I'm so sorry it took me a month to update! Blame it to school and homework from Pitch! And myself for being addicted to FairyFrost fics and submitting my drawings in Deviantart!
Remember in my previous rant that I was edgy around knives? That fear was short lived because my parents threw them away and bought new ones so I'm back in chopping my favourite carrot sticks! You read that right, I love carrots and they're good for the eyes!
I watched the teaser trailers of Frozen and How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Hiccup is no longer a talking fishbone! Oh , Jack Frost, looks like you have a rival in the list of Handsome Animated Movie Guys! But don't worry Jack! You're cooler than Hiccup since 1695 while Hiccup will be hotter (pun intended) in 2014! (Still I hate the revamped Merida)
I don't know what possessed me but after reading the Fic Critic's (that's what I will call HER) review, I realized that I kept on confusing the general POV of the story unlike in my other fic Sealed Memories where it is focused on Luke.
The fic is set in 2013, Jack in this fic is 118 years old, if my guess is correct he died in the beginning of winter in 1712 at the age of 17 and he may have celebrated his mortal birthday a month before Easter.
Disclaimer (and for the following chapter so that I won't type this again): I do not own ROTG and the book character who will make an appearance.
And thank you to my new beta Bookworm1756 for editing this chapter! Thumbs up for the upcoming movie of Percy Jackson!
Chapter 4: Distractions
The view compared to his usual perch hundreds of years ago was a big difference today. He sort of missed the sound of the folk music back in that time—especially Kemp's Jig(1) (though he had no idea how knew the name when he first walked into the village)—which was now it was replaced with heavy metal and RnB music. How can those people retain their eardrums from the noise? One time some high schoolers, whom he had played with when they were still innocent from the horrors of high school and life, hanged out for hours in his home playing a single gibberish rap song, singing '~sexy lady ooh ooh ooh gibbergibberish gangnam style~' for hours.
He should have flown away while he still has the chance, because the song got stuck in his head. He made the gravest mistake in his life because that song keptmessing in his head awake or asleep for months.
There's a term in his predicament. What is it they call it?
...L… ...LS… ...Least Song…
Oh—Last Song Syndrome!
He was able to rid itof his mind when he stumbled across a teen playing around with what he could guess as a grandmother's greeting card, because when opened it played, "I got a pocket, got a pocketful of sunshine, I got a love and I know that it's all mine—oh... oh oh oh~"" It was hilarious that he kept remembering it instead of that gibberish song, which was a great relief. Well, not entirely, since he could still hear the ghost of that song when his mind was blank of thinking anything that involved fun or angst for being unseen.
Like now.
He, Tooth, and Baby Tooth were settled atop the very same pine tree that he had crashed into onthe night of his supposedly 'birth' 300 years ago. The three of them could all see the soft light coming from the neighbourhood, and the young and old trees surrounding the pond thanks to some tree-hugging people who just loved to save the environment. He sort of insisted the fairy to take a short break from collecting, though riding the sleigh didn't count, and showed her the best view of Burgess and the pond by standing on this tree. Well, partly since he wanted to spend a bit of quality time in his fortress alone to sort out his thoughts from the fact that he had a life before this one and his memories were somewhere in Pitch's hideout. After he gets his memories, his unanswered questions both from the moon and himself will be answered. His way of calling this pond home might change, and a part of him wanted to spend this time as a time of farewell to his life of oblivion.
His pond, the cradle of his screwed and lonely life... he always wondered how he ended up in the cold pond when he woke up. But now that he learned he had a life, new questions began to arise. How did he end up there? Did he drown or did someone put him inside the pond and change him into Jack Frost? And why is he barefoot?
He looked back at the pond and reminiscence the tragedy it experienced 115 years ago.
In the year 1898 while he was away witnessing the Mock Battle between Spain and America in Asia, some coal miners from Hazelton, east of Pennsylvania, accidentally spilled barrels of rock wastes in it, the fish dwelling in there inhaled the harmful substance and died.
The residents were able to salvage the pond from total contamination, however, and for four winters the children were afraid to skate on it in fear of the ice breaking because of the rumours that traces of sulfric acid were left mixed in the water even though Jack made sure to thicken the pond thrice the length of his forearm.
His train of thoughts were interrupted when he heard a voice from above. He looked up and found Tooth talking to Baby Tooth on a higher branch opposite to his. The little fairy nervously bobbed her head and he watched Tooth's face morph in uncertainty from what they might be discussing.
Tooth was quiet for a second before she spoke in her usual tone of a concern mother, "On your own? No, one of us has to be with you."
Baby Tooth talked to her in a series of chirps and squeaks that sound human but at the same time fast and high pitched, which made him unable to understand what she was saying.
Tooth's feathers around her head—he probably should call it a headdress—ruffled when something the little fairy said triggered something. "Oh… umm… are you sure? But—"
Baby Tooth interrupted her by flailing her hands in the air in a tone that sounded desperate.
Getting curious, he thought of the best way he could come up with butting in a conversation, and cleared his throat.
Once it seemed that he was able to draw their attention the two looked down, one jumped giving him a grateful look of relief, the smaller one a frown.
"What's up?" He leapt gracefully onto their branch with a lopsided grin. Now that he was close to the two he could figuratively see a cloud hanging around the little fairy.
Oh, Jack! Help me, Tooth mouthed pleadingly while Baby Tooth stared at him, but she looked back to her mother as Tooth forced a smile as if she weren't in a dilemma. She flew down to his level and her face cracked into a frown. "Baby is just asking me if she can play in the snow."
He quirked a dark brow. "Snow?" What kind of permission was that? It was the end of March and the seasons were transitioning from winter to spring, and in a few days the temperature would rise for the snow to melt. Ice and snow are really meant to play with, not look. Unless it's an ice sculpture, but where's the fun if it will just melt away after spending the whole day shaping it?
