Fabulous readers,
Welp, it's Saturday and I don't have anything to do but bring you stories. So many stories. And oh my god, after however long this story has been out, I've finally incorporated Bunny. Whoa man. I almost forgot the whole point of this story. Haha, just kidding.
-I don't own it I tell you!-
The sight of Jamie would haunt him for some time. Whenever he closed his eyes, he could see those cold, milky eyes staring back at him. Jack would often wake in the middle of the night and just stare up at the father moon, believing that the moon would answer all of Jack's worries and reassure him that everything would be okay.
The Man in the Moon did not just create spirits for no reason. Jamie had not been resurrected just to haunt Jack, but to do something purposeful. It was hard to see Jamie go like that. Jack could not decide which fate he would rather for his lover.
Having no recollection of Jack, Jamie kept away from the frost spirit, only paying attention to his own duties. Jack could not bear to follow him again. He feared to see that dead gleam in his eye. It frightened Jack and had him receding in his own cowardice.
That night had been eerie, dark and foreboding. Jack was skulking in a desolate forest, perched up high in a darken tree that jutted out from the shroud of white upon its roots. His darkened mood had brought snow bearing clouds through the air.
Because spring had warm the sky and ground, the cold clashed and birthed a fierce storm that rode on the front of dark clouds that rolled over his head. Snow fell while lightened struck clear across the heavens, lighting up the frosted earth below.
Jack was laying on brach, staring through a pocket of clouds, watching the moon as it drifted across the sky. "Why doesn't he remember?" he asked out above him. The moon would not talk to him, or perhaps he had no answers. Perhaps he was too busy; perhaps he wanted Jack to find answers for himself. How many hundreds of years would he have to wait this time before anything made sense?
He scoffed and waved his hands, guiding the snow clouds to cover the moon's face before dropping his fingers to send shards of frost and ice all along the tree's bark.
In his sadness, he had created a sight of beauty. Slowly, the black tree turned white as his frost covered it. Ice shards hung low in its branches while flower buds froze, dying in their premature beauty.
He rolled from his branch, drifting down to the white lake below, touching upon it with his toes as he tipped along, erupting elaborate displays of frost as he moved. He watched as the beauty spread about from his body, covering the glass-like lake in a sheen of misty colored art all along beneath him. He rose, brining his staff down to the lake and scraping the old oak along, carving out deep gashes in his frustration.
Jack bit into his lip as he could feel anger frothing within him. Why couldn't Jamie remember? Why couldn't he get through to him? If Jamie would just listen. He slammed his staff down, erupting a harsh wind and swirl of snow about him. Lighting struck again as he rose up, circling through the air as he broke through the clouds, his scream lost in the harsh storm as he flew.
His tears came out like harsh, icy rain, pooling from his eyes and evaporating into shards of thin frost as he flew, going nowhere in particular. If he could just see Jamie; if he could just find him.
He left the storm far behind him as he broke from it, gliding across the wind as it carried his body on currents of chilly air.
Down below him, houses grew dark in the night. Lights flickered off as the human world lay its head down to rest, leaving Jack in a sorrowful, lonely world. He landed on the black tar of the road, freezing it beneath his bare feet. Where would he go to look? Jamie was death; and death was nothing but a thief in the night, unheard, unseen. Jamie was a mere replica of humanity, made of mocked flesh and bone, but he was still Jamie. Somewhere within him.
Jack spun, turning to face the many roads and streets of Burgees, calling, crying. "Jamie, won't you make yourself known?" he asked as he stood in the center of the overlapping streets.
"You can't summon a spirit like that," came a voice from behind him.
Jack closed his eyes, bitting his tongue as he choked back more of his tears. He did not want the speaker to see him in such a weekend state.
The voice spoke again, "Mate?"
Why had he come up from his hole in the ground? Jack spun violently, turning towards the large rabbit that stood behind him. "What are you doing here?" he said as he spun his staff in his hand.
Bunny looked a bit taken aback at Jack's attitude. His nose wiggled as he blinked a few times. "I came because I heard your cry and believe it or not, I was a little concerned. Your little hissy fit over there in the clouds makes it pretty obvious that you're a little distressed."
Jack looked to the black on the horizon, not really appreciating the fact that Bunny had taken the time to come to him while spring was only days away; instead, he only took offense to his words. "A little distressed?" he snorted. "Yeah, Bunny, I'm a little distressed," he said as he clenched his fists around the wood of his staff, not caring that it let out a painful creak in his hands.
Of course news of little Jamie had reached all of the guardians' ears. They mourned for Jamie's lost mortality, but accepted him as a new. Toothina offered to help Jamie regain his memories, but news had reached Jack that Jamie had refused her offer. Jamie did not want to remember. It seemed that no one cared to the extent that Jack did. Jack glared at his fellow guardian.
