They'd kissed and made up as it were but some things about Jack still disturb the Guardians. The revelation of his true nature unnerves them. It just can't be helped. That distrust is still there, his behavior is still creepy. Especially when their adult minds can't tell if he sincerely doesn't understand...or is just screwing with them.
This happens about a year before WDA ends. No one's dead yet but the Burgess 7 are pretty much just elemental spirits trapped in faulty human shells.
Oh! For another neat chaptered story that includes some darker aspects of the Guardian of Fun, check out " Attack of Winter and Summer" by Cat Girl 1995 on ffnet (I post to both ffnet and AO3).
Here we go.
*ITGFB*
Aster would always be wary of Jack. He'd seen the boy kill a child for Pete's sake. Knew he'd murdered hundreds.
/It's not murder when they want to be released./ His conscience whispered.
Release. That's what Jack had called it. When a child calls out to him, his eyes become white and he is summoned to give them release from their mortal bodies.
By freezing them to death.
Now he would be getting helpers in the form of the Burgess believers. According to Manny, they were his...compensation for being left alone and an amnesiac for about four centuries. He was slowly making those poor kids like him. No matter how their leader tried to sugar coat it, The Man in the Moon obviously had no problem sacrificing seven innocent children with bright futures just to cater to Jack's perversions.
The way he looked at them. Talked to and of them. Touched them was sick. That cock and bull story he spun about that night with Sophie didn't fool him for a second. He might not have been depraved enough to have sex with a five year old...but he certainly enjoyed touching her bare skin. Kissing her like that was not necessary to do that ritual either. In fact, their mouths only needed to be open and close but not touching.
Spring spirits did that all the time especially during...mating.
What about the older children? Their bodies were stunted as well but still more mature than the youngest Bennett. Pippa especially looked closer to her actual age than the other having already been a tall girl. The times he has seen her without her charm, she looked like a snow angel.
With the thought of the winter spirit looming over the poor girl with that wicked gleam in his eyes, a scream of pure frustration echoed through the halls of the workshop.
"Bunny is racket necessary? Trying to get work done." North huffed poking his head out of his office.
Sighing, the pooka walked into the room and flopped bonelessly into a chair. By then, North had gone back to carving the finer details in a block of ice. Bunny couldn't tell what exactly but he could see the man switching the lenses on his desk mounted magnifying glasses as he worked.
"North, I know we told Jack that we would keep an open mind about him. But the more I think about it, the more uncomfortable I am about it. Especially the things the gumby's out right lying about."
"What has he lied about?"
"The whole thing about marking them for one. In Sophie's room, he had her in his lap. Tongue kissing her. To do a binding, you need to be close but not that close mate. I can't shake the feeling that he gets off on the things he does to those kids.
"Bunny, you don't think-"
"I don't want to but dammit North that kid has some tendencies that are not normal. I don't want to think this way but no one told me bloody brain that!"
"Jack is...strange. Different yes? But he is still child. He jokes. Sometimes jokes are harsh. Seem cruel." The Spirit of Wonder set aside his project to face his friend. "Children keep secrets. We have ours no?"
"Yeah. But you and I both know sometimes, some children don't need protection from things that go bump in the night." Two great paws covered the pooka's face as he hung his head. "Cuz they ARE monsters."
*ITGFB*
Sophie was lying on the sofa sweating profusely. Her body was overheating due to a case of the flu. The 9 year old had taken her crystal off hoping for a bit more relief. It didn't help much.
"Jack..." she whimpered. In an instant, he was leaning over her. Her stress level was off the charts. Snowy locks drenched in sweat clinging to her pale skin. Her flowery pajamas soaking wet.
"Geez are you hot." The winter guardian put a hand to her forehead. Working around to the side above her head, he perched on the sofa arm.
"I feel bad." She groaned clinging to him instantly. "Mama went to get some medicine. Make me better."
"I can't heal this Soph." He sighed.
"Pwease?"
*ITGFB*
Anita felt terrible. Her illness wasn't to blame this time though. Sophie had caught a bad case of the flu, despite having had the vaccination. Jamie had offered to stay home and help nurse his sister but his mother insisted that was her job. Unfortunately, she underestimated their stock of cold and flu meds. Thinking the drive to and from the drugstore would take 20 minutes tops, she laid the sick girl out on the sofa with ice cold Pedialyte and a popsicle promising to be right back.
So, Murphy's Law just had to rear it's head. Half the town was infected and the wait was far longer than she expected. By the time she got to the counter, an hour had passed and Mr. Gladwell was down to his last few cases of over the counter medicines.
On the drive home, she cursed herself for insisting the kids allow her the illusion of a regular family that wasn't about to be separated by death in little over a year. If Jamie were home, she would feel better about the long stretch of time away from her ailing child.
"Sophie, baby I'm so sorry it took so long. I know how much you hate grape but that's the only flavor the pharmacy had left-" She walked into her living room and dropped the bags she had been carrying upon entry.
It was...strange when she first met him. The mysterious friend that was responsible for the odd changes in her children. Normal, living people don't have skin that pallor. And no amount of bleach produced that shade of white hair. Then again normal people can't freeze things solid with a touch.
But this. This was too much. The sight had rendered her speechless.
Her daughter, looking just like him, was curled up in his lap. Face pressed into his chest. His arms wrapped around her, both sound asleep. That's not the part that startled her.
Sophia Cynthia Bennett was in her underwear. Wet sleeping attire discarded in a pile on the floor. The cushion to their right sported a child sized damp spot. Draped over the back of the sofa was Jack's hoodie. Her daughter was practically naked in the lap of a bare chested teenaged(?) boy.
"Mm? Hey." Jack yawned then blinked. "Uh, you okay?"
"What are you doing?!"
"Chill out. She got so hot she almost passed out." He stretched a little, careful not to jar the girl too much. " I turned down the furnace too. Winter sprites aren't fond of hot areas to begin with but she's sick on top of it. I've had more practice controlling my core temperature and I knew skin to skin contact to be the fastest way to cool her down. I did the same thing for Cupcake and Monty last week. The twins the week before. Pippa and Jamie seem to be the best at resisting fevers and not overheating in general. So far."
"Um, well..." Anita gulped, well aware that her face was bright red by now.
"I realize this is kinda strange to you but I haven't done and have no plans to do anything to her, Jamie or the others. Despite how we're generally portrayed as cold and unfeeling, winter spirits enjoy the touch of our peers mainly because we tend to spend so much time alone. Makes us feel comfortable, safe. It's just the way we are ma'am."
That explanation seemed to satisfy her as she picked up the bags and headed for the kitchen. Still, she couldn't help looking over her shoulder. Watching him lay her face down on the dry cushions.
And trailing a single long finger down the base of her neck to the small of her back.
*ITGFB*
Yep, still doing it but now giving more insight into both why he does it and how others perceive his quirks resulting from the obsession with his frost flowers.
Love it? Hate it? General indifference? Reviews are like hugs! Sirensoundwave out.
