Kindred Spirits

Chapter 1: Jack Frost

"Here," Elsa's father told her, slipping the small white garments over her hands, "the gloves will help. See? Conceal it. Don't feel it.

"Don't let it show," he finished, and smiled sadly as Elsa joined in.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," the King told his daughter. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen to you."

"I know," Elsa said. "It's not your fault. It's—"

"No, it isn't your fault, either," her father cut her off. "Don't blame yourself. The Fates work in mysterious ways, Elsa. You had nothing to do with this, do you understand?"

Elsa nodded, but all the reassurance in the world didn't change the fact that when her father left the room, she would be alone again. Shut up in her furnished little cage.

"Here," the King said, surprising Elsa and snapping her out of her thoughts. "I brought you something else. Another present. I think you might like this one more," he finished, smiling warmly this time as he produced a copy of a large book, bound in a black-leather cover.

"It's a book of old tales," Elsa's father told her, watching as she opened it slowly and looked over the detailed, intricate illustrations with wide eyes. "I found it wasting away in the library and had it restored. I thought maybe there might be something in there about… about your powers."

"Thank you, father," Elsa said, putting the book down on a nearby table before giving the King a hug. "It's lovely."

The King lingered for a few more moments before taking his leave, closing and locking the door behind him as he left. Trying to keep her sadness at bay as the feeling of isolation closed in around her again, Elsa picked up the book, plopped down on the floor, and began to read it.

"There was a time," she began, reading the words out loud, "when men could shape nature with their magic. In the North, there were the Ice Mages."

Here Elsa hesitated for a moment, smiling as she realized that there had been other people before her with this kind of power.

"The Ice Mages," she continued, "built castles of ice and snow that never melted, not to sun or to fire. Their towers stretched to the sky, like the z… the ze… hmmm… the zenith of a mountain. Hmm, that must be the top," Elsa mused, rolling the new word around in her mouth some more. "Zeenith. Zeh-nith. Zenith."

She liked the sound. Maybe someday, she would build herself a tower as tall as a mountain. Somewhere she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone.

Shaking her head and blinking away her sadness, Elsa continued.

"The Ice Mages lived in harmony with nature for a time," she read, "but then they began to push beyond the balance of nature. They fell into cha… chaos? Oh, so that's how you spell it." Elsa smiled with pride, then cleared her throat and continued. "They fell into chaos, and war. Over time, the Ice Mages became fewer and fewer until almost none of them were left. The ones who survived went into hiding, or married normal humans and kept their powers secret."

Elsa paused, wondering if that was how she'd been born with the powers she had. Was one of her grandparents an Ice Mage, or her great-grandparents?

The princess was thrown out of her thoughts by the sound of… clapping?

What?

"That was good! That was good!" a voice spoke out from behind her, reminding Elsa of Anna's gleefulness. "Read some more!"

Elsa dropped the book and spun around, finding herself face-to-face with…

A boy?

He seemed to be about eleven, Elsa's age, but his appearance was something other than human. His face was pale as snow, along with the rest of his skin, and his hair was so white it almost glowed faintly in the sunlight. His eyes were blue, bright and piercing.

The boy's face fell as Elsa stared at him, slack-jawed and confused.

"Well?" he asked. "Aren't you gonna keep reading? You were just getting to the fun part!"

"Who… who are you?" Elsa asked at last, wondering if she should just call for the guards and be done with it.

"I'm Jack," the boy said, sticking his chest out and smiling proudly. "Jack Frost. Nice t' meet ya."

"How did you get in here?"

"Huh? What d'you mean? You read the book."

Elsa blinked at him, waiting for the rest of the answer. Jack looked back at her wondering why she still looked so confused.

"It's a magic book," Jack continued at last. "When anyone reads it who's special like you— like us— we can tell. Then we get to come say 'hi'!" he finished, smiling wide. "I didn't think you'd be here alone, though."

"Wait," Elsa said, "you're one of them… an Ice Mage?"

"Well, yeah," Jack said, "duh. But so are you, lady! That's the point."

"I'm Elsa," the princess introduced herself, curtseying. "But, if I'm like you, an Ice Mage, then why isn't my skin all pale?"

"Because your parents were both normal humans," Jack said. "Both of my parents were Ice Mages, descended from some of the first ones."

Elsa found herself at a loss for words, not quite remembering how to make small talk with people who weren't her family. Jack began to shift his weight back and forth from foot to foot, looking around the room and waiting.

"Well…" he said at last, trying to break the awkward silence, "it was nice meeting you, Elsa. But I should go."

"Wait!" She called out as Jack turned around, only to stop herself and regain her composure as he turned back around to face her again. "You can't leave. You just got here," Elsa continued, trying not to sound pleading.

Jack smiled, understanding in his eyes. He pointed to the book.

"Can I see that?"

