Jack didn't need to sleep, so he never did. But after Jamie was...gone, Jack had fallen asleep once and dreamed of his little sister and his best friend. He loved his dream, but waking up from it was painful.
In his dream, Jack was at the lake with his little sister Mary and Jamie. Both of them were still alive and begging him to play with them. It wasn't the thirty year old woman or twenty one year old man in his dreams, but instead it was the eight year old girl Jack had saved and the ten year old boy who was the first child to believe in him.
The two were tugging on Jack's sleeves and smiling up at him. "I haven't seen you in years!" Mary said, causing Jack to wince slightly. "Let's play a game!"
"C'mon, Jack!" Jamie pulled on the teen's arm. "What're you waiting for?"
Jack knew it was a dream, but it was still hard to forget that two kids in front of him were...dead. He wanted to believe they were still alive, but he didn't want to wake up later and find out that they weren't.
Both of the kids were still observant even in a dream and noticed Jack's hesitance. Unlike his usual playful nature, he was being careful and almost seemed nervous.
Mary knew Jack wouldn't want to talk about it, but it had been a long time since she'd last seen him. She wondered if he had changed. Judging by his white hair and blue eyes, she guessed that maybe he had.
"What's wrong?" Jamie finally asked him.
Jack smiled at them and shook his head. "Nothing."
"Liar," Jamie said, then looked at Mary.
She shrugged and gave it a shot. "You can tell us," she told him softly, and Jack felt his heart breaking when he looked at their young, concerned faces.
"You - you're not..." Jack struggled to get the words out, and the two waited patiently. He finally blurted out, "This is a dream, right? So you're not real. You both - you two died." Jack took a step back and glanced at Mary. "You had gotten sick - " Jack looked at Jamie, who frowned slightly. The winter spirit added with a hint of sadness in his tone, "You died a few days ago...in a car accident." And it's all my fault.
But Jamie said firmly, "That doesn't matter."
Jack stared at the younger boy, confused. "What do you mean?"
"If this is just a dream," Mary said quietly, "then you should enjoy it. We can just spend another day together. It doesn't matter if we're not alive. I'm here, and Jamie is too. What matters is what we choose to do right now."
The teenager shook his head. "It isn't that simple." But he wondered if that was true.
"You told me that you would always be here." Jamie reminded him, smiling sadly at the memory. "And now the same goes for us. We're always here."
"Even if you can't see us," Mary agreed with a nod. "And even if this is just a dream, that doesn't mean you can't believe it's real. It'll just be for a little while."
Jack looked at both of them, then smiled and nodded. "Okay. So how about we have a little fun?"
The two kids grinned. "Okay!"
Jamie spicked up a handful of snow and tossed it at Jack, who finally let himself relax and enjoy the dream. The older boy was scooping up snow when his sister giggled and hugged him suddenly, and the snow slipped out of Jack's hands. It had been so long since Jack had last been able to hug his sister, so he kneeled down and hugged her back tightly.
Jamie smiled at the scene and ran to hide in the woods surrounding the lake. Mary noticed and let Jack go with a smile.
"Let's play hide-and-seek!" she suggested. "You're it!" She looked around and pointed at a tree. "And that's base."
She went to hide with Jamie while Jack started counting to twenty. Jamie was hiding behind a tree, and Mary crouched behind a bush.
"Ready or not, here I come!" Jack called, grinning. He started to fly when Jamie shouted, "That's cheating, Jack!" The winter spirit ran toward the area where Jamie's voice had come from.
Mary peaked through the branches of the bush and gasped. "Jamie, he's coming this way!" she whispered, and the two ran from their hiding places. Jamie yelped when he ran into Jack, and Mary giggled and ran to base.
"Ow," Jamie mumbled, shaking his head.
"You okay?" Jack asked, worried.
"Yeah." Jamie looked around. "Hey, where's - ?"
"I'm over here!" Mary waved at the older boys.
They grinned at her, and Jack shouted, "Jamie's it now!"
Mary ran away from base while Jamie jogged over to start counting.
"Let's go, Mary," Jack told her quickly, taking her hand and pulling her along. "I know a great place to hide."
