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Chapter Text

Heavy metal shackles entrapped her hands, connected to two long iron chains that jangled with every tug, every pull and every heave.

Imprisoned. Trapped. Chained.

Her freedom stolen away by he who plagued her, by he who she had once dared called friend.

Was this the only option he had seen acceptable? The only means he could construct in order to fulfil his twisted, delusional fantasy that they could be together? That they could live happily ever after?

He was mad. He had lost his reason and sense somewhere along the line. At which point, she couldn't pick out, but he had certainly lost it. Gone was the carefree mischievous spirit she had once held dear to her heart, with his charming quips and banter, friendly demeanour and caring, selfless soul.

Now all that remained was a warped monster who went beyond any recognition.

"Please, Jack," Elsa pleaded softly, her voice strong and unwavering. "Let. Me. Go!"

A light chuckle echoed through the prison cell, a ghostly shadow of a laughter that had once chimed a beautifully melody of happiness within her. Now all it did was send a shiver of fear down her spine.

"Oh Elsa," a disembodied voice sighed, almost lovingly, "I gave you that option, but you didn't take it. We could have been together in such a happier sense. It truly does pain me to see you having to be chained up like this. If you had just chosen to be with me, then things would be so much easier on you."

"Clearly I never had the option," Elsa quipped bitterly, rattling her chains with a vicious tug to emphasise her point. "It was an illusion. You were never going to let me choose whether or not I wanted to be with you!"

"It shouldn't have to be a choice!" Jack's voice snapped heatedly. "You shouldn't have to think about! You should have just-"

"Just what?" Elsa cut in like a blade of ice. "Just be with you? What if that isn't what I wanted? What if I had other plans? What if I don't lov-"

A blast of icy winds swept through the cell, coating the walls and floors in twirling spirals of frosty tendrils. The window, which allowed a breath of unearthly glow from the moon's rays inside the dark cell, rapidly froze over, slowly causing long, finger-like cracks to appear on the glass. The room was significantly duller now, the protective light from the crescent moon now dimmer with the ice blocking its path.

Elsa took a steady breath to ease her nerves as she placed on a masquerade of calm. She could not show fear to this being. She could not! She would not!

Slowly, her eyes blinked, and when they reopened there he stood before her. Cold and menacing, a dark, empty smirk upon his lips.

"If you don't what?"

It wasn't so much a question as it was a challenge. His tone was provoking, daring her to finish her sentence. But what ill fate would befall her should she answer him?

"You know what I'm going to say," Elsa said quietly.

She refused to look at him. Instead her eyes trained on the dozen or so icy tendrils pacing their way across the ground towards her. Teasingly, the tendrils curled in on themselves just as they reached her, but she knew that in a flicker of second they would be on her, should she provoke the wrong reaction from Jack.

"No actually, I don't think I do," Jack tsked with a quirk of his eyebrow.

He wanted her to say it? She didn't want to say those words! The stars above only knew what reaction it would cause. Nonchalance? Laughter? Sadness? Hurt? Pain? Anger? Fury?

Once she had been able to read him.

She could tell what playful methods would entice a gentle smile that would bring out the dimples on his face. She knew the stories and woos that would slice open old cuts and scars. She knew what things annoyed him, things that she would forever tease him about.

Those things, however, were all things that she had known, but now…she knew nothing about the stranger before her.

No longer was she aware of just what this strange spirit was capable of anymore.

What had happened to him to make him so different? What had whisked away the joyful mirth of life from his eyes? What had tarnished and corrupted her precious friend with such hatred and cruelness, filling him with nothing but spite, jealousy, selfishness and coldness?

"Why don't you tell me? Go on, Elsa. Finish what you started," Jack's said, a low growl at the back of his throat.

Elsa felt a quiver of fear tremble down her core. Why? Why did he have to make her say it? She knew he wouldn't relent until she said it.

"What if…. what if I don't want to be with you…. because I don't love you?"

Jack's eyes darkened for a fleeting breath, his blue orbs as light as sun reflecting on ice glossing over to become a dark, deep glacier blue. He smiled, lowering his head as a joyless chuckle escaped him. Slowly, he took a step forward, and another, and another. Gradually he made his way to stand but inches away from her.

