36Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen or Rise of the Guardians. I do own however, a faulty laptop that requires immediate medical-err-technical attention and a tablet that doesn't let me use my memory card in it. It is a sad world I tell you.
… … …
Gray clouds hid the red moon's glow that graced the black sky. No stars crowned the evening, for there was no beauty found in the firmament of darkness, save the glow of blood and the sparkling wings of the harpies and wyverns that littered above every city. It was eerily quiet in the realm of the winter demons; not the kind of quiet that demons beyond its borders were accustomed with, but something much more peculiar, yet much less surprising.
The dark spirits always knew that when it came to Jack Frost, all things were peculiar.
No tangible element could give evidence to how one would know that something was strange. But perhaps it was because Jack Frost was a demon linked to the seasons that one could feel it in the coolness of the air, or the color of the clouds in the sky, or the rumble of the earth as death or life looms that strange things were happening within his domain.
And strange things indeed were happening within the confines of his territory. More specifically, the chambers wherein he took slumber…
"It will be over soon."
The white haired demon's voice reverberated through the empty halls in a gentle, ghostly whisper. Inside his chambers, tangled within silk black sheets and blue glittery dust was an angel asleep. Her blonde hair spilled all over the ebony pillows like a soft silvery halo. A pale hand caressed the side of her face softly, gently, as if afraid to taint the smooth blossom curve of her cheek. A breathe, then a kiss touched the rosiness of her skin, and the weight from beside her left her to stride to the open door that promised the temporal freedom from a sin the demon almost committed.
Almost… for the angel's innocence was too precious to waste on mere carnal pleasures.
Jack stood half naked and tsense, his back towards Elsa who slept like she had no care in the world. Her clothes were scattered across the floor, looking as if a beast had shredded the fabrics to pieces as a result of the intense passion exchanged between them.
Almost, Jack reminded himself insistently. He clicked his tongue, feeling both disgusted and proud of himself for his advances… and how he had struggled but triumphed in holding himself back. To fully claim Elsa as his own would rob her of her heavenly citizenship, making her a Fallen like his ancestors. The worst case scenario would be that Elsa's Sight would be rendered null and void. He needed Elsa, not in areas where his loins were concerned. He needed her for his purpose. He needed her to kill Lucien, to redeem himself, and to finally die a sweet and painful death in the jaws of his beastly friend.
He also needed her to stay as his little piece of heaven.
"As I thought… you do have a conscience."
A serpentine voice rumbled from Jack's far right. After a few centuries, Jack saw the shadow demon again, his unlikely companion whom many call Pitch Black. The Winter Plague smirked in greeting, not minding modesty as he was used to being seen by the demon in worse states of undress.
"Will you report me to Lucien now?" Jack asked him wryly.
Pitch snickered quietly, "Right when things are getting more interesting? Why would I?"
"I did not sleep with her Kozmo," he deadpanned.
"Sad," Pitch shook his head in mock disappointment. "And here I thought you'd convince me you were straight."
Jack answered him with a glare and a pout.
The black demon's playful demeanor turned dark, the silver in his eyes turning a malevolent ocher as he glided towards a lighter area of the hall.
"Have you heard about some of the witches from the Blacker Bogs getting killed two nights ago?" Pitch asked him.
"Yes." Jack answered grimly. "The Watchers thought the traitor came from their race."
Jack had himself a few allies that he half-trusted. They supported his cause because they thought that the death of the current demon king would give rise to a 'better' king who didn't contemplate much on the order of demonic society. It was demons' nature to favor chaos, even in the littlest of things, and a small minority wished with all their inky hearts that one suicidal soul would step forth to oppose his rather systematic reign.
Part of this minority were The Watchers' latest victims. It was the witches from the Blacker Bogs, a place that streamed with tar and manure and animals' blood who contributed to his meeting with Elsa in the City of Promiscuity. The witches were Jack's informants, his eyes who watch over his back when a Tormenter was trailing him. It was unfortunate that one of his supposed allies took the toll for his deliberate acts of rebellion.
"It was a warning, Jack." Pitch told him, lazily gliding through the floor though his voice carried a heavy weight of concern. "The Dark King knew that you bought information from the witches. There's no doubt about it that he knows you are the one responsible for his best demons' deaths."
"Good." Jack affirmed, crossing his arms as he leaned casually against the wall. "Took him long enough to figure it out. For someone so powerful he sure is stupid."
