[A/N] I actually argued briefly with myself against even uploading this one. I really only wrote it as a means to get past some writer's block I encountered doing one of my other stories. Always helps to just get something, anything written down to counter that. This may just be a one off (especially since I am aware this particular crossover has been done to death, but I thought I'd try putting my own spin on it regardless) I haven't decided yet how far this will go, it might just be fun. Let's just see how this brief soiree turns out first.

Storm Front

Chapter 1: Winter Break

Jack didn't think he had himself to blame, really he didn't. Nobody had prepared him for any real level of exposure. But then when you endure a three hundred year spell of almost perfect, unbroken anonymity and invisibility you're bound to develop a certain level of detachment from the world around you.

How was he supposed to know word of him would spread like it had after the Pitch incident?

Turns out he underestimated just how quickly word can spread in the modern world. The internet helps with that.

And that's what had led to his current predicament. How was Jack also supposed to know that if someone who believed in the his existence videoed him then he would not only show up on said video, but that he'd also be visible to anyone else who saw it, believer or otherwise. But then Jack always did consider the whole 'belief' system to be a rather sucky thing when he was involved. It was either no belief, too much belief, or psychotic personification of fear uses belief to take over planet.

"Not my fault…" he grumbled for the umpteenth time, "Youtube, smartphones…when did those even happen?"

Jack stood with his back braced against the door to North's personal workshop as it shuddered inwards, "You be coming out of there this instant, Frost!" came the heavily accented roar from outside, "You are five seconds from being escalated above naughty list!"

Jack reasserted his footing, bracing his shoulders back again as he frowned, "What's beyond the naughty list?" he called back over one shoulder.

"You do not want to be knowing!"

Jack rolled his eyes and then briefly surveyed the room. The video of him skating vertically down the length of the Freedom Tower had gone quickly viral and was now sporting an almost kingly eighty-six million views. That apparently went beyond mere belief and instead shot straight into the territory of total exposure.

And apparently that was a bad thing.

Needless to say, when he'd been summoned to the Pole, Jack Frost had been perfectly oblivious to the chaos that he'd caused in the monitoring systems, and had in fact come within inches of being skewered by one of North's cutlasses upon first walking in the door. And so he'd done the next smartest thing: he'd hidden in the most heavily fortified room there was until the old man cooled off.

Jack really had not planned beyond that. Which was a pity considering Saint Nick appeared to be in no great hurry to calm himself.

But then plans never really were Jack's department. He was more a spur of the moment sort of guardian, which is probably what had gotten him into this mess in the first place.

"You come out and take punishment like man!" came the next shout, the next shove causing a shower of splinters and plaster to flutter down over Jacks shoulders.

"Old man really knows how to throw his weight around…" muttered Jack as he reached over and nimbly used one bare foot to flip up a nearby oversized candy cane into his hand.

After sliding it between the door handles in the hopes that the reinforcement might just buy him a few extra seconds, Jack did a quick assessment of the room. He'd assumed there would be some kind of a way out, but no, there was nothing but ice sculptures and reinforced walls.

Jack's eyes were drawn to the large snow globe that he'd initially been betting on as his best chance for a way out. Unfortunately, after the incident involving a little girl gaining brief access to it while North's back was turned, the old man had taken it upon himself to add a layer of security to the artefact. This came in the form of a gilded spherical cage that retracted only at North's touch.

Jack looked hastily about as the door bulged again, the cane cracking in the middle. He dashed about the room, pulling drawers open, looking for something, anything to help him out of his predicament. All he could find however was a seemingly endless supply of chisels and carpentry tools. He had almost given up hope entirely when he crossed over to the last drawer in the room, the one in the rusting filing cabinet shoved almost haphazardly into one shady corner. It was seemingly in disuse and now served apparently no other purpose than to prop up a shelf that the guardian hadn't gotten around to repairing yet. Something about it drew Jack closer.

Jack tugged the drawer, only to find it locked shut. The door fragmenting behind him spurred him on to try again though. The lock was flimsy, and when he pulled hard enough a tiny gap opened up at the top. He kicked his staff up into one hand and shoved it into the space.

Gritting his teeth and praying his staff didn't get broken again, Jack levered the thin metal until it popped open. The drawer flew open, slamming right into Jack's ankle in the process.

