Chapter 8: The Murder

Jack had fallen asleep on the roof, watching the moon shine bright above him. He'd been counting the stars when he'd fallen asleep.

This time, he'd dreamt of war. He'd dreamt of streets covered in blood, of crying parents as they were searching for their children… corpses littered the ground -was that a baby?- and more children on the horizon, marching, an enormous child army…

He woke up gasping, the morning sun dazzling him. It took him a minute to remember where he was. Then, the past day came rushing back.

He shot to his feet, jumping from the roof, the wind catching him- flew to where he knew the Queen's bedroom was- hurtled himself inside as the windows were blown open by a wind that hadn't been there a few seconds before-

And he was met by a shriek.

"TURN AROUND!"

He immediately did so, though it didn't erase from his memory what he'd glimpsed. Elsa had been surrounded by female servants dressing her for the day. Her body had only been covered by a corset and white, transparent skirts- so it wasn't like he'd actually seen anything, but geez, she was gorgeous- though he almost immediately hit himself for thinking it.

Gentleman, he reminded himself.

"Sorry. Thought I saw a spider." Elsa explained to her maids, who'd jumped at her scream.

"Did you just call me a spider?" said Jack over his shoulder in mock-outrage.

"Maybe it was a cockroach. Disgusting little things." he heard Elsa say, and he gasped in horror.

"You are aware that you will pay for that," he teased. Then he heard Elsa say her thanks to the maids and promising that she would be along shortly.

"Yes, don't worry, I'll do my hair myself, thank you Gretel."

Finally, he heard the door close behind the servants.

"Can I turn around now?" he asked.

"Sure. Pervert."

"What?!" he said, turning around, indignant- "It's not like I did it on purpose-"

"When was it a good idea to burst into the room of a woman early in the morning?"

"Granted," he muttered. "It was worth it though," he added, throwing her a flirtatious look.

He didn't even have the time to dodge the pillow.

A few minutes later, Jack was sitting down on Elsa's bed, bent over the counsellors' letter, reading it for the fifth time. Elsa, meanwhile, was humming as she sat in front of her dressing table, brushing her hair.

"This is unbelievable," he said, for what he felt was the billionth time. "They are so blind-"

"I know. I have to find a way to break this alliance, without starting a war. Marrying one of them would mean losing Arendelle, and I would do it if I thought one of the princes of the Southern Isles would be a good king to my people, even if I would lose power- I mean, the little power I have now. But it's just not the way they were brought up. I just know that Arendelle would take a turn for the worst."

Jack believed her, and he looked at the queen, still playing with her hair, trying to find a good way to put them. She didn't even seem aware that she'd confessed she would sacrifice the hope of any romantic love in her life for Arendelle, if she was sure that it was the right thing for her kingdom.

"You're amazing, you know." he whispered.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said. "Just thinking out loud."

"Think out loud about a way to get me out of this mess, would you? The Christmas Ball's in less than two weeks, and that's when I'm supposed to announce my engagement."

"What if…" started Jack, and Elsa immediately turned to face him, her eyes wide.

"You have an idea?!" she blurted.

"What if we hatched a plan so that you screwed up on these- um… dates- and make the princes be disgusted by you so that not one of them will want to marry you?"

Elsa blinked at him.

"That's a horrible idea," she said. "You're supposed to help me, not provoke a diplomatic incident."

"Yeah, Snowflake, but that's all I got for now."

"Not very good at this Guardian gig, are you?" she teased, turning back to the mirror. He stood up and walked to her.

"I am very good at this Guardian gig, for your information-"

"I'm sure you terrorize the children,"

"I most certainly do not-" he said, affronted.

"Relax, Jack. I'm only teasing." she said, staring at his reflection in the mirror. He smiled back at her.

"Or, I think I am," she added, chuckling, and narrowly avoided the snowball that had been aimed at her head.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Elsa," he muttered, going back to sitting on the bed.

"Maybe one of those princes could be a good King," said Jack, not believing the words himself.

"Their brother tried to decapitate me," Elsa said, arching her brow at him.

"Snowflake, never judge someone by their relatives. For all you know, my father was a serial killer."

"Was he?"

"No, but you're missing the point."

Elsa laughed, her head swinging backwards, and he smiled proudly.

A knock sounded on the door.

"Your Majesty? Prince Broderick is waiting for you."

"Coming!" she shouted across the door, abandoning the complicated hairstyle she'd been trying and instead going for her usual loose braid.

"Geez, the King is cruel," he said, as Elsa opened the door to the servant. "I mean, who calls their son Broderick?"

And the valet looked at the Queen, amazed, as she burst out laughing.

This was worse than Elsa had thought it would be.

And that was saying something.

Broderick had been waiting for her in the entrance hall, had complimented her dress-

"What's underneath it is even better, trust me," had laughed Jack, and Elsa had discreetly slammed her heel into his foot, so that Jack howled in pain ('I was joking Elsa, for goodness' sake)-

And then Broderick had led her to the Gardens where they'd walked around for a while, Jack floating along behind them. After a while, Elsa got fed up of small talk.

