Summary: The day Jamie Bennett turned fifteen, something both strange and terrible happened. He woke with no memories at all. He couldn't remember a thing, about his friends or family, or even himself. Eventually, the important details returned to him, save for four years. All his memories from when he was ten to when he was fourteen had simply been wiped away, and the rest of his childhood was blurry and difficult to make out. All knowledge of the guardians had simply been stolen from him. Now seventeen, Jamie is still struggling to regain himself, as he feels that a huge part of his life is missing. When Jack returns, he must struggle with getting his believer to once again believe in him, and fighting back the darkness that threatens to take the teen away for good.
B/N : Greetings and Salutations. This isn't your friendly neighbourhood Carys/Faye writing this particular story; it's actually my friend, Lauren. I'm acting as her beta, and she's too lazy to create her own account, so I said we could share this one, so that's fine with me. Anyway… I'll pass you over to her.
A/N: Hey hi hello! Lauren here. Uh, I got the idea for this story based on my teenage!Jamie roleplay blog and someone told me I should write it as a fanfic, so here I am! Yeah. Let me know what you guys think, and enjoy!
Chapter one
He held the bottle tightly, hand clenched around the plastic tub with a grip that was numbed from the cold winter air whipping through the small town of Burgess. Amber eyes stared down at the offending item, his lips pressing into a firm line and he scowled, stuffing the pills into his coat pocket, feeling frustrated.
"I'm not crazy." He said quietly to himself, turning to look at the pharmacy behind him, eyebrows knitting together. Sometimes, he found it hard to believe, what with his therapy and multiple trips to the hospital, but just because he had reoccurring dreams that he insisted were actually memories, it didn't mean he was crazy, or losing it.
Jamie sighed, shoulders slumping slightly as he began to walk, remembering he had to pick his sister up from her dance class. He felt thin, stretched and tired, and the pills really weren't helping him at all. The Doctors said they were for his mind, but all they did was stop him from dreaming, and it caused an ache inside of him. He missed the dreams when they were gone. He missed the familiarity of the creatures and people in them.
He kept his gaze to the ground as he walked, only glancing up when he began to see the white flakes of snow fall, and then, finally, he smiled. There was a familiarity about the cold of snow, and it lifted him up inside, filled him with a strength when he needed it most. It was a blessing, and he was glad it was winter. It was almost unbearable in summer, with no cold, no comfort. Jamie let out a soft breath, tilting his head back and smiling as a snowflake landed on the tip of his nose, sending a shiver through his entire body.
"Jamie!" a voice called out, and Jamie glanced over, startled to see that he had made it the rest of the way to the building where his sister was dancing. Smiling a little wider at the sight of the blonde ten year old, he laughed and outstretched his arms for her, and Sophie grinned slightly, running over to him immediately. His arms caught her and lifted her up high, swinging her around, the two of them laughing, before Jamie set the girl down and took her hand.
"How was dance?" he asked, swinging their joined hands lightly as they began to walk, and Sophie smiled up at him.
"Great!" she said, enthusiastic as ever, and Jamie smiled as she began to chatter excitedly about everything they had done. Just being in the snow and being with Sophie made him feel lighter at heart, and caused him to forget all of his earlier troubles.
If only it were always that easy.
Oh how Jack had missed Burgess. This whole place was a haven and a home to the winter spirit, and he always loved stopping by and making visits to his believers, especially one Jamie Bennett. He hadn't made a visit to anyone however, for about two years or so. He'd made his typical stops, to bring snow and the winter wind, but he'd found himself increasingly busy with guardian work, something that frustrated him to no end. He loved being a guardian, and loved the feel of having a family again, but the work. He hated work.
However, the spirit found himself with some free time at last, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do, so chuckling, he moved to perch on a tree outside of Jamie's window, a wide smile on his face as he looked in, able to see the teenager. Jamie had gotten taller in two years, he noted, somewhat wistful.
The teenager in question was sat at his desk, lost in his drawings and sketches, bits of paper strewn across the room, and Jack had to chuckle softly at the sight. That was so like Jamie. Smiling fondly, Jack walked over the branch before jumping down onto the windowsill and pushing the window, only to realise it was locked. A look of surprise flitted across his face for a moment. Jamie rarely locked his window at winter. Maybe he'd just forgotten. It had been two years, after all. Smiling shakily at his attempt to console himself, Jack rapped against the glass with his knuckles.
Jamie glanced up, obviously startled, and Jack smiled widely, waiting for the huge smile to cross his friend's face, only for it to falter when the only expression to cross the teen's face was confusion. Slowly, Jamie stood and moved over to the window, glancing out, eyes roving past Jack, and seeming to see right through him.
