Guardian Witch
Rise of the Guardians
Chapter 3
It was another cold day in Burgess, a completely ordinary day according to the people in Burgess. For some odd reason, the cold never bothered to leave them and snow days made sure to visit the town frequently. Only a handful of people knew the reason as to why the small town was so prone to such weather.
The reason?
Burgess was housing a winter spirit.
Unlike the townspeople of Burgess who thought of today as typical, it was quite different for Jack Frost. It was the day his best friend and first believer, Jamie Bennett, would be leaving the town to his college dorm. Being the mature spirit he was, Jack sat on the edge of Jamie's bed, watching the brown-haired teen as he slaved away in his own room doing some last minute packing. Jack was entirely uninterested in helping Jamie speed up the process and was completely determined to make Jamie stay even longer, even if only by a few minutes.
"Who knew you had so much stuff." Jack drawled.
"It'd be great if you could move my stuff into those boxes." Jamie scoffed. He tossed a flattened cardboard box to the winter spirit and pointed to the numerous miscellaneous objects placed precariously on top of each other at the corner of the room. "I'd really appreciate the help."
The white-haired teen caught the object with ease, but instead of helping his dear friend out he simply played with the object before setting it back down on the ground.
"Aw, but it's no fun!" Jack whined. He walked towards Jamie, who was busily sorting away at the stuff in his closet. "Wouldn't you just like to forget about packing for a few minutes for a few hours of a snowball fight?"
"Yes, that would be nice," Jamie mused, "but I'd rather finish the packing."
Jack let out a groan of protest.
"If you're so bored, why don't you make this fun. Isn't that your job, Mr. Guardian of Fun?" The brown-haired boy teased. Then, he stood, a packed box in hand, and passed the package to Jack to tape it up. "Come on, help me here."
"Why couldn't you just stay here?" The winter spirit asked as he began to tape the box shut. Jack already knew the answer to that, but he felt that if he asked enough, Jamie would change his mind. Apparently, he hadn't asked enough.
"I told you already, no." The brown-eyed boy laughed. He reached for the flattened cardboard box that Jack had left on the ground and began to unfold it. "It takes me a full five hours to just drive there, and unlike you, I can't fly."
Just as Jack was about to respond, a knock interrupted him. Before Jamie could answer the door, a young blonde opened the door peaked through it. Her yellow locks hung all the way down to her waist and her fringe partially covered her right eye, curious green eyes landed on the two males, and an excited thrill left her voice.
"Jack! You're here! I knew I heard your voice." Sophie grinned. Jack smiled back and greeted the girl.
"Oh, and Jamie, the truck's here."
"Got it." Jamie answered. "Jack, it would be really nice now if you could help me pack up some the pile over there."
This time, the disgruntled winter spirit complied.
The two Bennetts left the room, hands full of boxes, leaving Jack to his own entertainment.
Jack leaned against his staff as he gazed upon Jamie's seemingly empty room. Only a few boxes. an emptied-out desk, and a mattress-less bed sat in the room. The two Bennetts were probably having a few words with their mother downstairs, leaving Jack alone. The winter spirit let out a sigh. In all honesty, he was scared of Jamie. Not directly of him, but of the fact that Jamie was growing up. If adults could forget of North, Sandman, or Bunnymund, why not him? Jack had seen it happen. Cupcake, who had turned 19 last year, had already forgotten. In front of their very eyes, she had lost all memory of her friend's and her triumph over Pitch and his nightmares. She had lost sight over the white-haired guardian along with the golden sand-man, who were present for the celebration, as soon as she blew out the candles and went on proving so by walking straight through them. And just a few months ago, the twins, Claude and Caleb, had forgotten as well.