Jack squeaked out a somewhat less-than manly curse of pain, hopping on one foot as the limb throbbed. The ache faded into the background however as Jack saw what was before him.

On its side, rocking gently back and forth within the drawer, was a snow globe.

A wide grin spread over Jack's pale features as he gingerly picked up his salvation, "When my instinct's right, it's right…" he said gleefully, wiping off the dust.

The globe was much smaller than its counterpart. The glass was smudged also, and a slight crack ran from the top to the base. The scene within was obscured slightly by a hazy swirl of black sand, to the point that it was hard to even make out if there was anything in there at all, but it had power, that much Jack could tell, and that was all that mattered right now.

Jack held the globe out in one outstretched hand, "Alright then, I'm thinking just somewhere nice, quiet, and preferably on the chilly side, if it's not too much bother."

Jack rebounded it off the ground and the globe pulsed in response, the crack itself glowing blindingly. A crackling swirl began to appear in the air before retreating back and vanishing again. The globe leaped back into the guardian's hand and Jack scowled, glancing warily back as the entire door seemed to crack up, "Come on, stat! Stupid portal magic…"

He shook the globe insistently and tossed it once more, with much more force this time. The swirl reappeared, growing almost reluctantly larger this time until a cloudy black distortion hung in the air, crackling almost ominously with purple bolts of mystical light. The globe bounced back into Jack's hand.

Something was…off about it, this much even Jack could tell. In the end he just shrugged, "Portal's a portal…" and so he twirled his staff about once in preparation to hop right in.

It was in that instant that the double doors behind Jack literally shattered into a cloud of splintering wood, "JACK!" roared the elder guardian.

Jack had paused, one foot extended before the portal. North's brow furrowed when he sighted it, his gaze going to the sealed up snow globe before finally focusing in on the one in Jack's hand.

To Jack's surprise, the globe chose that second to shatter in his grip. Thankfully for Jack though the portal remained open for now. He shrugged the loss off with indifference and so paid no heed to the tiny swirl of black that slipped free from the debris and then slithered through the air into the portal. The vortex pulsed darkly, as if revelling in some secret, dark triumph.

What did give the younger guardian pause however was the look on North's face: Rage had become concern, worry replacing the fury, "Where did you get that?" he asked with rather uncharacteristic quiet, his eyes widening.

Jack stabbed a thumb over one shoulder, "In the drawer. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm just going to get out of your way for a while until this whole thing blows over."

"Wait!" shouted North as Jack stepped towards the portal, "You cannot use that!"

Jack smirked, "You just watch me."

"You don't understand! What you just used was prototype; beta version at best! Very buggy!"

"Seems to be working well enough." And another step forwards was taken.

"No, you do not understand! Once you go through, you won't be able to come back again!"

Jack nodded slowly, "Yeah…that's the general idea." He shot the older guardian a cheeky wink, "later, old man!" and before North could say another word, Jack plunged through the portal.

North watched helplessly as the vortex folded in upon itself and vanished.

Both it and Jack were gone, and all that remained now was a gaunt quiet. The older guardian just stood there for a long moment, his hand still extended, his face aghast.

One of his helpers appeared at his side and made a worried, querying noise. North's brow clenched quickly into a scowl and he turned back about, "I need to speak to Man in Moon…"

The furry creature made a surprised grunt.

"He will speak!" snapped North, his expression becoming distant, "He must…else we may never see Jack Frost again."

The Spirit of Winter and Guardian of Fun had just been lost, and the trouble that meant for the world as a whole North didn't want to think about. And then there was the peril Jack himself might now be in. The globe Jack had used was cast aside as whilst it did indeed send people to the kind of place they requested, it's wasn't always entirely what they expect.

Sometimes they ended up still being on Earth but in another world. Sometimes you ended up in another time.

Sometimes it was both.

The Yeti grumbled something.

"I know I should clean out workshop more often, but never is time!"

The yeti chose not to comment on the fact that, strictly speaking, North only worked one night of the year while they prepared the toys the rest of the time.

But as bad as the trouble the guardians may or may not soon be in, Jack Frost really wasn't faring much better…

-α-

Jack expected some minor turbulence upon coming through the portal. He'd been expecting to have to skid to a halt or brace himself a little.

What he hadn't been expecting however was to be fired out of the other end at mach ten like a bazooka round over a large body of water.