Elsa had backed away at his approach, and now found her back pushed up against the icy wall. She stared up at him, her eyes determined to show nothing of the fear that she felt swirling inside her.

"'If,'" he repeated her words softly, leaning forward, his cold breath falling onto her face.

Elsa blinked, startled by his nearness. The Queen tried to look anywhere but him. Jack saw this and shook his head, his thumb and index finger capturing Elsa's chin and forcing her to look into his eyes.

"'Why 'if?' Why not just outright say that you don't love me?" Jack asked.

When no answer came, a small, victorious twitch of his upper lip occurred. "It's because you can't, can you? It's because that would be a lie. And one thing you certainly are not is a liar, Elsa."

Elsa frowned as she let out a shaky breath. "I don't love you."

Jack scowled at this, looking away with a heated glare. "Like I said. You aren't a liar and even if you were you would make a terrible one at that. Now, how about telling me the truth?"

Elsa bit back a vicious growl. Oh how she hated him at that very moment. He had locked her up in her own prison, refused to let her go and every night would come simply to torment and taunt her!

Where was the real Jack? The Jack she knew and cared for?

The Jack that she loved.

Wherever he was, if he even existed anymore, he wasn't here. Not standing in front of her. Whoever this monster was, he was certainly not him.

This ghoulish lookalike couldn't be her Guardian. Her Guardian would never strip her of her freedom. Her Guardian had vowed to protect her from all the nightmarish evils of the world. Her Guardian cherished her, was devoted to her, and respected her choices.

He would never resort to this.

Her Guardian loved her.

If this man truly was her dearly beloved winter spirit then he would let her go!

"Please Jack, just let me go," Elsa whispered, her eyes starring pleadingly into his. "If you love me then you have to. You cannot keep me here forever!"

"Oh, I beg to differ," Jack said lowly, a dangerous edge to his voice. He was angry, that much she could tell. Her refusal to admit to loving him grinding on his last nerve.

Elsa felt the icy tendrils touch her skin, slowly coiling around her ankle and making their way up her leg.

"Jack this has gone far enough!" Elsa shouted, her patience wearing thin.

She was sick of this!

Every day was the same routine. He would come. He would tease her. He would tempt her with offers of an elusive, false freedom. He would try and get her to confess her love to him, try and make her accept him as her lover. He would get angry at her refusal. He would try to intimidate her. And as always he would leave her in the darkness, saying the same words he always said as he left.

The mind games that he played were taking their toll and now more than ever Elsa just wanted them to stop! She wanted to curl up in a corner and escape this living nightmare!

But even when she did get the rare chance of being brave enough to fall into slumber, Jack's new acquaintance, Pitch Black, made sure that even her sweetest of dreams eroded away into fearful dreams of terror and dread.

There was no escape.

Not in the waking world or the one of dreams.

She was trapped.

Now… and seemingly forever.

But if that was the case then she refused to go down without a fight! She would not cave and make this easy for him! She would fight back with every ounce of strength she had left! If he was hell-bent on making her life a misery for rejecting him then she would give him twice as much pain and misery as he had the courtesy to bestow upon her!

"I did love you! But that was before you became like this!" Elsa yelled, her voice strained with pent-up pain and sorrow.

"If you loved me then why did you reject me!?" Jack roared, another blast of ice whipping wildly through the cell.

"Because we couldn't be together even if we wanted to!" Elsa cried angrily, tears stinging at the corner of her eyes. "It would have been a fruitless love! What good could ever have come from it? Tell me, Jack! You're a spirit! I'm human! The Guardians forbid it. If we had entered any form of courtship then you would have been expelled from the Guardians. You wouldn't have been able to bring joy and fun to the children's lives!"

"I don't care about-!"

"Now who is the liar?" Elsa hissed. "You do care! Do not even try to lie to me about that! Despite whatever demon has overtaken you I know that deep down you do still care for the children! I know that there is still apart of you that wants to bring fun into their lives and in this cruel world that we live in, heavens only knows they need it."

For a second, Elsa swore she saw the spark of his former self flash by in those cold, dark eyes.

"They need you back, Jack," Elsa said gently, moving a step forward. "I need you back."

Jack looked as though he was ready to say something, but no words came out. He seemed shaken, conflicted even, as though there was a battle raging inside him. Perhaps the old Jack Frost was still in there somewhere, fighting with all his might to come back?

