Note: Hi everybody! I just wanted to tell you that if you see any grammatical errors, let me know. English is actually not my mother language, though I learned it very young, and I really want to improve if there are any problems. And please review the chapter too! Thank you for the kind reviews, and have a great day!
Chapter 13: Everyone Loves the Sleigh
The next morning, Elsa had woken to see Jack hovering over her.
"Wha-" she jumped, startled. "Were you watching me sleep?"
"What?! No! You honestly think I'm that creepy?"
"I don't know, you tell me, you're the one looking down at me," she retorted, sitting up.
"I was checking to see if you were awake," explained Jack, landing on her bedside.
"Why?" she asked curiously. Though it wasn't early in the morning, it definitely wasn't late either, no reason to wake her up.
"I have something to give you," he grinned, "before we go down for breakfast with the others."
"Go down for-"
Then, it hit her. She groaned.
"It's Christmas, isn't it?"
"Wow, Snowflake, I think that was the first time in my very long existence that I heard someone say that with so much displeasure in their voice," laughed Jack, sitting on the bed, a hand in the front pocket of his hoodie, and the other holding his staff.
"Yeah, well," she sighed. "I haven't had the best experience of them."
"Is that so?" he probed, cocking an eyebrow.
"Never mind," she said quickly, getting up and swinging the door of her closet open, "Anna loves Christmas, and I'm not going to ruin the day for her. This is going to be our first Christmas together since my coronation so-"
"It's kind of a big deal," finished Jack quietly. She didn't answer, focusing on the inside of her wardrobe and pulling a dress out at random. Before she could ask him to, he'd turned around.
Elsa hurriedly wriggled herself into the dress, biting down a smile.
"You can turn around," she said, as she concentrated on her mirror, tying her hair into a loose braid. She was wearing a long-sleeved deep red dress, who had for only ornament white-lace snowflakes that surrounded her small cleavage.
"Well before you're going to start stressing out about making this the perfect day for Anna-"
"I'm not stressing out-"
"As I said, I have something to give you."
She turned around to look at him. He'd walked around her bed and was now looking at her, wearing a sheepish smile.
"You mean like a Christmas present?" she asked slowly.
He nodded.
"Jack- I don't have anything for you-"
"That's okay Snowflake," he chuckled, "I kind of made it while you were sleeping, so it's not like I got it beforehand or anything, and you've been kind of busy."
"But so have you, I didn't even think-"
"Elsa," he puffed impatiently, "It's fine, I swear."
And though she wanted to argue that it was definitely not fine, something in Jack's face made her shut up. He pulled his hand out of his front pocket, and Elsa's eyes widened.
From his hand dangled a beautiful, silver necklace.
"Can I fasten it around your neck?" he asked, and she nodded, turning around and lifting her braid. He approached, and Elsa's skin tingled as his hands brushed the base of her nape, attaching the necklace. Elsa looked down, seizing gently the pendant between her fingers.
"Wow," she breathed.
What she'd thought had been silver was actually a cord of ice, so thin and shiny you could easily mistake it for a thread of silver, and a snowflake, so magnificently detailed that it took the breath from her lungs.
"I think this is the result of my eight attempt at doing something that looks more or less decent," Jack said awkwardly, and she turned again to face him.
"Something decent?" she wheezed, in a kind of shaky laugh, "Jack, it's amazing. Look at how you managed to make it out of the perfect amount of ice; and the snowflake, I mean it looks like some parts are just floating around it-"
"You like it then?" he interrupted, grinning.
"If I like it?!" she said, her voice unusually high. "It's beautiful. Thank you."
His white-toothed smile widened, and he ruffled the back of his hair in a terribly adorable way. Her heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly swept a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. Then, before she could change her mind, she gave him a sweet, brief kiss on his cheek. She felt herself blushing, but Jack was looking at her with his eyes laughing.
"If I had one of those each time I gave you a gift, I'd give them more often," he said, laughing. At her stern look, he dropped his grin. "Not that I would expect something in return for the gift- I didn't mean-"
"I sure hope you didn't, because the only thing you'll be getting for the next present is a ball of hard ice in your face."
"Got it. No presents," he said, nodding in mock-seriousness. She turned, hiding her laugh from him, and marched towards the door of her bedroom.
Though she could've sworn Jack had added 'In your dreams' under his breath. She hid her answering smile.
…
Jack opened the double doors of the dining room for her, and bowed dramatically, succeeding in making her snort. He saw the necklace he'd given her glinting around her neck, and he couldn't help but grin again.
