Believe in Me (request: 955rolling)

Fandom: Rise of the Guardians x Frozen
Coupling: Jack Frost x Elsa
Word Count: 1,158
Warnings: N/A

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Elsa stared out the window. She watched the villagers for a moment, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Don’t let them in. Don’t let them see,” Elsa reminded herself. She turned away from the window and approached the painting of her parents that always hung on her wall. “Be the good girl you always have to be,” she continued.

Carefully pulling off both of her gloves, and laying them to the side, Elsa cautiously reached for a candlestick and a small jewelry box. “Conceal. Don’t feel. Put on a show.”  She glanced down at both items. Saw how frost raced over them both. “Make one wrong move and everyone will know,” she gulped, quickly returned them to her desk.

Her heart pounded frantically in her chest. Elsa took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “But it’s only for today,” she reminded herself solemnly.

“What is?”

The queen-to-be whipped around. As she turned, she lashed out with ice. “Who’s there?!” she demanded.

The boy ducked to avoid the attack, dropping his staff and yelping, “H-Hey! Watch it!”

She frowned at him. “I asked you a question. Who are you?!”

“I’m Jack. Jack Frost.”

Elsa arched a pale eyebrow. “You can’t honestly expect me to believe that.”

He sighed. “Yeah, didn’t think so.”

“Who are you really?”

“Jack,” he repeated.

The boy waved a hand through the air. A few flecks of white snow swirled inside the room. Elsa glanced at the window, but it was still tightly closed. The snow seemed to come from out of nowhere.

“How…?”

He didn’t answer. Just waved his hands a few more times, so that the snow formed a few images. A flower… a smiley-face… a bunny…

At last he let the snow fall normally. But just as it was going to hit the carpet, he waved his hands one last time. The snow vanished.

Elsa seemed startled by the full display. “You have magic too?” she asked, looking at Jack with wide eyes.

He shook his head. “No, it’s not magic.”

“Then… what is is?”

Jack walked over to Elsa’s bed. After sitting down, he motioned for her to do the same. “You might want to take a seat. It’s kind of a long story.”

Elsa sat beside him, and waited patiently for Jack to gather his thoughts. When he began his story, she listened with a politeness that soon turned to interest.

With his words, he painted her a picture of when he had first woken in the ice. He eagerly spoke of how he had become an official Guardian. He solemnly explained about his death, and how that had made him immortal.

When at last Jack had finished talking, Elsa still sat spellbound for a moment longer. She finally recovered, and the first thing she could think of to say was, “Wow. You’ve been through a lot.”

Jack chuckled. “I guess so.”

“Doesn’t all of that… bother you?”

The boy didn’t answer. He stood up from the bed and went back over to where his staff had fallen. Squatting, he picked it up again and examined it for a moment.

Elsa stared at him. Jack’s shockingly white hair reminded her a bit of Anna’s streak. The memory of how her sister had gotten it made her heart tighten. Guilt swamped her.

Jack waved a hand in front of her face. Elsa flinched; she hadn’t even noticed him walk up. “Hey, earth to… uh… you.”

“I’m Elsa,” she hurriedly told him. “And I’m sorry, but what did you say?”

He laughed again, leaning on his staff. “I asked what you were so worried about. You know, when you were standing with the candle and jewelry box.”

Elsa looked uncomfortable. She turned away from Jack. Raised both hands and stared sadly at them. “My coronation is today,” she began, “and I–”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jack cut in, motioning for her to stop. “…You’re royalty?!”

“Well, yeah.”

“Cool!”

“No, it’s not cool at all!”

Jack was startled by her shout. He looked a little hurt. “Why not?”

Elsa pulled her knees up to her chest. She ducked her head down and hid her face from view. “…Nobody can know about my magic,” she said at last. Her voice was muffled from the material of her skirt. “If the villagers found out… it’d be really bad.”

“How come?”

She lifted her head again. Stared incredulously. “They’d be scared of me! They’d think I was a monster!”

Jack’s expression softened. He reached for her hand, but she quickly moved it away. “Elsa, you’re not a monster.”

She looked away, trying to stop herself from crying. “You don’t know that.”

“Uh, yeah, I do.” Jack chuckled a little and pointed to himself. “I’m basically winter, remember?”

“What does that have to do with–”

He cut her off a second time, this time by planting a swift kiss on her lips. The kiss only lasted a second or two, but it still left the princess speechless.

When he pulled away, Jack smiled kindly at her. “Trust me,” he said simply.

“I…” Elsa hesitated for a moment, then smiled. A faint blush dusted her cheeks. “I do. Trust you, I mean.”

He grinned. “Good!” Jack glanced at the window. Sighed, and turned back to look at Elsa. “Look, I have to go.”

She looked startled. “What? So soon? Can’t you stay for the coronation?”

Jack heard the panic in her voice. He smiled comfortingly at her, even as he climbed up onto the windowsill. He swung open the window. “You’ll do fine, Elsa.”

“But Jack–!”

“You’ll do fine,” Jack repeated. “You said that you trust me, remember? So trust me when I say that everything’s going to be okay. I believe in you.”

Elsa looked like she was going to argue further, but Jack stepped backwards and vanished from sight. Elsa rushed to the window and looked out, but the young Guardian had already flown off into the night.

She stood there a moment, then turned and walked to the door. She tried her best to stand tall as she pulled open her bedroom doors and ordered, “Tell the guards to open up the gates!”

Jack believed in her. It was time that she believed in herself as well.