This normally wouldn't have been much of a problem, but unfortunately for Jack his staff had emerged an instant before he did, meaning they were currently separated. That meant, without a conduit to help effectively channel his powers, good old fashioned Newtonian Physics were boss right now.

Jack hated it when that happened.

His throat was dry too, and it took Jack a moment to realise this was primarily due to the fact he was screaming at the top of his lungs in panic.

Jack skimmed the surface of the water several times like a skipping stone, the liquid freezing solid in his wake with each bounce before he finally lost momentum and plunged into the icy depths near the dock.

Jack broke the surface a moment later with a reflexive gasp for breath once he'd spat out a large mouthful of salty water. A glum expression immediately crossed his features.

"And the day just keeps getting better and better…" he grumbled, swimming up to the nearby wooden structure before scrambling rather ungracefully up onto the dock. The fact that the water froze solid under his feet assisted with this at the very least.

Jack flicked the water from his hands and looked at himself up and down. Normally he'd just fly it off until he was dry, but that wasn't currently an option right now.

"Good thing nobody can see-"

"Odin's beard…are you okay, son?" cut in a voice, and Jack looked up to sight a rather elderly man in heavy furs carrying barrel of fish. He was currently looking over at the guardian in undisguised shock.

Jack resisted the strong urge to fling his arms up in exasperation, settling instead for ringing out a few soaked white locks, "Of course someone can see me. That's how it works, isn't it? When I want to be seen, I'm invisible. When I don't want to be seen, only then does the whole world get an eyeful of Jack."

The man was still looking at him, taking in the fact that not only was he without any decent layers of clothing, he wasn't even wearing boots. He nodded at the ship docked nearby, "You fall out of your cabin or something, boy?"

"Sure," said Jack glumly with a shrug, "Why not." He looked about, "You seen a staff around here by any chance?"

"Staff?"

"Staff; it's sort of a stick, about yay high," he said, holding his hand up and then curling his finger, "Sort of curvy motif at the top. Might have come swinging by at quite a speed."

"I saw something come flying by. Whatever it was, it struck the rooftop over yonder and then spun off into town."

Jacks shoulders sagged, "Of course it did…" and so he began trudging off up the dock toward said town.

"You should dry off and wrap up, son," called the man after him, "You'll catch your death out here!"

"Been there, done that…" sighed Jack, and he paused only to glance at the collection of sailing ships docked. 'Must be having some kind of renaissance fair.' He contemplated, 'and here I am, missing all the fun.'

It was about halfway into town that Jack began to realise that either this was the most accurate period reproduction of a small town from centuries ago that he'd ever seen (though in all fairness he hadn't seen many) or something was severely off around here. And he'd already ignored one thing off today, and that hadn't ended well at all.

"Comin' through!" came a shout, and Jack dodged as a small form weaved about him and then dashed happily off up the street.

Several things suddenly became apparent to Jack Frost in that instant: 1) The figure swiftly retreating into the distance was not human. He appeared to be a snowman…a living, talking one with what appeared to be a self-perpetuating snow flurry above his head; 2) He wasn't the only one who had seen him, and finally 3) Out of all those present, Jack was the only one who had batted so much as an eyelash at the spectacle. In fact, if anything, it was Jack himself who was drawing all the attention. It was like they'd never seen a barefooted boy with white hair wearing a frost-crusted hoodie in their lives.

'Yup…' thought Jack, 'Something is seriously wrong here.'

The town appeared to be a small one, and judging by the thinness of the air and the temperature, Jack guessed they were somewhere at slightly higher altitudes. He therefore didn't consider it too surprising his legend might have spread, especially if winter or the cold in general were big parts of their lives.

"Talking snowman, huh?" mused Jack, "That is a new one. I just hope North doesn't see him. I'll probably get the blame for that too…" And so he carried on into town, ignoring the queer stares that he picked up as he went.

Frost eventually came to an open space, and what he saw there briefly took his breath away, "Whoa-ho-ho," he exclaimed, taking in what he could only describe as a palace that someone had given ice highlights, "Now that is nice…" he whispered, musing that if he had his own palace, he'd definitely want it to look like that.

