Tempest-A Jack Frost and Elsa Fanfiction

Elsa-Chapter 10

She deliberately hid from Jack. Elsa had taken up residence in the warmest place in the ski resort, the one place she knew he'd hate to look for her. The sauna.

While she preferred the cold, hot places didn't bother her in the slightest. In fact, she sometimes preferred them because they helped her suppress her powers. She sprayed some of the eucalyptus oil that the resort kept in spray bottles all around the room, drinking in the smell. It reminded her of something, though she couldn't quite put her finger on what.

Shaking her head in confusion, Elsa's thoughts turned back to what she had seen when Jack had touched her. No, she corrected herself. Where she had been. She knew she had been in Ledas. She had felt the sun on her face, seen the shimmering ice palace, felt a swirl of snow against her skin. And then she had been back with Jack in Canada, wondering what had just happened. Something about that shining, glassy palace had felt familiar to her, but she didn't know how that could be. She was an ordinary girl. Well, mostly.

Closing her eyes, she relaxed against the warm wall, her fingers opening and closing convulsively as she released ice into the air, letting it dissipate in the humid sauna. She was glad that she had found this place, no way would Jack follow her in here...

"Hello."

Or apparently he would.

"I take it you're avoiding me?" Jack continued when she refused to open her eyes. He was disturbing her calm. She let off a larger spray of ice crystals, trying to release some of the tension she felt. None of that tension was necessarily Jack's fault, but Elsa was growing tired of not being able to do even the simplest task he asked her to do without creating a catastrophe. Plus, if she was honest with herself, she was a little afraid of him. She had never met anyone with such control over their powers before, and frankly, to say that she had trust issues was the understatement of the century.

"Okay, so I'm going to take your silence as a yes," Jack said, sitting down next to her. "Geez, how do you stand this heat?"

Elsa shrugged, a smirk tugging on the corners of her mouth. "I don't mind it. It helps me control my powers better, actually. If you don't like it, you're welcome to leave."

"Why are you making this so hard?" Jack asked her, rolling his shoulders uncomfortably. "I'm only trying to help you."

Sighing, Elsa knew he was right. "I get that, I just don't think I can do this."

"I don't believe that," Jack argued. "You made that pond freeze over like it was nothing. You can do this, I've seen it."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Jack said, "Can I ask you a couple of questions?"

Elsa nodded, spraying the eucalyptus again and trying to keep the picture of that gleaming crystal castle in her head. For some reason, it made her feel better.

"First question," Jack said, a teasing grin forming on his lips. "Can we please go somewhere else? I think you must really hate me because you seem to be trying to kill me."

"I don't hate you," Elsa replied, a ghost of a grin flickering across her face. "It's just—all my life, I've never really had any friends and the one boy who did find out about my powers hurt me because of them."

Jack's brow furrowed as he studied her, his deep brown eyes so intense that she had to look away.

"I would never hurt you," he said quietly, reaching out and touching her arm gently. She didn't flinch away even though the part of her that felt afraid wanted to. "If you're looking for someone to trust, you can start with me."

Elsa nodded slowly, deep in thought. Although her adoptive parents had loved her, they had never trusted her. They had kept her away from other children after the freezing incident, away from her sister, and away, to a certain extent, even from themselves. She had never really had someone to call "friend" before.

"My second question is are you wearing a bathing suit under that towel?"

That earned him a swift scowl. Elsa crossed her arms protectively in front of herself even though she was, in fact, wearing a strapless blue bikini.

"Yes," she replied, her voice clipped. "Why?"

Jack's mouth quirked up in a teasing grin as he surveyed her body up and down. "You wear a lot of layers most of the time. Just curious what you'd look like without them."

He was infuriating, arrogant, cocky. But still she didn't want him to go as he stood up to leave. Maybe he could be her first friend, someone she could trust. He had proven trustworthy so far, maybe putting her trust in him wasn't such a bad idea.

"I can't stand this heat anymore," he grumbled, holding out his hand to her to help her up. "Come on, I have an idea."

Elsa stood up, disappointed when his touch didn't transport him to Ledas as it had before. She wanted to go back there, find out what drew her to that place and what it would be like to live somewhere she didn't have to hide herself.

"What's your idea?" she asked as he practically yanked her arm out of the socket in his haste to get out of the sauna. Jack grinned at her over his shoulder as they entered the area between the locker rooms.

"Well, the last time I saw you perform some ice magic without any problems was when you froze that pond. I have a theory that when you let go and have fun, you're more in control of your powers."

Elsa raised her eyebrows at him, surprisingly his theory made sense to her. A smile quirked up one corner of her mouth as she said, "What exactly do you have in mind for fun?"

"You'll find out," Jack grinned. "I hope you don't mind breaking a few laws though."

Her smile immediately turned to a frown, but Jack just laughed. "I was only joking, princess. Lighten up. Although I have to admit, the expression on your face was priceless."

Elsa stared at him for a moment, she had never seen this much of Jack either. He was well muscled without being bulky, the ropy muscles of his torso were pale, even tinged with a little blue in some places. She wondered briefly what he looked like before he had been changed, probably mostly the same but somehow she pictured his skin being the shade of a toasted marshmallow and his hair dark blonde.

"Like what you see?" he teased, causing her to shoot a stream of frost at his bare chest before remembering that it wouldn't have the effect she wanted. "Ooh, that feels good," he said, closing his eyes. "Get my back too. You owe me for making me follow you into that sauna."

Laughing, Elsa said, "Well, at least I didn't follow you around pretending to look for a lost dog."

"Fine," Jack grinned cockily at her. "Even?"

"Even," Elsa agreed, extending her hand to shake and accidentally allowing the towel to slip off of half her body. Jack raised his eyebrows appreciatively before she quickly covered herself up again, a blush creeping into her cheeks.

"Alright then," Jack smiled over his shoulder, pushing open the door to the men's locker room. "I'll come get you later tonight and we'll go have some fun."

Elsa watched him go, her pulse racing rapidly. What in the world had she just agreed to?