When I woke up in the morning, I heard a major commotion outside my door. The second my feet hit the ground, I ran to the bedroom door and burst it open. The hallways were overrun with opalvirgins. I groaned. I couldn't ever just get to eat breakfast. I know, I'm in the middle of a fight and all I can think about is breakfast. Thing is, I hadn't had breakfast in days. I wanted some badly, ever since Derek had told me that he would get me some a few nights ago. I slammed my door and tore off my pajamas. I was wearing a t-shirt and tights under them. I pulled a short fluffy black skirt on over the tights. I grabbed the sword I'd gotten from Peter and rushed out of my bedroom window. I flew around the building and found Jamie's room. He was hiding under the bed.
"Jamie, just get on my back!" I shouted over the commotion. I heard a scream and a wet slash outside the door. Jamie heard it too. He scrambled out. I hovered horizontally and he grabbed onto my neck I flew us out the window.
Jamie pointed to Thimble's room. I flew in, but the room was empty. There was no sign of her. I went to Derek's room. He was gone too.
"I hope they weren't killed," said Jamie. He was on the verge of tears, probably scared out of his wits right now too. I had to keep him safe.
"Don't worry Jamie. Nothing's going to hurt you. We're going to get out of here for a little bit," I told him. I flew away from the building, watching as opalvirgins scrambled out of the door and chased us down at unbelievable speeds. Still, none of them could fly, so we had a chance. "We'll find Thimble. Maybe find your sister too. Get you back home. Maybe find Jack. Do you want that?"
I felt him nod. I thought I was getting better at this comforting thing. Jamie and I flew for so long, leaving the opalvirgins far behind us. I saw a cave far off in the distance on the side of the mountain. I was a little reluctant to actually land there, because I could see the glimmering rock mounds outside of it. But I had to get Jamie to safety. If I owed Jack anything even after our fight, it was to keep Jamie alive. Besides I wanted to do that anyways. I wanted Jamie safe.
I flew us into the cave and set Jamie down on the floor. There was still a bedroll left over from the time when we had stopped here before, so I spread it out and Jamie sat on it. Every noise set him off until finally he just started to cry. I rushed over and sat next to him.
"Vanessa, I'm never going to see my sister again," said Jamie. I hugged him close to me just like I'd imagine a mother would do.
"Shh, that's not true Jamie," I said, caressing his hair. "We'll find Sophie. We'll find Thimble. We'll find Derek. We'll find Jack. We'll find everyone. It will be fine."
Jamie crawled up onto my lap and cried on my shoulder. I hugged him even closer. He was scared. That was understandable. I was scared too, so scared that tears started brimming in my eyes too. I didn't know what was going on, I barely knew where I was, and I had nobody with me but Jamie. I didn't have my mom, I didn't have Jack, and I didn't have Derek. I wanted Rapunzel, I wanted Merida. I wanted Hiccup. I wanted Melody. I wanted all of my friends. Pretty soon, I was bawling like a baby too. Jamie and I sat crying our loneliness and confusion and woes away. I knew I was the Guardian of strength, but I still had emotions.
"I wish I was a grown up," said Jamie when he finished crying. "Then I would know how to find everyone."
I drew him back and looked into his eyes. I wiped the tears from his eyes, then the tears from mine.
"No, you don't want to be a grown up," I replied, hugging him again. "Grown-ups know less than kids do about most things. They know more about life, but you hold the secrets of living life. You can be carefree and innocent. Adults can't. That's why I'm glad I'm never going to be one."
"I don't know about that," said Jamie. I was comfortable around Jamie now, so I sang a few bars of a song I knew on the issue.
Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up. Don't you ever grow up. Just stay this little. Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up. Don't you ever grow up. It can be this simple. Won't let nobody hurt you. Won't let no one break your heart. And even though you want to, just try to never grow up.
Jamie laughed. Then he looked up into my eyes. "Vanessa, can we go look for everyone? Can we go find Sophie and Thimble and Jack and all of your friends?"
"What about Derek?" I asked. Jamie looked over his shoulder as if he were afraid someone would overhear him.
"Derek scares me. Sometimes his eyes go black sometimes and Pitch talks through him," said Jamie. "Pitch has plans. Something to do with Thimble. He wants Thimble for some reason."
"Jamie, Thimble is Pitch's daughter."
"What?"
"Yes. He wants me to keep her safe. I promised him I would."
"Anyways, can we go find Jack? I miss Jack, I want to see him again."
"Sure. He might not be so easy to find. I haven't seen him in days."
"Really? He was in your room a few nights ago."
I looked at Jamie in shock. "He was? How do you know?"
"I passed your room to go to the bathroom. I heard Jack telling you stories. I think he might have cried for a little bit. He just kept telling you over and over again that he loved you and he missed you and he was sorry."
"Okay, that is touching and creepy at the same time," I replied.
Jamie laughed again. I scooped him back up onto my back and I told Jamie to point out Jack the moment he saw him. We flew over the ruins of the school, Mickey's castle, the village where Jack and I had caused a snow day. I even saw little Josey. Then we flew over the camp and the lake. I would have landed on the bank had Jamie said he saw Jack there or not, because I saw Tink there. I'd missed her.
