first day of snow

Arendelle, October 1827

Jack's father used to exhaust people around him with a certain proverb. For fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.

The ten-year-old clutched the hand-picked pebbles with determination, his knuckles blanching at the process. His other hand held a lantern. Jack might have been a lot of things, but he was no fool.

This was a daunting exploit; he would surely relay the details to the Princess later on. But for now, as Jack stood in front of Arendelle's arcane labyrinth, he was breathless with the sight.

His father told no lies with his recounting of the passageways. The courtyard did harbor a door that led to endless tunnels and the ceaseless stairs. Jack now understood his father's tribulations when it came to this place. It was truly a maze.

His eyes became sensitive to the dark, picking up the outlines of stretching corridors surrounding him.

Jack chewed on his bottom lip, his heart spurring ferociously. He wouldn't back down now. He asked a literal princess to find a door that could lead to this courtyard. It was his duty to finish that transaction. He needed to navigate these passageways.

Josephine told him that what he lacked in being meticulous, he made up for in being strong-willed.

Jack closed his eyes and breathed through his nose.

When he opened them, gone was the frightening darkness, only the possibilities of fun prevailed in his vision.

He threw one of the pebbles on the ground, marking his first step to his expedition of Arendelle's underground.

"Here I go."

Pennsylvania, October 2022

"Jack! You're still here?" A voice from behind made Jack's head swing with a brisk turn. Jamie's footsteps clacked on the marble floor as he caught up with the Spirit.

"This might come off as a surprise to everyone, but I do take my job pretty seriously." Jack said, smiling as the kid approached closer. "How was the interview?"

"I think it went well," Jamie said warily, "although she did say it was weird that I put forget-me-knots in my pocket."

"Shit, did I mess it up?" The Winter Spirit stopped in his tracks, unintentionally blocking the kid from taking another step with his staff. Jamie, unfazed with what he called, Jack's third arm, pushed the stick away from his chest.

"Oh no," The vowels fluctuated in his throat, "she actually liked it. Ms. Lightbourne said it's her favorite."

"Ms. Lightbourne? Who's that?"

"Ughh. I don't even want to talk about it–"

Jack chuckled and laid his staff on his shoulder, "But you will–"

"–I was so embarrassed that I had gotten her name wrong!" Jamie's arms flailed as he shook his head swiftly. "The new CEO's name is Elizabeth Lightbourne not Elsa Winters."

The Winter Spirit whistled as his feet began to amble. He had no particular direction in mind, but he did want to see more of what the hotel had to offer. Behind him, Jamie had also started walking again, his loud sigh echoing in the corridor.

"Elizabeth and Elsa, that I understand mixing up, but Lightbourne and Winters? Those are completely different names." Jack tutted playfully.

"I dunno." Jamie shrugged. "Her assistant led me to her office and he told me, 'Ms. Winters is ready for you.' The HR also told me her name was Elsa Winters. But when I went inside her office, her desk plate said Elizabeth Lightbourne and she introduced herself with that. I think Elsa's her nickname."

"Maybe she got married and she started using her husband's last name?"

"Married at 21 in this day and age? I don't know how things went down back in your days, old man, but that's unlikely."

Jamie was right. The priorities of the women of this decade are far from the intensive search of their second half for holy matrimony. Elizabeth was stunning and packed with stacks in her pocket. If Jack was human and in her place, he wouldn't settle too soon either. Also, from Jackson Overland to Jack Frost, who was he to question name changes anyway?

Jamie's jaw unclenched, his mouth opening to say something, but closed it almost immediately. He craned his neck, his eyes somewhere far away.

Jack turned to look back at what piqued Jamie's interest in the middle of their conversation.

"I thought it wasn't supposed to snow for another couple of weeks?" Jamie asked.

The Winter Spirit blinked at the sight of falling snow through the window, dumbfounded. "Yeah, it's not."

What the fuck? He almost twisted his neck to face Jamie as if the kid had the answer to the numerous questions popping in his head.

Was he stressed and anxious as of late? Of course! The kids, the guardianship, the guardians themselves, it was a lot. But it was not something he couldn't handle. Amongst the pressure, he had also been having fun. No way his emotions could have unconsciously manifested what looked like a brewing snowstorm.

"Then why'd you make it snow?" Jamie pointed at the window, his forehead creasing.