"So. What would you do, if you were the King of Arendelle?" she asked suddenly, and the prince turned to her.

"I thought we were only going to spend time together here, your Majesty, or I would have prepared for a job interview," the Prince said sharply. Elsa stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him.

"Listen, Prince Broderick. I don't know if you've caught on yet, but I'm kind of being forced into this marriage thing. I am not planning on marrying you or anyone of your brothers out of love or even friendship, but because your country is threatening to invade mine. So yes, Prince Broderick, this is a job interview, because I won't be making any one of you king if I don't think you're the best thing for my country."

Prince Broderick looked at Elsa, and, to her great surprise, burst out laughing.

"I think he didn't take you very seriously," muttered Jack, and Elsa silently agreed.

"I'm sorry, Queen Elsa," said Prince Broderick, wiping away tears of mirth- "I'll do as you wish me to. As you well know, I am the eldest of my brothers, and next in line for the throne. Which means, I am the most powerful of my brethren, and have more to offer you than all of my brothers put together; just imagine, the Queen of Arendelle and the King of the Southern Isles put together! The power we would hold! With our two armies combined, we could bring many countries to their knees! I- we- could build an empire."

Elsa ignored Jack, who was rolling his eyes.

"But don't you think we should be worrying about issues a little closer to home? Like, striking new trade deals, helping our inhabitants…"

"Of course!" said Broderick quickly, "But it will be much more fun, if we have a lot more inhabitants."

"This guy is caricatural," groaned Jack. "It's like a red-headed Napoleon."

They went back to small talk for another hour before a servant finally had mercy on Elsa and hurried over to them, saying that Prince Broderick had to go with his brothers for a sword training session. The prince asked Elsa if she'd like to come watch, and when she declined, he merely said that of course that was understandable, as a woman that wouldn't exactly be her cup of tea.

She watched him walk away, eyebrows raised.

"So, that went well," said Jack, landing in front of her. "Can I be best man at the wedding?"

"Shut up," she grumbled at him irritably.

"What was your favourite part? Mine was the 'I-want-to-dominate-the-world' bit. Or maybe the 'Women-fall-at-my-feet-but-it's-understandable-I-mean-look-at-me'."

She couldn't help it. She grinned.

"I liked the 'more-habitants-we-have-the-more-we'll-have-fun-torturing-them-with-insane-laws' more though."

"Yeah, that one was pretty good." chuckled Jack.

"Seriously, though," she sighed, sinking into the snow, "this is catastrophic."

The sensation of cold against her folded legs brought her a certain sense of comfort.

"Cheer up, Snowflake. Maybe his brothers will be worse."

"Not helping, Jack."

He didn't answer immediately. He stood awkwardly for a second, then laid his staff aside as he sat down on the snow with her, drawing patterns in the snow.

"You know, you haven't given me much details about this Guardian thing," she said after a long, peaceful silence. "I know you're… employed by the Man in the Moon? And you're friends with Santa Claus, the Sandman, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy? Aaaand, you protect children?"

"When you put it like that, doesn't sound very believable, huh?" he answered, chewing his lip. When he lifted his eyes to look at her, she found she was sitting his head tilted towards him.

"I already told you a lot about myself, but you didn't tell me much," he continued. He noticed her smile flicker.

"True," she simply said, and he waited for more… but it didn't come.

"So… could you tell me?" he prodded again. She was silent for a while, and he'd almost given up hope that she would say anything more, when she opened her mouth again.

"I'm cold," (he absolutely knew that was a lie. She couldn't feel cold, he'd already guessed that when she'd been in a short-sleeved dress in the middle of a snowy, windy mountain), "Let's go back inside."

But he didn't say anything, following her inside. He followed her up a staircase, still in complete silence (this was getting awkward real fast), but when she took a turn into a corridor that definitely didn't lead back to her room, he asked where they were going.

"I'm going to the library. I'm going to look up the entirety of the history of the Southern Isles, and their relationships with Arendelle. I have to be as much informed as I possibly can, and look for weaknesses- something I can use to stop this marriage alliance,"

"You mean, we." he interjected, and though she didn't answer, he knew he hadn't imagined the fleeting smile on her face.

A few minutes later, Jack was seated behind one of the dark oak desks of the library. He looked around, whistling. Now this was what he called a library.

Gigantic shelves of books reached the ceiling- which was a good way above the floor- and were crammed with books (obviously) of all shapes, colours and sizes. He was resisting the urge to fly up to the highest shelves to investigate, because was that a title in Ancient Greek? But Elsa had clearly told him to stay put, 'No flying around, Jack, I mean it' she'd ordered, while he'd huffed irritably in agreement. Elsa had then disappeared behind a row of shelves, and he'd heard the sound of her heels getting farther and farther away, as she looked for books about the Southern Isles.