If Jamie's friends could lose their belief in the Guardians, wouldn't Jamie forget one day? What if Jack came to visit Jamie, he would say hi and the boy would never greet back? What if instead of having an animated conversation with each other, Jack would be back to asking answerless questions at a responseless Jamie? What if he ever were to look into Jamie's eyes and find out that his reflection couldn't be seen? His first believer, growing up only to forget about him, if that day were to come, what would Jack do? Call him selfish, but even with the increase of believers throughout the years, he still wanted to keep them. Especially Jamie. Besides, after not being seen or cared for for 300 years, one can feel lonely.
The guardian twirled the staff in his hand before setting it against his shoulder and shoved his other hand into the pocket of his hood. As he brooded silently, he failed to notice Jamie entering the room again with his sister in tow. They watched silently at the doorway as the troubled guardian paced back and forth of the room, still oblivious to the entrance of the two teens. They turned to each other, though highly entertained by Jack's curious behavior, they were concerned for their immortal friend. Jamie was the first to break the silence.
"You know, it's not like I'm leaving forever."
Jack jumped at the sudden statement, he turned towards the voice and saw the two children smiling warmly at him. Jack gave a small smile to Jamie, the teen had always seemed to know what was bothering him. Even though it bothered him, Jack was sometimes grateful for Jamie's growth in maturity.
"It's not like you can't see me anymore." Jamie told him
That's not what I'm worried about. Jack only shrugged. "I know."
Sophie figured that she should give the two some privacy, she whispered something into Jamie's ear before grabbing a few boxes and headed towards the stairs.
"You know, now that I think about it, I really haven't been able to have a good snowball fight." Jamie wondered out loud. He glanced at the winter guardian who had a growing smirk upon his face. "Obviously, now isn't the best time for a snowball fight," the teen continued, "but I wonder who would make a good opponent." Jamie gave Jack a challenging grin, which Jack returned with a scoff.
"Don't act so high and mighty, Jamie." Jack taunted. "You are in the presence of a professional of everything to do with snow and ice."
"I'll be the one who'll throw the gauntlet then." Jamie challenged.
"Don't cry when I win."
"Well, at least I'll have the excuse that I lost to the personification of snow and winter himself." Jamie punched Jack's shoulder lightly.
"I know you're worried about something." Jamie told Jack. "And, I can take a guess at what it is." Jack remained silent. "But if this helps, someone once reminded me that it wasn't easy to forget the moon even if it set behind the horizon."
"So, Jack, don't worry, I doubt I'll ever forget the winter spirit that played with me with enchanted snowballs and beat me in every snowman-building competition." Jamie grinned at his white-haired friend. "Just because I'm going further away doesn't mean I'll forget you that easily."
After a short moment of silence Jack smiled at Jamie. "Honestly, you're growing up too fast." He reached up and messed the brun's hair. "But I guess that's okay."
"Really? Last time I checked, you were furious when I managed to grow past your height. You sure you think it's okay?" Jamie jeered.
"Don't even bring that up." Jack warned. Jamie merely laughed it off.
"Jamie! Hurry up! The truck's gonna leave soon!" Jamie's mom called from downstairs followed by the sound truck's engine starting up.
He went towards the last few boxes in the room before beginning to leave. Jack followed him out.
"I promise, for sure, I won't forget you." Jamie assured him for the last time. Jack smiled, but it was a weak one.
As soon as the last few boxes were loaded onto the truck, teary goodbyes were made and promises of coming for Christmas were established. Jamie gave a quick wink to Jack, mouthing the words snowball fight before getting onto the seat of the truck. Jamie gave one last wave from the window before shrinking back into his seat.
And that was it. Jamie had gone to college.
Jack was about to leave and head back to his lake before Sophie stopped him.
"Jack, over there." She pointed. Jack turned to see where the girl was pointing to find that the sky was decorated with northern lights.
Which meant only one thing, North was calling the Guardians.
