AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, I don't think I did as well as I wanted to, but BAM, ATTEMPT NUMBER ONE AT THE GRE [science] SUBJECT TEST IS DONE, AND I DID BETTER THAN I EXPECTED! I've been studying for about a year and a half for that sucker, and now, I know more of what I need to focus on between now and October's exam. Sorry I didn't get anything posted sooner! Also, action is—difficult—to write. I hope this came off okay. Let me know in the reviews, and thanks again for reading! I love you all, and I hope yer havin a spectacular day!

CONTENT WARNING: Sexual innuendo, hooray!

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25: A BLIZZARD IN THE LIBRARY (AKA, The Obligatory Snowball Fight Chapter)

Jack let out a sharp bark of laughter, watching the enormous ball of sparkling ice particles forming over Elsa's head. He grinned, raising a single eyebrow at her flirtatiously. "You're really into the ginormous snowball thing, aren't you?"

"Oh, I am so sorry," she retorted, sweeping more layers of frost onto its surface and holding it up. "Not creative enough?"

"Naw. It's just funny," he chuckled, tossing his much smaller snowball in his hand. "You've got a signature snowball fight technique. But, of course, that opens you up to attacks like—well, like this."

He wheeled around and flung his sparkling snowball at her shoulder. She let out a little shriek and leapt to the side as it grazed her, but then slipped on the ice, falling into the snowdrift behind. As she jerked her hands down to catch herself, she let go of her enormous snowball, and it dropped on top of her, crushing her into the snow again.

Struggling out of the snowdrift and yanking her skirt back into place, Elsa gasped for breath, stumbling onto her feet and looking back to Jack. He was laughing, crouching on top of his staff.

"And that," he chuckled, "Is the downside of having a signature move."

Elsa rolled her eyes, brushing a few stray flurries off of her skirt and shaking her head. "So, I need to think of something more original?" she asked.

He raised his eyebrows, forming another snowball in his hand. "Never underestimate the element of surprise."

"Like this?"

A sly smile twitched out of the side of Elsa's mouth, and she daintily swept her left hand forward in his direction.

But nothing seemed to happen.

A look of confusion swept across Jack's face as he readjusted himself on the staff.

"Like wha—AUGH!"

Elsa giggled as the end of his staff slipped on the tiny patch of ice that she'd formed underneath it. Jack fell down, crashing into the table. She gasped, running forward.

"Are you okay?"

Jack laughed, righting himself and snatching up the staff. "Relax, Snowflake. I'm fine."

"I—I w-wasn't trying to make you fall," she stammered frantically, "I'm sorry."

"Not as sorry as you're going to be," he said slyly.

Before she could respond, Jack suddenly leapt forward, scooping her up and shooting into the air. Elsa squeaked in shock, gasping and throwing her arms around his neck as they rocketed upwards, and in a few moments, the Spirit of Winter was gently setting her down on the high-up edge of one of the enormous bookshelves, almost touching the vaulted ceiling.

"JACK!" she choked as he pulled his arms away, "What are—why did—!"

Elsa's voice trailed off, and she scooted backwards, bumping into the spines of the books behind her. Jack instinctively leapt forward to catch her, letting out a nervous laugh and backing away in the air as she steadied herself by the books.

"Oh," he shrugged, "Just figured it was a good place to put you. For safe keeping."

"Safe keeping?!"

"The way I see it," he said matter-of-factly, drawing himself up in the air, "The typical snowball fight is won by determining what player hits the others the most times."

Elsa shifted her hips on the shelf. "Yes. So?"

"Well, don't you think that's too easy?" he laughed. "I mean—come on, Snowflake. We can do better than that."

"What did you have in mind?"

Jack Frost shrugged again, blowing a clump of white hair out of his face. Flipping the staff over his wrist, he then sat down on it in the air, looking to Elsa mischievously.

"How about—let's see," he mused, "Either—first one to get hit three times, or to be completely covered in snow?"

She raised her eyebrows. "You would drop a snowdrift on me?!"

"Of course not, m'lady."

He grinned wryly, snatching the staff out from underneath himself and flying forward to her in the air. Elsa raised her eyebrows as he picked up her hand, bringing it to his lips.

"I would drop you into it," Jack said.

Elsa jerked her hand away. "You're such a gentleman," she scoffed.

"I know." Jack grinned again, backing up in the air with a shrug. "Which is why I'm going to let you lose gracefully."

Elsa's mouth fell open as he laughed, flipping backwards into the air and tumbling towards the ground. Jolting to a stop, a few rogue snowflakes dancing around him from the sudden gust of wind, Elsa watched as Jack Frost swung the shepherd's crook beneath his feet, a blanket of sparkling snow materializing out of the air behind it and falling softly towards the ground.

