A/N: O hai!

"You and me,

We're in this together now.

None of them can stop us now.

We will make it through somehow.

You and me,

Even after everything.

You're the queen and I'm the king.

Nothing else means anything."

Nine Inch Nails - "We're In This Together"

Of Ghosts and Valkyries II

Act III

.

.

"Rebirth"

.

.

It was the sound of thudding that first stirred her, an endless, regular explosion with perfect cadence that reverberated throughout her ears, like an metronome-timed artillery barrage.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

For a few moments, Elsa thought bombs were falling nearby, and considered diving for cover - until the scent and taste of the air hit her. It was a pervasive smell of damp and mildew that filled her nose with its pungent aroma and made her taste buds recoil in horror at its bitterness. Part of her railed against her body's imperative to breathe, lest she draw in more of the infernal odour.

Oddly, the moldy edge in the air was lessened somewhat by the presence of something wholly incongruent to the air on which it rode - a fresh, crisp chill that conjured images in her mind of snowmen, winter and laughter.

Senses slowly returning, though her eyes were still covered by a thick veil of black, Elsa became vaguely aware of being laid on her right side, on something soft yet damp. Her left hand twitched, and her mind was instantly bombarded with an assault of stimuli from her fingertips - a scratchy, coarse surface she thought felt like cotton, yet reminded her more of barnacles clung immovably to a rock face. The nerves in her fingertips registered the touch of the material with such sharp, astounding clarity that her fingers instinctively curled inward, seeking the normalcy and relative comfort of her own skin - only to find a surface as cold as the air she breathed.

Slowly, reluctantly, as though her body was betraying her mind's will, her eyelids opened. A haze of blurry grey greeted her sight, with malformed rectangles forming some sort of pattern. She blinked. Again.

Darkness.

Light.

Darkness.

Light.

Her sight sharpened every time the veil of black was drawn away, and the rectangles became bricks and cement in such detail she could see so clearly the tiny grooves, indentations and holes constituting each brick like she was peering through a scope.

Her body betrayed her yet again, subjecting her to an onslaught of aches and stiffness in places she never knew she had, burning and twinging, making all post-battle aches and pains she had ever experienced feel like nothing in comparison. She gingerly pushed herself up to a seated position by her right hand, and that was when a dull headache pulsed through every inch of her skull. Groaning, she instinctively rubbed at her forehead with her left hand - the chill of her skin helped somewhat with calming the pain - which was when a voice, clear as daylight, made her realise she wasn't alone.

"You're awake!"

Squinting slightly, and taking care to move her head as slowly as possible, Elsa looked upon the smiling face of someone she hadn't expected to - at least, not just yet.

"Anna?" she said, her dry throat reprimanding her for daring to speak.

Sat on the bottom step of whatever room Elsa was in, her sister looked at her with palpable relief and a wide smile.

"You had us going a bit there, champ." Anna stood, and moved to sit on the end of the bed. The sudden dip made Elsa wish she hadn't. "How're you feeling?"

Elsa managed a single, exhausted snort. "Like an Odin tank ran over me," she groaned, just as she noticed something over Anna's right shoulder that was too perfectly timed with the metronomic booming that it couldn't be coincidence - drops of water falling from the ceiling onto the floor. "Why do I feel like I'm having the hangover from hell?"

Anna frowned slightly as she fumbled for something on her right hip, and tilted her head. "You don't remember?"

Elsa looked away and attempted to search her memories, eyes blankly moving from puddle to puddle, too busy searching the blank space in her recollection to remark upon the oddity of puddles indoors. It was like grasping at wisps in her mind; faint images and sensations just out of reach. The feeling of flying, and of being held by someone. The odd feeling of safety. Beyond that? "Not really…"

It was as she swallowed, starkly aware of the arid desert of her mouth, that her throat pulsed with a sharp, raw pain. What in the world happened to her? Why did the bed feel like sandpaper, or the drops of water sound like bomb blasts?

Her eyes glanced up to the space between them at the appearance of something being handed to her - a water canteen. After feeling like her body had been emptied of everything important and filled with heavy rocks of pain, the offering of water was beyond welcome. Gratitude in her mumbled thanks, Elsa unscrewed the cap and took several small sips that turned into a deep draught.

"I'm kinda not surprised; you had a hell of a night. I mean, I'm over the moon you're okay—and it means you're better now, though this room looked like hell—but it's so cool it's happened and you pulled through, and I can't wait to see what you can do, and I—"

Anna's excessive, excited babbling had reached such a pitch and volume that Elsa was forced to duck her head and wince, screw her eyes shut, and yelp, "Too loud, too loud!"

"Sorry! Sorrysorrysorry!" Anna said quickly, her voice mercifully reduced to a whisper. "I forgot; your senses will all dialled up to eleven for a while. It'll normalise, don't worry."

"But why?" Elsa croaked, and immediately made peace with her throat by another sip. "Why does it feel like this?"

"You really don't remember?"

Elsa looked at her sister, a plea for understanding in her eyes, and slowly shook her head. Encouragement in her smile mixed in with a little pity in her eyes, Anna leaned toward her a little. "You bloomed, Elsa. You're a fully-fledged abnormal… one of us, now."

