Chapter Text
Jack POV
A little over a year has passed since the defeat of Pitch, and all of the guardians (me included) have come together to discuss the state of the children. Of course, there was some arguing at first ("Hey, Easter Kangaroo!" "I swear I will stuff an egg down your throat if you-" "Bunny!") but we got over it quickly enough. Then we had to get down to the serious stuff. I had to start.
"Um, did anyone else notice that winter was longer than it should be this year?"
"Yes." Bunny grumbled. "Of course I noticed, there was snow EVERYWHERE. On Easter!"
"Ok, well, don't get mad at me, because that wasn't my fault." Sandy looked up and saw MiM in the skylight. He pointed up, right as I looked over.
"What's wrong Sand- oh" I muttered, looking up. The others followed suit.
"Manny! How are you?" The shadows on the floor answered, creating a image of fire. Suddenly. It started raining uncontrollably, and the fire went out. It showed an image of me, and then the magic-crystal-that-chooses-guardians came out of the floor and started glowing.
"So soon, Manny? We just got Jack, do we really need another guardian now?" The image on the floor came back, showing a scale. On one side was a snowflake, and on the other a flame. The snowflake rose up, and the fire extinguished itself. I figured it out.
"Balance." They all gave me a look like I was insane. "Balance. There's too much power in the role of winter now. Because I'm a guardian, winter is now more powerful than the rest of the seasons. There's no balance."
"But- there is no spirit of the other seasons." The crystal glowed.
"Then one is going to come into existence very soon." I muttered, as the crystal showed an image of a girl around my age, fourteen or fifteen ((my head canon, sorry. Jack just doesn't look eighteen)) with short blonde hair that spread out like a flower's petals.
---
"I will never un-see this." Sarah Eliza Sumner groaned to her best friend, Alice, who was busy dissecting a frog for their lab.
"Yeah, well you aren't the one holding the knife." She scoffed.
"Oh the horrors!" The girl cried. "Why must cruel fate place me in the hands of a woman so cruel as to force me to partake in such an awful sacrificial ceremony!" Alice stifled a laugh.
"Sarah! You're going to get us in trouble!" A shadow covered their lab table.
"Trouble indeed. Sumner, Xavier, detention after school." The woman turned away, but stopped, looking back. "And... Miss Sumner... If I catch you skipping again I will have you placed in summer school."
"Aw, but I was going to visit the kindergartners again." Sarah pouted to her friend after their teacher, Ms. Unkel (or, as her students call her, Ms. Uncle), left.
Alice sighed. "Sorry, but I guess that you'll have to visit some other time." She muttered as she continued slicing. "This is disgusting. Plus, I can't believe you got me detention. Again! I'm going to be in so much trouble. And it's the last day of school! Can she even do that?"
"Sorry. So what do we have to do now?"
"YOU will be cutting, now." Sarah's eyes grew comically wide as her best friend shoved the deceased frog towards her hands, and she shoved it back
This went on for quite a while, and it was honestly a miracle that the girls managed to finish their assignment, though Sarah did get out of having to cut open the poor amphibian.
The bell rang. They walked out of class, and Sarah couldn't help but stick her tongue out at Ms. Unkel as she left.
"Hey, Sarah, look, there's Damian. Isn't he so dreamy?" Sarah looked at Alice in apparent horror. "Didn't you date him?" Sarah spluttered at the suggestion.
"No! I'd never even think of doing something like that. We got stuck together for a literature project! Honestly, I'm still surprised he can read." She muttered bitterly. "But the closest that ever came to happening consisted if him hitting on me! But he hits on anything living and breathing that can have sex." It was Alice's turn to look horrified.
"He's not like that! We're only Freshman-"
"Sophomores in four hours."
"So I don't know how you could say such a thing about such a wonderful person! Oh, look! He's coming over!" As Alice fidgeted with her hair, trying to look as attractive as possible, Sarah looked over reluctantly, and sure enough her least favorite human being was right there. She glared, and he smirked.
"So, Sarah, some of my friends were heading over to get ice cream, and I told them you were coming." She knew why he was always acting like this with her, trying to force her into situations where he could claim she was dating him. She was the only girl in Alexandria High who wasn't completely enamored with Damian, and he was interested. Which didn't bode well for Sarah.
