The quiet town of Burgess, for all its expansion and new builds could never shift its chill. No matter the season or the month, rain, sleet or brightest sun the chill that ran through the streets and seeped into houses never ceased. And as unsettling the cool was, Burgess was always happiest in winter and in the cold. Adults of science and those of superstition could not reason with such feelings and the children who grew into those adults, so accustomed by the cold's ways feared not and welcomed the chill against their cheeks.
For a young spirit, where you take roots is of the most importance. For all spirits roam, but for those without roots or homes, you could lose yourself in a journey. The winter spirit and newest of the Guardians, Jack Frost had called Burgess his home for over 300 years of solitude. His lake, which over the years had been skated upon by hundreds of children and the few adults, was his main port of call. He had no house, only a lake, and one worn blanket too high for mortals to care to reach, which flapped and flailed in the wind, carefully ensnared by a branch.
It was here he was spending his time. Snow had been sprinkled where it needed to go and now Jack sat on his lake, with a conundrum on his mind. Too busy in his head the white haired boy failed to notice his company until a large bunny sat beside him, hissing at the cold and sending a large, sharp elbow in the boy's side.
"What'cha doin' out here Jackie? We've been looking for you since breakfast at North's; ya know he's keen to get to know you more."
"I...I know, I've just been busy... thinking."
"Tha' don't sound too good to me." The rabbit heaved a sigh and shivered, hoping an answer wouldn't require too much in the way of an interrogation.
"I was wondering if my corpse is down there."
There we go. Bunny thought. "Wait? What?!" he spluttered, spinning himself around on the ice to gander at the boys faces but was only met with hair. "Why on earth are you think'n about tha'?!"
"You know I died... I told everyone that. But I died here, right here, and I never knew it. A... I a spirit of myself...a ghost or do I have a body?!" He spoke with an eerie calm but Bunny caught the trembling stutters that fell to the snowy ground. With a grunt the ice child pushed himself up to standing. "You're one of the oldest Bunny, perhaps even older than Sandy. Do... do you think I'm right?"
"I think this is hurt'n you Snowflake, and something that brings pain like tha' isn't worth thought."
The boy whipped round to face the rabbit. "Not worth?! Wha..? Ever since I thought I began existing this lake has remained frozen...solid! That means if...if I unfroze it, I would find myself? My..my.. c..cor." His face met fur as a large paw gripped him by the hoodie and pulled him into warm arms.
"Don't say...don't think about it if it hurts. Not for now." Bunnymund swept him paw over white hair, tightening his grip. "This... hurt is new to you, and it's okay to be afraid of the answers to the questions in your head." He felt the spirit in this arms tremble and he sniffed back his own tears.
"I think I've always known." A small voice broke the quiet. "Before...my memories...I knew, I was always scared of water, and scared for others. But I let other lakes and ponds melt, I handed the children's safety over to the spring spirits who made my cold safe. But I could never let this one melt. I would think about it and then get so so scared, and I think I always knew what was down there."
"It's been 300 years Snowflake." He tried to comfort.
"300 years of solid ice." The spirit sniffed. "I was thinking of letting it melt... but then I couldn't bear the thought of people swimming where I..." he trailed off with a sob.
"Then it remains frozen." The decision was taken from his tiny hands."It stays frozen and we build you a...a grave, if that's what you want."
Jack shook his head. "I don't want a grave. I died but I'm alive I guess... it's just this is all I have in the world." Bunnymund couldn't bear to see more tears so with a large paw he wiped them away and pulled the frost child to his side.
"Then we build you a home."