The dining room was different than usual; he'd only truly seen it during the meals with the Southern Royals. On those occasions, the huge windows that made up a big part of the wall only revealed darkness and snow. Servants surrounded the tables, and everything was illuminated by candlelight.
Now, however, the pale light of the morning winter sun poured in, and no servants were in the room, whose only occupants were Anna and Kristoff, eating a delicious-looking breakfast. Jack glimpsed fruit juices, eggs, bacon, and toast…
"MERRY CHRISTMAS ELSA!" shouted Anna, jumping up and running towards her sister, jumping in her arms. Elsa laughed as she hugged Anna back. Jack walked over to Kristoff, seated, apparently very engrossed in a letter.
"Merry Christmas, Jack," he said absent-mindedly.
"Thanks, you too," he smiled, observing the tired lines on Kristoff's face. "Rough night?"
"You have no idea," Kristoff looked up, "Olaf was running around the castle at six in the morning screaming that Sven had eaten his nose. Don't tell Anna though, she was sleeping and I'll just get in trouble. God knows that girl could sleep through a tornado."
Jack wasn't sure he wanted to know who Sven was.
"I wasn't talking about that," he grinned, dropping down into a chair next to him, "but if the only thing interesting about your wedding night was Olaf running around-"
"Of course it wasn't the only thing interesting. If you must know, Anna is really-"
"What are you two talking about?" said Anna excitedly as she sat down opposite her husband. Elsa looked at them curiously as she sat next to her sister. Jack was extremely amused to see that Kristoff's face had dramatically paled.
"We- uh- we were talking about-" he stammered pitifully, and Jack pitied him a little.
"-Olaf. About his capacity to have children," Kristoff said, and Jack had no choice but to look as if this was not news to him, while wanting to burst out laughing and ask Kristoff since when was it a good idea to use Olaf's fertility as an excuse.
"You were talking about Olaf's capacity to have children," repeated Elsa slowly.
"Yes, we were," Jack intervened, making an enormous effort to keep his voice steady. "It's a good question, really. If you made a female snowman- a snowwoman, I guess- would they be able to have children?"
Elsa stared at him, completely speechless for a second.
"Olaf is a kid," she said in a horrified voice.
"Oh," Jack said. "Well, that changes things."
"Aren't you supposed to be the guardian of children?"
"Hey, how could I have known Olaf was a kid?!"
"He asked what a sex life was!" she pointed out furiously.
"Right," he said sheepishly.
Before she could retort, however, Anna had the sense to stir the conversation away to a safer subject.
"Olaf's capability to have a kid? Seriously?" he muttered quietly towards Kristoff.
"I panicked," he murmured back.
Jack choked on the orange juice he'd been drinking.
Luckily, Elsa and Anna were too focused on their discussion to notice. Elsa was filling Anna in on what had happened the previous night with Eleanor and Gregory, Anna listening carefully.
"So, Prince whatshisname-"
"Gregory," said Elsa patiently.
"Prince Gregory is in love with Eleanor, who is married to his father."
"Yes, and we- Jack and I- think he could be a potential ally."
"Because he's in love with his stepmother, you think that he'll be on our side," Anna said in a dubious tone.
"It's a little weird if you put it like that, but the truth is she looks at least thirty years younger than the King, if not forty," intervened Jack. "Now I know age is just a number and everything-"
"Um, Jack, you're three hundred years old-" interrupted Elsa.
"You're what now?" questioned Kristoff.
"What she means," Jack said, laughing nervously, "is that I look more mature than my real age. It was a figure of speech."
Before Elsa could say that that was not the case (though she didn't look like she would have said anything more), Jack ploughed on.
"My guess is that they were involved before the King and Eleanor's wedding. Remember what the King said in Katie's memories? 'I know, the situation is getting out of hand with the boy- I thought if I married Eleanor, he would come back to his senses'. That means-"
"How did you even remember that?"
"I have a good memory. Anyway, that means that they were involved before the King married her, to stop their affair."
"But why would he want to stop their affair?" she asked, frowning, more to herself than him. "And that also means that the King knows about their affair since the very beginning, so what I did yesterday in the gardens-"
"What did you do in the gardens?" enquired Anna curiously.
"She covered for them," said Jack, "And what you did yesterday in the gardens was still life-saving. Maybe he knows about the affair, but I don't think he has any proof-"
"And if he had, he could sentence Eleanor to death," finished Elsa. She buried her face in her hands, rubbing her eyes tiredly with her fingers. "He sickens me."
"Really? Personally, I am dying to be his friend. Seems like an interesting guy."
"Shut up, Jack," snapped Elsa, and he immediately did so, though Anna and Kristoff had both snorted in their drinks.