"He knows that you have the keeper of The Sight in your protection, Jack." Pitch interrupted him. "And I am betting that he knows the Night Fury is in your keeping too."
Jack froze, unfolding his arms as he took on a tense stance. "How—"
"Flynn Rider" the dark demon provided for him. "He had been on your tail for the past three decades. If there is any other demon as subtle as you in espionage, it's him."
"S***," he cursed. So that thing at the bar wasn't a coincidence.
Jack would have been impressed if Toothless' and Elsa's lives weren't on the line.
"What will you do Frost?" Pitch asked him.
Jack looked at him, his eyes void of fear. "I'll meet him in a bloodbath." He was talking about the demon king. Frightening as it may that RIder's intervention put their plans of cornering Lucien off course, Jack was determined to meet the king in battle. Toothless still needed a few centuries of training and conditioning, ad the dragon has not killed a single soul yet and the last time Elsa's Sight showed her a vision had been a few decades past. What's more unfortunate was that The Sight revealed a rather queer vision that had nothing to do with the Son of Haddock or the dragon.
The odds were terribly against them. But he was determined to face the king in a death match nonetheless.
Pitch smirked. He was fully aware of the winter demon's reckless attitude. But even he could tell that Jack still considered how terribly weak his resources and weapons are and that it was indeed too early for them to face the demon king. "The classy approach, yes, but we both know the dragon is not as strong as you want him to be yet."
"He's strong enough." Jack insisted, although he inwardly acknowledged the truth of the matter. "And I will fight with him."
"And what of the angel?"
"She will use The Sight to detect his weaknesses and predict his attacks." Jack added, inwardly dreading the idea of Elsa joining the carnage. Aside from risking the death of the wielder of The Sight, he could not... bear the thought of seeing Elsa in a war of the Ancients and Times. "That had always been the girl's role from the beginning."
The expression on Jack's face was clear, Pitch decided. The centuries old white demon was wary and was resolved to get things over and done with, regardless of how everything or how he would end. He also knew that despite the odds, Jack Frost was stubborn enough to believe that he would win the battles he set for himself.
The only problem now was that unlike many years ago when Jack was a lad with nothing to lose and nothing he aspired to gain, now he had something he could lose forever.
"And when worse comes to worst?"
"I will take him down with me." Jack said with finality. The demon was determined to take the king down. Pitch saw it in his eyes filled with cold vengeance.
The shadow demon laughed, the sand on the tip of his cloak swiveling in the air like fingers beckoning. "You seem very confident. Are you sure you would even wound him?"
Jack didn't answer. They both knew it would be near impossible. Or at least Kozmotis Pitchiner did. Jack was never optimistic, but he could be narrow-minded when he wanted to be. He would foolishly face death if it hit him in the face.
They heard a soft sigh come from his room.
"I assume I must leave," Pitch smirked deviously as Jack made a subtle attempt at blocking the view of his room from the black demon's sight. "I wouldn't want to disrupt a romance doomed to fail."
The white haired demon smirked, "There's no romance involved Pitch."
Kozmotis Pitchiner raised a doubting brow, "Really?"
The winter demon's lips pressed into a hard line.
"I'm a creature of the shadows, Jack" Pitch murmured. "Anything that moves in the dark comes to my knowledge straight away, and I've seen the way you look at her."
"She'll go back to her own realm after this." Jack said pointedly, wanting to end that particular conversation as quick as possible. He could handle any topic of discussion with Pitch any day... just not this one. "And I'll be dead by then. Whether or not I harbor any feelings for a heavenly being won't matter."
Pitch rubbed his chin, an amused glance at his friend who looked torn and conflicted with his emotions. This was the first time he witnessed Jack in this state, and yet it did not surprise the shadow man."Ah, but if the heavenly being harbors feelings for an entity of the dark, then she'll be the one having problems."
Jack's shoulders tensed, his eyes glaring at the floor in wide and vicious alarm, "She harbors no feelings for me."
He clenched and unclenched his fists. He wasn't oblivious to the obvious possibilities, with the way he had forwardly seduced her consciously and unconsciously. There is only so much the Netherealm could do to any being who foolishly wandered within it and Elsa was the first angel to survive the evil and immorality reeking from its every corner. Jack had already added insult to injury when he marked her as his slave, making her more vulnerable to the customs of the creatures of hell.
