"Snowflake, come on! Speed up!" Jack called out, stopping and turning around to look at her.
"Jack, you know that I don't like to fly. When I told that we're taking a break, I didn't mean we'd be flying." She pointed out.
"But don't you think we'll reach more places and see a lot more if we're flying and not walking?" He asked.
"But I don't like flying." She mumbled.
"Really? I don't believe that." Jack stopped mid-air, raising his eyebrow.
"It's true." She shrugged, flicking her wrist once again as the ice bridge expanded before her. "I really don't like flying anymore. Or my powers. Or myself, to be honest."
"Well, no matter how smart you are, you're an idiot if you don't like yourself. And I didn't mean about shit like self-love or whatever -though that's important- I meant it like 'anyone who doesn't like the Elsa Winters is an idiot' kinda thing." He grinned cheekily.
As he had hoped, Elsa looked at him and gave him a 'what the hell' look but Jack knew she wasn't offended by the smile she gave, which she seemed to be trying very hard to hide.
"But you didn't like me." She pointed out.
"And I had my fair reasons- reasons for which I still haven't forgiven you." He glared at her playfully, which just made her laugh.
"Well, what was I supposed to do? Some random dude comes and causes chaos and I wasn't just going to go, 'Oh hey, you just broke our main source of income so here you go! We'll shower you with all our love and affection and go nuts over you because you're some celebrity and then we'll send you on your way!'"
"That would've been cool to watch." He smirked. "Besides, it's not like my charms worked on you anyway. You literally had a deadly sharp icicle between my eyes!"
"Yeah sure. Said celebrity dude starts flirting with me so lemme fall for him and give him my heart." She rolled her eyes.
"I wouldn't mind that." He added suggestively.
"In your dreams, sucker."
"Aww." He pouted, a light-bulb shining over his head after hearing her last word. "But I'm a sucker for you."
"You did not just-"
Jack smirked before placing his hand on his heart. "Say the word and I'll go anywhere blindly."
"Don't you dare...!"
"I'm a sucker for you..." Jack continued singing, and Elsa tried not to laugh as she hid the fact that she was impressed by his singing. "Any road you take, you know that you'll find me."
"Enough, Jack-!"
"I'm a sucker for all of the subliminal things no one knows about you." Jack sang as he flew around her. "About you, about you, about you."
"Jack, I swear-" Elsa held herself back from giggling.
Jack smirked again, pretending to not notice her giggling. "And you're making the typical me break my typical rules. It's you."
He looked directly at her as she smirked as well.
"I'm a sucker for you." Both of them finished at the same time before they burst out laughing.
Elsa was the first to control her laughter before she rolled her eyes. "I'm still not gonna fly, Jack."
"Then I'll do the flying and you can just cling onto your Prince Charming."
And before she knew it, Jack reached behind her and swept her in his arms and started flying away.
Surprised by his sudden speed, Elsa threw her arms around his neck and yelled at him but Jack just laughed it off as he sped up.
"Seems like someone's been practicing," Elsa commented once she calmed down.
"Yup. Need to beat you if I want to claim the title of the fastest in the world." He smirked.
"Never in a million years, Frosty."
"We'll see about that, Snowflake."
And they continued bickering as Elsa gave him the directions and a few tips with his flying techniques. Jack listened to her, commenting something snarky now and then but following her instructions obediently. They took their own sweet time flying around mountains and looking around at the vast spread of trees and wildlife.
Jack wondered how far he had run from the road on that day, if Jamie made it out safely and if he would ever find his way back. And at that moment, guilt pierced through his heart when he remembered how he had just abandoned Jamie instead of putting up a fight. He bit his lip, hoping and praying that Jamie had escaped as well, that nothing...bad...happened to him.
"Jack...?" Elsa called out, noticing their speed decreasing as Jack frowned in concern.
"Huh?" He snapped out of his trance, looking down to stare at the wide blue eyes of the Snow Queen in his arms.
"Is anything the matter...?"
"O-oh, its nothing." Jack shook his head, shifting her in his arms as he picked up his speed. "So, are we there yet?"
His heart skipped a beat when she smiled and nodded, turning her head as she pointed to the tallest mountain of the area.
"The North Mountain."
.....
"Elsaaaaa...."
"I'm not doing it."
"Please?"
"Never."
"Snowflake..."
"I literally told you not even minutes ago that I don't wanna fly." She sighed, sitting on the peak of the snow-covered mountain and swinging her legs like she was sitting on a normal chair.
"Okay, how about this?" Jack asked, floating in front of her. "You can teach me how you did that impossibly fast turn- the one you did in our race. And in turn, I'll stop pestering you about flying."