"Elsa, how come you didn't wear an ice dress today?" asked innocently Anna. Elsa rolled her eyes.
"Anna, I told you I would only make them for formal occasions, they're really hard to make-"
"Woah, stop for a second- an ice dress?" asked Jack, bewildered.
"They're really complicated to make," explained Elsa, "They're made of ice fragments that have to be perfectly put together; it's lot of effort, I have to be perfectly precise and picture the whole thing in my head-"
"An actual ICE DRESS?" he laughed gleefully, "Geez, Snowflake, I would pay to see that!"
"She's really sexy in them too," said Anna, giggling, as Elsa shot her a look.
"You bet she is!" he cried out, and Elsa turned to him with her eyebrows raised. "I mean- uh- I'm sure she is seeing as she is sexy without an ice dress-"
"Because you've seen her without a dress?!" squeaked Anna, grinning from ear-to-ear.
"What?! No that's not what I meant- well, I did but-"
"It was an accident!" Elsa said indignantly.
"Stop talking, you'll just make it worse for yourself," indicated Kristoff as Jack opened his mouth before closing it again. Elsa glared at him as an uneasy silence filled the room.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!" yelled someone, breaking the uncomfortable silence, and they all jumped as the doors banged open. They turned to see Olaf running inside, his twig arms outstretched, though still without a nose.
"Merry Christmas Olaf," said Anna, smiling down at the snowman. "What happened to your nose?"
"Sven ate my nose again," he said sadly, and Jack noticed that Anna threw a very dirty look towards Kristoff, who bristled.
"It's not my fault, Anna-"
"Who is Sven?" asked Jack.
"Kristoff's reindeer," explained Elsa, though Jack saw that her cheeks were still tinted by a violently pink colour.
"Who is supposed to have been trained to stop eating Olaf's nose," said Anna sternly.
"He is a reindeer, I can't train him to stop eating carrots-" said Kristoff, with the exasperated tone of someone who'd been through the same argument many times before.
"You're the one who keeps telling me that Sven behaves like a normal human being! I don't know if someone told you, but human beings don't go around eating each other's noses-"
"I told you he acted in many ways like a human being, but if Olaf keeps coming right under his nose with his favorite aliment, of course, he's going to act like a reindeer-"
"What do you suggest, Olaf parading around with a cucumber as a nose?!" Anna snapped.
"That would be interesting," said Elsa, quietly enough so that only Jack would hear. He snorted.
"First morning as a married couple," he muttered back, "This is going well." Elsa's lips twitched.
"Should we go?" she asked.
"I think that for the sake of our survival, we should."
And they left the dining room, unnoticed by Olaf, trying to heave himself onto a chair, and Anna and Kristoff still passionately arguing about wherever or not Sven would still eat Olaf's nose if it was a cucumber.
"For what it's worth," Jack muttered as they exited the room, "I'd love to see you in an ice dress."
He smiled as a blush coloured the Queen's cheeks.
…
"What do you want to do then?" Jack asked as Elsa strode into the courtyard. She'd doubled back to her rooms after breakfast, leaving a very confused Jack following in her wake. He'd waited outside, and she'd emerged from her room covered in a simple black dress with no ornaments, that reached her ankles. It was elegant, but unnoticeable and quite somber. She'd also traded her usual heels for black ballerinas, though you could only see the tip of them under her dress. Her recognizable blond hair was hidden under the hood of a brown cloak.
"And where are you going?" he'd whistled. She'd kept her face down as she'd hurried along the corridors of the castle, finally emerging in the courtyard.
She still hadn't lowered her hood, glancing uneasily in different directions.
"Snowflake, seriously, where are we going?" he asked again, watching her as she passed the big chapel where Anna and Kristoff had been wed the previous day and turned another corner. Jack saw that there was another chapel, much smaller, behind the bigger one. She pushed open the doors of the building and walked inside.
The small body Jack recognized as Katie's lied on a kind of white slab. She was dressed in a white dress, blue flowers against her chest, where her hands were joined. Around her body were scattered more blue flowers, and around the slab, bent on their knees, were two girls, sobbing as they held each other.
They looked up as the doors slammed closed behind Elsa, and Jack saw the young queen tense, as she lowered her hood. There were no jewels on her, no tiara or crown, no distinctive sign of wealth on her, but the two girls recognized her instantly.
"Your Majesty," one of them gasped, as they both hurriedly rose from the floor, and bowed their heads in respect.
"No, please," Elsa said softly, walking towards them, her steps oddly silent compared to the usual sounds her heels made.
"Could I ask your names?" she asked tentatively. The two girls glanced at each other, surprise crossing their tear-streaked faces.