"Why are you so sure I'm going to lose?" Elsa called out to him from the ledge.

He paused. Spinning back around to face her in the air, Jack looked to Elsa flirtatiously.

"Because I've got a reputation to keep up, ma'am," he teased, darting up to her in the air again and stopping in front of the ledge. "Snowball-fight-wise, I will have you know that I am currently undefeated."

"As am I."

"You could just give up now. Save time," he chuckled, shooting upwards again. "I'm the Spirit of Winter, sweetheart!"

As her mouth fell open again, he laughed, spinning around in the air and shooting up into the skylight. Her heart skipping a beat as she watched him swing the shepherd's crook over his head, an indoor stormcloud whirling into existence over the glass, Elsa bit the edge of her lip. Looking back down and narrowing her eyes in concentration, she swept her hands out in front of her, a long, fluffy slope of frost materializing from the ledge and rolling towards the floor.

Whoosh!

A hint of a smirk on her mouth, she looked back up to the boy in the skylight.

"And I'm the Snow Queen!"

CREAK!

The slide froze as Elsa pushed herself off the ledge, plummeting down the slick ice in a gust of wind. Turning around to the ledge to respond, Jack startled, his mouth falling open in shock as he saw the slide, and Elsa getting up off the ground at the bottom of it.

Elsa gasped and scrambled onto her feet, hiking her skirt up to her knees and taking off into a run.

A gust of icy wind tore past her, and Elsa gasped as he suddenly dropped out of the air in front of her onto the carpet. Jack laughed, holding out his arms to catch her, and she skidded to a stop, backing up a pace and whirling around to run in the other direction. Yanking her capelet out of the way, Elsa had hardly made it three steps before there was another gust of wind, and Jack Frost was tumbling down in front of her again, raising an eyebrow mischievously.

Elsa smiled in embarrassment, letting out her breath and sheepishly walking towards him. Jack grinned slyly, tossing his staff into his other hand.

"Surrendering already, your highness?" he teased. "I would have expected more of a queen."

She let out a nervous laugh, fidgeting with her fingers as she felt blood rushing to her face. Opening her mouth to respond, the Snow Queen looked down to realize that Jack was holding his staff loosely in his hand, only watching her face.

Drawing herself back up, Elsa then suddenly clasped her hands behind her back and walked up to him. As she stood up on her tiptoes and leaned over his narrow shoulder, she heard the Spirit of Winter's breath catch, his entire body going rigid.

"You're right," Elsa whispered into his ear, restraining from a laugh as she slowly began to reach down towards his hand. "You should have expected more of a queen."

Elsa suddenly snatched the staff out of his hand, spinning around and taking off into a run.

"HEY!"

Elsa giggled as Jack sprinted after her between the towering bookcases. After a few moments, she looked back, her eyes widening as she realized that he was only about ten feet away.

And gaining.

She gasped, turning back and hiking up her skirt a little farther with her free hand, pushing herself to go faster as Jack reached forward and tried to grasp at the flapping end of her capelet, struggling to catch it as it billowed after her through the air. Elsa abruptly skidded across the carpet, turning down into one of the long aisles between the shelves. As she did so, she looked back and realized that Jack was right behind her again.

She gasped, whipping back around and running harder, and—

YANK!

Elsa squeaked in shock as the staff went flying out of her hand, sailing across the carpet. Pulling in a quick gasp for breath, she tried to run again, only to feel herself be jerked back by her capelet.

"HA!" Jack laughed as she stumbled, forcing her to slow almost to a stop. "CAUGHT you, Snowflake!"

Her heart pounding, Elsa abruptly spun around, pulling her fingers over the capelet.

Shhhhhhhink! It instantly disintegrated along the line that she'd drawn, and she gave a little jump, shaking the last of it from her dress. She then whipped around continued running as the icy fabric billowed back through the air straight into Jack's face. He yelped in surprise, and she laughed as she whipped around again, tearing down a path through a different aisle of shelves.

Zing!

Elsa felt the chill of a snowball rushing past her shoulder. She shrieked, leaping to the side and spinning around again, shooting a messy clump of ice at him. He laughed, falling forward into a roll on the floor as it sailed over his body, then scrambling to his feet and taking off after her again.

Elsa broke out of the shelves, rounding the edge of the bookcase and sprinting forward into the open part of the room with the table again. Another clump of slush zinged past her ear, this time on the other side, and she jumped back from it with a squeak, spinning back to face him. He was grinning triumphantly, his staff in his hand once again. He flipped forward in the air, laughing and easily dodging her poorly-aimed shower of ice particles. Elsa ducked as he threw an enormous snowball at her, which went sailing over her head, and she threw her hands out in front of her, countering with another stream of ice. Jack jumped into the air, barely missing the blast as it flew past him, hitting the wall of books. He then ran forward on the table, leaping off of it onto the floor and slamming his staff on the ground.

