Bunny, North, and Sandy were at Tooth's palace. None of them knew just why they were there. Usually if they had a guardian meeting they met at the pole. This time was different, and Jack hadn't shown up yet.
"Well where is frostbite? Late like usual it seems." Bunny said irritated.
"Oh, um, no… I didn't invite Jack over. Not to be mean or anything though. It's just this has to do with him; and I really didn't want him to say no." Tooth said as she flew down. In her hands was a tooth capsule.
"Vhat is ziz about Tooth? I have much to do." North asked.
"Well I was really curious as to why Jack didn't remember anything before becoming a spirit. So I gave into temptation and looked into his memories. What I saw, shocked me. Jack wasn't chosen the same way we were."
A question mark appeared above Sandy's head.
Bunny nodded "Yeah what do you mean tooth?"
Tooth shifted nervously "Well we all chose to become guardians, willingly."
North's brows furrowed "Jack did not wish to become spirit?"
Tooth gave a sigh "It's hard to explain. That's why I called all of you here so I could show you. I didn't want to to say no… so…"
"Ah blimy just show us already Tooth." Bunny exclaimed. Really what could be so different with Jack that had Tooth was so flustered?
"Okay!" She said quickly.
One second they were on the outskirts of a town many, many, many years ago. They were standing outside of a small house. North, Bunny, and Sandy looked around confused. They had never been inside of a memory before..
The sound of a door opening grabbed their attention. A young girl with long brown hair ran out of the house, ice skates in her hand. "Come on, come on, come on!" she said excitedly.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." A voice laughed from inside.
The girl huffed impatently and rushed forward and grabbed the arm of the other person who spoke. "Come on!" she yelled. She pulled out a boy who seemed fifteen years old. He had short dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was also carrying skates. He laughted at this sister's antics.
"Be careful you two." An adult female voice called out.
"Don't worry, we will." The boy smiled. Then the two headed through the woods. The little girl pulling along her brother.
"That's Jack right?" Bunny asked. Even with the different hair and eye color it still looked like frostbite.
Tooth nodded sadly before following the siblings. As they made it to their destination they looked around.
Suddenly North knew where they were "Vait, ziz iz Jack's lake! Ve are in Burguess." Once again Tooth nodded.
The two siblings were sitting on the bank of the lake, putting their skates on. A pleasant conversation went on between them.
As the two go on the ice and started skating the three guardians wondered what was going to happen. For five happy minutes nothing happened. Then Jack's little sister slipped and fell, instantly cracks formed on the ice around her. Everyone froze in terror, the guardians included.
"Ja…Jack." His sister said scared.
"It's okay, it's okay. Don't look down, just look at me." Jack said calmly.
"Jack I'm scared." His sister said in a shaky voice.
"I know, I know." Jack said trying to calm down his sister. He took a step forward, but stopped quickly as the ice cracked more. "But you're gunna be alright. You're not going to fall in." Jack said with a smile "We're going to have a little fun instead." Jack said quickly.
"No! We're not." The girl yelled, obviously scared.
"Would I trick you?" Jack asked seriously.
Bunny let out a scoff "Course he would." He mumbled under his breath.
"Yes, you always play tricks!" the girl said, upset.
"No, no. Well not this time. I promise. I promise you're going to be fine." Jack told his sister. "You have to believe in me." Jack said quietly.
The guardians frowned slightly, they all felt bad about Jack being unbelieved in for so long.
Jack looked around for a second before saying "You wanna play a game? We're going to play hopscotch, like we play everyday." He stood up straight, his sister staring at him intently.
"It's as easy as one…" Jack took a step, the ice cracking even more. He momentarily lost his balance, though he played it off as fun. The guardians winced as the ice cracked even further. They all wanted to just go out there and help the children, even though they knew they couldn't. Jack's sister laughted at her brother's antics. "Two. Three!" Jack took long jumped over to a thicker area of ice. He walked to the shepard like staff he had seen and picked it up.
"See? Easy. Alright, now it's your turn."
Determination filled her eyes as she took a step forward "One." Jack said as the ice cracked more. "That's it! Two." She took another step, but wasn't going to make it. "Three!" he whisper yelled. He lunged toward the girl and grabbed her around the waist with the staff. He used his momentum to throw her towards safety. Doing that however took him extremely close to the thin ice.
Both of the siblings looked at each other and shared a laugh. The guardians let out the breaths they hadn't known they were holding. They all looked at each other, small smiles on their faces. Jack had always been a guardian. Then they saw the look on Tooth's face.
"Tooth vhy do you look so sad? Happy ending no?" North asked.
Tooth slowly shook her head no, tears in her eyes. Even though she had seen it before, a couple times actually, it still made her cry. She pointed back to the siblings and simply said "Watch." The guardians looked back towards the siblings.
Jack sent his sister a smile and started to get up. In that moment the ice gave out from underneath him. They all saw the brief moment of absolute terror on Jack's face before he plunged under the ice cold water.
Jack's sister's eyes went wide as she screamed "Jack!" she started sobbing and screaming her brother's name.
The guardians all stood there in shock. Moony was going to save him right? That's what he had done with the rest of them. Saved them when they were close to death, giving them the choice to become a spirit. But no, Moony didn't save him. They had just watched their friend die.
Suddenly they were all back in Tooth's palace.
"Wait! Wait a minute. Frostbite died?" Bunny exclaimed.
"Vhy vould man in moon not save Jack?" North asked.
A flurry of pictures flew over Sandy's head, too fast for any of them to make out.
Tooth gave a sad shrug "I don't know. I was able to see a bit longer. He woke up under the water with no memory a few days later. Then when he made it to the town nobody could see him. It was horrible."
Silence fell over the group. The silence was broken by the one they were all thinking about.
"Oh, hey guys. Was there a meeting that I forgot about? If there was I'm sorry." Jack said.
Baby Tooth flew over to Jack happily and flew around his head quickly. Jack gave a laugh "Hey Baby Tooth, just who I was here to see." Then he saw the looks he was getting from his friends. "What's going on?" Jack asked confused.
They shared a look, it wasn't like they could just say they had looked into his memories without his permission. Bunny threw a smile onto his face "It's nothin' Mate. Blimey you just must have missed the memo for the meeting. What good are those elves of yours North?"
Jack shared a look with Baby Tooth before shrugging. "Okay then, what's the meeting about?"