Notes: Heya, Lo here! I'll be the first one to post a story. Hope you all enjoy it.
The cold winter air sent a shiver through Wendy's body as she walked along the street, on her way back to the guild. She rubbed her hands together and let her warm breath on them, attempting to warm up her fingers that were beginning to numb. Luckily, her toes were more heavily insulated, so she didn't need to deal with the annoyance of frozen feet. Her scarf worked in keeping her neck warm, and her hat managed to cover much of her ears, but unfortunately, her face was just as exposed as ever. Her pink cheeks were a testimony to her blood's attempts at warming her up, she didn't think it was working out too well, but whatever.
"It's pretty cold out there." That was something a lady had said upon entering the shop Wendy was just leaving.
"Yeah, Jack Frost must be having his fun this year." The clerk had chuckled.
The name had been foreign to Wendy, and thus, she asked the clerk about this strange person who seemed to be making it much colder. The clerk had given her a polite smile as she corrected the young girl, that Jack Frost wasn't a real person, but a fun little folktale. And once she received the answer to her question, she politely thanked the clerk and left the quaint and cozy, little shop.
She hadn't heard the story before, but she thought it was a fun little idea. The Spirit of Winter, trying to spread fun and cheer. Or, the Spirit of Winter, trying to throw his loneliness away by spreading it to the world around him. Both were enjoyable tales, and both were about a mischievous boy who, while being somewhat chaotic, had a good heart. Personally, she liked to mix the two tales together.
They were interesting little tales, but that's all they were, tales... Right?
The sound of laughter suddenly brought her out of her thoughts. To her left, she found a boy sitting down, near the canal. She thought his snow white hair was appropriate, considering the season. And she found it interesting that his blue hoodie seemed to have some frost on it, here and there. It was the same for the brown pants he wore, frost gathered near the slightly tattered bottom where his bare-feet stuck out. That was also interesting... he was bare-feet! How weird was that!? Although, to be fair, Gray was able to run around harsh winter environments practically naked... but Gray was weird, so it didn't count.
She brushed off her intrigue at the frost on his clothes when she caught sight of his staff, itself also being covered in frost. She figured it must be some sort of magical weapon, and the frost that gathered on his clothes were a side-effect of it's abilities. That was the only explanation she could come up with.
His laughing ceased, the reason for it in the first place unknown to her, and his head turned. His eyes made contact with her's, and then he froze.
With a small jump and a quiet squeal, Wendy started walking, rubbing her hands to warm them up again. Her cheeks would have gone red, had they not already been red due to the cold. And for that, she was a little thankful.
"Hey!" She didn't recognize the voice that shouted, but she could guess it belonged to that boy. She didn't turn to look at him, or even stop for that matter, she just kept walking. Rude, probably. But you do weird things when you're embarrassed.
She half-expected another shout from the boy, but one didn't come. Instead, a voice from right beside her asked, "You can see me?" She gave a slight jump at the surprise, she didn't even notice he got beside her.
She stopped in her tracks, though she didn't look at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare." she mumbled.
She swore that if it were possible for her cheeks to become even more red, in that moment, they did. It's normal to be attacked by the blushies when you get caught staring at someone. Even more so when said person confronts you about it. Even, even more so when you maybe, sort of, kinda think the person in question is sort of, maybe, kind of... attractive.
"I don't really care about that, but are you really able to see me?" His hand began waving in front of her down-trodden face.
She lifted her head, turning to look at him. "Erm... yes?"
"Woah! Amazing!" He jumped up, throwing both his hands in the air, before landing on one foot and hopping a couple times.
"Um, is it really that amazing?"
He twirled around to come face to face with her yet again, a large smile adorning his features. Their faces came incredibly close for a few heartbeats, she would know, she counted them. She immediately backed up, nearly falling down.
"Ah, be careful!" he said.
"I-I'm fine." She sighed. "But is it really that amazing that I can see you?"
"You have no idea how amazing that is!" His voice was filled with excitement. "Not many people can see me, you know."
"Eh!? Really!?"
"Yup, really." He placed the length of his staff behind his neck and along his shoulders, using both hands to grab one end. "You have to really, really, really... really believe in me!" He jumped into the air as he declared the last part of his sentence.
"Believe in you?" she questioned, scratching her head in her puzzlement.
"Yup, and luckily, you did!" He flashed her a toothy grin. "Thanks! I really appreciate it."
"Er... um... I... uh..." He gave her a confused look as she struggled to find her words. "I... well, I don't really know who you are, so I don't know how I'd be able to believe in you..."
"Ah, right." A light bulb went off in his head. "You've never seen me before, so of course you wouldn't just suddenly recognize me. I mean, there's never really been a portrayal of me anywhere so of course no one would have an idea." He held out his hand for her to take. "I'm Jack... Frost." he added his last name as an afterthought.
She grabbed hold of his hand and shook it... then she realized what he said.
"Eh!? Jack Frost!?"
"The one and only." Bringing an arm to his waist and extending the other outward, he gave her a fanciful, maybe a little over-the-top, bow. When he straightened, though, he was met with her confused eyes.
