Chapter Text
The knock on her door was persistent as ever.
"Elsa?" Anna asked through the keyhole. "Elsa, come out and play with me! Please? Elsa, come out and play!"
It was almost dusk, and Anna had been at it most of the day. She wanted to play with her sister, she really did. She'd give anything to. But she couldn't. She couldn't risk it.
"Elsa!"
"Go away," Elsa mumbled.
"What?"
"Go away!"
After a moment, Elsa heard her sister's dejected footsteps pad slowly away from her door. She sighed and flopped down on her bed. The truth was, she was horribly lonely and bored. All her meals were sent to her room, and the only people who visited that she let in were her parents. She had toys, of course, and books. Loads of books. Her favorite was about a boy with hair as white as hers, who brought winter in his wake. She pulled the book off her bedside table and began reading where she'd left off last time, her tiny fingers underlining the words so she could read better.
"'Jack Frost,'" she read aloud to herself, "'the boy who never gets older and brings fun and joy and snow.' I wish I could meet him." The young girl sighed, tugging at her gloves.
"Meet who?" a voice asked quietly. She whirled around, and there he stood on her balcony, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Jack Frost," she breathed.
"That's my name," he whispered back in awe.
There was a moment of silence as the two looked at each other, not exactly sure what to do. Then, suddenly, a thought hit Elsa. The gates were closed, and no one but her parents and certain servants could come see her.
"Momma! Papa!" she yelled suddenly. "There's a man in my room!"
The boy seemed torn between leaving and staying, and indecision lead to him standing in the exact spot he'd been in when her parents burst into the room with a couple guards. Her father scooped her up in his arms and looked around the room.
"Where is he, Elsa?" he asked.
"Out on the balcony!" she replied, pointing to where the white-haired youth was standing. A couple guards ran out to the balcony and looked over the edge, as though they didn't see the boy. They turned to the king.
"We'll search the grounds," one said quickly, and the king nodded. One of the guards passed right through Frost, and Elsa's mouth dropped open, wordlessly. Her father cradled her in his arms.
"We'll find him," he promised. "You're safe now."
"Would you feel better if I slept in your room tonight, dear?" her mother asked, eyes still cast out the glass balcony doors.
"No," Elsa replied slowly, following her gaze. A melancholy smile played on Jack's lips, as though he was sharing an old joke with himself that he only just now had a punch line for. Elsa looked back to her mother's worried face. "No, Momma. I'll be okay."
After a bit of lingering, her parents bid her goodnight and left her alone with the boy no one else knew was there. She looked to him for an answer, but he didn't provide one. Then her face lit up with possibility.
"Are you my imaginary friend?" she asked. Someone only she knew about, that could keep her from being lonely? Finally, a real friend? He laughed once.
"You could call it that, if you wanted to."