Spring flowers have always meant new life for those who have hope, but for new life to begin, old life must end. The coming of spring always told Jack it was time for his winter fun to die, to give way to the new fresh state of life that spelled out his demise for another year. Gray clouds that brought snow have been replaced with sunny blue skies, the icicles that adorned rooftops and frost that laced windows are now rain puddles, floral arrangements and Easter eggs, and frozen ponds used for ice-skating and winter sports are now being used for swimming, picnics, and the occasional religious meeting.
The thing Jack hated most about this time of year in Burgess was watching all his work fade away into nothingness. It wasn't as if he put great detail into making each individual snowflake, but he put his heart into everything he did for the children there. He loved it when the children of his town had fun and played in the snow to their little hearts' content. But with all the emotions he put into making these and other kids across the globe happy with the spirit of winter, the gut-wrenching feeling was doubled back on him when his time came to an end. The children always left him in the dust right during Easter, and Jack was forgotten about until late Fall when the weather cooled. It ripped a hole in his heart with each passing year when he was left behind. Jack knew the kids wouldn't ever be depressed about the passing snowfall, because it meant they could go outside and be free to frolic without eight layers of clothing. He hated this time of year most of all.
Jack pulled up his hoodie and turned westward. The building he was standing on was the highest in Burgess, giving him a very good viewpoint of his disintegrating season. He sighed, not wanting to sit in his depression, and called out.
"Hey wind! Take me somewhere I'm needed!" The last chilly gust of the season picked up rapidly in Jacks face, carrying him east, away from the melting town.
The harsh gust blew his hood back, but Jack ignored it, coasting on the cool air. He flew as high as the wind would let him go, and passed over his home town with ease. He looked away from the ground, trying not to glance at the parents setting up Easter decorations and preparing for the annual egg hunt. It just hurt too much to look at. Jack instead looked out on the horizon, towards the ocean he was rapidly headed towards.
Jack suddenly let out a loud whoop when the wind jerked the boy up even higher. He found such delight in the wind, it never really had a strict agenda to where it went, a general direction was all it needed. The wind didn't care what route it took to get there, however many twists and turns and dips and climbs it felt it needed, the wind would just find a way to get there. Jack felt that's why he was so attached to it, it wasn't just a way for him to get around easily, the two of them were kindred free spirits.
He continued to glide along with the wind, not really knowing where it was taking him specifically. On the other side of the world from his home, peoples of all different languages and customs would be waking up to a chilly day, the start of a winter in their area of the globe. Jack didn't much care about the details, he just knew that it if it wasn't winter where he was, it was winter somewhere else. Jack paused in his thought as a new one began to form; the wind wouldn't take him to Australia would it? Isn't that where the rabbit kangaroo guy lived? Bunnymund? After Jack's blizzard of '68, and with Easter coming up soon, Jack didn't really feel like crossing paths with the frantic animal, even if it was to freeze over another one of his hunts again.
The wind calmed Jack's concerns when it took him higher up than before, to an even colder section of the sky, and showed no signs of dropping him off at the aforementioned continent. Jack felt comfort in the cold, as he always did, and allowed himself to relax for the rest of the journey. Curling up against his staff, Jack stabilized himself so the wind wouldn't knock him around too much and closed his eyes. It wasn't often he slept, but it was always interesting when he did. The dreams he had were always somewhat the same. Always about a boy who looked like Jack, but with brown hair and brown eyes instead of the white and blue combination he now possessed. The boy was funny, always goofing around. Whether he was climbing on trees, entertaining the people around him or pulling pranks on the other younger children, this boy was always in a good mood. Jack never knew why he dreamed about him, maybe Jack knew him from somewhere as an early memory and identified with him at some point early in his time as a winter spirit, but Jack usually brushed off the notion as a ridiculous memory.
Landing in a place coated in white, Jack was more excited than ever to be back in the snow. The wind had dropped him off somewhere in the middle of Russia, the portion sitting in the Arctic Circle. Aside from Burgess, northern Russia was his favorite place to be. It was always snowing, it was always winter, a constant state of cold just blanketed everything there. Jack had pushed the Easter depression out of his mind, a huge smile stretched across his face as he ran through the snow, happy to have the freezing ground underneath his feet again.
The winter spirit took to the skies again, hoping to find a village or two, because every place with people had children. The pockets of inhabitants were far and few between in this part of the country, and Jack's smile didn't fade one bit as he noticed a small cluster of houses on the edge of a thick forest. It wasn't huge, maybe holding no more than a few hundred people. But Jack was happy regardless.
He started making a light snow fall on the village, although the ground had no less than a foot of snow as it was, and waited patiently for adults and children alike to come outside. Gray patchy clouds above began to form a giant overcast. It partially blocked out the sun, but not so much to make it dark. The snow began to fall from the skies, falling weightlessly on Jack's shoulders and hair. Jack sat crouched on a roof, looking out upon the town.
