Falling In // jack x elsa

chapter six

chapter six: dead in the water

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When your hands let go of me

The ice is thinning out

And my feet brace themselves

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Elsa woke up with a start, her hair stuck to her pale neck with sweat even though in her room it was snowing, hard. She hugged her knees, burying her face into her arms as she willed her heartbeat to calm. It was so long since the last time she had a nightmare about... that.

Dry sobs heaved through her body and the storm in the confines of her room blew stronger. It was so long ago but the memory still haunted her; she had almost killed her own sister. She swallowed down the disgust and fear she had for her own powers and took a deep calming breath.

"It's going to be okay," She said aloud, hoping to soothe herself, "I'll see Jack today and we'll have fun and I -"

Elsa stopped talking abruptly as she looked around her room at the stacks of work she left undone. She cursed her irresponsibility as she slid off her bed and made sure not to step in the pile of stationary that had ended up on the floor.

The blizzard in her room calmed down as she exhaled slowly, her eyes taking note of the late morning light that dimly lit her room.

"Princess Elsa?" A maid called, knocking carefully a couple of times before adding, "Are you awake now?"

Elsa stumbled to her door, hesitating for a second before she opened it a crack and asked, "What do mean am I awake now?"

"Well, this is the third time I've been sent to wake you up. You've already missed breakfast, milady."

A silent, "Oh." is all that came from Elsa's side of the door as it dawned on her that she had wasted half her day sleeping, and to top it off she still had mountains of work to do and reports to finish.

"Is lunch ready? If so, please bring it directly to my room. Thank you." Elsa said with finality as she shut her door, picking up the nearest folder and flipping through the papers in it.

She sat at her desk and studied the charts her father had sent her, noting that though closing the gates affected every aspect of the kingdom, trade was still going well and the citizens seemed to accept it. Elsa finished the last few sentences on her second essay about the importance of trading with neighboring kingdoms and closed the file, planning to pass it to her father right away and then come back and do the rest.

With an exaggerated sigh and a change of clothes, Elsa was out the door, pulling tightly on her gloves and properly arranging the pages in the folder.

"I can't believe this." Elsa muttered to herself as she waited to be announced before she entered the throne room. The sun was high over the kingdom now, indicating that it was past noon.

She glided into the throne room, the layers of her day dress swishing around her calves as she handed the folder directly to her father. Elsa smiled. "I'm done with that report, father."

The king opened the folder and skimmed its contents with a quizzical brow, passed it to his servant, then stood and walked to the window. Elsa could read the stress in his posture. Sometimes the role of being king brought unbelievable joy because it meant proper trials and giving to the needy but those instances were lessening as time went by.

"Try your best to finish as much as possible within this day." The King said steadily, not looking at Elsa. She bowed deeply before leaving the room, risking a faint smile at Anna as she rushed past carrying her own armful of finished work.

Elsa tried to calm herself before stepping into her room. It felt like the universe was plotting against her, its arms taking turns to pull her farther away from seeing Jack. She repeated in her head that it was only a few more reports, she could finish them, and she would finish them.

After forcing down her lunch and another couple of unbearable hours of working on the country's budget report Elsa began to draw on the edges of her paper; small things like snowflakes and flowers.

Elsa sighed for the hundredth time that day as she put the folders full of reports and endless essays on the cart outside her room. She wondered if even though she obviously missed the chance to go ice skating with Jack and Emma she could still meet up with them at their cabin.

She quickly changed into a plainer dress and got the dull brown hood she hid under her bed. With the hood over her head, her head down, and her shoulders slumped she walked out of the servants exit of the castle and into the town where she walked to Jack's house, having memorized the place by heart.

Elsa knocked tentatively on the door of the Overland house but the door was left open. She hesitated for a moment before she gingerly walked in.

"Jack?" Elsa called out as she wondered around the front of the house, "Emma? Is anyone here?"

She felt alone. Not lonely, but alone in the same way she felt the cloth of her hood scratching at the back of her neck, or the smoothness of the wood under her feet, or the way she felt her corset pulled a bit tighter than what was comfortable around her waist. Elsa felt alone as if it were an actual thing, flowing throughout the whole house like mist blanketing a town, reaching into all the corners of the house and finding nothing in it but her. It was a cold feeling, this.

Elsa stopped for a minute and looked down at a little black box that was clumsily hidden under discarded cloth. She picked it up and opened it, marveling at the ring that laid inside. It wasn't grand but it was breathtaking as it was simple. Elsa took off her glove and rubbed her thumb across the snowflake design that weaved its way across the metal.

Her heart stopped as she recognized it - Jack's so-called-perfect snowflake. She took the ring out of the case and slipped it on her ring finger. Looking at it on her finger made her blush. If Jack had meant for this to be hers - her face flushed at the thought, she exhaled as she realized she was probably being full of herself.

"It can't possibly be for me." She laughed, trying to put the ring back in it's case.

Then all of a sudden a yell sounded out across the field making Elsa jump and her heart hammer in her chest.

"Help!" A voice called, "Anyone please help!"

Elsa raced to the door, opening it to see Emma in tears, coughing and choking as she rasped, "Elsa!?"

"What's wrong, dear?"

Emma choked and began to wail, "Elsa... It's Jack - He tried to save me, Elsa! Now he's..."

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And how did you feel about this chapter?

Was it obvious that this chapter would end like that because of the title of the chapter? Or perhaps the title of this story in general?

I would just like to say that you should really take time to listen to the songs that I name every chapter after. Especially this chapter. They're really good. Also this story is named after "Falling In" by Lifehouse, it's so Jelsa!! but then again I relate every cute song to Jelsa. Hmm.

 Well, thank you so much for taking the time to read all this!! If you don't mind please also take the time to leave a comment and vote. :)

- Kat <3