Jack stood in the water, washing off the dirt. He was pretty agile, if you asked him, but there was no way he could have seen that tree root hidden under the leaves. He wasn't in his best condition, being spring.
He cursed himself, not used to being clumsy. He could do so many things with ease like; climb up the highest trees; stand upside down on his hands for a really long time and he'd even figured out that he could run on walls if he put in the effort and speed.
God, he wished he could just go somewhere colder! It was getting warmer by the day, and Jack knew the groundhog had predicted an early spring.
A few months ago, Jack had been fine. Sure, people all around him ignored him, but he could still make a perfect snowball and throw it at a kid, or knock an adult down with ice.
It was impossible when it was warm enough, and at the moment, it was warm enough.
He'd also been able to fly back then. He only did it two or three times though, and he'd had a miserable landing each time. After getting over the 'nobody can see me' conflict, he'd just never thought about it anymore, and the breezes in the air did little to remind him.
Jack looked up, checking to see if it might rain. He couldn't interact with much of the world now, but the elements could still get to him (as he learned one day when listening to stories around a campfire).
And he saw duck. Or were they geese? Jack never cared enough to find out, but then again, he'd only been alive for less than five months now (to his knowledge).
He looked at them curiously. The birds were coming back for the summer, meaning things were not good for Jack.
I wish I could fly the way they came here, he thought. It's probably colder there than it is here.
"Whoa-whoaaaa!" He was lifted in the air, staff at hand, and flung from one side to another.
Oh.
I forgot, he mentally facepalmed. He could fly out of here.
If only he knew how to fly out of here...
He spotted the geese once again. They were getting closer.
Just follow their lead, he thought. Needless to say, he looked rather silly flinging his arms in the air and still failing to fly. Eventually he got the idea, and even realized there was no need to act like a bird.
'Just enjoy the ride.'
Jack didn't question the voice, as if it were an inevitable part of his life.
Jack flew with the birds a while before escaping to somewhere in Europe, where he found more people to mess around with.
'Just enjoy it', was all the voice ever told him, which was still more than he could say for the Man in the Moon.
The voice followed him everywhere, and Jack eventually nicknamed it Wind.
It was three years later that Jack realized the only way he could hear 'Wind' was with his shepard's crook at hand, and if he didn't hear the voice, he'd fall to the ground like an apple from a tree.
Wind stayed with Jack at all times. Though the staff was their only means of communication, Wind was always there. From the very beginning Jack had a "mother". She rarely talked other than to take his mind off of stupid things like suicide and instead convinced him to enjoy himself.
His mischief always led him to trouble, but he would only listen to the calming wind's advice rather than the scolding spirit's insults and claims that he should grow up.
And Jack enjoyed his (long long, sometimes too long) life as much as he could.
Because Wind said so.
I edited the image but the original one is called "Learning to Fly" by Rise of the Guardians visual development artist WoonYung Jung, inspired by an idea from Peter Ramsey. It's actually a three page comic I found on Tumblr about how Jack really learned to fly, but I still did this one-shot.