The Invisible (Jelsa)

Chapter LIV

The spirits were shocked when he returned- except Tooth.

"Children? You're a child yourself!" Bunny cried in disgust, but Jack just shrugged it off. He no longer felt like a child- he felt like a King. The King of Frost. He was wiser from his years there, more worldly and empathetic. North noted the change in Jack immediately.

"Your eyes. They do not sparkle like a child, but like a wise master." He said sagely, patting Jack on the back, "Now we see each other." Jack and North shared a look- they were the only two guardians with lovers, even if Jack's was no longer.

The guardians, of course, reacted a lot more warmly when Jack announced he'd found the place he was settling and making home at. He expected Bunny was quite keen on the idea of paying Jack back for all those lovely 'housewarming' gifts near or around easter. For that every reason alone, Jack quickly lied and said he'd need some time to make it more presentable before he was letting anyone in it. They all seemed to accept this, Bunny a little grudgingly, and each gave him a gift to congratulate him on the house and his dead family he'd never known about. Jamie informed him with a joking smile that the latter deserved a bad Hallmark card, and Jack didn't understand. He did promise his favorite great times who knows how many nephew that as soon as he turned 18, he would take him down to see his 'cool' new house. The irony kept Jamie smiling for days each time he referred to it.

Jack left just after winter was up. He had little problem handing this season over to Spring, who thought that perhaps he had a screw loose, but in reality...he had a job to do.

He worked alone for nearly a year. There was little to fix in Elsa's house-most of the fortifying done on their 50th anniversary was still good, intelligent fixes even. He wasn't looking to re-do things. Just make it better. Lila came down and helped sometimes, Ingrid less often (because bringing Tyr and the newborn was a pain) but mostly, Jack woke each morning, ate breakfast (he was making an attempt to become like he had during his reign) then set off to work. He was adding on, making it grander for his visions. It was very therapeutic. He was ashamed of himself that at one point he had wanted to destroy it in an angry rage. Had he, and regained his memories, he would have wanted to kill himself all over again...sort of.

Finally, a year later, just in time for the first snow...it was done. He invited Lila, Tyr, and Ingrid (With her new son, Espen who had white hair as well), putting blindfolds on them and bringing them through the house.

"Ta-da!" He said, and Lila gasped.

"It's so much bigger! What are all those hall ways?" Lila asked gleefully.

"Follow me! I'll tell you soon!" Jack sprinted up the grand stair case. He had kept the room where the met and his own bedroom in pristine order. Just below it though, was four rooms, with little plagues on the wall. Three were ice-made rooms, and one was half-embedded into the stone of the mountain.

"I'm making this a house. No, not just a house, a sanctuary! A school! A place for kids like you who are bullied our outcasted because they are different to learn to control it, learn to love it! I made all these new rooms and classrooms and bathrooms and kitchens..." Jack began rambling, the excitement lighting up his eyes, "And you three- and Jamie, an honorary student, all get your own rooms! Look!" He said, pointing to Lila's name next to the first door. Hers was like a little burrow, with the pink light of a sundown streaming into the walls, making the whole room a shade of pink.

"Where did you get the beds and stuff?" She asked, sitting on the cushion.

"That took a while. Lots of thrift stores and searching in the air for things people left on the street. North gave me a yeti to fix things." He admitted.

Ingrid's room was very regal, and connected to Tyr's so they were never too far away. Jamie's was in the best attempt to make it normal an non-cold, although Jack commented he'd have to figure out how to make it better.

"A school..." Ingrid repeated as she wandered around the multiple dorm areas that she had asked to see next. Jack was standing by with a wide grin.

"I figured, I'm the most important Winter spirit, right? And I'm a guardian! That's a big duty! And everyone else has their helpers, why can't I have my own? Invite anyone you know here, get the word out. And if anyone is looking for a home because their family didn't understand their powers, I'll take them in. This place will be...exactly the kind of thing Elsa would have loved..." His eyes got a misty look to them.

Just as he had hoped, people came. At first it was one or two knocking on his door, but soon word got around and he had nearly 50 frost or water (perhaps a mutation of the original power) sleeping in the dorm rooms. And then a fire child appeared. More of those came too. They brought metal to make extensions for their dorm rooms, as the first one burnt down his ice room. Then a earth student appeared. They carved out the mountain next to the castle, and the ice powers made a walk-way in between the main castle and the area they had created. Finally, just as Jack had been waiting, a Spring Air child appeared. They were happy wherever, the most docile of the four powers.

It wasn't just children, sometimes it was whole families. Or adults wanting to finally learn what had happened. Or skilled masters, who Jack invited to stay on as as teachers. Yes, in only two short years, the ice castle had gone from previously only housing two people, to housing nearly 250 at the most populated point. A few came and went, because they had families that still accepted them, although Jack made it clear they were always welcome. Some stayed permanently, and very rarely did one or two never appear again.