Incapable of being still, he stood up, grabbing his staff, and looked around, his feet still on the ground. He looked at the books on the lower shelves, and saw a Dictionary of Ancient Handwritings, and picked it out. He opened it up, to a random page, more bored than curious; and a page slipped out of the book. He cursed, and bent to pick it up.

It wasn't a page at all, he realized, but a letter.

To his great surprise, it was dated; 18th January 1836.

11 years ago, then.

He read the following sentence.

Counsellor Archimedes,

I am glad to know that nothing politically important has happened in the kingdom since I've been gone. I am very sad to learn that princess Elsa lost control of her powers again. You said you have punished her accordingly; you know that whilst I think that teaching Elsa to control her powers is vitally important for her future as well as Arendelle's, I hope that you have not used the force of violence on the princess. That will only heighten her fear, and it will end badly. I will personally ask Elsa if you have disobeyed my orders on this account- know that if you did, the repercussions will be terrible for yourself, and your career.

King Agnarr of Arendelle.

Jack gaped at the letter. Was this what he thought it was? A letter- from Elsa's father- talking about her powers.

He knew that Elsa had been physically abused, because that's what Tooth had told him- but...

Was it possible that all this time, the King hadn't known that Elsa was being abused on a physical level?

But then, why had Elsa stayed quiet?

The same reason all children stay quiet.

Elsa would've been ten when this letter had been written. A wave of hot anger sent goose bumps down his arms.

Ten. Years. Old.

He gave himself a small shake. Even if the King didn't know that the princess was being abused physically, he at least knew that she was being abused emotionally. He had given her gloves. Taught her to be afraid of letting emotions control her- because she would lose control of her powers.

Afraid of feeling.

He didn't know what he was doing. He thought he was protecting her.

Yeah well, he had majestically screwed up.

He heard the sound of Elsa's heels approaching him. He stuffed the letter in the front pocket of his sweatshirt- something told him that if Elsa knew that he had read something like that, she would feel violated in such a way that his efforts of the past few days to gain her trust would all have been for nothing. He quickly soared back to his seat, putting a foot on his knee and making an effort to look casual as Elsa rounded the corner of a shelf, carrying what looked about a dozen of large volumes that she slammed down onto the table.

"Have you moved?" she asked sternly.

"Not a muscle," he said, smiling at her.

A pang of remorse flitted through him.

I'll tell her, he promised himself, as he observed the Queen sitting down opposite from him and pulling a book towards her. But not yet.

Not yet.

…

An hour later, Elsa yawned.

Two hours later, she felt like she was no more advanced than she'd been when she'd entered the library.

Three hours later, she felt like she was about to bang her head repeatedly on the table.

Jack slammed a book close next to her.

"There's nothing in here either, Snowflake," he announced, as he strode to a window and opened it, letting the fresh winter air come in, relieved, "except if you want to know the dates of reign of every Southern Isles ruler. Interesting, but not really helpful."

She closed her eyes briefly.

"I don't get it. There's always something to find in books."

"Maybe the Southern Isles are careful about the information they give out to the rest of the world."

She stubbornly took another book on the desk, pulling it towards her, and opening it.

"Elsa- come on. It's no use."

He gently took the book from her and closed it.

"I'm not giving up."

"I'm not asking you to. But we'll have to figure out something else, because we're just wasting our time here."

Just as Elsa opened her mouth to retort, a small voice echoed between the shelves.

"Your Majesty?"

Elsa froze, turning slowly towards the sound of the voice. Jack stood up, picking up his staff and looking towards where it had come from.

"Yes?" answered Elsa hesitantly.

A blue-eyed, blond, short girl rounded the corner.

"I'm sorry, am I disturbing you?"

"Not at all, Katie. What is it?"

She was a servant, Jack guessed, and who didn't look a day older than eighteen. Thin, but not starving-thin, and quite pale. She looked… scared.

"I- I have to tell you something,"

Jack shot a side-ways look at Elsa. She looked intrigued. Pushing herself up with a hand on the desk, she approached Katie, and took her hand, gently sitting her down where she herself had been moments before.

"Go ahead," she said kindly, kneeling before the servant girl, putting a hand on her knee, and the other grasping Katie's hand.

Wow, Jack thought. She sure knows how to set people at ease.

"I- I'm part of the group of servants that have to attend to the Southern Isles guests."

Elsa shot a look at him, and he raised an eyebrow as if to say: See? Books aren't everything, Snowflake.

She gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head, and returned her attention to Katie.

"I wasn't spying!" the girl said shakily, "I was just… there."

"It's fine Katie, don't worry. Tell me what happened."

"I heard the King talking to one of his sons. I don't know which one it was. They were- they were conspiring to kill a prince- one of them. And they talked about the alliance-"

At that moment, a few things happened at once; Books fell out of a shelf on their right, and through the gap it left, Jack saw an arrow pierce the air and fly towards Elsa and the servant; he threw himself towards Elsa, knocking her down, shielding her with his own body…

The servant girl crashed to the floor, her throat pierced by an arrow, her eyes already empty.

She was dead.