The metal handcuffs chaining Elsa's hands suddenly fell off, crashing to the ground with a loud clatter.

Carefully, Jack took her hands in his, entwining their fingers. He pulled their joined hands close to his chest, above where his heart was, his head leaning forward to rest against hers.

"Elsa… I'm…" he tried to say, his voice so much more gentle than she had heard in such a long time. He sounded like the Jack she had once knew. Gentle, caring and tender.

A small light of hope alighted in her eyes.

"Yes, Jack?" she asked, biting her lower lip, afraid to hope.

'Please be my Jack! Oh please be back,' Elsa whispered inwardly to herself, praying with all her being that he had returned to her, that the monster was finally suppressed.

A harsh breath rushed out of Jack and with a growl he let go of her hands. He turned away, clutching at his head. "Enough of this!"

Snow formed and began stirring through the air again, gathering speed and violence with every passing second. The large flurries clashed against the wall, sending snow crashing through the air in all directions.

"Jack!" Elsa shouted over the howling winds.

"Oh, enough of this!" Jack growled and turned to Elsa, his face contorted in anger. "This is who I am! I'm the same Jack that you fell in love with so why can't you just accept that? If you love me then just say it and we can be together, happily! It wouldn't have to be like this!"

"You aren't the same person anymore, Jack!" Elsa shouted, a hand clutched against her heart. "You changed!"

And a horrible part of Elsa felt that she was responsible. That Jack's dark change and submission to the darkness was her doing. He had confessed to her by the light of the stars his love for her, asked that she be with him… and she had rejected him.

She was being realistic. He had a role to perform and so did she. They had responsibilities and other obligations. They couldn't just throw all that away and ride off into the sun set.

Life wasn't that easy.

No matter how much they wished it to be so.

So, as much as it went against everything she yearned for, she outright rejected him. Painfully hoping that his feelings for her would wither away and that it would make things easier for him when she did pass on in many decades to come.

But it didn't turn out like that.

Broken hearted, wallowing in sorrow and pain, Jack had been left vulnerable. As a result of this, Pitch Black was able to get to The Guardian of Fun. The Nightmare King took advantage of the Jack's vulnerable state and infected his mind, corrupting it with dark thoughts, poisonous hope and empty promises.

"I haven't!" Jack insisted. "I'm the same man that you fell in love with! Why can't you see it!?"

"The Jack I know wouldn't do this to me!" Elsa snapped harshly, gesturing to her prison.

He was beyond delusional if he couldn't see just how much he had changed! Jack would never do this to her! He would never hurt her!

"This is the only way we can be together, Elsa!" Jack whispered, his voice falling quieter as the storm around them slowly died down. "Can't you see that? You won't accept me, so until you do then this is the only way."

Elsa stared at him in utter astonishment. "You're insane."

Jack went silent for a few moments, contemplating her words.

"Possibly," he agreed with a shrug.

"But I suppose that's what happens when you're in love," he finished with a smile.

Elsa shook her head, a single tear slipping past her defenses and trickling down her cheek.

"No," she muttered.

"'No' what?" Jack frowned.

"This," she began, lifting her hands to gesture to the prison cell once more. "This isn't love. Love is putting someone else's needs before your own."

"I do love you! This is why I'm doing this," Jack snapped agitatedly, appalled that she would even consider that he didn't love her. He headed for her again, stopping a foot away. "This is all for you! So we can be together!"

He leaned forward, wiping away the single tear on her cheek with a caress of his thumb.

Elsa scowled, slapping away his hand.

"No!" Elsa objected. "This… this isn't what I want! And I know that this isn't what you want either! I'll tell you precisely what I want and it's to be free, Jack. I have a kingdom to run. My people need me; my sister needs me, just like the children of the world need you!"

Jack muttered a curse under his breath. "Stubborn as ever I see."

He moved away from her, heading towards the iron barred door. Elsa knew he was leaving, effectively ending their argument until tomorrow when the cycle would begin again, as it always did at sunset.

"Wait, Jack! Come back!" Elsa shouted.

She didn't want this to end yet, not when she had caught a glimpse of the old Jack. He was still in there somewhere and she feared that if Jack left now her old Jack would be lost forever.

