Chapter 9: A Visit to the Pole

Elsa screamed. Jack hadn't been quick enough; she'd been directly in front of the servant when the arrow had struck her. Elsa's hands, face, hair… she was covered in blood. She raised a trembling hand to her mouth as she screamed again.

"Snowflake. Snowflake. It's okay. I'm here. You're alive. You're alright."

He heard the sound of someone scurrying away- and he had to restrain himself from flying away at their pursue. But he couldn't leave Elsa alone. She dissolved in uncontrollable sobbing, tears streaking down her cheeks and mixing with blood.

She was shaking.

"Elsa look at me. Look at me."

Elsa swivelled her huge blue eyes to meet his.

"We have to move. Come on."

But there was no use; she was paralyzed. She couldn't move, couldn't think…

Just then, Jack heard the doors of the library bang open. He let go of Elsa and stood up, sinking into a defensive stance, his staff directed in front of him. He gritted his teeth.

"YOUR MAJESTY!" he heard someone shout in a panicked voice. Guards rounded the corner, and stopped abruptly, their eyes wide.

Jack hadn't noticed, being completely immersed by the task of bringing Elsa back to her senses, but the Queen was surrounded by a violent snowstorm, that twirled around her, nearly hiding her from view. Ice leapt out from underneath her feet, covering the library floor, and the storm seemed to grow bigger and more violent. Soon, Jack was also surrounded by it.

"Elsa." he said softly, kneeling down, facing her. She was gripping her knees with her hands, folded into a ball. Her eyes were squeezed shut. "Elsa, look at me. Open your eyes." The Queen did so, fixing her gaze into his own. "Elsa, you have to breathe. Your guards are here. They're going to help. But you have to let them through. Go on, Snowflake. Breathe."

A rasping gasp escaped from her, and immediately the storm stopped, snowflakes freezing in the air. He grabbed her before she could fall down, pulling her to him.

The guards lurched forward, taking in the scene. The Queen, still shaking and crying, and the girl- Katie, Jack remembered dimly- laying, dead, on the floor. Immediately, the tallest guard, who seemed to be the one in charge started shouting orders.

"You! Go fetch Counsellor Archimedes! Someone has to guard the body! You! Fetch the Queen's maids, they are to be in her apartments as soon as possible!"

Shouting a few other orders, he approached Elsa. Jack let her go, unwillingly, as the Guard picked her up in his arms, her head flipping on his torso as he put one arm underneath her back and the other underneath her knees.

He exited the library, and though he didn't know it, was closely followed by Jack Frost.

…

Elsa woke up in a daze. She dimly recognized she was in a bathtub, completely naked, Gretel scrubbing at her body.

"Your Majesty! You're awake!"

Elsa looked around. She was in the luxurious bathroom that was attached to her bedroom, floating in water. Lukewarm, red water.

Red?

The memory of what had happened in the library hit her. She lurched out of the bathtub, whose water had mixed with Katie's blood, that Gretel had been scrubbing off her.

"Your Majesty, it's just me, Gretel!"

She'd known Gretel since she was a child, she reminded herself. Gretel wouldn't do her any harm.

"Oh Gretel," she said, tears filling her eyes, "Gretel, Katie's dead!"

The servant stood, stunned, but not at the news that Katie had died; no, the whole castle knew that by now; but she had lost habit of the Queen being so vulnerable. She was always so regal, so poised.

She wasn't now. Now, she was terrified.

Gretel regained her composure.

"I know, sweetheart. I know," she said in a reassuring voice, walking towards the Queen. She hadn't called Elsa sweetheart since she'd turned sixteen, and Elsa hadn't realized how much she'd missed it. Gretel took the white bathrobe that hung from the wall, and approached the Queen slowly.

"Here, put this on."

Elsa gratefully slid into the warm bathrobe and instantly felt as if she was surrounded by arms, just like Jack had held her when he'd calmed her down-

Jack.

She turned and ripped the door of the bathroom open, Gretel looking at her in bewilderment. She rushed out in her room-

"Hey, Snowflake."

Jack was casually laying down on her bed, his hands cupping his head as he stared at the ceiling, one foot crossed over the other. She felt a wave of relief course through her. He sat up, his legs swinging over the edge of the bed. He grabbed his staff, and walked towards her.

"Are you okay?"

"Gretel, thank you. I'll be alright now."

"Are you sure, your Majesty?" Gretel asked, exiting the bathroom.