It was during the last days of September that it happened; Jack was in the main dining hall with many of his pupils explaining their next test- the big one, where they go out and start bringing winter to the world as Frost Spirits in Training. How he was going to make them fly? Ah, he'd figure that out later.

There was a knock on the door. Lila, who was with some of the littler people, got up to get it.

"I'm not expecting anyone. It might be a newcomer! I'll get it!" Jack said, pushing her back down. He always had a sense of glee when someone new appeared, or when he was out making winter and he could recruit someone. He was getting quite good at telling the signs now.

He peered through the door, and saw someone standing with their back turned. He liked to play a little game...from who in the family were they descendants of? All four powers began in his family line. Clearly the frost was from him and Elsa, although a couple frost kids made their way into the grandchildren of Anna and Kristoff (recessive gene and all). The fire was from Rizpah's and Hugo's line. Air came from Claire and Wynter. And Earth came from the sole biological child of Rin and Kane, which had been quite the surprise but warm welcome by their two adopted children a year after they were married. About 72% of the time he got it right. The other times, he liked to pretend that deep down, he knew.

"Hi there," He began as he opened the door, "Welcome to-,"

The woman, it was a woman, pushed past him, spinning around. She was wearing a hood that had obscured her face and as soon as she took it off and looked at him, Jack's heart stopped.

"Odin, it's true about what they've said!" Jack found himself in a hug, the woman's body hugging him tightly, "Dad!"

Jack was absolutely dumbfounded. Speechless. Astounded. Flabbergasted. A million other synonyms flew through his mind to try to describe the intense emotions that were furiously battling to make sense in his addled brain.

"A...A...Azura?" he asked carefully, afraid she was just a mere mirage and would break and shatter at his voice. The girl was silent, at he feared that he had just hoped to imagine the voice of one of his daughters once again. The, she moved back, wiping away a tear from underneath her eyes.

"It's me, dad...it's me." She assured, repeating those words over and over. By now, a small crowd had gathered to see who was at the door, and Jack saw Lila on the fringes, trying to push people back from getting too close. Lila was now one of the teachers, even at her young age, and quite respected.

"Lila!" He called joyfully, and his grand-daughter (he was through with all the 'greats' added on, it was just bothersome when she was indeed a closer 'grand-daughter' than anyone had ever been, other than perhaps Sara.)

"She looks like you, Jack." Lila said.

"Really?" Jack held Azura out at an arms length, "Everyone said she looked a bit like Elsa but-no." He shook his head, "That hardly matters now! This is my daughter! It's Azura!" He whispered, hardly believing it, "Zur, this is Sara's great-grand daughter, Lila."

Azura studied her. Lila had let her white hair grow out now that she was under from scrutiny, and the girl had a natural look to her face.

"I can see the family resemblance." Azura agreed, pleased with her clearly.

"I think you two need some time alone." Lila sighed, and began hastily shoo-ing away the peeping students, announcing that food was well past time being done and there was lessons to be learned. Promptly, she took her level four class away, which was quite the majority, and everyone else just stumbled away on their own, but not without shooting a few looks over their shoulders.

"This is..." Azura looked around, blinking, "Different. Different than when I was last here, oh," She scratched her head, "Thirty years ago?" She guessed.

"I think we need to talk." Jack said, sobering finally from the cloud he was floating on, and led his daughter up to his own private study. When she was sitting, with her things on the table in front of her, waiting for him, she looked not the same. For one thing, she was much younger. There was a glow to her that he couldn't quite place. It was almost like a stranger sitting there.

"Do you still like cinnamon in your hot chocolate?" Jack asked carefully, stirring the spoon around the mug. Azura shoot him a odd look.

"It's still me, dad. Of course." She guffawed, like Jack shouldn't have even asked, but he felt reassured in it anyway, and let his shoulders relax as he carried out two cups of the steaming chocolate.

Azura drank in long sips, sighing in contentment. Jack just stared at her. After a couple moments, Azura noticed and set down her cup. It hit the table with a resounding thunk.

"What?" She asked, "Do I have a chocolate mustache?" She wiped above her lip swiftly, wincing at the idea.

"You're...younger. And sitting...in my kitchen. Zur, you look like you're...you're...twenty! You were so old when I saw you a hundred years ago," Another thought struck him like lightning, "Aren't you supposed to be dead by now? How are you still up walking around?" Jack was loosing his composure a little, and he was breathing heavily, "Azura! I saw your grave yesterday! I laid a rose at it and now you're here. What the..." He leaned both his elbows on the wood and rubbed his temples, breathing out hard.

Azura looked a little struck. "Haven't you figured it out?" She asked, frowning hard, "I'm...I'm like you dad." Jack realized where he'd seen the sheen. On season spirits.