"Isabel and Mary, Queen Elsa," they said quietly.
"Just Elsa, please," she murmured as her eyes swiveled to Katie's form. "Were you friends of Katie's?"
"Yes, your- Elsa," said the one called Isabel. She had brown hair and chestnut eyes, and the one called Mary had raven hair and a slightly darker shade of eye-colour.
"I'm so sorry to interrupt you," said Elsa. "I know you'd rather be alone, and rightly so-"
"Not at all, your Majesty- I mean, Elsa. It's just- well, we're surprised-"
"That I came?" said Elsa, smiling softly. "That I'd pay attention to when Katie's funeral was?"
The girls exchanged a look, as Jack sat on one of the benches, watching quietly. He'd had no idea that Elsa had still been involved in Katie's funeral, and he wanted to hit himself. Of course, he had noticed that she'd seemed to get over Katie's death, though she still stayed well away from the library…
But apparently, she was more invested in this than he'd thought- and he should have expected nothing less from her. This was exactly the sort of thing she'd do, and Jack couldn't help but feel his heart beat a little faster for her.
"Without meaning any disrespect, Elsa… what are you doing here?" asked quietly Mary, and Elsa's gaze switched back to the girls. Their eyes were still red, Jack noticed. The one named Isabel had her hand around Katie's limp one, holding it tightly in her own as she watched her queen.
"I wanted to pay my respects to Katie," said Elsa slowly. "And I wanted to talk to you," she added. The girls were looking more and more curious.
"As you know, Katie's death was not an accident," Elsa murmured, so quietly that the girls had to lean in to hear her. "She was murdered, and I know by who."
"She was murdered in your place, wasn't she?" said the one called Mary, the barest trace of reproach in her voice. If Elsa noticed it, she didn't show it.
"No, she wasn't." Elsa paused, then, "What am I about to tell you must remain a secret."
Jack looked uneasily around them, watching to see if anyone was listening in. Though the chapel looked empty, Jack couldn't rid himself of the feeling of being watched.
"Elsa," he said softly, lurching through the air and stopping behind her, muttering in her ear, "It's not safe to tell them here."
She nodded imperceptibly.
"I cannot tell you here what I know, it is not safe. Know that I want Katie to have justice, but I need your help. I have to be frank with you- this will be dangerous. And it must stay an absolute secret."
"Of course, your Majesty," curtsied Isabel, whilst Mary was looking at Elsa warily.
"Do you know the pub near the harbor? Queens Arms?"
They both nodded.
"Meet me there tomorrow night," said Elsa. "I'll be waiting for you with my sister, her husband… and, hopefully, a few other people. Do you understand?"
"Yes, your Majesty," said Isabel. Elsa grasped both of their hands in each of her own.
"I am truly sorry for your loss," she said quietly.
"Katie was loyal to you, my Queen, and so are we," said Isabel, bowing her head, and throwing a sharp glance at Mary, who grudgingly did the same. Elsa squeezed their hands and pulled the hood back over her head. Without another word, she walked out of the chapel, leaving the two servants stunned in her wake.
…
Eleanor gasped as another slap stunned her. Her eyes watered as she lifted her hand to her cheek. She gulped, forcing the lump in her throat that threatened tears down. She looked up and met defiantly the furious gaze of her husband in her own.
"Tell me what you told Queen Elsa last night!" roared the King. "Tell me, and I'll stop hitting you!"
"Don't pretend you don't like it!" she snarled in his face. He seized her wrist and pushed her backward, slamming her back against a chest of drawers. She couldn't hold back the whimper of pain that escaped her lips, though she hated herself for it.
"Trust me, dearie," he snarled back, his wrinkled face inches from her own, "I do. But you're going to tell me exactly what you told your little queenie friend yesterday."
"I didn't tell her anything!"
"Don't take me for a fool. Queen Elsa hates all of us, and there you all were, a little too friendly."
"You're just a paranoid old man," she said, her tone simmering with hate. She cried out again as he twisted her wrist.
"Paranoid, am I? Tell me, girl, before I make you scream loud enough to make your lover come running."
"I- don't- know- what- you're- talking- about," she gasped, her teeth clenched.
"If my son came now, what would he do, do you think?" the King muttered in her ear, and she shivered. She clenched her mouth shut.
"He'd throw me off you, wouldn't he?" he laughed. "That is grounds for execution, my darling, did you know that?"
She struggled in his grasp, but his hold only tightened.
"What kind of treacherous son," the King was saying, "Fucks his father's wife, I ask you?"
She still didn't answer, averting her gaze from the King's, staring stubbornly at a spot on the wall.
