A/N So, I saw Rise of the Guardians today and thought it was awesome and I just had to write this little thing. Its Jacks sister recalling the day where Jack falls through the ice, I don't how far it strays from the original facts of the film scene as I can't remember all the details.
*Disclaimer* I don't own the film or the characters and I make no money from this.
I couldn't wait to go ice skating. It had begun to snow the day before and the lake near our town was completely iced over. At first I didn't want to go because I was scared that I would fall through the ice, or that Jack would. He had told me, in the same way he always had when I was scared of doing something, like the time in summer when we swam in the lake, or when last autumn, Jack made a mud run going down a hill for us to slip and slide down on our bellies. He told me, don't be scared, there's nothing to worry about, we're just going to have fun. Jack meant the world to me in my childhood; he was and older brother but at the same time a best friend and he filled in for the father I'd never had. He was an endless source of energy and fun; he never lost patience or became boring. We would spend hours out playing in the woods. Our mother was sometimes worried about Jacks sense of adventure but the fact that neither of us ever got hurt put her mind at rest.
Until that morning on the ice.
As we left the house that day, skates around our necks, I was a flurry of excitement. Our mother and Jack exchanged a few quick words at the door but I didn't listen; I was too full of joy at where we were headed. We walked to the lake, laughing, brimming over with ecstasy. When we got there, I put on my ice skates, Jack lacing them up for me and I took a few tentative steps out on to the frozen lake. Jack was already there in front of me, not wearing ice skates but sliding around and smiling.
Suddenly I heard a cracking sound at my feet, my brother heard it too. We both looked down and saw that a spider web of thin cracks had begun to branch out from where my feet were. I was more scared than I had ever been in my life.
I stood there, wobbling on my skates. Jack spoke to me in the same voice he had used to convince me to go ice skating in the first place.
"Don't look down, look at me."
I could see the ice at his feet beginning to fracture as well and he must have been terrified but just trying to hide it for my sake. He told me that we were going to have some fun, but I couldn't see how we could in that situation. His eyes kept flickering toward a long stick but I was too scared to think why. He told me that we were going to play a game of Hopscotch, just like we did at home. I liked Hopscotch but Jack only ever put up with playing it for my benefit, just as he did then, playing the game to save me. He took a deep breath then hopped away from where he was standing to the left where the long stick was. He stopped hopping and counting when he got there. Where he stood seemed to be more solid but he still looked nervous as he bent to pick up the stick and told me it was my turn. The cracks at my feet were beginning to widen, I shut my eyes and hopped...one...two...on three Jack hooked the end of the stick around me to pull me onto the thick ice and at the same time flinging himself forwards... just as the ice where I'd been standing gave way. Jack crashed through the ice and then he was gone.
No matter how much I cried or screamed or shouted, he was still gone. I'd lost him, my brother, my friend, my saviour, my Jack.