Marionette

Chapter 38 - Return

The brisk autumn breeze nipped at her porcelain skin as she tightly held her dark teal colored infinity scarf closer to her face in response to it. She sat at the boardwalk bench by herself, listening to the sound of the ocean splashing about just a few feet below her.

Despite the chilly weather, there were dozens of people around her at the beach, tourists mostly.

Her eyes were drawn to a clamoring young couple nearby. They were giggling and flirting with each other as they walked with arms linked, obviously deeply in love with one another. Elsa watched them walk past her and then promptly dropped her gaze, trying not to let melancholic thoughts plague her mind. She held her scarf to her face closer in an attempt to distance herself from the joyous surroundings, as a barrier of some sort.

"Hey there, Winters."

Elsa raised her head to the sound of her name uttered by a familiar voice. She smiled politely at the older Australian man standing before her. "Aster…" She scooted over, making room on the small bench for him to sit. "Thanks for meeting me here. I know it must be hard for you right now."

"Huh?" Aster asked, followed by a soft chuckle. "Shouldn't that be my line? Sure, Manny's keeping all of us on a tighter leash than usual since Peter disappeared, but it's not a big deal. How about you…?"

She paused for a second before asking. "What about me?"

"Well?" He raised an eyebrow as his hand subconsciously drifted over to the inside pocket of his beat-up leather jacket. Aster pulled out his usual box of cigarettes, hoping to light one up, but quickly remembered that Elsa never liked the smell of smoke. He noticed her suppressed grimace and put them away. He cleared his throat sharply. "...I know it's been almost six months now since everything happened. I'm pretty sure you aren't resting easy either knowing that Peter could still be out there."

"I have Thiana watching me. I feel safe enough," Elsa responded with a relaxed smile.

Aster pursed his lips awkwardly and nodded. He laced his fingers together and drew in a sharp breath, only to have Elsa interrupt him.

She knew exactly what he was trying to bring up.

"Aster...it's okay. I'm okay about him…"

He glanced at her, almost nervously.

"...Jack?" she whispered, holding herself to provide a barrier from the bitterly cold wind that swept across the boardwalk and to keep herself from reacting emotionally to the sound of his name.

"Winters…-"

"You know, I never told anyone this, but his last words to me was that he would never see me again. He promised he would get out of my life and I would never see him." She laughed dryly. "I guess that's one promise he kept."

Aster frowned slightly, deepening the soft wrinkles around his mouth. "You sure you're okay? I'm only asking all the time because...well...Thiana mentioned that you haven't exactly been the most sociable person nowadays."

"I'm out meeting you here, aren't I?"

"It's just business," he informed her, earning him a bittersweet sigh.

Elsa simply smiled slightly and did not say anymore on the matter. Instead, she attempted to move the discussion to the main reason as to why they were meeting today. "Have you found out anything about Peter and his disappearance? I feel like I'm relying on you too much for information, but I don't have anyone else I can trust and...I don't want to put Thiana in danger. You said it as well."

"Yeah. Better me than her," Aster said with a wry chuckle. He pursed his lips slightly and drew in a slow breath as he moved on with the conversation. "I still don't know what Manny is planning, but I feel like the more I delve into this matter, the more dangerous it's becoming for me and for everyone else."

"What matter?"

Aster paused in hesitation before responding carefully. "What Manny's planning and how it ties into Peter's disappearance. The two are definitely linked."

"So you think whoever's targeting Manny and myself...is the one behind Peter's disappearance."

"Seems like it. Whoever it is, they have a serious grudge against the wealthiest families in Burgess. It's not a coincidence that all of this is happening to specific targets." Aster cast a sideways glance at the young woman and then back down to his feet. "Winters…" he muttered, "you know...with all that's happened, I'm sure you thought of the possibility that your parents too -"

She interrupted him with a sharp exhale. "- I did. I've considered it. Their deaths were ruled as accidental...but I'm starting to think it wasn't. I've had my suspicions, but now it seems like it's true."

Aster noticed the tight grip the young woman had on her hands, which were shaking just ever so slightly. Her entire body was tense- her back rigid and her knees tightly held together. "Oi, Winters. You'll be fine. You got Thiana protecting you and you got me too."

She shook her head. "That's not it. I could care less about what happens to me at this point. It's Anna…"

"Anna?" Aster asked in a rather incredulous manner. "She's not in any danger as far as we know."