"Do you know that I asked him to come today? To talk about our next move on Arendelle," said the King nastily, "He'll be here in ten minutes, and do you know what he'll find?"
She sensed what was coming, and started kicking and thrashing to get away from her husband. It was no use though, as the King just pressed her against the chest of drawers, and Eleanor felt his body pressed against her own through the silk of her dress.
"He'll find me buried inside you, darling, with you screaming and begging me for me to stop- and what do you think will happen then?" he paused dramatically, his eyes glinting evilly. Eleanor's throat had gone dry. "He'll try to kill me, darling, but he'll fail- and then, I will execute both."
There was another pause as the King let his words sink in.
Then… she spat in his face.
He roared in anger, and pushed her on the bed, his hands grasping at her corset and her dress, lifting her skirts as she screamed and kicked. He unbuttoned his trousers, pulling them down. She kicked again, and this time her feet hit his groin. He groaned in pain, and his grip on her slacked just a bit- but it was what she'd been waiting for. She kicked her knee into his stomach and pushed him off her. She ran out of the room, slamming the doors opened as she ran and ran, turning in the corridors completely at random. She could hear his shouts of rage, telling her to come back, but she didn't stop. She knew it was no use, that there was no escape, but she wasn't trying to leave; just to not let Gregory see her like this, her dress ripped and her hair tangled around her face, her bare arms revealing half a dozen enormous dark purple, green and nasty yellow bruises on her arms. Because this, she knew, would make him kill the King. And whether he succeeded or not wouldn't matter, as in both cases he'd be executed for treason.
And she'd rather be raped a million times more, suffer more badly than she'd already had than let that happen.
She slammed into someone, and for a terrorizing second, she thought that it was the King- but then she saw that she'd ran into a small young woman with red hair, blue-green eyes, and a freckled covered face.
"Princess Anna," she gasped, "I'm so sorry-"
The princess seemed to be recovering from the shock of having a half-naked girl slam into her. Distantly, they could hear the King's roars.
"FIND HER! I WANT HER FOUND!"
Anna looked down at her appearance, and Eleanor didn't dare imagine what she was thinking. Then, she seemed to make a decision as she grabbed her around the shoulders.
"Please- please don't bring me back-"
"I wasn't going to," Anna muttered. She ushered Eleanor in the opposite direction from where the screams were coming from, up a winding staircase, and pushed open a door that led, Eleanor assumed, to her bedroom.
Anna led her to an armchair that stood before a roaring fire and made her sit down, before going to fetch a warm blanket on her bed and wrapping it around Eleanor's shoulders.
"They won't come looking for you here," she said, throwing an uneasy look at the door. "You're safe."
"But-"
"I promise you, you have my sister's protection," Anna said, hurrying into a bathroom, and came rushing out again, though Eleanor heard the distant roar that water made when it was filling a bathtub.
"The Queen?"
"You're going to wash, take any trace of him off you," said Anna quickly, taking Eleanor's trembling hand in hers. "I'm going to lend you a dress."
"Why are you doing this?" she asked quietly.
"I'm doing what every girl and woman in the world would do," she murmured. Eleanor snorted.
"You'd be surprised how many would turn a blind eye," she said.
"Yes, well, I'm not one of them. Go wash, while I lead them off."
…
Elsa entered the castle again, Jack walking- for once- beside her.
"What was that about?" he asked as she mounted the staircase.
"The Southern Isles don't know I suspect anything," she whispered quietly, looking around to see if anyone was around as she mounted briskly the grand staircase. "And I'm not just going to wait around for their army to get here."
"And how was befriending those two girls useful?"
"I need spies," she continued quickly. "Servants are invisible, that's their job. I need them."
"Fine, but if you plan on overthrowing the Southern Isles with two servants-"
"You'd be surprised," she interrupted. "But I know I need an army. My army is not loyal to me, but to Counsellor Archimedes."
"That's perfect," Jack said ironically, "Just what we need, a misogynistic, sadistic old man in our way."
"Even if I found a way around it, which I plan to do, we don't have enough men."
Though her words seemed depressed, something in Elsa's tone made Jack throw her a look.
"But you've got a plan, don't you Snowflake?"
She smiled.
"Of course I have a plan," she said, "I'm Queen."
"Well then, your Majesty, would you mind explaining what that plan is?"
They turned into a corridor.
"I need to speak to my cousin," said Elsa, "And bring my sister with me."
"Your cousin?" he asked curiously.
"Princess Rapunzel of Corona," Elsa explained. "And I need to see her tonight. The only problem is, it's too risky to send a letter, and you can't fly Anna and me over there at the same time."
