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Often, Elsa wondered what her life would have been like if her parents hadn’t survived the storm on their way to Ahtohallan. From what her mother described, the waves had been terrible and the wind had howled; Agnarr and Iduna had held each other tightly and wept for their daughters. But, miraculously, they had survived. They had made it to the river of memory, and they had discovered the key to helping Elsa with her powers: love. It was so simple.
Elsa knew that she should be grateful. At twenty-one, she now knew how to control her powers. She had a relationship with her beloved sister, who had been made to know everything that had transpired over the decade of their separation. She would be queen one day, a queen that no one feared, that no one would call a monster.
And yet…
Elsa sighed, banishing the thought from her mind. So what if she had spent ten years away from her sister, terrified of hurting her family, thinking she was a monster? She was free now, had been for the past three years. But part of her—a small part, the size of a fist maybe—was angry at her parents. Hated them, even. And that made her feel unbearably guilty.
There was a small ding as Anna rang the little bell. “Time’s up! Good job, Mama, Papa!” she said. It was family game night, just the four of them in their night clothes and robes in the royal family wing.
Agnarr laughed. “I cannot believe that you missed daughter, Iduna. I was pointing right at them!” Iduna covered her face as Anna laughed with her father. Elsa smiled tightly, though they were too caught up in their mirth to notice that she wasn’t paying attention.
“Okay, it’s our turn, Elsa! Let’s do it! Two sisters, one mind!” Anna said, bouncing on the couch excitedly. Elsa got up from her seat and walked to the middle of the room, picking up a few slips of paper. Ice, cat, dressmaker, and scarf. They seemed easy enough. The bell rang once more, and Elsa attempted to act out ice. She motioned with her hands and mimed ice skating. Anna was oblivious.
“Hmm, anytime now, Elsa,” Anna said, staring intently. “Just do it with your body. Oh! Nothing! No, air? Tree? People? Treeple! Wait, that’s not a word.” Agnarr and Iduna watched fondly as their daughters tried to work together to guess a correct answer. Anna was not doing well. Elsa fought hard to control a smile at her sister’s expense. Anna was adorably clueless.
Elsa glanced up over the heads of her family and saw a head of white hair through the window. She stifled a gasp. Her concentration broke—she dropped the foot she had raised in an attempt to imitate ice skating and nearly fell to the floor.
“Confused? Disturbed? Oh, come on, you definitely look disturbed!” Anna exclaimed. Agnarr stood up and knelt by his daughter.
“Elsa, are you alright?” he asked, helping her up by the elbow.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just tired,” Elsa said. “I think I’ll retire for the night.”
“But we lost!” Anna moaned. “Rematch?”
“Another night, Anna,” Iduna said, standing up as well and kissing her daughter on the cheek. Elsa gently extracted herself from her father’s grip and bade her parents goodnight. Anna skipped beside her as they left their parents sitting room and made their way to their own rooms.
“We should practice for next time,” Anna said. “That way we’re prepared to crush them!”
“It’s just a game, Anna,” Elsa said distractedly, her mind half on her sister and half on someone else. She reached her door, across the hall from Anna’s, and turned back to her sister. “Good night, Anna.”
“Night, Elsa!” Anna said cheerfully. Elsa entered her room and shut the door behind her, locking it for good measure. Then, she rushed across the space and to the double doors that lead outside, flinging them open to let the cold night air in. “Jack?”
The mischievous young man swung down from his perch above her door and grinned. “Evening, Princess.”
“What are you doing here? You’re going to get us caught if you continue to lurk about the castle,” Elsa said admonishingly. Jack simply grabbed her hands and pulled her closer to him. Soon, she was wrapped in his embrace, enveloped in his cool mint fragrance. Elsa couldn’t help but sigh, relaxing into the heat of his body. His lips touched the crown of her head.