FOOM!

A thick cloud of snow billowed back through the room, engulfing everything in sight.

The cold wind of the instant blizzard in the library rushed through Elsa's dress and blew back her braid as the snow swirled and danced through the air, finally leaving them in a haze as it began to settle onto the books and shelves. Elsa rushed forward, hiking up her skirt and crawling onto the table, throwing her arms in front of her. She could build herself a fort before the haze cleared. Or, at least, she could get a good head start.

She ran up her new stairs from off the table, the fluffy snow hardening in clear ice as she ascended, her arms in front of her, eyes narrowed with concentration. She felt so—light. It was wonderful.

It was fun.

She finally reached the top of the enormous bookcase by the Family Law legal records, and swirled her right arm in a circle, creating a frosty disc stretching out from the shelf. As she stepped down onto it with her bare foot, it hardened as well, and she rushed forward onto it, hastily pulling up walls around its edges and further securing the platform to the shelving behind it. She was now 25 feet up in the air, her tiny ice structure stretching out from the bookcase over Jack's enormous snowdrift, surrounding her with thick, short walls, built of ice.

Gasping for breath, Elsa crouched down, bracing herself as she peered out of her icy fort. The snow was settled now from his blinding cloud of frost, but Jack was nowhere to be seen.

Poised and ready, Elsa kept one eyeball on the floor of the library, silently swirling a snowball into existence with her left hand. She put it down, and then swirled another, placing it beside the first. Before he came back, she could probably make a fairly decent pile of ammunition.

Surprise? She thought, giggling softly. Oh, Jack Frost, you don't even know the MEANING of the word, until you've seen my—

"—Bit of advice, your highness," a voice suddenly chuckled behind her. "Next time you're battling an enemy that can fly, you might want to build your fort with a roof."

Elsa whipped around and screamed.

As Jack leapt forward, she lunged to the side, knocking his staff out of his hand again. He caught the wall before he hit it, pushing himself back up as she scrambled to her feet, and before Elsa could react, he grabbed her arm, playfully spinning her around. She whipped back to face him, giggling and struggling as he laughed, scuffling on the ice by the short wall.

Reaching back and grasping the wall's edge, Elsa suddenly twisted out of his grasp, flinging her arm back towards him and blasting him back in a wall of snow. As Jack lost his footing, crying out in shock as he was knocked back onto the icy floor, she leapt up and shoved herself away from the wall, running leaping onto the stair railing with a laugh and sliding to the ground of the library.

Sliding off the end and stumbling onto her feet again, Elsa ran forward, rounding the corner of the first bookshelf and whipping into the aisle behind it, her mind racing. Jack was too fast. And just as powerful as she was. And she was losing energy. The only way to potentially beat him was to distract him, and if she could distract him, then—

The idea hitting her all at once as she reached the end of the aisle, Elsa sucked in her breath, spinning around. Planting her feet, she looked up and down the long stretch of carpet, biting her lip in concentration as she decided on the design.

"DANGIT, SNOWFLAKE!" Jack's voice was suddenly laughing as she threw her arms into the air, "YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM ME AGAIN! I KNOW I SAW YOU RUN BACK—UH—"

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE.

His voice was drained out as dozens of walls of solid ice erupted out of the carpet, shooting up towards the ceiling in-between the towering bookshelves in twists and turns and curves, his view of her blocked by a gigantic, crystalline maze.

The walls of ice slammed into the top of the library with a resounding boom.

Pressing herself against the nearest wall, Elsa looked up to see a fine cloud of sparkling frost billowing out from the rafters above her as a blanket of silence fell over the Royal Records Collection once again. After a few moments passed, she heard the sound of Jack Frost's voice echoing from somewhere within the icy maze.

"Now, where did you go?" he muttered.

Elsa jumped, spinning around. Carefully bending down and picking up the edge of her skirt, she pulled in her breath, silently running around one of the icy walls and away from the sound.

"You can't hide from me forever, Snowflake!" Jack's voice teased again. "I mean… come on. We both know that you're gonna miss me…"

Elsa restrained from a laugh, silently rolling her eyes. Oh, Jack. Oh, snarky, ridiculous Jack...

Pressing herself against the bookshelf behind the wall of ice, she cupped her left hand in front of herself at waist level, silently swirling her right hand over it. A perfect snowball materialized in her grasp, and she tossed it to herself, feeling its weight.

"Come onnnnnn, Snowflake… don't I at least get a hint?"

