A/N: This is my version of what should have happened when the Guardians kidnapped Jack to make him a Guardian. IF YOU GUYS WANT ME TO CONTINUE THIS JUST SAY THE WORD :)
EDITED! spelling and grammer issues have been fixed :)
ACCEPTANCE INTO GUARDIANSHIP
MiM created Jack Frost for more reasons than just to be a Guardian. In fact, he wasn't really created for the purpose of being a Guardian at all
The winters were harsh, and horrible. Snow fell for day in bouts of long lasting blizzards that blocked out the world more than two feet around you. The lakes froze, which was to be expected, but the animals, the plants, the children, and every living thing froze as well. Children died by the handfuls, the livelihood of men who based their fortune upon the hope that their livestock would last through the winter died of starvation the next season once the animals were dead. Husbands lost their wives, wives lost their husbands, parents lost their babies, and children lost their parents.
The winter season would dominate the other seasons, last for many more months than it should. And on those few days between the blistering cold and freezing nights when the sun shined and the snow was just right for jumping in, the children would play. They would run around for hours making snow angels, building igloos, starting snowball fights, and for a few moments MiM could see happiness on their faces once again. But even then, the snow was merciless. Children would spend to long outside with not enough protection and die of frostbite. Some went exploring and became lost, found months later on another day just like the child had wandered off on, frozen to death. Others would fall through lakes, and some die of starvation because there were no more animals left to kill, no more plants to harvest.
In all honesty, MiM was selfish.
He was the one that would sit every night and watch the children die, the mothers weep and the fathers sob. He would watch their life go out like they were nothing but a candle in a hurricane. So on one of those days where the sun was shining, the children played, and it was almost as dangerous as when the snow was falling hard, MiM found Jack Frost.
He hadn't been Jack Frost then, of course. He was just another child, albeit older than what most saw as a child, a teenager at best, but still a child. MiM hadn't wanted the poor boy to fall through the lake, far from it. But MiM watched as he pulled his sister away, sacrificing himself for someone who really was just a mere child
Not many people would do what he did, for family or otherwise.
So MiM saw an opportunity, saw someone who was just energetic enough, just bright enough, to be the snow. But he also saw someone of great kindness and of great power. He could be angry and sad and happy but at the flip of a coin, just like the winter weather. But he would be smart enough, just resilient enough, that he could make the winters shorter. Make them lighter, less devastating and caring enough to keep the lakes frozen through just enough so that not so many children fell through.
So when MiM rose that night, he shined his light down on the boy still under the frozen layers of ice, and made him live.
But it wasn't quite living. His brown hair turned white, the color of dull snow, and the color of the shining moon. His eyes turned a vibrant shade of baby blue, and his skin so pale it was camouflage in the winter forest around him. MiM made him as light as a feather, so light the wind could sweep him up and carry him forever.
But MiM really was selfish. He wanted someone to protect the children from the harsh winter wind, even if that person was a child himself. He was willing to raise a child from the dead, reawake all his suffering, rip every shred of the boy he once was out to leave nothing but a shell with a personality without the memories of his loved ones so that the child could protect all children.
And so he took the child, gave him a name, powers and a staff. It didn't matter if Jack knew his duty was to control winter or not, he would just do it naturally, the snow and weather reflecting Jack's ability to control his emotions and his own choices.
As time went on MiM watched Jack, guilt eating up his insides. Because Jack was the personification of winter it didn't matter if people believed in him or not, he would always exist as long as there was a winter to bring. And because of MiM, Jack, nothing more than a lost, confused child in the world, could go unseen forever. Eternally alone.
Jack asked MiM, begged him, for a sign, for an answer, anything to help him be seen, but MiM could give him none. So Jack was left to his own devices, wandering the Earth and bringing winter as he pleased.
There were times, when MiM felt he had made a mistake. Not in creating a winter spirit, but who he chose to condemn the poor soul to do it.
Whenever Jack acted out, letting his emotions seep through, it never ended well. It was to be expected, and sometimes people needed a good blizzard to be reminded that snow can be just as dangerous as it is fun. But when Jack was feeling particularly angry with MiM, or sad, or lonely, or even angry with himself, his heart took hold of his powers instead of his mind, and people died.
The sinking of the Titanic wasn't particularly Jack's fault. The iceberg was already there, the humans would have still hit it, still sank, still died, even if Jack had done nothing. But at least Jack had the sense to go out to the middle of nowhere where there weren't any people around before he let loose his anger. He just made the iceberg bigger, stronger. The only difference Jack made was that it sank faster and maybe two hours sooner than it would have if Jack had left the iceberg alone.
But it did take MiM a while to get over it. It was easy to blame Jack for the travesty, and the event had severely shaken MiM's confidence in the mortal's advancements of technology and the world. And MiM could tell the Guardians' beliefs were shaken too.
So they sought Jack out, demanding answers. They berated him for hours, each of their own accord, Jack's explanations thrown away like dust in their anger.
So Jack just left. He flew away on the wind and left the Guardians behind, too fast for them to follow.