“I missed you,” he said simply. Elsa couldn’t help the small smile that overtook her face. Jackson Overland Frost was someone that she hadn’t counted on coming into her life, but she was extremely grateful for him. He appeared the same week that her parents left on their search for Ahtohallan, accompanied by a strange band of strange people. Elsa would have thought nothing of them aside from the fact that, the night he arrived, he had somehow managed to get onto her balcony and tap on her window.
He’d explained that he and his companions all had special powers, much like her own, and that he had been drawn to Arendelle due to their connection. Before she knew it, Jack was making her laugh and play as she hadn’t in a long time. But she still wore the gloves. She wore the gloves all up until her parents returned and told her of the secrets they had found. It was slow going, trusting herself and her powers, but Jack made it so much easier.
Once Elsa’s powers were made known to Arendelle, Jack and his companions revealed theirs as well, finally having found a place where they could live safely without fear of persecution for their differences. They were beloved by all, but his relationship with the crown princess was kept a secret—on both of their ends. Mama and Papa knew him only as Jack Frost, the young ward of Nicholas St. North, while Anna knew him as the boy who started the best snowball fights. Only Elsa knew the real Jack, and she treasured him deeply but secretly, much to her chagrin.
Elsa took a deep breath, breathing in his scent. Jack’s chest rumbled underneath her cheek in laughter. She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.
“What?” she demanded.
“Are you smelling me?” he asked, eyes glinting. Elsa scoffed and shoved him away as he bent over in laughter, his silvery hair shining in the moonlight. Elsa looked up at the sky; it was a full moon. She sighed and walked over to the balcony, resting her hands on the rail and peering out into the night.
“Els?” Jack came up to stand behind her, arms coming around her. “What is it?”
“You’re an annoyance,” she said, leaning back into him.
“Uh, thanks?”
“You’re my annoyance,” she continued, “and I wish everyone knew it.” Jack sighed, brushing his lips against her hair once more.
“Elsa, we’ve talked about this. You’re the one who said it wouldn’t end well,” he said.
“I know, and it’s true. But it doesn’t mean that I wish…”
“What do you wish?”
“For so many things,” she whispered. Jack’s arms tightened.
“Like what?”
“I wish I could hold your hand in public. I wish you could get my parents’ blessing. I wish you could play pranks on Anna. I wish that I was a normal girl, not the heir to a throne.”
“Even if you weren’t a princess, you still wouldn’t be a normal girl.” As if to prove his point, the wind blew harder against them. Elsa didn’t flinch, instead turned her face to the cold and let it soothe her. She blew out a breath, the air freezing in front of her.
“I wish we could run away,” she whispered. “Someplace they could never find, never even think to look.” Jack was silent behind her, so silent that she was worried she’d frightened him with her intensity.
Finally, he spoke: “You would never do that. You love Arendelle too much.”
Elsa sighed, not wanting to agree with him but knowing he was right.
“But if you really did want to…”
Elsa turned around in Jack’s arms to face him. He was looking in the distance, a pensive expression on his face.
“If I wanted to… then what?”
Jack looked at her, then, and smirked. “I know a place.”
Elsa’s heart leaped to her throat. Was he… agreeing with her? He wanted to run away with her? “What?”
“Not permanently,” Jack said slowly, grin still in place. “I know that you could never turn your back on your kingdom, but I know that I want to be with you. So, what if we went to this place whenever we wanted to see each other? It’s secret; no one knows about it except for the other Guardians.”
“And they won’t mind?” Elsa asked, mind whirring at the possibility.
“Not at all,” he promised. Elsa gripped his hands.
“Then let’s go,” she said.
Jack raised an eyebrow. “Now?”
“Just for a couple of days,” Elsa said.
“Isn’t that frowned upon? We’re not, y’know, married,” Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Surely you know someone who can remedy that at this secret place of yours,” Elsa said. Jack froze, mouth falling open.
“But—”
“It’s just for us,” Elsa said. “I know it’s not much, but I love you, Jack. I don’t need anyone but us to know.”
Jack said nothing, simply cupped her face in his hands and kissed her soundly. They pulled away from each other slowly, blissfully. “Are you ready?”
Elsa smiled. “Yes.”