hello to all of my fans new and old. so I got this idea awhile ago and figured i'd put it on here. I hope you all enjoy and please review!
In a snow bank in Antarctica a child of winter slept quietly. It was surprising for the winter spirit to get some time off to sleep during his season. He wouldn't get to for long though. The aurora was going off over head for the monthly meeting the guardians now had after the defeat of Pitch. The wind gently tried to wake him.
"Cut it out, I wanna sleep" Jack said tiredly, in a scratchy voice. The past few days Jack had been feeling worse and worse and he knew that he had somehow gotten a cold. Usually Jack would just find a cave and stay there until he had recovered enough to get back to his duties. He couldn't know though he had people who relied on him and who would look for him relentlessly if he didn't show up to the meeting. He remembered the first time he tried. It ended with him being flung through the air by Sandy's whips and ending with him once again in a sac being thrown through a portal. The wind gently shook him again. He groaned and got up into a sitting position. He took a minute to figure out where he was. He had literally crashed into the snow bank and fell asleep the night before.
"Thanks wind" he stood up and stretched and almost fell back down as a spell of dizziness washed over him.
"Can you take me to North's place please wind?" the wind responded by gently picking the boy up and whisking him away. The wind knew something was really wrong as Jack wasn't flying properly and instead of the excitement jack always seemed to portray as he flew through the air. The wind ruffled his hair a bit a small gesture to make sure his companion was okay.
"I'm fine wind, just need to get this stupid meeting over with and then some sleep and I'll be back to my usual self" jack told him warily. The wind paused for a second as if saying "you don't have to go" jack snorted
"Of course I do I don't know if you remember what happened last time but I do" the wind carried him the rest of the way there, jack almost crashing into a few windows before getting into the meeting room. As soon as he entered he immediately wanted to step back outside he knew it was regular temperature inside but to him it felt like a sauna. He hummed in discomfort. Tooth was the first to notice his presence he gave her a half smirk. She zoomed over to him invading his personal space as usual. Jack took a step back knowing that Tooth was going to try and check out his teeth if he didn't.
"Look who finally decided to show up" came from an annoyed Bunny. Jack full out smiled at this wanting to bother him even more. Sandy gave Jack a small wave and a look of concern that Jack chose to ignore.
"Sorry was a bit busy, you know snow days and fun time" Jack replied
"Its fine know we start now though da?" North calmly replied. Jack nodded as a wave of nausea hit him and he realized that this meeting was going to be a lot longer then he really wanted. They all walked over to their seats. Jack had to use all of his will power just to walk in a straight line. Thankfully his staff was helping. Once everyone was seated North began to speak, nothing new pitch was since they had defeated him but they were still cleaning up the mess. Jack rested his head on the table, trying to focus on what was being said. Thankfully the wooden table felt cold to his face. Jack could feel himself slowly drifting off into sleep even though he felt excruciatingly hot. He finally feel asleep as Tooth ranted about how chocolate wasn't good for teeth.
Sandy kept glancing at Jack worried about the young winter spirit. Sandy had seen him throughout Jacks three hundred years and he had never seen him act like this. It also wasn't like Jack to fall asleep or be quiet during a meeting. He decided after a while that he should inform the others that Jack wasn't paying attention to them in the slightest and was sound asleep. Sandy's images started appearing first of a snow flake and then an arrow pointing towards Jack. After several minutes of this with no response from any of the other guardians he tried a different approach. He flew in front of bunny, startling him but definitely getting his attention. Sandy quickly once again had an image of an arrow pointing towards Jack urgently. Bunny's expression turned dark as he saw the frost child resting peacefully as the rest of them were arguing. He strode over to where he was seated.
"Oi snowflake wake up" bunny told him angrily. Jack didn't even stir stuck in a dreamless sleep. This just agitated bunny more. Grabbing Jack's chair, which happened to be one that you could spin around in (which was why Jack seemed to love it so much) he quickly pulled it out from under Jack causing Jack to slam into the ground. This caught the attention of all the guardians as Jack let out a cry of pain. Jack glared at him from where he was.
"Told you to wake up snowflake" bunny stated in a snide voice. Sandy flew at Bunny angrily, pictures going by fast then Bunny could interpret.
"Whoa there I thought you wanted me to wake him up there sandy" Bunny told him in a confused voice. Sandy shook his head and looked back at Jack. It was obvious now that jack was having a hard time just trying to stay awake. Tooth and North both looked at Jack, finally noticing that something was definitely not right.
"Jack, are you all right?" tooth asked in a gentle voice. Jack stared at her for a moment then nodded. He struggled to get up before North helped him up. As he did North noticed how warm Jacks skin was to the touch which was not normal for the winter spirit.
"Jack are you sure you're alright?" North asked again.
"I'm fine" replied Jack in a rough voice. His throat felt like sand paper. Jack swayed as he stood knowing that he wouldn't be able to stand for long.