"Don't worry about that," grinned Jack, "I've got just the thing."
"I knew you would," she said, stopping in the corridor to smile at him. His heart skipped a beat. Before he could answer, however, shrieks echoed down the corridor.
"I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR OTHER DUTIES!"
The King barged in from the other end of the corridor, screaming at guards around them.
"I AM THE KING-"
"Not here, you're not," said Elsa calmly, and the King halted right in front of her as if he hadn't seen her before. His face was red and he was heaving. "I don't know who you think you are, screaming at my guards-"
"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR FUSSING, WOMAN!" he bellowed, and Jack hissed furiously.
"Let me hit him, please," he begged, shaking with rage, but she threw him a look that he interpreted this to mean, I can handle this myself.
"May I ask what's got you so angry-" she said, in a maddeningly calm tone that made Jack want to scream at her that this was really not the time to be diplomatic.
"MY WIFE IS MISSING!"
"She is, is she?" said Jack. "Wouldn't surprise me if she'd ran away you disgusting piece of scum-"
"Well there is no reason to be that angry, I'm sure we'll find her." interrupted Elsa. Though her tone did nothing to calm the King.
"I AM DONE BEING DIPLOMATIC WITH YOU, GIRL!" he roared. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
"No," she said firmly, staring determinedly up at his face. Jack couldn't help but admire that she didn't as much as take a step away from him.
"I SAID- MOVE!"
Jack saw as if in slow-motion his hand raise, and knew what was coming- he was going to hit her, and with a blow with that much force Elsa would crumple to the ground-
But before he could as much as raise his staff, the King was thrown backwards against the wall, and spikes of ice erupted from the ground at his feet, imprisoning him and lifting him off the ground, pinning him to the wall; one of the spikes' tip stopped millimetres away from his throat. It had happened so quickly that everyone present, the guards and Jack, was stunned. Jack laughed in awe as Elsa walked towards him, her eyes flashing with anger underneath her guards' shocked and fearful gazes.
"And I said no," she said, her voice trembling with rage as she beheld him. "If you ever presume to hit me ever again, I will personally kill you without a second thought, your Majesty." she spat in a disgusted tone. "Now," she continued, regaining a semblance of composure, "I guess you'll have to stay pinned to the wall until the ice melts because I am sure as hell not melting that ice, and forbid all my personnel to help you."
The guards bowed and left, each one with a smug expression on his face.
"Good day," she said as if she was merely ending a pleasant conversation, and walked away, ignoring the King's angry shouts behind her.
"That was amazing!" whooped Jack. "You are one badass queen."
"Thank you," she said gracefully, and Jack noticed that she had completely changed directions.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"I am going to find Eleanor. She's missing, but I have a pretty good idea to where she could be."
"And I am what? Going to play with Olaf?"
"No, actually. I was hoping you could go and find the thing that can bring Anna and I to Corona tonight."
"Fine," Jack grumbled. "I'll go."
"Thanks," she said, and Jack saw that they had reached Anna's door.
"You think Eleanor is in Anna's room?" he gaped.
"If I know my sister as well as I think I do, then yes, I think she's in Anna's room."
She looked pointedly at him.
"Right," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm going, though I think it's very cruel of you to make me miss all the fun-"
She chuckled as Jack opened a window and looked back at her.
"See you tonight, Snowflake," he said.
"Hurry Jack," she answered. He winked and leaped out of the window.
…
Pitch appeared in Hans' room again, to find him staring out at the window.
"Thinking about your princess again?" he asked with a smirk, and the prince jumped around.
"Oh. It's you," he said. Pitch bristled at the tone, but didn't say anything. He would punish this little prince soon enough for his insolence.
For now, however, he needed him.
"Five children are in the courtyard," said Hans, "thinking that they're going to join my army."
"Good," said Pitch, "I'll take them later. I wanted to talk to you first."
"What is it?" Hans said sharply, turning back to the window.
"The time has come for your army to start their progress towards Arendelle."
Hans didn't reveal a sign of surprise or protest, just simple curiosity.
"Why now?" he asked.
"We must strike before the Ice Queen knows too much about what is going to happen."
"What makes you think that she knows anything about what's going on here?"
Pitch laughed.
"Trust me, she does."
Hans sighed, and turned to look at Pitch again.
"Fine. My army will set out in a week's time."
"Earlier," snapped Pitch. "Do you want your princess or not?"
Hans didn't answer, and Pitch turned, striding towards the door. Before pulling them open however, he turned back to the prince, who had gone back to gazing out the window.
"Do us all a favor and go out, Prince. You'll go mad, staying in the dark locked in your room all the time."
