Let It Go

It was four years before the story that everyone knows took place.....

Elsa screams in delight as Jack makes the pretty snowflakes swirl around her.

"Do it again, Jacky!" She calls to him.

Jack grins and gently swirls the snow around her with a flourish of his hand.

She yelps in joy and dances around in the snow, her tiny feet imprinting everywhere in the newly fallen snow. She closes her eyes and raises her small hands towards the sky, twirling in slow circles as she hums the song her mother sings to her when they go looking for winter berries.

Jack watches her from the rock he's come to claim as his own since he and Elsa have started coming to this clearing to go on adventures.

Ever since Elsa's sister Anna was born...well, Elsa's parents and the rest of Arendelle have been too busy fawning over the new baby princess to give Elsa a second thought. Jack knew how that felt.

Jack had loved his own little sister, but the attention was always on her. He was always seen as the trouble child anyway, so he was all but tossed to the side when his sister was born.

So he took a bit of a liking to Elsa. He wasn't taking pity on her. It was more of an empathetic thing. And yes, he'd admit that she reminded him of his own little sister a little bit.

"How do you do it, Jacky?" Elsa asks, jarring him from his thoughts.

"Do what?" He says in confusion.

"The snow, how do you do it?" She asks with big blue eyes, the curiosity in them an endless pool.

He knew this would happen at some point, he just didn't know when or how. He was a bit of an outcast in society, but Elsa was too young to understand why.

He hops down from the rock and makes an ice path over to Elsa. He slides on his feet to her and stops on his knees right in front of her so his 6 foot frame can reach her 4 year old height. He takes her small hands in his and looks her in the eyes.

"Elsa, there are some things that you don't quite understand yet. I promise you though, with time, you'll learn, and I'll be there every step of the way," he tells her.

She smiles up at him, still not quite reaching his height on her tippy toes. "Thank you, Jacky," she says before engulfing his skinny waist in a hug.

He's taken by surprise a bit, but he quickly hugs her back. "Of course, Elsa."

Her child mind returns just as abruptly as it left though as she lets go and her eyes widen in curiosity again.

"Can you teach me, Jacky?" She asks in excitement.

"Teach you what?" He asks as he picks her up and puts her on his shoulders, heading toward the fjord a few hills over.

She leans over his head so her face is hanging upside down in front of his. "How to play with the snow, silly!" She giggles.

His eyebrows mesh together and his heart races. Can he do that?

"I don't think so, Elsa," he says uneasily.

"Puhleeeaaasssse," she begs.

"Even if I could, I don't think I'd know how," he tells her.

She huffs out a breath, blowing hot air into his cold face, causing a prickling sensation on his nose as it defrosts for a moment.

She has that determined look in her eye, and he knows she won't take no for an answer. His shoulders slump in defeat. He can't say no to the little princess. "Alright, alright."

She squeals in happiness as he sets her down and crouches next to her. "So, have you heard of magic, princess?"

If even possible, her eyes go wider and she nods her head furiously fast.

"Well, little lady, what I'm about to teach you is magic," he says as he shoots his hands out and snowflakes swirl around them. She smiles in pure joy, and it warms his heart to see her this happy.

"Now, I need you to think about one thing, and one thing only. Can you do that for me?" He prompts her.

She nods again.

"Okay, lay your hands out with your palms up," he says as he demonstrates for her. She smacks his hands away though to show that she doesn't need his help. He quirks an eyebrow and laughs to himself.

"Now, I want you to think of all the pretty snowflakes I make. Just think of the snow around you, nothing but untouched white that no one has walked on. Close your eyes, and just think of snow," he says, ending in a whisper.

She closes her eyes and her face scrunches up in concentration, but soon enough, her face smooths over as if she's in a trance. Jack puts his hands under hers and tries what Sandman taught him. He focuses on transferring his power to her, channelling all his energy to her hands.

Sandman showed him a while ago how to transfer energy, but Jack had never actually tried it. He hopes it works.