If Elsa was supposed to feel anything positive about Anna's revelation, be it relief, joy or basic realisation, she utterly failed. The only thing filling her body was a deep sense of resignation, going well with the feeling of her heart sinking to the floor. A long sigh was let slip from her lips, and she buried her forehead in her hands. "It finally happened, then…"

"You… don't sound happy about that…"

Elsa could easily hear the confused, faintly stung tone to her sister's voice, and cursed her ears for picking it up so clearly. How could she be happy about it? Being an abnormal had cost her a romantic connection, a sisterly relationship, consigned her to three years locked in a room, no contact save for regular serum injections, allowed out only when Anna was out of the house. She couldn't explain the anxiety and fear bubbling up whenever the buzzing would start, and the frantic scramble for the suppression pills like it was some sort of addiction. To hate herself for being what she was - to be uncomfortable in her own skin, and to wish she was anyone else but herself?

How could Anna understand?

"It's… complicated."

Sensing Anna was about to prod further into the topic, as she was always apt - the drawing of breath was a clear sign - Elsa quickly deflected the incoming question with one of her own. "So, what happened?"

Visibly reluctant to follow the query line, Anna filled Elsa in on the events of the night before, with the first startling revelation being that Elsa had been in that room for a solid sixteen hours - explaining nicely the sudden growling of her stomach. Astrid, Merida and Rapunzel had disobeyed her direct order-yet-not and revealed their true nature to the Ghosts. Frustrated and angry at being kept from the truth for so long, Frost - though her memory could swear his name was Jack - had stormed into Elsa's room, intent on getting answers… only to find she had fled the house through the window. Half an hour later, Frost had returned carrying her in his arms, and explained the truth - Elsa was blooming. Quick thinking had led her being placed in the basement both for her safety and everyone else's, and for the next half-day Elsa was enduring the most painful experience of her life thus far.

"Was I… was I alone?"

It startled Elsa, how lost yet hopeful of the opposite her voice was, like the idea of being alone was terrifying. Anna seemed to pick up on it; her expression held a momentary flash of guilt before quickly becoming one of reassurance.

"No. I wanted to be here with you, I really did - but Frost wouldn't let me, on account of the baby. And he was right - the house got so cold. Even under the blankets, most of us were shivering-"

Elsa snorted bitterly - yet another reminder of how dangerous she was. Her own sister couldn't be there, lest she be harmed by her kin.

"-so, Frost stayed down here with you."

"I'm not surprised I was kept away from—wait, what?"

Elsa stared at Anna with bewildered surprise, face utterly blank. Were her ears playing tricks on her, or was Frost truly at her side throughout the whole ordeal? From one revelation to the next - Elsa's head was beginning to spin.

"Yeah - he had us lock him in the room with you. Said you shouldn't be alone - only one of us immune to your powers."

Elsa's eyes fell to somewhere around Anna's navel, the classic expression of deep thought. Could that have been why she could remember a pair of arms, remember being held, recall the feeling of safety? Did he go further than simply keep her company, and comfort her?

A small smile tugged at the corner of the lips at the irony; her boyfriend Dylan, whom she had great feelings for, abandoned her in her time of need - whereas her once-enemy with whom she shared a contentious, uneasy truce was there for her every step of the way. It was a small smile, and a flicker of warmth in her heart.

"You okay? You're looking a little pink."

Elsa looked up, and counted her blessings at Anna's presumable obliviousness. Keen to avoid being probed, she said with hastiness, "Yes, I… I'm just hungry, I suppose. How… how is Frost?"

She did not like the grave look that crossed her sister's face, nor the essence of worry behind her eyes. "He's… he wasn't too good."

"Tell me," Elsa said, surprised with the sternness with which she spoke. Anna immediately began fiddling with her thumbs, grimacing in hesitation.

"After I opened the door for him, he… he practically fell to the floor. He was pale, weak, could barely stand. Pitch and I had to carry him to my bedroom so Rapunzel and I could check him over. He's better now," Anna hastily added, noticing the deep concern on Elsa's face, "but he wasn't great."

"Why?" Elsa breathed.

Anna looked at her for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath and answering. "You remember what Papa taught us about exothermic and endothermic reactions?"

Elsa nodded.

"Well, take me. I'm exothermic; I literally radiate heat, can create and set myself on fire… I generate energy, yeah?"

Elsa nodded her understanding. Already she could see where Anna was leading to. "And since Frost and I both create ice, we are endothermic?"

"Yeah," Anna scratched her temple, "that's right. You both draw your energy from the nearby environment, right?"

"Right." Elsa took a sip.

"Well… from how Frost described it, your powers were going crazy from your bloom. Which, for the record, they all do. Anyway, while you were doing that, you weren't just drawing energy from around you… you…"

"I was draining it from Frost," Elsa whispered, heavy resignation settling on her shoulders. Of course it couldn't be so nice. She couldn't have had a warm little memory of being looked after, without the knowledge she was slowly killing him.

"Yeah," Anna said, her voice solemn. "To compensate, Frost was subconsciously feeding off the area around him, but not quickly enough."

Elsa sighed, and rested her forehead in her right hand, guilt and shame washing over her. It only reinforced her belief she was a danger to everyone around her.

"For what it's worth - he didn't leave until you'd finished blooming. He could've left when it got really bad, but he stayed to make sure you'd be okay."

"I need to see him."

Elsa's blurt, sincere as it was, preceded a shuffle toward the edge of the bed. Her entire body promptly screamed obscenities at her for daring to move so abruptly, and a pained whimper rang out as her head felt like it was about to explode. She curled in on herself, regretting her impulsive idea.