"Please!"

Jack paused at the door, leaning against it with his arms crossed. "I'll be back tomorrow. Perhaps a few more days in here and you'll finally see sense."

"I won't stay here forever Jack, let that be clear," Elsa said as he turned around to leave. The strength in her voice, however, caused him to halt mid-step, his back facing her. "I will escape. I've done it before and I'll do it again. And this time you will not catch me, never again!"

Jack chuckled, looking heavenwards. "You'll never get away from me again, Elsa."

And then he spoke the words that always sent an uneasy throb of pain through her chest. Words that made her look away from him in disgust as they always showed the true depths in which he had gone spiraling down into darkness. It allowed her to see the twisted dream he had concocted for them, his delusional fantasy.

"We can live happily ever after, like a fairy tale," he smiled, glancing over his shoulders to capture one last fond glimpse of his beloved.

After that, he left, closing the door behind him.

Elsa looked to her hands, the metal cuffs having appeared back on her hands. She yanked them with all her power, letting out an angry grunt.

But it was useless.

They weren't the same cuffs that her people had once locked her up in. These seemed to be different. Enchanted, perhaps. Unlike the first time, she couldn't just use her powers to break free from them.

Jack had covered all his bases, making it seemingly impossible to escape.

Elsa was trapped, stuck in Jack's warped reality. He wanted them to be together and it appeared that this was the only way he saw possible of making that fantasy real.

So for now, until she found a way out, Elsa would have to endure his attempts to woo her. She would have to sleep through the nightmares and stay strong through the living hell he was putting her through.

Longingly, Elsa looked out the window, the ice thawing enough for her to see the pale moon above in the twilight sky.

One day, she prayed, she would be free again.

Chapter Text

A sharp, prolonged pain pierced Jack's chest. It was like a vicious serpent of thorns coiling around his heart, squeezing tighter and tighter with every second that he gazed at her.

Unbeknownst to Elsa, Jack was watching her through the barred window at the top of her cell door. He could not help but scowl as her gaze shifted to the window high above her, the longing on her face as clear as the moon in the night sky. She would look out there for hours, wistful and full of dispair. It infuratied him. 

He knew what she was thinking, what she always thought. She was still clinging onto the misguided belief that what she needed, what she wanted, was freedom. But freedom from what? She could get her freedom from the cell if only she came to her senses and accepted him!

Deep down, unsettling and ratteling thoughts echoed in his head, sowing a seed of tormented rage in his chest. He dared not say it out loud, but apart of him knew, that it was he who she wanted liberty from.

With a harsh breath, he stormed off down the corridor. With every step he took away from her, he felt a tug at his soul to return to her. He yearned to see her again, even for the faintest moment. He could have returned if he wanted to. It would be easy just to go back and catch a glimpse of her through the iron bars. But what good would it do? It was never enough. It could never quench the thirst he had for her.

He wanted more than to just bask in her perfection.

He wanted to hold her in his arms, run his fingers through her golden locks and flood her ears with whispers of everything he found endearing and cherishable about her - to wash away any doubt that she was anything but flawless. He wanted tell her how her compassion and kindness captivated him, how her strength gave him confidence, and that her very presence filled his spirit with a sense of belonging and contentment. He wanted to let her know that she completed him, that she was all this and more. 

He just… he just wanted to be with her.

Was that really so much to ask of her? Was that so wrong? To allow him the privilege of lavishing her with the adoration and affection that she deserved? To treat her as the true Queen that she was?

He would give her everything she wanted and more, and in doing so that would grant him all that he wanted. 

They were meant to be togethere. Destiny had entwined their fates. The red string forever binding them to one another. To fight against it was pointless. They were fated to be with one another, now and forever.

If Elsa would just stop fighting him at every turn, then he could show her this, make her see reason. He could wipe away all doubt, lift the fogs that had clouded her reason. He could prove to her that they were meant for each other, that no other would suffice. Then… then he could give her everything.

Elsa wouldn't allow him this indulgence though. She was deluded and afraid, even though she had no reason to be. What other explanation could there be for her constant rejections? She spoke of her love for him, yet with every chance that he gave her to recuperate his feelings she cast them aside in a furious outburst. 

'Oh, give it time and she'll eventually come around,' Pitch had reassured him. 