"Yes, don't worry about me."

She heard the door close behind the servant, and launched herself into Jack's arms. She felt him stiffen for a moment, out of surprise, but then he wrapped her arms around her. She grabbed his shirt, making a considerate effort not to cry again.

"I thought you'd gone," she said, finally pulling away. Jack grinned, passing a hand in his hair.

"I was right here. I figured if you woke up in a bath and saw me in the bathroom with you, you'd freak."

She sat on her bed, sinking into the mattress.

"What happened?" she asked finally.

"They haven't found anyone fleeing the castle, so they're assuming that the killer is still here."

She gulped, rubbing her chest with her hand. Jack observed her, still standing and leaning on his staff, a look of concern in his eyes.

"Don't worry, Snowflake. You have, like, a dozen guards standing outside your door."

She waved a hand dismissively, letting him know that that wasn't what was bothering her.

"Was it- was I the one they were trying to kill? Did- did Katie die for me?"

"That's what everyone's thinking."

"Oh shit," she said, putting her face in her hands. "Shit, shit, shit-"

"I didn't say that was what I think." he said, sitting down on the bed next to her and pulling her hands away from her face. "And I was the only one who was there."

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking at him directly.

"I mean- that Katie was about to tell you something important… and that she was murdered for it," he muttered grimly.

"You think the Southern Isles are behind this?" she whispered.

"I don't see who else would want to kill a servant, when the queen was right next to her."

"Maybe- maybe they aimed badly, or-"

"Trust me, Snowflake. I saw that arrow. It went exactly where it was meant to."

Elsa closed her eyes, rubbing them tiredly.

"You should sleep." Jack said slowly.

"I don't think I can," she admitted. "What time is it?"

"Twenty minutes 'til midnight. You were knocked out for quite some time," he told her, and she flinched.

"The way I reacted- I don't know what came over me. I must have looked so weak-"

"Elsa, that was the first time a person died in front of you. Moreover, you had blood all over you, your brain couldn't process what had just happened. I would be more worried if you hadn't reacted the way you did." he said, reaching to brush her hair behind her ear. She looked at him, and after a minute smiled.

It was faint, and small- but still. It was there.

"I'll try to sleep." she said. Jack nodded and stood up. He opened the window, preparing to fly and sleep on the roof again, when Elsa called him back.

"Could you- could you stay?" she asked timidly. He grinned.

"Sure I can stay, Snowflake."

He pulled one of the comfortable-looking armchairs to face Elsa's bed, while she slid under the covers. He curled up onto the armchair, and closed his eyes.

"What would really be useful," Elsa said sleepily, "would be to find a way to know exactly what Katie saw, that made her a target."

"Go to sleep, Snowflake." Jack said, looking at the curled form of the Queen, as all went quiet once more.

…

The clock had just sounded two chimes, when Jack's eyes flew open. He didn't know what had woken him up at first, but then he noticed the cold wind swirling around the room, though the window was closed; and he heard a moan. He lifted himself out of the armchair and walked towards the side of the sleeping queen's bed.

He looked at Elsa, still sleeping. She was beautiful even in sleep, with her blond hair covering the pillow under her. She moaned again, and Jack saw the crease of her frown.

That's when she started thrashing, her covers sliding from her legs.

"Elsa!" he said, panicked, "Elsa, wake up!"

"Please no," she moaned, still deep in sleep, "Not the room! I don't want to!"

"WAKE UP!" he roared, but her eyes still didn't open- beads of sweat glistened on her forehead now, and Jack was seriously beginning to wonder if he should throw a snowball at her, just to wake her up.

"Please-" she whimpered, and the sound of her plea was so heart-breaking, that Jack sat on the bed and pulled her to him. Immediately, she stopped moving.

Her hand knotted into his sweatshirt, and her head relaxed against his torso. He felt every nerve on his body awaken, as he held her tighter.

He eased his legs onto the bed and relaxed his back against the bed-frame, one arm around Elsa's shoulders.

"Thank you," he heard her whisper sleepily, and he smiled down at her, though he saw nothing but the top of her blonde hair.

"No problem, Snowflake."

…

Jack hadn't been able to fall back asleep, instead staring into the darkness of the room, letting Elsa's regular breaths sweep over him. He couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of protection as he laid there, holding her. He enjoyed the feeling of her head against his chest, and stroked her hair every once-in-a-while, as if to remind himself that she could see him, she could touch him. He was real, he was solid.

