I, again, apologizes for the long update. I was in a middle of rush school enrollment and some other stuff to take care of. I also apologizes in advance for this short chapter but still worth reading for. Now without further a do, Chapter 9...
I DO NOT OWN THE ROTG AND FROZEN CHARACTERS. THEY BELONG TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS.
Chapter 9: Secrets
Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock
Is the sound of a pendulum clock that hangs on a wall inside the library.
Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock
The only sound that can be heard in a quiet, cozy, and surprisingly relaxing room.
Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock
But for Anna, never before she is annoy to hear a clock ticking. For the first time in forever, the younger Princess take an interest in books and tries to concentrate on reading one. Around the corner is Princess Elsa, standing and silently observing her little sister in her pursue of knowledge.
Princess Elsa's daily morning routine consist of bathing, eating breakfast, and head to the library for a refreshing and peaceful time with books. She is the first person that always opens the library doors every morning. Never in her thoughts crosses that Anna will beat her to it. So she stands there in the corner, shock to see her little sister reading books first thing in the morning. The scene confuses her greatly so she slowly exits the room and approaches a castle guard.
"Could you please call Jackson Overland, Princess Anna's butler, and tell him to meet me here in front of the library." Elsa commanded the guard which the latter obeys. A few minutes later and Jack arrives in front of the library.
"You called Princess?" Jack asked.
"Yes, are you aware of Anna's actions right now?" Elsa asked back.
"I'm well aware, your majesty. I believe she is in the library, studying."
"I want to ask you about that. Did she hit her head or something?"
"Excuse me?" Hearing that kind of question makes Jack furrow his brows in confusion.
"She is inside in the library, studying. I never saw her study in my whole life."
"Uhm...I see..." Jack replied and chuckles, not knowing what to say. "But isn't that a good thing? I mean your sister is trying to have the same interest that you have. Why not bond with her? Help her in what she needs." The young butler suggest.
Elsa think carefully on what Jack has said and realize he has a point. With a relief feeling, she puts a smile on her face and went inside the library, heeding Jack's words. The scene is still the same, Anna reading books like she never left. She then approach her sister and tries to assist her in her study.
"What are you reading?" Elsa tries to start a conversation with Anna.
"Books." Anna seriously replied.
"Yeah I can see that." Elsa said annoyingly on Anna's reply. "I might be distracting you so I'm just gonna go..."
"Wait!, I'm sorry if I answered rudely." She blurted out as Elsa is about to leave the room. "It is just that this book is hard to understand... that's all, I'm sorry."
Elsa then giggles. "I was just kidding, now we're even. So let's do this again, what are you reading?"
"This" Anna then shows to Elsa the book she is reading.
The older Princess inspect the book carefully. "A cooking book? Why interested in it?"
"Because of him." She then points her index finger to Jack whom just walk in the library.
"Me?" A confuse Jack points at himself.
"Yes you. You always cook me heavenly food that I crave for more but you won't let me have some. So instead of relying on you, I'm gonna cook for myself."
"I'm just trying to balance your appetite, mistress. If you eat too much you will get fat."
"Nonsense. I never get fat. Now if you want to help me or something then let me be." She then resumes her reading.
Jack sighs while Elsa giggles on the master and butler's little argument. The older Princess then approach the blue-suited butler.
"She's unmovable, let's go." She said to Jack. The latter obeys and they leave the library together. "Now to the kitchen."
"I'm sorry what?" Jack ask Elsa.
"To the kitchen. I will see if Anna says is true, that your cooking is good. I shall judge you on your cooking skills. Besides, I haven't eaten anything yet."
Jack is more than happy to oblige on Elsa's request and they head together to the kitchen to show off his cooking skills. The two go together to the kitchen and once inside, Elsa give the kitchen staff a day off so the two of them can have their privacy. Elsa sits at the counter while Jack prepares a light meal for the Princess. While patiently waiting, Elsa observe Jack's action on how to cook her food. She is amaze that Jack is well organize. Seeing how he cooks cleanly, separating the ingredients according to their group, wears hairnet and apron, expertly handling the food, and cooks carefully to avoid overcooking the food.
The Princess couldn't wait anymore as the sweet aroma of food fills the atmosphere. Judging by the smell, the food is great. Now her expectations are rising and hopes that the food is great in taste. Jack has finish cooking Elsa's meal and is now serving it to the Princess. Elsa is shock to see that the 'oh so good smelling' food is just an ordinary omelet.