It wasn't until later that MiM realized that that was the first real interaction with anyone that could talk to him in nearly 300 years.
Sure Jack had snuck into the Tooth Palace and met the small fairies before the Tooth Fairy came along and got rid of him for distracting her workers on such a busy night. He'd met some of Santa's yetis, even started calling one Phil. He'd seen the Easter Bunny eggs, and of course the Sandman's dream sand every night, but he had never had a real conversation with someone that could talk back.
And so the guilt slammed into MiM again, and it stayed there for a very long time. He watched Jack less and less, knowing that the boy was asking him for help, but unable to give any.
It wasn't until Easter Sunday of '68 did MiM stop turning a blind eye to Jack.
The storm wasn't that bad at all, a heavy snowfall and a bit of wind, normally this would not have presented a problem on Easter if it were to have stopped soon enough, or have stayed closer to the North and South Pole where it was expected to snow almost every day. But it didn't. It was a consistent snowfall, covering the entire hemisphere.
It snowed for hours before finally letting up around dinnertime, at which point the Easter Bunny had just managed to get all the eggs out in the snow in places that the children would be able to find them. There were a lot less eggs that year, the Easter Bunny having had to discard some of his eggs that were too easy to miss in the snow, but the children were still happy. They had snowball fights, danced, jumped in piles of snow and found eggs along the way.
But the problem wasn't that it had snowed. The problem was that Jack had consciously, directly, interfered with one of the most special childhood holidays there was. Christmas time the blizzard would have been fine, as many considered Christmas and snow to go hand in hand. But Easter was supposed to be glowing golden sun, warmth, green grass growing, flowers beginning to open and the leaves coming back ever so slowly to the bare trees.
MiM was furious. Jack had almost ruined many children's dreams just to poke fun at the 'kangaroo'. MiM had chosen him because Jack was supposed to bring joy to children, protect them and control winter, when it was ACTUALLY winter, not the beginning of new life and hope.
The Easter Bunny sought Jack out, determined to know why the boy would do something such as this.
"Do you know how many little kids you made cry because they didn't find eggs?" Bunnymund roared and Jack glaring up at him.
"How many exactly? How many didn't find any eggs at all?" Jack retorted, his voice steady and unwavering.
Bunnymund stuttered, struggling to find ground in their argument.
And for a moment, MiM's anger was pushed aside as he watched. Jack had done this for more than the sake of being noticed by the Guardians, he could tell, but the real reason he simply couldn't place.
"None, am I right?" Jack asked, taking a step forward and taping his staff on the ground lightly. The snow around them thinned just a bit. "How many kids cried because they got to have snowball fights? How many kids cried because they were playing with their friends in the snow and happened upon eggs by accident? Did any cry at all? Because I don't think so, you stupid kangaroo."
There was a moment, where everything seemed still, and MiM was almost certain Bunnymund saw something in Jack he hadn't know was there. Something... special. Something different. But then the words seeped in and the rabbit went on fuming, anger surging through him, anger bubbling over.
"You need to get some eyes, rabbit. If you can't even see it then there's no way the others can." Jack stated, suddenly sounding bored.
Then Jack looked up, staring at MiM for just a moment.
"That includes you too, if you hadn't figured that out."
And then the wind picked up and Jack was off.
For years MiM pondered that night, the answers just out of his reach of what Jack could have possibly been referring too. What had driven him to make the storm on Easter of all days? MiM simply couldn't wrap his mind around it.
Jack Frost was supposed to be... simple. He was supposed to be beautiful and simple in all his complexity, something everyone could understand, but couldn't quite grasp. Something different.
But Jack was nothing short of a conundrum.
And eventually the incident was pushed to the back of his mind where it lay ever present, but cared little of, something to be thought of on cloudy nights when he didn't have to worry about watching or being watched.
And all was right with the world, for a time. But he felt the balance shifting, the darkness rising. Something was coming of the darkness, and MiM worried that the guardians might not be enough to stop it on their own.
Pitch Black, was someone MiM spent every day regretting the creation of. Pitch was supposed to bring simple nightmares to the children, short lived fears in a world that would not hurt every once in a while to keep the wonder of an amazing dream, to keep the feeling of the sun on your skin warm. To make the waking hours of the mind seem that much more precious. But Pitch was a bitter man, someone tired of being nothing but hidden away in the shadows of nightlights or under children's beds.
He was overstepping the boundaries of his existence, and there were devastating consequences yet to come if Pitch were allowed to continue on his track.
But the Guardians couldn't do it alone. They weren't well rounded enough to roll with the punches and still come back swinging. And Pitch's right hook was going to hit quite hard. They needed someone who could find the good in the bad, and lift their spirits when they needed it most. Someone who could fight well, and banish Pitch's overwhelming darkness.
MiM saw what thousands of years of not being seen had done to Pitch, and MiM realized how unfair he had been to the white haired child.
There was no excuse MiM could give to make up for his mistakes. There wasn't anything he could do to make it up to Jack.