"She isn't, but that doesn't mean that she's safe." Elsa managed to quell the trembling in her hands. Her voice fell to a dull whisper, so much so that Aster had to lean in more just to hear what she had to say next. "I'm still being targeted, but whoever's out there doing all this is trying to remove the people closest to me. They want me to suffer before they kill me."

Aster appeared visibly disturbed by this revelation. "That's -"

"- cruel, right?" She laughed dryly against her cold hands that she had brought up to her lips. "I don't know exactly what my family has done to this individual, but for them to blame me for all of my family's crimes is…" Elsa fell silent, unable to finish her sentence.

The gray haired man bowed his head solemnly. "Winters...I swear I promise I'll do my best to find out who it is. Thiana and I will keep you and your sister safe, okay?"

She simply nodded her head, unable to verbally thank him for she was growing livid with dread.

'First it was my parents, then Jack, and now I'm afraid of who will be next.'

A light humming filled the lounge, followed occasionally by the sound of pages in a catalogue being turned. A giggle interrupted the humming briefly as a delicate hand ghosted over the glossy pages with various pictures of wedding items.

Anna's bright blue eyes widened slightly at the sound of the front door opening, followed by Wendy cheerfully greeting Elsa back home. She set down the wedding catalogue and shot up from the sofa. "Elsa!" she exclaimed as she ran into the entrance hall to greet her older sister. She took note of the tired, listless expression that she bore, but it was a common appearance for Elsa nowadays. Anna no longer bothered to make a mention of it and decided that introducing her to cheerful vibes would possibly uplift her mood even by just a bit.

"You're up early," Elsa remarked as she handed her scarf and coat to Wendy for her to take. "You usually sleep in on Saturdays."

"Well, having a sister that's an early bird kinda influences your sleep schedule too," Anna laughed.

Elsa's eyes widened considerably as she quickly apologized. "I'm sorry if I woke you up, Anna. I know our rooms are right next to each other, so I try not to make a lot of noise when I go out -"

The strawberry blond burst out into a full blown laughter, holding her stomach as she practically kneeled over in front of Elsa. The latter's confusion caused Anna to gradually cease her laughter. "You know…" she breathlessly said as she wiped away tears from her eyes, "you're technically considered the head of this house over me and yet you act like you're a guest sometimes."

Blushing a slight pink in embarrassment, Elsa drew back a little and nervously held herself. "I can't help it."

"I know, I know," Anna waved her hand dismissively. "That's just how you are, Sis. Always looking out for me no matter what." She giggled again, failing to notice the dimming smile Elsa wore.

She found herself thinking back to her conversation with Aster earlier. The last thing Elsa wanted was to put Anna in danger, much less get her involved in everything that was happening.

"...Hey, Elsa...you alright?" Anna asked, slightly concerned as she let her laughter die down. She finally took notice of her sister's solemn expression.

She blew out a solitary breath. "Anna, you'll tell me if you notice anything unusual around you, right?"

The strawberry blond wrinkled her brow. "Where's this coming from -?"

"- Just promise me. Please."

Seeing the genuinely worried look that Elsa wore, Anna simply nodded in response, still confused as to why her older sister was suddenly acting in this manner. "I would ask you to tell me what's up, but I have a feeling that you aren't going to."

Elsa's voice cracked slightly. "I - I'm sorry, Anna…I can't."

She let out a dejected sigh. As disappointed as she was with Elsa's silence, Anna chose not to press the matter any further for fear that she wasn't going to like what she would hear. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll take you up on that offer from a few days ago."

The blond young woman raised her head to look at her sister in wide eyed disbelief. "What? Are you sure, Anna? You were so against me trying to assign you a few bodyguards."

"Well," Anna twirled a lock of hair around her index finger idly as she spoke. "You're making the whole thing sound ominous and you seem really worried about me. It might have been selfish of me to think about only myself and my freedom. I need to keep myself safe for your sake too." She looked at Elsa, who continued to stare at her in shock. Anna finally blushed and shot back in embarrassment, "what?"

"Nothing," Elsa blurted out. "That's just...kind of mature of you to say something like that."

Anna pursed her lips, not sure whether to take her sister's statement as a compliment or insult. "Was it out of character or something?" she asked with a pout.

