Chapter Text
The news of the betrothal spread across Europe as fast as horses could gallop and ships could sail. It spread like a trail of fire between lips, slowly growing to encompass entire towns and then countries – the news of the Snow Queen marrying the Spirit of Winter. Soon it would evolve into a story grown into a fairy tale through centuries of facts lost through stories told over fires and lights of candles, but for now it was as real as the mornings that visited the earth.
Many guests left stunned, some angrier than others, but mostly there were congratulations to be found all around as Arendelle's citizens applauded their queen's choice for a husband.
Jack thought that he would be ready for this day after so many years of seeing and never being seen; that when it finally came he would leap and shout and embrace each and every one of the new believers. But he found himself nearly overwhelmed by so many eyes staring at him and not through him that as soon as he could he took Elsa by the hand and led her to an empty room, shutting the door behind them.
He ran a hand through snow-colored locks and breathed in and out deeply as the tender touch of Elsa's hand came upon his shoulder. "I can't believe it," he said in a breathy murmur, "so many believe in me now, that I can't believe it myself."
"It must be a lot to take in, I know," Elsa replied with a soft smile in her voice. Jack turned to look at her, the baby he'd gazed at ponderously as she slept in her crib, the girl who laughed as she slid with her sister across the ice, the woman who laced her fingers through his as they slept together in her bed.
"And it's thanks to you that it happened. I'll never stop being grateful for the day you came to this world," Jack said to her with happiness glittering in his eyes. Elsa chuckled and came forth to embrace him, and they held each other close in the dim light of the room. "You're not the only one who's grateful," she said after a few heartbeats, and she turned to kiss the side of his jaw soft and sweet as a butterfly's wing.
The wedding was arranged two weeks from the ball, and everyone in the castle was busy and bright with anticipation, giving everything yet another thorough polishing from the windows to the floors. The castle was brighter than it had ever been in the past twenty years as everyone laughed and talked with one another like the veil of mourning had finally been lifted from their faces.
Anna, laughably, was more anxious about the wedding than Elsa was as she helped the maids fit Elsa into her wedding gown white like a dove's feather.
"It seems too tight in the middle, Elsa, are you still able to breathe?"
"Yes, Anna, I can breathe just fine," Elsa laughed as the maids moved all about and held up bits of fabric to wrap around Elsa, either shaking or nodding their heads. The queen's energy wasn't anxious as she thought it would be; rather she was more excited than anything else, and underneath that excitement was a calm happiness that warmed her body whenever she spent time around her fiancé or even thought about him.
Jack was radiating with the same excitement as she was and was everywhere in the castle at once, joking with the servants and playing with the children and hunting dogs, drinking in the interactions like he could never quite quench his thirst of them.
The queen remembered walking out to a shaded balcony that overlooked the gardens once, watching the spirit play with the servant's kids by chasing them and being chased. Even from far away she could see a smile on his face bright as the sun overhead as he let the children tackle him into a heap.
"I've got him, I've got him!" One child's bell of a voice echoed in the afternoon, "I've got winter!"
"No, you dolt!" One child yelled in reply, "the queen's the one that got him!"
Those words made the queen laugh harder than she had in weeks, and it made Jack turn his head to where she stood on the balcony looking over the game. His eyes caught hers and twinkled, his face flushed pink from all the running and yelling, and he poked out a hand from where he lay under the pile to wave at her.
She grinned and waved back as the children rolled themselves off their future king and waved too, reaching up as high as their little arms would allow.
"Isn't that right, your highness?" a girl yelled up at her, "Aren't you the one who's got winter?"
Jack stood up and winked at Elsa, making her turn pink as she replied with, "Yes, you can say I have, and in more ways than one!"
Elsa had letters sent to other royals, the first going to her cousin in a kingdom that celebrated the might of the sun. And that cousin was the first to reply with a letter filled with happy congrats and excited words before lapsing into an apology about the unfortunate event concerning the previous king and queen of Arendelle.
'I've written a few times to Princess Anna before,' her cousin wrote in floral cursive, "but I'm not sure you yourself have ever received my letters.' Elsa had never allowed herself to even read them, and the memory clenched her throat with guilt. She finished reading the letter before setting it aside on her desk and then taking up a quill to begin another letter to her cousin.