How much time did she need? How much longer could she deny her heart? His heart? It tormented him day and night, churned his stomach and filled his soul with unease. 

He had offered his heart to her on a silver platter, decorated it with promises of eternal devotion and everlasting love. He had sworn to be hers and hers alone, for all of time. Never would a second pass where he would not revere her like the wintery goddess that she was. All she ever had to do was ask and he would accommodate her with whatever she needed and more. He would treasure and lavish her in pure endearment and love from the moment her words of acceptance left her lips.

So why? Why did she not just give in? What more could he offer her than he had already promised to give?!

With a curse Jack swung open the oak doors at the top the staircase, leaving the palace dungeon and heading out into the dark night.

---

The next day came all too slowly for Jack. He bid his time on the snow-capped mountains of Arendelle, all the while fighting the searing need to go and see Elsa.

He hated this part. Time always seemed to slow down as he waited for the sun to rise and once more set before he was finally free to see her again. When he finally entered Elsa's dungeon at sunset, he found her standing by the window, straining to get a better look at the festivities taking place off in the nearby distance.

Arendelle was celebrating its spring solstice festival. Vaguely, one could make out the dancing forms of Elsa's people on the far edge of the glistening waters, frolicking in merriment. The joyful music that they played travelled far into to her cold cell, softly ringing its lingering sound off the hollow walls. The sweet sound seemed to lull the young Queen's eyes close.

For the first time in so long, the corner of her lips twitched up in the beginnings of a smile. Jack wondered what she was thinking about, what was it that had managed to bring even a flicker of a smile that he had thought would never grace her features again. He had tried day after day to catch even a shadow of a smile from her, yet all he received was scowls, frowns, curses, tears and heated glares of utter loathing.

The music the villagers were playing was traditional for the occasion, Elsa was no doubt very familiar with it. He would hazard a guess that it was bringing back memories of her childhood, back before the horrendous incident with her powers, back when she was free to happily dance with her younger sister to the sound of music around the palace. 

At that moment, Jack felt a swell of jealous towards the youngest princess. She wasn't even here, yet Jack knew it was probably she who lifted Elsa's spirit. Anna always seemed to have that effect on her older sister. She was alawys able to spark hope in Elsa, even in the direst of circumstances - she didn't even have to be present. All Elsa had to do was think of her younger sibling and there it was. A flicker of hope. The sorrow and fear parting to make way for a moment of blissful joy.

Jack looked away, glaring bitterly out the window.

Anna was not the one who should be able to bring happiness to Elsa, that was Jack's purpose, not hers! He and he alone was all Elsa should ever need to be happy and content, just as Jack knew that Elsa was the only one who could stir such feelings in him now.

The softest of resigned sighs left Elsa's lips, her smile fading. A few stray tears rolled down her cheeks. 

"You know it doesn't have to be like this?" Jack found himself saying.

With the way her body tensed, he realised she hadn't noticed his presence in the small room. Briefly, Elsa's eyes fluttered over to the window, in the direction of the horizon that had swallowed the sun; she hadn't even noticed it has set, so entranced by the music and the memories that the tunes brought with it.

"You're right, it doesn't," Elsa turned to face him, her face cold and impassive. "So let me go."

Straight to the point as usual, never one to dawdle.

"Then say the words."

'Just say it, Elsa. Say it,' Jack internally pleaded, holding his breath.

If she said it he would be beside her in an instant, open arms ready to embrace her.

"Never!" Elsa hissed.

'Stubborn,' Jack muttered to himself.

The spirit clicked his tougue, crossed his arms and leaned back against the door. 

"A tad temperamental today, I see," Jack remarked casually. 

"Terrible company does that to me," Elsa replied blandly. "Same goes for imprisonment, terrible food and lack of sleep." 

Jack ignored the stinging insult, instead his eyes widened in concern. So she hadn't been getting any sleep?

"You haven't been sleeping?" Jack asked. 

His frown deepened when Elsa sneered at his concerned tone. Over their time together in the cell the past few weeks, Elsa had made it perfectly clear that she found any worryfrom Jack over her well-being to be false. It hurt him to know that she thought he didn't care, when in truth her well-being was important to him.

