AUTHOR'S NOTE: And now that we've gotten through the first couple chapters, I can tell you a bit more about this fic, its rating, etc. First off, I'm only allowed to select two categories for Ice Alliance's genre, but you should know that this has a bit of… well, most everything. If I had my way, I would put Friendship/Romance/Humor/Hurt/Comfort/Drama. However, NOT having my way… yeah. Secondly, regarding the rating, there is some very sexual stuff (and also some very dark stuff) in Ice Alliance, but I promise that there is never any profanity, taking of the Lord's name in vain, pre-marital sex, or ANYTHING graphic (I never "show" anything, and I'll give you Content Warnings on the potentially questionable stuff). I make an effort to keep this PG-13. My PERSONAL belief is that the dark stuff is fine, as long as it's being used to demonstrate contrast between good and bad characters. This is my promise to you, as the author!

ALSO: Sometimes, chapters will have TWO Author's Notes, with different dates by each one. This is because I've added some stuff since the chapters were originally posted. Despite the fact that I had started writing in August of 2015 (I know, I know; LATE to the party!), in February of 2016, I felt that I needed to take a Drafting Hiatus, which ended up lasting 16 months, because I suck. In a nutshell: Most of the Author's Notes are original, but if they aren't, I'll post the dates. I'm guessing that nobody's going to care but me, but HEY, I figured I'd throw it out there.

Did I cover everything? Yes? YES. I'll shut up now, and get back to the story. Thank you SO MUCH for getting to the third chapter, and I hope you have a FANTABULOUS day!

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3: SPEAK WORDS

The Youngest Guardian froze, gripping his staff with both hands, his mouth hanging agape as he stared into the two terrified, enormous blue eyes that were suddenly were gazing directly into his own.

Slowly taking his hand off of the shepherd's crook, Jack reached up and ran his fingers through his hair, glancing downwards. Anxiously rubbing the back of his neck, he then shifted on his feet, looking back into her eyes

"Uh…" Jack laughed nervously. "Hi."

CRACK!

The blast of ice shot grazed his cheek, making Jack jump to the side with a yelp. Her eyes wild with fear, the girl's trembling hand was still hanging aloft in the air as she frantically scrambled to sit up.

His eyes bulging, Jack threw up his hands in surrender. "WHOA! I'm sorry!" he stammered, "I didn't think tha—"

CRACK!

"AUGH!"

Her second offensive ice blast had barely missed him again, sending Jack lurching in the other direction and crashing into her nightstand.

"GUARDS!" the girl gasped, eerie blue magic glowing around her hands, "GUAAAAAARDS!"

BANG!

A door crashed open behind him. As Jack desperately struggled to regain his footing, pushing himself up off the nightstand and spinning around, the Guardian leapt into the air just in time to see two heavily-armored men come rushing into the room.

"Your Highness!"

"Take this young man to the dungeon at once!" the girl ordered.

Their jaws set with fury, the guards whirled around to where she was looking, shouldering their rifles. Eyes narrowed with determination, their years of training were about to be tested. And here it was; the chance to put that training to use, to prove themselves, to protect their queen, to—

Look in one direction. And then another.

And back again.

The two men looked around the room, confused expressions sweeping their faces as they tried in vain to locate the apparently invisible intruder. After a few moments, one of them shuffled uncomfortably in his uniform, lowering his gun and glancing to the other. The second gave a tiny shrug, swallowing hard.

They turned to the young woman in the bed again helplessly.

"Um…" One of the guards cleared his throat, looking at the floor. He then nervously looked back to her. "What… man… your majesty?"

The young woman's mouth fell open in shock.

"What do you mean, what man?" she sputtered, "The one that's standing right there, in—!"

Her voice trailed off, and her eyes widened as she looked up.

"In—the air?" she squeaked.

Now hovering above the end of her bed, Jack Frost was gripping his staff so hard his knuckles were white, his gaze locked onto hers in disbelief.

She was staring at him.

The Ice Powers Girl could—see him.

Say something to her.

Jack's heart started pounding, his mind racing as he floated in the air, frozen with shock.

WORDS! SPEAK WORDS TO HER, YOU MORON!

"UM!" Jack blurted.

She jolted again, abruptly sucking in her breath.

