Chapter 1: New Year's Eve
In a little forest, a few ways away from any civilization, tiny specks of snow fell down towards the ground in a gentle dance. They piled up, little by little until they completely coated the Earth in a blanket of pure white, creating a sharp contrast against the night sky. The snow covered the branches of the slumbering trees, the tops of giant boulders, even the frozen layer of a lake. From time to time, moonlight would hit and make them glitter creating a mirage of diamonds.
In the middle of the lake stood a lone spirit staring down serenely at the frozen water. His frosty blue eyes roamed the solidified layer of the lake as though trying to see a glimpse of a certain Jackson Overland long gone beneath its cold, dark depths a few centuries ago. Instead, all he saw was his own image mirrored on the ice. No brown hair, no brown eyes… just him with his snow white mane, and piercing blue gaze. Jack Frost.
He finally tore his gaze away from his reflection to properly take in his surroundings, committing every minute detail into his memory as he gripped his oak staff tightly in his right hand.
Coming back here to this lake had become an odd habit of his ever since he was woken up by the Moon. He used to visit this place long ago to ask the world who he truly was or to sometimes ponder the purpose of his existence, but ever since he figured that out along with his forgotten memories, his visits held a different meaning now. No longer did he visit this lake out of loneliness, but simply out of nostalgia.
It wasn't usual for him to be this alone. He liked spending most of his time playing with children, or even just catching up with his fellow spirits. He never liked being alone and constantly searched for company ever since Jamie first believed in him three years ago
Three years…? He wondered where did all the time go. Becoming a Guardian, fighting against Pitch, finally having a child believe in him… it all felt more like a lifetime ago to him. He couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all. The whole ordeal had been a mess, but he supposed he wouldn't have it any other way.
The wind picked up a little, taking him away from his musings.
"Time to go." He smiled, remembering what day it was. "See you later, Jackson."
The winter spirit soon found himself in a town not too far from the forest. He found a little building where banner saying 'Happy New Year!' and sat himself down on top of his staff at the edge of its roof, enjoying the sight of the colorful lights that decorated the town. He closed his eyes, listening to the sound of music and laughter of everyone in the town. He could almost feel the excitement of the little humans below despite the fact that it was absolutely freezing outside.
The town wasn't really that special, like every other town he's ever seen, this one was as just busy for the New Year. Each house was as warm as the others. Bright lights illuminated the streets, and reflected the joy that the villagers fee
He always did love winter. It was a time of peace and joy. Christmas happened in winter, and so did New Year. All the fun and merriment made him feel as though Mother Nature made the season just for him.
He was thinking up of ways to cause mischief and get everyone even more hyped up when something suddenly caught his attention. Over the skies covering the town, about a dozen little flames in the shape of butterflies fluttered about seemingly searching for something below. One by one, the tiny flames were snuffed out until only one was left. The lone butterfly flew down slowly but purposefully.
Jack's curiosity urged him to follow the little flame down below, keeping a wary eye on the odd creature as it continued its search until it finally found what it was looking for. He saw the butterfly gently perch itself on the head of a little boy, making Jack panic, fearing that it would burn the boy. The child, however, seemed not to even notice the creature currently sitting right on top of his head.
Jack's breath got caught in his throat as he got a closer look at the boy. The child looked no older than five. His unwashed hair looked matted with the dirt, hiding its sandy blonde color, his face was covered in grease, and his eyes… his eyes looked far too old than his actual age. His eyes held grief, longing, and all other emotions that a mere child shouldn't even be aware of yet.
The child's body was wrapped in a dirty coat that looked more like a patchwork of fabric with all its badly repaired holes. It looked way too big on his little body, and barely warmed his shaking body. In his hands was a battered tin can that he shook around as he pitifully begged for alms.
Jack looked around them both, wondering how everyone could just walk past the child and not offer him help, not even a second glance. His heart clenched a little at the sight of everyone being too busy warming themselves to pay attention to the freezing boy.