"Elsa, I don't want to make you any more uncomfortable than you already are. If you're having problems sleeping then you should have told-"

"If you don't want to make me any more uncomfortable then leave!" Elsa spat as she glared at the spirit. After her angry outburst, she cleared her throat, coughing a few times into her hand.

"Elsa, regardless of what you may think, I don't you to be suffering any more than you have to while you're here," Jack said softly, taking a tentative step forward.

Elsa began backing away, not keen on being any closer to the fallen Guardian than she needed to be.

All of a sudden, a series of spluttering coughs erupted from Elsa, she bent over slightly, one hand over her stomach, the other covering her mouth.

"Elsa!" Jack began hurrying forward, wanting to make sure she wasn't sick.

Elsa immediately saw this and began staggering away, one hand still over her mouth while the other acted as a barrier to keep Jack from getting closer.

"Stay away from m-" Elsa's words, half muffled through her choking coughs, were cut off with a startled gasp as she tripped over her chains.

Jack instantly darted forward onto his knees, skidding across the ground in time to catch the falling Queen in his arms, saving her from smashing her head off the iron bars of the prison bed behind her. The chains vanished, freeing up Elsa's ankle that had been entangled.

For a few moments, Elsa kept her eyes closed as she tried to regain her bearings.

In those blissful few seconds, Jack enjoyed the feeling of warmth of having Elsa in his arms, safe and sound where she belonged. From this close, despite the dullness of the cell, he could easily see the dark black rings surrounding her eyes, accompanied by dried in tear streaks running down her cheeks.

His heart twinged at the sight. Being in the cell was obviously distressing her, and that wasn't something he wished to cause her. But what choice did he have? Seeing her like this only fuelled his desire to help her come to her senses and accept him. The faster she did, the sooner he could free from this hellish place and take care of her.

Gently, he ran his hand through her waves of hair, which had come undone from its usual braid. Her hair which was usually silky soft as asker petals, was now coarse and lifeless.

It only then that Jack notice how abnormally pale Elsa had become since first being placed in the dungeon. Her previous coughing as well as this, all were signs that her health was plummeting, rapidly.

She wouldn't last much longer in here.

Jack bit his lips in anger. He found himself between a rock and a hard place. She was suffering, but he couldn't take her away from here. lf he did then at the first opportunity she would escape, whether she was in full health or not. Despite his desire to be with her every waking and slumbering moment, he couldn't be there to watch over her twenty-four seven. As soon as he left her alone, she would make her move to flee from him. She would go to The Guardians and plead for their help, which of course, they would oblige and that would be his downfall.

"Elsa?" Jack whispered.

Elsa blearily opened her eyes, but they remained half veiled behind her eyelids.

"I feel awful," Elsa murmured, breathing deeply.

Jack placed the back of his hand to her forehead. She was burning up!

"You have a fever, Elsa," Jack muttered.

"I gathered as much," Elsa replied, her eyelids closing.

"Elsa, I can't take you away from here unless you accept my offer."

"If you don't take me out of here and get me help, then my fever will only get worse," Elsa said, her voice quiet and strained.

Jack could tell she was quickly losing all her strength and was having difficulties with finding the strength even to speak, let alone keep her eyes open. His heart hammered faster in his chest, his throat tightening. Sweat was dripping down from her forehead, causing her stray bangs of hair to matt to her face. Her breathing was heavy, like she was struggling to breath.

"Just say you'll be with me, please. I don't want you hurting like this."

Jack watched as Elsa struggled to open her eyes. The eyes that met with his were duller, lacking their vibrant blue icy flare, but certainly not without their fiery passion.

"Never," Elsa growled with the last of her energy, before succumbing to a restless world of warped and twisted dreams.

Jack cursed under his breath, delicately lifting Elsa into his arms and standing up.

He didn't have a choice, he had to get her out of there and find help. He took her upstairs, careful to avoid the patrolling guards keeping watch over the palace grounds. He found a secluded room on the third floor, hidden away and seemingly forgotten about. Gently, he laid his beloved down on the ivory sheets of the canopy bed.

He would have to find Pitch, see if he could help him.

Before he left, Jack leaned over Elsa and placed a fleeting kiss on her forehead.

"I promise I'll be back with help soon, Elsa. Please, just stay here and wait for me."

And with that said, he left, not knowing that when he returned, that Elsa would be gone.