Trapped by Fear

Chapter 23

(Jack's POV)

Filled once again with boredom and not wanting to incur North's wrath by upsetting the spell, Jack took to flying. It was one of his favourite things. To feel the wind tousling up his already wild hair, the thrill, the rush, the surge of adrenaline that came from being hundreds of meters above the ground. He could swoop down at a moment's notice and weave between mountains, trees and houses. And high up in the sky, no matter where you are in the world, there's always a comforting cold about the air up there. It was a place where he could quench his restlessness and thirst for adventure and freedom. Always seeking that something to make him feel alive.

He was weaving between trees in the forest around North's workshop. Though flying eye-wateringly fast, his many years of practice allowed him to easily avoid crashing. It was a fun game once you got the hang of it. As long as you didn't mind getting bumped around a bit at first. Just then he saw something ahead, it appeared to be a sort of humanoid shadow prowling between the trees. Jack skidded to a stop as fast as he could. His heels digging into the snow and he skidded to a stop, ending with a spray of snow that almost covered him completely. Shaking himself off he cautiously approached the suspicious shadow with his staff at the ready. It flitted to the right and Jack followed, growing ever more apprehensive.

Peering through a gap in the trees Jack saw something he definitely wasn't expecting to see. Elsa? Ice-skating? Confusion swept over Jack as he processed what he was seeing. Questions that should have passed through his head like, 'what is she doing here?', 'when and how did she leave the workshop?', and 'will I get in trouble for this?' did not cross his mind at that point. Instead he observed how her eyes were downcast. Her movements were graceful and skillful but nothing spectacular. She was just skating around the ice, seemingly lost deep in thought.

The prankster that he was, Jack had a mischievous idea. Curious to see just how deep in thought she was he confidently skated up behind her. Without saying a word he skated alongside her for a good few moments before she registered that she was no longer alone on the ice.

Briefly glancing back at him for a moment before doing a double take and losing her balance. She flailed her arms around wildly for a moment as she spun around and tried to regain her balance. She finally succeeded and, with her arms still outstretched like that of a tightrope walker, she looked up at him properly.

Jack was in fits of silents laughter as he lost his breath from laughing too hard.

As for Elsa, she seemed to still be trying to decide if she was feeling angry, amused or hurt by the matter. Before she could decide they simultaneously noticed something.

A single grain of nightmare sand hovered in the air between them, taunting them with its presence before falling to the ground and vanishing. Jack whipped his head up to see two nightmares roaming the skies above them. His eyes hardened as the laughter died on his lips.

Elsa followed his gaze and suddenly felt an almost overwhelming wave of fear wash over her.

"Elsa, we need to go," his voice was even but there was a sense of urgency in his tone. He turned to Elsa to see her shaking ever so slightly.

The nightmares hadn't noticed them yet so Jack quickly grabbed Elsa by the hand sped across the ice to the cover of the trees. It was too risky to fly with nightmares in the sky and calling for help from the Guardians would alert the nightmares to their position. Their attention would be focused on the Workshop, probably looking for Elsa. So they had the advantage of being somewhere unexpected and unknown to even the other Guardians. Jack thought about using this opportunity while they were prowling around the workshop to take Elsa somewhere else safe but he had no idea where that would be. North's spell should also be finished by about now so the best plan of action was to get her back inside. They moved cautiously to a denser part of the forest where they had more cover but where Jack could still get a decent view of the sky and thus the nightmares if they flew near.

He was still holding her hand. Her hands were cold and trembling. He turned to see her barely holding herself together.

Her fear would soon attract the nightmares.

Ooh, he didn't know what to so here. Tooth or heck even North were better at the 'comforting, reassuring' thing than he was.

"So uhh, listen I know it seems bad what with us being here exposed to attack, and nightmares blocking our way back, and no way to call for help without making this worse, but I'm sure we'll be just fine."

'Thaaaat didn't work. If anything it had the opposite effect of what I was going for. Think Jack think come on.'

Muttering to himself under his breath he evaluated their options. 'I could probably take 2 maybe 3 but I don't know how many there are or where Pitch is, I can't leave her alone or redirect my attention or Pitch might kidnap her again. Drat!

He felt Elsa's previously firm grip leave his suddenly. She was looking around furtively and slowly backing away from him.

"Hey!" he whisper-shouted. "What are you doing?"

"I-I-I have to leave."

"What! How is that in any way helpful here?"

"They want me, it's my fault we're out here defenseless."

"Defenseless? Excuse me I-"

She continued, completely unaware that he had even spoken.

"If they take me then they'll leave and you'll all be safe"

"Nuh uh! No way after everything I'm letting you get captured again!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know I've been nothing but a burden and-"

"Now you listen here," he countered, "I went through swamps and unicorns and fey to make a spell to protect you and I will not let that be for nothing. Got it?!' His unheard frustrations about North's torturous list finally finding an outlet.

Jack had inadvertently been raising his voice and was definitely not whispering anymore. He was almost shouting.

At the same time that Elsa realised that she couldn't let their work be in vain and needed to go back safely with Jack, Jack realised that his minor outburst had the unwanted side effect of attracting the attention of the nightmares. When did a carefree flight turn into this? At least Elsa seemed willing to come with him back now at least. He did not know how to deal with emotions.