Chapter Text
In Burgess, life in winter is unlike any other place. You never know what winter could entail, except for one sure thing— fun.
Every place has its own unique sort of winter. In some places, it is scarce and fleeting, in Russia it is heavy and stubborn, and in other places, it brings a sort of melancholic vibe to the streets like in Prague. But in Burgess, the winter is nothing short of magical. It is infact, for the children, the most joyful of all seasons. Not just because of the fact that it brings about more types of games and activities to go about doing like making snowmen, snow angels, sleighing, ice skating, and other winter-y things, but also because of the individual who brings it about; Jack Frost in the flesh.
"Ah yes. You heard that right. Jack Frost. The best Winter spirit the world has ever seen. With eyes the colour of the bluest sky and their depth as much as the ocean, he can make anyone feel like they've stepped into a dream. His flies around, nimble and quick, like a fleeting wonder of creation, one moment there and the other, gone. His hair, it glowed under the sun, their shine as bright as freshly fallen snow, and his voice as charming as a songbird's song—"
"Eurgh. I think three centuries has left your brain rotten Jack. Stop glazing yourself to the moon and back and come play with us!" Jamie called out to Jack from the ground as the latter stay perched up on a roof edge.
Jack laughed, light and carefree, and replied in mock annoyance, " Oh c'mon Jamie, you can't tell me I'm wrong."
"You're as right as my exam answers!" The little boy replied.
"Esh. Hard blow there, man. Hard blow." Jack muffled his chuckle as he lay a hand over his heart as if he was struck, swaying his body backwards as he did so to sell the act.
"Yeah, yeah. Now come on! All the kids are waiting for you! I told them you'd come."
"Oh? Well why didn't you say so? " Jack asked with a tilt of his head, his smile lopsided. He had a hand behind his back where he formed a snowball.
"I just di—"
"Think fast, Jamie!" Jack threw the snowball at the kid and it landed on the boy's head.
"Hey! I wasn't ready!" Jamie exclaimed as he he bent down to form his own snowball.
"You're on!" He stated with a smirk.
Jack flies into the air as Jamie's snowball whipped towards him. Then with a laugh, he flew in the direction where the other kids were, keeping his flight a slow glide so that Jamie wouldn't be left behind. The boy came running behind Jack, another snowball in hand as he giggled to himself in his chase.
Sure enough, soon there was a whole battle royale between the kids who had divided themselves into two teams. Jack randomly supplied both with more snowballs as he dodged snowballs himself. Jack, was in the third team, and was the sole member of it. Guess being a winter spirit makes you a crowned target, huh?
Finally, after what seems like two hours, the kids all lay back down on the snow in a circle as Jack sat atop a boulder. The kids were huffing and were all out of breathe. Jack smiled to himself. Seeing kids have fun made something fuzzy and warm in his chest feel alive. It was nice.
What wasn't nice was that it made a fear churn in his chest too. It was small, but it was there. Fear, that something may happen and he would be left invisible again for centuries. Alone. He had Jamie and his friends, his firmest believers, and he had the Guardians, but fear isn't logical. Especially when you have had three centuries worth of isolation. Well in that sense it wasn't completely illogical. Was it?
"Jackkkkk..." Claude moaned. It broke Jack out of his train of thought.
"What's up?" Jack replied with an amused smile.
"We're bored and beat, tell us a story!"
Jack laughed incredulously. "A story?" He huffed.
"Oh yeah, tell us the ones with the dragons again!" Caleb explained.
"Yeah! You didn't finish the story last time." Jamie perked up as he propped himself on his elbows.
Now all the kids were beginning to sit up, facing towards Jack.
Jack smiled with a mixture of fondness and exasperation.
"Since when did I become a storyteller?"
"Since I became your story teller." Jamie replied dutifully as if the story he wanted Jack to narrate was the most serious topic in the world.
"Okay, who's teaching you to talk like that?" Jack tittered.
All the kids stared at Jack before Jamie replied.
"You do know that you're not exactly a good role model, right?" Jamie looked pointedly in Jack's eyes.
"Point taken. Remind me to stay away from your mothers. " Jack responded with glee dancing in his eyes. "Alright kids. Time for Jack to turn into your own personal storyteller. I better hear cheers after this!" He stated before ending in an exclamation.
He settled his staff in front of him on the ground and leaned at it's top with his arms on the crook. He sighed fondly as the kids erupted in cheers at his agreement.