But if Elsa harbored feelings for him, it would be her inevitable doom.
Pitch raised a doubting brow, "You tell me."
"She doesn't love me." Jack snarled, the coldness of the air becoming cooler than it already was. Elsa couldn't. She just couldn't.
"Does she?"
Once again Jack was silenced by his unlikely friend. This was not the first time Pitch Black's words had filled him with doubt. If indeed the angel possessed any feelings beyond that of mere acquaintance with him, it would place Elsa in danger of not only demons wrath, but of the wrath of her own kin. She would risk all, she would be destroyed, and no one would be able to save her. After sacrificing everything she held dear for a mission that robbed her of the chances to live a normal heavenly being's life, her suspected affections would only cripple her to the point where she is beyond saving.
Elsa didn't deserve that, Jack thought. Everything she ever did was an action that esteemed others above herself. It was the one thing that kept him different from her. While they both had one goal, to kill a common enemy, their motives were considerably polar opposites. Jack would kill for himself. Elsa would destroy to protect others.
If she fell for Jack, she would give away the last piece of herself to the darkness.
"She doesn't have to." Jack murmured, glaring at the floor at the realization that he had to make another hard choice since he killed the Son of Haddock. Lifting up a pair of wary eyes, he whispered a request in the tongue only those from the demon folk could comprehend.
"Understood."
Before Pitch could vanish into the shadows of the night, Jack whispered silent thanks.
… … …
Elsa felt the smooth spill of fabric from her skin, exposing the gentle curve of her shoulder. It took seconds for her to realize that she was once again exposed within the confines of Jack's room, and for once it did not surprise nor anger her.
She gazed inward and found the gift of Sight still intact.
Jack's voice rumbled deep and cold from outside the room. Her sudden shift of movement silenced him, and soon Elsa found him back inside, eyeing her with gentle caution as she sat up with blankets held protectively in front of her. Elsa wasn't bashful of him. The demons actions indeed confused her, but then she knew for certain that Jack Frost… was not evil.
She knew it the moment he ceased his ministrations in her moment of weakness. In spite of her state of vulnerability, Jack had pushed her back with blue eyes filled with tender reverence. It left her breathless, confused, disappointed, touched… When he looked upon her with staggering guilt, when he sheltered her small frame with the silky texture of his blankets, when he implied assurance of her freedom from his bondage, Elsa knew it was already her undoing.
Elsa had given in, because she had acknowledged the evil bait of the heart. She had fallen for a creature bred in darkness.
And she knew that the mere thought of it… the mere feel of it, was already an act of treason.
"Jack," she acknowledged him. Her voice was barely a whisper, but the angel knew he could hear.
"You're awake," he said simply, awkwardly, as if embarrassed. "Uhm… had a nice sleep?"
They both choked at the word 'sleep'.
"I uhm… it was… fine," she mumbled.
"Ah."
An awkward silence ensued.
"Lucien is on to us." Jack said suddenly, gravely. "He already knows."
That alarmed Elsa, clutching her blankets closer to her. "How?"
"It's my fault." Jack sighed warily, leaning against a nearby vanity with his eyes away from her. Was he being modest for her? She instantly thought otherwise knowing he still stood before her without a shirt on.
"It's not," she insisted.
"One of the Tormenters kept tabs on me." Jack explained. "Apparently Rider already knew that you possessed The Sight."
The angel's blood ran cold.
"I don't understand… if one of them knew I had The Sight, then why didn't they kill me at once?" Elsa murmured to herself.
Jack shared her confusion. "I don't know… but whatever they are planning, I'm sure it's meant to catch us off guard. They'll surely attack at a moment we least expect them…"
"Well… how does Lucien attack?" Elsa asked him. "Didn't you serve him for a while?"
Jack pressed his lips into a hard line, signifying that he knew the answer to that question. The three centuries Elsa spent with him proved that the expression on his face meant he had no plan to discuss it with her.
"You shouldn't worry about that." Jack said, turning his back to leave. "You will stay out of the battle once it does happen. Your bond with me will create a telepathic channel so you can serve as my navigator."
Elsa looked appalled. The thought of sitting by the sidelnes while her... friends fought a battle she signed herself up for was a thought that angered her. "What? No! I want to fight!"
In a flash, Jack disappeared from the door, only to emerge just an inch above her, pinning her down with eyes aglow with icy fury.