The boy soon realize that nobody was going to take pity on him. He clutched the tin can tighter, close to his chest and gave out a heavy sigh. He dragged his shaking body and crawled towards a tiny space in between two brick houses, and hugged his knees close to his chest in a desperate attempt to warm himself.
Jack followed the boy and crouched in front of him, barely paying attention to the little flame that left the boy's hair and fluttered up above past the roof of the brick houses.
"Hey…" He wanted to comfort the child, but the boy couldn't even hear him. His heart clenched tighter at the thought of how someone so young no longer believed in fairytales like him.
The child closed his eyes, ready to finally give in to the eternal slumber that the cold was coaxing him into.
Pain started to fill Jack's chest at the sight before him. He felt so weak and hopeless, reminding him too much of his days before the Guardians and before Jamie. He couldn't help the child, he knew. The boy needed warmth… something that Jack would never be able to provide.
Knowing that the boy had so little chance of surviving the unforgiving night, he wanted to at least send him off with one last bit of happiness. Making up his mind, Jack stood up and took a few steps back from the boy before crouching down again to grab a handful of snow, shaping it into a little ball. He held the snowball close to his lips before blowing on it, sending out all the happiness he could with his breath.
He leaned back and lightly chucked the ball towards the child, only to melt midair as the forgotten flaming butterfly swooped down and met the snowball halfway. Waves of warm light suddenly filled the cramped alley, dancing and swirling right in front of him. The fire grew bigger and bigger until became about twice as tall as the little boy.
The flames slowly shaped itself into a figure of a human before materializing into a young girl whose back was turned towards him. The spirit was about a head shorter than him and had thin limbs connected to an equally scrawny body. She had red hair that fell into soft waves down to her waist, spilling over a crimson mantle that she wore over a white dress that fell past her knees, her small bare feet melted the ice beneath her to create a small puddle.
He's never met the spirit before but he knew that she's been mentioned to him one or two times in a casual conversation with other spirits before or maybe it was with the Guardians themselves, he couldn't remember.
"Are you the Little Match Girl…?" He asked hesitantly, still quite wary of her flames.
The girl didn't even bother answering him, nor turning around to face the winter spirit. She didn't even give any indication that she heard him at all. She just simply kneeled in front of the shivering child and let the mantle that she wore turn back into fire big enough to completely cover her figure. Warmth flooded the freezing alley, making the boy cease to shiver. With both of her hands, she grabbed the violently fluttering mantle and pulled a huge portion of fire, turning it into a burning cloak that she draped gently over the little boy.
She held out her cupped hands where a small flame appeared before it turned into a matchbox. She dropped the box behind the boy, making it thump loud enough just to catch his attention.
Upon hearing the sound, the boy turned behind him and made a gasp of delight atthe sight of the matchbox. He hurriedly made his way to it and clutched it to his chest like a treasure, and smiled without a trace of the close call of hypothermia a few minutes ago.
The girl, seemingly pleased with her work, turned back into waves of flame and quickly floated up from the alley.
Jack, who had been watching her silently, suddenly realized what she was doing and quickly tried to follow her above the town. It wasn't everyday that he gets to meet a spirit for the first time after all.
"Hey! Wait up! Hey!" He shouted after her, as he let the wind pick him up to fly after her.
The flames ceased moving, and hovered above the roof of a bakery before transforming back into a girl.
Jack landed on the same roof but stood a few feet away from the girl and stared at her, unsure of what to do now that he finally caught her attention. He didn't really have to do anything though because the girl already started to make her way to him. She slowly lifted a bony hands and stopped it in front of his face
Her odd actions made him a little bit confused. He was about to ask her what she's doing when he suddenly felt a stinging pain on his face, his nose specifically.
"What was that for!?" He stumbled back in surprise, clutching his slowly reddening nose.