"No offense to you guys but I think I'm going to go, kind of tired and all plus I have a bunch of snow days to get to so see you" Jack told them hurriedly he didn't want them to see him pass out which he knew he would if he stayed any longer. He walked over to the window he vision starting to blur. As he lifted the window open he felt someone grab his shoulder.
"Now hold on a second frost" was the last thing he heard before everything went black.
Bunny held a passed out Jack in his arms and felt surprise which quickly turned to panic. Their friend was seriously sick if he couldn't even make it outside.
"North find a room for Jack" he instructed. All of the guardians followed North out of the room, worry running through all of them for their friend. Bunny carried him all the way to the room and placed him on the bed. The room that North had picked for Jack was surprisingly big. A king sized bed was in one of the corners with blue sheets on it. There was a window on each of the walls except the one by the door and bed. Bunny placed him on the bed.
"We should get something for his fever" Bunny stated they nodded.
"Shouldn't one of us stay here with him?" Tooth asked. Sandy shook his head no and Tooth gave him a questioning look.
" He's not getting up anytime soon, so we might as well all go find him some medicine" North replied. Tooth nodded and sandy placed Jacks staff down by the bed. They all then left the room
Jack could hear voices talking, and then they were gone. He tried opening his eyes which was a difficult task. He finally managed to do it. He looked at his surroundings, but only seemed to notice the windows. He wanted out, he was way too overheated. To the point where he felt like his body was on fire. He grabbed his staff and used it stand up. He was going to make it to the window that's all he knew after that, he knew the wind would take care of him. She always did when he was like this. He slowly started to walk towards the window. It was a long process as his legs felt like Jell-O and would give out at any moment. He finally reached the window sweat dripping down his face. Jack vaguely thought he heard a door open but quickly dismissed it. As he pushed open the window a blast of cool are hit him, he sighed in relief. He was almost there he just had to call the wind and he would be out of there. As he opened his mouth to call her he was grabbed from behind and then carried away from the cool breeze coming from the window, he then watched as Bunny quickly closed it. He wanted to cry. He was placed on the bed and the sheets were pulled over him. He struggled to get back out.
"Jack you got to stay here, for your own good mate" Bunny told him in a calm voice. Jack shook his head no. the other guardians looked at him like he was crazy. Jack could feel himself getting warm again. It was agony. He tried throwing the covers off, but tooth just put them back on him.
"It's for your own good Jack you got to stay warm to fight the cold" Tooth soothingly told him. He stared at her for a minute. Jack believed quite the opposite as a winter spirit he needed the cold to get better. North spoke after a while.
"Now Jack open up" north held a spoon with a purplish liquid in his hand. Jack clamped his mouth shut. He had, had something like it before and it hadn't helped one bit. Bunny gave him an annoyed look.
"Come on you grubby, just take it and get it over with"
"Don't want it" Jack replied to Bunny's comment. Bunny gave him a look that said it wasn't his choice. Sandy approached Jack and pried his mouth open using his sand. North then quickly shoved the spoon off liquid into Jacks mouth. At this Jack began to cry. He wanted outside and the cold, he wanted the wind to take care of him.
"Shh' Tooth whispered soothingly while, gently putting her hands through his hair. His eyes looked at her pleadingly he didn't want this. Tooth ignored it. Jack felt himself get drowsy again but he didn't want to sleep not here, not with them. Sandy sprinkled some of his sand on him and he was out before he could protest.
The wind had felt Jacks presence the minute he had opened the window. She had worried about him since he stepped through the window too hours ago into the warm and stuffy work shop. She would have grabbed him the minute he called but he never got the chance. The wind banged on the window but could only watch as Jack was cruelly pulled away from the window and as she was shut out. She watched as her favorite seasonal spirit was forcible but into a bed and was made to take medicine. The wind felt rage fill her. It would have been fine if they had known how to properly take care of Jack when he was sick but they didn't and were making it much worst for the poor winter spirit. She felt her heart break as she watch tears poor down Jacks face and as they put him to sleep.
She watched from outside the window for hours unable to do anything. It had been years since she had shown the spirits of the world her human form and she was uncertain of how they would react. Every few hours the guardians seemed to switch who was watching him. Jack finally woke up after a while to the relief of both the wind and Tooth as she was the one that was watching him. That relief turned into panic as Jack threw up one the floor Tooth had quickly rushed out of the room to get the others. The wind banged on the window in her human form and much to her relief Jack noticed. He smiled at her and got out of the bed. She watched as he struggled to make it over to the window. He had managed to undo the latch of the window when the guardians had returned immediately one of them placed him back in the bed none of them bothering to look at the window. She could hear Jack crying and could take it no longer. With a huge gust of wind the window flew open and she glided in. the guardians stared in shock but she took no notice.
Jack held his arms outstretched to the wind. He loved it when she took form but at the moment just wanted to be comforted and not in the stuffy room anymore.
"Outside, outside please wind?" Jack begged. It was all his muddled mind could think of to say. The wind approached them slowly but then quickly ran to Jack. She soothingly put her fingers through his hair. It felt like a breeze was touching Jack.
