North Pole, 1968
Bunnymund leapt from the dirt tunnel leading from the lake to the North Pole, bracing himself against the violent gust of wind that swept at him from across the glaciers. He landed on a bed of soft snow, just near the entry to North's head quarters.
Shivering and whining, he pulled himself away from the snow and into the entrance hall of the hide out, stepping past laughing woollen yeti's and mischievous little elves. He found a small sitting room down the hallway leading from the entrance hall and stood next to the blazing fire. A white woollen yeti spotted him and waved from where he stood at the doorway.
"Phil, who are you waving at?" A deep Russian accented voice came from the door. His jolly belly preceding him, "Santa Clause" appeared. His white beard complemented a rounded face with large eyebrows and large blue eyes. Whilst wearing his usual red sweater, rolled up to reveal "Naughty" and "Nice" tattoos and matching bulky pants, made him appear as though he was a bikie who was colour blind.
"Ahh, Bunny. How are you, friend?" The Jolly man asked, his hand coming to rest on the Pooka's furry shoulder, happily.
"I was chasing that bloody walking corpse again. Came so close to catching the damn thing too. But that's not what I came here for, North." Aster explained to the large figure beside him.
His face set into a serious mindset, looking North right in the eye.
"Call the Guardians. I found Jack Frost."
Burgess Lake, 1968
Back on the lake, the ghostly figure cried again, crystalline tears pouring down his face.
Jack Frost was lost.
He knew only his name, nothing of his past, how he came to be stranded on this desolate lake.
All he knew was that he wanted off. He wanted to be warm, not frozen.
Despite being a ghost, he could feel the elements. He could feel the warmth of the sun in the other seasons of summer, spring and August. He could feel the wind, blowing through him and around him. He could feel the never melting ice between his toes.
And worst of all,
He felt everything that happened to the lake. Children skating on the Ice felt like razor blades, Adults who broke the Ice felt like stabbing pains in his chest, scientific equipment drilling into the ice felt like a million headaches.
And yet, when he screamed, No one came. No one saw.
He was overjoyed when he had been seen by the large rabbit figure that was chasing his body. But he knew his lake would not allow him to leave. It was sentient. It longed to keep him there. Keep him alone. So, when someone saw him, It dragged him under, keeping it to itself.
The Lake loved him, in its own twisted way.
And so Jack was alone.
And so Jack cried.
North Pole, Globe Room, 1980
It took them twelve years to finally get together and do something.
It was shortly after Christmas 1979 that they finally got together.
When Bunny had finally realised that getting the Guardians together in the late 1960's would have been impossible in the current political situation. With most countries still recovering from war, the new threat of the Cold War made adults nervous and as a result the children were scared. So far they had yet to see Pitch Black make a come-back, but they knew he would be back soon.
The Walking Corpse had left a yearlong brutal winter in both Russia and Canada, making it impossible for the Baby Teeth, the Dream Sand, Easter Eggs and Santa Clause to visit the continent, leading to a drastic loss of followers for all of them.
Mother Nature was furious. And the guardians knew all about it.
"When are you going to stop that bloody nuisance?! He has upset the balance too much! The other seasons are so annoyed with the little brat." Mother Nature huffed, as did the other three seasons in the room. All three children huddled near the fire, warming themselves after trekking through the chaotic winter wonderland.
"Why do you need our help? " Mother Nature scowled. The other seasons whispered by the fire place.
"Right now actually. Its why we called you up here. We need your help to catch the corpse. We're not sure why but there is something controlling that body, but it is not Jack Frost. Cause Jack Frost is still at the lake. We called you because we wanted you to meet him." Aster explained. He had not visited the Lake since the first time he'd seen the ghostly boy, but he knew the others had. And Sandy had the most success.
He knew what was controlling the corpse.
He'd know since the first time he'd seen the walking body of the Frost sprite.
The body had no shadow.
Burgess Lake, 1980
The boy floated above his lake, crying once again.
He was so lonely, so unloved.
Even the Lake didn't love him anymore. It never took him under its terrible embrace when other spirits came to visit him.
At first he thought that this was a blessing, but it left him so much more alone. Everything hurt now. Every little speck of snow that passed through him, every particle of dust, stabbed at him when it passed through him.
The others who visited him tried to comfort him. But they just made him feel sadder. They didn't know what it was like.
How everything hurt.
How tired he was. He wanted so desperately to sleep, but his current form would not let him. His ghostly form forced awakeness into him.
Hearing footsteps near his lake, he turned expecting one person.
He was shocked to see a whole group.
He saw the other sprites that he knew, like the rabbit man, fat man, bird lady and the Sandy man. He knew they had told him their names, but it caused him great pain to remember them. But he saw others.
A red haired girl with a bright yellow and red tunic
A multicoloured haired girl with a vibrantly dress
A boy with brown hair, wearing a brown tunic and reddish-brown pants.
And behind them, a stern looking lady with waist length blond hair wearing a dress of winding vines and flowers, the tips of her hair tipped with frost. And she did not look happy.
All eyes were trained on him. That made him nervous. Especially that stern lady's gaze.
He was scared of her almost instantly, fleeing to hide behind the boulders towards the cliff face.
"Jack? You alright? Jack, Mother Nature isn't going to hurt you. She wants to help you." Bunnymund called across the lake. The ghostly boy didn't answer, slowly peering out from behind the boulder. He took a tentative step forward, as if expecting something to happen. Jack stopped half way across the lake, standing in the middle of the lake. Mother Nature smiled gently at him. Jack froze.
"Jack? Could you come a little closer? She wants to meet you." Bunny called out to him again. The ghost boy looked at him and slowly approached them. When he was about a foot away from the edge of the lake he stopped, not wishing to come closer. Not wanting to be in anymore pain. He looked down, avoiding the gazes, feeling uncomfortable.
Mother Nature knelt down in front of him, joined by the other seasons who were also smiling.
"Jack, I'm Mother Nature. This is Summer, Autumn and Spring. They are your brother and Sisters. We want you to come home with us. Do you want that?" Jack didn't look at her, only cocked his head as if listening for something. He nodded.
"Jack no longer want to be here. But Shadow boy won't give body back. Shadow boy mean. Jack want to sleep, Jack want to be warm. Jack so cold." The ghostly boy said. His language skills had deteriorated in the 12 additional years he had been alone. He visibly cuddled into himself, shivering.
"Jack, Why can't you leave your lake?" North asked.
"Moon man talk to me, tell me no to leave. Say my body come back on own. But when body come back, shadow boy talk to lake and lake no let me leave. But Lake No want me no more."
Then Mother Nature stepped onto the Ice, towards the ghostly boy.
Authors Note: Thank-you for the lovely reviews~! Virtual cookies for all *hands them out*
I apologise for the delay with this chapter, University life is hell and I've been sick for the past week and a half. I will update this story within the next few weeks once I have gotten all of my current assignments up to date.
I love fan art for my stories, if you have any, please PM me a link XD
Also I'm holding a mini competition, I would like to get an image icon thingy for this story, but I can't draw anything good, So please if you would like to submit something, Message me where you have placed it (Deviantart, Tumblr etc) and the winner gets to be the icon thingy for this story. ^.^
Please review ~! Reviewers get Virtual Cake next time I update~!
65ashben: Did that answer your question somewhat?