Though, it was the searing heat of Anna's hand on her right knee that did the most to stop her, and the sternness in her tone. The medic must have overruled the sister; even a glance up into Anna's no-argument eyes reinforced that particular assumption.

"You need to rest, Elsa. You've been through something all of us go through times ten, so, you need to recover your strength first. Doctor's orders."

Elsa said nothing - couldn't say a thing. Her head was spinning enough thanks to her hypersensitive senses, temporary as they were, but learning what she did from Anna, both her bloom and Jack's comforting role in it left her decidedly overwhelmed. It was too much information to process in one go, and she knew she needed to digest the biggest change of her life first - her abnormality.

"Listen - I'm gonna get you some food, okay? You stay down here as long as you need - and when you're ready, Frost and I are holding a meeting with you and the other girls. Might help you understand some things."

Elsa mumbled her acknowledgement, and laid back down on the mattress with great care so as not to antagonise her aching muscles any further, clutching the canteen on her chest. The fabric still felt damp, but she couldn't find it in her heart to care. There were more important things on her weary mind.

The mattress sprung up at the end as Anna rose to her feet, and footsteps changed from concrete to wooden as she undoubtedly climbed the steps. Elsa stared at the damp-looking ceiling - was that ice in the corner? - listening to the steps recede, until she heard them stop with no opening or closing of a door to speak of.

"Elsa?"

She gently lifted her head up, and peered down to where Anna was halfway up the steps, fiddling with her hands as she looked at her.

"I figure this-" she lightly waved her hand in vague arc around the room, "-and the reason you were locked away from me are connected. I hope… I hope, one day, you'll be able to tell me about it."

Elsa looked at her for a few more seconds before gently nodding. She knew Anna deserved the truth. Some form of closure, at least. The problem was it was hard enough recalling the feelings of deep isolation and worthlessness, the belief she was somehow built wrong, let alone talk about it.

Anna wished her a good rest and promised she would soon return with sustenance before leaving the room. Laying her head back on the pillow, Elsa resumed her thoughtful staring at the ceiling and sighed, feeling a heavy weight settle in her chest and pull her into the floor.

It was done, it was over. There was nothing she could do about it now. She held it back for as long as she could, but she knew she was only delaying the inevitable. Her worst nightmare had come true, and she would have to live with it for the rest of her life.

Elsa later found out, much to her chagrin and discomfort, that getting used to her hypersensitive senses was to be trickier than she thought - and not the only thing to warrant adjusting.

Anna had faithfully returned with food and another canteen of water, which despite her lack of appetite and her sense of taste turning a common ration bar into an unpalatable taste explosion - there were a few instances where Elsa had thought she would throw up only to find she had no energy to do so - she finished off every crumb and felt the better for it. After a further hour of laying in the bed, digesting both the food and the details, Elsa decided her stiff and aching body could use a relaxing shower.

Only, that presented a new set of problems.

Whatever her bloom had done to her body had resulted in what would ordinarily be a warm, soothing shower just the way she liked it becoming something like searing hot lava pouring down on her skin, nearly scalding her in the process and causing her to shriek in pain. Angry red spots and patches blossoming where the water had touched, she'd immediately turned the dial down only to find the temperature she wanted was firmly set in lukewarm territory. The fact that she could barely wash herself thanks to the deafening thunder of water droplets hitting the shower floor forcing her to cover her ears didn't help matters either.

Alerted by her cries of shock, Anna had conducted a hands-off examination, surmising her skin no longer tolerated such hot temperatures but assured Elsa it was only temporary.

Elsa had her doubts.

To make matters worse, drying and dressing herself, or even the simple act of her fingers contacting any surface resulted in a thin layer of ice spreading in an albeit pleasant, filigree-like pattern from wherever she touched. Her towels rustled with brittle frost, and as she'd looked back at the en-suite bathroom, her anxiety had only risen at the sight of small snowflakes on the floor where wet footprints ought to be.

She then came to the conclusion, flippant as it was, that things were not very fucking good.

Her mind had then filled her with unpleasant thoughts of what would happen if she so much as touched her friends, and that was when Elsa decided she had to do something - which was when she remembered an item of clothing given to her by Merida.

Quickly dressing herself in her military clothing of a black vest and pants - a soldier has her habits - so as to minimise attention paid to the frost spreading where her fingers met fabric, Elsa attempted to open her nightstand drawer with the side of her hands. Her 'powers' granted her no peace, however, when another layer of ice spread from the drawer knob like a taunting display, causing her to recoil. Hands held high not unlike a surgeon, she stared at the frosted drawer whilst her lower lip was nibbled to death, taking deep breaths through her nose, hearing her pulse thump in her ears and feeling the angry moth of frustration in her chest.

It was ridiculous; she had walked into furious battles, led a misguided invasion and stood toe-to-toe with the leader of the Ghosts, and there she was… defeated by a bit of frost and a drawer.

There was nothing else for it. With a speed born of anxiety and frustration, Elsa yanked out the drawer hard enough for it to fly out of the nightstand and crash to the ground, rolling until it impacted the opposite wall. Too full of victory and anxiety to pay much heed to how the drawer had been turned into a mess of jagged chunks and splinters with the force of its impromptu ejection, Elsa knelt down to pick up its contents.

Her pill case… and a pair of gloves.