"You will do no such thing!" he hissed, and never before did the angel hear him sound as frightening as he did now.
But Elsa kept her resolve, "I'm not going to let you fight him alone!"
"Toothless will fight with me." Jack snarled.
"We both know he's not strong enough! Toothless is just a child in dragon years! He hasn't even killed anything yet!" she argued, decency completely forgotten as her blankets failed to hide her naked self. But modesty was the last thing on her mind, and it wasn't like Jack hadn't seen enough of her already.
"That's because you won't let him!" Jack spat, the vice-like grip on her struggling wrists tightening as if to match the intensity of his frustration with her. "Now be a good servant and go to sleep, or so help me I will have the Tormenters have their way with you like the sick whore you are!"
Elsa was stricken. Jack never spoke to her like this before.
His sharp words froze her in place, even when Jack finally removed his weight from her. She didn't bother hiding her skin for she was too shocked to move. But her already puffy eyes could not hold back the flood of tears as pain finally settled.
Jack only stared down at her, face void of any emotion. He looked as handsome and sinister as the first time she met him, and it was breaking her heart.
"If I was such a whore then why did you not have your way with me before?" she asked brokenly, her arm shielding her eyes from his sight.
"You already know."
Of course, he needed The Sight. That had always been her purpose from the very beginning. It was their goal to save the world of the children of men from the curse that was the Demon King's existence.
That truth had not hurt her so much like it did now. The both of them had ulterior motives of using each other to fulfill their mission right from the very start. A young angel barely more than four centuries old could only endure so much.
It hurt her that he chooses to become the evil demon the world sees him to be in place of who she knew he truly was.
"I figured," she spoke quietly, voice cracking both from emotional exhaustion and lack of sleep. "Apart from my use, you find no comeliness in me. I disgust you because I'm not one of the likes of you… and that d-disgust has protected me from you." She choked back a sob. "So I should be thankful."
She pushed herself up, not bothering to shield herself from his eyes. His eyes made a short once over of her, considering that the way she bent one leg after another to touch the floor was done in an unconsciously sensual manner. It ignited flames of longing and warning in Jack's mind, and Elsa no longer cared.
"But you won't keep me from doing what I must do. Destroying Lucien is just as much my mission as it is yours," she told him with vindication as she lifted her chin high. Her sapphire eyes glared at him in challenge as she slowly stood, feeling power course through her veins. If it were not for Jack's mark, her wings would have undoubtedly unfurled and wrapped her in a protective embrace, shining powerfully as it does when the angel bearing them was expressing authority. "I will meet him in battle whether you permit it or not. I vowed to die for this cause and even you and your blasted mark won't stop me."
The following seconds was a staring match between angel and demon. It almost seemed like they were made out of beautifully sculpted ivory statues bathing in the faint glow of the underground light. Neither refused to give in, but deep inside Elsa was an ache that could not be comprehended by mere choice of angelic words.
That moment all she wanted to do was to cradle Jack to herself like a babe. Intuition told her that in spite of his stoic stance he was inwardly hurting, fighting a war that raged within himself as he prepared for a battle to take place in the spiritual realms. She knew it well in the way he screams at inner demons during the midnight hour where she calmed him to sleep with her songs. And she would be lying if she didn't admit that those tender moments with him just listening as he slept were moments she had always looked forward to for the past hundred years.
She was first to break the silence, "In spite of what you are… and what you've done to me… I refuse to let you go through this alone." Elsa confessed.
The angel let out a resigned breath, the movement of her shoulders making her tresses spill over her chest.
"It's wrong… feeling this is wrong…" she continued. "But Jack… you… I…"
"You never disgusted me," Jack admitted, swallowing a lump that was never there. He took a step forward, eyes wandering blankly all over her. "You have no idea how much I resisted you… how I wanted to completely seal the mark I placed on you and claim you as my possession. But you have a gift that needs to be protected…" he placed his hands firmly on her shoulders, "and a family you need to return to."
She blinked up at him, confused.
"Whatever you're feeling is wrong," he muttered. He stared back at her with an intensity that might as well have burned her right there. "You are daughter to a captain to a legion of angels who slay creatures like me without batting an eyelash. You have a Tsar whom you've sworn allegiance to since the day you sprouted wings and roamed the Eternal Skies."
His reminders tore through her, threatening to trigger another pooling of confusing broken emotions in Elsa. Yes she was fully aware... of each and everything, of who she was, of what was wrong or what was right.