"No!" Jack stood swiftly, pacing the room, "God, Azura, no!"

"What? What dad? What's wrong?" There was worry in her voice, but also she was offended. Jack didn't care. He grasped her shoulders.

"Azura, I never wanted this life for you. I was relieved when I saw your grave. I should know how lonely and long this life is. You can't be with someone, you can't fall in love. You are bound by duties that are inescapable...why...how...how could I let this happen?" Jack's guilt plaguing him, and he fell back into the chair.

"Dad, I'm happy." The word seemed effortless breathing from her lips, "I hadn't in a long time. I was pain, I was surly. But now, I've never felt like anything was so right. I've always known that I was meant to be like this. And now, we can be lonely together."

The words echoed nearly perfectly what Jack had told Elsa when they had first met in this very place two hundred years ago, and Jack just lost it. He cried.

Azura frowned deeply, but she did not leave and did not ask why. She hovered slightly away from him, and Jack let everything go. Something inside of him urged him to be selfish, to not care about the chance at the light of whatever came next for his most powerful daughter, and to be glad she was here. That something of his old life was still beating, still home. His more selfish side won.

"Why is there a grave at Arendelle?" He asked finally, his voice cracking like he hadn't spoken in years.

"Well, when I went to Pabbie, I knew I was dying. I wasn't...looking for this. I wasn't going to ask. But I had been out in the snow, and perhaps I didn't want to be alone. I think after he took your memories, he always felt guilty. The moon you used to speak so fondly and the one I was born under was out. He said that I was glowing in it. The moon gave me my advanced powers when I was born, and they were a gift. Dying would be disrespectful he said. I believed him. When I woke up, I was young again...and I stepped out of my body. My mortal body is buried." She explained.

"You listened to Pabbie about that?" Jack hissed savagely, "Even after he took my life away from me?"

"The man in the moon told me. He talked to me. Hasn't he..." She broke off at Jack's expression.

"I've never heard him talk. Only through others." Jack admitted, "It haunts me. No matter." He shook his head, "Where in the world have you been?"

"After I became a real spirit, the winter spirits we not happy. When you were being childlike and plain old messing things up, there was a very structured line of duty. I got the short end of the stick and I've been in Antarctica trying to save polar bears and all since I died." She frowned, "But when i heard the rumors, I...I had to leave. I hope they understand. If not, then screw them." She gave him another hug, "You're my daddy."

Daddy. He had not been called that in so many years. It was a moniker that all his children had employed once or twice in their lives, although it was mostly in their young years and all, and they had grown out of it. He'd heard his grandchildren call their parents such things, but it wasn't the same when he was not on the receiving end. It was such an intimate and endearing sort of title, and his whole body just slumped. The carefully built facade that he'd worn for so long just shattered.

"Azura..." He whispered, his voice hoarse and low, "I'm a wreck." He admitted, "I haven't...been...with it since I regained my memories. And nothing can replace your mother, but...you don't know how much it would mean to me...if you stayed..." He whispered, afraid she'd reject him for all the things he'd been in other times, how he'd left them all.

Azura just stood, the same mothering look in her eyes the night they'd found him underneath this castle, translucent as a window, and she set her chocolate down. "Dad...how could I not stay?" She asked, "Most kids at one point have to take care of senile parents like their parents cared for them once. I never had that chance, but I can do the best of it to take care of you now. You look...exhausted."

"I haven't slept well." He admitted, running his fingers through his hair. Slept well, that was an understatement! He had not slept in nearly six months. Sleeping was once again, not quite the most important or imperative thing for him- like eating it was a luxury- but since it was non-required, his body wouldn't let him. It was Elsa's absence, her ghost at every corner, that kept him awake. A normal person would have eventually succumbed, and had a rocky hour at best, but Jack was always staring, eyes wide.

Azura immediately saw through all this. She snatched away his chocolate and hurried into the kitchen. She returned and shoved the re-warmed drink into his hand. "Drink." It was not a suggestion, but a command, "I put something in there so you'll sleep. You can't go on like this."

"But classes..." Jack murmured weakly and Azura rolled her eyes.

"I'm your daughter, and quite intelligent. I can figure it out and the place won't burn to ashes in day. Sides, that descendant of ours Lila seems competent. She'll agree with me I bet about you and sleep." She insisted firmly. She then herded Jack into his bedroom, where she drew the curtains so the room was plunged into partial-darkness.

"You would have made a good mom, Zur. I'm sorry you never had any children..." He grimaced, feeling a loss for the maternal feeling Azura never had. Azura seemed non-concerned.

"You're a handful enough as it is, Dad." She teased softly, and then hugged him.

"I love you." She said, and closed the door. Even though she was gone, Jack spoke.

"I love you too." It was the first time he could remember saying it out loud and it being truthful in many, many years.