He left, the doors slamming behind him.
…
It was past noon when Jack finally entered North's fortress. He flew through the corridors until he erupted in the Globe Room. An enormous fire was burning in the fireplace as he landed on the red carpet. He looked for a minute at the illuminated Globe, and located the light that represented Jamie with a pang. He missed the little boy that had first believed in him terribly. Sometimes, he wanted to go to America just for the pleasure of seeing him again, but he'd had other duties after being made a Guardian, and of course, they weren't supposed to show themselves to children all the time. But he planned to give Jamie a visit soon, preferably before he stopped believing in Jack. He often wondered if Jamie would believe in him once he would be an adult.
"Jack? What are you doing here?" echoed North's voice across the room. He turned to see a tired-looking Santa, with deep purple rings under his eyes.
"Rough night?" he asked, walking towards him.
"Do you know how many gifts I give in one night?" North snapped.
"Well, you're going to have another rough night- we need your help."
"Is that so?" said North, crossing his arms over his chest.
"We need your sleigh, to go to a kingdom named Corona," said Jack.
"Jack," sighed North, "you know we don't involve ourselves in wars."
"This war is against Pitch, North," he said in a low voice, "And that is our war."
"Can I speak frankly, Jack?" asked North, as he sank into one of the armchairs by the fire. Sure he wasn't going to like what was coming, he joined him by the fire.
"Don't let me stop you," he grumbled as he sank into an armchair opposite from North. He was staring into the flames, with the distant air of someone who was remembering something.
"I fell in love, once," he said after a pause, and Jack leaned in to listen. North never talked about his past- none of the Guardians truly did. This was their life now, no use of reminiscing about their past. "A long time ago. I'd been a Guardian for less than a century, and she was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen, in my opinion. She could see me; I don't know how or why, maybe I was one of the legends that her people believed in."
"What was her name?" asked Jack.
"Anita." North was still staring into the flames, an odd gleam in his eyes. "I fell in love with her. She saved me. In every way a person can be saved."
"What happened?"
"The problem with love, Jack, is it can become a weapon, that people use against you," he said louder as if he was pulling himself away from a long-lost dream. "Pitch took her. I went to save her, without a thought for the other Guardians. He nearly killed us all. When we stopped him, he murdered Anita to get back at me."
"He what?!"
"The truth is, we are immortal. Love is irrelevant to people like us, a privilege that we do not share with the rest. Be careful of love, Jack. It only leads to more sorrow and scars."
"I am not going to war for Elsa," Jack said slowly. "I am going to war against Pitch."
North gazed at him, knowing very well Jack was trying to convince himself as much as him. He stood up, pressing his hands to his thighs.
"And for the record," Jack added quietly. "I think you're wrong about love."
"I thought so too," said North sadly. He then turned to the elves and ordered them to bring his cloak.
"Very well, Jack Frost," he boomed, turning back to the Spirit of Winter. "Tell me where you want to go."
…
Hours had passed since Elsa had entered Anna's room to find that Eleanor was indeed inside it. The sun had already begun to set, and Eleanor had spent the afternoon curled in an armchair, gazing at the dancing flames, seeming oblivious to Elsa's presence. Kristoff had joined them in the middle of the afternoon, and was now dozing in the second armchair; Anna and Elsa were lying on the bed, talking quietly about what they would say to Rapunzel when they saw her tonight.
"I honestly can't wait to see her," squealed Anna for what seemed like the hundredth time. Elsa smiled weakly. The truth was that though she needed Rapunzel's help, she couldn't wait to see her cousin either. Rapunzel and Elsa were exactly the same age, but they couldn't have been more different. Though they'd only met her for the first time three and a half years ago, they'd instantly bonded, and they all loved each other deeply, despite Rapunzel's disappearance for their whole childhood.
"Jack will be back soon," she muttered.
"How are we getting there?"
"I honestly don't know," Elsa remarked. She sat up, checking that Eleanor had still not moved.
"You should go and talk to her," Anna murmured. Elsa looked back at her, as if to say 'I actually have no idea what to say,' and Anna pushed her towards Eleanor. Elsa gazed at the queen, and carefully approached her. She showed no sign that she noticed Elsa. Elsa crouched in front of her, just as she'd done before Katie, what seemed like a lifetime ago.
"Eleanor?" she called tentatively. The Queen slowly turned her head to look in Elsa's eyes.
"Do you want me to go back?" she croaked.
"No," Elsa said reassuringly. "No, I don't want you to go back." The Queen breathed in relief, closing her eyes.
"Gregory must be so worried. Could you tell him I'm alright?"