"Don't you dare spur up another war by saying some bulls*** like loving me or protecting me or else you've sentenced us both to death before the war even started." he growled, the grip on her shoulders becoming hard and demanding.
The angel tried to hold back her tears.
"Don't cry," he scolded her monotonously, yet his hands became gentle on her skin. "I'm not kind. I'm not good. I'm as evil as people say I am. My motives for killing Lucien are my own. The only consolation I can ever give you is that everything will be over soon."
"Why do you keep up this façade like you don't give a care about those around you?" Elsa reprimanded him softly. "You may be a demon but your heart is—"
"Don't even say it," Jack warned her.
"Your heart is like the heart of man." Elsa finished.
He snarled, cursing in every language known to man or demon, releasing pent up anger and frustration. She didn't know to whom or to what it was directed, but she was pretty sure it all had to do with her.
"It doesn't change who I am," he told her.
His words rang in her ears like a church bell forever tolling in a haunting promise of finality. This was his rejection, not that she expected his reciprocation of her feelings. But regardless, she felt the sting of it, and the hilarity and dread of her wants betraying her. She hugged herself, forgetting the cold and the fact that she was bare as the day she was born. And in her brokenness, she had never looked more alluring or pure or innocent.
"Go to bed. We have a big day tomorrow," he ordered, releasing his hold on her as he turned his back to finally exit the room.
Elsa peered up at him, "But this chamber is yours."
Jack stared back at her. "I've no need of sleep. Use it as you wish."
The angel followed him, held him by his wrist, stalled him. It was spontaneous and even Elsa herself was caught by surprise. When the angel caught his gaze, anticipation hit her like a ton of bricks. But more than that was the desire to know, to confirm if her assumptions were true or false. Because she refused to believe that Jack Frost was pure evil, that somehow deep within his heart he indeed... cared.
But the seconds were ticking and soon enough Jack would pull his hand away sfrom hers. He would walk out the door and be the menace that he was in the morning. They would go back to the shameful master and slave routine that she had been cursing about for the last three hundred years. Elsa would not have that.
So she stammered for the first thing that came to her mind.
"Kiss me."
The white demon stared at her like she had grown two heads.
"What?"
"Kiss me," she repeated. Excitement, dread, disbelief, hope... all these emotions raged within her, making her fingers shake with terror as her face was set in determined resolve. "And I won't bother you anymore."
The demon stared at her suspiciously, eyes subtly laced with… with curiosity and longing. When had the angel ever initiated physical advances? It looked almost too incredulously good to be true, with her exposed at her most alluring, asking for the touching of lips within the confines of his chambers. With how every bit of her seemed so inviting, it was almost too easy for Jack to give in to temptation, especially as he lived in a realm where yielding to sin was the common way of life. Bur Elsa was more prude than a convent nun because she was pure by nature, so to ask for his kiss was surely not for the mere physical pleasure of it. Jack decided, there might be something she wanted to know, something she wanted to figure out should he accept her invitation. He had to confirm it.
"Why?"
She surprised him when he didn't give him the explanation. Instead she rose on her toes and gently cupped his face in her hands, planting the softest kind of kiss he ever had on his lips. Her hands were trembling, which meant she was nervous. But her lips were warm and velvety, and like all the times he kissed her, he wanted more.
He placed his hands cautiously on her hips… and they both shuddered. Cold creatures' skins were set aflame, as hot as the passion they shared just moments before. Their movements slow, their breaths long and relaxed and wanting.
And when Elsa had her mouth dangerously close to his ear as he dipped his head to kiss her bare neck, she whispered something that made the demon tense.
"I love you."
He pulled away in shock. She looked at him with a sad smile.
"At least…" she whispered. "Let me meet my doom with the peace of letting you know that."
"You don't know what you're saying," he growled, closing the door behind him before he returned to her in three wide strides and pushed her back on his bed.
He attacked her with the same fervor he had done before restraining himself. Kisses were given with thoroughness, hands wandered everywhere dancing on every part of her skin he painfully ached to touch. Both were drunk of the twisted irony of it all, of how they both swore before their masters to never engage in such acts of spiritual treachery. Because then what they thought was what they wanted, what they needed, what they knew would surely sentence them to a fate worse than death.
What they wanted was the other: the one thing that would compromise their lifelong goal.