"I didn't." Jack declared, his breathing becoming shallow. The spirit flew closer to the window to get a better look. The snowflakes fell hurriedly, and the wind hammered on the big, wide window. He raised his staff and swung it in a brisk motion, expecting the snow to stop falling. Only it didn't. If anything, the snow began descending in abundance.

He always had control over his powers; there were times of emotional outbursts but it never resulted into this. He reckoned that it only started snowing not that long ago, but white sleet was already covering the city.

Jack felt as if his chest was just stepped on. Could this possibly have something to do with what Manny warned them about? A snowstorm beyond his control? This had never happened before, and he couldn't just pull out a book from North's library to solve it either.

No… no, that's not true, Jack thought, this has happened before.

In the year 1840, Arendelle was caught in a snowstorm in the middle of summer. He had been late in that news because he was halfway around the world when he had heard about it. As baffled as Jack was, it seemed to resolve itself, so he didn't think too hard about it. That was his earlier time as the Winter Spirit, so he just shelved it as a glitch in the system. An anomaly of some sort.

Jamie stiffened at Jack's response, "But it's snowing."

"Yeah, Jamie, I got that." Jack sighed as he fixed his gaze to the surging winter wonderland in front of him. He was two centuries old, goddamnit. He should not be having performance issues at this age.

"If it's not you, then what?"

"I don't know."

There was a looming storm threatening to enshroud Pennsylvania with snow; a storm he didn't have any authority to discipline.

This was not good. Fuck, this was definitely not good.

Electronic beats reverberated through the quiet hall, snapping Jack out of his abstraction. Jamie's frantic fingers rummaged through his bag and chimed in several sorries under his breath before fishing his phone out.

"Mom? What's up?" Jamie answered the call, turning slightly away from Jack, his conversation with his mom slowly getting muted from his angle.

As Jamie conversed with his mom through the phone, the Winter Spirit was left with his own thoughts once again, which did not bode well. Spurs of anxious thoughts brought on his own whirlwind of snowstorm in his mind.

"Sophie's really sick and I need to pick her up from school since mom's stuck at work," Jamie announced. He shoved his phone back in his messenger and suddenly let out a coarse groan.

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"I forgot to give Ms. Lightbourne my documents." The nineteen years old sighed as he plucked out papers from his bag, waving it in the air with disdain. "Now I have to run this back before I get Sophie."

"Let me just drop off the papers wherever—"

"Thanks Jack but–"

"Go take care of your sister. Go." Jack snatched the papers out of Jamie's hand and pushed him towards the exit. "Now where do you want me to drop this off?"

"Can you drop it off straight at her office? I don't want her to be reminded that I forgot to give the papers to her. Hopefully she just thinks that my documents were there the whole time?"

"You want to gaslight your boss?" The Winter Spirit's eyebrow raised, his voice a playful tone.

"No! I mean, I don't think so–I just don't want to get in trouble. Here, I'll write the floor and the office room on a piece of paper." Jamie winced.

The kid pulled a notepad from his bag, scribbling speedily. He passed it on to Jack, to which the Guardian chuckled at. Jamie had one of the worst chicken shit handwriting in the world, he was lucky that they didn't take handwriting into account for his position.

"Thank you Jack, I appreciate it!" He scurried to the corner of the hallway.

"Yeah, yeah." Jack muttered, reading the directions and putting the piece of paper inside his pocket.

Neat desk and a spotless office, if Jack didn't know any better, he would have thought it wasn't being used. The only telltale sign of life was the unaccounted specks of dust that would have cluttered the area.

He clicked the window closed as it was the source of his entry.

Onto the papers, he set them down methodically on the desk. The Winter Spirit took a step back to look at his curation and observed, "Perfect! But this looks too pristine for her not to notice."

The doorknob jostled audibly, making Jack flinch in his spot. The Winter Spirit glanced at the door but eventually shook his head. Not like it mattered whether a person was in a room with him or not anyway. He ultimately decided to push the papers out to the floor to make it seem like Jamie dropped it by accident on the way out. The things that he did for this kid was crazy.

"What are you doing here?" someone asked in a tight voice.

Jack's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, was there another person in the room that he missed? He turned to scan the room for other people that this person could be talking to.

"I'm talking to you," the person chided.

The Guardian spun his head toward the door, his eyes wide. He did a double take behind him before choking out, "Me? Uh—Are you talking to me?"

"Who else would I be talking to?"

The Spirit pinched himself to refrain from turning to look for other people in the room once again. He also did it to make sure that whatever was happening was real.