"Why do you wanna know?"
"Well, I have a race in a few weeks and I wanna learn all your tricks so that I kick the other competitors' butts."
And probably even that Pitch guy and his company's.
"Jack, I'm not sure... I..."
"Elsa, you're just gonna teach me how to use my powers 'cause unlike you I never studied too deep into uses and tactics of my powers. So you're technically not racing or flying." He shrugged.
She seemed to consider it and after a few minutes she sighed and nodded.
"Sounds fair, I guess."
Jack mentally cheered, knowing that his victory was now certain.
"But..." She started.
But...? He repeated in his mind.
"Not today. I just want to relax and return home later." She admitted.
"Okay, I understand."
They stayed quiet after that. Elsa stared up at the moon, remembering all the fun times when Anna, Rapunzel, Merida and she would sneak out at night and play with her powers until they ended up falling asleep in the backyard, for which they usually got an earful from their parents on the next day.
Meanwhile, Jack sat down next to her and stared at her from his peripheral view. He jumped when Elsa caught him and smirked at him.
"Like what you see?" She asked teasingly.
"Yeah, your smile's really cute." He shot back.
"Oh, really?" She drawled, kinda taken aback that he actually admitted it.
"Yup. Shame I can't see you fly again, though. We can't do anything much other than talk if you're just gonna sit there and stare at the moon." He sighed.
"What do you wanna do?"
"Well," he smirked like he was expecting her to ask that, "we could always have a romantic dance below the moonlight."
"Up here?" She raised an eyebrow, trying to push down her blush. "We'd be buried knee-deep in the snow before we even start the dance."
"In that case, we can just make a platform for ourselves and dance on it." Jack pointed out.
Elsa made a show of considering it before looking at him with a sly smirk, which Jack couldn't help but think looked hot.
"Rejected." She grinned.
"Aw man." Jack pouted, falling backward and lying on the snow. "Okay then, we could just jump into the frozen pond below and kiss underwater."
Elsa burst out laughing, a new blush blooming on her face. "Where the hell did you get that idea from?"
Jack shrugged. "Percabeth."
"You ship Percabeth?"
"You know Percabeth?"
Elsa smacked his head, which was easier since he was lying down. "Who doesn't? I've read all the books, including Magnus Chase, The Kane Chronicles, and Trials of Apollo."
"Wow. So, who's your favourite ship?"
Elsa smirked. "Solangelo."
"Never saw that coming." Jack grinned before snuggling into the snow, his head resting on his palms and his eyes closed. "But anyway, I'm outta ideas on what we can do."
Elsa just stared at his relaxed face for a few minutes, seeing the moonlight literally shine on his silverish-white hair before remembering what she had initially planned. She stood up and dusted the snow off her clothes before starting to walk down towards the foot of the mountain. Hearing her move, Jack jumped into the air and floated next to her as she walked.
"Where're you goin' now?" He asked.
"A secret place which only I know of." Elsa grinned.
"Is that so?" Jack raised an eyebrow and quickly swept her up in his arms. "Lead the way, Milady."
"Not again." Elsa sighed and tried to get out of his grasp but it obviously didn't work.
She eventually gave up and started guiding them down the mountain and through a bunch of big and dense trees. Jack diligently followed her instructions and wove their way between the thick trunks and came to a stop in front of a few trees which were standing way too close.
"We'll have to walk from her," Elsa stated, hiking up her long skirt as she made her way through the trees.
Jack tried to keep up and almost lost her a few times, only then realising that she was very agile even without her powers. And he also noticed that the more they walked, the closer the trees were and the place grew darker. Even his staff didn't give him enough light to see around.
"Hey Snowflake, wait up! I can't see you!" Jack yelled, blindly walking between two trees and almost slipped by stepping on a root.
"You're a lost cause." She grumbled.
And just before he could bump into another tree, Elsa grabbed his hand and continued walking, dragging him behind her.
After a little more walking, Elsa finally pulled him into a small clearing and Jack collapsed on the snow, rubbing the various spots where he had been scratched. By the time he was done, Elsa had already started roaming around the tiny clearing.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Looking up, Jack's lungs stopped working as he gawked at the scenery before him. The small clearing amid the woods was surrounded by trees significantly smaller than the skyscraper-height trees they had just walked through. The clearing was very small, thirty people would fit in the maximum, and Jack doubted anyone could see it from up in the sky. But the clearing looked extra stunning due to the smaller trees with no leaves, thin branches covered in frost with frozen teardrops hanging from every branch.
And what made all of this more gorgeous was the platinum-blonde standing right in the middle of the clearing, facing him with the softest smile he had seen in his entire life.