"No, no!" Elsa drew back a little afterwards. "Well…maybe a little, but in a good way!" she insisted. She relaxed her posture and expression into that of a gentle smile. "It's just that...you've been growing up a lot these past few years."

Anna scoffed as she let a small grin spread across her face. "You sound just like Mom if she were here."

The platinum blond let out a soft giggle. "Do I? I guess I'm getting old."

"Please," Anna responded with an eye roll. "Don't say that. I'm only a few years younger than you. How does that make me look?"

The two sisters locked eyes and immediately burst into a small fit of laughter.

"Hey," Anna said in between giggles, taking notice that this was the first time she had heard her older sister laugh in the past few months.

Elsa cocked her head to the side slightly, awaiting the rest of Anna's sentence, as she wore a broad, heartwarming grin.

At that moment, Anna found herself stricken by Elsa's smile and she paused for a moment before deciding to dismiss pointing out the fact that this was the first time she had seen her smile ever since Jack's death. "Never mind," she responded with an ardent smile. Anna's eyes briefly flickered upwards thoughtfully before coming back to Elsa. "Hm, how about we go out?"

The smile Elsa wore slowly turned into a look of curiosity. "Huh? Right now?"

"If you're not busy of course!"

"I don't think I have anything else planned for today -"

"- Perfect!" Anna exclaimed while clapping her hands together. Her mood seemed to have jumped up tenfold. "It's been so long since we had a sibling date!"

Elsa watched her sister break down into a bubbly giggle as she rambled on about what they should do together. She couldn't help, but break into a grin herself. It felt foreign to smile out of genuine happiness, but she embraced the change.

Perhaps she had been wearing this black veil for too long.

The smooth sliding noise of the elevator prompted Aster to reopen his eyes and raise his head slightly just in time to make eye contact with North. He kept his hands stuffed in the pockets of his beat up brown leather jacket and simply acknowledged the husky old man with a grunt.

"Aster -" North said with a warning tone in his voice as he stepped aside to let the lanky man step out of the elevator. His normally kind, baby blue eyes, were narrowed into a dangerous glare. "Where were you?"

"I just went for a walk, mate. Since I can't smoke near HQ," Aster muttered. He could hear North following him closely behind, obviously not buying his story.

North stroked his salt and pepper beard and sighed deeply. "Aster, there is something I must discuss with you. It is urgent," he emphasized just as they reached Aster's room.

He gave out an exasperated sigh, accompanied by a slight roll of the eyes. "Look, North. Can we do this another time? I'd like to go lie down for a bit -" Aster stopped abruptly when he saw North's hand dart out to grip at the doorknob.

"It's...urgent," North reiterated with a lower tone of voice this time. He didn't waste any more time getting straight to the point. "...Where are you keeping Jack?"

Aster could tell that North was searching his face for any signs of lying. "What are you talking about, mate?" he whispered dismissively, not fazed by the question North asked him. "Everyone knows that Frostbite's dead. Stormfly killed him...just like Manny asked her to."

Not a single muscle on Aster's face twitched as he said his statement. At this, North let out a breath he had been holding onto. However, the grip he had on the doorknob tightened. "Manny just informed me that he has his suspicions. You have been going out frequently and he said that you have been buying a lot of medical supplies...too much for someone in seemingly good health."

"Like what? The bandages -?"

"- Morphine...and painkillers, Aster."

Aster met North's eyes directly. "Just stocking up. Been getting injured a lot on all the jobs that Manny sends us out to do. Hurts like hell when you have to take a bullet for the person you're protecting. Right?"

He was good at lying. North knew it all too well. Even now, he couldn't even decipher whether or not Aster was truly lying, but he knew. In his gut, he knew that Aster was lying about Jack. North finally let go to the door knob, allowing Aster to enter his room. He let out a low, closed-lipped sigh through his nose. "I know you're trying to protect him, Aster. But what will you do if Manny finds out about all you've been doing behind his back?"

Aster remained silent before asking, "how'd you find out about it? Through Sandy?"

North said nothing and simply averted his gaze from Aster. The answer was apparent to him.

"...Then I'll have to trust you two to have my back. Seeing as how you haven't told Manny yet, I'm guessing that you know what will happen...to all of us if he found out." Aster lowered his eyes before flickering them back up to North's solemn face. "Thiana made the right decision with leaving. You know Manny's got an...interesting way of how he sees the world. Let's just hope that he doesn't find out about any of this, for all our sakes'."