In front of him stood Jamie's boss, Elizabeth Lightbourne, staring at his eyes as if she could see him. Still with perfect posture but now her hair in a loose braid. And wow, her eyes were really blue. And intense. And kind of scary, to be honest. And he could have sworn that she was looking at him!

"Me, right?" the Spirit queried, looking for some reassurance.

A part of him felt petrified at the idea of displaying this childish vulnerability to someone who might not even be able to see him. It wouldn't be the first time he'd talk to someone who didn't hear him but how cruel would this all be if she didn't actually see him.

"Yes, you!"

Well, shit.

"Oh?" was the only thing he could say as he restrained his own lips from breaking out a wide, juvenile smile. But clearly, Elizabeth didn't share the same sentiment with her lips pressed together and her arms crossed.

"This is a private room prohibited to all hotel guests," she declared.

She crossed the threshold and Jack took one step backward without a thought.

"I didn't know that," he lied. "I'm sorry, I'm new here. I've never been in this hotel before so I got lost. I just started opening doors and happened to come across this one."

Elsa's features twisted and he didn't know whether she was about to burst into laughter or reprimand him. He couldn't read the woman for shit.

She let out an exasperated sigh before saying, "Lost? You got lost?"

"This place is humongous, you know?" Jack's eyebrow rose. "It's within the realm of possibility that a poor guy like me can get lost."

He should have held his tongue because she probably knew how enormous this hotel was because she was the fucking president, and it was her familial predecessors who built the place in the first place. Also this was the first time he was able to converse with a human adult and he was making it harder to have a second time.

"Of course, of course," she muttered under her breath. "I apologize for the inappropriate response, I was just taken aback that a stranger was in my office."

"Rightfully so, ma'am."

"Is there anything that I could help you with…" she trailed off, eyeing him expectantly.

"It's Jack," he managed to say, "Jack Frost."

Jack raised his right hand for a shake, his other hand gripping his staff. Oh god, his fucking staff. How could he have forgotten? The Spirit felt the nape of his neck heat up, he didn't even want to think about how goofy he appeared to her.

Elizabeth studied his hand with keen eyes, making him all the while anxious as he stood by for her response. The Spirit would never admit this to anyone, especially to Jamie, but he could be behind at social understanding at times. But he was pretty sure that handshakes were still common and universal, although Jamie's boss was making him question it otherwise.

She peered through her eyelashes, meeting his gaze. She finally met with him by clasping his hand with hers. She shook his hand firmly. He didn't know why he took notice of that specifically at all, but what he had discovered subsequently was far more important than the latter.

Her hand was not warm in the slightest.

The Winter Spirit had held hands with humans before, albeit mostly tiny ones, but he'd also held hands with beings such as himself. He had held Tooth's hand before and she was fairly warm, and he could tell that she felt the distinction in their temperature as well. Jack had petted Bunny before as a part of an elaborate plan to piss him off and he remembered the way Bunny's hair rose a little bit from the cold Jack emitted.

Elizabeth's hand was achromatic, a foreign sensation. Her hand was warm in a sense that it didn't feel feverish to the touch, but it was probably the closest feeling Jack could ever get to coldness.

Geez, how cold is this woman? Jack wondered if Jamie's boss had recently taken a stroll outside. Or if she was a ghost.

"Elizabeth Lightbourne, but Elsa's fine," she introduced herself. "The current president of AO hotel."

A tinge of forlornness dispersed thickly on his chest when Elsa withdrew her hand. To veil his evident testimony of how touch-starved he truly was, he pulled back his hand hastily and put it in his pocket.

"Really?" he feigned his astonishment. "Had I known I was meeting royalty today, I would have worn my Sunday best."

She put her hands behind her back. "You didn't answer my question."

"Honestly?" he started, "I think I would like a tour."

"A tour?" she echoed. Her nose crunched as if she detected some gross stench. "We have a wonderful crew of attendants that carry out group and individual tours. Would you like me to ring them up?"

"No!" he croaked, reaching out to prevent Elsa from approaching the telephone on her desk. He recounted his steps when he became aware of the mere inches separating them. If the sudden advancement disturbed her, she didn't let it show.

Jack ran through his hair with his free hand. He racked his brain to spew out anything that could lengthen their time together. "I mean–I just need to know the way around. I don't need the other attendants."

Aside from the embarrassment that they were bound to feel once she called up the attendants and saw that she was talking to thin air (because he doubted that this would be the day where the general public could magically see him), the Guardian just wanted more time.

