Back To December
(May contain mild language. Please do not read if swear words are uncomfortable for you to read.)
As she walked through the wintery woods, Jessie's mind wandered past the trees, up into the air and into oblivion. Once again she was thinking about how good it felt to finally walk on solid ground again instead of floating in pitch darkness. And that's who trapped her. Pitch Black. It seems cliché, the girl getting kidnapped and some hero to rescue the day. Well, nobody ever came. She was the girl nobody knew, nobody noticed, and nobody cared about. No, she was an Outcast. A non-Guardian. Someone who was brought back but was never accepted into the main group.
Jessie accepted this fate a long time ago. She liked being different. When all the other Outcasts begged to become Guardians, she waited off the side, getting side tracked and just living. Sure, she would live forever if nothing happened to her, but living is still something to look forward to. Jessie stepped on a twig and cursed, picking up her foot and leaning against a tree to inspect the splinter. She saw the blood on the snow and quickly covered it up and shot into the air. She pulled the twig out of her foot and flicked it into the air as she flew, making her way towards home.
It was just a shack, nothing more, nothing less. Just a place to sit and rest. She sat in the large chair and wrapped up her foot, and warmed her hands by the fire. It was a startling sight when she saw two large Yeti at her door. They grabbed her and took her through a portal. They landed in the middle of North's Workshop. Or, Santa's Workshop as most of the kid's call him nowadays. Jessie stood up, brushing herself off and looked around. The place was massive.
"Welcome!" Tooth shouted and enveloped her in a hug. Jessie was squished but she smiled then dropped the smile. "What's going on?" She asked and North looked at her happily. "Jessie, we believe you have something to share with us," North said and Jessie shook her head. "I have no information for you at all." And it was true. She had no idea what was goign on or what he was talkig about. Bunny walked- er, hopped- towards her. "Jessie, do you have anything on what happened during the Battle of Darkness?"
That's what everybody started calling it, the Battle of Darkness. It was a scary name that always gave Jessie the chills.
"Pitch... He-he trapped me in his lair for a long time. He thought that if I could be captured, so could all of you. Although, I don't know why. I'm nothing special." Tooth frowned and Sandy understood. North pulled his beard and Jessie shifted awkwardly. Bunny tapped his foot and fell through the ground quite few times. It was scary, terrifying actually, to be in their presence and have only complete silence. Then, Jack Frost walked in. "Did I miss anything?" "No, just all the imporatant stuff," Jessie mumbled and Jack looked at her surprised, like he hadn't realized she was there. She got that look a lot. "Look, if we're done here, can you send me back home? I've got important things to do on this December day and it includes making it snow. So if you could just get me back home..." She said and North nodded. "We'll come find you again if we need you," North said, throwing a globe and it opened into a portal. Jessie stepped throught and didn't bother with waving or saying goodbye. But she felt a presence join her and spun around to face Jack Frost.
"Go home, Frost. I don't want to be bugged right now." Jessie said, hopping on to a branch and picked up her only item, her staff. It wasn't much but it was all she had. It also was her only weapon. She spun it in her hands as she walked along a branch ad then walked off th end of it, floating in midair.
Jack looked up at her. "C'mon Snowflake, lighten up a little!" He said and threw a snowball at her. Jessie frowned. "Frost, I'm as light as a snowflake. That's not funny." He laughed a bit and threw more snowballs at her. "C'mon Snowflake, just this once." Jessie rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I swear on the moon that if you ever distract me from my duties again, I will permanently break that staff of yours." Jack gulped and looked down at the staff in his hands which curved at the top, making it look like a hook. Jessie rounded up some ammo and started throwing it at him before he was even ready. "Hey, no fair!" Jack exclaimed while laughing. "It sure is because you never said when!" She smiled a little bit after she said it and threw a few more at him before walking away. "Hey, where are you going!?" Jack yelled as he caught up to her, "I have to go make snowdays happen." "So you're the one that's been helping me out all these years." "Frost, your name is 'frost' because that's what you do, you create frost. Your body temperature is freezing and you only make thigs cold." Jack frowned. "Thanks for reminding me." He mumbled and trudged along beside her. "I'm the same way," Jessie said, not looking anywhere's but in front of her. She had said it softly. So softly Jack almost couldn't hear it. He looked at her, surprised. "My last name is Snow, I create snow. My body temperature is sometimes below freezing." She sighed and shoved her hands into the pockets of the dress and jumped on to the roof of a house. Which was a pretty far jump froom where se had previously been standing.
