NCIS: Arendale

Chapter 29

*Elsas POV*

I stay silent. Unsure of what to say. Where do I even begin? Taking a deep breath, I prepare to start. "What happened?"

When he doesn't answer, I clarify what I mean. "When you took that blow for me from Fecilier. You looked..you looked...dead." I look up at Jack. He isn't even looking at me.

"Jack please."

"I saw things." He mumbles. "Terrible things."

I put my hand over his. He looks at me with sad eyes. "Tell me." Jack sighs and runs his hand through his hair. "It's not something that I like to think about."

I tighten my grip on his hand. "The moment his voodoo magic hit me. I felt...I felt like I was dying. Then, images started to appear in front of me. The kind that you see in your nightmares-no," he shakes his head.

"Worse than that. The first thing I saw, was...you being killed in front of me. All of your clothes were off, and.. Your body was..I can't even describe how it looked. Your eyes had a blank, dead, stare as you looked in my direction. I reached for your hand, then you were dragged away. Blood left in your wake. The look in your eyes still haunts me every night. Then I saw Toothiana. The bullet wound still fresh. She looked me straight in the eye and said, 'you failed me Jack.' My mother appeared beside her," he takes a deep breath.

"Jack, you don't-" he stops me by holding up his hand. "Let me finish. My mother spoke almost as soon as she appeared. 'You're not my son.' Emma stood next to her, and had her neck twisted and she was blue. 'Chad was right.' Emma said. I-I asked her, 'right about what?'"

This is so hard for him, I can tell. Hesitantly Jack continues. "Then I turned around to see him standing behind me. 'We never should have trusted you!' He yelled at me. Everyone I knew, and held close to me, started to shout the same thing over and over again. A voice said for me to...to just give up..and die. That it's not worth it."

Finally Jack looks at me. "That's when I heard your voice." He smiles warmly. "Sounding like an angel. Calling my name. Everything faded around me. You stood a far distance away. In a single beam of light, wearing the most gorgeous dress. You said my name again. I called for you and took off running after you. Right when I was about to pull you into my arms." He pauses for a moment. "I opened my eyes. For real. And saw your beautiful, tear stained face, red around your ice blue eyes. But at that moment. All I cared about was you."

His forefinger traces the side of my face. "I thought it was just another tortured and twisted vision. I kissed you just to make sure that I still wasn't in that reality. Where I met all my of worst fears. Saw all of them."

He stays silent. His eyes still look sad as he looks at me. "Do you still see it when you sleep?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper. "Because I do."

Jack looks at me again. "Yes. Last night, I woke up. My body frozen with fear. But then I saw you in my arms and realized that it was just a dream. And I held on even tighter to you as I went back to sleep."

Jacks eyes start to light up. "I never want to sleep if I'm not with you."

I lean against his hand like a pillow, closing my eyes. "Neither do I. Before you came back. Every night. My nightmares were at least five times every night. So, to try to get some sleep, I would listen to one of your voicemails and fall back asleep."

Jack searches my face. "Do you still have visions? O-or nightmares?"

"Not since you came back. You seem to chase the darkness away. Like a guardian." I give him a faint smile. He smiles back. "So do you. My beautiful ice queen."