'From now on,' she thought as her quill wrote elegant, lacy words over the paper, 'I'm going to reply to each and every letter I receive from dear Rapunzel.'
Then the day of the wedding finally arrived, and when Elsa stepped out of her room that morning she found a basket filled with eggs, chocolate and flowers at her feet. Pursing her lips, she bent down to see a letter nestled among the bouquet of lilies, buttercup and azalea; she plucked it and began to read.
'From the Guardians,' the small paper read as such, 'our blessings to the happy couple of winter.'
She looked down and spotted a few odd flowers poking out here and there from the bouquet and she remembered the book of flowers kept in the library. She had a few minutes to herself before the maids arrived to help her into her gown, so she took the basket and crept into the library to take the book from the shelves.
Setting the basket beside her on the couch, she began to thumb through the pages, murmuring to herself, "Azalea…love and romance, 'I will always be true'…buttercup…childishness and cheerfulness…white lilies…innocence…purple lilac…"
"First love," A voice said beside her as she was startled from her book to see Jack sitting beside her with the basket of flowers in his lap. He grinned at her and reached into the basket to hold up a stem of flowers with tiny white petals.
"Baby's breath," He said to her with a voice as soft as the petals, "everlasting love. First and everlasting love."
She parted her lips slightly at him but nothing came out as the book lay forgotten in her lap. Jack leaned forward then, and brushed his lips over hers, bringing the stem of baby's breath to touch her fingers. "Never was there more truth in a bouquet," he whispered against her lips and she closed her eyes at the scent of pine needles.
"There you two are!" Anna's voice reached them full of bubbling mirth. They looked up to see Anna already in own dress, a soft pink hue for the best maid. Kristoff stood beside her wearing yet another shirt with a stiff collar that he refrained from tugging as he smirked at Jack and Elsa from where they sat with rosy cheeks on the couch.
"Ah uh, lover boy, hands to yourself for now," He said to Jack, and then he and Anna reached forward to begin tugging them to their feet. "The wedding's only an hour away, and you two need to be dressed," the princess chirped as Jack and Elsa stood before them with Elsa holding the baby's breath in one slender hand.
She looked down at it before bringing her eyes back to Anna. "Anna, could you bring this basket to Grand Pappy? I would like to use these flowers as the bouquet." Her sister took the basket and baby's breath, grinning brightly all the while as she observed the letter. "A present from the Guardians, hmm? They seem very fresh. They must have brought this basket early in the morning."
"And you were there to take it from them and bring it to my door," Elsa said with her own small smile gracing her lips.
Jack stood at the altar with his heart thumping in his throat, and the stiff collar of the suit he wore wasn't helping in the slightest.
He'd only stood still long enough to let the servants take measurements, and when they held up fabrics for him to pick he took one sweeping gaze over them before reaching out to touch one. The servant looked down to see his choice.
"Cerulean, sir? I'm sure this would be very dashing against your skin tone." But Jack hadn't chosen the color for that reason.
The priest who stood behind the tall wooden podium smiled at him. "It's curious how calm you are," he said to Jack, "Many times before I've seen nervous fidgeting and lip biting from the grooms. You, however, seem very serene for a man who's about to become a king."
The winter spirit grinned back at him and said something he couldn't remember that made the priest chuckle, but on the inside he thought, 'He has no clue about the storm inside of me.'
Then the choir began to sing as the guests stood from their pews and turned to the double doors in the back of the church. First the bridesmaids walked in with the groomsmen at their sides, Anna and Kristoff following behind as the best maid and best man. Anna turned her head to beam at her cousin standing at the end of one of the pews; the other princess smiled back and waved with her husband, a tall man with rich brown hair.
The little flower girl and Olaf the ring bearer followed the line with the girl throwing petals left and right, a huge grin on her face as Olaf held the pillow with just as big a smile on his own snowy features.
Jack looked behind them, and what he saw made the furious pounding in his chest nearly still with awe.
The white fabric of Elsa's gown glowed in the morning sun, and the queen's face was both bright and calm; the only thing betraying her own excitement was the rosy pink of her cheeks, flushed with happiness and making her more beautiful than Jack thought possible.
She held the bouquet of the Guardians to her chest with her right hand while her left hand held Grand Pappy's own gray one, and the two walked down the aisle towards the altar. Jack felt a wave of emotions crash over him at the realization that the most beautiful woman he knew was walking down the aisle towards him, because they were going to be married.