"I- uh- um, I-I guess." He stammered.
Elsa walked towards him and Jack's heart thundered in his rib cage. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to stand before letting go as she turned around again.
"Follow me."
And she ambled forward, leading him to what seemed to be the biggest frozen tree, which was just twice his height. She kneeled down and scooted closer to the tree, urging Jack to do the same. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Jack gulped as did the same, sitting so close that their arms were pressed together. Trying not to let her fragrance distract him, Jack focused on what she was pointing at and saw text scribbled on the trunk. He recognized a few letters and made out the words 'Queen Elsa' and something else written down next to it. But the other words were barely noticeable or understandable because there were huge cuts and scratch marks over the words.
"What..."
Elsa turned around and sat down, leaning against the tree. "I carved those when I was young. I don't know whether I've told you this but before my obsession with my powers, I actually dreamt of becoming a queen. So when I got lost and found this place, I fell in love with it and decided that if I were to build my own home, I would build a castle up in the mountain and this would be my secret garden. Pretty stupid, right?"
"Nope," Jack responded, leaning against the tree as well, maintaining their proximity. "But a queen, huh? I guess it suits you."
"What? Because I'm evil or something?" Elsa raised an eyebrow.
"Nope." Jack smiled. "You just have this- uh-a royal aura that just makes people want to treat you like royalty. You're graceful, elegant, formal, caring, reserved and very intelligent as well. I swear you beat every queen in the world when it comes to being so- sophisticated."
Elsa blushed, her gaze turning to the ground where she noticed frost spread around them in a barely noticeable pace. "That's a lot of adjectives. But thanks."
"No problem."
A calm and silent atmosphere settled upon them until Jack remembered something that he had wanted to ask.
"Hey Snowflake? Um, this is probably a very touchy subject but I was curious... After coming back and- you know, settling down, did you ever- like- have a new dream- a new ambition, or something?"
Elsa seemed to think about it for a few seconds before answering, "Not exactly, I guess. I've always wondered what I would be doing right now if I had fought against Pitch. If I had got justice and if I had still continued racing. Obviously, things wouldn't have been the same, but at least I wouldn't have grounded myself. If I had to pick a dream or an ambition, it would be to be able to fly again without any regrets and to provide my entire family with the most comfortable and happy life."
"Both of them sound like something you would definitely desire, " Jack smiled.
Elsa smiled back before shrugging, "Not like both can come true anyways. I don't have the guts to fulfill the first one and I'm working hard even now to fulfill the second."
Even your first dream is possible, Snowflake, Jack thought, his eyes trained on her for a few seconds before he looked away.
They sat there a for few moments until Elsa noticed Jack trying to stifle a yawn. She then remembered he had been working all day and decided it was about time they returned home.
"Wanna head home?" She asked, standing up and dusting the snow off her clothes.
"Huh? So early?" Jack groaned.
"In case you haven't noticed, it's already about midnight and the others will freak out if they find both of us missing." Elsa reminded him. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Flynn already knows we're out so we better return home fast."
"But I wanna spend more time with you." Jack pouted, giving her the puppy dog eyes.
"And I'm sleepy so we're leaving." She deadpanned.
"Your wish is my command, Your Highness." Jack gave her a dramatic bow to which she rolled her eyes.
Jack stepped closer to her to pick her up and noted with surprise and delight when Elsa automatically wrapped her arms around his neck. He stared at her questioningly, his lips tilted upward in a sly smirk. But Elsa seemed confused by his expression so he just shook his head and took into the sky.
.....
"Well," Jack placed her down in her room, "goodnight, my queen."
"I'm not your queen," Elsa grumbled with an adorable blush on her face. "But anyway, goodnight Jack."
And after shooting one last smile, she shut the windows and Jack flew down to the ground. He quickly collected all the materials that he had been using to plant the trees, placed them all near Flynn's backdoor and lifted his staff again to fly back to his room when he heard someone clearing their throat behind him.
He turned around and his heart jumped in fear and dislike.
"Mr Frost." Manny addressed him politely as he strolled over. "Such a surprise to see you out of your room so late in the night."
"I was just keeping the tools back near Flynn's door so that it would be easy for me to use them tomorrow," Jack informed, trying not to sound bitter.
After hearing Elsa's story and how Manny basically disowned her just because she lost a race, he was struggling to maintain any respect for the man before him.
Manny seemed to ignore his words as he glanced at Jack's staff in his hands. Jack saw a flash of disappointment in Manny's eyes as he sighed.
"Is Elsa seriously stupid enough to give you your staff back?" Manny asked.
Jack raised an eyebrow defiantly.
"I see my assumption is true." Manny guessed by his reaction.
