A/N: Welp, here I am, with a new story! My new favorite movie has been RotG for a while now, and I've had this idea brewing for weeks. This is the first chapter, so I apologize if it's boring.
As for my OuranXFMA fanfic, it's not dead yet! Don't give up on it, cuz I sure haven't.
Okay, enjoy!
XOXOXOXOXO
A Frosty Arrow Through the Heart
Part 1
It's been almost a year since Jack and the other Guardians saved the children of the world from Pitch Black. North insisted that Jack stayed at the North Pole with him, but Jack refused, not being able to see himself cooped up in one place all the time. Jack was a wanderer, and never stayed in one place for too long—just the thought of staying in some hideout made him sick to his stomach.
So here he was, flying over a sleeping Burgess, deciding it was time to visit Jamie again. He'd made it a regular routine to visit his first little believer every few weeks at least, and Jamie had no problem with it. But the last time Jack visited was only last night, and he was back again because something was bothering Jamie. It didn't take a genius to notice—he wasn't sleeping well, and kept spacing out when Jack was trying to talk to him. Something was definitely up.
Jack landed on Jamie's window sill and tapped on the window, even though the lamp was on. Jamie was up late again. Jack saw Jamie's figure through the frosty window wave at him from his desk to come in, and Jack pushed the window open easily and slipped inside.
"Hiya sport, whatcha up to this late at night? Not very often do I come here and you're still awake. Except last night. What are you reading anyway?"
Jamie yawned and put down the book, sliding it under a pile of papers so that Jack couldn't see the title. Jack smiled inwardly and waved his hand, sending a chilling breeze over the desk and scattering the papers everywhere. Jamie squealed and scrambled to gather them before Jack saw the book, but it was too late; How to Get a Girl's Attention was now sitting by itself on the desk, and Jack picked it up with a smirk on his face.
"So, girl troubles is it?"
Jamie sighed and sat back on the chair, giving up on picking up the rest of the papers that were scattered on the floor.
"Her name's Pippa," Jamie began almost solemnly, "she's my best friend, but I've been feeling different about her lately. I think I might…like her, you know?"
Jack chuckled, sitting and crossing his legs on Jamie's bed so he could face him comfortably.
"I know what you mean. Is this why you've been so uptight lately?"
"Well not exactly…" Jamie started, "my parents have been acting weird lately. They won't talk to each other, and now Dad's been sleeping in the guest room all by himself. I just don't get it,"
That can't be good, Jack thought to himself.
"What's wrong with them Jack?" Jamie asked, staring up at Jack sadly. Jack hesitated, thinking of what to say.
"It's nothing to worry about Jamie, it's probably just a phase. All marriages have their ups and downs. I'm sure everything will be back to normal before you know it."
Jamie let a relieved smile spread across his face, then nodded and yawned again, stretching his arms out in front of him.
"Now, why are you staying up until midnight reading about girls?" Jack asked mischievously, secretly eager to change the subject.
"I need to learn everything I can about this Jack," Jamie said tiredly, "even if it means staying up all night—"
"And that's where you're wrong kiddo," Jack interrupted, "you can't woo your woman without sleeping, or she's just gonna think you've turned into a sloppy, boring zombie. Is that what you want?"
Jamie looked down at the floor and shook his head.
"Then the first thing you gotta do is get some honest rest. I'll be back tomorrow night, and if you're not asleep when I get here, you don't get the snow day I was planning for Friday. Got it?"
Jamie's eyes widened in excitement at Jack's snow day idea, and he jumped from his chair and nodded enthusiastically.
"You got a deal!"
Jack laughed and got off the bed, allowing Jamie to get under the covers and settle in.
"'Night, kiddo," Jack whispered, turning the lamp off.
"Mmmfff Mmffack," Jamie mumbled through the pillow, making Jack almost laugh aloud.
Jack hopped onto the window sill and flew off, landing on the power lines above the town. He figured that he missed Sandman's dream show, so Jamie would probably have a dreamless sleep tonight.