A strange heaviness settled upon her heart as her eyes fell upon the silver object, its purpose made redundant in the space of a day. Her right hand hovered over it for a few moments, before she thought better of it and slipped on the gloves instead. Sure, the inner lining might soon be adorned with icy crystals, but at least she could at least touch things - and people.

Throwing on the hooded sweater of which she'd indirectly taken ownership, and tying her hair into an abysmal excuse for a braid, Elsa left the room and made her way down the hall toward Frost's room wearing a deep frown, frustration burning in her stomach at the unwelcome sense of fragility occupying her body. She was physically fit, toned, a warrior and a soldier with a skillset most of Unity's military could dream of… and overnight, had become a quivering mess, unable to tolerate a once relaxing shower without the water being lukewarm, unable to eat without wanting to retch from the taste, incapable of touching anything lest she cover it in a layer of ice.

On the other hand, increased aural sensitivity seemed to have its perks. As Elsa closed in on Jack's bedroom, voices that sounded like the speakers were talking in a sub rosa manner were clear as a bell. Her steps slowing, Elsa turned her left ear in the direction of the door just as someone - Astrid, judging by the richer tone to her voice - made an insightful remark.

"You seem to have changed your opinion of us overnight, Jack."

So his name was Jack. Jack "Frost". How apt. A small smile tugged at the left corner of her lips.

"Yeah, well, when you're holding someone in your arms who is screaming in agony before passing out, waking up and then screaming and passing out all over again, it kinda puts things into perspective."

That voice was definitely Jack's, and brought with it a strange sense of warmth in her heart and confirmation in her mind - she wasn't dreaming of a pair of arms comforting her. It was real.

"How so?" Rapunzel asked - her buoyant tone was inimitable.

"Way I figure it: Elsa was scared about what we'd do if - when - we learned the truth about you all. What other organisation would make people feel that same fear?"

"Unity," Merida chirped in.

"Bingo," Jack said. "To Elsa, even if she didn't mean it that way, we were Unity. I don't ever want any abnormal to feel that way - Ghost's third rule: help all abnormals, no matter who they are. So, yeah. I kinda had a change of heart."

"That wasn't the only thing you did," Rapunzel said, and there was a teasing edge to her voice that screamed 'smirking'. If Elsa had a suspicio-meter, it would have been exploding; Rapunzel's voice only ever displayed that tone when she was about to top the scoreboard in the game of Wind Merida Up.

"What are you talking about?" Anna asked.

"He sang to her."

Elsa's eyes widened, going nicely with the catch of her breath, and the sudden heat in her cheeks. She didn't remember that.

"Did not," Jack said.

"Did too."

"Not."

"Did."

Anna sounded skeptical, yet amused. "Did you, Jack?"

"No!"

"What was it," Rapunzel said in a sing song voice of mock recollection, "far over the twisty valleys old?"

"Far over the Misty Mountains cold, actua-" Jack abruptly cut himself off, evidently coming to the same conclusion as Elsa's thoroughly burning cheeks. "You did that on purpose."

"Maybe I did," Rapunzel giggled, "but it sounded so romantic…"

"Ah-ah!"

Jack's seemingly reflexive bout of embarrassed scolding kicked Elsa into gear; any further down that particular path and it was likely she would spontaneously combust with awkward, sheepish blushing - especially since it was highly likely Rapunzel would keep prodding and poking. Stiffening her body, she held her head high and walked on towards the door, and knocked twice on the frame.

Facing the door, with Anna by his side, Jack was the first to look up. Astrid, Merida and Rapunzel twisted round in their chairs, with the blonde woman remarking, "Jeez, you look like hell."

Elsa tore her eyes away from Jack's decidedly pink face to give Astrid a funny, wrinkled-nose glare, just as Jack said, "Hey, you mind giving Rip Van Winkle a break?"

It was the reprimanding whap Merida administered to Astrid's right shoulder that did the most to shut her up, though Elsa did cast a grateful glance in Jack's direction.

"Rip Van who?" Rapunzel asked.

Anna waved it off. "Before your time."

Jack gestured to the empty chair at Rapunzel's right. Ensuring her gloved hands were hidden in the pocket of her sweater, Elsa circled the four chairs facing the bed Jack and Anna were sat on and planted herself down, though was unable to stifle a tired huff as she did.

"You okay?" Rapunzel asked, and then did something that sent both the tension in the room, and Elsa's anxiety, through the ceiling: she reached a comforting hand to Elsa's shoulder. Yelping in fear, Elsa jerked away hard enough to briefly tip the chair, eyeing the hand like it would burn her.

"Don't!" she hissed.

Rapunzel's hand shot away, and she stared at Elsa, wide-eyed surprise and hurt written on her face. "Sorry! I just-"

Elsa's eyes darted on each occupant of the room as silence fell between them, from the looks of shock her ex-team were giving her, to the oddly sympathetic eyes of Anna and Jack. What once had been due to the knowledge that Jack had gone out of his way to comfort her in ways that admittedly made her feel just that little bit special, her steaming red face radiated the heat of self-conscious shame. Not to mention the tempting desire to flee the room. Elsa closed her eyes for a few moments, her mind valiantly attempting to calm her racing heart.

"It's okay, Rapunzel," Jack said in a gentle voice, attracting Elsa's gaze. He was holding up a reassuring hand. "It's not personal, and there's a reason for Elsa jumping a mile."

