The Invisible: Chapter Fifty-Eight (Jelsa)

Jack never felt cold, but he felt the immediate change in temperature when the whirling stopped. A long lost memory shoved up his throat, and even though he could not see, it was as if everything was in a good place. The air was a warm summer breeze, and he could only hear the click of birds and the scuttling of squirrels. Elsa touched his eyes, a motion to let him open them.

It was every happy memory, this place. It was the most perfect day, even for a frost creature himself. It was the hours when he had been human he and his sister Emma had ran through the meadows, before he caught her and they rolled and laughed on the grass. The meadow went on for miles, a perfect shade of green grass that was soft and moved in waves with the wind. The trees on the edge of the field waved hello in the warm air, and to his left great mountains rose high above him. A pair of robins darted past his nose, spiraling up until they twittered away. Jack felt as though he had never seen a place more beautiful than this, more perfect. Even his fortress of ice paled and melted in comparison.

"Elsa...this is..." He breathed, unable to form words.

"All the good memories of the world. The best of care-free summer days." She murmured in his ear.

He gazed up, the sun a blinding ball of white fires burning miles away, but not so much that he knew it would hurt him. There was not a cloud to obscure the sun in the sky, which was a perfect hue of baby blue, as if someone had tacked a piece of paper where the sky was supposed to go.

"I can see...but where is this? Exactly?" He questioned, turning to his wife. Elsa looked at him, and she softly touched his arm.

"It's..." He eyes twinkled with all the stares in the sky that could not be seen here, and when she spoke it was if the air around him had swirled and simply breathed effortlessly from her lips, "...On."

A thousand voices seemingly spoke, but it was Elsa.

The depth of that singular word rocked him to the core. It was just two letters, one exalted breath, one seemingly unconnected idea but with everything it was the most soulful thing Jack had ever heard, and his eyes pricked with tears.

"I never thought a place like that could be so...amazing." He admitted, "Is this where you were, before today?" He asked.

Elsa just smiled and nodded in response. Jack, in his awe, almost wondered why she'd leave a place that even from him could evoke the most passionate and haunting emotions.

Jack felt Elsa's hand slip into his own, and he clenched it hard, and then let go, to let it simply rest comfortably in his palm. She gently tugged him.

"Come Jack, there's something to see here."

Jack walked with her. "Is it ever night here?" He asked, wondering about something Manson had said.

"Not often- one day here is a thousand days there, or sometimes only three. I had no sense whatsoever of how long it had been. 100 years! Here I thought it had perhaps been only thirty. Time is non existent, which means I can come here whenever I would like."

"So this is where Manson goes." Jack surmised.

"Ah, yes. That too. I had met him a couple times before he created me like this. I don't think he was holding my creation hostage, but it would have been difficult to explain what needed to be said had you not accepted him yet." Elsa explained, "But I wouldn't have complained. There are things here that are worth staying."

"The happy feeling?" Jack guessed. She kissed his cheek gingerly, "I've never felt more...home."

"More than this." She assured in a soft whisper, nearly inaudible, "More."

They were approaching the edge of a hill. Elsa suddenly paused, and Jack looked at her.

"There's some people I've met here, and I very much think they'd like to meet you." She said and there was a loud gasp from behind him. Jack turned, and out of nowhere, there were three people who approached up the slope. Before he knew what was happening, a girl bombard him and narrowly knocked him over.

"Jack!"

Jack pushed her away, holding the girl at arm's length, and he saw long brown hair in a braid, wide brown eyes, and a little birthmark underneath her left eye. His shock wore off after a couple moments.

"Emma?" He gaped, feeling weak, "Emma...Odin, please tell me it's you..." He breathed. Emma nodded soundlessly, and Jack hugged his sister so tightly that he thought she may break.

"Oh Jack, Jack...I never got to thank you for saving my life." She murmured in his ear, squeezing him tighter. His sister was not the age where he had died, but seemingly at the age of about 25. It was weird to think she now was older than he in this form. He had almost forgotten about the other two figures, and when he lifted his head from his sister's embrace, one he noticed right away. Well, he recognized.

"Mom!" He wasn't sure if he should continue to hold his sister or hug his mother. She didn't make him chose, but went around and hugged both of her children from their left side, "Mom...I"m sorry I left you alone with Emma. I didn't...I didn't..." He wanted to apologize. Had he not been so intent on going ice-skating so close to spring, none of this would have happened.

