Til Death Do Us Part
Small two-shot (possibly three)
Has been featured on my blog, athousandlittlefanfictions.blogspot.com
Ship: Jelsa
xXx
As a young girl, Elsa of Arendelle would often sit by her windowsill during winter. She could never fully understand why she did so, it was certainly not to look at the snow and ice, for if she had wanted to see that accursed coolness, she would merely have conjured it up herself.
No, she must have had a reason, she always had a reason. For shutting her parents out. For shutting her sister out. For shutting the world out. She never just did something for the sake of doing it. So what was it? What strange desire drove her to watch the drifting of snow flakes and shimmering sun reflecting off the icicles each morning. She did not know, but she intended to find out.
xXx
Once again Anna had tried, and failed, to get Elsa to come out and do something, anything, with her. Elsa would have loved to build a snowman like old times, and perhaps by doing so would explain her ongoing obsession with watching the snow from the windowsill. It was unnatural, unhealthy, possibly, for one prepubescent girl to be so intrigued by the falling of snow, especially if that girl in question had ice powers that enabled her to cast a flurry anytime, anywhere.
Despite her unanswered questions, Elsa chose to walk over to the awaiting windowsill, the feeling of the white-painted wood all too familiar. Her gloves were the only things that kept her from frosting the window, she absentmindedly thought, and she began to make swirling patterns on the wood with her glove-covered finger.
"You know," a voice said from behind her. "It works a lot better if you try it without the gloves."
Elsa whipped around, positioned readily to meet the intruder. What she did not expect to find was a tall, slender, pale boy with a hooked staff. His eyes were a silvery blue, his hair white like freshly fallen snow, and he was barefooted, oddly enough. "Who are you." Elsa asked, trying to sound as menacing as a 12-year-old girl could.
"The better question is, who are you?" The guy smirked, he could not have been older than seventeen.
"I said-" Elsa tried to even her breathing a little, "Who. Are. You?" When the boy didn't reply soon enough, she said, "One scream is all I need to give before at least a dozen guards come rushing in. I ask you. Who. Are. You!?"
"Whoa! Chill there Snowflake!" The boy raised his hands in surrender. "I don't want to pick any fights here, not like they'd be able to see their fight! I'm Jack. Jack Frost." He stuck his hand out, as if waiting for Elsa to shake it in reply.
Elsa warily looked at his hand and back to his face before she said, "I'm Elsa." And shook the strange boy's hand.
"Well, Elsa, it's good to meet another believer." Jack said. "Though I have to say, you're a little old to be believing and all."
"Believing in what?" Elsa asked.
"Spirits!" Jack smiled. "Ya know? Like Santa and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy and Sandman. All those people! Oh, and me too. Jack Frost. The whole 'nippin' at your nose' thing?"
Elsa looked at Jack dubiously. "Spirits?" She dryly asked. "I don't believe in spirits. I don't know who this Santa and Tooth is but I assure you, I don't believe in childish fairy tales."
"But... but they're not childish fairy tales." Jack's smile faltered. "They're real! And you can only see me because you believe in me!"
Elsa glared, "It's impossible for someone to be able to see something because they believe in them! What about unicorns? If I believe they're real, will I magically see a unicorn here?"
"Of course not, don't be silly." Jack shook his head. "What I'm trying to tell you is... seeing isn't believing. Believing is seeing."
"Well," Elsa sniffed. "That's one bad motto. Because I can see you. And I don't. Believe. In. Fairytales."
xXx
Between Jack's first and second visit, Elsa thought over her statement. I don't believe in fairytales. Which was not necessarily true, after all, she had watched her sister get kissed by a troll once as a small girl, and she did have magical ice powers only fairytales and myths could conjure a legend of.
So why did she insist on not believing in myths and legends? Why had she denied herself the simple pleasure of belief?
She knew why. If she believed, she'd have to accept herself. And accepting herself could hurt others. And she couldn't ever risk hurting Anna again.
When Jack's second visit had arrived (only a few short days from his first), he had told Elsa that he had ice powers just like her. Her reaction was quite typical; wonder first how he knew of her powers, scoff, complain that he was a liar, dare him to prove it.
And proved he did.
She still, however, did not accept his company. She felt all that meant was another reason he would be in harm's way by her.
xXx
For most of Elsa's early teenage life it was filled with the pains of solitude- other than having Jack around, that is. The white-haired mess refused to leave Elsa alone, even when she called the guards in on him. They couldn't see him as he stood two feet in front of them! What was wrong with them!? In the end she had just pinned it on a nightmare.
Eventually Elsa had grown to accept the fact that the little germ wasn't going away anytime soon. But that was okay, because she had begun to like his company. Whenever she was moody, he was there to calm her nerves and keep her powers in check.
"Please, Elsa." The king said one morning. "Go outside and play with Anna, or do something."
The queen wept, "We hate to see you all alone, inwardly dying in the confines of your room. You hardly ever come out anymore. Not even to eat!"
"I'm not dying, mom!" Elsa said, concern for her mother rather than herself evident in her eyes, "But you know why I can't go out there. It's too dangerous if Anna were to see me, then she would want to talk or want an explanation. And I can't just casually mention to her I've been shutting her out since she was a child because I have stupid ice powers! Ice powers that endangered her once! Admit it mom! Dad! You're scared of me too!" And with that, the walls of ice that held back her emotions crumbled into snow, leaving nothing to stop the river of anger, hatred, sorrow and depression from arising. Ice crystals crept up her walls, making delicate yet menacing patterns of frost, it began to cover everything. Her window, her curtains, her bed... from the ceiling even hung deadly icicles.