As soon as a feeling of happiness began to wash over him, it just as soon vanished. Tendrils of pain now tugged at his heart. It was cold here and the snow was delightful, but jack couldn't help but feel…out of place. The snow and ice and cold were Jack's home, but he felt so…misplaced and far away from where he belonged. He missed the kids who believed in him. He missed the hugs when he brought snow days. He missed their exalted cries of joy at his work. He missed his home. And it hasn't even been a week since he left. The kids here didn't believe, they had never even heard of Jack Frost before. He couldn't pick up much of the Russian language, but from what North has told him, the only part of the world where he was known as Jack Frost was the United States and small various pockets of the world. He had asked North what else he was known as and the answer he did not like. Old man Winter? Really? He was the farthest thing from an elderly man.
Jack sighed and pulled the hood over his head. The kids here would never recognize him, and even if a few did, he couldn't talk to them. Their languages were too far apart. The tendrils of loneliness continued creeping up on him, wrapping around his legs and snaking up his shirt, past his chest and into his heart. It dragged him down making him feel ten times heavier and lose his focus on what was going on around him in the village below.
The children all came pouring out of a single large building, the schoolhouse most likely, and marveled at the falling snow. Jack half-smiled at the children's excited faces, even if he could hardly see their tiny heads over the piles of snow they were walking through. They all looked so young. None of them could've been over the age of ten.
There was a slight clearing of the snow in front of each door of each building so the inhabitants could get out without slipping. The small children in the schoolhouse were too busy being excited over the falling snow they didn't notice the largest one creeping up from the back. This one child in particular was shoving all the other children smaller than him out of the way so he could get out. The tall kid with a chubby face that wasn't really fat was pushing other kids off balance; one even fell over so he could get past. The slim teacher guiding the kids out the door hadn't noticed until the chubby kid pushed another to the floor. Jack watched half amused as the small round child was grabbed by the ear and pulled started to pull him back inside while the teacher shook a slim finger at him and scolded him in a raised tone. She didn't quite get the chance however, when Jack seized the opportunity for some entertainment. He swooped down and touched his staff to the ground right in front of the chubby bully. The kid obviously didn't see Jack, but he did feel the ice suddenly underneath his feet. He lost his footing and fell to the ground with a large "oof." The other children stared at him wide eyed and laughed while the fallen kid's face turned pink with embarrassment. The teacher helped him up and continued her scolding as the door shut.
Feeling accomplished, Jack ignored the lonely feelings that had built up inside and instead pushed them away as the children began to run around in the snow. He flew alongside them and conjured snowballs. It didn't take long for all the kids to start a snowball fight against one another, and Jack joined in. It was times like these that made him forget about his loneliness. The best times in the world.
Jack sat perched on his staff as the large group snowball fight gave way to exhaustion. All of the excited children more or less walked home after the two hour long session of snowball fights, fort building, snow angels and snowmen making. Jack watched all of them get home safely, making sure none of them collapsed. Even he was tired, all the running around and throwing things had worn him out.
Jack shifted his weight backwards and fell into the snow, lying lightly on top of it, not making a single indentation.H8s staff fell perfectly beside him, easily within arm's reach. He looked up into the clouds, thinking about the joy he just brought that group of kids. They were so happy for the falling snow, even though they're most likely surrounded by it all year. They were so happy to play in it, be part of something fun. But now they were headed back to someplace warm, back to the loving arms of parents and family members.
Jack had come to accept that his fun would only last temporarily. The thing that he could never seem to get over was how easily he was forgotten and left behind. He had a brief memory recollection of when he had Jamie on the sled, riding through traffic and giving Jamie the best sled ride of his life. But then the couch hit him, and jack was forgotten about and replaced for the Tooth Fairy. Jamie was so excited over his lost tooth that he completely forgot about the sled ride and focused solely on the Tooth Fairy. Jack would love bringing everyone joy till the day he died, but it was always the children's tiny attention spans that got on his nerves. They flitted from one thing to the next at the drop of a pin, but Jack couldn't really blame them. They were just kids after all.
Jack stopped the trail of thought before it would inevitably lead to another depression spell and instead closed his eyes and lazily held his staff in his left hand. His right arm had fallen above his head when he fell back, so Jack just kept it there. The relaxing quiet began to overtake Jack's senses, almost lulling him into sleep. He was partially asleep when the sun's dim rays were blocked out by something above him. Excepting it to be a passing civilian, Jack quickly rolled over to the side to avoid the painful experience of being phased through, and once he was sure the person had passed, he rolled back over to his original spot. It was still black.
Jack slowly opened his eyes, gripping his staff tight in his left hand. Pitch was standing directly above him, hands clasped and the smallest smirk smeared across his face.
Pitch said flatly, "Hello Jack."