"Jack, you're a Guardian. Your father and I couldn't have been more proud.'

"My...father?" Jack questioned, and a strong embrace engulfed him from the other side. It was a scrawny man like himself, with warm brown eyes and lighter brown hair. It was the man from his repressed memories from when he was only a toddler and his father would throw him up on his shoulders, and they walked through their town and his father convinced the bee master to give him a honey comb for Jack to suck on. His father seemed more transparent than the others, perhaps indicating a longer stay here.

They held themselves for a long moment, and Jack let his breath synchronize with his families' until it felt like one. Then, his mother pulled apart, and hugged Elsa.

"Your wife is so beautiful, Jack. I could not have wished a more fitting fate for you. In death, you found something better than any of us could have imagined. She is the perfect daughter-in-law."

"Mrs. Overland..." Elsa chuckled uneasily, looking at Jack.

"And your children-," His mother began and Jack shot up straight.

"Children?" He said, spinning around, "Elsa...where?"

Elsa gave a knowing smile to his mother, and offered her hand. Jack felt a whole mix of conflicted emotions arise within him. On one hand, his heart mourned and ached for the loss of his children, and he ever so desperately wanted to see them again. Then there was the fear that they would reject him for what he had done, hate him and disown him. Also, there was just joy. He had never imagined yesterday that he would have all this within a few short hours. Elsa, his parents, his children...it all felt like some dream, something too good to be true.

The pair descended down the hill, and Jack saw a clearing with thick trees and little log cabins within the scooped out earth. The first person he saw was Gavner. Gavner who looked young, with his shining black hair and grin as he and Kristoff carried a large log over their shoulders.

"Gav!" Jack broke into a run, leaving Elsa to sprint down the rest of the way. Gavner stopped mid laugh, and looked up. He put a hand to his eyes and squinted, trying to see who had called his name. With a strangled gasp, he dropped his side of the log (leaving Kristoff swearing and still confused about what was going on) and met Jack at the very edge of the lawn.

They met with a very manly hug, and Gavner was laughing so hard at something Jack didn't get.

"Dude!" Gavner said, and just shook his head, "If you weren't immortal, I'd kill you. Your children gleefully informed me in my last days I kept screaming your name like a love-sick teenager. I'm sorry Jack, but I just don't love you like that."

Jack had been so afraid his friend would hate him too, for leaving him, but Jack let a deep, rancorous laugh explode from his chest at the very thought of it. Then Ganver laughed too, and punched Jack a little too hard on the arm. It was all that had to be done for forgiveness. Kristoff dropped the log with a resounding 'thud' and sighed. From the door of a little cabin, two women emerged.

"Kristoff, what's all the noise about-," Anna began, but then here eyes bulged from her head. Heloise, who was with her, gasped.

"Jack's back..." She whispered, or at least he thought she had whispered, yet within record time people were sprinting from the trees. His eldest son reached him first, and Heimdall grabbed Jack roughly around the neck.

"You're such a ass, you know that?" He asked, but in the same playful manner that Gavner had. Jack was speechless. It was overwhelming, but for the only time in his life, he was so incredibly glad.

There were so many people in this make-shift village- people he had never seen before. People he had only seen in the portraits at the castle- Elsa and Anna's parents were there, and Elsa's father came up to give him his official permission to date his daughter- albeit only 200 some years late- and then descendants or partners that he had never the chance to meet. There were some other spirits lingering around too, a woman with wild red hair that looked strikingly like Kane sitting with Rin and their children, although she seemed to be from very much a different time period. Anna went over to giggle with the Queen of Corona, although he was not sure if there even were still kings and Queens there.

He turned to Elsa, a little sheepishly. "Hey, so I was looking at all the stuff in this the castle in today's time and there's this guy named Hiccup- unfortunate name by the way-," He began to say, but Heimdall cut in.

"Hiccup? Dad you gotta meet him! Lucky he dropped by today, otherwise who knows when you would have seen him!" Heimdall seemed childlike in his excitement as he dragged his father to the outskirts of the clearing. There was the man he had seen in the painting with the woman, and they were laughing and eating some roasted animal that had been cooked over a fire. Jack supposed that you lived here how you lived there, if only because of comfort.

"Hiccup!" Heimdall called, and the man started.

"Ah," Hiccup said nodding, "Jack? Heimdall's told me all about you." There was laughter in his eyes, and his voice didn't quite match his gruff face or stories of being such a valiant leader. It almost seemed pre-teen like.