"Once upon a time, it a land far from here. There lived fearsome beings called dragons. These dragons would eat fish, and hunt the sheep in human villages. The humans did not like that very much, for obvious reasons." Jack added the the last bit with a hint of his usual attitude with earned a few snickers from the assemblage of children.
"No seriously, imagine minding your own business and then whoop! A dragon dives in and steals your prized sheep! Isn't that annoying?" Jack gesticulated with his staff and free hand as he spoke.
"Pippa! Your father has a big farm in the countryside, right? What if a big red spiky dragon flew over and took your sheep?" Jack spoke with wide eyes and a disbelieving tone.
"Don't say things like that! " Pippa whisper-shouted.
"Jack's messing with you." Cupcake provided.
"Shh! I want to hear the end of it this time!" Jamie shushed at everyone.
Jack chuckled and glanced sideways before continuing.
"So the humans at this village would hunt dragons, and the dragons would hurt the humans back. It went on for a long time. Until one day, a boy decided to befriend one."
The wind swirled pleasantly around them as the story was narrated.
"But Jack, how did he befriend the dragon?" Monty quizzed.
"Well, that's a good question there Monty. Very good question. In fact, I think you're going places—" Jack had been stating with feigned seriousness before Jamie interrupted.
" You don't know, do you?" He narrowed his eyes with accusation in his gaze as he asked.
"Woah, slow down tiger. " Jack whistled before he scrunched his face into a question, "When did you get so smart?"
" You're just easy to figure out Jack." Jamie shrugged.
"Ouch. That hurt, you know? Three hundred years of mysteriousness down the drain! " He swung his head back and leaned his body the same way as he acted his usual dramatic self.
"Drama queen." Jamie muttered before he seemed to recall the story-session. "Continue the story now!"
"Yes, yes, your humble servant shall do as you bid, my lord." Jack spoke with exaggerated posh accent and three rolls of his wrist.
Jack smirked as he caught the eye rolls of some kids.
"The boy befriended the dragon." Jack continued which brought back all the eyes on him. " And he found out that the dragon was injured. So he helped him. Then...." Jack trailed off with slightly wide eyes and a palm held up to create suspense. "Then, the boy became a dragon rider! "
Leaves rustled in the wind as Jack continued, "The boy made equipment to ride the dragon, saddle and gear and straps and everything. And then he went on to convince his village that dragons weren't all that bad. And -"
Jack abruptly stopped as his eyes caught into shifting swirls of green in the sky. Auroras. He smile fades as a more serious look settled on it.
"Jack?" Cupcake called to him with confusion.
Jack looked back towards the kids and beamed at them. "Sorry gang, gotta go! Guardian stuff and everything. I'm a busy man you know? Some.. sometimes!" He added sheepishly.
Jamie groaned as he got up along with the rest of the kids. "Promise us that you'll finish the story next time! You keep leaving us on cliffhangers!"
Jack chuckled as he walked over to Jamie and ruffled his hair. "Promise kiddo."
"Fine then. I'm holding you to that!" Then, he whispered to Jack, "And...and... it's not something bad, is it?"
"What? The ending?" Jack asked with a perplexed half-smile.
"No. No, I mean, the uh, the auroras. You looked at them and had this whole serious expression."
"Oh, that. Psh! Guess I'll have to find out eh? But don't worry, last time it happened, I was chosen to be the guardian!" Jack said with enthusiasm that he didn't really quite feel. Jamie looked at him skeptically.
"Last time Pitch had also attacked." Jamie grumbled.
"Chill out Jamie. I'm sure it's not big deal." Jack smiled a bit more genuinely, his chest feeling warm again at Jamie's show of concern. He twirled his hand and a snowflake drifted out to settle on Jamie's nose. The kid giggled before protesting with a "Hey!". There were similar reactions from the other kids too, because Jack had done the snowflake thing to all of them.
"Tell your mothers that Jack Frost bit your nose! " Jack laughed as he jumped up and the wind held him afloat. Then, he flew off into the sky.
————
The wind carried Jack into the sky, above the cloud layer.
"Alright Wind, you know where we're going. Take me home!"
The wind rustled around him before speeding him through the air toward the North Pole.
Jack wondered what the auroras would be about this time. While the guardians met up more often now after the incident with Pitch, and started helping each other out more often, it was rare for the auroras to be released for a meeting. Scratch that thought actually. The auroras had never been released after he became a Guardian last year. So what, of what, could this be about?