Elsa stood beside him, both of them aching to look at one another as the priest gave the usual speech and the two said their vows with all the sincerity in the world. Jack turned then, and lifted the veil from Elsa's face, and her eyes sparkled into his before they leaned forward to kiss as the roar of applause sounded behind them.
"Thus following the matrimony of her highness Queen Elsa to Jack Frost, the spirit of winter, he shall now be anointed King of Arendelle."
Anna stood sobbing into her flowers beside Kristoff, grinning hard to try to keep from crying himself as the Archbishop came forward with the crown in his hands; Jack got onto his knees and bent forward to feel the weight of it settle on his head.
'This is happening,' Jack thought to himself as he looked down at his praying hands, unable to grasp the reality that seemed so surreal to him, 'This is all truly happening.' He got up and took the orb and scepter presented to him, turning to the sea of faces as the applause started anew. And when he turned to place the orb and scepter back onto the pillow, he shared a look with his new wife that only they knew as they walked together down the aisle to roaring applause and beaming faces.
Jack looked over all the guests and saw towards the back a rather peculiar group of people standing at the end of the last pew, all with broad smiles on their faces. His eyebrows nearly reached his hairline when he recognized who they were.
"Almost skipped it," The blonde man with Bunnymund's voice said smirking to him, "realized at the nick of time that we couldn't miss it for the world."
They got in the carriage that took them back to the castle, followed by the procession and the chant that started low at first then escalated into a chorusing sea of, "Long live the King and Queen, the winter rulers of Arendelle!"
And the world's oldest song was sung that night between lips and bodies and fingers laced tightly together as the next morning shed sunlight's warmth over the soundly sleeping figures. Jack was the first to rouse himself from his slumber, eyes widening at the realization that he had actually fallen asleep in the first place.
"By the Moon," he muttered faintly, wondering what the sleep meant as he hadn't slept in centuries past. He felt Elsa stir in his arms as her cerulean eyes fluttered open and she turned over to smile at him- and then gasp loudly.
"Your eyes," she began, "and your hair! They're brown!"
Both of them sat up quickly as Elsa reached forward to run her fingers through his chestnut locks. "They're beautiful," she murmured as her eyes looked into his, "but does this mean that…?"
He caught a glimpse of himself in Elsa's mirror, and for a moment didn't recognize the man staring back at him. His heart still beat the same, and his spirit was still cold and brilliant; it seemed at first that the only thing that changed about him were his hair and eyes.
"Could it be?" He said in a stunned whisper and turned his gaze back to his wife, who stared at him with wide, flashing eyes. A smile lit itself in his stomach and traveled all the way up to his lips, and he smiled so largely that Elsa began to laugh as she threw herself onto him in a tangle of sheets.
"Jack, you're-!"
And their peals of laughter echoed into the hall and woke the rest of the castle, Anna stirring beside Kristoff and murmuring lazily in her sleep before she shot upright and listened to the laughter with giant eyes. Kristoff though, slept like a rock still and she had to shake him awake.
"Hey you," she said to Kristoff who groaned before sitting upright and yawning loudly before rubbing at his eyes. "Do you hear that?"
" 'Course I do," he replied with curiosity waking his voice. "I wonder what they're laughing about."
Jack and Elsa kissed each other over and over again and hugged tightly as sunlight swathed over them. "I have a life to live now," He said to her between kisses, "a life to spend with you."
"Daddy, can we see your cane again?"
Jack turned to his children from where he sat writing documents at his desk. "That old thing?" He said to his son Polaris with a raised brow. "Go ahead. It's in the wardrobe as usual." Aurora went and dug into the closet before taking out the wooden staff and smiling down at it. She held it like a sword and began to jab at the air.
Polaris, with his dark brown hair and blue eyes, frowned at her. "Hey, I wanna hold it too!" Aurora scoffed at him and held it protectively to her chest. "Oldest gets it first. Hey dad, tell us about the time you used this to defeat the bad man!"
"Not that tale again," came a sigh from the doorway as Elsa walked into the room wearing a soft yellow dress. She pursed her lips at her children. "Don't you have lessons with your cousins?"
"We're already done for the afternoon," Aurora replied with twinkling brown eyes as she held the cane just out of Polaris's reach. "We were wondering if you and dad would like to go swimming with us later."
