Author's Note:

Hello! Welcome to my first story. I'm a little nervous about actually publishing, but I figured it was time to take the plunge. Reviews/Constructive Criticism are welcome, but I won't tolerate people who are rude or cruel.

This story acts as a collection of one shots but they follow Elsa and Jack from childhood through adulthood. Honestly, it's going to be fairly fluffy, but there will be some serious moments. Rating is T since I know there will be some adult language coming up, and it may move to M depending on how things go. I have about half the chapters written already, so I'll try to update once every few weeks. I'm experiencing a bit of writer's block about the end, but hopefully getting the story out there will help with that.

The title is inspired by the song 20 Years of Snow by Regina Spektor. The content of the song doesn't really fit with the story, but I thought the title was too perfect. It's also a great song if you've never heard it :)

Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Rise of the Guardians and Frozen are products of Dreamworks and Disney respectively.

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Right, birds can fly so high
And they can shit on your head
And they can almost fly into your eye
And make you feel so scared.
But when you look at them
And you see that they're beautiful
That's how I feel about you

-"Birds" by Kate Nash

Chapter 1: Fairy Houses and Snowball Fights

Elsa Arendelle was placing the final touches on the roof of her fairy house when the snowball hit her in the face.

The seven-year-old had been working diligently on her project ever since her parents had shown her and her sister Anna the movie Fantasia for the first time. While enjoying the movie, Elsa was completely enchanted by the small fairies who controlled the seasons, particularly those who brought about the winter. Elsa had always loved the snow and ice, and it didn't take long for her to decide that these fairies deserved the perfect fairy home. Anna, on the other hand, had ignored most of the movie until the "flying horsies" (as she called them) had stolen her heart. Upon viewing, she had insisted on dressing up every horse doll in the house with wings and flew them around the living room the rest of the evening. Many My Little Pony dolls took quite a beating that night as they were tossed about the living room.

Being only four, Anna did what she could to help, but Elsa was the clear leader of the design. In fact, Anna spent more time running around pretending to be one of her beloved horsies than actually building. Despite this distraction, the girls had created an intricate home, full of furniture made from twigs and moss, decorated beautifully with flowers, ribbons, and small trinkets borrowed from their own rooms.

The first snow of the season had fallen on Burgess the night before, and Elsa was adamant that she and Anna had to have the fairy house perfect now that winter had officially begun. So it came as quite a shock when her concentration was interrupted by the icy crystals colliding with her face.

Startled, Elsa cleared the snow from her eyes, trying to find the source of the frozen attack. It only took a moment as the sound of Jackson Overland's hysterical laughter was a clear giveaway.

Elsa glared at Jack intensely. "Stop it, Jack. That wasn't nice."

Unfortunately, this chiding only made the nine-year-old boy laugh harder. Beside him, his best friend, Jamie Bennett, fell over in a fit of giggles. Both boys seemed to find Elsa's glare most amusing. Even Anna couldn't help but laugh!

"Lighten up...Snow Queen." Jack managed to get out between guffaws.

"Don't call me that!" Elsa hated that stupid nickname. The name had been given after an unfortunate incident involving a giant bucket of snow being dumped on her head during her birthday party last year. It was a princess themed party and Elsa was wearing a brand new tiara. It was not surprising that upon seeing the crown and ice together, Jack dubbed her Snow Queen. The nickname quickly spread around their school despite Elsa's best effort to stop it.

Jack completely ignored her and continued to laugh. "Whatever...it's just a snowball!"

Elsa was less than amused. "Jackson Overland that's not fair! You could've hit my fairy house!"

"Your what?" Jack had managed to stop laughing and looked at Elsa like she was insane.

"My fairy house." Despite her air of confidence, a slow blush began to appear behind Elsa's ears.

"Your...FAIRY house? Are you serious?" Jack looked at Jamie. "Is she seriously making a stupid fairy house right now?"

Jamie shrugged. "They're girls, they like stupid pretend things."

"Fairies are NOT stupid and they are NOT pretend!" Anna stood up angrily, directing all her four-year-old rage at the two boys.

"Yeah! Fairies are pretty. You're the ones who are stupid!" Elsa glared sternly at them.

"Ok, whatever." Jack stuck his tongue out at Elsa. "Now who wants to have a snowball fight?" His bright blue eyes twinkled.

All four children froze for a moment, carefully assessing the situation. The last thing Elsa wanted was a snowball fight, but suddenly, Anna charged at the boys like a kamikaze pilot, heaving snow wildly. Jack and Jamie whooped loudly and began running around, dodging Anna's ferocious throws.

Elsa screamed in frustration. Once again, Jack and his pranks had ruined a perfectly good day. The Arendelle's and the Overlands had been neighbors since before Elsa could remember, and the families had always hoped that their children would become friends. Unfortunately, the opposite had occurred. Jack and Elsa fought constantly. He would play pranks and tease her mercilessly while she screamed that he was mean and would run away. She avoided him at all costs, but their mothers were very close and it seemed they were determined that the two enemies became friends.

Narrowly avoiding another snowball to the face, Elsa hid quickly behind a tree.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to play for a little bit…" She thought to herself.

Gathering up a small pile of snow, Elsa began to form perfect circular snowballs. Carefully, she tiptoed around the tree, finding her target. She smiled. Jack was too busy chucking snow at Anna that he had no idea Elsa was waiting to ambush him. Moving into position, Elsa gathered up her ammunition, and with an uncharacteristic yell she pelted Jack mercilessly.

Caught off guard, Jack was thrown off balance, his arms waving about in an attempt to both block the snow and stay upright. Unfortunately, it was at that moment that he stepped on a particularly icy patch of ground and his feet flew out from under him. Jack fell back wildly, crashing forcefully into Elsa's recently complete fairy house.

It only took a moment for Elsa to register the damage that had been done. Despite the bruises that would clearly arrive tomorrow, Jack was laughing and clutching his side. But Elsa found no part of the situation funny. All her hard work was destroyed. Jack was covered in a mess of broken twigs, bark, and muddied treasures. Elsa's lip trembled, tears beginning to sting her eyes as she stared at the horrid boy who sat laughing amongst the ruined pieces of her perfect fairy house.

"I HATE YOU!" Elsa suddenly screamed.

Jack abruptly stopped laughing, his eyes snapping open as he started at Elsa in alarm.

"What did I do?" he asked in confusion.

"You ruined it! I told you I didn't want to play, and you wouldn't listen, and now it's ruined! I hate you Jackson Overland!" Elsa was really crying now, hot tears of anger falling down her cheeks as her fists clenched at her sides.

Jack looked down, only just realizing where he had landed.

"Oh man...I'm sorry Elsa! I didn't mean to-"

"Just shut up Jack! You are mean and I don't like you! Don't ever talk to me again!" Elsa grabbed Anna's hand and practically dragged the four-year-old inside to the safety of their home.

As the two sisters retreated, Jack slowly got up, brushing snow and twigs off his body. Jamie looked at him, waiting for Jack to say something. Jack smirked.

"I guess I made her mad."

"Yeah, I think she might've been mad" Jamie laughed.

"Whatever, she'll get over it. Girls are weird. Wanna go sledding?"

Jamie nodded enthusiastically. "I bet Caleb's around too!"

Happily, the two boys ran off, leaving behind the smashed fairy house as new snow began to fall.