North had let Pippa stay in his ice palace, but every other room was too cold for her, so for the time being he let her stay in a room that was adjoined with North's private workshop, one of the places with enough heat for Pippa to last. The other guardians stayed over night in the palace as well, and the next morning they were going to try and solve their new dilemma with Oblivion.
And Jack—well, he hadn't left his small room ever since Pippa's arrival. It was already nearing midnight, and being the motherly type that she is, Tooth went to go and check up on him.
When she reached his door, Tooth knocked, sold immediately striking through her hand as she made contact with the wood. She knew that Jack wasn't this cold, so something must've been going wrong. He was only turning the weather to freezing when he was upset, or even angry.
Tooth hoped that he wasn't feeling either way.
"Jack?" she called out when there was no response at the door, "you okay in there?"
No response.
Well, he wouldn't mind it if I just said hi, right? She thought, and opened the door, and peeking inside, she saw no sign of the winter spirit.
She had never been inside his room before, much less any of the other guest rooms that Bunnymund and Sandy slept in. But she wasn't expecting Jack to be living here as a guest, so Tooth had always thought that he would get his own personal room here. And right she was, even though the room didn't hold much inside. Just a bed and a table, both small and covered with frost. The walls were a light blue, and as Tooth stepped closer, she saw drawings on them. They were mostly of a teenaged boy and a young, ten year old girl, laughing, playing, sharing jokes, ice skating—
"You finished, yet?"
The fairy's head shot up and saw that Jack had his back against the ceiling, waving his staff around lazily making it snow inside the already chilled room.
She had meant to say 'are you okay,' but her mind wandered back to the small artworks on the walls.
"Did you draw these?" said Tooth, and Jack hovered down slowly so that he stood right beside her. The fairy couldn't help noticing that he was a few inches taller than her, and his eyes weren't the usual icy blue, which is the color the color that they attained when he was happy, or at least in a good mood. Now they were a cold, almost grey shade of blue, showing his sadness or dissatisfaction.
Tooth would never understand his eyes.
"Yeah, I did," he said, referring to the drawings. He placed his hand on top of one of them, concentrated, and as he pulled away his palm the little sketch came to life and the boy and the girl were ice skating around the room, wide smiles on their faces.
"Is that you and your sister?" said Tooth, noticing the wispy style of the older boy's hair and the staff he was carrying. Jack nodded slightly.
"It was supposed to be us."
Tooth could do nothing but stare at the white-haired spirit as sorrow continued to fill his eyes. Now they were almost a steel grey, like the sky on a cloudy winter morning: sad and remorseful.
A short silence passed as Jack turned towards the fairy.
"Could you—do a favor for me?"
Tooth wasn't sure how to respond, but just nodded, and the grey eyes turned the slightest hint back to blue. "Could you go talk to Pippa for me? I mean, if it's okay with you…could you tell her that I'm sorry if she thinks that I'm the one that killed her. It's just—"
The fairy placed her hand on Jack's cold shoulder and he stopped speaking, staring into her bright violet eyes.
"It's going to be okay, Jack," she said, her voice sounding so soothing and calm that a smile spread across his face. He placed his hand over hers, which felt warm and dainty against his palm.
"Thank you."
The young summer spirit wasn't inside her room, however. Pippa was down in the cavernous Globe room, fireplace lit and melting the frost that was starting to form on her hands. She didn't normally play with fire, but she thought it appropriate for the time being because every other room in the Ice palace was either chilly or freezing. And only on that cold night in the North Pole did she discover how wonderful it felt when the flames danced over her hand. They didn't hurt her or anything, and instead danced around her like the water would during summer at a beach.
Ironically, even though she was the spirit of summer, she had never actually spent summers down on earth. She did however create them, and then the moon would repay her by letting her create a temporary summer on the desolate, rocky moon. And from June to September she would swim in the small pool that she made or bask in the light of the distant sun…
"What're you doing down here?"
Pippa jumped up in surprise and pulled her hands away from the fire at the sound of the voice. It was the tooth fairy, glowing in the orange light. The summer spirit couldn't deny that she was beautiful, pearly white teeth and glittering wings, which were in ways similar to Pippa's, except that the summer spirit's were more soft and flowing.