Sweat ran down the nape of her neck, disappearing down into the crevices underneath her damp sports bra. Her breathing was heavy as she unleashed a barrage of blows to the punching bag dangling before her. Despite the stinging pain she was starting to feel on her bandaged knuckles, Astrid continued her swift combo of punches and kicks before coming to a rest with a heaving breath.

"You know those injuries on your hands aren't going to heal if you keep opening them up."

At the familiar voice belonging to Henry, Astrid let out an agitated sigh, not turning around to greet him. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I am," he replied in a chipper tone as he approached her. Henry wore a broad smile when he finally made eye contact with his bodyguard. "I can work from home for a couple of days before I need to go out to the corporation again. I'm just taking a small break right now and I thought I could come visit you."

Astrid rolled her eyes slightly and went towards a first aid kit to redo her dirty bandages. "What do you want?" she asked bluntly.

Henry remained unfazed by her cold attitude and smiled broadly as he walked up next to her. "Weeeeelll...I was thinking that we could go out for lunch together." His forest green eyes seemed to sparkle with a flirty mischievousness that Astrid rolled her eyes at once more.

"What's the occasion?"

"No occasion. Just think that you could use a break too."

The blonde stared at him with a slight furrow in her brow and eventually let out a soft sigh. "I'm fine, Hiccup. You need to stop worrying about me."

He followed closely behind her as she aimless paced the room while bandging her hand. "The dark circles underneath your eyes say otherwise," he remarked.

"I don't have dark circles -!" Astrid sharply turned around, finding her face just a mere inch away from his neck. She tilted her head back to meet him and barely had time to prepare herself for a kiss. By the time he pulled away, she could feel a blush creep up her neck and she quickly pushed him away. "Dumbass," she muttered under her breath, embarrassed, as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

Henry gently placed his hand on her wrist and pulled her arm away from her face. He brought her injured hand up close to his face for inspection and then let his eyes flicker back to her worriedly. "I know you're my bodyguard, but aren't you pushing yourself too much? Your hands…" he muttered as he took the loose bandage and tightly wrapped it over her injuries.

She flinched slightly at the pain, but let him tend to her. Her body relaxed and she let her gaze drop to the floor. As he finished tying off the knot, she asked him softly, "do you think we made a mistake?"

"Hm?"

"Joining Manny...joining the Guardians." Astrid took back her hand and held it over her chest in a tight fist. She clenched her teeth together and whispered harshly, "I've had people die on me when I was in the military. I had to kill people too...but soldiers go to war with the intention of dying. This was different...what Manny ordered me to do to Jack was cold blooded murder."

Henry met eyes with her and they reflected a worry that Astrid thought was for himself.

She responded. "I'm more than confident in protecting you, but -"

"- What about you?" he interrupted.

Her blue eyes widened slightly at his question. "Huh?" she stammered, caught off-guard.

He chuckled despite the heavy weight of their conversation. "You're out there trying so hard to protect me that you forget about taking care of yourself."

She bit the inside of her cheek and muttered, "I can take care of myself."

Henry chuckled again and held her injured hands tenderly in his. "Yeah...I know, but just keep in mind that I'm not as unreliable as you probably think I am."

Astrid blushed wildly and visibly flinched when she felt him kiss her forehead. Her blue eyes flickered up towards him just when he laughed in order to cover up his own embarrassment.

"Was it too much?" he asked, causing her to blush even darker at the blunt nature of his question.

"...I don't think you're unreliable." Her eyes rolled again, but this time her lips turned up into an bashful smile. "Not by a longshot." Her mood quickly fell once more and Henry took immediate notice of it.

He remained silent for quite some time, unsure of how to proceed with asking her a question that he knew was sensitive. "...Are you...still thinking about Jack?"

Astrid bowed her head in remorse. "I killed him, Hiccup. I killed him in cold blood and I while I've tried to justify it, I just...can't."

"Didn't he try to kill you? Wasn't it in self-defense?" Henry inquired, although from the calm manner of his speech, Astrid knew that he wasn't asking for his own knowledge.