"Elsa!" Her parents cried. Elsa looked at her glove-covered hands and, in horror, realized what she was doing... and what she could be doing if not for the gloves. Sure, they never completely cancelled out her powers, but they kept her in control while her emotions went nuts for half a second. They kept her in control long enough for her to regain control herself.
She turned around so her parents couldn't face their... their monster daughter. She began to cry into her cold hands, but that was okay. The cold never bothered her.
"Elsa," she heard a voice. She saw it was Jack in front of her. She was about to scream, 'get out!' until she remembered her parents couldn't see him and she didn't want to be labelled crazier than thought. "Please, Snowflake, chill." Elsa's breathing returned to normal at his command, and she held back the tears.
"Mom, dad," She said. "Please... just- just leave before I hurt you too."
The queen made an attempt to reach out to her daughter, but was held back by the king. "She needs time," He said. The queen nodded her head with a silent tea rolling down her cheek, and the royal couple exited Elsa's room.
That's when all of her strength turned to nothingness.
Elsa flung herself onto Jack and began to bawl like a toddler. "I'm a- I'm a monster!" She cried.
"Shhh, Snowflake," Jack said. "You're not any monster whatsoever."
"Yes I am!" Elsa said, her voice raised but also not loud. "I have these- these magical ice powers! And I hurt my sister and my parents and I could hurt the entire kingdom if it wasn't for my solitude!" She looked at him with sad, calculating icy-blue eyes before saying. "You need to leave before I hurt you too."
"No chance, kiddo." Jack whispered. "You ain't gettin' rid of me that easily."
xXx
Two years later came that day that would change their lives. Elsa had been talking nonstop over this dreamy new guard boy to Jack (who, despite a buried feeling he couldn't quite explain in his chest, tried to smile the whole way through and give advice) when a knock rang through the air. Elsa froze in place and slowly began to walk over towards it.
The knocking continued, "Princess Elsa?"
"Yes, yes," Elsa called, walking over. "I am coming." She grasped the handle and opened the door. There stood a man dressed in black, a sullen look upon his face.
"My princess," the man bowed. "Your parents... they are... they were lost in a shipwreck. I am very sorry for your loss." Even though every emotion Elsa had been feeling before turned into one gray blob of sorrow and pain, she put on a strong facade and pretended to be only a little broken, if not alright.
"Thank you," Elsa said, her voice heavily betraying her. "For... for telling me." The man gave a shorter bow and stalked off, unaware of what would happen next. He didn't even care that my parents had died. Elsa bitterly thought. He just cared that the queen and king was dead.
Elsa broke right then and there, letting a fresh river of tears stain her pale but rosy cheeks. She collapsed onto her knees as sobs wrecked through her body. Jack walked over and hugged her, whispering words of care and comfort. And Elsa was heartened by these words, because unlike the man in black, she knew Jack cared that her parents had died. Jack did not have them as rulers to grieve over. Jack had them as his friend's parents, and if they died, his friend died a little on the inside.
After a solid hour of crying and comforting, Elsa was mostly calm. "Listen to me, Snowflake." Jack said. "You're gonna pull through, okay?"
Elsa looked at him with wide, blue eyes before finally stuttering, "Y-yeah, okay."
"But you know what you need to do." Jack became only the slightest bit stern. "You have me. Anna doesn't. Your sister needs you right now, and you need your sister, whether your realize it or not."
Elsa sniffed and looked fearful, "But what if I hurt her?" She cried. "I can't! I don't want to hurt Anna."
"You won't hurt her," Jack said. "I promise you."
"I can't." Elsa shook her head, "I can't do it. I can't tell her why! Not today. Not ever."
Jack, who was beginning to get a little impatient, said, "Why not?"
"Because!" Elsa said, throwing her hands up in the air. "What if she asks why I kept locking her out- no, no, when she asks why I kept locking her out, what am I suppose to say? For your protection?! She'd then need to know what I'm protecting her from! And it's not like that's going to make anything better!"
"So what?" Jack asked. "You're just going to hide away for the rest of your life? What about the coronation ceremony? When you finally become queen and have the power and responsibility to maintain this kingdom outside it's gates. What are you going to do then? Your sister won't understand, your sister doesn't understand. She doesn't know why you shut her out, but she has a right to!"
"No she doesn't!" Elsa said, her voice raised much louder than intended. "You don't think I wanted to watch my little sister grow up from somewhere other than my windowsill? You don't think I would've loved to build that snowman or ride my bike with her? You think I want to shut her out?!"
"No, I don't!" Jack yelled. "I just want you to do what's best for her!"
"You want me to do what's best for her?!" Elsa shrieked. "Jack! I nearly killed my sister once! All my life I've pushed her away so she would never get hurt by my magic! By this stupid curse! You can't even begin to understand the lengths I've undergone to keep her safe!"
"Hey, I've always wanted what was best for my sister!" Jack said. "I died for my sister!"
"Yeah!" Elsa snorted. "You got the easy way out! You didn't have magic-y ice powers that was almost the cause of her death! You weren't anything then! You still aren't! Nobody expects you to become a king and rule a kingdom! You go around and bring snow-days and fun-times! You don't know responsibility! Jack, you're practically invisible!"
Jack looked as if he had been shot with his own ice magic. He stared coldly at her before turning away and saying, "You know, I might have died saving my sister, but your mother was right. You are dying inside." And with that he flew out her open window, leaving a miniature hurricane in her wake. Elsa sunk to the ground and sobbed.
What have I done?
xXx To be continued... xXx