Closed Windows

Jack didn't know when it had happened. He hadn't even noticed—he hadn't even realized it. Jack Frost came and went with Winter, and even though it was possible to visit during the Spring and the Summer he just didn't often do so. After all, who else was going to make snow on the other side of the world? Who was going to provide fierce and epic snow ball fights and give just enough soft snow to promote forts and who was going to thicken the ice for the children who wanted to ice skate?

Jack Frost—that was who.

But whenever winter came to Burgess, Jack had always made a point to visit Jamie. After all, Jamie was the first child to ever believe in Jack Frost. He was Jack's first friend. (The other Guardians really came 'after' this in the friendship department.)

It had happened so slowly, though. To the point when Jack had shown up for the first day of Winter and he often had to do double takes just to make sure it was Jamie in the first place. And often it would take a few days and visits before he was used to just how... big, Jamie was getting.

The other Guardians had mentioned this.

Warned him of it.

And then, one day Jack flew in with the first chill of winter and came to find that Jamie... had gone off to college. He lingered for days and never heard a peep of where, exactly, the other had gone. But he had eventually moved on from that. He saw Jamie that summer and got the name of the University—

("You're still going to school? But you're so old!" Jack had laughed, throwing a snowball-in-summer in to Jamie's face. Jamie grimaced as he wiped away the ice with one hand, before deceptively tossing the snowball he had hidden behind his back at Jack. Jack stayed still long enough to let it graze his side before doing a loop.

Jamie grinned and chuckled—a deep sound that still somehow kept some childish glee to it—and said, "well, Jack, I can't really get a proper job without a degree."

"But it's such a waste of time!" Jack had cried out loud, just a bit miffed and annoyed with the fact that Jamie had to go so far... away!

Jamie paused and then blinked up at him with a strangely solemn face, "well..." He trailed for a second, ".. how am I going to take care of my parents in the future?"

"Why would you have to do that?"

"... because they're getting old, Jack. And so am I.")

Maybe that had been the beginning of the end? Because that strangely solemn look had soon became a semi-permanent fixture to his face. And Jack decided to be wildly rambunctious to just keep it away. And it worked, for a time. It worked until Jack had to leave to follow the winter storms.

That year, Jack didn't bother returning with the first bite of winter. No, he waited for Christmas time before he went and visited Jamie. Jamie said he would be home for Christmas. And Jack grinned wildly to himself as he zoomed in on Jamie's home. They had planned this during the summer. They were going to go and have a huge snowball war down by the lake. And then they were going to make snowmen the size of giants, and then...!

… and Jamie's bedroom window was shut. Shut and locked.

… it was never locked.

Jack tugged on the window, his bare toes curling along the ledge as he awkwardly leaned his staff on his shoulder. He gave a few more frustrated tugs before letting go and hovering in the air a few inches from the window.

He hated going through Sophie's room... it was a girl's room, after all. But Jack did it anyway. He inched over to the next room and slid through the open window. Sophie looked up from where she was sitting on the ground. A pink blanket draped over her head. She blinked before she smiled and gave a wave.

Jack grinned and waved back. "Have you seen Jamie?" Jack asked as he shut the window behind himself and let hit feet gently touch down on to the floor. He gave a practiced swing of his staff and expertly tossed it over his shoulders and he entangled his arms around the wooden thing.

Sophie's eyes widened before she grinned and nodded and took off for her bedroom door in all of her preteen glory of pink and purple Christmas paraphernalia. "He'd downstairs with mommy and daddy!" She informed him quietly in the 'we're being sneaky!' voice she used. Jack grinned and took off behind her. He crouched a little as he moved, going along with her 'sneaky spy' cues.

They inched silently down the stairs and peered around the landing and followed the voices. Sophie grabbed Jack's hand and pulled the other along for a little. They ended up in the dining room where... a surprisingly large number of people gathered. Jack blinked as he peered around the edge of a dividing wall. Sophie had taken the bottom portion of the wall, so he just floated above her and peered in.