"Ah, I'm sorry Damian, I have something else I have to do after school, but why don't you take... Alice?" Sarah shoved Alice forward, and Damian frowned.
"Who are you?" Sarah tried not to let her anger consume her.
"She's my best friend. I'm sure you'll enjoy each others company." She said through gritted teeth. He nodded, looked Alice up and down, nodded again, and walked away. Alice looked like she was having difficulty breathing.
Sarah slapped her.
After Alice got over her shock, they parted ways, Sarah going to literature and Alice going to advanced calculus. Sarah sat in the back of the class, holding her book open at the page she was at, the last. She tended to read ahead, so she couldn't rely on her fellow students to know what page she was on.
"Class, today we won't be finishing our book like I said. We were late to start, so we can't possibly finish before the end of the day." The whole class (aside from Sarah) threw their books in the air. "Instead we will be talking about folklore." Everyone groaned and Sarah grinned.
'Maybe this day CAN be redeemed.'
"This may be out of season, but who believes in Santa Claus?" maybe five hands were raised. "Now... What can you all tell me about.... Jack Frost." No one raised their hand. Except, of course, Sarah's hand which was reaching for the stars the second the teacher finished the word 'frost'. "Sarah?"
"A legendary winter spirit, Jack Frost's legend originated in Norway as a god of winter, Jokul Frosti. He is said to bring winter to the world, and behind him follow major snowstorms." She paused, wondering if she would add her last bit of information. "He's a guardian of fun."
"A what?" The teacher asked. Sarah took a deep breath and explained.
"It's always been my belief that all of those childhood legends protect something in children. Those who believe in them, you know? Hope, wonder, innocence? I see it in children all the time, so I volunteer at the kindergarten a few blocks down. Every Christmas they say "I want to have fun in the snow." But it doesn't snow here, so they can't, and they always seem so sad. So, Jack Frost brings snow, Jack Frost brings fun."
The teacher stared at her and then started speaking about how less commercialized spirits were often forgotten, and culture was lost. Sarah stopped listening
Her classmates stared at her, so she sank into her seat, not coming out until the bell rang. When that happened.... Well, she was out the door before the bell stopped chiming, that's for sure.
---
The rest of the day went on normally, for the last day of school, until the end, when Alice and Sarah had to go to detention.
Sarah's head banged rhythmically against the table. "How. Is. This. Fair?"
Alice scoffed. "It's not, but this is what happens when you mock the science teacher." Sarah looked betrayed.
"You know how I feel about animal cruelty! They killed those poor, innocent frogs just so we could cut them up post-mortem! I can't NOT do something to retaliate!"
Alice just sighed. "I've said it before, and I've said it again, it's a part of the curriculum, you can't do that. Life is tough. We have to deal with it."
Sarah huffed. "Well I don't want to have to deal with it. 'Life sucks and then you die', you know?"
Miss Unkel walked in and growled. "Language, Ms. Sumner!"
"English, thank you very much. How long are we going to stay here?" The teacher growled again.
"You? Quite a while. Her? Not so long, because you dragged her down with you. I will be in teacher lounge if you need me. Do this work and you can get me for more." the angry lady said. Her thick accent was frustratingly thick to Sarah, but soon she left the room, so all was well.
"Yes! I'm home free! She's not actually going to force me to stay!"
"I hate to be a downer (no I don't) but she wants you to stay to complete all his work."
"Too bad, because I have to walk the kindergartners home. See ya tomorrow Alice!" Alice sighed resignedly.
"Bye Sarah. Remember, 10:00 tomorrow. If you aren't there, I'm going searching for you." The next day, they would be going to the movies. Sarah smirked.
"Why would I ever leave you waiting? Ta ta~!" The fifteen year-old exclaimed as she ran out the door. Her friend just shook her head.
"She's going to get herself killed one of these days."
--------
Sarah ran out of the school, trying not to get caught by Ms. Unkel, the tyrant extraordinaire. She ran to the kindergarten building, which was a little over five minutes away, if you were walking.
"I'm so sorry I'm late Mrs. P, I got stuck in detention."