Astrid couldn't help herself from shooting Elsa a wary glance, as though she was liable to explode. Which made her feel so much better. "And that is?"

"Think back to your blooms." Anna shuffled to the edge of the bed, holding the gazes of each ex-Valkyrie in turn. "Didn't everything feel a little overwhelming? Y'know, things like sounds, sights, smells?"

There were nods and murmurs of agreement, with Merida even lamenting the migraine as a result of her brothers' combined shrill voices.

"Well, most of us don't really notice on account of us making a mockery of the laws of science, but for a little while after a bloom, our senses are a mite… sensitive. Now, 'cause Elsa's bloom hit her way harder than any of ours, her senses are all dialled up to eleven."

"Why?" Elsa found herself mumbling - and wondering where the phrase 'dialled to eleven' came from. At least they didn't know the real reason she flinched away from Rapunzel.

Jack was the one to answer. "You remember back on the Star, when I told you we were better at everything?"

"Yes." Elsa nodded, curling a single eyebrow. "As I recall, I found it overconfident hubris."

"Wasn't overconfidence. We abnormals are superior."

Silence fell once again, with the four women exchanging glances between each other and the two Ghosts patiently watching them, as if such a claim was so outlandish they had to be joking. Astrid was the first to speak, with a deadpan, "Come again?"

"The Toxin, the thing that makes us who we are," Anna tapped her chest with both hands, "doesn't just give us our powers, but adapts our bodies so we can safely use them. Now, this morning y'all showed me what you can do, and I can tell you this: if you used your powers without the adaptations-"

She pointed at Astrid. "You'd have developed uncontrollable tremors and possibly severe osteoporosis before your twenty-first birthday."

Merida. "You would have developed uncontrollable seizures at best, and fried your brain and entire nervous system at worst. Not to mention cooking your body from the inside."

The final finger went to Rapunzel. "You would have developed terminal metastatic cancer within a year."

Anna didn't need to mention Elsa for her to extrapolate from there; frostbite would have claimed her fingers, toes, and then her feet and hands. She looked over at her friends, and felt a small morbid amusement at the way their faces had drained of colour.

"Way to scare the kids, Anna," grumbled Jack in a low voice. It was curious how he had so far kept his voice barely above a whisper - her eardrums were in a state of gratitude.

Anna grimaced, and mumbled an awkward apology.

"Point is," Jack continued off the back of Anna's somewhat overly grave statements, "all of these changes mean we abnormals are stronger, faster, tougher than ordinary humans. I'm guessing you three already know, having to hold yourself back all the time in the military, right?"

Another wave of nods and murmurs, with Astrid muttering, "You got that right," and as Elsa cast a look of suspicious disbelief at the three of them, Rapunzel grimaced and said, "Sorry, it's true…"

"You mean… all those times we sparred, when you and I went to the gym…"

"Aye," Merida said. "We were severely pullin' our punches."

Elsa's shoulders slumped, and a loud huff escaped her lips. Every victory felt false, every win on the sparring mats was meaningless. As if the past three years weren't already built on a lie, the discovery that her own team was letting her win? The feeling of worthlessness was not helped.

There was a small voice in the back of her mind, one she liked to call the voice of schadenfreude, that pointed out how it explained part of Astrid's less than amiable demeanour toward her. Astrid hated losing, so the idea of losing on purpose would have made her especially sulky.

"How come Elsa could stand toe-to-toe with you, though, if you were supposed to be better? I mean, you ran rings around me," Astrid asked Jack, one skeptical eye narrowed.

"I can answer that," Elsa said, her voice flat and void of emotion. "I trained every day for the sole purpose of killing him. I studied his technique, his speed, his form and his flaws, and trained against droids programmed to fight like him." She looked at Jack. "It was how I bested you in the Depot."

Jack snorted. "Sure. Only 'cause I'd never fought you before - and don't forget, I beat you on the Star. Twice."

"Uh, as I recall I had you on your knees."

"Yeah, after Astrid saved your ass." He nodded to the woman in question. "Nice shoulder check, by the way. Thing of beauty."

Elsa glanced at Astrid long enough to notice her looking thoroughly pleased with herself. A strange, unpleasant flicker appeared in her chest - she couldn't help recalling Astrid's history with Jack. "Yes, well, I had the edge in the mess hall."

"Did not."

"You'll find I did."

"Not."

"Did."

"Not - and don't forget, you were on your kn-"

"Girls!" Anna said loudly as she held up her hands to cut them both off. "You're both pretty! Seriously - talking about my sister being on her knees is conjuring mental images that are very freaking unwanted!"

Elsa's lips snapped shut as her eyes widened, and as her ears burned with a fierce red, she caught Jack's eye before they both averted their gazes. He was as red as she felt.

There was a moment of awkward silence, with Astrid looking thoroughly amused by the whole situation, until Anna irritably added in a rapid cadence, "He's right though, you were on your knees in the mess hall."

Rapunzel uttered a mock-scandalized gasp that went well with the dirty snickering courtesy of Astrid, and the heat in Elsa's face burned all the fiercer. For a few moments, she debated hiding in the basement for the rest of her life, or until the world was ripped asunder. Whichever came first.

Merida seemed to be the only one more interested in the original topic of conversation rather than how many ways Elsa being knelt could be taken the wrong way. "Okay, so… we get these cool powers, and our bodies get an upgrade tae use 'em… I'm nae seein' a downside. There's always a downside. What's tha price?"