"Elsa is not stupid." Jack ground out.
Manny seemed surprised by Jack's sudden anger. "Mr Frost, isn't Elsa the one who ordered and had you stay here until you fixed everything?"
"So?"
Manny just gave him an amused smile. "I just can't believe that you're defending the person who's holding you captive."
"Well, I guess we're kinda friends and I've learnt what kind of a person she is. And honestly, it kinda pisses me off every time you hate on Elsa." Jack crossed his arms.
"Lemme guess," Manny tilted his head like he was thinking, "she told you her great life story and how she amazingly messed up in her last race and that I'm the villain in the story?"
"Nope. Pitch was the villain." Jack deadpanned. "Besides, she even blamed herself because you hated her! Like- no- she didn't hate you because you've been ill-treating her for years now. Rather, she's blaming herself for making you hate her. How does that even work?!"
"Mr Frost, are you..." Manny gave him a look mixed with suspicion and disbelief, "are you in love with her?"
"That's beside the point."
"You didn't deny it."
"I don't love Elsa," Jack stated.
I might just like her -platonically- but Love's too strong a word.
Yeah, right.
Jack fought against the blush rising to his face, which was obviously noticed by Manny.
"By the way," Manny started, "I've heard that you've been visiting empty grounds to practice for your upcoming race."
"Yeah. Even the tiny bit of confidence I had in myself vanished after racing with Elsa." Jack sighed.
"Then you must be pretty pathetic if Elsa beat you so easily." Manny smiled.
Jack just blinked, offended by being called pathetic and the insult directed towards Elsa.
"Look," Jack started, "I don't have a clue of what you have against Elsa. She's always done what you tell her to do, she works her ass off for this place, she even swallows her pride and doesn't stand up for herself when you insult her in every way possible. So why do you hate her?!"
Manny's fake smile turned into a glare at once. "Some things are better left untold, Mr Frost."
"Not when you're hurting the feelings of the person whom you abandoned when they needed you the most." Jack hissed. "Besides, I can admit it. Compared to Elsa, I am kinda pathetic. That's because she's worked harder than anyone else and has won the Tachyons cup literally three times!"
"She failed big time during her fourth."
"Yeah, for something that wasn't her fault!"
Manny seemed surprised and amused at his last comment. "Wasn't her fault? Mr Frost, how can falling off her snowboard in the middle of her race be 'not her fault'?"
Jack just rolled his eyes before glaring accusingly at Manny. "Lemme just ask you this." He took a step closer to Manny as if challenging him. "Have you ever wondered how your star student, someone who literally won the Tachyons Cup three times, could have done such a simple mistake like falling off her snowboard? I mean, it's not like you actually saw her slip off her snowboard, is it?"
Manny couldn't find an answer so he settled with glaring at Jack, who realised that his plan was working.
"How could Elsa, whom you practically raised for at least eight years, just fall off her snowboard especially when at such a great height? Its a miracle that she even survived such a great fall."
"She wasn't acting like herself before or during the match." Manny ground out.
"And why was that?" Jack raised an eyebrow cockily.
Manny seemed hesitant to answer but he hid his hesitation well. "Her parents had passed away a few weeks previously."
"And what did you do to help her out when she was grieving? She goes back home before finals only to receive the news that her parents had passed away. What should have happened was Elsa should have been allowed to stay home and attend the funeral and it should've been her choice whether she wanted to continue with her finals or not.
"But instead she was forcibly brought back to train and was made to race in the finals. And during all this, she had no one she could rely on. No one except you. And here's my genuine question, Mr Moon." Jack gave him a look of curiosity and accusation.
"What did you do the whole time? Did you help her out by letting her grieve by staying with her? Did you fight against the company for her sake? Or did you just kick back and thought it'd be fun to watch her suffer?"
The sound of Manny's fist clenching was heard clearly in the silence of the night but that didn't intimidate Jack. Rather, it gave him the satisfaction that his words were getting to Manny.
"Don't just assume and judge my actions, boy." Manny tried to keep his voice calm but his words came out in a very threatening manner. "I don't see the necessity to answer your questions."
Jack merely raised an eyebrow as he replied. "I'm sorry if I hit a nerve, Mr Moon. But if you're getting offended, then that must mean that I was right." He shrugged nonchalantly.
Manny's glare intensified but Jack merely smirked.
Jack turned his back to Manny and started walking away, but didn't stop talking. "It's not like you understand how it feels to be a racer anyway. And you don't understand how Elsa felt either. So..."
He stopped at the doors of the hotel before turning around to look at the man who was staring at the ground.
"...no wonder you hate her so much."
He shut the door.