Mrs. Palamous was the nicest kindergarten teacher Sarah had ever met. In all her times spent watching over the kindergartners, Sarah never met anyone more accepting. Mrs. Palamous was also the closest person Sarah could compare to Snow White. No one tended to notice her though, because she was so soft spoken, but Sarah knew better. If given enough time and familiarity, Mrs. P could become quick-witted and hilarious.
The kind teacher smiled.
"On the last day of school? I didn't know that was possible." Sarah laughed kindly.
"Neither did I. We were dissecting frogs in science, and I wasn't happy. I spoke up about it, and the rest is history." Mrs. Palamous laughed.
"Only you, dear, only you." She frowned. "But if you weren't here, who took Madeleine home?" Sarah's horror struck look answered her before her words.
"Madeleine is GONE? Her mom only trusts me to walk her home, because her dad has that restraining order on him for-" She was hyperventilating. "- and Maddie knows better than to go off with someone she doesn't know!"
"Calm down, Sarah, why don't you go looking for her, I can only stay here until the rest of my students leave are picked up, but you can go. If you find her, come back here, if not... still come back here, and we will call the police." Sarah took a deep breath and nodded, before running out of the kindergarten, shouting "Maddie!" at the top of her lungs.
---
"MADDIE!!! WHERE ARE YOU?" Sarah had been searching for hours, but she refused to give up. Mrs. P and her parents were probably frantic. She checked her phone. 12 missed calls. Definitely frantic. She texted Alice telling her what happened. She was probably with Damian. She HAD to find Maddie though! She looked around. She had taken off her high heels so she could run, and she had abandoned them somewhere on first street.It was nightfall, and surprisingly cold. She heard someone grumbling behind her.
"What is it, Baby Tooth, you know I hate it in California! And it's SUMMER!" Hasty squeaks followed this statement, and Sarah soon felt something pointy and fast-moving hit the back of her head, and she turned quickly. A hummingbird? No, a hummingbird with a distinct facial expression of frustration. This was odd. She looked up and saw a boy with white, messy hair and blue eyes.
"Sorry about that Baby Tooth, you really should watch where you're going." Sarah raised an eyebrow quickly.
Why not apologize to the frantic girl who just got hit in the head with an angry hummingbird." She snickered. "Talk about angry birds."
The boy looked shocked for a moment. "You can- you can see me?" Sarah scoffed.
"Of course I can, should I not? Anyway I've got to go loo- oh no! I totally forgot! Maddie!" She grabbed the boy's wrist and ran, only partially registering that he was abnormally cold before she started screaming Madeleine's name again. "MADDIE!!" The boy stopped her.
"What's wrong? Who is Maddie, and why are you freaking out?" Sarah took a few deep breaths before trying to speak, her panic seeping through.
"Maddie is a five-year-old girl who lives across the street from me. About a year ago, her father was arrested for domestic abuse, but never went to jail for it, so Maddie's mom ordered a restraining order. Her mom didn't trust any of the family friends enough to pick her up from school, so when she heard that I took care of the Kindergartners after school, she hired me to take her home. Today I had detention, so I was late picking her up, and when I arrived at the school, she was gone. She had told the teacher that the person who was going to pick her up that day was there, then left. We think it may have been her father, because she would never leave with someone she didn't know." Sarah took a deep breath. "That was three hours ago. Please help me find her."
The boy appeared horror struck, and looked at the hummingbird. "We'll help you. Why don't we split up? I'll look on the west side, and you check the east." Sarah nodded, blinking back a few tears.
"Thank you." And with that she ran off.
Jack POV
I'll admit, of all the things I was expecting when Baby Tooth dragged me to Southern California in the middle of the summer, (right after a new guardian was chosen, even!) a frantic, sarcastic girl who could see me was not expected. But I understood when she explain about the Maddie girl. I can't tell you what I was thinking when I accepted, except maybe "oh my god" because that was pretty much the only coherent thought, but I knew I had to be fast, so we split up, and I asked the winds for a lift. I looked up at the moon.
"You couldn't give me that much peace without some kind of chaos, could you."
Once I thought about it, I realized that the girl looked familiar... Kind of like the spirit in the crystal. I gulped.
"Oh no..."