… Jamie had grown a beard. Nice and trim, but it was the first time he had ever seen the other with hair on his face. Jack glanced to the people he knew to be Jamie's parents and blinked as he noticed their wrinkles. They... well, they looked a bit weathered. And then there were all of the people! They weren't the same kids that Jamie had played with for years. And there was a blond lady sitting on the arm of Jamie's chair.

Well, this didn't matter much. He and Jamie had thing to do!

So Jack inched more in to view and did some frantic waving. And Jamie looked right at him! He motioned for the other to get the hell out of the room... and he watched Jamie's eyes pass right over him as he turned to smile to his mother.

Jack frowned and glanced down to Sophie... who was looking up at him with a matching frown.

Letting out a huff, Jack balanced himself on top of his staff with his feet and floated in to the dead center of the entry way. He planted his hands on his hips and waited.

And waited.

"Jamie!" Jack almost stomped his foot. Almost. "Jamie, look at me!" Jack was starting to feel a chill, which was strange because he technically couldn't feel cold. Jamie wasn't looking at him. Even when he should be able to... Jack pressed his hands together and formed a snowball. He cocked his hand back and let his creation of ice fly to smack Jamie right in the face.

And the whole room broke in to a panic as Jamie let out a startled cry and almost upended the lady on his chair. Jamie was quick to wipe off the ice from his face. The boy scowled as he scrambled to his feet and right about marched over to where Jack was. Jack couldn't help it, he grinned widely and stuck his tongue out at the other. "What did you think of that shot, eh? I have declared snowball war on you, Ja—"

Jamie walked right through him.

"Sophie! Why would you do that? Do you realize how much that hurts?" Jamie pulled at face at his sister, who stared up at him wide eyed.

"I didn't do it!" Sophie was immediately defensive.

Jamie crossed his arms. "Oh, and if not you, who?"

"It was Jack, of course!"

Jamie almost took on a pitying look before he reached out and snagged Sophie's hands. "Your hands are frozen, Sophie. It's not use lying to me. You threw it." Jamie tossed her hands down. And behind him, their parents walked through Jack to come and stand behind their son.

Jack... Jack was panicking. Some dim corner of his mind had realized what had happened. But he just couldn't believe it! That wasn't right. It wasn't fair. He wasn't ready! "Of course I did it, Jamie! Or is the freezer brain getting to you?"

"Sophie, you should apologize to your brother, that wasn't nice. You're a young lady—"

"I didn't do it!"

"Jamie, Jamie look at me! LOOK AT ME!"

Jack was breathless, panting and between breaths he screamed, throwing his arms and hands through Jamie just to get the other to look. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Sophie's face getting paler and more pinched by the second but he couldn't bring himself to focus on her. Jamie had always been his focus before.

But now... but now!

Sophia had been grounded and sent to her room. And Jack couldn't help but follow her in a daze as she stomped up the stairs and escaped to her room while the adults and Jamie returned to the dining room.

… no, that wasn't right. It wasn't just 'the adults AND Jamie' now... it was just the adults.

Jack dropped on to the bed, unmindful of the bits of frost he was leaving on the sheets as his eyes stared at nothing. Well, stared at nothing until Sophie stood before him. She blinked sadly down at Jack before she reached out and took his cold hands in to her own again.

So, he focused on her. "Well..." Jack's voice cracked. "... well... " He trailed off.

"... it happens to the best of us, doesn't it?" Jack eventually asked the preteen. It eventually happened, just like North had said it would. But Jack hadn't thought that it would be Jamie. It just couldn't be Jamie. Because Jamie had been so, so special! So full of belief! When all of the world faltered, Jamie had stood strong and believed in the Guardians!

Sohpia's hands tightened around Jack's fingers. "I won't. I won't ever stop believing in you! In you, or Santa, or the Easter Bunny!" Her face was pulled back in to a grim look of fierceness that looked so much like the face she had had as a young child... but it also looked so strangely grim and adult.

