Disclaimer: Nothing but Ember and Edge are mine.
Full Summary and Recap: Three months ago, the Guardians fought off not only Pitch but a spirit with a very troubled past, Ember. Jack found that she blamed him for her sister's death, and right up till the end she fought to destroy him… until it was discovered that her memories of her sister's death were not right; Ember's sister was alive, so with the Guardians, the fire spirit helped to push Pitch back into the darkness. Then, she vanished.
Now, Christmas is now right around the corner, and the Guardians are still picking up the ashes from when Ember attacked. They think they have some downtime, but they couldn't be more wrong. Unbeknownst to them, spirits all over the world are disappearing one by one…
(Not a JackxOC still. There will be flirting between the OC and such, but that's just in their character)
Chapter 1
It was Christmas time; all the towns across the world were prepared for the insanity of the holiday. Lights were spread all across houses, trees were decorated, and children were waiting for the night where jolly Saint Nick would besiege them with presents. It was the time of year that was hard to forget.
Even sitting in a tree over the town of Bugress, Jack could hear children singing carols and laughing during their winter break. He made sure there was enough snow on the ground for the kids to all have fun and also try not to upset the adults in the mean time. They seemingly didn't enjoy the powder as much as Jack wished they would. As he heard many adults grumble, snow was the harbinger of ice scrapers and shovels. At least, kids had a blast.
The winter spirit had just glanced down in time to get pelted in the face by one of the kids playing. He let out a laugh before summoning more snow and just pouring it down on all the children playing, who in turn squealed with delight. He floated above all the playing looking over the snow masterpiece before heading toward Jamie's window.
Jack had expected the teen to come out on the first day of winter break, but the spirit had yet to see him. In truth, Frost felt bad he hadn't seen him much since the Ember incident. It might have been three months ago, but that didn't make it any easier to think about. She had gone on a rampage and destroyed most of the Guardians home, and on top of that, she had kidnapped Jamie. It had been a mess, but at least, in the end, she helped put Pitch back into the ground. Still, he couldn't get that last fight out of his head; she had purposely lost to give her sister peace of mind.
The winter spirit knocked on Jamie's window pushing all the thoughts about Ember to the background. There wasn't much point to dwell now that it was over; there was still a lot fun to be had, after all. He waited patiently for the teen to come over and unlock the window.
"Hey Jack," Jamie said with a smile. "I see you're off to a good start with all the snow."
"Yeah," he shrugged, "but it's not perfect."
Jamie laughed, "What's it missing? More snow?"
"Exactly," the winter spirit grinned causing snow to fall from Jamie's ceiling. The teen rolled his eyes and made sure that all his electronics were covered up.
"You do realize all this snow made it hard for me to start my car this morning?" the teen said pushing his books deeper into the shelves to avoid the wet substance. Jack sometimes forgot that his first believer was growing up, and that outside play was no longer as important as video games and girls. Sure Jack was nineteen when he died, so he understood the girl portion, but video games confounded him. It seemed like less fun then pelting people with snowballs; he was sure Bunny would disagree.
"Well it's break," Jack said sitting on top of his staff. "We should grab your sister and go ice skating on my pond."
"You know that does sound like fun," Jamie said after a moment of thought. "You sure North isn't going to nab you again for help with the workshop."
Last week, the two of them had tried to hang out when a portal opened up and a Yeti stepped out. Jack's appropriate response was to freeze it which North did not appreciate. It turned out with Christmas so close and the workshop only half completed, the guardian of wonder needed additional hands to get ready. Thankfully while the Yetis rebuilt the workshop, Bunny offered his Warren in the meantime… which Jack was sure the Guardian was regretting. He had complained multiple times of stepping in reindeer crap.
"I'll just freeze the messenger again," the winter spirit smiled. Jamie nodded and grabbed his skates before heading to find his little sister.
Jack flew ahead to the lake to make sure it was completely frozen over. Ever since the fight with Ember, he had to put a bit more energy into being sure it stayed solid. He had no idea that she could even melt it as she did. He thought back to that day when he had her pinned under him. She had apologized for so much with so few words and thanked him; then, the ice was gone.
He shut his eyes as he thought about the pain he had gone through because of the other spirit. She had physiologically and physically tortured him when he was Pitch's prisoner. It was hard to shake those sort of wounds, but talking about it helped… not with the Guardians, of course. Jack did trust them with his life, but there was still so much he kept to himself. It wasn't purposeful; it was just the winter spirit was use to being on his own for so long. There were days it was hard to accept he was part of this big family even six years later.
The winter spirit touched his pond to find it slushy, and he frowned wondering who could have done that. With a small amount of his power, the ice resolidified, and it would be safe for the teen and his sister. Jack hoped that Jamie would bring all his friends too; the more the merrier to the winter spirit.
…
He stared into the mirror; his own reflection glaring in return. The man was dressed immaculately; a black suit with a black under shirt. The man's blonde hair was smoothed back; he looked straight out of a Bond movie. His reflection on the other hand looked strange. The man in the mirror was in rags, hair looking like it had been slept on, and rings under his brown eyes.
"Don't look at me like that," the well dressed man said to his reflection. "You and I both know I'm the better half."
"You… you won't get away with this," the man in the mirror said. "Someone will come after you Edge."
"I'm counting on it," the man now called Edge smiled. "You know better than anyone there is always two sides to a coin." He touched the mirror which the man repeated in the mirror, but his face was full of rage. His nails seemed to scratch at it like an animal in a cage. This excited Edge, and he smiled before glancing behind to see numerous cages, empty and full. Each one for a different spirit, each one that would have a different power that he wanted. He couldn't wait to fill them.
Edge skipped over to the cages leaving the mirror alone. He could only take his other half so much in one day before the thing became drawl. The man ran his hand across the labels on each cage; organization was always appreciated. Groundhog… he glanced inside to see the creature glaring at him, and it made him feel delightful. Cupid… the poor spirit was sitting as far from the man as possible in her cage. He couldn't help but blow her a kiss. His favorite cages were at the end; they were for the precious Guardians. He couldn't wait to see what their mirror images would be like, and once that was done, he could taste their powers…
He glanced into the last cage at his newest addition. She looked ready to kill, and he smiled at her graciously. "Don't look at me like that," he said. "You should be polite and respectful."
"I'll respectfully kick your ass," she snarled, and he hit a button that caused the cell to drop another ten degrees. She shivered and fell to her knees.
"Manners Ember," he scolded with a smile.
Chapter 2 preview: Edge is new to town, and he has every intention of going after the Guardians. Meanwhile, North prepares for Christmas while Jack wonders more about his counterpart- the fire spirit.
OOC: So since you guys were such amazing reviewers, I decided to post the sequel's first chapter this week.