"Um, sorry, it's just—" the Tooth fairy's cheeks flushed, even pinker than earlier, "I was just wondering where you were, since I checked your room and all—"
"No, it's fine," said Pippa, but didn't stay cheery for long. "Why are you looking for me?"
The tooth fairy didn't speak, so the summer spirit decided to go into her mind, like she did to the others earlier today.
What am I supposed to tell her? Pippa read the older fairy's thoughts, I mean, I can't tell her that I was sent by Jack, she would get—
"Why did Jack Frost put you up to this?"
The tooth fairy was suddenly silent. "So you do read minds."
Pippa nodded. "You still haven't answered my question."
"Well, I—" Tooth rubbed the nape of her neck with her small, delicate hand, "Jack just wanted to say—"
"You know what, just forget it. If this has anything to do with Mr. Snow White, I don't wanna hear it."
And Pippa turned back to the fire, almost plunging her hands in. But Tooth didn't leave. Instead she just looked on the girl, wings glittering behind her back. She could've been considered beautiful, if only she wasn't so harsh all the time.
"Can I ask you something?"
The summer spirit turned her head slightly, "What now?"
"Well, I was wondering—"
"You always wonder. You have no idea how many times your mind wandered off in that meeting earlier."
Tooth couldn't help but laugh. "Anyway, I was just wondering…why were you chosen? I mean, from the story that you described earlier, it didn't really seem like you did a good enough deed to be chosen. But that's how the rest of us were—"
Her voice drifted of, and the hard stature that the little girl maintained suddenly vanished, replaced by a sad, remorseful pose. Obviously Tooth had struck a very sensitive part of her story. After all, none of the guardians really like talking about their pasts anyway.
As Tooth turned around to leave thinking that this was a bad idea, Pippa spoke up, voice as elegant and warm as the fire.
"Can I tell you a secret?"
And the tooth fairy hovered towards her and kneeled beside the summer spirit, waiting for her to speak again.
"I lied about earlier," said the little girl, brown eyes glowing, "I didn't just go on to the ice and drown. I actually saved a little boy there. The ice was cracking underneath him, so I went out and saved him. Plus, he was actually a boy that I'd met before—a childhood friend, if you will."
Pippa blushed; as if the boy was much more special to her than just a friend, and Tooth couldn't help but smile. Young love was always something that was so rare these days that you couldn't help but feel great when you see it.
"And then it was my turn to be on the ice," the summer spirit continued, "I lied about another thing at this point. The Moon never told me who froze my hands onto the ice. But I still knew that it was Jack."
Tooth looked at her in astonishment. "How?"
Only then did Pippa take her hands out of the fire and rub them against her arms, trying to warm the rest of her. "I saw him."
"WHAT?" The tooth fairy shot up into the air so high that she almost hit the ceiling of the tall globe room, "HOW WOULD YOU—I MEAN, JAMIE WAS THE FIRST ONE TO SEE HIM—"
"Shut up, will you? You'll wake everyone up!" Pippa whispered loudly, standing up as well, but immediately shrinking back down to her kneeling position as a cold wind blew through her.
"Oops, sorry!" Tooth whispered back, and slowly floating back down to the floor. "But, how?"
"Well," Pippa said, hands cupped together tightly, "I didn't really see Jack Frost, but I saw Jack—as in, my brother Jack.
"I saw him the way that I wanted to see him. Brown hair, brown eye, and that beautiful smile. But he was wearing a blue hoodie, and his staff had frost on it. He looked different, and yet he looked the same, you know?"
It was obvious that Tooth had absolutely no idea what she meant.
"But I did see him freeze my feet onto the ice."
And Pippa turned back into that sad little girl, facing the fire. The tooth fairy couldn't do anything, except tell her "Jack would never do that. And whatever you think of him now, he says sorry. It's just—he doesn't remember doing that at all."
A sad smirk spread across the summer spirit's face, and Tooth placed a hand on her shoulder. Pippa looked to her with her warm, brown eyes, and giving Tooth a look that a child would give to her mother.
"You'll keep my secret, won't you?"
And the tooth fairy hugged the little girl as a sign of assurance. "Thank you," Pippa mumbled, and only then did Tooth realize how alike she and Jack sounded.
I guess they aren't completely different at all.