She drew out a long sigh and held her head as if it ached in pain. "Fucker gave me a couple of broken ribs and sprained my arm that day, but he saved me in the end when the cliffside gave way. He pushed me out of the way, Hiccup. He could have easily taken me down with him, but he didn't."

Henry saw her fist tightly clenched at her side.

"He didn't," she repeated behind clenched teeth. "It was as if he knew...that if I didn't kill him that night, we would have been punished by Manny."

The brunette averted his gaze from her. He parted his lips slightly, but didn't speak right away, as if he was searching for the right words to say. "...To answer your question, Astrid, we didn't make a mistake."

She lifted her head to look at him. Her blue eyes showed a flash of confusion at his words. "So, you think we'll be okay?" Astrid briefly widened her eyes at the feeling of Henry pulling her into his arms gently. However, instead of pushing him away in embarrassment, she leaned into his warmth.

A sense of comfort came over her and she let her eyes close just ever so slightly.

"Do what you can to protect us. I entrusted my life to you for a reason." Henry gently tightened his hold around her and carefully nuzzled the side of her head, taking in the light cinnamon scent her light blond hair carried. "But if at any point, you feel like you can't carry on, then I'll help you."

Astrid sighed deeply into Henry's chest as she rested the side of her face against the soft knit of his beige sweater. She returned his hug and lightly squeezed him in her arms. "Let's hope it won't come down to that, Hiccup."

The tip of her pen scratched lightly against the document she was marking up. Eventually, she stopped and her blue eyes came to a rest as her vision blurred the financial and legal jargon in front of her. Elsa fell into a sort of trance at her desk for a few minutes, drowning in complete silence before a sharp rap on the door brought her back to reality.

"Y-Yes?" she answered, attempting to get rid of the stutter in her voice. "Come in," she said with more rigidity in her voice.

The door opened up and for a split second, her heart sped up at the sight of tall, lean built male silhouette, clad in a improperly worn suit, opening up the door. She half expected a familiar face, with a head full of wild silver hair to follow, but that was where her delusions stopped.

Elsa wore a confused expression for a split second when she saw a young black haired man instead and then realized that he was one of the new bodyguards that Thiana had hired for her. She coughed awkwardly, although he didn't react to any of it.

"Your secretary is leaving for the night. She asked if there was any more work left for her to do."

"I have nothing else for her."

The young man's eyes went to the piles of papers on Elsa's desk and then back to her. He lowered his eyes briefly at her lie. "Of course," he simply replied. "Will you be heading home soon?"

"No. I will be here for a few more hours." She noticed the confusion and worry in his eyes, which is quickly dismissed with a warm smile. "I appreciate your concern, but I'll be fine. Thiana is still here, so there's no need to worry."

"Of course," he responded stiffly. "Well then…" The bodyguard gave a slight bow before exiting the room, leaving Elsa to herself once more.

She let out a solitary sigh, closing her eyes as she did so. The sound of her pen dropping onto the desk broke the silence momentarily as she allowed herself to sit there in solitude with her face buried in her hands.

"...You should go home and get some rest."

Elsa gasped softly at the sudden voice and she relaxed when she saw that it was Thiana. "I didn't even hear you," she admitted with an uneasy laugh.

The green haired woman sighed as she uncrossed her arms that were folded over her chest. "Because you're tired. You've been working late hours more frequently now, Elsa."

"There's just a lot of work that needs to be completed."

"You sent all your employees home early," Thiana stated bluntly. She watched Elsa as she dropped her gaze back down to the papers in front of her. The older woman let out a soft exhale and slowly approached Elsa's desk.

Elsa furrowed her brow at the growing silence and then frowned as she spoke to Thiana, avoiding making eye contact. "If you have something to say, then say it." She clenched her fists tightly on her lap and she stared at her whitening knuckles as she spoke. "I know that everyone's worried about how I'm reacting to everything...about Jack."

Thiana remained silent, allowing Elsa to carry on the conversation by herself.

"I'm fine though. I don't know what anyone expects me to do right now." Her expression and voice turned spiteful. "I mean...this isn't the first time he left me. I'm used to it by now." She resorted to rolling her eyes as she uttered the last statement.

"He didn't have a choice this time, Elsa -"

"- Yes he did!" the young woman snapped, her voice brimming with fire and passion.

Taken aback by the glare that was presented to her, Thiana flinched and found herself shrinking underneath Elsa's piercing gaze. "Elsa…" she said softly, concerned for her.

