Always a Guardian
A Rise of the Guardians fanfiction by PoisonedRose12
Finished 12/30/12
"Hey."
Jack jumped, startled, and turned from staring at the moon to face Tooth, hovering quietly behind him. He gave a small smile. "Hey."
Her wings hummed as she drifted closer to where he stood. "What're you doing up here?" She gestured to the roof and clear skies of the North Pole. Jack had just became a Guardian officially not 6 hours earlier, and upon arriving back at North's place a party of sorts had taken place in celebration. Jack, a somewhat of introvert after 300 years alone despite his wants for recognition, had drifted out the window in a flurry of snow as soon as the Sandman was on his fifth eggnog and Bunnymund decided to banter with North on their respective holidays' importance. He hadn't noticed Tooth drift up after him.
He shrugged. "Just . . . thinking."
Tooth, uncharacteristically still, just nodded, and joined him in his staring at the moon.
A few minutes passed in comfortable silence, the cold wind whistling, and Jack's mind far away, when she spoke again. "Is it odd, being a Guardian?"
He turned to look at her. Tooth's eyes were on him with curiosity, her wings fluttering in a constant rhythm as she floated inches from the snow covered roof. He gave a quizzical frown at his feet. "I . . . don't know," A glance back at her amethyst eyes, "Was it weird for you to become a Guardian?"
Tooth smiled, "That was a long time ago. Being a Guardian is who I just am now." Jack watched her as she spoke, her face turned toward the cold expanse of the North Pole. Tooth was constantly moving in some way or another, never completely still; hands waved with emphasis, wings hummed, legs swung from straight to bent, tiny feet curled, her head turned and shifted, (but never faced down) and most of all she smiled very easily – a beautiful wide smile with those brilliant teeth she was so fond of. Jack smiled in return; he loved how she was always full of life and a sort of springing joy, and smiling was a natural response to it. "To be honest, I think I was always a Guardian at heart. My center is who I've always been, after all. And I can't imagine a more fulfilling life than doing what I do now."
He turned to face the moon once more as her eyes landed on him again - eyes he couldn't look at without feeling somewhat overwhelmed when their full, undivided attention full of openness was staring at him. He couldn't remember anyone with eyes so . . . intense. But in a nice way. He just had to get used to it. "Makes sense."
There was silence for a few more moments as Jack considered this, then gave an expression of disbelief, "Does that mean I've always been a Guardian at heart, and just didn't know it?"
"Well, have you always been Fun in your center, in your heart?"
Jack squinted at the moon as he flashed through his full 318 years worth of memories. "Yeah, it has. Come to think of it, it's how I've always dealt with everything, including fear. It's been my source of happiness" - a flash of his little sister – "and source for bringing happiness to others, for as long as I can remember."
He stared at the moon with a sort of amazement at this discovery, then glared at it, his face grumpy. "Would have been nice to know around 300 years ago, thanks." He mumbled.
Tooth chuckled, then started humming a tune that sounded foreign to Jack's ears. It was quite, slow, soothing, and peaceful, and he found his mind wondering off again, his chin resting on his hands clutching his staff, and his forehead leaning on it's comfortingly frozen wood. Her humming slowly smoothed away and shifted into soft words, "I'm glad you discovered who you are, Jack, and your purpose, your center. You'll make a wonderful addition to the Guardians. We've been needing someone to balance us out and remind us how to truly care for kids without us even realizing it."
Jack's mind flashed to that moment in Bunny's Warren when Sophie had popped up, and the irony of the Big Four's response.
"When was the last time any of you guys even hung out with kids?"
North huffed. "We too busy protecting children. We don't have time . . . For children!"
Jack smiled. All kids needed fun. Losing fun to too much responsibility was part of growing up, part of losing innocence. Kids were the equivalent of Fun, and Fun was Jack's center, his whole purpose. Jack felt himself grow light and excited with this realization, and he grinned. "I guess you guys need me more than even I realized. None of you are any fun at all, especially Bunny."
He laughed at Tooth's shocked expression and slight huff that clearly said, 'excuse me?', and somewhat backed away in fear of retaliation. He'd seen her in the fight with Pitch, he had a right to be cautious. "Joking! Joking! You are fun, I swear!"
Tooth's expression brightened and she laughed as well, then sobered into a smile. "But it's true, isn't it? We're all so busy fulfilling our duties, we need you, Jack. We need someone to remind us that children are fun, and to help bring that not only to their lives, but ours as well."
She looked at him, and his eyes had widened in one of slight surprise at her openness (dang those eyes), then he chuckled, his head lowering in slight embarrassment. His arm rubbed the back of his neck, and he half lifted his head enough to glance up at her with a shy smile on, before staring at the snow once more. "It feels good to be needed."
She grinned, her eyes smiling with her, her whole body moving, feathers fluttering, all with the enthusiasm and warm affection from their first meeting in North's place days ago. And she hugged him. "Welcome to the Guardians, Jack."
Jack was startled once again, but soon gave a tender and unseen smile as he hugged her back. Always a Guardian, eh? He glanced at the moon, then back to his fellow Guardian in his arms. It feels good to finally find where I've belonged all along, where I'm needed. It feels good to be home.
A/N: I honestly didn't know if I'd get a RotG piece written down. It's not because I didn't love the movie, I absolutely did, I just struggle with being creatively productive, period. So I was pleasantly surprised with this came out. It's inspired from something I read on Wikipedia. On Jack Frost's information profile, it says he's always been a guardian, he just hasn't realized it. I figured that's how life is generally, isn't it? All of us is something inside us, our center, our purpose, our way to help the world that no one else has. It's always there, we just have to figure it out. Hopefully we won't take 300 years, at least.
Constructive criticism is very appreciated. :)