Chapter Ten

There was a long stretch of time where neither of them talked. Elsa didn’t know what to say. She had been so angry at him for so long. She had felt betrayed. She thought he didn’t care about her. But now she knew that he left because he cared so much.

“Jack… why didn’t you just tell me?”

“What? Tell you that you were going to die? Tell you that because I was selfish enough to stay with you, you would die? No. I couldn’t do that to you. You were young, Elsa. You still are! I couldn’t put that burden on you. I knew you would say you didn’t care.”

“Well I don’t! Don’t leave me again, Jack. I love you. I’m sorry, but Jack, I am completely and utterly in love with you. I don’t care that you don’t age or die. I don’t care if I am going to eventually die if you stay with me. I don’t care. So don’t you ever-” Jack flew to Elsa and kissed her hard on the lips. This time Elsa didn’t hesitate to kiss him back. She ran her fingers through his white hair. Finally, the kiss released. His blue eyes fell to hers.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you look?” Jack inquired. Elsa blushed, bright and red against her snow white skin.

A series of shouts suddenly sounded from the distance, dragging Elsa back into reality. “Anna! We have to go help her. Jack, you have to take me back.”

“No! There’s are men out there threatening you. I’m not taking you back.”

“If you love me you’ll let me go back and help my sister,” Elsa retorted stubbornly.

“And if you love me you’ll understand why I can’t.” Elsa turned her head away, looking out her distant town. Jack reached out and grabbed her hand. “As long as you stay here you’ll be safe. Anna will be able to take care of things. She has complete faith in you, so please have faith in her. She’ll be able to handle them and convince them that it wasn’t you. I know she will. You tend to forget that I also watched Anna grow up. She never stopped believing in you, never stopped trusting you no matter what you did. Now it’s your turn to trust her.” As he stared at Elsa, his heart began to thump hard in his chest. She looked so beautiful. It was in that moment that he finally understood exactly what love felt like. He’d never felt anything like it before. He had been so alone his whole life. And now there was someone who believed. And she was the most amazing person in the whole world. He knew that he would do anything to protect her. The moon had told him she would die, but he wouldn’t let that happen. Not to her. Not ever. He would search his whole life if he had to to find some way to prolong her life so they could be together forever. Forever seemed like a long time, but he was okay with that. As long as he was with her, he was okay with anything.

He watched as her eyes scanned the horizon for any sign of what was going on. He hated to see her so scared, but he knew he had to keep her away from there. He looked down at their intertwined hands. They fit together perfectly. Her hand felt soft and delicate in his, but not cold. She never felt cold to him.

He gave her hand a squeeze. “I’ll be back by sunset, I promise."

Jack flew out the castle, leaving Elsa alone.