"Well, are you gonna come help me or what, Fost." Jack smiled and flew up to the roof. "Okay, so what do we do first?" He asked and Jessie smiled. "We fly." They shot into the air, above the clouds and and Jessie started moving her hands in a swishing motion. When she saw that Jack was trying to follow, she grabbed his hands and stopped him. "If you do it that way, you'll make it hail. Here," Jessie showed him the proper way to do it, moving his hands for him. He smiled at her and she gave a small hint of a smile back. Together they created snowdays all the wile Jessie was debating with herself whether to she was going to stick around with Jack or not. Then she realized she didn't have much of a choice. He would follow her, without a doubt, and try to be as helpful as he could. She looked at him for just a mere second and the smile on his face told her that he loved what he was doing. She smiled and flew back down tot the ground, Jack following her.
"So what now, Snowflake?" He asked and she smiled. "We watch." She smiled as kids ran out of their houses in snow bots, hats scarves and mittens, making snowballs in the snow, creating snowmen and going sledding. "C'mon, I've got a few people you should meet." Jack said, taking her arm and puling her up into the air. They Flew to Northville, the town that was the best at celebrating snowdays. They landed on a little lake and Jack smiled lightly at her. "Just wait for it," he said and she nodded. They waited only a few seconds before the shouts came. Then the tumblih and the massive, "OOF!" Jessie smiled brightly at the little boy and his frieds who rolled down the hill. "Jack!" The little boy yelled and Jack threw a snowball from up i the air. "Hey kiddo." he said, kjumping down. Jessie watched Jack greet all the kids and they smiled widely at him. "Guys, I've got a friend you should meet. Her name's Jessie, Jessie Snow. She created your guys' snowday." Jack looked at Jessie and beckoned her forward. "Jack, there's nobody there..." the little boy from earlier said and Jessie's lip started to tremble. After everything she had done for 315 years, the countless hours put into her work, the days she spent dying in the heat but didn't have enough energy to fly somewhere's cold, she still wasn't noticed. She turned around and shot into the air flying away as quickly as she could. She heard Jack yell after her.
Jack turned to the kids. "Guys, we'll be right back. Stay on the snowbank and don't go on to the ice yet." "Whatever you say, Jack." Jamie said and held up his hands. Then Jack flew after Jessie.
Jessie sat in the top of a tree, sniffling. All of her teardrops had frozen. She wiped her eyes and stopped sniffling, looking out into the snowy world. Someone sat beside her. "Jessie-" "Don't you dare go telling me that it's okay to be unnoticed. I've been unnoticed and not believed in since the day I was brought back, on the Winter Solstice, also my birthday. I've been here for 315 years Jack. Longer than you. So don't go telling me that I have hope, because I don't. People see my work, my little snowflakes dance to the ground, and they don't care. They don't take notice of who really gives them snowdays, keeps them home from work, etc. I'm nothing to them. Absolutley nothing. Now go worry about the kids Jack. I don't need your pity." Jessie shot up and started flying again, not caring that she left Jack in the dust. He is a Guardian. They worry about the children, not the Outcasts.
Jack flew back to the lake. He looked behind him and saw Jessie flying away from herself, her problems. He almost shot into the sky again, to fly after her, when he remembered Jamie and the other kids. "C'mon guys, let's go cheer one of my friends up."
