jack and Faylinn both held their breaths, waiting for something to happen. When Jack couldn't hold his breath anymore, he let out the air he had been keeping in and took a deep, shaky breath. He held Elsa's cold hand next to his heart in both of his and bowed his head over them.

"Your hands are cold, but they always were. Mine are cold now too. The cold never bothered me anyway, especially when you were always there to show me the beauty in the snow," he whispered to his best friend. He sighed and closed his deep blue eyes, which immediately shot open when he felt a gentle squeeze from the hand held between his.

He looked up to see Elsa lying on the bed, smiling at him. She had her free hand covering her locket, and her icy blue eyes were watching him with a warmth he hadn't seen in centuries. He smiled at her and—in an unrestrained surge of happiness—lifted her up off the bed bridal-style before spinning the laughing Snow Queen around. She wrapped her snowy arms around his neck and rested her forehead against his. Their frosty breaths combined as they laughed quietly, and each took in the scent of the other. They both smelled like winter—just as they always had back in Arendelle when Elsa was queen—but Jack smelled like icy peppermint and winter pine trees while Elsa smelled like candy canes, winter pears, caramel, and vanilla. He set her back down on the bed carefully, trying not to harm her or cause another wave of pain in the frozen girl. Faylinn flew over and snuggled into her aunt's neck, causing the blonde to laugh quietly.

"Hey Fay," she said quietly while rubbing the fairy's back with two fingers. The small hummingbird pixie made a sound somewhat resembling the purring of a cat, and Elsa laughed again.

"I'm fine, Fay. Relax. Where's everyone else?" she asked, and the fairy flitted back quickly to look at her with realization in her one blue and one purple eye before she flew out of the room at speed. Elsa just watched her go curiously before turning to Jack.

"She went to get Anna and the others. They all went to find a cure for you, but they're not back yet. She was supposed to go get them if something changed," he explained, and Elsa nodded with a smile.

"I see. So you were chosen to keep watch?" she questioned, and Jack nodded with a shrug.

"Yeah…Anna argued for a while but she finally relented. She wasn't happy though," he told her sheepishly, and the Queen of the Moon laughed knowingly.

"Anna gets protective, and stubborn when she doesn't know what to do," she explained, and Jack just nodded.

"Yeah, I remember. Anyway, what happened? You were out for a while," he asked her, concern evident all over his face—especially in his blue eyes. Elsa's eyebrows knitted together in a slight frown as she remembered the pain and the dreams.

"My heart hurt, a lot. It felt like it was being shredded into little pieces, and it got worse every time I saw you and Periwinkle together," she told him, trailing off on the last part shyly. She thought she had just been jealous, but now that she knew it was Medusa, some questions had been answered while others were revealed.

"I'd say jealousy," he began teasingly, before the Guardian of Fun grew serious once more, "but jealous people don't experience pain that knocks them unconscious for hours."

"I know. I thought the same thing, but this wasn't jealousy," she began, but Jack cut her off.

"I know. This was Medusa trying to hurt you," he told her, and the Guardian of Love stared at him blankly.

"You knew?" she asked in shock, and her forever friend laughed at her reaction.

"Yes. The others told me when you passed out," he told her, and she nodded slightly, memories of her dreams overtaking her.

"Did you dream?" he asked curiously, moving to sit next to her. She nodded mutely, staring off into space.

"Do you want to talk about it? I can tell something major happened," he pressed gently, and Elsa shrugged slightly.

"I saw her," she whispered, folding her hands in her lap.

"Saw who?" he asked her quietly, trying not to scare her or stop her from responding. She turned to him with her big, icy blue eyes wide enough for Jack to see his reflection in them.

"Medusa. I know who she is…" she whispered, not trusting her voice to go any louder. Her hands shook slightly and the temperature dropped in the room as both winter spirits absorbed the shock of what had just been said.

Duh duh duuuuuuuuh! Who do you all think Medusa is, and why did it freak Elsa out as much as it did? Leave your answer in your review!

Thanks for reading! Snowflakes of love and fun to you all!