"I—uh," Jack shakily tried again, glancing to the guards, and then looking back to the young woman in the bed with a nervous laugh, "I—I don't think they can see me."

The awkward silence fell.

After a few moments, Jack awkwardly cleared his throat, reaching up and running his fingers through his hair. He pulled his feet up underneath his body, assuming a cross-legged position in the air.

"You might as well lie and get rid of them," he said quietly. "Then I can explain."

A look of distrust swept over her face as she glanced to her guards, then back to the young man floating before her over the foot of her bed. After a few moments of hesitation—biting her lip—Jack watched as the young queen let out her breath, the eerie blue light around her hands beginning to fade.

Her eye twitched slightly, and she sank back into the bed, flicking her hand towards the guards. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you," she said carefully, never taking her eyes off of Jack. "I must have had a nightmare. Thank you for the fine work, gentlemen. You are dismissed."

The guards sheepishly turned and, shouldering their guns, walked back across the room. The first pulled back the enormous handle on the thick wooden door, and Jack—still floating—watched as they exited. The door slowly swung shut after them.

Boom.

The click of a lock.

And all was quiet.

Jack slowly looked back to the beautiful young woman in the bed. As soon as the guards had left, she had sat bolt upright again, her hands trembling as she stared.

He gulped.

"Uh…" Jack started again. "Hey."

She said nothing, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

After a few more moments of silence, Jack looked down into his lap, drumming his fingers on the staff. Glancing to her again, he let out a nervous laugh, reaching up and running his fingers through his hair for the third time.

"Soooo," he said slowly. "You—can see me."

Shaking her head, the girl's face drained of color as she pointed to Jack—and then to the door—and then back to Jack, who was still effortlessly hovering in the air above the end of her bed.

"How?" she choked.

Her face went pale, and she closed her mouth again, staring up at him in horror. A new wave of excitement rushed through Jack's body, and he leaned forward.

"You—can see me," Jack repeated, a sheepish grin spreading across his face.

The young woman jolted, snapping back into focus. "Of course I can see you!"

"YOU can SEE ME."

"OH! I'm sorry!" she snapped, "Is this not usually how it goes for you?"

"I—wha?"

"I said, is this not how it usually goes for you?" she sputtered angrily, "Was I just—not supposed to wake up, as you creepily watched me sleep? Or did you just think you were invisible to women, or something?"

Jack's face flushed.

Eh, heh.

"Okay—uh—first of all," he stammered, blushing furiously as the young woman shifted in her covers, "I usually don't watch girls sleep, because that's... weird..."

She said nothing, studying him with a glare.

"And secondly," he started again, "Um—with the invisible to women thing—?"

His voice trailed off. Jack Frost swallowed hard, his face falling as the young queen raised her eyebrows.

"You. Have. No idea," he squeaked miserably.

A look of confusion swept over her face. After a few moments, the girl scoffed, shaking her head.

"How on earth are you doing that?" she demanded.

"Doing what?"

"That!"

He watched in confusion as the young woman frantically gestured from him, and then to the floor, and then back to where he was hovering in the air. Looking down, Jack realized what she meant, uncrossing his legs as a hint of a smile tugged at the edge of his mouth.

"Special set of skills," he breathed.

"Floating in the air skills?!"

"Well—yeah, I—I guess—does it bother you? I could come down," he offered suddenly, "Do you want me to come down?"

"Yes! I mean, NO! WAIT!"

He froze, abruptly pulling his feet up again and looking to her. Now clutching the sheet to her chest, the young queen had spun around, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

"Can you—okay," she said carefully, glancing upwards, "I was just—I was just wondering if you'd noticed the footprints on the ceiling."

Wait, what?

An expression of confusion sweeping over his face, Jack looked up. "There are footprints on the ceiling?"

CRACK!

A flash of light exploded through the room, and he jolted, startling backwards into the air and looking back down. In an instant, the young queen had leapt onto her feet, whirling away from him before he could see anything and circling her arms over head. The Youngest Guardian had looked down again just in time to see the last of the ice erupting out of the young woman's arms, falling softly around her and clinging to her body in a sparkling, pale blue sheet.

Drawing herself up, the young queen then turned back around to face him, now fully-dressed in a shimmering, icy evening gown covered in snowflakes.