Jack paused then to ponder, rubbing at some imaginary stubble as he did so, 'So North has his castle, the rabbit has his warren and the fairy has her place too…how come I don't have my own place?' and with that thought firmly in mind, Jack Frost immediately resolved to build himself an icy fortress of awesomeness at the next available opportunity.

"Not bad, eh?" came a voice off to the side.

Jack cocked his head, "meh, I could probably do better," he lied.

"Sure you could," said the voice with polite skepticism, "You should see the one up in the mountains though; all ice that one. It's quite a sight. Always seems a shame to just leave it empty." The voice then paused hesitantly, "but…aren't you a bit…cold out here dressed like that? I'm pretty sure your clothes are actually frozen solid too."

Jack turned his attention to the newcomer. The guardian really wasn't used to random strangers being able to address him so freely.

The person talking to him was a man on a very traditional-looking sleigh that Jack was sure North would've approved of. The stranger was of a much heavier build than Jack, most likely from a life of heavy physical activity, and appeared to be approximately around the same physical age as the guardian was (as opposed to his chronological one). He also had large, curious brown eyes that were now scrutinising jack closely.

"It's a family thing," said Jack dismissively, "Endurance test, right of passage, so on and so forth."

The man frowned, "Nope…pretty sure you will actually die being out here like that."

"And what are you, an expert on the cold?" asked Jack, who was still focusing ahead.

"Well I am Arendelle's official Ice Master," said the man with a slight note of smugness, "It's kind of my field."

Jack's brow twitched and he slowly turned to now fully regard the man back, taking in his sled full of perfectly cut ice blocks. The man gave out an involuntary shudder when those deep icy eyes met his, and he could've sworn that even through his thick layers of clothing, he could feel an icy wind blowing. Jack's lip twitched in amusement, "The Ice Master…?"

"Y-yup," he stammered despite himself, "Kristoff's the name, and ice is very much my game."

Jack narrowed his eyes, his lip tugging tighter almost into a smirk. He appeared to consider making some kind of a derogatory boast but then dismissed the idea and just looked ahead once more.

Kristoff looked at the young man again. There was something more than a little off about him. There was the outlandish clothes, the lack of footwear, not to mention the unhealthy pale skin and completely white hair. Then there was his aura, for lack of a better expression. He just seemed to exude a chill into the air around him, "Listen, uhm…"

"Jack," the stranger offered, still regarding the palace however.

"Jack, are you…sure you don't need some help. If you've got no place to stay and can't even afford boots, you'll find that myself and the people around town will be more than happy to-"

Jack smiled, cutting Kristoff off, "Thanks for the offer. I do appreciate it, but I really am fine. You may be able to help me with something else though."

Kristoff shrugged, "shoot."

"Have you seen anything come flying through here? Wooden staff, sort of curved at one end." He could sense his staff was close, but it was obviously just a little too far to get a proper bearing on it.

"Is that what that thing was?"

Jack's gaze flicked to him, and the cold intensity (which was unintentional on Jack's part) had Kristoff almost flinching back, "Where did you see it?"

Kristoff nodded ahead at the square before the palace, which Jack only noticed now appeared to have been transformed into a makeshift ice rink. He approved.

Kristoff pointed in particular to one of a pair of fountains that seemed to have been frozen mid-spray in the middle of the space. They both would have indeed been impressive sculptures had one not been snapped in two, "It hit the fountain there, broke it, and then spun off and smashed clean through one of the palace windows."

Jack winced, 'Oops…'

"Anna, my…umm…friend, was here a moment ago. She dashed off to see what it was." He then frowned, "Wait, did you throw it? Because if you did, the Queen's probably going to be more than a little mad at you."

Jack's eyes widened, "The Queen?" he echoed with what sounded to Kristoff like momentary surprise.

"Sure," said Kristoff, nodding at the building, "That is the palace after all. And that over there is the Queen's broken fountain, and that over there is Queen's broken window."

Jack realised that Kristoff was now looking at him suspiciously, "Hey, don't look at me like I'm the guilty party." Said Jack, "I'm perfectly innocent here…in a direct sense at least." Jack turned to fully look at the man, "Listen, Christopher…"

"Kristoff," he corrected with a clear note of irritation.

"Whatever. Look, on a completely and utterly unrelated note. If one were, for some reason, to want to get into the palace. How might they go about it?"

Kristoff cocked a single eyebrow up, "Completely unrelated note?"