"That," her voice surprised him just a little bit. It sounded more mature than he thought it would be, "was for finding a freezing kid in an alley and thinking that throwing a snowball at him would be an acceptable idea. I say you deserve a few more flicks on the nose for sheer idiocy."
"What!? I was doing in out of goodness! I just wanted to make him happy!" he defended, though slightly taken aback by accusation.
"Of course! Happy! Happy and freezing to death, you mean. Did you accidentally leave you brain and common sense at home or something?" she replied, her tone sounding as bored as before. "Why are you even following me?"
The girl's deadpan expression terribly amused him, making him smirk a little despite the stinging flick she just gave him awhile ago. He studied her, taking note of the young but tired face when his eyes were suddenly pulled to hers. They were a blend of red and yellow, but not just quite orange. It was his first time meeting her but her warm eyes gave off just a hint of familiarity. He stared at her for a while, not even noticing the girl waving her hand in front of his face waiting for him to answer.
"Oh God, I broke him." She said without a hint of guilt in her voice.
He finally broke out of his little stupor, and replied, "It's just that I never met you before so I thought it would be nice to make friends. You're kinda cool you know." He held out his hand and smiled as he continued, "I'm Jack Frost, by the way. What's your name?"
She stared his outstretch hand warily for a while before replying, "I'm Varmilda. Varmilda Stern, the Little Match Girl."
She didn't shake his hand, leaving him to retract a little awkwardly.
"You have my name now," she spoke in a bored manner. "Goodbye."
He saw her turn away, ready to leave him behind, making him ransack his mind to try and make the elusive spirit stay.
"That boy didn't even see you." He blurted out the first thing that came to mind. But now that he thought about it, the fact that the child had no idea they were even there upset him greatly.
"He didn't see you too…" Varmilda trailed off in confusion. She turned back towards him and tilted her head to one side in curiosity, silently asking him to elaborate on his seemingly random observation.
"I meant, he couldn't see you so that must mean that he doesn't believe in you." His words didn't really make the girl less confused, if her raised eyebrows were any indication. "Aren't you bothered by that?"
"Ah." She finally saw what his question meant. She just shrugged her shoulders and ask, "why should I be?"
"Well, why shouldn't you be?"
"Because it doesn't matter?" she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What do you mean 'it doesn't matter'?" Now it was his turn to be confused. "Is this a usual occurrence, then? You helping out children who don't even believe in you?"
"Yes," she rolled her eyes. She understood his message perfectly, but that didn't stop her from twisting his words around just to get him flustered. "Do you want me to ignore every single child that can't see me? That would be a mess."
"That's not what I meant!" He sputtered out in indignation, wondering how someone he just met could tease him almost as bad as the Easter Bunny.
"I know." Her voice held a bit of amusement that her face didn't reflect. "Look, I don't really mind not being seen by the children I help. As long as I'm able to give warmth, then I'm content."
He looked at her in shock. Her words seemed just a little bit contradictory to what he and the other guardians fought so hard for. There was nothing wrong with her reasoning, but at the same time, it unsettled him how callously she treated the belief that he craved for centuries. It made him want to understand more.
"You're really odd, you know?" He said before he could stop his mouth. For a moment, he felt scared that he accidentally offended her. He felt himself relax at the ghost of a smile on her face.
"And you're really rude, you know?" She replied, a hint of laughter covering her previous monotone. "I still have a lot of work to do, so if you're done being annoying, I'll be going now. Goodbye."
"Nah," he smirked down at the small girl. "I think I'll stick around and annoy you for a while."
Varmilda didn't reply. She wasn't sure if Jack made her feel amused or exasperated, so she just rolled her eyes and prepared herself for a long night.
A/N: Hello there! I honestly needed a long break from writing so I took some kind of an unannounced hiatus. Sorry about that. I'm still in a bad place right now but decided to come back anyways after rereading my work and realizing how horribly written it was. I hope that I could deliver a little bit better this time around. Enjoy!