"But... but Jack Frost was just some folktale, right? He's not real..."
"He is standing right in front of you." he said, feeling slightly insulted, to which she gave a sheepish smile. "And what do you mean I'm not real? I thought that you believed in me?"
"Um... well, I've never heard of you until the nice clerk lady told me about you. But she said it was just some old stories people made up."
"Blegh." Jack stuck his tongue out, disgusted at being called, 'old stories people made up'. "NOT a nice clerk lady, just a clerk lady." He folded his arms and looked away with a pout.
Wendy gave a wry smile and an awkward laugh. "Now, now... I'm sure she didn't mean to offend you."
"And I'm sure Jack Frost won't mean to offend her when he breaks her shop's heater." He looked at her with a raised brow. "What shop does she work at?"
"Uh... so, how do I know you're really Jack Frost and not some guy trying to trick me?" She figured it'd be best to change the topic of conversation before something she would regret happened.
"What!?" He placed a hand over his chest. "I'm hurt, young lady. You would choose to believe I'm an imposter?" Wendy let out another awkward laugh.
Jack paused, his features taking on a contemplative expression. Wendy wasn't quite sure what was going on.
Suddenly, his gaze shifted to his staff, then he bent over backward, balancing on one foot as the other shot out in front of him. As his face was away from her, Wendy could only guess what he was looking at. There was a group of people walking along, but that was normal going abouts of life. There couldn't have been anything too interesting over there.
She caught sight of him twirling his staff, pointing the crook somewhere across the road from them. Following the trajectory, she saw a swirl of blue, only for it to leave a patch of ice in its wake. Cool, but why?
A man came running along, apparently in a hurry or something. His foot landed on the icy patch just as his other left the ground. In seconds, he fell flat on his back... after flying several feet into the air from the slip. It looked like it really hurt, and the man wasn't getting up.
She watched, slightly worried. But Jack straightened up, holding his gut as he laughed. She shot him an angry glare.
"Why did you do that!? That was really mean!"
She started walking forward, heading over to heal the poor guy, but Jack grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Wait, wait!" he said, and she had half a mind to ignore him. "You're going to miss the important part."
She sighed and stayed in place. She was still unhappy with what he did, but maybe there was some sort of justification for his actions? Apparently, there was.
A few seconds later, a lady came over to him. Wendy was slightly surprised when she kicked his head, and she felt slightly sorry for this man who couldn't seem to catch a break. But then the lady grabbed a bag the man had apparently been carrying, probably a purse or something. And the way she took it, it was obviously her's.
Wendy looked back at Jack, he wore a playful little smirk. And again, her cheeks would have grown red had they not been red already.
"S-Sorry!" She gave him an apologetic bow.
"Hey, it's no big deal. It's not like someone could tell at a glance what that guy did."
"S-so, you have a magic weapon?" she asked, sure that the staff conjured the ice.
"What!?" He showed a slightly offended expression. "Twiner is my friend, not a weapon!" He motioned to his staff. "It is the most loyal of allies."
"Oh, sorry!" she quickly apologized.
"And sure, Twiner may be magical, but the ice came from me." He slapped his hand to his chest, a smug smile hanging on his lips. "Jack Frost."
She gave yet another wry smile. "I mean, you can use magic, sure, but that doesn't mean you're the Jack Frost."
"Come on!" He gave an exasperated sigh. "What do I need to do!? Fly?" He leaped up into the air. Instead of falling, however, he kept going up, and up, and up, twirling around as he rose.
"Whoa!" Wendy was a little surprised to see it. Indeed, it wasn't just a really high jump, his aerial maneuvers shot that possibility out.
After a few flips in the air, he dived straight down. Right before he impacted the ground, he immediately adjusted himself, flying towards Wendy. She flinched, expecting an impact, but she had nothing to worry about. His speed slowed, and he came to a complete halt right in front of her as a gush of wind blew pass. Instead of landing on the ground, the boy had opted to stay laying in the air.
"Well?" he asked the stunned girl.
"Um..." Wendy shook her head, regaining her senses. "Well, even if you can fly, that doesn't mean you're Jack Frost... just very magically gifted."
He frowned. "That's not fun."
"Sorry..."
"I never thought I would have a hard time proving my identity..." He rubbed his chin in thought. "Oh, I know," A finger bolted up. "How about the fact that no one else can see me, and they've all been staring at you like you're a crazy person?"
"Eh?" Wendy looked around. Sure enough, she was receiving curious looks from the people walking along... And now she was embarrassed. "W-why didn't you say anything earlier!?" She immediately covered her mouth after the shout, realizing it would make her seem weirder.
He laughed. "It was kind of funny not to." She frowned at his answer, he was so not cute anymore... okay, that was a lie.
"So, then, you're just my imagination?" she muttered, trying not to draw anymore attention to herself.
"What!? You'll have to speak up!" He sat up, holding a hand over his ear as he showed off his, almost ever present, playful smirk. A scowl and low growl, however, caused him to stop his teasing. "Alright, alright. No, I'm not your imagination, and to be honest, I'm a little insulted you'd even suggest that." He folded his arms over his chest.