He watches as frost travels from the tips of his fingers to her palms ever so slowly, drifting up into the wind and floating away.

"Elsa," he whispers, "open your eyes."

She opens her eyes and he can hear her heart speed up in excitement.

"Jack! Jack, I'm making snow like you!" She yells in excitement.

She turns around and grabs his hands, and Jack immediately knows something is wrong when her eyes widen not in joy, but in shock. Her little red lips form a perfect "o" before her eyelids go slack and she falls limp in his arms.

"Elsa!" He says quickly as he shakes her. "No. Elsa, Elsa, wake up!"

As he holds her in his arms, he notices immediately that she isn't as warm as she usually is, and her temperature is falling quickly.

He grabs for her hands, which seem to be the coldest. He looks at them and is shocked to see frost climbing from her wrists up her arms. He watches as it creeps its way up to her neck and over her face. He feels the little body in his arms slowly drop to freezing temperatures.

"Elsa, no, no, I'm so sorry," he cries quietly. "Please, please wake up. Wake up!"

He screams in anguish up to the heavens, begging and praying for the little princess to be spared.

He holds her tiny body close, willing to give anything to save her. It was by his side that his own little sister had died, and he wasn't about to let the same happen to Elsa.

He just holds her for a while, unsure of what to do and crying into her brown hair, which is slowly turning to a bright blonde, almost white like his own.

A single tear of his falls onto her cheek, going unnoticed by Jack. It trails down her cheek to her chin, and in its wake her skin turns to its original pale blush.

Elsa's eyes slowly open, all while Jack still lets out a heartbreaking yet quiet sob.

"Jacky...why are you crying?" She asks weakly.

"Elsa!" Jack exclaims as he pulls her away from his chest and smiles meekly in relief. "Oh Elsa, I thought you were gone!"

"Jack, what happened? Why am I so cold?" She coughs and raises her hands to her throat.

"Elsa, you were frozen. I didn't think you would make it! Oh Elsa, I'm so glad you're alive!" Jack says as he holds her close again. "We need to get you home."

She coughs a long and wheezing cough. "Jack, I'm cold."

Jack's smile of relief slowly disappears as he realizes what might have happened.

"Elsa...put your hand out for me," he says, but it's more of a question than a request.

She slowly raises her hand.

"Think of snow. Just snow," he tells her.

All of a sudden, there's snow flying at their faces from every direction, a great flurry of pure white, and he can feel that Elsa is no longer next to him.

"Stop! Elsa, stop!" He yells.

"Jacky, I can't, I don't know how!" She cries.

He thinks fast and only comes up with one thing. "Think of me! Just think of home and our adventures!"

Just as suddenly as it started, the snow stops, and what's left in the air falls slowly with gravity.

He breathes heavily from the shock. The cold doesn't bother him, but that doesn't mean he wasn't taken by surprise. He looks at Elsa to see her crying. His heart breaks about a million times to see her so broken.

"Elsa?" He asks quietly.

She sniffles and wipes the tears from her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Jacky."

"Hey, don't be sorry, princess," he says as he embraces her tightly, "it wasn't your fault. I didn't know that would happen."

She cries into his chest, and he feels horrible. What has he done? What will he tell the king and queen? They took pity on him once, but they'll never forgive him for this.

His mind races as he tries to come up with a solution, but all he can come up with is leaving. He's obviously a threat to society, and he can see why he's so disliked by everyone but Elsa. Now though...now he wouldn't be surprised if she hates him too.

So he comes up with only one conclusion: he has to leave. If anything, it's for Elsa's own good.

"Come on, Elsa, we gotta go," he tells her solemnly as he picks her up and carries her on his hip.

She cries the whole way home, and with every step closer to Arendelle, Jack's heart breaks just a little more.

He can't bear to leave this place behind. He's called it home for the past five years, which is the longest he's stayed anywhere, and he's grown quite find of it. But he's come to learn the hard way that all good things come to an end.