Still, Elsa knows not to judge a book by its cover. So before making any comments, she taste the food. Once it is inside her mouth, hey eyes widen in astonishment as the heavenly flavor of the omelet flooded her mouth. Never before she ate food this delicious so she consume the whole food in one bite. This action surprises both Jack and Elsa. As the Princess eyes widen in embarrassment, the butler is laughing his ass off.
"Stop it." Elsa said to Jack with her face now flustered.
"I...ahahaha...I can't... ahahahaha...stop." The white haired butler replies between laughs.
"You're fired." The Princess suddenly said halting Jack from his laughter.
"I'm sorry your majesty... I will never laugh at you again so please don't fire me." A horrified Jack quickly apologizes.
Now it is Elsa's turn to laugh at the hilariously, terrified expression of the butler. "Just kidding. Rest assure, I'm in no position to take your job away, that's papa's job."
Jack sigh in relief. "You know, with your matured behavior I can't tell if your joking or not. You easily fool me and mistress." He then chuckles. "So, how's the food?"
"Just like what Anna said, It is heavenly. Where did you learn how to cook like that?"
"My mom taught me. She said I have the potential so she pass her knowledge on cooking to me."
"I think I understand a little bit on how Anna felt. Can you teach me to cook like that?" Elsa suddenly asked.
Jack is slightly shock on Elsa's sudden interest to learn. He sees nothing wrong with that so he decided to teach her. With a nod of approval, Elsa rises from her seat and stand beside Jack, ready to learn on what he will teach her.
"Okay, let us start from the very basic, batting an egg." Jack instructed. " Gently hit the egg at the side of the bowl and once the egg cracked, use your fingers to open up the egg and put what's inside in the bowl."
Elsa do what Jack instructed and perform it perfectly. "Now what?"
"We add a little salt and pepper then we stir. " Jack said to Elsa then proceeds on preparing the frying pan and the stove.
While he is preparing, Elsa is doing what he instructed. She put a little salt and pepper on the egg and stir it gently. "Done, what's next?"
Jack just finish preparing and now heating up the frying pan with olive oil. "Now we wait until the pan is in the right temperature. While we wait, we will slice some tomatoes to add flavor for our omelet." He then grab a tomato, a knife, and a small chopping board.
"I'll cut those." Elsa suggested.
"Are you sure? I mean do you even held a knife before?" Jack worryingly asked.
"Don't worry, I'll be careful." She then grab the knife Jack was holding and tries to cut the tomato.
Slowly and carefully Elsa cuts the tomato. Jack is impress to see how Elsa cut the vegetable and think to himself that she has potential in cooking. But that thought immediately disappear after seeing Elsa accidently cut her finger. Jack come to her aid and relief to see it is a small wound. Still he needs to give her treatment to avoid infection. So he treat her the only way he knows how, by sucking Elsa's finger to disinfect the wound.
Of course this action shock the Princess greatly, so shock that she just stand frozen, not knowing what to do. Her mind is still processing on what is happening until it finally click her. She finds this action disturbing yet feels good. Never in a thousand years she thought someone will suck her finger. She, the first born of Arendelle's royal family, heir to the throne, and soon to be Queen is letting her sister's butler suck her wounded finger.
"That's enough Jack." Elsa said now coming to her senses with a flustered face.
Jack stop his 'treatment' then grabs a clean cloth and wrap it around the wound to prevent it from reopening.
"There, feeling better?" Jack ask.
"I think so." Elsa shyly replies.
"I thought you said you'd be careful?" He ask the Princess.
"Yeah... silly me."
"Look I'm gonna continue this while you stay there and watch. Okay?"
The Princess agree to his conditions and decided to take a break while Jack finishes up the work. She silently observe Jack's doing and gathers information and knowledge through it. Still, Jack keeps teaching while working for Elsa to understand more on what is he doing. And by the time they are done, they are know gonna taste the omelet they made.
The result is wonderful, it may not be as good like the one Jack made but it is still edible. Both of them have a satisfying look in their faces once they finish up eating the omelet they made. Now that they are full, it is time to clean the mess they made and leave to their respective duties... well that was originally the plan but...
"Your majesty, could you please the pass me the ketchup so I can put it back where it belong." said the young butler.
"Okay." Elsa replied.