"Jamie helped us all," Bunny said slowly as he hopped forward, kneeling to the ground so that his paws touched along the ice that was slowly creeping towards him. "He was important to all of us; and we all mourned, but The Man-"
"What? The Man in the Moon brought him back? Is that what you're going to say?" Jack said as he bit through the air with his harsh voice. "Have you seen him? Am I supposed to believe that that life is better for Jamie?"
"A spirit that deals with death usually reflects death in his appearance, but he brings peace to the children." Bunny stated calmly. "Like the rest of us, Jamie has some good to do in this world."
"Oh okay. Thanks, Bunny," Jack snapped. "I feel so much better now."
"I know he was your first believer."
"My first?" Jack repeated, the word believer falling short on his lips. "He wasn't just a believer to me, Bunny. I loved him," he said. The word love hung around in the air, weighing down on Jack with heavy memories. He choked as tears clung to his eyes.
He had kept his relationship hidden from his fellow guardians. It was none of their business what he did with Jamie, but what was the point now when Jamie didn't even want to remember what they had? Jamie was content somewhere dark, somewhere Jack couldn't find him. What was the use of hiding their relationship anymore? It had died along with Jamie's memories and disappeared along with Jamie's body.
Aster stood there for a long while, his great, green eyes peering at Jack who paced back and forth. "I know you did, mate," he said as he brought up a flower from the ground. It bloomed there, contrasting with the ground with vibrant greens and reds. His clawed paws came down to caress the peddles softly before the cold caused the flower to wither and shrivel. He looked to Jack who just stood there glaring down at him.
"A human life is precious. It doesn't last long before it withers in the cold. We protect the beauty of each human, preserving the vibrant colors in their lives as we bring them memories when they need them most. But no matter how hard we may try, each flower dies."
"You're not helping," Jack snapped.
Bunny held up his paw, requesting silence as he talked. He stood up, stepping closer to Jack, towering over him as he stared down with bright eyes. "It's unfortunate, Jack, but it's the truth. Jamie was created for a purpose. We all have our jobs."
"You don't understand what it's like. I've lost someone and I'll never get him back. He doesn't want to remember me-"
Jack cut himself off as he looked into Bunny's face. The proud pooka's face grew dark as his eyes caught fire like burning emeralds. His eyes were searching through Jack's as his nose twitched with a slight annoyance. "No. I guess I don't know what it's like," he said with growl as Jack hung his head.
"Bunny, I'm sorry," Jack whispered as Bunny turned away from him.
"Nah; you know what, mate. You go on sulking. I'm sorry I even tried. Obviously you won't listen to reason; what am I but a spirit way older than you who has experienced more, and knows what you're going through?"
Jack stiffened, taking back his apology as anger filled him to the brim once again. His volatility caused him to lash out, spitting into the cold air. His voice raining down like shards of ice that echoed in the empty city. "Like you even care anyway. You're just worried that I'll ruin one of your stupid egg hunts again!" He shouted to Bunny's back, causing him to stop and turn.
It wasn't anger that filled Bunny's eyes as he glanced at Jack, but sadness as his nose twitched in the cold weather. "We spirits have to wait so long for things to ever happen, but when they do happen, it's usually something worth waiting for. You're young, Jack. Give it time," he said as he his long foot tapped along the road, opening a tunnel back to his warm home in the ground.
That look in Aster's eyes had silenced Jack as he stared at the hole in the ground, watching as a flash of blue disappeared within it. The portal sealed, leaving a white rose to bloom in its wake as Bunny left, taking away whatever warm comfort he could have offered to Jack's broken heart.
Time seemed to slow as Jack stood there watching the flower as it first sprouted, spreading it's leaves with a shiver. A long shaft erupted, growing higher and higher as thorns jutted from the beauty of it's green stem. Jack stared as the flower shivered again, pushing forth a blossom from its body, cradling it in its leaves as peddles danced and bloomed, folding out, and shedding bits of gold magic from its pure beauty.
Jack was gritting his teeth as he hovered over the flower, remember what Bunny had said to him. Spring was a time for new beginnings, but it was spring's harshness that had stripped Jamie of his humanity. What had spring done?
Bunny's job was to bring hope, but that night, he only brought soreness and sorrow, leaving behind him a single weeping flower. Jack glared down at the innocent blossom; it shuddered in the wind as Jack rose his staff, intending on suffocating it with the cold of his bite.
He stood over it, seething as brought his staff down.
He stilled himself just before the oak had hit the ground. Tears fell freely down his pale face as he watched the flower droop in sorrow over its on meaningless, brief life.
Jack's staff clattered to the ground as he knelt to it, placing his cold hands around it, hovering near it, too afraid to touch it. He was crouched over that flower for sometime, holding it close to his hands, so close to its delicate beauty. His fingers grazed across the soft peddles.
As he touched it, he sent small shards of crystals through the veins of it, stilling it in its beauty, preserving it there on the ground as his tears fell as rain upon its icy leaves.
"I'm so sorry, Bunny," he said as he brought his lips to the flower, kissing upon it before he stood and fled away.