A streak of light caught Jack's eye, and he half expected to see Sandy's dream sand. But it was something he didn't want to see.
The northern lights.
Only used to summon the Guardians when something was wrong, the northern lights were the last things Jack wanted to see. Without hesitation Jack took out the snow globe North had given him and threw it in the air in front of him, a whirlwind of color opening before him, and he stepped through.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Jack was the first one to get there.
North was pacing around the large metal globe in the toy-making room, the Yetis standing behind him calmly. Jack's portal opened above the globe and he stepped out onto the globe, crouching on it comfortably.
"So what's the problem North? It's not like I was busy or anything but I hate a summoning." Jack looked around him and saw that he was the only one there.
"Wait…am I the first one here for once?"
North sighed and chuckled a bit.
"Yes yes, you first one here. Bunny will not like that."
Jack smirked evilly. "Good."
A thump behind them signaled the arrival of Bunnymund, and sure enough, Bunny hopped up next to Jack on the globe, glaring at him.
"You got lucky this time mate," Bunny grumbled, "next time it won't be so easy."
Jack scoffed, "Whatever you say, Cottontail."
North coughed loudly to get their attention, and before they knew it Tooth and Sandman were beside him.
"Alright North we're here," Bunny began, obviously still irritated. "What's going on?"
North cleared his throat and pointed up. At the weird looks he was getting, he sighed and pointed again, this time through the hole in the ceiling. Everyone looked to see a full moon shining down on them, the light creating a blue-white column in the moon.
"Wait, the Moon summoned us here? Why?" Jack asked, a little disbelieving.
North shook his head. "I do not know. But I have feeling something is happening…perhaps Manny thinks we need help again, like when he told us about you Jack."
Before Jack could say anything the beam of light shown on the special tile on the floor, and it rose to form the unmistakable shape of Pitch.
"Oh, come on!" Jack exclaimed angrily, "He cannot seriously be back! What's it gonna take to get rid of this guy huh?!"
"He's right North," Bunny pitched in. "How can Pitch have anything to do with this? I thought the Moon took care of him himself!"
North sighed and looked to Tooth, who was frowning knowingly at the group.
"I have to tell you guys about something I saw the other night," Tooth began, wringing her hands nervously.
Jack and Bunnymund exchanged glances, but didn't question her.
"It was just a normal night of tooth gathering, as usual, but my fairies came back from one town telling me that something wasn't allowing them in. Something kept attacking them, so I went myself to see what was going on.
"Once I got there, I immediately began to notice that something wasn't right. It was just like that time when Pitch made all the children have nightmares; the air was saturated with fear. But my powers weren't being drained, and I hadn't heard of any problems with any of you guys, so I began to think that maybe it wasn't the children who were afraid. It was the adults.
"When I tried to go into the town to make sure, something came at me. I wasn't sure what it was at the time, but I could've sworn it was one of Pitch's nightmares. It pushed me away from the town like I was some sort of intruder, but once I was far enough away it didn't bother me anymore. It took me a while, but I did manage to sneak past whatever it was and get the tooth in that town."
Tooth paused, letting all the information sink in.
"Well what's going on there now? And what town even was this anyway?" Bunnymund asked impatiently.
"Burgess—where we last saw Pitch."
Jack froze. How could that be? He was just there not ten minutes ago.
"Wait, what? It's not like I don't believe you Tooth, but I was just there," Jack began, "and there wasn't anything—"
"Wait, you were there?" Tooth interrupted, flying up to his level and getting uncomfortably close, like she always did. "When?"
"Literally just now," Jack answered warily.
Toothiana leaned back with a thoughtful look on her face, obviously not knowing what to think of it.
"Well I decided to station a few fairies over there to watch that town, and even today they still can't get in." Tooth said after a while, "and after seeing what the Moon said, I think that Pitch is hiding in that town."