Jack inclined his head, "That's what I said."

Kristoff rolled his eyes, "Then you should probably just knock and request an audience with either Princess Anna or the Queen. They're really not as reclusive as they used to be."

"Your friend is the princess?" asked Jack.

Kristoff seemed to flush slightly, "D-didn't I mention that?"

"You didn't," responded Jack flatly, who then began to walk off toward the palace.

"Where are you going?" asked Kristoff, still more than a little worried about the stranger dying of hypothermia dressed as he was, and was a little wary that his suspicious attitude may be a symptom of that.

"To get a closer look," said Jack, walking out over the smooth ice, which Kristoff noted didn't seem to bother him either, despite his being barefoot, nor did he slip or stagger in the slightest.

Kristoff sighed and hopped down to unbuckle Sven, "Come on, something tells me we'd best keep an eye on him for now."

Sven gave an agreeing grunt and followed on after his human partner once the man had taken a second to secure his sled.

Kristoff found Jack looking thoughtfully up at one of the huge vaulted windows near the ballroom. There was a large jagged hole in the glass where something had smashed clean through it. Jack surveyed the brickwork leading up to it. Nodding with satisfaction, he stepped forwards and worked his toes into a gap between two bricks and began padding around for a handhold.

"What are you doing?" hissed Kristoff, looking carefully about for any sign of the palace staff.

Jack groaned and turned about, "I'm just going to take a look." And then he sighted Sven. He looked between the reindeer and the window, gauging the height. Jack snapped his fingers and nodded at the ground before him, "Front and centre, Rudolf."

Kristoff scowled, "His name is Sven."

"Sven. Will you please just let me borrow him for a second?"

Kristoff hesitated, and he and Sven looked at each other. After a second, he nodded with both reluctance and wariness.

The reindeer stepped forwards. Jack then hooked his toes between some of the straps and flipped himself up onto Sven's back, bracing his feet carefully on the leather harnesses to make sure he didn't make full accidental contact with the animal's skin. Without his staff to fully channel his powers Jack knew he had to be careful.

"Forwards…easy…" said Jack, balancing as Sven edged up to the window. Jack stood up on his tiptoes and peered inside.

He sighted his staff almost immediately. It was high up off the ground, the base having stabbed through a painting and then impaled itself right into the wall behind it. Jack felt his mouth pull into a smile. He caught movement in the corner of his eye however and Jack ducked down slightly.

Only then did Jack realise there was already someone in the ballroom, and that person was looking up at Jack's staff with an open scowl, her arms folded tightly in front of her.

Jack stared openly at the figure with something akin to wonder, "Who's the blonde lady?" he whispered, looking back down at Kristoff.

Kristoff jumped up to get a flashing glance of inside the ballroom, "Oh, that's Queen Elsa."

Jack gaped at him, "That's the Queen?"

"Well yeah, what were you expecting?"

Jack shrugged, "I don't know…old, graying and crotchety?"

Kristoff smiled, "I don't think that could be any further from accurately describing Elsa."

Jack nodded and looked back inside, "Yeah…" he breathed and looked at her again. She was what he could only describe as hauntingly beautiful. Her skin was pale like his, yet it held a subtle richness and warmth that his never could. Her hair too was pale, albeit as an almost perfect platinum blonde, like the sun shining down on freshly fallen snow. She was, in essence, the perfect cold beauty, and Jack had never seen anything quite like her before.

And he had been around a while.

His brow twitched though when he realized the Queen was in fact now standing at the top of a small spiral staircase that seemed to be made entirely of ice. Jack could've sworn it hadn't been there before.

Elsa was hopping up on one foot, trying almost comically to reach up and grab the curved head of Jack's staff, but obviously the Queen had overestimated her own height, as her fingertips only brushed the wooden surface. Jack considered this a good thing, since he knew that if she touched it in full there was always the danger of some of the power inside being released inadvertently.

Then Jack finally saw why the Queen seemed particularly irritated: The painting his staff had impaled was in fact a rather fetching portrait of Elsa herself. Well, the portrait would have been fetching had the image of the queen not been stabbed through the head by a wooden stick.

