Back in Black (sequel to Ice Cold)

Chapter Nine

Elsa walked down a dark corridor towards the door at the end. As she approached it, it clicked open. She slowly stepped inside. The room was empty except for a large object in the middle. When Elsa edged closer, she realised what it was. A body. It seemed to be frozen. It wore a blue sweatshirt and brown pants. It's hair was frosty white. Elsa gasped in fear.

"Jack..." the words escaped her lips. He was frozen. Dead. And she had caused this. She fell to the ground, tears freely flowing from her eyes.

Elsa woke up with a scream. Tears streaked her face. She quickly wiped them away. Jack, who had been sitting opposite of her, watching over her, rushed over.

"Elsa? What's wrong?" He asked urgently. She shook her head.

"It's okay. Just a nightmare." But the image if Jack frozen in front of her wouldn't get out of her mind. She shuddered. Her eyes averted Jack's gaze.

"Elsa... you need to stop worrying. Everything is going to be okay now." He placed his fingers below her chin and lifted her head. "It's going to be okay." Then he kissed her, on the lips. When the kiss broke his lips pulled back into a smile. "Everything is going to be okay. Now that you're back with me, nothing bad will ever happen to you," he promised.

"But what about Pitch?" Her voice quivered. Jack grasped her hand in his.

"Don't worry about Pitch. We defeated him once, we can defeat him again."

Elsa shook her head. "He... said he had gotten stronger..." She tried to recall the memories of when she had been trapped with Pitch. What had he said to her?

"Stronger?"

"He's planning his attack for the next new moon, when the moon is at it's smallest so the night will be at it's darkest," she began to explain, feeding Jack the words Pitch had spoken. "He's going to take the energy of children's fears, making him stronger. Once his strength is at it's peak, he's going to attack the guardians. He said if I...killed you taking out the other guardians would be easy. After the guardians are exterminated, there'll be no one left to stop him from covering the world in darkness."

Jack was silent for a second. "It'll be okay, Elsa. We'll take care of this. Don't worry," he reassured her, but fear shone in his eyes.

A knock sounded on the door.

"Yes?"

"Jack!" North's loud voice boomed through the air as he opened the door.

"Noth, we need to talk. Gather the others." Jack turned towards Elsa and smiled. "Stay here. I'll be back soon." And with that Jack flew out the door followed by North.

Jack looked around the room with nervous eyes as he finished telling the guardians what Elsa had told him.

"Looks like we've got ourselves in a bit of a pickle, mate," Bunny said.

"What are we going to do?" Jack began pacing back and forth, swinging his staff as his arms moved.

"Stopping the flow of energy while he's absorbing it would mean death. Interrupting an energy as strong as fear would send such a strong blast that it would kill all of those involved," Tooth explained.

"We could stop him before he gets a chance to start collecting energy," Jack suggested.

"Until a large amount of energy can be detected, we won't be able to find where Pitch is located."

"And if we wait until after the energy is collected, he'll be too strong to stop."

"Then I'll stop the energy flow," Jack volunteered.

"No, Jack! No one is sacrificing themselves for this. We're all needed. Since we're already dead there's no second chances at this. If we're killed, it's all over," Tooth said. "I don't want to lose you, Jack. We all need you."

"We have no other options!" Jack yelled angrily.

"We have one option," North said carefully. Jack stopped pacing.

"No," he said quietly. He knew what North was going to suggest.

"Jack, it may be our only hope."

"No!"

"What?" Bunny questioned.

"Elsa," North began, "Elsa isn't dead. She's already a guardian, but her heart is beating. Her blood is flowing; She's still human. She's still visible to believers and nonbelievers. If she were to sacrifice herself to cut off the flow of energy, the human her would die, but she would come back as a guardian, like us."

"There's no guarantee she would. And even if she did, how would we find her after? She's already died and lost everything once, don't make her do it again. The moon brought her back human for a reason. She needs to stay that way. I don't want her to live immortal with the burdens she carries."

"Jack, maybe North is right. Maybe the reason the moon brought her back human was for this reason," Tooth pointed out. Jack shook his head.

"No. This is not up for discussion. We are not letting Elsa sacrifice herself!"

"Why don't you ask Elsa what she thinks?" Bunny suggestion.

"No." Jack knew Elsa would agree with the rest of them. He just couldn't lose her again. It could take years to find her after she dies and becomes immortal, and there wasn't even a guarantee she would become immortal. It was too risky. "We have four days until the new moon. That means we have four days to think of a different plan. Don't tell Elsa. We have to think of something else."