Though he still didn't know how she could see him, if she hadn't believed in him.

She believes in you now.

He smiled at the thought.

His mind flashed back to that moment in the library, when he'd thought, for a terrorizing second that the arrow would pierce Elsa's skin.

What am I doing? he thought. She's the Queen. And I'm a phantom, that none of her loved ones will be able to see.

But he couldn't stop himself, as he stroked a thumb down her hair again. He wanted to know everything about her-

Woah. Stop, creepy guy.

He shook his head, closing his eyes again. He thought about that girl, Katie, what she'd been about to say.

What would really be useful, would be to find a way to know exactly what Katie saw, that made her a target.

And then it hit him.

How could he have been so stupid so as not to have seen it before?

"Elsa," he hissed, and she sat up, pushing herself up with the help of a hand pushing down on the place where her head had been. He shivered as the warmth of her body against his left him.

"What is it?" she said, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"We're going." he said, jumping off the bed, and walking to the armchair where he'd spent a good part of the night, picking up his staff.

"Jack, it's five in the morning," she said, yawning and stretching. "Where are we going?"

She is so adorable, it should be made illegal.

"You're going to meet my friends."

…

Elsa held tight as Jack flew North, the wind howling in her ears as her hair whipped out from the braid they'd be tied in. She closed her eyes to protect herself from the wind, burying her face in the space between Jack's neck and shoulder.

She found herself enjoying the sensation of his arm around her waist (the other was holding his staff) more than she should. She went back to that moment where she'd half-awakened from dreaming about- about one of the punishments she'd endured, to find herself in Jack's arms… she'd felt safe. Protected in the cocoon of his arms.

What must he think of her, she thought. The way she'd curled up against him- she'd just felt so at ease, in that semi-awake state… but she'd only known him for three days- four, if you counted today. She couldn't behave like that or he'd think…

He'd think she was easy.

And she wasn't. She was the reigning Queen of Arendelle, and she definitely wasn't easy.

But, she could tell herself to behave another way all she wanted- she still felt safe, protected, comfortable in his arms, even though she was flying high above any sign of solid ground.

…

Jack flew in through an open window of North's fortress. He flew through the corridors, finally arriving to the Globe Room, and gently set Elsa down on her feet. When she was on her own two feet, she looked around. Everything was dark, the room only lighted by the small golden dots that symbolized the children of the world.

"Wow," she breathed as she looked around, her gaze focusing on the huge globe.

"Every light represents a child who believes in us," whispered Jack, though there was no reason to be quiet. But the sun had not yet raised, and all was silent, giving them a sense of intimacy. He looked down, and was very pleased to see that there were goose-bumps on her arms.

"Are you cold, Snowflake?" he whispered, his mouth inches away from his ear. She shivered.

"No. I'm nervous." she said, not turning to look at him, though her body seemed to lean back almost unconsciously against him. He bit his lip.

She was making this so hard.

"Am I the one making you nervous?"

He barely heard her whisper back.

"Yes," she said. His heart skipped a beat, his throat gone dry, but before he could answer, the lights switched on, and the booming voice of North echoed down to them.

"I hope the intruder goes by the name of Jack Frost, otherwise I'm moving."

Elsa moved away from him immediately. He hadn't realized he'd been standing so close behind her in the darkness. He was pleased to see that her skin was flushed, and she averted her gaze from his.

"It's me, North." he coughed.

North appeared behind them, and Jack saw his eyes widen as he took in the windblown girl in front of him, her eyes, so stunningly blue, a little terrified as she took the impressive man is.

"You brought a giiiiiirl," North said. Both Jack and Elsa flushed a deep red colour.

"Hello," she curtsied, and Jack swallowed back a grin at North's stunned expression. He doubted anyone had ever curtsied to him before. Then he saw understanding dawn on North's face.

This is going to be good.

"Your Majesty!" he gasped. "I'm so sorry- only teasing Jack, you know-"

"Elsa's fine." she said, and Jack saw that she was smiling, amused.

"North, we need to talk to Tooth. I would have gone directly to the Tooth palace, but it would've taken too long to fly to China, so I came here."

"Sure. Should I call Bunny and Sandy too?" he said, already walking towards the lever.

"I- I think you should," he said, throwing an uncertain look at Elsa, but she shrugged. "I have a lot to tell you. To all of you."