"Something must be really bad for you to call us just weeks before Christmas, North." Jack said as he entered the workshop. Tooth and Sandy nodded their heads agreeing to this. Bunnymund, who was standing quietly beside North remained silent. The rush of getting this year's presents done was obvious as the sound of the Yetis rushing about sounded through the entire workshop. Yet, here was the one in charge of it all, standing in front of them, with only a dark expression covering his face.
"It was not me." North answered. He patted the back of the oversized rabbit beside him. "Bunny, here, has something to say." The Russian man said grimly.
"He told me to call you." North said before motioning to Bunnymund to continue.
"Right." The Easter Bunny began. "So, I was told by the Man in the Moon that he was going to bring someone to the Warren. But that was some days ago. No one has showed up."
"Who was supposed to come?' Tooth asked.
"That's what I want to know." Bunnymund stood taller. "Manny didn't tell me who."
"Is it really that important to know who it was. I'm sure they're just late." Jack drawled. Not knowing what the fuss was really all about. "Maybe they don't like kangaroos." Immediately, the serious expression Bunnymund had had turned into a livid one.
"Rabbit." Bunnymund seethed. The heavy atmosphere around the Guardians from before began to lift as they sighed as the two Guardians began to argue.
"Not convinced." Jack replied snidely.
"Now is no time for fight!" North tried to intrude, but from previous experiences, he knew they weren't going to stop anytime soon.
As the Guardians began to bicker, a blue orb began to creep into sight over the opening in the window. Sandman, being the only one who noticed the moon's appearance, Tooth had suddenly become distracted with a tooth somewhere in South Africa, tried to get the other's attention as silently as possible. Which of course, went unheard. Even when the beams from the window above became more intense, the Guardians still took no notice of it. It was only until Sandy took hold of an unsuspecting and very unfortunate elf and shook it, causing the bell at the top of its hat to let out an obnoxious, high-pitched ring, that his presence was then noticed.
"Finally! He's here!" Bunnymund exclaimed. Sandy only proceeded to facepalm himself. "Now, we can finally get some answers." The overgrown rabbit grumbled.
"Manny." North greeting. "What do you have for us this time?"
The Man in the Moon, as always, made no verbal response. Instead, its light shined more intensely than ever before, causing the Guardians to either squint or look away at the rare ferocity of light Manny was releasing. When the light finally died down, the Guardians turned their focus back to the moon, only to find that it for some reason, looked like it had lost its majestic presence; it looked absent. It was only until an indiscernible cough sounded from behind them that realized what had just happened.
"I apologize for that, but I figured it would be better to explain the situation myself word for word than have you guessing." A stout and suspiciously round man stood. Though his presence seemed somewhat grandiose, his height was only as imposing as Sandy's. The man were a white coat that reached all the way down to his black and white leather shoes, underneath his coat he wore a white dress shirt underneath a silver, buttoned vest and matching colored trousers with a red bow tied around the cuff around his neck. The man was bald with the exception of a few stray hairs that clumped into a single silver curl that protruded from the top of his head. In his left hand, he held a golden staff, its length doubled his height, and perched at the top was a crescent shaped curve.
"And just to make things clear, yes, I am the Man in the Moon."
Author's Note:
*Gasp* My first author's note! Calm down, chocolate, you had something to say. So, yeah, the first two chapters were more like prologues, so from now on, my chapters will be slightly(?) longer. Which also means updates would be slower. Not a lot of Natasha here, but I'll get there. And to make things clear, I'll be putting a lot of context from both the movie and the books into consideration. I'll also be putting a lot of my own headcannons, so deal with me for this. :P To those who know Man in the Moon from the books, I did use his appearance from the book, but tweaked his color scheme from gold to more of white/silver. I had a lot of conflict with just figuring out what Mim should look like, whether I should follow the book's description or make him look more... handsome... Please don't let it be just me who sees the difficulty in this decision, make him like the original or make him too attractive for his own good. gah. So, yeah, here's chapter 3. And wouldn't mind reviews, it would really help me with developing my story-building and writing skills more.