"Of course. I'll tell him."
"Thank you," she said quietly, "For yesterday."
"Yes, well, I didn't have much of a choice," smiled Elsa.
"That's what your sister keeps saying. That helping me isn't a choice."
Elsa didn't know what to answer to that, so she only waited for Eleanor to continue.
"You do, though. In my country- nobody helped me. And they saw what the King was doing to me."
"If you want to seek diplomatic refuge, I'll grant it to you. You'll be protected in Arendelle, and your husband could do nothing to hurt you here."
Eleanor didn't answer, and Elsa saw that she'd gone back to staring at the flames. She was so pitiful, wrapped in her blanket, with an air of such anguish around her, that Elsa felt a spark of anger and protectiveness. She looked down at her arms, revealed by the short-sleeved nightgown she was wearing. This girl had endured hell, and though now she was so vulnerable it hurt to see her like this, Elsa thought she was probably the strongest person she'd ever met.
A tap on the window distracted her from the Queen. She stood up and walked to it, swinging it open.
Behind it was Jack, grinning.
"I bet you missed me so much you cried all afternoon," he said, and Elsa smiled back.
"I have to admit, it wasn't as fun as usual," she said, leaning forwards. "So, how are we going to get to Corona?"
"I've gone ahead to warn you. North's going to take us-"
"North?' asked Anna from behind Elsa.
"Santa Claus," explained Elsa.
"Santa Claus exists?!"
"Yes," said Jack. "Anyway, he's taking us on his sleigh-"
"Wait, what?" Elsa said, pushing herself up from the window. "You're kidding?"
"No, actually-"
"Are you telling me that we're going to cross the continent on a flying sleigh pulled by reindeers?"
"Awesome," said Anna, jumping up and down.
"There is no way," Elsa groaned. Jack was grinning more broadly than before.
"I knew you'd love the idea, Snowflake."
Just then, there was a swishing sound, and Elsa backed away hurriedly from the window. Anna, on the contrary, leaped in front of the window, struggling to see.
"Anna, get away from there!" she ordered, but her sister did no such thing.
"Elsa!" she squealed, "Elsa, you have to see this!"
Elsa edged carefully closer to the window, and her eyes widened as she beheld the sight. Parked, literally parked in mid-air, was an enormous red, rickety sleigh. It was amazing; it had huge skis attached to it, where wheels usually would have been, and it had a few rows of wooden benches, that elevated as they went on. On each side of the sleigh was something that looked like wooden wings, and at the front of it was what looked like a miniature of the Globe Elsa had seen when she'd visited the Pole. Her breath was literally taken away. She gaped.
Anna had already jumped in Jack's arms, who had gently put her down on the sleigh.
"One ride, but that's it," she said, and Jack grinned again as he flew to her, picking her up and flying to the sleigh.
"Everyone loves the sleigh," laughed North, and Jack and him shared a chuckle.
"Buckle up!" boomed North, and Elsa looked around.
"Where are the seatbelts?" she shouted above the wind, honestly starting to panic now.
"Ha! That was just expression, your Majesty," rumbled North. "Are we ready?"
Jack soared in, sitting down next to Elsa. Before she could answer, North had whipped the reindeer's reins, and then they were off, gathering speed and going higher and higher, her hair now whipping around her face.
"Oh no," she muttered, "Oh please no no no no-"
"Hey, Snowflake!"
She dared open her eyes and turn around to see Jack suspending himself from the sleigh's back.
"Check out this view!"
Then, suddenly, the wind blew him off the sleigh's back and Elsa screamed.
"JACK!" she yelled, as, trembling, she looked over the side of the sleigh. The bastard was perched on one of the sleigh's rudders, smirking up at her, the wind ruffling his hair. He joined her again, next to her, and she slapped his chest, hard.
"Why the hell did you do that to me, you bloody bastard!" she screamed over the wind, and Jack roared with laughter at her insults.
"Careful, some would think you'd lost your manners-"
At that precise moment, the sleigh gave a huge lurch and Elsa was thrown into Jack, who caught her. She twisted her face into his sweatshirt.
"I want to get off- I want it to stop-"
Then, suddenly, it did. They'd stopped in front of a window, and Elsa saw that she was directly in front of her cousin's bedroom. She could see Rapunzel's spiked, short brown hair. She was painting, as if that was a surprise.
Jack waved his staff, and the window sprang open. He took Elsa by the waist and deposited her in the room, and a second later Anna was at her side too.
Elsa coughed, and Rapunzel turned. She started in surprise.
"Elsa? Anna? What are you two doing here?"
"Hi, Punzel," said Elsa.