"Yeah we can go outside kiddo, and then I'll take care of you till you get better" hearing this being said from a total stranger the guardians snapped out of there shock and instantly were on the defensive.
"You're not taking Jack anywhere" North told her. She looked at him for a second before she replied
"Yes I am, and you're not going to stop me, I'm just going to take Jack until he's better"
"And why should we trust you we don't even know you, for all we know you could be taking Jack to kill him" Bunny replied.
"Its fine guys really she'll keep me safe I'll be fine" Jack told them, he was already feeling slightly better because of the cool air that was coming in.
"No, Jack if she watches you she watches you here" North replied in a tone of finality in it. Both Jack and the wind looked at each other before nodding.
"Okay" was both their response.
"Who are you anyways" Tooth asked. Sandy looked at the rest the guardians realizing that none of them recognized her. Which he came to relies was because she had disappeared before all of them could ever meet her.
"I'm the north wind, Jack's friend" she responded. All except Sandy and Jack looked at her strangely.
"But the winds don't have forms there just, there" Bunny stated after a moment. North wind laughed at this.
"of course we have forms were still spirits you know, but this isn't the time for this we need to be thinking about getting jack better" she quickly replied. Placing the winter child back on the bed without the covers on him, she got back up and opened all of the windows. There was a gasp from the others as more cooled air was let into the room. She heard Jack sigh in happiness.
"It's rare for seasonal spirits to get sick in there season but it does happen, it's easy for them to get better though as long as they stay within their element and get lots of rest" North wind explained to them.
"Although you had good intentions with trying to help jack in how you would treat a regular spirit, it was doing more harm than good" she added afterwards. The guardians looked at jack who was already looking a lot better than when he was first put in the room.
"We are sorry Jack if we had known…" North began to apologize but Jack quickly interrupted.
"It's not your guy's fault I should have told you to begin with, but well wasn't really thinking, but don't worry Aira will take good care of me" Jack responded happily. There was a look of confusion that once again passed over all of the guardians and it took Jack a moment to realize why.
"Ops sorry forgot you guys don't know north winds real name". North wind sighed forgetting as well that she hadn't told them her real name.
"You can call me Aira, I think calling me north wind or North would be confusing for all of us" she paused for a minute before directing her attention to Jack
"You should get some sleep, you should be better by tomorrow morning if you do". Jack sighs but does as he's told for once. Once Aira is sure the winter spirit is asleep, she ushers the other guardians out of the room.
"I know you all have many questions for me and I'm willing to answer them, but I think it would be good if we sat and talked away from Jack" Aira told them once they were outside of the room. North nodded leading them to a small sitting room. He gets one of the yetis to bring hot chocolate and cookies. They sat in a peaceful silence for a while till one of them could no longer help but ask her what was on their mind.
"How long have you known Jack?" Tooth asked hesitantly. Aira smiled.
"I've known Jack for all of his existence, but I showed him my form when he was only around fifty years old" she paused a moment remembering how it had happened.
"Jack had been injured greatly from a summer spirit attacking him, he was afraid, and hurt and I stepped in and bandaged all his wounds I had thought that would have been the end of it but no" she smiled fondly as she continued talking about the memory.
" Jack started talking to me, he was and still is my favorite of all of the season spirits, and I listened, I hadn't shown myself to anyone in thousands of years, we quickly became each other's only friends"
"Why Jack though? He's a trouble maker, irresponsible and acts like a child most of the time" Bunny told her after hearing this he just couldn't get how such a powerful spirit like her couldn't find Jack annoying.
"Jack was alone in a world where he wasn't accepted for the one thing he was created to do, he was lonely and afraid all the time and yet he treated me kindly unlike the other spirits who tried to use me, Jack always asked for a lift never demanded and even though he knew I couldn't respond vocally he still talked to me and understood that I understood and I hadn't had that in years" she paused a moment before continuing.
"He's my best friend my only friend, and for a long time it was the same thing for him. This is new to him you know having others to rely on. He's still afraid you'll forget about him, and you better not or else you'll have me to deal with" she finished with a dangerous calm in her voice the guardians nodded.
"Is there anything else you want to know?" she asked after as there was an uneasy silence in her voice.
"Thank you for taking care of Jack when we didn't we know we can't change these last three hundred years but we are trying our best now" Tooth told her. Aira nodded.
"I should be going I don't particularly like this form as I once did and there is things for me to do as well. Say bye to Jack for me and that I'll see him when he calls me" the wind swirled around her and then she disappeared. The guardians didn't bother staying up longer after that too tired to stay up. In the morning they made sure to check on Jack and he was back to his regular old self.
After meeting Aira they saw her a lot more as she was trying to make friends with them upon Jacks insistence. She found she liked Tooth and Sandy's company most other than Jacks and got along well with all of the guardians. Beyond anything else though she was happy that finally her winter spirit had found a place to belong.