Jack's eyes widened.

"Wha—you just—!" he gasped. "Is that—that's ice!?"

The young queen raised her eyebrows, daintily picking up the edge of her skirt as he floated down to the floor.

"Special set of skills," she replied coldly.

Before he could respond, she then whirled around and stomped her foot on the ground.

FWOOSH! As soon as her foot made contact, ice shot out across the carpet in enormous, swirling spirals. The Guardian startled, leaping back in shock. "WHOA!"

She didn't respond, turning and pacing across the room, the pale blue fabric of her icy skirt billowing out behind her as she moved. Jack's mind raced, and, now on the floor, he crouched down, gingerly touching the frozen carpet. She had. Frozen. The carpet.

How was this happening?

After a few moments crouching by the floor in the middle of the bedroom, feeling the now ice-covered ground in shock, the Spirit of Winter shook his head, standing up again and running over to the young woman on the other side of the room.

"You can see me," Jack blurted.

She reached forward to the door, and throwing a thick metal bolt across it and turning around.

Clunk.

"Yes, I think we've established that," she hissed.

"And you can hear me."

"I can."

"S-Sorry, I—I have to be thorough—I—!"

Before she could react, the Guardian of Fun suddenly leapt forward, stepping into her space.

"OW!"

The young woman startled back in shock, clapping her hand over her nose as she thrust her opposite one forward.

FWOOM!

Her defensive snowfront hit into his entire body at once, knocking Jack off his feet and sending him reeling backwards to slam into the floor. Pain shot up his side once again, but this time he hardly noticed, coughing and sputtering as he fought his way out of the sudden snowdrift.

"It worked," Jack gasped, staring up at her in disbelief.

"You BIT me!"

"B-b-but that's never WORKED before!" he stammered desperately, scrambling out of the snow, "I mean, it—I—usually, it just goes through, and—you know—and it's really cold, and people sneeze, and—stuff?"

Stepping out of the drift completely, Jack tucked his staff under his arm, then bending slightly at the waist and using both hands to brush off his pants. Still standing by the door with her hand clapped over her nose, the young woman stared at him in stunned silence.

"And, it's—uh," Jack tried again weakly, "It's—funny?"

His voice trailed off again. The girl was slowly lowering her hand away from her face.

"And that wasn't a bite," he mumbled. "It was a nip."

"What's WRONG with you?!"

"I just needed to check if—"

"I HAVE HAD JUST ABOUT ENOUGH OF—!"

Jack winced as she abruptly cut herself off, snapping her mouth shut just before the last part of the phrase fell off the tip of her tongue. Clenching her fists and then relaxing them, stretching out her fingers, she pulled in a deep breath, exhaling slowly.

Jack felt a wave of horror sweep over him again, and he stuck his free hand in his pocket, awkwardly kicking at the carpet as he did so. Pulling in a deep breath, he then hesitantly looked back up into her face.

"I—I'm sorry," Jack apologized, "If I offended—"

"—No! You're fine!"

Her eyes flew open again. After a fraction of a second, she forced a smile, her cheeks flushing as a few flurries of snow began to materialize out of the air around her.

"Everything is—fine," the young woman said carefully.

Jack's heart skipped a beat.

"I—I really wasn't thinking it'd work," he stammered gratefully, "But I probably shouldn't have done that—just now—"

"It's quite alright."

She whirled around and began to quickly pace across the room towards the corner, giving him a wide berth, the skirt of her icy gown trailing behind her on the carpet. He jumped, quickly following.

"It's all kind of a shock," he continued, "I mean, usually people don't notice, but—like, how can you not notice someone biting your nose, right? And it's not every day that you meet somebody else that has—"

"—AH-AH-AH!" she jolted, spinning back to him.

He froze.

Flicking her fingers towards him, the young woman—her eyes wide with terror—frantically gestured for him to move away. Feeling heat rushing to his face, Jack bit his lip, looking down towards his feet.

"Oh. Um—I—okay."

Jack took a step backwards.

"Uh—better?" he asked hesitantly.

She bit her lip, looking worried. Flicking her hands again, she gestured for him to keep going. Jack took another step back away from her.

"Ah—" she choked.

And another step.

"Aaaaaaah—"

Step. Step. Step. Step. Step.