He huffed and decided that he's going to find out anyway, so it's better to not think about it as much. His thoughts drifted to Jamie and the kids again. Why did they like that dragon story so much? Jack had to find different reasons to not continue it the past three times he'd told it. It wasn't that it was a bad or boring ending. It was just that Jack didn't know the ending. Actually, Jack didn't even know where he'd heard the story. Guess that three hundred years' worth of stories must have muddled up the memory of when he'd heard it. Still, he didn't want to admit that to Jamie and his friends because they were so excited about it. He didn't want to let them down. Jack resigned himself to the fact that he would have to create some ending himself.
The wind, always a speedy fellow, had him near the North Pole in minutes. As they flew over it, Jack felt the cold deep into his skin, but it was a good cold. Not that cold had ever been a bother to him. He was a winter spirit after all. Cold was his domain. Winter was as much to him as he was to Winter.
Then, a memory came to Jack's mind as the wind carried him through the sky.
"Hey Jack?" Jamie asked as he sat on a tree branch. Something Joyce would not approve of, but who was going to tell her?
"Yeah?" Jack floated down and sat down beside him on the branch.
"You talk to the wind a lot. Is there a wind spirit too?" Jamie quizzed.
"Yup. There's a wind spirit all right." Jack confirmed with a nod.
"Then, why can't I see him- or her-?" Jamie murmured with furrowed brows. "Can you see the spirit?" He asked with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Well...not really. I don't think the spirit has a form...? Or maybe it's because there's nothing to give them a form? Ah, I don't know!" Jack shrugged with exaggeration at the end.
"Guess you're not that smart for someone so old. Hmm...then, do you think if I believe in the wind spirit hard enough, I'll be able to who it is?" Jamie perked up at the thought, apparantly oblivious to the offense painted on Jack's face at the age comment.
"Belief goes a long way. You might be right little guy. Give it your best shot! Your power of belief has always been the strongest amongst all the children of the world, so if anyone can do it, I'm sure it'd be you." Jack replied enthusiastically with a grin on his face as he put a hand on Jamie's shoulder.
"Wind, I have a question." Jack spoke up now to the air. The wind swirled around him and messed up his hair in response. Jack chuckled. "Do you have a spirit form or something? "
The wind slowed down.
"Uh, is that a no?" Jack asked, perplexed.
The wind had no response.
"Okay..if yes, then mess up my hair, if no, then slow down. Yea?" Jack settled.
The wind swept his hair to the right of his head. A yes, then.
"Nice! I might regret letting you mess up my beautiful hair though. Heh." Jack snickered. "Okay, so, do you have a spirit form?" Jack questioned once again. This time, the wind swept his hair to the left.
Jack had shock all painted all over his face.
"Woah hold up, why haven't I ever seen you then?" Jack blurted out.
The wind swirled around him again. Jack did not know what to make of that this time.
"Okay. Okay. Is it possibly because we don't any story on you to spread?"
The wind slowed down but swept his hair to the right at the same time.
"Now I really don't know what you're trying to say man." Jack huffed.
The wind blew gently into his face before swirling around him again. That was the end of the conversation for now.
He neared the Workshop soon enough. The warm hues of the light glowing inside the massive cliff-side structure was impossible to miss. But when Jack went right over the mountain behind the workshop and on ahead, he was very confused.
"Uhh, wind?" He called out into the air. "The workshop just went past, where are you taking me?"
Then, just as he spoke the words, the wind stopped, and for a moment, Jack fell downwards and shrieked more out of surprise than fear.
But the wind caught hold of him again and carried him back towards the workshop. Just for a moment, Jack thought he saw something green from the corner of his eye. But when he tilted his head, he saw nothing but the snowy lengths of glaciers and mountains.
"Okay, so the hair wasn't enough and now you're messing with me or something?" Jack laughed nervously. This was a new experience. The wind had never really behaved quite like this before, as if it forgot that it was the workshop that was the destination.
Jack flew in through a circular window in the ceiling dome of the workshop. He bid farewell to the wind as he was greeted by a large variety of sounds that ranged from the jingle of bells atop elf hats to the sounds of machinery a bit further away. He spotted the Guardians near the Globe Of Belief.
He flew downwards and landed gracefully beside Toothiana. He prayed to whatever gods that listened that she would not open his mouth and do a rundown on the condition of his teeth again.
Whatever was the reason North called them all over for, now, Jack would find out. But judging from the grim expression Sandy wore, Jack did not have a good feeling about this.