Mary followed Jack as they ran behind a boulder. "Stay here," Jack told her before he climbed up a tree.
"Jack!" Mary whispered when Jamie had finished counting. "Do we run now?"
Jack looked around from the branch he was standing on. Jamie looked up from where he was standing and spotted Jack, who waved cheerfully at him.
"Yeah!" Jack called down to his sister as Jamie started running toward them. "He's coming, c'mon!"
He jumped out of the tree as Mary started running toward base. Jamie dashed out of the trees, and Mary squealed when he caught her.
The two laughed, and Jack chuckled.
"You're it!" Jamie said, laughing. Mary laughed too and shoved the older boy away. Jack threw a snowball at them, which was returned by both of the kids.
"Can you carry me on your back like you used to?" Mary asked her older brother.
Jack nodded and let her climb on, then pretended to trip. "Whoops!" Mary squeaked and wrapped her arms around Jack's neck tightly. "That isn't funny, Jack!"
"Then why are you smiling?" Jamie teased her lightly.
"I'm not!"
Jack snorted. "Even I can tell, and I can't see you!"
Mary pouted, but then Jack let her go suddenly. She yelped, startled, as she landed on the ground. "Jack!" she complained, but she stayed sitting in the snow.
Jack sat beside her with Jamie. "What's up, Mary?" Jamie asked, trying to hide his laughter.
"The sky, silly." She pushed him gently.
Jamie rolled his eyes, and Jack elbowed him while Mary looked at the lake wistfully and sighed. "Too bad we can't go swimming," she mumbled, hugging her knees.
"Why not?" Jamie asked curiously. "If this is Jack's dream, we can swim in it, right?"
Mary blinked at him, then looked at Jack. "You never told him?"
Jack shrugged, looking away. "He never asked, and it didn't seem important."
"What?" Jamie asked warily.
Jack glanced at Mary, who shrugged. "I became Jack Frost after saving Mary from drowning."
Jamie stared at them, shocked. "What? What happened?"
"We went ice skating, and the ice wasn't thick enough," Mary told him quietly.
"And I died instead of her," Jack said with a shrug.
Mary looked at her older brother. "I never got to thank you for that." She hugged him tightly. "I've missed you."
"I miss you too," Jack said sincerely, hugging her back.
Jamie stared at the lake for a while. "So that's why you never wanted to go swimming," he said slowly.
Jack let his sister go and put a hand on Jamie's shoulder. "Yeah, but it's okay."
Mary hugged them both. "I'll never forget this," she told them, "so thanks for the best day ever."
"You're welcome," Jamie replied jokingly, and Mary smacked his arm lightly as she released them.
About an hour later, Jack started to stretch and yawn. The kids noticed, and Jamie asked him tentatively, "Are you leaving now?"
"I guess so." Jack sighed, and Jamie patted his shoulder reassuringly.
"No!" Mary's eyes filled with tears. "This isn't fair! It's too soon!"
"Hey, I'll see you again." But Jack doubted that. Even if the two were in a better place somewhere, Jack didn't think he could go there himself. As the Guardian of Fun, Jack wasn't sure he could die. Dying meant he would have to give up making other children happy. And looking at the two in front of him, he knew they would never want that.
"It's okay," Jamie said quickly, as if he'd read Jack's thoughts. And since it was a dream, who knew? "We'll miss you."
The kids hugged Jack and said their goodbyes.
"We'll be fine," Jamie assured Jack, "but can you promise me something?"
"Of course," Jack said, nodding.
"Can you make sure Sophie and everyone else are okay?"
And then he woke up.
Realizing the two kids he had tried his best to always keep safe were gone forever - Jack couldn't handle it. So he tried not to sleep again. But he promised to keep an eye on Sophie, her mom and their friends. For Jamie.
~RotG~
I wasn't sure what Jack's little sister's name was, so I just called her Mary.
To Radar1388 - I'm glad you liked it, and that it wasn't too depressing. :)
To Guest - I'm glad you liked it. :) I might continue this, but it won't be regularly updated like (Snowflakes) or Underneath the Laughter are.