Immediately, Jack felt a thrill of panic wash through him, and his breath caught in his throat. Surely Jamie hadn't… No. Jamie wouldn't stop believing, he didn't have that in him! He wouldn't do that! Laughing nervously, Jack knocked at the window again, a little harder, and Jamie jumped back, and Jack heard his voice through the glass, muffled and startled.
"What the hell…?"
"Jamie, it's me! It's Jack! Funny joke Jamie, I get it, you're mad at me for disappearing for two years," Jack said with an awkward chuckle. "I'm sorry about that, I really didn't mean to just swan off, you know that, right? I wouldn't just disappear unless I had a good reason…but pretending you can't see me is pretty cruel, don't you think?" Jack chuckled awkwardly, and finally relaxed when Jamie pulled open both windows, and grinning, he moved in to hug Jamie, only to pass right through him.
His eyes widened in sudden horror and realisation as Jamie shivered slightly from the motion, and Jack stood frozen, his arms still outstretched as his stomach dropped completely, and his chest constricted. Jamie…Had stopped believing.
"No." Jack whispered, feeling a pain so intense overcome him suddenly it almost brought him to his knees. No, how could Jamie stop believing in him? How did this happen? "Jamie..." his voice broke, and he turned to stare at the brunette as Jamie let out a long, drawn out sigh, before he closed the window, closing the latch and resting his head against the glass, relishing the cold.
Jamie turned, still oblivious to the trembling spirit before him, and glanced at his clock, stretching and yawning slightly, glancing over at the bottle of pills that lay on his desk, and his gaze hardened slightly. "Not tonight," he said quietly, forcefully. "Tonight I want to dream."
Amidst the pain inside of him, Jack felt a small thrill of confusion at his words, and he glanced over at the pills. Since when did Jamie take prescribed pills? What had happened whilst he had been gone? Was this linked to why he had stopped believing?
Shivering slightly, Jamie closed his sketchbook and collected up some stray papers, dropping them on his desk. His fingers ghosted over the sketches, a faint memory flickering at the back of his mind, and desperately, he reached for it, only to have it slip away, and he closed his eyes tightly, hands moving to grip at the back of his desk chair, feeling a wave of despair wash over him suddenly. It wasn't fair.
"Tomorrow is a new day," Jamie mumbled to himself tiredly. "Maybe tomorrow will be better…" he smiled shakily and straightened, moving to turn off his light, before he got into bed, closing his eyes and beginning to drift off into sleep.
Jack moved silently over to the bed, sitting down on the edge as he watched his first believer sleep, reaching out a hand to gently brush his fingers against the teen's cheek, tears springing to his eyes as his fingers made contact with Jamie's warm skin. Sleep, where you neither believe nor disbelieve. It was the middle-ground. He had to think of a way to make Jamie believe in his waking hours. He couldn't let him slip away like this.
"I'm sorry kiddo." Jack said quietly, a sad smile crossing his face. "I let you down, huh?" he sighed softly and stood, moving over to Jamie's desk and lifting up the pills, eyeing them warily. They stopped Jamie from dreaming? He didn't particularly like the sound of that. His lips pursed slightly as he put the bottle down, and flicked through the papers, trying to find a reason for Jamie's disbelief, but he couldn't grasp anything. Scowling, Jack moved to open the sketch book instead, a small smile crossing his face as the sketch of Jamie's mother, Sophie and Abby on the first page. Jamie had gotten even better at drawing in two years it seemed.
Sitting down in Jamie's seat, the spirit began to flip through the sketch book, noting all the drawings and sketches of Jamie's friends, more of Sophie, and some of landscapes and people Jack hadn't seen before. As he turned the page once more however, he froze, staring at the sketch before him.
"It's me!" he said, startled, looking at the date, which was listed as thirteen days after Jamie's fifteenth birthday. It was well drawn out, with his staff present. The only thing coloured were his eyes, which Jamie had coloured a startling shade of blue. Jack felt confusion wash over him. If Jamie had been drawing him, how had he stopped believing? How could he think those four years had just been dreams? Shaking his head, Jack flipped through some more pages, and there were other sketches, of Tooth, North, and the other guardians, even the occasional sketch of Pitch, though they were never finished. Jack featured the most, until suddenly, the sketches became normal people again, and Jack guessed that was when Jamie started taking the pills.
Slowly, Jack closed the book and turned to look at his sleeping friend, taking a deep, shaky breath to calm himself. It was going to be okay. He'd get Jamie to believe again. He had to.
"Sweet dreams Jamie." Jack murmured, moving to sit down by the window. He wasn't leaving tonight. He was going to find out what happened to Jamie, so he needed to be ready when Jamie woke up. Sighing, he leaned his head back against the wall and drifted into a light dozing state, waiting for day to break, and with it, hopefully, a way to make the last light shine again.