Elsa, realizing what she had done, widened her eyes briefly, dropping all of her present emotions and looked away in remorse. She got up from her chair and turned towards the large window overlooking the city of Arendelle. The twinkling city lights below her all appeared to blur together as she spoke slowly to the other woman.

"...I didn't want to break up with him, even if we didn't see each other for three years." She brought a delicate hand up to her chest, where her necklace usually rested, only to find it bare. "When I saw him in the elevator back at the resort, I thought I was dreaming. I honestly never thought I'd see him again. I was angry at him for leaving me, but as soon as he locked eyes with me, all that anger went away. ...Despite everything he's done to me, I was happy that he was alive...that he was right in front of me."

Thiana could hear Elsa's voice crack slightly after the last few words, followed by a soft sniffle. She could see the young woman raise her hand to wipe away a tear that had fallen from her eye.

"...I'm sorry, Thiana. I don't want to talk about this anymore."

Thiana drew in a sharp breath, as if she was trying to cut in.

"Please don't bring up Jack around me anymore either."

The older woman pursed her glossy pink lips together tightly with a slight frown before she released the tension in her body with a slow exhale. "...I understand. I apologize if I...upset you."

Elsa wryly laughed as she wiped away a loose tear from her eyes. "You don't need to be so formal with me, Thiana. You know that."

"I know, but I've upset you still."

Thiana kept her eyes on Elsa as the young woman turned back to her desk and shifted around some papers before picking up a few files and tucked them into her arms. She waited, patiently, for any sort of response from the blond.

However, the only thing Elsa said next caught Thiana slightly off-guard.

"It's late. I suppose we should be heading home right now."

It was completely normal, everything down to her voice and her appearance. It seemed as though she was not upset just a while ago over Jack.

"O-Of course," Thiana stammered before quickly helping Elsa out of the office. She held the door for her and she saw the feigned confidence in her strides as she walked in front of her. The clicking of Elsa's heels sounded monotonous to Thiana, almost like a rusted metronome trying to go with a song that it could not keep up with.

It did not even register to Thiana that they reached the underground parking lot. It only came to her attention when she noticed Elsa had stopped walking in front. She stopped before she collided into her.

"...What I meant to earlier was that you don't need to apologize, Thiana. I should be the one apologizing. You only said what you did because you're worried about me. I shouldn't get angry with you over that."

The green haired woman let out a breath that she had subconsciously been keeping inside of her since they left the office. "Please don't worry about it, Elsa. I shouldn't have overstep my boundaries."

She giggled in amusement. "I think we're past the point of boundaries between us now. You dote on me like how I would imagine my mother would have doted on me." She smiled in contemplation, much to Thiana's surprise.

The soft plains of the older woman's cheeks turned into a soft pink and she quickly clapped her small hands over them. "I-I just worry about you, that's all! The same goes for Anna! You're both lovely young woman that I just don't want to see get hurt!" She sheepishly laughed, trying to hide her display of embarrassment.

Elsa burst in a fit of stifled giggles at the sight of the usually mature bodyguard showing expressions that would better fit a naive schoolgirl.

The sound of Elsa's giggles caused Thiana to loosen the grip on her cheeks and for her eyes to widen just ever so slightly. It was a sound that played like a beautiful melody and she could not help, but smile at it.

A growing chill in the air caused Elsa to hug herself tighter, bringing the files she was carrying flush against her chest. Thiana quickly noticed this and ushered the young woman to continue walking towards the car. With a slight stutter due to the cold, Elsa asked with slight hope in her voice, "it's getting to be a bit colder this winter than last, isn't it?"

Thiana chuckled. "Perhaps we'll get some snow this year."

Elsa smiled a little, a small light flickering in her soft blue eyes. "That would be nice... I miss the snow."

As the female bodyguard helped the young woman in the backseat of the luxurious sedan, she stopped suddenly and quickly her head snapped over to one of the dimly lit corners of the parking garage. When she did not spot anything there, her pink eyes darted over to another corner, only to find that the entire garage was empty from what she could see.

"...Thiana? Is something wrong?" Elsa asked, hushing her voice down to a low whisper when she took notice of the ominous atmosphere. "Is someone here?"