Else stopped and frowned, folding her arms and tapping a single finger off her upper arm in thought. She then looked down at her feet and Jack missed the heels of her shoes extending upwards by a couple of inches. He was therefore more than a little surprised when the next time Elsa reached up, she effortlessly managed to take hold of the staff in both slender hands.

Elsa recoiled as if stunned by the contact and Jack tensed with concern. She looked down at her own hands with something close to either fear or wonder. Jack could see her skin hadn't been frozen at the touch, which was in itself a relief.

Elsa looked up at the staff again and narrowed her gaze, as if resolving herself. She then reached up once more and grabbed firmly onto it with both hands, pulling hard. Her teeth were gritted as if fighting off a compulsion to let go.

"No, no, no," mouthed Jack urgently, "That's bad, very bad…"

Elsa couldn't hear him of course and instead just tugged again. The ice melding the staff with the wall behind the painting cracked away. Feeling the strain start to lessen, Elsa braced her feet and then tugged with all the upper body strength she had.

The staff came free far more easily than Elsa had been expecting. She staggered back, arms flailing as she lost balance, the staff went flying over her head as she toppled backwards down the stairs and into a rather ungraceful heap at the bottom.

Jack winced, 'Oh…that had to hurt.'

Elsa flipped her braid back behind her head and stood up, looking decidedly unhappy and rather annoyed on top of it. She only managed to take a single step towards the staff however before the damaged painting fell right off its hook and onto the Queen's head below. The canvas tore right through while the frame clattered to a stop around Elsa's feet.

Elsa's shoulders seemed to deflate in defeat. She then stepped over the gilded frame and approached the staff, and with a rather unrefined pout, she proceeded to kick it once clear across the hall.

Elsa glared at the staff for a long moment, as if it were suddenly somehow the manifestation of all her life's problems.

"That's it," whispered Jack, "Now just toss it out with the rest of the garbage. Just thrown the funny stick away."

Elsa then approached it slowly however. She dropped onto her haunches and extended a single finger almost experimentally towards the wooden surface.

She flinched back again after touching it and slid right back to her feet. She examined her finger, for she could feel the subtle buzzing running down it from the surface of her skin.

Elsa looked at the staff carefully. Irritation had yielded quickly to an almost childlike level of curiosity as she bent back down and slowly reached her whole hand out. The palm brushed the staff and it started to roll over, causing Elsa to end up gripping it entirely on reflex to halt it.

Elsa gasped as she felt a surge go up the length of her arm, which in turn seemed to spread out through her entire frame. The staff seemed to literally thrum with some kind of strange energy. It was a power that felt so familiar, so…her.

It felt good.

A tiny smile graced Elsa's features as she rolled it back and forth in her palms.

Jack scowled, "Oh, perfect…"

Another figure appeared. Another woman, in this case one with her strawberry blonde hair tied into pigtails behind her, "What'cha doing?" Jack heard her ask with what he recognised clearly as familial casualness, "Is that what we saw smash through the window?" she asked, tilting her head to regard the object which Elsa seemed so focused on.

The Queen blinked, as if startled, and then brought the staff about to rest the base on the floor, "Y-yes, it's a…thing. I found it."

Anna frowned, normally her sister was far more eloquent in her speech patterns, "It's a stick. You found a stick." Said the girl, who Jack rightly guessed was Anna, who then cocked an eyebrow at her sister, "you know, you have a royal sceptre. You really don't need to be walking about with a bit of old driftwood."

Elsa blinked again, seeming almost confused for some reason, "I…I know, it's just…there's something about this…"

Anna sighed, "Well if you want to keep it, then you could at least make it look a little less…blah."

"Blah?" echoed Jack, his pride wounded, "It's minimalist, you brainless little…"he whispered, trailing off.

Else cocked her head, and Jack watched in disbelief as a spiral of ice grew up the curves and contours of the staff from the base, gathering about until a great icy gem blazed into existence within the curve at the top.

Jack's eyes went saucer wide, 'How did she…?' he thought, before whispering out, "Impossible…"

"Much better," said Anna with a nod.

Elsa inclined her head, "Well, it is mine…"

"Wrong on both counts!" hissed Jack, slamming a foot down, inadvertently doing so right onto Sven's back.