"Then why can't anyone else see you?"
"I told you, people can't see me unless they believe in me." he stated.
"But I didn't believe in you." she pointed out, the volume of her voice a little louder than she wanted.
"Yeah... that is the weird part..." he hummed. "Wait, you said, 'didn't', does that mean you believe in me now?"
"I don't know about you being Jack Frost, but I do believe you to be a real person... I guess. I mean, you are right in front of me."
He groaned. "I've never had this much trouble convincing someone of who I am."
He was currently sitting cross-legged as he stroked his chin in thought. It was a little weird. He acted as if floating in the air was as natural to him as walking the ground. As if he no longer payed any thought to whether he was in the air or not, as if he didn't even think about it. It almost made her forget about it, too. Almost. She still took notice that he was sitting upon nothing but air.
"You sure you don't believe I'm Jack Frost?" he asked.
"Afraid not." She shrugged.
"Is there anything I can do that'll make you believe me?"
She placed a finger on her chin, humming in thought. After a few moments of silence, she finally came to an answer. "So far, you've given me no reason not to believe you. So, if you can do this one thing, I'll believe you."
He let his legs drop, floating mere inches off the ground in a more serious pose. "Alright, I'm up for the challenge."
"Alright then, if you really are the Spirit of Winter, then make it snow."
"Really?" he asked, a little confused at the simplicity of the request.
"Well, it's like I said. You haven't really given me a reason not to believe you. And with how sincere you are in your declarations, I really want to believe you. So, I figured if you really are the personification of winter, a simple manipulation of the weather to make it snow would be possible for you." She let out a gentle laugh.
"Are you crazy!?" She jumped at his sudden outburst. "Those stories about me are not accurate at all! Changing the weather? Making it snow? I can't do any of that!"
"Eh? Really?" She scratched the back of her head. "Sorry, maybe I should try and think of something else then."
However, Jack chuckled, pulling in her confused eyes. "I'm just messing with you, kid." He pat her head, and suddenly her cheeks felt warmer than they were just a few seconds ago. "Okay, just need to make it snow, yeah?"
He twirled his staff around a couple times. Through the twirls, one of his hands shifted to the top of the staff, while the other stayed just off center. Extending the staff out as the bottom came around, he performed an uppercut with it, raising one of his knees with the swing. In that position, he stayed frozen for a few moments.
Wendy was a little confused by what he was trying to accomplish, but she didn't have much time to think about it. A few seconds after his movements, her body was assaulted by a gush of the freezing winter air. When the assault ended, she fixed her gaze back on him. He was smiling as he stared up at the sky.
When she looked up, she could only watch in wonder. Grey clouds began to cover up the blue sky above, moving in from the direction the winds had struck her from. Once the blue above her was hidden behind grey, specks of white began to descend. In just a few short seconds, snowflakes took rest on her face, only to turn to water shortly after.
"Amazing!" She looked back at him. He was watching her with a smug smile. "I guess... that means you really are Jack Frost."
His smile faded, and he now observed her with a frown on his face.
"W-what's wrong?" she asked.
"That wasn't much of a reaction over your sudden realization." he said, flying closer to the girl. "Are you sure you really believe I'm Jack Frost?"
"Ah! N-no, you've got it wrong!" She waved her hands as she hurried to explain. "I already lost a lot of my initial shock and surprise from when you first announced who you were..." She paused for a bit, before adding, "And... I suppose I'd be lying if I said I believed you one hundred percent. There is still some doubt in my mind over who you are, but it's like I said, I want to believe you... so I will believe you!"
He smiled widely. "Well, I suppose that's good enough."
She held out her hand, smiling right back at him. "Wendy Marvell."
He grabbed her hand, shaking it. "Jack Frost."
Two voices intermingled, having spoken the same words, "It's nice to meet you!"
Closing Notes: Hello, again! Did you guys like it? I actually had plans to have the story go on a bit longer, but this felt like a natural end. I couldn't see any way for me to write the story past this point.
If it had continued, it would have had Jack and Wendy chat a bit more. He eventually hears the3 guild name, slightly confused at first. Once she explains that it's the question, 'Do fairies have tails?', Jack, with a toothy grin, replies, 'It depends on the fairy'. Wendy is a little shocked that he has actually seen fairies, and then he tells her that fairies made his clothes for him.
Some more stuff would happen, then the story would eventually end with Wendy waking up. She looks around, finding herself in her room. With a sigh, she concludes that everything was all a dream. Someone calls for her and she immediately gets up to go meet them.
The story ends describing a snowflake in the frost covered window.
Yeah, that still sounds like an amazing ending to me. Actually, having written down what was going to happen, I really like that original ending. Again, where I stopped felt like a natural ending so I'm leaving it as it is. But even though it isn't written out, my head-canon is that the original ending still happens, we just don't see it.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed this story. I have several other ideas for stories in this crossover, but for right now, I'll say, 'See you later'.