"But why?" Jack inquired. "Why would that jerk be hiding? He loves drawing attention to himself, so this seems like it's not really his style, you know?"
Jack barely finished his sentence before the vision of Pitch began to change, and a new image appeared.
"Is that…a bow and arrow?" Jack asked.
"Looks like it to me," Bunnymund answered, hopping off the globe to get a closer look. Jack followed him.
"Who do we know that uses a bow and arrow?" Bunny asked no one in particular.
"I think I know…" North began, his hand stroking his beard in thought, "but I never seen him before. I not know if he is actually real."
A heart appeared above Sandy's head in response.
"You mean Cupid?" Bunnymund exclaimed.
"That douchebag in a diaper?" Jack continued.
North nodded, ignoring Jack's rude comment.
"Well you know guys," Tooth piped up, "Valentine's Day is coming up. It's this Friday isn't it?"
Jack smirked at that. If Valentine's Day was Friday, then those love birds better get used to being stuck inside from the snow. Suddenly the lyrics to The Christmas Song began playing in his head, and he thought that maybe a snow day was the perfect addition for Valentine's Day.
"So how do we find this guy anyway?" Jack decided to ask.
"Well I think we go to different cities and towns and have stake out," North began, "Jack, I want you in Burgess. You the only one who can get in there, and I have feeling Pitch wants this Cupid too. We must find him before Pitch does."
Jack nodded. "I'll head back now then. I'm kinda worried about Jamie anyway."
Everyone, even Bunnymund, smiled at that. They could never forget the boy that really saved all the children of the world from Pitch; without that boy, everything would have been lost, and all the Guardians found that they had a soft spot for him.
"See ya then mate," Bunny replied, tapping one foot on the floor. A hole appeared under his foot, and with a little wave he hopped in and out of site. Tooth waved goodbye as well and flew out the window, and Sandy was already gone. Jack nodded to North respectively, then threw the snow globe in front of him again and stepped through to Burgess.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
The morning sun was beginning to show over the horizon by now, and Jack sat leisurely on Jamie's roof, watching over the town below him. Everything seemed fine at first glance, but Tooth was right; there was fear in the air.
Jack didn't actually see anything out of the ordinary until people started coming out for the day, going to work or school or wherever. The kids were bored looking until they caught up with their friends to walk to school together. But the adults—they were acting strange alright.
First of all, they were always alone—even Jack knew who the normal couples were, but everyone seemed to be avoiding each other, as if they were—scared.
What the heck?
Jack heard the sound of a door slamming shut and looked down to see Jamie sprinting out of the house, his group of friends waiting for him at the end of the street. Jack remembered how his father would follow close behind, and his wife would kiss him goodbye and wave to him as he left in their little classic voltswagon beetle. But his father came out alone today, not even glancing back, and he hurried to his car and sped out of the driveway.
Well, that was odd.
Jack floated down from the roof and landed in front of the kitchen window, and what he saw he didn't expect at all.
Jamie's mother was sitting at the kitchen table alone, a Kleenex box and dirty Kleenexes scattered in front of her as she sobbed quietly. This was worse than Jack thought; from the looks of it, Jamie's parents were way past the "phase" Jack assured Jamie they were in.
Jack left her after a while and returned to the roof to think. Jamie's parents had always been a happy couple; in fact, the happiest couple Jack had seen in years. He honestly felt a little jealous towards Jamie for that, but he didn't let it bother him.
So why the sudden fall out? Did it have something to do with whatever was messing with the tooth fairies?
And the fear. It was everywhere now. Jack shivered uncomfortably at the vibe he was getting from the town.
What the heck is going on?
XOXOXOXOXOXO
It was midnight now. Jack just stayed on the roof all day, watching the town below him. The fear never went away, and Jack just sat on the roof wondering what to do. What could he do? Adults could never see him, or the other Guardians; adults weren't their charge. So what could a group of invisible spirits do for people they had no hope of believing in them?
