Warmth to a Frost Child
A/N: Yes, because everyone knows I totally own Rise of the Guardians!
...Seriously guys, I don't. So don't sue me.
So this just... flew into my mind like a hyperactive Tooth and was about to fly right back out but I managed to write it down. Enjoy the first chapter!
Summary: Jack wants to feel the warmth, see the sun, and for once, the ground not covered in white. Bunny stands still and holds the staff, watching the frost child crumble.
Whenever Jack Frost joins up with the rest of the Guardians in the North Pole, he sits the farthest away from the fireplace, and sometimes it seems to him that they are huddling away from him, away from his cold, away from the unwelcome. He does not blame them. There is a reason he sits so far away from the source of heat; he doesn't want to accept the fact that he cannot feel the warmth.
A long time ago, when he was still in his frantic state of realizing no one could see or hear him, he discovered this power, this curse. He had tried sticking his hand in an abandoned campfire, but the fire went down and there was still no warmth.
So now Jack sits in the chair in the corner, not wanting to be reminded of the fact that he is not human. Of course, it is hard to say any one of them are human, but still, they find comfort in warmth, have normal interactions with each other, have normal temperatures, have body heat;
He does not.
While Jack silently contemplates whether he should leave or not, North suddenly booms out a jolly laugh from whatever story Bunny was telling, and the sudden jolt back into reality surprises him and his staff slips out of his fingers and as it clatters to the floor, he feels-
He feels a spark of warmth.
When he blinks once, twice, to make sure that the feeling is real, he confirms that the warmth is real. Then he realizes that the others are staring at him worriedly and questioningly, and that he has let out an audible gasp.
He masks his surprise with a grin and shrugs it off. "Sorry, dozed off for a while. Didn't know where I was for a sec."
The others accept this as a plausible excuse except for maybe Bunny ("How do you fall asleep during one of my stories?"), but in the end everybody is laughing and they don't notice Jack inching his chair forward, into the heat, into the company.
The heat grows and Jack is ecstatic.
After another five stories or so, Sandy's stories being elongated into an odd game of charades ("So then ya threw a block o' cheese a' them?" "No, wait! You asked Manny for help! Right?" "Ah, so dat's vhat it vas. Sorry, Manny."), Tooth looks back at him. "Jack, are you okay with being so near the heat?
The Spirit of Winter in question (but that is just so silly because there is no other "Spirit of Winter") blinks and flashes a grin, which is sure to throw the Tooth Fairy off track a bit. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got absorbed into you guys making a game of charades out of Sandy's story." As he speaks, he unclasps his hands, which come away sweaty. That's odd. He's never sweated before. Jack decides to chalk that one up to the effects of heat, but it's apparently natural so it's nothing bad and he actually feels human.
After storytelling time is over and Tooth and Sandy get out for work, North tells Jack that he can stay in the room, while the jolly man himself makes a sleeping bag for him and leaves the room. Bunny leaves an off hand comment of "Ya forgot yer stick over there, Fros'bite," taps his foot on the ground twice; and he's gone before Jack can retort with "It's a staff!"
Jack decides to hang back in North's place for a while; give people a week to panic over that thing called "global warming" (whatever that is), and then come back with a gusto of a crystalline winter. But for now, he can rest in the newfound warmth, and he walks to go retrieve the staff.
As soon as the rough wood touches his fingers, however, the warmth, which was like a steady flow of syrup, is cut off and he's encased in an invisible prison of cold again.
With a half-strangled yell, he drops his conduit and in a panic, flails and falls back on his side. North is there in a heartbeat, with blue strings tangled around his arms and swords out and ready, but puts them away when he sees Jack down on the ground. "Vhat happened, Jack?" North asks, helping him off his feet and handing his staff to him. Dusting himself off, Jack scratches the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "Whoops, fell over my own staff. Sorry, just being stupid here." North chuckles and tells him to "Be more careful, da?" and hands him a dark blue sleeping bag with a glittery snowflake sewn on the front. The man known as Santa Claus then notices the fireplace. "Oh, I vill put dat out for you, Jack." Jack mentally panics and stammers, "O-oh no, i-it's okay, you don't have to-to do that. R-really."
His heart plummets when North pats his shoulder and says, "Jack, ve are family now! Ve do things for each other, no need to be afraid of asking for help!" And North looks so content with snuffing the fire out, so proud, that Jack doesn't have the heart to tell him to try and start another one. So he settles with a "Thanks, North," with a forced grin, but he is used to fake smiles and North doesn't notice-can't possibly notice-as he wishes Jack a good night and closes the door.
Jack scolds himself for his cowardice, and shuffles into his new sleeping bag. He looks at the staff, berating himself again. He also doesn't have the courage to abandon it, which marks his friendship with the Wind and is also a crucial memoir of saving his sister. He can't even think of throwing it to the side, but he just wants the cold to go away. He can't do that unless the staff was taken away from him, and he would never let that happen.
But what if he gave it to someone?
The thought makes him bolt up into a sitting position, and he fumbles with the tangled sleeping bag for a long time until lying down again. He could just give it to someone! And then he would only come back once in a while when he needed to spread winter, and them he could give it back to whoever he gave it to, and he could just walk and be-be human. And the best part is, the staff won't even affect others like it affects him! This had been proved when Jamie had touched it last week and he had seemed fine.
With that thought in mind, Jack sleeps and dreams of being warm.
This shall be my first three-shot with a sequel! (Yay I've never written sequels and prequels before :D)
Review for updates, at least five will do. But seriously, please review.