There were no cars in the entire garage as everyone had gone home for the day. There was only a light coming from the security office, which was empty as the guard probably went off on his rounds around the building. Thiana narrowed her eyes towards it for a brief second before turning her attention back to Elsa. "No...I thought I saw someone moving around over there."

"Well...we do have several security guards in the building right now. It might be one of them. Even if it isn't...no one is allowed into the garage or past the lobby without a keycard," Elsa reassured.

"Right." Thiana shook her head and flashed the young woman a comforting smile. "It must have just been my imagination. It's late after all." She closed the car door softly and walked around towards the driver's side. As she did, she paused briefly, shooting her gaze over to the security office again. It still felt unsettling, as if someone had been watching them earlier, but Thiana decided to let it go. Security in the building was tighter after-hours than it was during the day. If there was indeed someone there, they would have been caught.

Thiana got into the car and started the engine. She wasted no time backing out and leaving the garage, unwilling to leave any chance of someone taking advantage of the fact that they were vulnerable within the car.

As soon as the metal gate to the parking garage rolled to a close and the soft purr of the luxury sedan's engine disappeared into the night, a single figure stepped out from behind the column next to the security office. A hood was pulled over the head, partially obscuring the individual's face from the various security cameras placed in the garage. A single sigh, low and rumbling, produced a puff of vapor from the man's mouth as he produced a single keycard from the pocket of his black coat. He ran it over the key reader pad near the metal gate and the gate slowly rolled back open.

Once he was back outside, he broke into a light run before any of the security personnel noticed the gate's movement. When he ran a full block and turned a corner, he stopped to catch his breath. His hand immediately went over to the side of his abdomen, gritting his teeth as he tried to stifle down a groan in pain. It hurt to push his body any further, but he had a good several blocks of downtown Arendelle to go through before he could get back to the safety of his shelter.

He tried taking a couple of steps, only to double over in pain, so much so that he had trouble standing up straight. Starting to break out into a cold sweat, he quickly ducked into the nearest alley and produced a small prescription bottle filled with painkillers. Breathing heavily, he opened it and popped two fat white pills into his mouth. He swallowed it dry, nearly gagging and coughing them up again.

After successfully swallowing them and regaining some of his composure, he moved to put the pills back inside his coat, when he was stopped by a low voice coming from the darkness of the alley.

"...Hey. You got some more to share?"

He shifted himself off the wall he was leaning on to get a better look of who was talking to him. His body tensed when he saw at least three individuals emerge from the shadowy alleyway and approach him. They were men, around the same age as himself, and rough characters that he was hoping to avoid in the downtown area.

He took a cautionary step back.

"Junkie," one of the men, whom he assumed to be a sort of leader amongst the three of them, chuckled. "We won't hurt you as long as you give us those meds. Those prescriptions fetch us a high profit on the streets." His demeanor changed drastically when he was not compliant. "It isn't an option, by the way."

His fists tightened into a ball, as if on instinct, as soon as he saw the leader flick his head slightly, signalling to the other two to attack. Almost without any second of warning, he dove into the fight.

He managed to land a good punch to one of the men's face, but quickly received a counter blow across his own face.

"Heh," the leader chuckled as he picked up a rusty pipe near his feet. "Looks like this junkie can fight."

The pipe swung at him and he managed to grab it just before it delivered a blow directly above his head. He yanked it overhead, effectively pulling the man towards him. His fist connected with the man's sternum, the blow practically causing him to gag.

However, victory was not for long as he was suddenly grabbed from behind, causing his hood to fall off of his head. The darkness still obscured his appearance, but not for long as he managed to elbow whoever grabbed him from behind, causing them to let go.

He managed to put some distance between them and him. The moon slowly began creeping out from behind the shroud of clouds, the pale light illuminating the alleyway and revealing the head full of silvery hair that was once hidden underneath the fur hood. His piercing blue eyes glared straight ahead at the three men that tried to attack him as his parted mouth let out ragged, sustained breaths in order to keep his pain on his side at bay.

The pills hardly seemed to work now, he thought to himself as he grit his teeth in annoyance over the growing pain over his injury. He could feel the slightest warmth of blood seeping out and soaking the bandage over it. Even just jogging a block was enough to wind him now, so there was no way he was going to be able to fight these three, much less run away. They would just catch him.