What they wanted was love: the one thing that united men but doomed angels and demons to eternal destruction.
In the heat of passion, all those facts and threats were cast aside. As the last of Jack's clothes fell to the dark marbled floor, his previous resolve dangerously waned. When his will had begun to yield, all he could do was continue kissing the angel he now knew he foolishly loved..
And did what he swore he would never do.
… … …
"You doomed the both of us."
They continued to hold each other, Elsa's cheek pressed against his chest, her hair a pool of silvery gold on his shoulder. His hand lazily traced patterns on the spot where her wings were supposed to be while he listened to her humming a song of angelic tongue. The very same song that lulled him to peaceful sleep…
Except, he could not sleep.
"I know." she answered after she finished humming. It was peculiar how there was no hint of remorse in her admission. It turns out... Elsa was pretty much prepared to face the consequences of her actions.
"You dishonored your master." Jack quipped, sounding casual so as not to darken the already dark ambiance of the room after what they had done. "Believe it or not, the Tsar is worse when it comes to delivering punishment than Lucien is." He gave a humorless laugh. "And you angels are so loyal to that old fart when he's the worst of the worst."
Elsa slapped him on the arm in mild reprimand, "I'll have you know that Tsar takes care of us and is fair in all things and I..." she fell silent for a few seconds, melancholy in her eyes as she breathed in Jack's scent. "I betrayed his faithfulness by falling for you..."
"That's not my fault." Jack said sarcastically, staring up at the ceiling blankly. "You made the choice to throw your life away by screwing me."
The weight on him shifted, and Jack found himself facing Elsa, her blonde locks draped over him like a soft velvet curtain. Her eyes were sad and full of love and it caught him off guard.
"You're right Jack," she said sadly, lovingly as she used one hand to place it on his cheek. "I made the choice to love you knowing the depth of its consequences. I will honor my master to the end by taking whatever punishment he may give me..." she caressed his face, uttering her next words in a gentle whisper, "But I do not regret loving you and believing in who you are beneath this mask you call your identity. I will not regret fighting side by side with you when we finally face the demon king and I will not regret the times we spent taking care of Toothless."
She kissed him in the bittersweet fashion Jack could only ever associate with Elsa.
"I've done wrong things." she smiled. "But I know that it's all for the greater good."
Her words did not please Jack. He grit his teeth and pulled her down so he was now propped on top of her, glaring down at her in frustration.
"Do you think that I..." he struggled for words, for ways how to express what he was thinking, what he was feeling, "Do you think I wanted you throwing away your life for... for this?"
"Jack I..."
"Do you think that I was resisting you just because we were different?!" he muttered quietly, rather savagely. "Didn't you ever think that perhaps I wanted to protect you from a fate worse than death, that I was protecting your loyalty to Tsar... that I... that I..."
She pressed a finger against his lips, "Shhh... I know. But for once... I wanted something for myself. I made this choice to be with you. Because I've always known that you're not what they say you are." Elsa snaked her hands around his torso, pulling him down to her in a gentle embrace. "You may come from a race of fallen angels, but you're no demon."
"You say that like you've known me your whole life," Jack smirked, his nose sinking into the crook of her neck.
"I've been with you for more than three hundred years," the angel chuckled. "I have been with you my whole life."
And they basked in comfortable silence just as Jack rolled them over so Elsa was once again leaning on his chest. Jack decided, to hell with the consequences. He was in nature a very selfish being, and right then what he wanted was this moment with Elsa.
But he worried about what was next. Now that he has completed his bond with Elsa, what would become of her after the war about to take place?
Gasp!
Elsa pushed herself up from him in a startled breath. Jack by instinct followed after her and searched her frantic blue eyes.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked her, squeezing her shoulders.
Elsa's vision was lost in a myriad of colors. Her eyes were white and aglow with images that could only be seen by one who possessed powers of clairvoyance.
"The Sight." Elsa breathed as her eyes were still lost to reality. "It's still in me."
Jack was perplexed.
The angel returned to reality like she had been saved from drowning. Elsa fell back into Jack's arms, drinking in his scent like her life depended on it. She panted, breathing in and out as an evidence of her wariness from having experienced her gift's power in such an intensity she had never felt before.
"But you... we..." Jack was lost for words.
Elsa was amazed herself, "I know..."
"What did you see?" Jack asked after what felt like a long time.