He was getting closer.

Elsa's heart started pounding, and she held her breath, biting down hard on her lip and determinately fighting against the fit of giggles building up in her chest. A snowball fight. How long at it been, since she'd had a snowball fight? Too long. It wasn't exactly a regal feeling, or a sophisticated one, but—but maybe it didn't have to be. Here, hiding behind a wall of ice, holding her snowball at the ready, she didn't feel like the Queen. She felt—what was this feeling?

It was like the way she used to feel with Anna, before she realized that Anna could get hurt. And while she was still being careful not to hurt Jack, just knowing that it was less likely, just knowing that she didn't have to restrain all the time, that he could match her strength, that she could just release, and let it go, and have fun, and—!

An expression of wonder crept over the Snow Queen's face as she slowly looked down to the snowball in her hand.

So this was joy.

"THERE you are!"

Elsa shrieked in shock, whipping around and flinging her snowball as Jack suddenly leapt forward at her by the wall of ice. As it flew past him, making him jump to the side, she picked up the edge of her skirt and ran.

The cold wind rushing past her as she sprinted down the aisle between the towering bookshelves, running through her labyrinth of ice walls, Elsa could feel the air ripping at what was left of her capelet, the rush filling her soul again. Joy. It was—joy?

Rounding another corner, Elsa looked up to feel a the cold wind sweep past her. Flurries of snow upon it, it was then suddenly gathering, condensing an enormous, soft snowbank at the end of the aisle in front of her, the pile materializing out of the air and blocking off the end of her path. It—was he—!

Elsa spun around and gasped.

The air knocked from her lungs, she was suddenly flying backwards as Jack tackled her, sending them both crashing into the enormous snowdrift. She let out a giggle of shock and started to roll to the side, but before she could do so, he leapt forward and grabbed the edge of her capelet, yanking her back. She squeaked in protest as she fell, struggling to sit up again, and Jack laughed triumphantly, catching her wrists and slamming her back down into the snow.

"GOTCHA!"

Her heart pounding, Elsa's eyes widened as she stared up at him, her chest quickly rising up and down as she gasped for breath. Pinning her down, Jack swung his leg over her, laughing and laughing again as…

His voice trailed off.

Still holding her down in the snow, Elsa watched as Jack's eyes flickered down to her dress, his mouth falling slightly open in shock. After a few moments, he shifted on his knee, his cheeks flushing.

He looked back up into her eyes.

"Uh…" Jack breathed. "Hey."

Elsa's heart leapt into her throat.

"H-hello," she quavered.

He smiled sheepishly, readjusting his grip on her wrists and shifting on his knee again. Gazing down at her, the Spirit of Winter's eyes went glassy, his usually piercing gaze softening as he held her down in the snow.

Elsa shakily pulled in her breath.

"Um… Jack?" she squeaked.

He jolted slightly, his eyes snapping into focus. Then, his expression shifted back again, a half-vacant, dreamy smile spreading across his features.

"Yeah?" he whispered.

Elsa glanced down. She then pulled in another breath, nervously looking back up into his face.

"You're on top of me."

"Oh!"

Jack jumped, abruptly releasing Elsa's wrists and scrambling off her legs. Leaping onto his feet, he spun around to help her up, blushing furiously and letting out a self-conscious laugh. "Right—sorry—!"

Elsa took his outstretched hand, letting him help pull her onto her feet. As soon as she stood up, she began to sink back into the soft snow, and Jack laughed nervously again, reaching out his foot and flicking the powder with his toe. It hardened instantly into ice, and Elsa stepped up onto the solid stair, daintily picking up the edge of her dress and walking out onto what was now the last remaining exposed clump of carpet.

As she pulled her hand back out of Jack's, he dropped his arm to his side, stepping away from her. Straightening her dress, she turned to face him.

"That magic of yours really is something," Elsa laughed breathlessly. "I—I haven't really just let everything go like that since—ever."

"Magic?" Jack asked.

A wave of confusion swept over her face. "Well—yeah!" she stammered, "When—when you hit me with some fun magic at the beginning. The first snowball. Right?"

"Elsa, I didn't put any magic into that snowball."

Her eyes widened.

"You—you didn't?" Elsa breathed.

He shook his head, sticking his hands into his front pocket. "Not a bit," Jack laughed, walking towards her. "I just made it sparkle a bit, so you'd think that I did. That was all you, Snowflake."

Elsa's mouth fell open in shock. As blood rushed to her face, Jack stepped up to her, laughing good-naturedly at her expression.

"You. Like. Having. Fun," he enunciated, brushing a hair out of her face as she looked up. "Now—if you'll excuse me—I kind of need to go find my staff."