Jack shook his thoughts away and decided it was time to check on Jamie, so he floated down on the window sill and peered inside. Sure enough, Jamie was tucked in his bed, sound asleep. Jack smiled and floated down to the ground, right to the window of Jamie's parents' bedroom window.
It was just as Jamie said; Jamie's mother was sleeping in there alone. Jack didn't bother to check the guest bedroom and flew to the lake that he knew so well. In an hour or two he'd begin making it snow heavily, so that the snow day would come about. Friday was here—or Valentine's Day, he remembered. He needed to watch for Cupid.
Jack flew up from the ice-covered lake as high as he could, then gazed around him. He half expected something to come at him, like with Tooth. But nothing came.
What was up with that anyway? It didn't really make sense that the nightmares would let him through but not Tooth or her fairies.
It was obvious now; if Pitch really was hiding here somewhere, then he was planning something.
Jack thought for a moment. Perhaps Pitch knew that Jack would be here, and wanted to get revenge on him in whatever twisted way he could come up with. But then he would have done it already…wouldn't he?
Jack sighed, then decided that he wasn't going to wait to begin the snow fall. With a wave of his staff dark, almost black clouds rolled in quickly, and nearly immediately giant, heavy snowflakes began to fall.
Jack smiled at his work. At this rate, there would be at least a foot of snow in the morning. He flew back to Jamie's house and settled himself on the roof again, gazing across the town. He had a good view from up here, and knew that nothing out of the ordinary would get past him when he was at that spot.
XOXOXOXOXOXO
For a Valentine's Day, the day was pretty uneventful. People generally stayed inside, except the kids of course, but that didn't really surprise Jack. The adults here were acting strange enough already.
Before he knew it nighttime had fallen, and the restaurants manage to stay open despite the weather. Jack figured it was due to the holiday; he knew couples liked to go out for special dinners on Valentine's Day.
But the streets were still empty. This worried Jack even more about the adults; if they didn't do anything on Valentine's Day of all holidays, what hope would parents have of staying together in this town? Jack couldn't face Jamie if his parents split up…it would just be awful.
Suddenly Jack felt a change in the air. The fear and unrest was…dissipating. Slowly.
He stood up and looked around. People were coming out of the houses. The snow had stopped by now, and the roads were decently plowed.
They were couples. Men leading their ladies to the car, opening the door for them, and driving to one of the restaurants. Jack floated down to the livingroom window of Jamie's house and saw a wonderful sight; Jamie's father helping his wife put on her coat, then planting a soft kiss on her cheek. It looked like they were going out too—the change in their demeanor was downright uncanny.
Jack flew back up to the roof as Jamie's parents left their house, and watched them drive away. He couldn't help but feel a bit relieved—maybe Jamie had nothing to worry about after all.
Then Jack saw something in the corner of his eye, and turned to see a figure standing on the roof of the seafood restaurant that Jamie's parents were heading to. He was dressed in all black, with a hood covering his face and red sash around his small waist.
And a bow and quiver strapped to his back.
Jack almost fell off the roof as he tried clumsily to stand in his urgency, but stayed on the roof. He didn't want to scare the guy away; they needed to talk. Now.
Jack watched as the figure jumped off the roof and landed rather gracefully on the ground in front of the restaurant, and followed Jamie's parents in right behind them without them even noticing.
Jack hurriedly flew to the seafood restaurant's door and slipped in, flinching as the bell rang to announce the arrival of a new customer. The hostess looked up from her podium with a fake smile on her face, but, noticing there was no one at the door, rolled her eyes and looked back down at her phone. Jack smirked and slipped past her easily, quietly making his way into the main dining area. He caught sight of Jamie's parents, sitting at a booth in the corner laughing. Jack looked around for the guy in black, and saw him in the opposite corner, crouching on an empty table with two arrows drawn. The sash that was on around his waist was now tied as a blindfold around his eyes. Jack watched as he let the bow aim all around the room, as if he was scanning for a target. And then his aim rested on Jamie's parents.