She let out a long breath, closing her eyes as Elsa let the images she'd seen stay fresh in her memory.
"I see a man, he..." Elsa took in another deep breath. "He had my father's eyes except... they looked paler in comparison." Slowly she pulled herself away and stared into Jack's eyes. "But he looked just like you, Jack. He had your hair and he had your smile..."
She shook her head, as if trying to force the memories back like the were slipping away.
"Tell me more." he demanded.
"He was... he was riding a large creature..." Elsa's eyes went wide. "A-a dragon. He was riding Toothless."
The winter demon didn't know what to make of what she'd seen.
"He slayed Lucien. He killed the demon king."
Before Jack could come up with a conclusive explanation to the angel's vision, Elsa had beat him to it.
"The man who kills Lucien... is our son."
... ... ...
Seven days had passed, and that was when the angel had been sure that the gift of Sight had now completely left her.
But even so, a bittersweet peace has enveloped her as dainty hands carressed her still flat stomach lovingly. Now she understood why the Tsar had chosen her, had sentenced her to a rather ill-kind of fate. Regardless, she had never been so happy. Hurt in the worst possible way, but happy nonetheless.
As she stood by the terrace of the Winter Plague's underground palace, overlooking the barren icy wasteland that was Jack's realm, dressed in pretty robes made from the shedded skins of a white Naga, she had never looked more angelic than she did now. Every feature of her, from her flushed cheeks to her sparkling blue eyes, expressed the image of a mother who was extremely yet timidly excited waiting for a child she is yet to meet.
Jack however did not share her excitement. The knowledge of her pregnancy has left his tormented soul in dread. In all honesty, he couldn't care less about his child. But he saw how precious the unborn babe was to Elsa, and he also recognized its use in destroying the demon race... except...
His bloodline would live on through Elsa's son... his son. Their son.
He sat there in the darkness of his study, observing her as he rested his chin on interlocked fingers. The demon ignored the arcane book he'd been reading moments before leaving it lying open on his table. Jack couldn't help but let his thoughts wander on what to do now that there was a considerable change of plans in the Demon King's termination.
Why does it have to be our son? he asked himself. What was the point of training Toothless if we have to place our trust into some monstrous hybrid? Why?
A child with angel and demon blood: a creature dubbed as Nephilim, although such a name was given to human children fathered by fallen angels before they turned demon. Their child would be the first cross breed of angel and demon... and he dreaded the day it would come into the world.
His brooding was disturbed at the sound of Elsa's laughter. She was lying across the floor with Toothless pinning her down, nuzzling her face affectionately like a giant cat purring on a white mouse. The demon's torment momentarily waned, savoring the moment of seeing his two most important company interacting.
"Toothless, get off of her." he commanded the black beast. Toothless responded with a stubborn snort as he pushed himself off and flew away.
"Why'd you go off and scold the poor thing?" Elsa reprimanded him, albeit she was still smiling from the dragon's affections.
"You wouldn't want the black lizard squishing your baby." he deadpanned.
"Our baby." Elsa corrected him, pulling herself up. "And It's only been a week since we... "
Jack smirked, "Since we fu-"
"Jack!"
"- Screwed each other's brains out."
Elsa slapped him on the arm. The demon merely laughed.
"The baby will live." Elsa said confidently. "The Sight never makes a false prediction."
Jack snorted, "It's a pretty slow and more often than not useless power. I'm glad you got rid of it."
The angel's response was in the form of an angry growl. (And if Jack wasn't lying with himself, the sound actually turned him on.)
"What? It's true!" Jack snickered against his palm. "If The Sight told us that earlier, we would have just screwed each other sooner and got it over and done with!"
"You're disgusting."
"And you love this disgusting pervert."
Elsa shook her head and proceeded to the door when Jack caught her by the waist, spooning her and showering kisses on her neck.
"Jack!" she squealed, a blush invading her cheeks. A few giggles escaped her when he planted soft playful kisses on sensitive parts of her nape. "Stop it!"
"No." he smirked against her nape.
Instead of another reprimand, Elsa smiled at him gently, planting a hand on the side of his head as she welcomed more of his kisses.
Jack stopped kissing her, choosing instead to rest his head on her shoulder while he tightened his embrace.
This was nice, Jack thought. If only they could stay that way, laughing and feeling carefree. It would have been nice if they were free from the burden of self-redemption or duty, to have the freedom of choice, of deciding their own destinies, of being recipients to Tsar's grace. It was no wonder that the first generation of fallen angels rebelled, for they were jealous of the freedom and grace the Tsar had given the humans.