The minute I touched down on the bank of the lake, I was bombarded by Tink and another fairy and Jamie ran over to Jack, which delayed my having to talk to him just yet.
"Oh my God, we have all been searching for you for nearly a week now!" said Tink, hugging me tightly.
"I missed you Tink. How is Merida? And Rapunzel? And Hiccup? And Peter? How is everyone?" I asked.
"I shouldn't know, I haven't seen any of them since we left with Jack," said Tink. Then she let go and pushed the pale fairy towards me. "Oh, this is my sister Periwinkle, though we just call her Peri."
I reached out and shook her hand. "It's so nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot of good things about you," said Peri.
"Nice to meet you too, Peri." I let go of her hand and looked past her at Jack and Jamie.
Every good memory I shared with Jack told me to hug him and kiss him and forgive him. Then an image of Terence laughing and the thought of how Jack had let Terence die made me draw my sword and charge him with a shout of anguish. I pinned him to the ground by his throat with the tip of my blade and glared at him.
"You dare come looking for me? You have the gall to come into my room while I'm sleeping?" I said in the harshest voice that had ever come out of my mouth. He smiled and all my bravado collapsed along with me. I threw my sword into the lake and fell on top of him in tears. I clutched at his shoulders and pulled him closer.
He sat up and I plopped on his lap. The tears were less now, but I still hugged him. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and stroked my hair, just like I had for Jamie.
"I love you Jack," I said.
"I love you too Vanessa," he replied.
I shifted myself so that I was kneeling with one of my legs on either side of his legs. Then I kissed him. I had missed him more than I would have ever known had I not kissed him then. And he had missed me too, I could feel it in his kiss. I pulled back and looked into his eyes. They were a little watery, but otherwise, I'd seen the look in them before, long before. Before I knew it, I was having a flashback.
I was old me, back before Jack was Jack Frost. We were walking in the street, holding hands. We couldn't have been more than twelve. We were laughing and talking together, the whole rest of the world not mattering. We sat down on a bench together. He'd looked at me that same way, with eyes full of loneliness and friendliness, sadness and happiness, love and loss. The same eyes that he was looking at me with now.
When I snapped out of it, Jack was holding me again.
"Vanessa, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I love you. I missed you," said Jack.
"I'm sorry that I left with Derek. I'm sorry I kissed him. I'd bet you saw that, didn't you?" I asked. He nodded. I kissed his cheek. "Well, I won't be going back to Derek. We are going to get our friends back."
"Hey," said Jack. He picked something up off the ground. We both looked at it and a flash of recognition went across both of our faces. It was the engagement ring he'd given me when we were younger. As a matter of fact, I still had the comb with me too. I took it out and smiled. He saw it and smiled too. "Looks like we have two blasts from our pasts. Let me guess, Manny gave you them back?"
"Yeah. And get this. He took the diamond from the ring and made it completely encase me. That's why I'm still alive right now."
"Wow. That's quite a story. Now, please stand up," replied Jack. I did so. He got down on one knee and held the ring up to me. "Vanessa, I would like to ask you, again, to be my wife. I don't want anything like this to ever happen to us again. We won't ever be separated again."
I smiled and laughed. "Yes. I want the same thing Jack." He slid the ring back on my finger, from which it had somehow fallen off of when I was on the bank.
Then I saw a bright white flash and had to close my eyes. When I opened them again, Jack and I were standing in Manny's house. There was Manny smiling over us.
"Finally. All of my hard work has paid off, but not in full," said Manny.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"The book that Jack read to you had all of the answers. I brought Jack back as a Guardian and preserved Vanessa in a diamond. I made Jack a hero and brought back Vanessa. I made Jack go to Vanessa's school and I made Vanessa like him. I made Vanessa feel when there was nothing to feel and feel nothing in the midst of emotional turmoil. I made Vanessa a Guardian. I tried everything I could to keep you two together, and all for a purpose," said Manny.
"For which purpose?" asked Jack.
"Your daughter will be the savior of the kingdom. Only the offspring of two young Guardians would have the kind of power that will be needed."
I don't know whose face was redder, mine or Jack's. I mean, we'd just gotten back together, now we were going to have a kid together? The thought made me want to vomit with mortification. I could tell Jack felt the same. I mean, there probably was one instance in which I could imagine Jack and I having kids together, but to hear it come from the mouth of Manny…It just felt like an invasion of our privacy for some reason.
Manny burst out laughing at our faces, which shocked me. I don't think either of us thought that Manny even had emotions.
"Well, I'd best send you back; I just had to tell you that. Goodbye," said Manny.
One second we were in Manny's house and the next, back on the bank of the lake. Jamie was staring at us. It took us a second to recover from the embarrassment and then we were fine.
"All right. Let's go back to Neverland. We need all the help we can get to save our friends," I said.
They all nodded. I put Jamie back on my back and we all took to the sky, our eyes set on the second star to the right.