Elsa laughed at the hopeful look on their faces as Aurora finally let Polaris hold the wooden cane. "As long as the two of you promise not to cause mischief this time. Uncle Kristoff doesn't appreciate having snow dropped into his drawers."
Polaris used his free hand to jab a finger at Aurora. "She was the one who did it." His sister smirked at him, the mischief of her father dancing in her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Yes, but it wasn't hard to convince you to do it to Uncle Eugene."
Remembering the looks on Kristoff's and Eugene's faces that day made Jack burst into chuckles as his wife shook her head, albeit with the tiniest trace of amusement.
"Alright, later then. But first we'll have lunch; go now, your father and I will see you in the dining hall soon." Aurora and Polaris put the staff back into the wardrobe and ran out of the room calling for their cousins. Jack finished signing the last document as Elsa approached him and rested her hands on his shoulders.
"Seems that just yesterday we were helping them to walk," Jack said with memories of their children as babies warming his voice. "Now they run everywhere they go." Elsa's hands left her husband's shoulders as he stood from his desk and turned to her with mirth sparkling in his chocolate eyes.
"They're all bundles of energy at this age," she replied as they walked together out of the room and down the hall bouncing with the laughter of small voices. "I wouldn't trade them for the world." Then her hand reached between them to loop through his and squeeze it, cold fingers spreading warmth into his.
"And neither would I with you."
They stopped in the hallway with sunlight spilling through the tall windows. Jack turned to his wife and bent forward, pressing his lips against hers. All their years of being together never stopped their kisses from being new, each one as special as the last.
"I thank the Moon each night for everything he's given me," He murmured to her once they pulled away, his words tickling her lips.
My queen. My wife. My lover.
My dearest friend.
"Thus the story goes of the two guardians of winter," A mother said to her son as the young boy lay nestled under his covers. Outside the blackened window, snow was falling in slow, dreamy flurries. "It is said that when they lived a mortal life and died together, the Moon took their souls and made them everlasting, so that they could forever look over the children of the world as the Snow Queen and the Winter Spirit."
The mother snapped the book shut and placed it on the night table as the son yawned and cuddled further into his warm bed. "Mom?" he questioned in a voice heavy with sleepiness as his mother bent down to kiss his brow. "Do you think that they're real? Elsa and Jack Frost?"
The woman paused then, and smiled a bit at the boy. "Of course they are, Jamie," she replied before getting up from the bed and walking to the doorway of her son's bedroom. "Who else brings us the snow in the winter time?"
And with those words she flicked off the light switch and closed the door, dimming the boy's room into darkness.
Jamie waited until he heard his mother's footsteps disappear down the stairs; then he shifted out of his covers and stepped onto the floor. With quiet feet he tiptoed towards his window and opened it up, letting the cold air and snowflakes bite his face as he craned his neck out into the night sky. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he murmured ponderously as he looked around at all the other houses like blocks of shadows.
Suddenly a woman's voice reached his ears, softly scolding. "Jamie, you should be in bed right now. Santa won't like it if he sees you looking for him."
Jamie turned to see a beautiful woman with platinum hair sitting idly on the branch of a naked tree, one leg crossed over the other delicately. Next to her was a man with a navy hoodie and hair white like snow, laying with his stomach over the branch as his feet swung lazily in the air.
Jamie sighed a bit before grinning. "I know, I know," he replied, smiling at the guardians. "The stories my mom read to me about him have made me curious though."
The man climbed up to where he sat beside the woman and smirked at the boy. "Your sister's a good little girl who sleeps during Christmas Eve. Why don't you do the same?" Jamie just nodded then and began to close his window. "Goodnight Jack. Goodnight Elsa."
"Goodnight Jamie."
Then the window snapped shut as Jamie climbed back into bed and let sleep take him. Jack stood up on the branch and stretched his arms into the sky, smiling down at his wife. "Kids are always so full of curiosity."
Elsa smiled and nodded in agreement as she took Jack's extended hand. The moon glowed brightly over them as they hopped down from the branch and onto the snow. Hooking their arms together, he turned to her with a wily grin.
"You ready to give other children a white Christmas, my dear lady?"
The Snow Queen's own smile widened as she replied, "Of course, my dear sir."