It was desperate, he knew that, but he had also been stuck talking to the same circle of friends and co-workers for years now. Almost two centuries of isolation plagued him before that.

Elsa straightened her back more, which Jack didn't even think was possible, and flicked her braid away from her shoulder. "Fine, I'll lead the way."

The most noiseless tour Jack presently attended had him itching to speak. Sneaking glances at the woman next to him, he had to remind himself to breathe over and over regularly. How lucky was he? To find a person that could see him and she was hiding under the walls of this hotel the whole time. He wondered if she would be able to see the other Guardians too.

"I actually came here with a friend."

"Is that so?" she responded in a monotone voice, glancing up to the ceiling.

Jack watched her through his peripheral vision, observing her stature. Elsa had her arms crossed and wore an unreadable face. Her mind was clearly somewhere else but Jack was willing to take whatever social interaction morsel she might toss his way.

"Yup," Jack answered enthusiastically. "I'm not sure if you've met him, Jamie Bennett, but he had an interview here for an internship. I went with him for moral support."

"Yes, I know of him. I conducted his interview earlier." She tucked a loose strand behind her ear. "One-time visit to the hotel then, I presume?"

Hell no. Now that he could talk to someone outside his messy, stressful work, there was no way he was letting this opportunity go.

"Of course not," He shook his head. "I need to try out the chocolate here, I heard it's very delicious."

"It is, it's a family recipe."

They both fell into silence as they walked towards the lounge. The click of her heels filled his ears, reminding him of the fact that he was not wearing shoes, and hoped to god that she didn't notice.

When the quietness settled for too long, Jack decided to take another chance. "So presidency, what is that like?"

"An abundance of paperwork," she replied curtly.

Jack nodded at her, urging her to go on. She sighed before surrendering, "Talking to people who undermine your work, but I love the hotel and I love working for it."

"The hotel, it's a family business, right?" She nodded. "Is this where you always wanted to end up?"

"It's certainly not where I thought I'd end up, but I'm glad I took up the business."

"I don't think I could ever do what you do, the youngest President of a hotel. Do you ever find time for yourself, Ms. Lightbourne?"

"Elsa," she corrected.

"Do you have time for fun, Elsa?" he rephrased.

When Jack looked at her, she was fixated on the loose threaded button on her cuff sleeve. Jack thought she'd never answer until she suddenly yanked the button off her sleeve. She studied the broken button on her palm, looked at him, and said, "No, not really."

Jack tilted his head as she pocketed the button.

They continued to walk, and she asked, "What is your job like?"

"I work with kids and I–basically it's kind of like—" he was about to spit out a bunch of bullshit again because there was no way you can explain Guardianship to a human without sounding insane or creepy. "—So, I'm kind of in a charity program? My co-workers and I travel all over the globe to help children who are in need."

"That's very noble." He could be imagining things, but he saw a soft curve in the corner of Elsa's lips. "That seems like a lot too."

"Nah," Jack almost instantly replied, "I mean sometimes it is, but it's fun and enjoyable. I like working with the kids and every time I see them, it doesn't even feel like work anymore."

"Is this where you wanted to end up?" she echoed.

"Not where I thought I'd be either, but I'm living the dream. I like where I'm at." He smiled.

"You do?" He nodded at her. "Well, where did you think you'd be?"

"I'm not sure," He said honestly. It was the truth, he didn't even remember what life was like then, let alone his hopes and dreams.

At the end of the hallway, an elevator dinged. As the metal slabs opened, two attendants exited out. Their eyes lit up as their gaze landed on their President.

"Joy and Bella," Elsa explained. "They're sweethearts."

Shit.

"Actually Elsa, on second thought, I have to go," Jack hurriedly explained.

He didn't have the heart to tell her that he was technically a ghost to everyone but her. Jack also didn't want her first day to be the day her employees saw her talking to air.

"Oh?"

"Can we just put a raincheck on this?" Fuck, he really didn't want to leave, but his feet were already scurrying towards the nearby stairs.

"I'd rather not," she sighed.

Jack rolled his eyes and yelled out, "Well I do so I'll see you when I see you?"

"If you insist." He managed to make out before he opened the door to the staircase.

Arendelle, October 1827

"Jack?"

"I told you I'd find you!"

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ ˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

LOL im back. i realized im holding the chapters hostage so im releasing them. no beta readers so u know how it is and also if there's inconsistencies, please look past it. thank you. -eve