Jessie sat inside the shack, warming up by the fire. She had her hands stretchd out in front of her, trying to get more heat. she wrapped herself up in a blanket. Normally, she didn't want to be this warm. She wanted to be cold. But with what just happened, she needed that special slushy feeling to make her feel better. She curled up by the fire and closed her eyes but they shot open when she heard the door creak open. Light footsteps entered and then many others. "Frost, go away." She said and looked up to see him towering over her. He stood her up and Jessie frowned. "I swear on Manny if you brought-" "Jack, what's going on?" A voice said from outside and Jessie's mouth dropped. "Tell me that's just a voice recording. Jack Frost, you did not bring those children here, did you?!" She ran outside without an answer. That's when she saw the sand nightmares.
Her first instinct was to protect the children. She picked up her staff and started shooting ice and freezing the nightmares. Jack strarted freezing the ones from the other side of the shack. Jessie heard a deep, dark laugh and saw a shadow. Jack came around the corner right then. "Get those kids out of here, I have a certain shadow to deal with." She growled and twirled her staff, grabbing it in her hands but Jack grabbed her arm. "Jessie, you can't deal with him alone. If he's strong enough to have nightmares again, then you're not strong enough on your own." She frowned at him. "If you try to make me come back with you to North's workshop, I will personally shove you into a pile of snow." Jessie said and Jack smirked. "Jack, who are you smirking at?" Jessie's heart dropped. She had forgotten they couldn't see her still. She floated above the ground as Jack rounded up the kids. "Jack! I saw her! For just one moment there was a girl fighting off the nightmares! She had snowy white hair like you! And striking blue eyes!" the tallest child said and the rest of them nodded except for Jamie. Jessie's spirit rose a bit. "Can you see her now?" Jack asked and Jessie landed on the ground. The kids shook their heads and a girl said, "But she's here, I can feel it!" Jessie smiled and they all walked back to the Lake before it would be dinner time for the children. They all said goodbye to Jack and to Jessie, even though they still couldn't see her. A small girl with blonde hair and butterfly wings ran out through Jamie's back door and fell on her knees. Jessie picked her up and wiped the eyes of the small little girl. The little girl opened her eyes and giggled as Jessie smiled at her, tickling her stomach. "Sophie!" a woman's voice rang through the window. "Well hi there Sophie, I think your mama wants you back inside." She let Sophie down who smiled up at her and then ran inside. Jack and Jessie left. "I am not going back to the Pole, Frost." Jessie said sternly when a portal opened up. Instead, they were grabbed at the shoulders and pulled through.
"NORTH!" Jessie yelled as she brushed the snow off her shoulders and stormed into North's main workshop. He gave her a huge smile as she shook her head violently. "I just faced Pitch's nighmares and I'm really revved up to kick ass, you should probably run." "That's why we brought you here." Jessie pointed her staff at North and Bunny slowly lowered her staff for her. "Jessie, listen to us," Her eyes softened and Bunny looked into her eyes speakig softly.
- Jessie had always had a soft spot for Bunnymund. He had always watched out for her despite her being an Outcast. -
"Jessie, please don't blow North out of the workshop. He brought you here for a reason. Please just listen." He touched her hand and Jessie melted. She nodded and looked at North. "Jessie, we need you to help us fight against Pitch." "Easy, he's still weak. His nightmares aren't strong at all. It took Jack and I a matter od seconds to freeze them all." "You were hanging out with Frost?" Bunny asked and seemed hurt. Jessie looked at the ground. "We'll talk later," Jessie whispered to him and kept explaining. "But overall, he's an easy target right now. let;s go kick his-" "JESSIE!" Tooth yelled as she flew intot he room. "There's something you've gotta see!"
Tooth pulled Jessie towards a holographic globe. "All the snow is disappearing..." She said and Jessie looked at Bunny who nodded. I know exactly who it is."