Elsa handed it over, and Jack opened the front cover to the first blank sheet of thin velum. He bit his thumb hard enough to break the skin, and quickly wrote a series of runes on the page in blood. Elsa flinched, but Jack seemed untroubled as he blew a small gust of cold air over the letters to cool them dry.

"There," he said, handing the book back to Elsa. "That's my name. Whenever you want to talk or anything, just read my name from the book and I'll come if I can. Deal?"

Elsa nodded, risking a tentative smile of her own.

"Deal," she said. "Does that… does that mean we're friends?"

"I guess," Jack said, "if you want to be. I like making friends!"

His smile was infectious, and reminded Elsa of Anna once again. She squashed the melancholy that accompanied the thought, focusing on the happiness of the present.

"Then that's that," she said. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Jack Frost."

"Same here," Jack replied, far more casually than Elsa's dignified recitation taken from her mother's lessons on manners. "And I don't know if anyone's ever told you this, Elsa," he said, "but you're really pretty."

The unexpected compliment caught Elsa off-guard, and by the time she got her bearings back she was alone. Fighting back the rare color of an unexpected blush, she sat back down on the floor and opened her book again. As she did so, her fingers passed over the red letters of Jack's name, and Elsa smiled.

Even if her parents wouldn't let her see Anna, at least now she had a secret friend only she knew about. Someone they couldn't take away from her.

Elsa sat slumped against her door, desperate to tell Anna the truth but also knowing full well what revealing her powers would mean. Hearing her sister's reluctant footsteps trailing away from her room broke Elsa's heart even further, and it was then that she finally let her tears fall. They froze against her cheeks, staying there for a few heartbeats before breaking away and shattering against the floor.

It was a few more moments before Elsa realized there was someone else in the room with her, but she couldn't even muster the strength to lift her head.

"I came as soon as I heard," Jack's voice whispered softly. "Elsa, I'm so sorry."

Elsa's body shook with a sob, and she let herself be lifted upwards and forwards into a gentle embrace.

"I know what this feels like," Jack said, "and I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I could do."

Elsa said nothing, trying to think about anything other than the tragedy. Jack was warm; warmer than she'd thought he would be. Elsa closed her eyes and relaxed against him, grateful for the silence that followed. He simply held her, until a few minutes later when she stepped back with a sigh.

"Thank you," she said, offering Jack a weak smile. "I needed that."

"Glad to help," he said, smiling in kind. "Least I can do, really. You're the only friend I've got left, Elsa."

"What? What do you mean?"

Jack sighed.

"All the other Ice Mages are gone," he said. "Hunted each other down. I stayed out of it, but I was the only one who did."

"Oh, Jack," Elsa said, reaching up to gently brush her fingertips against his cheek. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks," he said softly, taking her hand in his and smiling. "But I'll be fine… I always knew it would end like this, sooner or later. And this isn't the time for my grief, either. Are you going to be all right?"

"I… I should be able to manage," Elsa said. "I just wish I could be there for Anna, but I can't. I feel like the worst big sister ever!"

"It's not your fault," Jack said, looking her in the eyes. "None of this is."

"I know," Elsa replied, "but that doesn't make it hurt any less."

Jack leaned forward and pressed a tentative kiss against Elsa's forehead, the feeling of it lasting for only a few fleeting heartbeats, but lingering slightly even after he'd stepped back again.

"Just give it time," he said, and Elsa couldn't be sure if there was a faint trace of red in his pale cheeks or not. "All pain fades in time. And I'm just a few words away, if you ever need me."

"I appreciate that, Jack. Thank you."

Jack nodded and turned to walk away, stopping only when he heard Elsa's voice.

"How did you find me this time?" she asked. "I never said your name out loud."

"Lucky guess," Jack explained. "Your room hadn't moved, and you hadn't either."

And then, with a wave of his hand, Jack Frost conjured a small cloud of wintry white. It started at his feet and reached up to coil all around him… and when it was gone, so was he.

Over the next three years, the two of them met and talked, just as often about serious things as silly ones. And then, shortly after Elsa and Jack had both turned 17, the time came for Elsa's coronation as the new Queen of Arendelle.

Jack knew it was coming, but she didn't call for him, and so he figured she had her reasons. But when Elsa had been silent even into the late hours of the night, Jack took the risk and used his magic to travel to Elsa's room.

When he got there, Jack found it empty. She was gone, with no note or any other trace left as to a destination.

But she didn't need to have left one, in the end—the unnatural, eerie winter that had fallen over Arendelle spoke volumes. Elsa had lost control of her powers, and Jack hadn't been there to help. He'd failed her, in the moment when she'd needed him most.

And even though he had the ability to track her down, Jack chose not to. He vanished into the night, keeping an ear to the wind for the sound of his name.

If Elsa called, he would come.

And even though the call didn't come in the days that followed, or the weeks that came on the heels of the winter's thaw, Jack Frost never stopped listening for the sound of his name.