"What kind of a name is Hiccup?" Jack burst out.

"What kind of father names their son Heimdall?" His sassy wife retorted.

"An awsome one!" Jack replied in defense. Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Astrid, please." He said, turning, "I agree. My name is not exactly fearsome, like a viking should have been. C'est la vie." He said with a gentle shrug.

"Right." Jack looked all around, "So I gotta ask, the whole thing with dragons...myth right?" He prompted. Hiccup, Heimdall, and Astid laughed, although Jack didn't know why. Hiccup whistled with two fingers and a great black beast swooped from the sky. Jack thought at first he was being attacked by a very large flying bear. But it wasn't...it was...a dragon...

"Damn it." Jack cussed, and when Heimdall looked at him with shocked confusion, Jacks sighed, "I owe Lila twenty bucks." He moaned.

"Whose she?"

"Your great-great-grand-daughter, the most direct first line of heir." He explained, "She's pretty cool." Heimdall gave a soft smile.

"I wish I could meet her. I suppose one day...I will." He glanced at Hiccup, "Now that dad's here...there's probably going to be a feast." He said. Astrid snorted, uninterested until Heimdall added, "With wine."

Hiccup just laughed at his wife, who glared at him. "What? These guys somehow have the best wine."

And soon nearly it seemed like 80 people were seated at a table, Jack's family, Elsa's family, and their combined family. Everyone was staring at Jack, even while they ate. It was food that was so good that it could only come from here.

"Have you seen Azura?" Eira finally spoke up, "We know she died...but she's not here." She looked frightened for her sister.

"Oh, don't worry. She's a winter spirit, like me." Someone people looked relieved, others looked dismayed, "But she's happy. She has a boyfriend." This perked Neela's interest across the table, as many other females.

"A boyfriend?" Neela gasped, "You're joking. Azura? Date? Since when!"

"Since never." Colbourne said, and Jack noted that he no longer had an eyepatch, and that his eyes looked alive, "Dad...seeing is weird." He said when he noticed his father looking at him.

"But you still pretend I'm a potato..." Ernest sighed, shaking his head.

"So?"

"Hey!" Jack called attention back to the table, "It's the Grimm Reaper! They're vacationing right now in the underworld!" This sent everyone into a tizzy. Merida, who he discovered the wild woman's name was, made some comment about visiting the underworld on one occasion, to which her descendant Kane replied that she had not and the two got into a fight. Alfsol, with his daughter at his side, made some lewd comment about their 'spicy' and 'hot' sex life, to which his mother batted him over the ear. Jack hadn't really expected anything different. Elsa promised she would bring her here too when she got the chance.

That was for sure the talk of dinner. Even those that didn't know Azura as she was still wondered and gossiped about what it was like dating a Grimm Reaper. A few of the younger generations of girls seemed quite depressed to find out that he didn't wear skin-tight jeans or have so called 'sexy' black hair that hung in his eyes. And he most certainty did not wear black eye-liner. Jack cringed at that thought, and knew that no matter how much Azura loved the guy, he would have never allowed her out with a guy who wore makeup.

It was much too soon when Elsa announced they should be getting back. Jack took the time to hug everyone there individually, and give little thoughtful sentiments to all his children and grandchildren he knew, and to attempt to learn the names and family lines of those he didn't. For his own direct family, that was perhaps the most meaningful for him. He almost didn't want to leave them all, not when this was all he had ever wanted, until Elsa reminded him of Jamie and Lila back home. Elsa also told everyone with a smile it would be a much sooner return to all of them in comparison to what it would feel like in the real world.

On their walk back to the spot they had entered in Jack told her about their house being converted into a school. Elsa seemed to take the news well, and perhaps it was Jack's hopefulness, but she even may have seemed a little excited.

Back in their room, it was still night and at first thought that no time had really passed. Until he wandered downstairs and saw on the grand clock (which conveniently said the day, as he was quite forgetful with such things) it had already been three days. Elsa shrugged, warning him that time could be quite unpredictable there, and that was sort of nice for her not to have to worry about. Jack asked her the extent of her powers, and she did point out she was just 'created' technically that day, and she herself had no idea what she was capable of. She ran her fingers through her hair.

"You know what I missed the most? Bathing." She laughed.

"They didn't have nice bathtubs there?" Jack asked confused.