Astrid gave her a sidelong glance, replete with a curled eyebrow. "You mean, other than mankind hunting us down for what we are?"

Merida ignored her sarcastic tone but not the content of her words. "Aye, other than that. There's always a balance; good and evil. Light and dark. Love and hate, order and chaos."

A gift, and a curse, Elsa found a voice speaking in her mind.

"So, I find meself wonderin'... what's tha catch?"

Elsa glanced between Jack and Anna, with the former giving the latter a pointed look and a nod, and the latter frowning into an expression most hesitant.

"In a word?" Jack said. "Immortality."

Elsa and the three ex-Valkyries exchanged dumbfounded looks, with Astrid going so far as to break out in a nervous bark of laughter. One glance, however, at the perfectly straight faces of the Ghosts, and Elsa knew then it was more than a flippant remark.

"Yer kiddin', right?"

Jack shot Anna an unimpressed look, scoffing. "The one time I'm serious, and everyone thinks I'm joking. Am I a funny person?"

"Debatable," Anna said, wearing half a smirk.

Jack pulled a face at her, before turning his eyes back to the group. "Few months ago, Pitch and Night Fury went on a mission, and encountered four hostile individuals who'd gone through extraordinary changes. I mean claws, teeth, acid spit, the works. One of them was a young woman. Looked to be in her twenties. Course, Pitch and Fury had to neutralize them… but it wasn't until long after that we found out those individuals were the first abnormals," he paused, casting each of them a look, "products of an experiment conducted over fifty years ago."

"Fifty years…" Rapunzel breathed.

"It's just a theory," Anna quickly added, holding up a hand, "but despite the hostiles looking pretty freaking butt-ugly, they seemed like they hadn't aged a day. No atrophy, no wrinkles, nothing. You'd think after being underground for five decades they'd look like wet walnuts, but nope." She adjusted her position, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees while her hands animated the talking. "My theory is that not only does the Toxin re-engineer our cells, it also makes them resistant to cellular degradation over time. The tougher something is, the longer it lasts, you know?"

Elsa's head was spinning from one revelation after another, and if it was a fairground ride, she wanted to get off. Learning about her physiological changes, and the fact that her team was handling her with kid gloves was overwhelming enough, but after hearing Anna's theory… she wasn't sure how much more she could take. Immortality, with the fear of her powers crushing her day by day? Condemned to eternity as a monster?

"S-so what you're saying… is…" Rapunzel said in a faint voice, attracting Elsa's gaze. She looked as blown away as Elsa felt. "we can't die?"

"No, we're still mortal," Jack said with somewhat more of a blunt edge to his voice than the fragile atmosphere warranted. "We'll still buy the farm if we get shot, or blown up."

"It's just that we might have longer life spans than humans," Anna continued. "Ballpark number… maybe three hundred years."

There was a long exhalation of breath, though Astrid seemed to less than convinced. A quick glance at her expression revealed skepticism incarnate.

"Okay, I gotta call bullshit. Abnormals being humans two-point-oh I can buy, but having five times the lifespan of an ordinary human? That's fantasy," she said, scoffing. "You got any proof?"

"How could we, Hofferson, when no abnormal has lived long enough to be proof?"

All eyes turned to the doorway, where Pitch Black leaned against the doorframe with his arms folded. His grey face was etched in a light frown, regarding Astrid with a cold gaze. Elsa found herself studying him; there was a man whose abnormality manifested in a not-so-subtle manner, and yet he seemed perfectly comfortable with who he was.

"And I must say I find your skepticism curious, being someone who could shatter stone at will, as well as in the presence of someone who can fly."

"Only 'cause I've seen it!" Astrid retorted hotly.

"And I saw their bodies. I read the reports. Fifty years ago, the first of our kind was created in a lab, and fifty years later, they looked exactly the same when we killed them. Our lifespan is an educated guess, but not fantasy."

The number fifty kept swirling around Elsa's mind, dancing at the cusp of her memory like a forgotten task. It was not the first time she had heard that figure associated with something so profound.

When blonde hair and purple eyes filled her mind's vision, and a voice of a legion spoke her name, she remembered.

"I believe them."

Elsa instantly felt the burning of six pairs of eyes bearing down on her, from the disbelieving gaze of Astrid to the surprised looks of Jack and Anna.

"Why?" Astrid asked.

"Because if what Sleeping Beauty said was true, which I believe it is, then she was around seventy years old when I helped her to die." Elsa's gaze fell, and her gloved fingers fiddled with each other inside her pockets. "She looked no older than you or I."

There was a muted breath, as though blown into some form of container. Drawing her eyes to the culprit, Elsa noticed Merida leaning forward with the lower part of her face cupped in both hands. "Red?" she called to her.

"If what yer sayin's true… I'm gonna outlive ma brothers… the kids of their kids're gonna call me Great Aunt Merida, an' I'm gonna look like I do now..." she murmured.

"You're assuming you live long enough," Pitch remarked.

There was something in his remark that didn't so much touch a nerve as administer a brutal one-two to it. Merida jumped to her feet, yelled, "How about ye just shut tha fuck up!" and stormed out of the room, making sure to yank the chair away hard enough for Jack to recoil in surprise. Her furious exit left behind a wake of silent bewilderment, with most gazes pointed at the empty doorway.

Gazes immediately drawn to a slow clapping from the bed; Anna, glaring with deep disapproval.