It looked like the face Jamie had had... had worn the last time they had really spoken.

Jack could feel his stomach tighten in warning. "Never ever!" She promised.

… slowly, he pulled his hands away from her, before he flicked some snowflakes in to her hair. He got a grin and a giggle for his efforts. He watched her glee and took heart in it. That was what he did, after all. He made kids happy.

And he relished the moment in ways that he hadn't relished his time with Jamie. Because he had always made an exception for Jamie. Because even when Jamie's friends had stopped believing, Jamie had kept the light burning strongly. Because as the years went by, he had been so friendly and so childish and so... him! If there had ever been someone who would never stop believing...

If it could have been anyone... it could have been him!

But it was like how the other Guardians explained it. Time may not touch the Guardians anymore. But time was important to mortals. And eventually all children grew up to have children of their own. And the cycle would begin again. And the Guardians would move on to the new children.

He spent the evening playing with Sophie, before flying off earlier then he planned that night.

He hung in the sky that night, just staring up at the moon until he saw Sandy's golden dreams working their magic through the night. Jack stayed in the air for a little longer before he started to head to the north pole... because he was sure North would be interesting. And lively. And lively enough to fill the sudden hollow that had grown inside of him.

Because the moment that it had happened... the moment that Jamie stopped believing in Jack Frost... it wasn't like a light flickering on and off. It had been gradual. Jack realized this now. Realized in those last few visits how Jamie would sometimes go fuzzy eyed and grim.

When children stopped believing... it happened little by little. Gradually over time.

(Sophie had held his hand as he opened the window with his other. His staff balanced minutely on a shoulder before he grabbed it once more. Jack hopped up on to the sill and shifted as if to jump away before he noticed that Sophie hadn't let go.

Sophie was doing that too adult look once more. "I'll never ever stop."

Jack quirked a grin that he was sure wasn't up to par with what he normally did and nodded. He opened his mouth and spoke. She grinned and let go of his hand and took a step back and Jack jumped—even though his heart was screaming to make him try one more time... one more time! Try to make Jamie see him one more... time!

But he left, and he didn't look back. Jamie's window was locked. And it was never going to be open again.)

"... it happens to the best of us." The winds whipping around him stole the words away after they had been uttered.

Even Jamie hadn't been spared. Jamie had grown up. And now Jamie no longer believed.

(Jamie's eyes had been big and around and so wide with wonder as he focused on Jack for the first time. "You..." He gasped, mouth opening in shocked surprise. "You're Jack Frost!" And Jack had been somewhere between elated and shocked when he realized that the other was talking ti him, looking at him... seeing him and believing him! Someone believed in him!

"Y.. you can see me!")

Jack solemnly finished his journey to the North Pole...

… he didn't even have to speak to North. The giant Guardian merely took in something from his expression, patted him on the back. But even he had no rumbling words of comfort. After all, North had experienced this so many times before. He knew that it would take some time to sink in. They had all known how Jack had felt.

So, Jack found somewhere high to settle like a gargoyle and he just watched the yetis and the elves bustle around to North's loud bossing. He watched them, because Christmas was just such and such hours away.

(Jack quirked a grin and nodded. He opened his mouth and spoke. "I'll bring you a snow day soon, Sophie."

"Thank you Jack!" She grinned, all of her adult teeth shined brightly up at him. "Come back soon!")

By the next time Christmas came around, Sophie's window was locked and shuttered.

A/N: .. I am so used to this happening. Here is a one shot. I loved this movie a lot. And I just got really inspired to write this. I hope someone else enjoys this. I will probably never write anything else about this Fandom, but it was fun. News update with me, I'm going to Japan in September. Once that happens, I won't be writing Fanfiction for a whole year. So I'll try and pump out as much as possible within the next few months. I'll finish as many stories as possible for you lot. So, wish me luck in this writing spree.