"Oh they did. But I heard from some of the newer girls about this wonderful thing called a shower and I just have to try it. You do have one, right?" She asked. Jack pointed her in the right direction, and she offered a sexy remark that he should join her. He would have, at any other time, wasted no time following her. Today, he said he needed to check on some things for the school and he would be up within 5 minuets. Damn job obligations before sexy time.

He was just skimming things in his office when the door opened. He was about to call back that he was going to join her, just hold your horses, when he was very glad that another voice spoke before he embarrassed himself.

"Dad? Where the hell have you been, no pun intended!" Azura was furious. Nash hovered a bit behind her, looking at Jack with the expression that clearly stated he was sure glad that he wasn't the one in Jack's shoes.

"Huh?" Jack said, "It's only been-," he began to say.

"ONLY BEEN?" Azura threw up her hands, "Ingrid and Lila were worried sick when you didn't show up for Christmas and they had to pull Jamie away from his family to track down me in the underworld and all the guardians." She huffed loudly, "You can't just disappear!"

"About that, really, you're going to laugh...or cry...when I tell you this but-," He began to say, but Elsa appeared at the top of the stairwell, a bath robe around her body and hair wet.

"Jack who the heck is in the house..." She trailed off, realizing who was standing there. Azura, a finger pointed at Jack menacingly, turned angrily to see who was in the house too and her whole body just seemed to deflate.

"Mummy?" She squeaked. She had never sounded so unsure or afraid in her whole life. Elsa was careful as she walked down the stairs, and Azura just fell into her arms like a little girl. She was pretty much beyond the point of speaking. Elsa's eyes fell on her companion.

"Nash, is it?" She asked, narrowing her eyes. Nash gulped.

"Yes Mama Time?" He said, shrinking a bit.

"Wait, how do you know who she is?" Jack interrupted, and Nash looked totally fearful for a moment. Azura was questioning the whole mother time thing, but none the less Nash regained his courage.

"She's Mama Time...she always has been...although from Azura's reaction, I'd say she was just created." Nash twiddled his fingers, "Don't ask me, it's one of those weird time space continuum things. Because she's time, she always has been." He tried to explain, "Do you understand?"

"I don't think I want to." Elsa dismissed it, "But you better not pull anything on her! You be good to my little girl, or else I will use my time powers and erase you!" She threatened.

"Mom!" Azura groaned.

Nash backed away. "Aye, ma'am." He said.

"Aww...why weren't you that afraid when I threaten you?" Jack pouted, "Am I not an intimidating father, Elsa?" He asked.

"No of course dear, you're terrifying." She quickly said, so Jack wasn't sure if she was lying or not. Azura just laughed, and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Dad, I thought I had the most wonderful and perfect Christmas present for you, but I suppose Mom coming back just makes it look so small I don't even know if I should bother giving it to you anymore." She admitted.

"It's Christmas! I don't have time to get presents-Jack I hope you didn't forget like Christmas back in 1899-," She began but Jack held up a hand.

"No, dear, of course I got her a Christmas present and really? I thought we weren't going to bring that up again?" He rolled his eyes, "It didn't ruin Christmas entirely- just opening gifts in the morning."

Elsa laughed, and kissed her daughter's head. "I don't honestly know how your father is still functioning and running a school, by Odin, after all these years."

"Lots of female help." Azura confirmed with a scoff.

There was a moment of silence, and then a little jingle started suddenly from the noiseless of the four. Azura jumped a bit, before pulling out a cell phone.

"It's Ingrid- she's so worried Jack! I'll take this." She said, and waltzed away.

"What is that she is talking on?" Elsa whispered to Jack.

"Cell phone. I'll explain later." He assured, "There's a lot you've missed."

"Ingrid's still back home. Maybe Elsa and you would like to go back down and visit...see your old castle..." Nash prompted to Elsa, who gave a little smile.

"Ah, the old castle...I had almost forgotten about that." She murmured.

"Do you want to?" Jack questioned.

"Yes, that sounds wonderful." Elsa said, and began walking away, "Are you coming?" She asked, drawing her daughter in and explaining where they were going. Azura's smile was a million miles wide.

Jack watched Azura motion for Nash, and they looped arms around each other. Jack watched Elsa kiss her daughter's hair and Azura laughed. Elsa turned back.

"Jack?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow. Jack gave a smile and nodded, following.

It had been so long since he had a family. And Odin, was it ever perfect.