The leader coughed, regaining his composure as he scowled at him. "I've never seen you before, Snow White," he attempted to taunt in reference to his silver hair. "You ain't no junkie, are you?"

Since running was not an option, the only thing left was to stay and fight.

"Just give us the meds and like I said, we'll leave you alone."

He wryly smirked, clutching at his injured side as he stood up a little straighter. "I'd rather deal with you three than go back to Bunny and tell him I lost the meds he bought for the month. Like you said, these things cost a lot."

The scowl on the leader deepened as he tightly held the rusty pipe in his right hand. His face suddenly turned into a grin, then a cackling laugh erupted from his throat. "What? Bunny? Are we supposed to feel threatened over someone with a name like that?"

An abrupt gunshot rang out, startling everyone, including the leader who soon realized that his leg was burning with a sharp pain. He let out a cry and fell over, clutching his injured leg tightly to his chest.

"Kind of...to answer your question, mate." The tall Australian man stepped out from the shadows behind them and held the gun pointed directly at the group of three. He rolled his minty green eyes at the sound of the leader hollering as he held his bleeding leg. "Oh man up, mate. I avoided hitting you somewhere fatal, didn't I? Now I would suggest you take your guys and leave, unless you want a bullet right in between your eyes next time."

It took almost no time for the three to run away as quickly as they could from the alleyway.

And it took almost no time for Aster to shoot a dangerous glare over to the silver haired man standing there still. "What the hell were you thinking, Jack!?" he yelled as he safely holstered the handgun behind his waist.

In disbelief, Jack stood there, mouth agape and momentarily forgot about the tearing pain on his side as he retorted strongly to Aster. "That should be my line! Firing a gun this late at night? Do you want to be caught by the cops?"

Aster rolled his eyes and let out a scoff in disgust as he approached Jack. He slung his arm over his shoulders to help him walk. "Whatever. I did it to save your sorry ass, kid. Now let's get out of here before the cops actually do show up."

Grunting in pain, Jack wasted no time in firing back. "I had them. I could've handled it myself."

"Yeah, sure," Aster snorted. "You were about to get your ass handed to you. You can't even walk properly still with that injury."

"Hey, at least I didn't give away those pills you bought."

"All of this wouldn't have happened in the first place if you had just stay put in the apartment like I told you to, Frostbite."

Jack glared at the ground beneath him as he muttered, "stop calling me that. I'm not a Guardian anymore...haven't been for a long time."

Aster rolled his eyes again. "It's my name to you. How about that? Unless you want me to call you 'Snow White' instead."

The young man sighed in disgust.

"Hm. Frostbite it is then. Let's just get you back to the apartment and then you can tell me why you felt so compelled to go visit your ice queen tonight."

A/N

Woop, Jack's alive. No surprise of course to you guys, but some of the characters like Elsa and Astrid still believe he's dead.

Anyways - good lord.

I'm so sorry for my disappearance. I honestly felt so dissociated from my writing and this story. I don't want to say that my passion for Jelsa is gone, but in a way it is. However, I have a story to tell and this story is like my child. Is it odd to say that I feel like the Jack and Elsa in my story are different characters/beings from their canon counterparts?

Anyways - I can't just abandon this fic halfway. I do want to see this story to completion and I do want you guys to experience the ending of it. It may not be as grand to you guys as it is to me, but I think you guys all deserve an ending to this story. Honestly, I don't know who's still reading this and who's still with me. I don't blame those that lost interest after my long hiatus and moved on to bigger better things. But for those that are still here that were still excitedly waiting for the day I update, I'm sorry. And thank you for sticking around.

I don't want to tell you what I've been up to all the time, but I honestly haven't been writing anything since I last updated this fic. Again, I felt distant from writing and I felt like I lost inspiration in story-telling. I'm actually ghosting other fandoms that catch my interest right now. For those that follow my Tumblr, you'll see how much Boku no Hero Academia stuff I've been reblogging. (Especially TodoMomo - coughs - You may see a fic from me about them in the near future - coughs again - ) Also have been watching Violet Evergarden. I wish I knew how to read Japanese to read the novels it's based off of, but it is an absolute tear-jerker. So much angst and beautiful animation. Please do go check it out if you haven't already! It is such a good anime series.

Anyways enough rambling. Thanks for sticking around and I will update with the next chapter as soon as possible!

-ZERO