But instead of passing it to Jack, Elsa lazily tosses it to him which is unknown to the latter. This action causes the ketchup to spill all over Jack's head. Horrified, Elsa immediately grabs a clean towel and wipe the ketchup off from Jack while apologizing. The only response she receive from him is sweet smile that hides some hideous and mischievous attempts.
"I see, you want to play that game your majesty." He finally speak after a moment of awkward silence. He then grabs a tablespoon of sugar and pour it on top of Elsa's head. "I'm sorry, my hand slipped."
A sudden rush fills up Elsa inside that causes her to become. "Oh it is on." She said as she declared food war on Jack.
And the two rush to their own bases, build their forts of table and stools, grab their 'ammo', and commence their battle. Flying ingredients are all over the place as Commander Jack launches an all out fire barrage of green peas towards Major Elsa's defenses but the Major's forts are impenetrable. Commander Jack has cease his fire which gives Major Elsa the chance to counter attack. She uses her heavy artillery of Potatoes on her enemy's fort which deals great damage.
Commander Jack notice this damage and quickly patch up his defense. But by doing so, he's been hit by a Tomato bomb at his back. He immediately retreated back to his base and plans the next move. Now Major Elsa has the advantage of hitting Commander Jack , because of this she gains the confident to win their 'war' but the Commander has a trick up to his sleeves. It is time for Jack to initiate his attack, he smoke Elsa's base using a Pepper-smoke grenade then went on the offensive.
The damage on Elsa's side is massive as 'bullet' after 'bullet' hit her fort. Little by little her defenses are weakening. She needs to think of something or else she will be in a pinch of trouble but the problem is she can't think of something in the midst of battle. So she rely on her defenses to keep it together until Jack's attack finishes then she counters with her own.
After the barrage of attack has momentarily stop, Elsa take the chance and quickly charge Jack's base with a sack of flour. She is determine to win this fight and stop it once and for all with a one-hit combo attack. She face Jack head on while his guard is still down and wasted no time in her final attack. Shock to see the Princess bravely charges at him, Jack panics on what to do and because of this that he can't think straight. So he stands there frozen in shock and take Elsa's Flour Nuke like a man. Thus concludes the fight with Elsa's victory.
The kitchen is now a wasteland, the 'damage' in the battlefield serves as a grim reminder of the Food War Jack and Elsa held. But for the two, they are laughing like crazy on the play time they had. Pretty immature to do for young adults like them but that doesn't bother them since that was their little secret. For Elsa and Jack, it was fun while it lasted but right now they need to clean the mess they made or else they will be in trouble.
Clean up is hard especially if you yourself isn't clean but both Elsa and Jack manage to do it. Perfection is one of Elsa's specialty and thanks to that, the room is neat and tidy like no war happened. Everything is right in place and now the two war starters need to clean themselves up.
" You can't go outside showing like that Jack." She said while pointing out to Jack on his 'flour form'.
"And whose fault is that?" Jack retorted.
Elsa simply giggle. "Well if you go now I'm sure no one will notice you."
"Right, excuse me your majesty, I will take my leave." He says then leaves the kitchen for him to tidy up.
The two temporarily part ways as they go to their respective rooms. Jack is having hard time sneaking in due to his appearance. He needs to be careful to not to be seen by anyone so he sneakily make his way to his room. He manage to reach his room and quickly take a shower and tidy himself up.
It took about 10 minutes before Jack fully himself up, the only problem now is tying his tie. But before he can do that, I knock came to his door. With a crooked tie, he approaches the door and opens it to see who is behind it. The person is revealed to be Princess Elsa which surprises the young butler.
"Can I help you, your majesty?" He ask.
"Oh nothing it is just I check if you were able to go here without making a commotion but seeing you here all clean up means nothing happened."
"Uhm thanks for your concern, your highness."
Elsa then notice Jack's crooked tie and then giggles. "You look ridiculous with that look."
"Yeah I was in the middle of fixing it then someone knock at the door."
"Then let me make up for it." She then fix Jack's tie for him.
The distance between Jack's face and Elsa's is dangerously close. Jack's face is now flustered because of the attention Elsa is giving him. Good thing Elsa is focus on fixing his tie so that she can't see his flustered face. Though, he never imagine that he would be this close to the Princess. So close that he can actually smell her. Improper thoughts are running in Jack's mind, can't blame him since he is also a guy.