Jack almost yelled then, but then he remembered; this guy's arrows make people fall in love. This might be the best thing that could happen for them.
And the arrows were released. Jack watched as the arrows flew, expecting them to impact their targets directly, but they didn't. A barrier seemed to appear as soon as the arrows neared Jamie's parents, and they were simply absorbed, like sugar in water. Jack was reminded of Sandy's dream sand as the arrows evolved into a sand-like state before disappearing.
Jamie's parents didn't seem to notice their impact, but Jack noticed that Jamie's father's hand reached up and rested on his wife's hand on the table. Jack smiled and looked away, deciding that they needed their privacy. But Jack missed something.
The guy in black was gone.
Jack cursed inwardly and looked around the restaurant, but soon found the him at the bar, blindfolded like he was and pointing another pair of arrows to another couple. This time Jack kept his eye on him, and followed him as he quickly slipped out the back door of the restaurant, tying the sash back around his waist as he walked down the alley. Jack couldn't help but notice how small he really was; he was a little shorter than Jack, and his waist was tiny for a guy.
Jack was interrupted from his ogling when the guy stopped suddenly. Jack quickly hid behind the dumpster, careful to be quiet as he did so. He listened as Cupid, as Jack decided to finally call him, retraced his steps, seemingly suspecting that he was being followed. Jack decided this was it; they needed to talk.
Jack stood slowly and stepped out from behind the dumpster, and to his surprise, Cupid had his back turned to him. Jack didn't want to scare him, but his mischievous nature was getting the better of him.
Jack crept up behind him and froze his feet to the asphalt, then walked around him to face him. Even as he was panicking about his feet being frozen to the ground, his hood cast enough darkness over his face that Jack still couldn't see him clearly. Cupid stopped struggling as he noticed Jack standing in front of him.
"So," Jack began, bending over a little to get a better look at Cupid's face. Cupid noticed, and Jack frowned as Cupid pulled a black cloth over his mouth and nose, so that only his eyes were visible. Obviously this guy didn't want to be seen.
"I'm guessing then that you're Cupid, right?" Jack asked, giving up on trying to see his face.
Cupid nodded once, but didn't say anything. Jack narrowed his eyes but continued speaking.
"Well I'm Jack. Jack Frost. So, can you tell me what's going on with this town?"
Cupid's eyes widened at the mention of the town, but he still kept silent. Jack took this as a sign that maybe he knew something.
"Look, I know you're aware of how weird this town has been lately, and I need to know why. There's a kid here whose parents are on the verge of divorce and I can't face him again if they split up." Jack's eyes softened a bit. "Please tell me."
Cupid's eyes turned sad, but he still remained silent. And Jack was getting impatient.
"Alright," Jack said angrily, stepping towards the end of the alleyway, "I guess all these couples are gonna have a real crappy ride home then. How does getting their cars stuck in the snow on Valentine's Day sound to you?"
Cupid's eyes widened again and he forgot about his feet, trying to stop him. Jack quickly flew forward and caught him by his shoulders before he fell on his face, and he couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him.
But Jack also noticed something else. This guy was light; and his shoulders were small too.
Jack was close enough now that he could get a good look at him. His eyes were bright and green, and had really long eyelashes, almost as long as Tooth's. His waist was just as small as Jack originally thought, but his body also had something else; a rather feminine curve to it.
Jack reached up and pulled down the cloth over "his" mouth and nose, and was surprised to see a small perfect nose and pink lips. Then he pulled back "his" hood, and long, wavy brown hair flowed out from the hood, cascading down "his" back, right above the butt.
Cupid was a she. And a cute one at that.
XOXOXOXOXO
Welp, there's the first chappy. It took long enough -_- sorry if it's boring. I'll get the second chapter up tomorrow hopefully!
-Comet