Elsa raised an eyebrow. Me too? she mouthed, and he nodded, before winking at her. She looked away, but Jack saw her smile, before she bit her lip. He watched as she fidgeted, looking up at the trap door that revealed the moon.

North coughed behind him, and he jumped. North looked at him, eyebrows raised. He shrugged, in answer to the question he hadn't asked aloud.

What is she doing here?

Jack grinned up at him, and a gleam in North's eyes told him that he wasn't as discreet as he'd hoped he was.

…

The Sandman was the first one to arrive. Elsa had seen him emerge, a floating, completely golden little man. He'd smiled and waved at her.

"I know you!" she'd exclaimed. "I saw you when I was little, but I thought I'd imagined you!"

Sandy had looked enchanted at her words, and had floated around her for a full minute before Jack had intervened.

"Okay, calm down little man, she likes you too."

Bunny arrived next.

He'd emerged into the Globe Room looking disgruntled and anxious.

"If this is about your belly again, I swear I'm going to murder you with-"

"Your bare hands?" had finished North.

"They're paws, how many times do I have to tell you-"

"Bunny," had interrupted Jack before he could say anything more, "This is Elsa."

"Elsa?" he'd said slowly, his gaze fixing on her. This wasn't at all how she'd pictured the Easter Bunny. He was much more- there was no other word for it- impressive than she'd thought he'd be. And taller.

"Hi," she'd squeaked, seeing that Jack edged a little closer to her, noticing that she was getting a little overwhelmed about things.

"Elsa, as in Queen Elsa?" he said disbelievingly.

"That's right," said Jack, with something like a warning in his tone. But before Bunny could even answer, Tooth flew into the room.

The first thought that entered Elsa's head was that this was one beautiful, colourful woman. She was covered in feathers of vibrant purple, green and yellow, and two wings batted behind her. She sent a stunned look Jack's way, and he grinned at her, as if to say, I know right. A tiny fairy, like a minuscule version of the tooth fairy flew towards Jack, squeaking excitedly, and flew around him.

"Hey Baby Tooth," he laughed, and Elsa felt her heart flutter a little as she saw him smile at the fairy, his white-toothed grin infectious.

"What's going on?" The Tooth Fairy asked, looking around at them, her eyes finally falling on Elsa. She made a very peculiar noise- it was kind of like an excited shriek, as she hurtled towards Elsa, her face now inches from her own.

"You must be Elsa!" she squealed, "I've heard so much about you!"

"You- you have?" she said, more bewildered and amused than concerned.

"And about your teeeeeth! Come on, open up, let me see!"

"Wha-" she started, but then Tooth was opening her mouth with her fingers and examining Elsa's teeth.

"They're as white as Jack's!" she said, excitedly, but then was pulled back by none other than him.

"Come on, Tooth-"

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, "I'm Toothiana,"

"Hi," Elsa said, now grinning from ear to ear, and refraining from laughing. Jack seemed relieved at her expression.

"Okayyyyy," said Bunny, "now that we're all properly introduced, why doesn't somebody tell us what's going on?"

Jack turned towards him and launched himself into telling what had happened during the last few days. He told them everything, though Elsa noticed that he refrained from telling them about the snow fight.

"You put him in a cage?" said Bunny, folding his arms as he looked at her.

"Yes- yes, I thought he wanted to murder me-" she said quickly, not wanting to get onto Bunny's bad side, but to her great surprise, his face split into a grin.

"You," he said, putting his arms back at his sides, "are my new best friend."

She grinned. She was absolutely loving this.

"Ha ha ha," said Jack, ironically, "hilarious, Bunny. Anyway, so there's these Southern Isles guys that want to marry her-"

And he told them about the suitors, the dates in the mornings, and finally what had happened in the library- what he thought about Katie's murder, and finally he turned directly to look at Tooth.

"The girl- she was young. Maybe something in her memories- something could tell us what she overheard."

"You want her teeth," said Tooth slowly. Elsa was getting confused.

"Her teeth?!" she asked, bewildered.

"Children's teeth- they contain the most important memories of childhood." Tooth explained quickly, as if what she'd just said made completely sense, before turning back to Jack. "If she was young, maybe… But I'd need to have one of her teeth, now, and add it to her baby teeth… it could work…."

"You want to take her teeth?" Elsa repeated, a little shocked.

"Trust me, Snowflake." Jack said quickly, before turning back to Tooth. Elsa saw North raise his eyebrows at the nickname, and she felt herself blush a little.

