An Icy Blast

10- Elsa

Through a veil of tears, I see Jack's body start to solidify again. Although there is a scar, he is no longer bleeding. His eyes gently open and he smiles at me.

"Hadn't given up on me, had you?"

"Oh, Jack!" I exclaim and fling my arms around him.

"Where's my staff?" he sits up.

I send a small wind to pick it up off the frozen fjord and it clatters on the drawbridge. "I'm not sure it'll work anymore."

"Says who?" he picks it up and shoots a ball of snow. Anna shrieks as it bounces off her. He stands up in horror and bounds over to apologise to her. There are murmurings from the crowd as nobody recognises him. They either all believe in him now or...

No.

He won't have done. He can't have done.

I tug his hoodie. He turns round, concerned. "What's up, Elsa? You look worried."

"Everybody can see you now."

"Of course. I'm no longer a Guardian."

"Jack!" I stare at him, distraught. "You didn't have to do that!"

Jack takes my shoulders. "Yes, I did. It was either this or no longer being with the woman I love. Which one do you think I would've chosen?" When I don't reply, he continues, "Look, I am no longer immortal. I will grow old with you. I will die with you. I will be reinstated as a Guardian at the end. You will become one too. Manny has promised me. I have learnt a lot about you. I think you need to start learning about me." And with that, he draws me into a kiss. Now that he's human, the kiss feels more real than it ever did before and I find a small part of me hungering for more.

We break apart and hear large cheers. I then realise that we've just had our first proper kiss in front of the entire kingdom, and blush.

                                        ******

"Come on, Elsa!" Anna exclaims.

I stagger towards the next shop, laiden down with bridal wear. Some of it's for me, as Mum left nothing to go with the dress except a simple pearl necklace that I think is fine but Anna insists otherwise. The other 90% (rough estimate) is for Anna. We're having a double wedding, so we need to start from scratch for her.

We're approaching the dress shop, called Blizzard Bridal Boutique.

I summon a young girl over.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" she sweetly curtsies to me.

"Can you run to the palace and get a sleigh pulled by a reindeer called Sven and a man called Kristoff, please?"

She recites the message a few times, then nods and sprints up the street towards the drawbridge.

The girl must be a fast runner, for Kristoff and his enormous sleigh are beside me within minutes.

"Seem a bit snowed under." he drily remarks. Sven snorts. It sounds like a reindeer laugh.

I narrow my eyes at him, then dump everything onto the sleigh.

"Can you please put this in your room? Anna and I will return and sort it out once we've got her dress."

"Can I see the dress?"

"Of course. Jack's seen mine. If Anna's insistent that she doesn't want to-"

"Elsa!" Anna squeals from within the shop.

"- you can get an accidental peek at it between now and the wedding."

"Brilliant! Thanks, Elsa." Kristoff grins and turns tail, leading the sleigh back to the castle.