The reindeer reared back in panic as a lance of icy chill shot down his spine, "Whoa there!" shouted Kristoff, putting a reassuring hand on his back while Jack held himself easily up by his handhold on the window frame. Kristoff took his eyes off Jack to look at his partner's back, "What is this?" he murmured, rubbing off what was clearly a thin layer of ice from the deer's fur and cracking it away from the skin too.

One of the windows squeaked as it was opened. Kristoff looked up as Anna poked her head out to investigate the source of the noise. Her eyes lit up slightly when she saw him in that way he always found adorable, "Kristoff? What are you doing out here?"

He pointed upwards, "W-well I was just out here with…" and he realised that he was pointing at thin air.

Jack had vanished.

"Something wrong, Kristoff?" asked Anna.

Kristoff looked about, "Jack?" he called out, but there was no sign of him. He scratched his head, "Where'd he get to?"

Anna propped her chin atop her hands, "You know, you've got Sven, me and even Elsa to talk to on a regular basis. You really don't need to be making up imaginary friends on top of that too."

"He was not imaginary!" he objected, "Just look at what he did to Sven's back."

"Sure…" said Anna sceptically, "Why don't you go and take Sven to the royal stables. They're about to close the gates for the evening. If you'd like, you could spend the night with…" she then glanced quickly at Elsa and back, "Ahem, in one of the, ah…guest rooms."

Kristoff couldn't stop the blush forming, "I would be honoured, Anna." And he flourished a slight bow before leading Sven away.

Anna watched him go with a slightly dreamy smile before turning her attention to the broken window. She couldn't help but notice the window frame appeared to be heavily coated with ice and there were strange, isolated patches of it running up the glass. Anna shrugged it off. She didn't consider anything an anomaly when it came to ice any more, especially when Elsa was around.

Jack was sat atop the roof above the ballroom letting his legs dangle idly over the ledge. He watched Kristoff leave and then Anna as she closed the window below.

Jack could sense his staff directly below him and he stood up when he felt it start to move slowly away. He followed it in his minds' eye for a long while, moving only when it started to get out of range.

He looked to the sun as it began dipping behind the horizon. Night would soon be upon them, and he watched the groundskeepers below as they moved the heavy palace gates into their closed position.

Jack's mind was caught on Elsa though. She'd manipulated ice. If it had somehow been an accidental extension of his own staff's power then he might have understood it, but neither of the sisters had seemed even remotely surprised when it occurred, and then there was the way she could touch it with such impunity.

Jack leaned right back against the tiled surface with a deep contemplative frown, his legs crossed above him, "None of this makes any sense…"

While Elsa continued to linger hauntingly in the back of Jack's thoughts, he remembered he had a bigger concern than one mysterious woman. He needed his staff back. While it was true that he possessed all his power without it, it was far more unfocused and without control since he'd never really bothered to practice without a conduit. And whilst he could hypothetically forge another symbol to channel his power through, it would take quite some time to do so.

But then there was the principal of the thing: That was his staff. He'd had it since it was just a normal bit of wood that he'd carried as a child centuries ago. It was the thing that had allowed him to save his sister. Besides his memories, it wall all he had left of his human life.

No, resolved Jack, he had to get it back.

He realized therefore that he had two options open to him: 1) He could engage in some foolish heist by breaking into the palace in the dead of night to steal his staff back from right under Queen Elsa's nose, or there was 2) He could wait until morning, calmly knock on the doors, and then request an audience with her majesty. Then all Jack had to do was explain about the staff being his and calmly apologize for the damages done and accept whatever punishment was deemed suitable for the accidental vandalism.

One of these options was smart. The other was not.

Guess which one Jack Frost went with…

His usual boyish smirk graced his features as he folded his arms and sat up to wait, "You know what they say: why put off till tomorrow what you can do today?"

Meanwhile, and unbeknownst to Jack, in the exact spot over the fjord where he had emerged earlier, a tiny crackle of violet light lit up the dark as a sliver of black smoke emerged seemingly from nowhere. The smoky, sandy substance undulated and danced about in the night as it quickly began to grow and expand.

The silence of Arendelle's night was then briefly broken by a low, dark chuckle of twisted amusement...

-α-

To be continued…

[A/N] Ah, again just a bit of fun to revitalise the old creative juices, however this may regardless be one I'll come to write in those spare moments. It'll all depend I guess since I do already sort of have the plot formulated. Until next time perhaps…

Catch you in Chapter 2: Blizzard