When Time Collides

Chapter Five

Rapunzel

Rapunzel was not too sure what frame of mind her cousin was in, but it certainly couldn't be a sane one. Not as she had revealed her secret to two strangers and a dragon ( he had intelligent eyes and Rapunzel figured he could probably understand everything behind said around him ).

" So you're, like, a female version of Jack Frost?" Merida queried, casting a side long glance to her left, though there was nothing there.

" Who's Jack Frost?" Rapunzel wondered, tilting her head as she furrowed her brow in question.

Elsa cross her arms gently, her hands clasping each elbow with tensely gloved fingers. Where her fingers made contact with the sleeves of her dress, the material grew cold and small particles of ice began to spread; the only evidence of Elsa's unease in the current situation.

Rapunzel was simply relieved that it was not spreading any further, and while she believed her cousin not to be  a nightmarish and destructive winter storm, she was not so blinded by faith and belief to see that her magic could become a problem if unleashed too powerfully.

A tight-lipped smile found it's way onto Elsa's face as she answered. " I suppose, were Jack Frost real, then yes. I could be a close sort of counterpart to the immortal embodiment of winter."

Merida gracelessly snorted ( Lady Elinor would definitely not approve ).
" Oh he's real alright. Real cocky, real cheeky and a real pain in the behind."

( Lady Elinor would not approve of her daughter even making mention of ones gluteus maximus either. It was, in her opinion, quite the opposite of royal-like. So, in other words, right up Merida's alley. )

" Have you met him? Jack Frost?" Elsa exclaimed in query, to which Merida nodded. " But how could that be? He is but a story to warn children from the chill of winter!"

" Why don't you ask him for yourself?" Hiccup suggested, nodding in the direction of Merida's left.

It were as though a curtain had been pulled from over their eyes; a whole different world of untapped wonders and foreign designs seemed to open up before them as their gazes landed on a boy that certainly hadn't been there before. Both girls gasped audibly, and probably resembled simple fish, what with their open mouthed expressions.

Jack Frost stood before them, in all his wintery glory. The pale tone of his skin rivalled Elsa's, and his hair was whiter than any snow Rapunzel had ever seen. His Nordic blue eyes sparkled with amusement from underneath dark lashes and eyebrows. He had a Grecian-shaped nose and a strong-set jaw to compliment pale lips. Over his scrawny frame he wore brown trousers and a loose fitting, blue hooded jacket with large front pockets. He leant nonchalantly against a ice-crystal coated staff. Rapunzel was startled to find his feet bare.

It is below freezing! Rapunzel thought. How is it possible that he does not look affected at all by the temperature?

Jack Frost smiled good-naturedly, muttering. " Sure, now they see me."

" I know you!" Elsa exclaimed, her breath rising in a thin misty cloud in the weather. "You visited Arendelle -in the trading season. I watched you and the other children run through the streets and play in the woods. They always had so much fun and-" Elsa stopped short, and her brow crinkled in confusion suddenly.