As Jack continued to hold Elsa, to listen to her soft humming, to hear the sound of her voice as she sang to him about her excitement, about her unspeakable happiness, he wished that they weren't angel or demon. He wished they could have met each other in another place, in another time.
With that in mind, Jack realized that he envied humans. A lot.
... ... ...
The angel never knew that a few days after she met Flynn Rider, around twenty other Tormenters had already been tailing them. This was information Jack withheld from her since they (or rather she) realized their love for each other. During the darker than black hours of the Netherealm day, Elsa was unaware that Jack had begun casting protective spells around his territory, and had been taking Toothless out more than usual. The icy walls surrounding the barren valley of snow looked taller than before, and the fog surrounding the white demon's hiding place seemed thicker than the glaciers surrounding their hideout. It worried the angel whenever she took note of how little Jack spent his time inside his territory each day, and how lesser she hears the grunts and growls she had gone accustomed to whenever Toothless was around.
It was on her third month of pregnancy that Elsa knew about Toothless' first twenty kills.
She had kept mum about it, for it was necessary for the Night Fury to earn experience in killing his enemies. It saddened her that the once innocent creature's claws were now tainted with blood. Perhaps the only good thing about Toothless' kills was that the blood in his claws never belonged to innocent beings.
The most notable however was the change in the creature's behavior. Green eyes that were once laden with cat-like playfulness were now a pair of jade eyes that belonged to a hunter. The dragon's orbs seemed more focused than usual, and quite hungry for its next kill, and it was bothering Elsa that the young Night Fury she had come to love was slowly turning into the monster Jack expected it to be.
Elsa had wanted to confront Jack about this, but the fact that she was seeing lesser and lesser of the father of her child each day prevented her from doing so. And it was aggravating her, depressing her, breaking her heart. Even if she knew he was only doing it to protect her and the baby... still, she wanted to spend more time with her most precious company, especially now when they were all approaching their inevitable doom.
It was on her fourth month of pregnancy that Jack came back with Toothless, a wide ugly gash on his left shoulder, and his right eye swollen.
"Jack!"
The demon had halted her with a gesture, using the seal she set on her as a barrier between him and his... wife. This was something Jack wished Elsa wouldn't see.
"Let me near you!" Elsa pleaded. "You're bleeding. At least let me tend to your wounds."
"I can take care of them." Jack murmured in response. "You should rest."
"Tell me what happened..." the angel almost begged. "Please..."
"The dark armies... are by the Frozen Gates..."
The angel froze. The Frozen Gates was the only barrier that protected Jack's territory from the rest of the demon world. It was what hid them from the eye of Lucien, and knowing that his armies are standing by at the last line of their defense meant that their end was coming sooner than expected.
She was snapped out of her train of thought when her lover softly carressed the side of her face with a loving smile. Amidst the blood, amidst the scars, Jack had always looked beautiful. Even when faced with doom, just the sight of his smile sent peace within the expecting mother's heart.
"Trust me," he whispered. "It will all be over soon."
Over how? Elsa thought in her mind. Knowing that the end was near, knowing that her child would come into the world filled with sorrow and hatred and gnashing of teeth, how would all come to an end?
She had found love in the darkest of places, and yet she was cursed to fall from grace and pay the martyr's price in order to save the worlds. Neverthless, she regretted none of these truths apart from one: that her Jack would have to suffer most of the torment, that he would have to face their enemies alone with Toothless for she needed to care for the baby who was to save them from the reign of the Demon King.
As she watched Jack and Toothless retreat into the dungeons, to disappear from her sght again within the next few hours, she gently smoothed a hand over her belly and sighed a wary sigh.
"Yes, my little Nightlight. It will all be over soon."
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A/N: Hello my precious readers! Thank you for waiting ever so patiently for the third and not-so-final installment to Totentanz. It turns out that I could not fit this darned thing into three chapters even so I decided to cut the third chapter in half. It might take a while before the final installment is posted up since I've been busy with work lately. And trust me, work had been hell.
Anway... I'll be updating my other stories soon, so please stay tuned.
P.S. If you feel that the ending to this chapter is rushed, it is. xD that's because I didn't know how to properly end it. But trust me, next chapter is going to be the last one! ;)