Maybe if I lean a little closer I can 'accidentally' kiss her and...He then mentally slap himself. Crap, what am I thinking?! Don't Jack, she is the princess, she is the princess, she is the princess, she is the princess,... but maybe just a little closer... And again he mentally slap himself.
By the time Jack is about to go crazy, Elsa finishes fixing his tie. As a final touch, she wipe some dust over his shoulders, place her hands on his chest, and look up to him with a smile. Jack's mind went override, the temptation is too great that he mindlessly, slowly leaning closer to Elsa. He can't take it anymore and will worry about the consequences later.
"What are you doing?" A confuse Elsa asked Jack which stop him in his tracks.
Jack's senses came back to him and curses himself for almost losing control. "Uhm... I thought I saw dirt in your eyes so I'm inspecting it." is his lousy excuse.
"Right. Uhm you are too close you know." She pointed out while hiding her flustered face.
He then regrettably let go and back away a little for Elsa to have her personal space. Awkwardness in the air as the two stare in silence at each other. With her voice found, Elsa cleared her throat to break the ice.
"Now that you are alright, I'm gonna go." With that, Elsa takes her leave.
Once Jack is alone in his room, he reflected back on what just he did and realize his rash actions. He is embarrass in himself that he bump his head in a nearby wall, hard. With all the embarrassment and regret gone, he decided to take rest to preserve his strength for the rest of the day.
The Next Morning...
It is the day that Arendelle people has been waiting, the first day of the Foundation Festival. People rejoicing and celebrating as the day they have been waiting has come. Of course the royal family is also excited about this and because of that, the whole castle is busy on going out to town to celebrate. All except Jack who feels out of place.
"What are you doing Jackson? Aren't you preparing?" asked Kai.
"I don't really know what will I prepare, sir, since I'll just keep a closer eye on mistress."
"If you insist then, but remember to also have fun out there."
"I will."
With that, Kai leaves Jack alone to prepare for other things. Since Jack has nothing to prepare for, he figure he just need to find Anna to accompany her and assist her in everything she needs. So the hunt for the Princess starts but since the castle is pack of busy people, he is having a hard time finding his mistress.
"Do you have a moment?" A feminine voice came from his behind in the midst of his search. Jack turn around to see who called him and the person revealed is Queen Idun. Jack bowed his head in respect then the Queen ordered him to lift his head up.
"What can I do for you, your highness?"
"Just I little talk." The Queen replied. "I'll be blunt, you've been keeping a secret, Jackson."
Jack gulped as he is starting to get nervous. No way, does she know we mess up the kitchen. Crap I'm in trouble. I better clear this up.
"I can explain, your majesty..." He is cut off by the Queen.
"No, you cannot. There is no excuses here." She strictly said.
The worst has come to Jack. He must apologize deeply to let the Queen know he regretted his actions. As he is about to apologize, the Queen continues to speak.
"I've been running a background check on you, Jackson, and I found promising results."
Jack furrow his brows in confusion. Though at least he can confirm that the Queen doesn't know what happened yesterday but the thought of having no idea what the Queen is saying still makes his heart race.
"I have my suspicions since you came here. A Pennsylvanian boy, White hair and blue eyes, A family person, and an Overland. Tell me, are you familiar with the nickname 'Nightlight'?"
The young lad eyes widen in great shock as he remembers something in the past. "How did you know that name?"
"I already told you, I've been running a background check on you. I'm sure you know the weight that name bears and wish that no one would know that name, if possible. It will be bad if that information leaks out you know."
"Are you blackmailing me, your majesty?" Jack asked feeling threatened.
"Blackmailing? No, I wouldn't stoop low on that. And if your thinking this conversation is related to your job then you are absolutely wrong, you will not lose your job. I am willing to pretend that this conversation never happened for a price."
"What do you want, your majesty?" He asked ready to negotiate while clenching his fist, hoping that her request is limited to his reach.
"Don't worry, I only need information." While the Queen talks, Jack gulped preparing for what the Queen will say. "Tell me, How is Katherine doing?"
Jack's mouth dropped and eyes widen even more. He is render speechless and frozen beyond surprise.
AN: Finally updated after a long time
Anyways, stay tune for the next chapter because it will be an important one.
Also the Jelsa moment doesn't end here, it will continue in the next chapter.
Well that's all and don't forget to review... :)