So MiM did the only thing he could do. He made Jack a Guardian.
And so he set the wheels of the downfall of darkness in motion. He rose early just to see Jack's 'coronation' into the Guardians.
He hadn't been expecting North to actually have the yetis throw the boy in a sack and toss him through a portal, but he really should have. It was just like the mad immortal to do something of the sort.
Jack seemed a little overwhelmed at first, the yetis crowding around him as the elves played music, and for a second MiM thought Jack might actually fly away.
What he did instead surprised them all.
MiM had thought Jack would have been happy, excited even, to be accepted into the Guardians. Finally being accepted is what MiM thought Jack WANTED. But MiM should really start considering Jack as anything but the expectations MiM has placed upon the boy.
"What makes you think I want to be a Guardian?"
And a strange thought struck MiM then, the memory of Easter Sunday '68 popped into his mind. MiM still had no idea to what Jack could have been referring, but something of the way Jack stood, the way his hand gripped his staff and the way his eyes glowed with frustration, hints of a secret understanding shined through, something the other hadn't yet fathomed, it made MiM think that maybe Jack Frost was far more than simply a lost child.
True, that is what he is, confused, lost, so very young and lonely, but he knew more, saw more, UNDERSTOOD things that even MiM himself did not.
"See? I told ya we would have been better off with the Groundhog." Bunnymund snorted, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.
"Jack," Tooth started, approaching the boy, and giving the Easter Bunny a good slap to the back of his head on her way. "Why don't you want to be a guardian? I mean, you already protect kids like we do. The only difference is that your title isn't official."
Jack looked almost appalled, as if he was physically sickened by the words she spoke.
"I am not like you guys. You may bring children joy, you may protect them, but I am NOTlike you."
A question mark appeared above the Sandman's head, and Tooth flew back a few paces, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.
"You're all blind." Jack stated, starting to walk away.
MiM's interest was instantly peaked, and MiM swore he saw Bunnymund's ears twitch a little more toward Jack, their last encounter surly present in his mind.
"And what do you mean by that, Jack Frost?" North asked, setting the book aside.
"You missed the point. You've been missing it since you were created, and you're still missing it now. I don't want any part of your group if you're all just as blind as MiM."
Even the elves had gone deathly quiet, all clamoring having stopped.
"And just what exactly," North said, eyes gleaming and posture stiff. "Are we blind too?"
"The point is that kids don't have to believe in us."
"...What?" Bunnymund asked, confusion racking the Guardians. MiM couldn't say he was any less confused then they were.
"Easter Sunday, '68. Do you have any idea why I made it snow?" Jack asked, stepping forward. Upon receiving no reply he continued on. "I was trying to prove a point to you."
In all the years MiM had been alive, he had never had his beliefs shaken. There must always exist those to protect the children, to bring them joy, to protect them when they needed it. People who will never vanish, who will always be there as long as there were those to believe in them. So MiM had made the Guardians, had made Jack. That's what Christmas, Easter, the good dreams, the beautiful winters, the mornings children wake up and move their pillows to find a quarter tucked safely where there Tooth had once been existed for.
But in all those years, those THOUSANDS of years, Jack Frost was the only one to open MiM's eyes just a bit wider, to see just a bit farther, and to feel just a bit more. To make MiM REALIZE that he might be wrong.
"You think a little snow would keep kids from having fun, from finding joy? Kids don't NEED Easter or Christmas, they don't NEED sweet dreams. They don't NEED to wake up and find money under their pillow when they lost a tooth. All those holidays, the traditions, those were just things you did to help children find joy. But that wasn't the point."
"And what is the point?" Tooth asked quietly, a little shaken.
"The point is that kids aren't supposed to believe in us." Jack took a breath. "We're supposed to believe in them."
"What a load of baloney! And to think I was buying into all this." Bunnymund snapped. "If kids don't believe in us, we don't exist."
"That's not true." Jack said, exasperation leaking into his voice. "There's not a single kid who believes in me, but do you see me fading out of existence? It's all in your head. If you believe that you'll disappear because no one believes in you, then yeah, you'll disappear. But the truth is that everything you're all about is just things made up to give kids joy. But kids don't need our help. Do you remember how bad the winters were before I was around? How many kids didn't rush out to play in the snow? How many didn't enjoy playing with their friends and going back inside for warm coco? How many didn't have fun, have joy? Kids are stronger than you think they are. They're stronger than all of us; you're all just too thick to see it.
Jack didn't wait for them to comprehend what he had told them, didn't wait for someone to try to stop him. He just walked over to the window and left, the wind carrying him farther away than MiM would have cared for.
MiM had never actually thought about how Jack Frost was 'alive'. The boy had no believers, not a single person in the entire world, and yet he still loved children, still stood strong.
MiM's beliefs were shaken to the very core, shattered along the way, holding on by only threads of wrongly placed doubt.
Jack Frost was a conundrum of ever changing variables that no one would ever be able to solve.
.::~)to be continued(~::.