"Well done, Pitch. Classy. You really know how to make a girl feel better."

Pitch looked bemused, like he had no idea why Anna was so peeved with him, nor anyone else in the room, for that matter. Five hearty glares would have made anyone want to shrink into the floor, yet he seemed genuinely puzzled.

"But-"

"But nothing, Pitch. Now how about you take that foot out of your mouth, put it on the floor and go apologise to Merida."

"I-"

"Scoot!" Anna made a shooing gesture. "Skedaddle!"

Pitch cast a look at Jack, who shrugged and said, "Don't look at me, I'm on her side. Unless you want me to make it a direct order."

Opening his mouth, the scowling Pitch looked ready to issue a biting rebuttal, but a final, "Begone!" from Anna did the trick. He huffed, and stalked out of the room like a petulant child.

Whilst eyes danced between the newly empty doorway and the Ghosts, Anna emitted an exasperated sigh and scratched at her temple. "Sorry about that. Pitch is a good soldier and a great teacher, but he's got about as much empathy as a honey badger and the tact of a runaway hover train." She gestured frustratedly at the doorway. "That's the first time he's spoken to her since last night."

Rapunzel frowned. "I thought they were getting on?"

"So did I - but after last night's mass confession… let's just say the air was extra cold."

"Look," Jack abruptly cut in, "the past couple of days have been tough for everyone, and you've all got a lot to process. Let's call it a day - tomorrow, you're gonna learn how to use our firearms."

Astrid rolled her eyes and huffed. "Jack, we already know how to shoot."

"Not with our weapons, you don't," Jack replied, tossing in a wink. Elsa couldn't work out why, but the unpleasant sensation returned. Had Astrid 'helped' him recover, with her hands and mouth? One last bang, for old time's sake?

If it was flirting, however, Astrid seemed to miss it. Rather, her face lit up as she glanced at Rapunzel, likely at the prospect of new weapons to play with. Odd how she seemed to be taking the news of their longevity in her stride. Then again, she had explicitly stated on many an occasion that the Valkyries were her real family, so as far as she was concerned, she wouldn't be outliving them.

The same rang true for Elsa, she realised. She had already outlived her parents, and would hopefully live as long as Anna would… but as a walking time bomb. Maybe it was that knowledge that was scaring her so much.

Astrid and Rapunzel bade their farewells and left the room, audibly discussing in hushed tones all they'd learned so far, but as Elsa rose from her seat, she noticed Jack turn to Anna.

"Give us a minute?"

Anna stiffened and glanced between them with a curious, peculiar expression, like she wasn't sure she should leave. Elsa couldn't blame her; she was slowly killing him during her bloom.

"Sure," she said after a moment's hesitation, "but don't forget, I need to show you the thing I found when we cleared out the basement."

Jack nodded his acknowledgement, and Elsa sat back down as Anna rose from the bed and left the room. Jack then muttered something about eavesdroppers and open doors, and reached for his open staff behind him. Heavy clunks boomed through Elsa's head as he used the staff to help him walk to the door, and just before she heard the click of it being closed several feet behind her, she clearly caught a hiss of "dammit!"

Typical Anna. It heartened Elsa to know her sister's nosiness hadn't diminished in the slightest.

Movement at her left caught her eye, and she watched Jack approach and wearily lower himself onto the mattress,using his staff as support. There was a protracted clicking as it shrank to barely ten inches, followed by an uncomfortably long silence as she found herself the recipient of a lengthy, studious gaze. Long enough, in fact, for her to look away from his bright blue eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he finally broke the silence, abruptly enough to cause Elsa to stiffen slightly… yet soft enough to immediately relax her.

Elsa snorted quietly, her eyes remaining on the comforter dangling off the edge of the mattress. "How do you think?" she murmured.

There was a light chuckle. In the corner of her eye, Elsa saw him draw his legs under him in a cross. "Scared, tired, overwhelmed, numb, angry… stop me if I'm on the wrong track."

Elsa looked at Jack for a few seconds, before snorting once again, and shaking her head as she looked away. "Was it that obvious?"

Jack slowly shook his head and adopted an expression of the worst attempt at innocent sincerity possible. "Nope. Other than, you know, jumping a mile when Rapunzel tried to touch you."

Elsa let out a long breath, closing her eyes whilst a wave of embarrassment flooded her body. If anything were to prove how un-soldierlike she was feeling, that would be it. "I suppose I needn't waste your time by blaming my acute sense of touch."

"If you want, but we both know it'd be a thick slice of bullshit."

Though she couldn't help it, and would rather not encourage such crude and vulgar language, Elsa broke out into silent chuckles as she slowly shook her head. Maybe it was the bluntness with which he spoke.

"I could have killed you," she whispered, once the odd mirth subsided.

"But you didn't."

"But I could."

"Coulda, woulda, shoulda, didn't…a."

Elsa shot him a look that danced halfway between a frustrated glare and an incredulous stare. Throwing a hand halfway into the air, it slapped down much to her thigh's chagrin as she said, "How can you be so flippant?"

Jack merely shrugged. "Probably because I knew what I was getting myself into. This isn't my first rodeo, y'know."

Elsa tilted her head. "You've been present for many blooms, then?"

"Nah," said Jack, shaking his head a micron. "but I've taught many an abbie how to control and use their powers, or rescued a fair few after their blooms. The fear, the anxiety, thinking you're a monster, that there's something wrong with you? It's perfectly natural. Seen it every time someone walked through my door."