THUNK.

Jack startled as he bumped into the chair, whirling back around and straightening himself up. Now standing on the complete opposite side of the room, he sighed.

"How about now?"

Her hands trembling as she held them out in front of her in the air, the young woman pulled in a deep breath. "Yep. Uh-huh. Just—just stay over there—RIGHT there," she said carefully.

"I—"

"—DonMove!"

She shot him another quick, forced little smile, and Jack's heart leapt again. She could see him.

SHE. Could—SEE him.

Relaxing slightly, he leaned into his staff, grinning dumbly back as she turned away, still leaving one hand positioned threateningly aloft in his direction and planting her feet on the ice-covered carpet. Oh, man, this was great.

Jack watched, transfixed, as the young woman put her free hand on her hip and looked around the room, finally selecting a corner by an armoire. Gracefully reaching out her arm as the left the first hand aimed at him (clearly keeping him in her peripheral vision), she then carefully paced the perimeter of a large rectangle on the ground, a delicate streamer of frost flying out of her fingertips and falling softly onto the ice, marking the shape.

Reaching the wall, the young woman pulled her hand back, glancing warily in his direction again before looking back and eying her work. She then spun around to face him, dropping both of her arms and clasping her hands together in front of her skirt.

"Would you please come and stand over here for a moment?" she asked sweetly.

"I—uh—yeah," Jack breathed, nodding and walking across the room towards her. "Sure thing, Snowflake."

He stepped obediently over onto the rectangle in the ice as she calmly moved around behind him.

SHOVE.

"GAUGH!"

Jack plummeted forward, the staff flying out of his hand and skittering across the frozen carpet. As his shoulder slammed into the ice, a sharp pain shooting through it again, he struggled to right himself, angrily flipping over to face her.

"HEY!" he snapped, "What the BLIZZARDS is your—"

Propping himself up onto his arms, Jack's voice trailed off.

Now actually on the ground before her, the Guardian's breath caught as he stared up at the Snow Queen, obtaining—for the first time—a truly good look.

A long slit splitting open over one of her slender legs, the fabric of the shimmering, icy gown elegantly rolled down to the floor in front of him, its frosty swirls and patterns gleaming in the moonlight. Skimming over the tops of her rounded hips, the curving lines of the ice dress then eased in onto a tiny waist, the bodice widening out again further up, snow crystals glistening at him through the soft waves of hair that were hanging down over the young woman's chest.

The Spirit of Winter just about swallowed his tongue.

After a few more moments of stunned silence, he gave his head a little shake, snapping back into focus and starting to push himself up again. The Youngest Guardian then looked back into the young woman's eyes, a flirtatious hint of smile twitching out of the side of his mouth.

"Oh—um—hey," Jack stammered hopefully, giving her a weak nod and raising his eyebrows, "Uh—ma'am—wait, HEY!"

FWOOM!

He jolted as she threw her arms into the air, ice erupting out of the ground in front of him and slamming into the ceiling with a sharp creak. Scrambling to his feet and straightening up, Jack Frost suddenly found himself looking out, dumbfounded, through the crystalline bars of a jail cell built of ice.

The young woman lowered her arms, taking a step back from the jail cell as she brushed her hands against each other. Nodding curtly as she eyed her handiwork, she folded her arms over her chest.

"Now, that's more like it," the young woman said coldly. "You're not exactly my first assassination attempt, young man. Although you were the first one that was stupid enough to give yourself away, when you had the chance to kill me."

Jack was speechless as she whirled away from him, walking quickly towards a chair on the other side of the room, the ice dress trailing across the carpet behind her and sparkling in the moonlight. He shook his head vigorously, squeezing his eyes shut, and then opening them again. Opening his mouth to speak, he stepped up to the bars.

"You—you tricked me!" Jack sputtered.

"You broke into the queen's sleeping quarters, in the middle of night, without any guards being able to see you!" she snapped, spinning around to face him. "Translation: This kingdom is no longer safe. Do you really think we're going to just sit down and have a nice conversation over tea?"

Jack bit his lip.

"Uh…" he ventured, "How about hot chocolate?"

"No," she snapped. "And until I find out who you are and what you're up to, you are going to stay in that cell." She smiled coldly again. "Do you understand?"