An Icy Blast

2- Elsa

I glare up at the ragamuffin that has crashed into my creation. "This palace has barely been up 5 minutes and you've already had the carelessness to ruin it."

He unsticks himself and glides down. "I'm sorry, Miss. I didn't mean to crash into the... palace." he examines it and hesitates before using the word.

"Nice to see you." I turn on my heel and stomp inside.

"Oh, no, don't go!" he flies over and lands opposite me just as the doors shut.

"I wish you would. I live here."

He seems taken aback by my harsh tone. "You've barely met me. Please don't judge me."

I see the hurt in his eyes and feel guilty. "I'm sorry. There's just been a lot going on and I... I'm really sorry. However, I think you should leave."

"You made this yourself, then?" he stroked one of the pillars.

"I did, as a matter of fact."

"What's happened? People don't just randomly build ice castles in the mountains."

I sigh and can't meet his eye. "I ran away from my coronation. The after party, really, but still."

"Why?"

"My sister met this guy and they both came up to me and told me that they were engaged to be married. She'd only just met him! Naturally, I said no, and then she kept demanding why and I couldn't tell her and then I got angry and I..." I blast the icicles in a semi-circle in front of me, like I did in the castle.

"Oh, dear." he dryly replies. "No wonder you ran."

Hold on! "I've just told you my life story, yet I don't know your name."

"Pardon my rudeness. Jack Frost, Guardian of Fun. And you?"

"Queen Elsa of Arendelle."

"Your Majesty." he bows to me. Ruffled, sand-blond hair with piercing blue eyes that see into the depths of my very soul. He carries a shepherd's crook.

Silence falls as we don't know what to say to each other.

"Your voice is beautiful." he smiles.

"Thank you." I reply.

"Let me put you up." he forms a sofa out of snow.

I glance at both of my hands. I've never met another being who can manipulate snow and ice before. I sit on it lightly, to test the stability, and then recline upon it fully. "Thank you."

"Tell me about your sister. She seems a flighty little thing."

"She is not a 'thing'. But yes, she is flighty. She's very adventurous and always wanting to see new places and have new experiences. But, Mother and Father kept her cooped up in the palace and she didn't know why."

"Because of you, right?"

"Right." I'm surprised at how quickly he's cottoned on to my story. It's almost like he already knows me...

"But, you were the reason she was cooped up and she didn't know. How?"

I shudder and feel the ice spread around me as I recount to him the worst night of my life. I was only 8. Anna must've been about 5, and we were playing in the hall, as we always did and then I couldn't catch her and in an effort to prevent her from hitting the floor, I shot a bit of ice in the air and it hit her head. I almost killed her. And then the troll. I vividly remember what he told me. 'Fear will be your enemy'.

I feel that all of (mainly) Father's efforts to help me control my powers has gone to waste and it's my fault. Jack sits beside me and strokes my back as I cry.

"It's OK, Els. Don't worry about it. It happened. The past is the past. You're in a better place now."

"I may be... but what about Anna?"

"I think you need to send her some sort of signal, saying 'I'm alright, but don't come looking for me'. Otherwise she will."

"She wouldn't even know where to start."

"I'm betting that still wouldn't stop her, but, you know your sister better than me."

I gaze into his eyes, although half-blinded by tears, and know that he's right.

He gently rests his hand on mine. I go to draw mine away, but the comfort it gives me stops me from doing so. I deliberately avoid eye contact with him, knowing that I will only blush quicker and deeper if I look at him.

He raises my chin and forces me to hold his stare.

Oh. My. God.

I don't know quite what happens from there, but one thing I do know is that I am hopelessly and utterly in love with a Guardian.

That happened.

"Elsa, sweetheart, you do understand that no-one else can see me, except you?" His voice is like molten caramel, wrapping me up and keeping me warm.

"Yes." I can't quite figure out his feelings. Does he love me back? Does he even know that I love him? Might be a bit awkward if he didn't.

"What temperature is it here, normally?"

"25 degrees, maybe."

"25?" In his surprise, he levitated from the sofa, still sat cross-legged.

"I froze the summer, you see."

"That was mighty clever of you. I must dash."

"Jack..." I follow him outside to the balcony. "When will I see you again?"

He frowns at me. "That's the first time anybody's asked that question."

"I like you." Love, Elsa. Love. Next time.

A boyish grin crosses his face. "I like you too. I fixed your palace while you were talking."

"Thank you. Much appreciated."

"I must fly to colder temperatures."

"Can I come with you?" I blush. Where did that come from?

He laughs, thankfully not freaking out. "Elsa, you are a queen of a beautiful kingdom that you need to unfreeze. You wouldn't leave your new subjects to starve in a desolate winter just for a boy with no sense of right or wrong and a stick, would you?"

"No."

"Should think not." he starts flying. "I've forgotten something!" He swoops back round and pecks me on the cheek. "Goodbye, Elsa of Arendelle."

"Goodbye, Jack of the Guardians."

He giggles like an imp, then turns around and flies into the distance.

I'm in such a daze that I don't notice the doors are shut and walk straight into them. I hope no-one saw that.

But then I hear the giggle. Annoyed with myself, but pleased that I made him laugh, I go inside the palace and make a chair, which I pull up to a window and sit on. Resting both elbows on the sill and resting my chin on my hands, I watch the stars twinkle in the night sky, hoping that, one day, the sky will not be still and he will come again.

My Jack.