"It's important, Tooth. I think this has something to do this Pitch- it has everything to do with Pitch-"

"Pitch? But- but you told me- I thought you guys got rid of him!" blurted Elsa, and she saw the five of them throw her an uneasy glance. Jack broke the awkward silence.

"She has a right to know, you guys." He mumbled and after a second, the four of them nodded.

"Pitch is… Okay so we should start at the beginning. Pitch can't die, because he's an immortal being like us-"

"Wait. You can't die?"

Jack nodded slowly.

"How old are you?" she said suspiciously, and Jack smiled uneasily.

"I'm nineteen," he said.

"How long have you been nineteen?"

"Um…" he muttered, "Can we talk about this later?"

Bunny and North were chuckling in a corner, their eyes swivelling between them.

"ANYWAY," Jack said loudly before Elsa could answer or insist, "A few months ago, Pitch made a come-back and kind of nearly killed us all, tried to take over the world, all that stuff-"

"Jack saved us," Tooth said proudly, ruffling Jack's hair as he blushed a little.

"Couldn't have done it without Jamie," he mumbled. Elsa threw him a questioning glance. "Jamie is the first kid who believed in me. The first mortal who could see me, too. I was completely invisible before." The pained look in his eyes made her heart twinge for him.

What that must have felt like…

"So, yeah, we drove Pitch away, but a few weeks ago, kids in the Southern Isles started having nightmares, and I went to investigate. Elsa, I didn't tell you this before, but the alliance- and maybe that was what Katie was going to tell you- it's bullshit. They're raising an army, and they're going to invade Arendelle. They're just stalling, planning on marrying you-"

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" she gaped at him.

"I didn't know if you'd believe me." he said quietly. "I wanted to show you this place first, so that there wouldn't be a doubt in your mind that I was telling the truth."

"If you'd told me yesterday-"

"You would have believed me? If I'd started throwing conspiracy theories at you, when you barely know me? Hate to break it to you, Snowflake, but you have big trust issues and I had to be sure that you would believe me-"

"Fine," she snapped at him. "But what has this got to do with Pitch?"

"Pitch came to talk to me. He was the one that told me about you. I didn't know you existed earlier, or I would have come to find you sooner." As he said those words, he flew to her, dropping on his feet directly in front of her.

"I swear." he muttered, just for her, and Elsa, though still angry, couldn't help but soften as she believed him.

The moment was broken by Bunny, who coughed forcefully.

"Right," said Jack, "Anyway, I think that Pitch and the Southern Isles have made a deal- Pitch will help them invade Arendelle, and in exchange, they give him… you."

"Me? But why would Pitch want me?"

"We think," intervened Tooth, "that he wants to use you to beat Jack."

Her gaze snapped onto Jack, her eyes widening.

"Oh," she breathed.

"Elsa- if Pitch gets what he wants- right now you, but eventually to terrorize everyone, plunging us into the Dark Ages again-" Jack started.

"You want me to help."

"I want us to help each other." he whispered, and Elsa bit her lip. What choice did she have? If what they were saying was true- and she believed them, surprisingly- then she was in even more trouble than she'd thought she'd been. She needed their help.

She nodded at Jack.

"I'll help you," she said softly.

"We have to go back to Arendelle," Jack said, "Or someone's going to notice you're gone. Pitch doesn't know we have any idea that we've caught on, and we have to use that to our advantage."

She nodded again.

"Tooth, I don't know if Katie was going to tell us something important, but we have to check. It could help us. Will you come with us, take a tooth, and try to extirpate a memory from them?"

"Of course, Jack. Whatever you need," she said, her wings already springing to life behind her back.

"North, Bunny, Sandman-"

"We'll have an eye out for anything suspicious," North finished.

"Sure thing, mate," said Bunny, and Sandy nodded energetically. Jack grinned at them.

"Good. Well, Snowflake," he said, turning to face Elsa again, "time to go."

"It was nice meeting all of you," Elsa told them, advancing towards Jack and rapping her arms around his neck, as he hugged her against him with his right arm.

"Coming Tooth?" called Jack, and Tooth took off, leaving through the window that let the moon in, though it was now gone as the first rays of sunlight seeped through the windows.

"Hold on tight," he whispered to her, and her skin tingled.

Then he launched himself into the air, and they were off, Elsa's mind still spinning from all that she had learned.

But, she thought, as the icy wind hit her once more, she wasn't alone any more.