Elsa's reply was a dismissive blurt, born from the uncomfortable, self-conscious feeling he was looking right through her. She felt like a holo-violin with how easily he appeared to be striking a chord with her. "Did you hold and sing to them, too?"

It wasn't until a few seconds of silence had passed that, with widening eyes, she realised exactly what she had said. Jack's cheeks turned as glorious a shade of pink as hers, his eyes widening. For a good few moments, Elsa wished the ground would swallow her up - that way she could get away from the awkward situation she'd just created. Now he knew both Snowfields were consummate eavesdroppers.

Jack cleared his throat behind a loose fist, looking away as the other hand scratched at the nape of his neck. "Well… uh," he mumbled, looking adorably embarrassed, "no. You'd be the first."

It was strange how she found it hard to look at him, but couldn't stop flicking her eyes up to him every few seconds, even as the silence moved further into awkward territory. Confusion added itself into the mix, a sense of puzzlement at, despite her feelings of self-loathing and fear, the fact that he cared about her left her feeling relatively light… and special. He'd risked his wellbeing to be there for her, after all. No-one else had done that.

She murmured a quiet thanks, and then said, "So… what do I do now?"

Hell of a question. What could she do? She couldn't touch a thing without covering it in ice, and wouldn't dare lay a finger on a living being. She didn't know if contact against bare skin on any part of her body would spread a layer of ice, either, so sparring was uncertain.

"What is my mission?"

"Whatever you want it to be," Jack answered smoothly. "You're not part of an army anymore. No rank, no insignia."

But she needed that. Years of military discipline plus years of strict adherence to a routine… she needed to belong. To be part of a whole, something greater than herself.

She wanted to fight.

To do that?

"You… you said you trained people in how to use their…" she hesitated, holding herself back from uttering the word 'curse', "...powers?"

Nodding gently, "Yeah," Jack answered.

She looked up at him, trying to hold his gaze. "Will you train me?"

Jack's expression did not change, did not falter in the slightest. Nary an eyebrow twitched nor did the corner of his lips when he replied.

"No."

Elsa flinched slightly, and didn't even bother to hide it. She didn't expect him to refuse - nor did she anticipate his acceptance, of course, but for him to flatly deny her?

So much for 'help all abnormals…'

"...why not, if I may ask?"

Jack straightened up and folded his arms, his impassive expression unchanging as he watched her. "I'm not convinced you want it for the right reasons."

Frowning at him, her eyes danced left and right in her puzzlement. "But I do want it. I'm asking so I can learn to control it, so I don't hurt-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Jack said, holding up a hand, "because that's why. You are asking me out of fear."

"I am not scared."

It was a complete and utter lie, and she knew it… as did Jack, it seemed.

"So why have you kept your hands in your pockets since you came in?"

There it was. Any rebuttals she'd prepared died in her throat, and the supposedly secret hands fiddled with each other within the relative safety of her pocket. She felt a heavy weight slam down on her gut, pulling her gaze down to the floor.

"Let me see your hands, please."

Her brow furrowed; she didn't want to. Please don't make me, she thought. So far her mind had treated the ordeal as some kind of nightmare, and the leather covering her fingers was a barrier to the darkness that had befallen her. To reveal her fear would validate it.

It was unfortunate that her heart betrayed her, and superseded her mind's control. Slowly, reluctantly, her hands withdrew from their confines and revealed themselves in all their black leather-clad glory as she rested them on her thighs. Jack emitted a long breath through his nose, one that she thought sounded like he was disappointed of, disapproving of and judging her.

When she risked a glance at his face, however, it radiated empathy. Oddly, it made her feel worse.

"Every person I trained walked through my door because they wanted to. They wanted to learn what they could do, how they could benefit themselves and everyone else. They asked me to train them because they wanted to be who they were born to be, and accepted what they were."

One of his hands gestured toward her.

"You're asking me because you're scared. You don't want to use your powers, you want to control them - and if you ask Pitch, he'll tell you history is littered with tragedies because people tried to control what they feared." His head tilted in a random direction. "Hell, Unity is terrified of us abnormals, so they try to oppress and control us."

Jack extended his staff once again, and a wooden clunk reverberated through the room as he rose from the bed. "You've only been a full abbie for less than a day. You're tired, overwhelmed… and scared. Scared of who you are, and what you can do. People do stupid things when they're scared, and those things could get me, as a teacher, hurt."

He moved to the door, heavy clunks regularly vibrating through Elsa's chair, body and skull as his staff helped him to walk. "So I'm not going to train you, not yet. Not until I'm sure you want it for you. That you want to better yourself, embrace who you are. I want to see you committed, so I know you want it bad enough you're willing to overcome your fear of yourself to learn."

There was a metallic scrape, and the hairs on the back of Elsa's neck stood high from the rush of air into the room.

"Or you can hide in your room, wear your gloves, treat yourself as some kind of time bomb, deny yourself the amazing things you could do, 'cause you're so scared of what could happen. Your choice… but just remember that sometimes? You just gotta let it go."

Let it go.

It sounded so easy, so simple. Just let it go.

A/N:

Welcome to Book II.

Interesting times lay ahead, full of intrigue, danger, betrayal and... kisses.

I hope this was worth the wait, and I know a few others have joined us on this journey, so welcome to you, too!

See y'all in the next chapter!