"Of course she may, there's snow everywhere. Why does she even have to ask for your permission?" He turned his gaze to Baby Tooth, and she gave him a hopeful look like what a five year old would do while begging for a ride in an amusement park.
"Well…" Tooth trailed finding the right words. "She kind of prefe—wanted—to play alone…"
"—stay close to me or the others… I just don't want Pitch to take you..."
Oh… why Tooth was reluctant was because she was worried about the little fairy's safety; he kind of eavesdropped on Tooth before the start of the teeth collecting.
One question solved because of security measures. But alone? That's reckless unless there's a reason behind it.
"I think I sort of understand, Tooth. But, why alone?" he asked. Tooth was silent and diverted her eyes toward Baby Tooth in pity and back to him again. He could clearly see it written on her face that she wanted to spill the beans.
"She's upset," she sighed, and started telling Jack their little adventure in France. "She mistook a member of the European Division as a thief and attacked him. It was probably her first time to collect in the continent and her first encounter to meet one, since her batch was new."
Tooth sighed for the umpteenth timeand glanced at her fairy, who hung her head at the memory and became entranced in her gloomy corner. "She just needs a distraction, especially now that she's in one of her favourite places in the world. But I don't know if I should let her if she insists to be alone."
Jack processed the information; all of this for attacking a mouse? Poor fairy. He turned around slowly to face the neighbourhood and spotted a familiar red house near them where a boy with a fallen front tooth was sleeping.
His eyes sparked in an idea and without looking to Tooth he smiled, "Then let her."
Tooth gawked while Baby Tooth emerged from her gloomy world in disbelief and growing excitement. "What?!"
He chuckled at the sound of her reaction and turned around to face the fairy, with one cold hand in the pocket of his hoodie.
"Chill. Let her play for five minutes while we collect; I bet the houses over there have teeth waiting to get." He pointed his staff at the neighbourhood where children, whom he bet a majority knocked their teeth out from sled accidents, or snowball fights in various parts of town where he is indirectly the cause. "We should start from the farthest house in town until the nearest so that we can immediately check on her here should anything happen. It's easy, right?"
"That's…" Tooth contemplated the plan; it would compromise her alone time and their collecting time so the plan was acceptable, but she still had her doubts. She half-heartedly nodded, and her fairy squealed in excitement. "I think the plan is good. Is that okay with you, Baby?"
Like a little kid, Baby Tooth excitedly jumped in the air while clapping, something Jack found familiar, and made cheering sounds that he could understand as, "Yehey yes! Yes!"
She darted in hummingbird speed around the two in happiness and tackled Jack's cheek as a form of a hug. "Thank you, Jack!" Then she energetically hovered in front of her mother. "I promise I'll be here like a good girl while you guys are busy collecting around the area!"
Tooth giggled at her enthusiasm. "Okay okay, I know, Baby Tooth. But contact me if something is wrong okay?" Her fairy nodded eagerly.
"Okay, you two, is everything settled?" Tooth looked to Jack and said yes. "Then let's go!" Jack whooped and jumped down from the tree on top of a pile of snow drift, itching to collect more teeth in order to beat Bunny in the race.
Tooth beadily stared at him for a second, and then turned to her fairy with her hands on her hips. "Remember, call me if anything is strange but do not communicate me with only your emotions."
Baby Tooth got the message and nodded, because in her case of energy drain whenever she communicated in the link only with her memories and emotions she felt a bit tired. After she showed her mother her memories of her sisters' abduction, she should probably take a quick nap when they rode the sleigh again.
She beamily stood hovering in place as she watched Jack and her mother fly into town, and was grateful to finally have some alone time, at the same grinning evilly inside because her mother (and obviously her sisters) had a small crush on Jack, and they would be able to spend some time together between the collecting. She shouted, not minding that Jack would not understand her if she say it, "Take care and enjoy your quality time with your handsome Mr. Sparkling Teeth slash Hot Snowman!"
There was a jump in her mental link when her mother stiffened with her feathers ruffled midway in her flight.
She bet her eyes were wide as saucers!
Tooth peeked over her shoulder and screamed in their link lest Jack would hear her, 'BABY TOOTH!' The fairy looked back and shrugged with a smirk and half-lidded eyes.
As for Jack, he noticed the sound of the pair of wings not following him and did a 90. "Is everything all right, Tooth?"
Baby Tooth watched in amusement as her mother became startled to Jack's voice. "Y-yes! Everything is f-fine! Come on; we have teeth to collect!" Shefuriously nodded and flew off ahead Jack.
Jack stared at Tooth, then to Baby Tooth in confusion, she innocently smiled back with her hands behind her, cocking her head slightly. Jack shook his head and muttered, "I really don't understand women," before he waved at her and flew off to follow her mother.
Now that Baby Tooth was alone, the comforting silence was her new companion now that she could get herself lost in her own world, just for a moment.
She sighed tiredly at the thought of Perez (she wanted to bang her head against a tree), her sisters, and why she had some memory relapse when Jack saved her.
She shook these thoughts away. She shouldn't spend this time in self pity; instead she should distract herself and be a kid with one of the things that made her happy.
She flew higher in her spot until she was at the right height to dive down in that soft white heap called snow.
Up in the clouds, or rather inside the large vapour of water itself, an immortal watched a trio of a winter spirit, a half-human Sister of Flight and her minion in the size of a humming bird beside a frozen pond.
Her attention was not focused on the two as they flew off into town, but instead at the little fairy who was busying herself in the snow.
That fairy had always been a mystery, since the time she watched the faerie queen last split herself for the growing number of children of the world, and she couldn'thelp but feel a tiny twig of envy when she first laid her eyes on her because the Man in the Moon had given two innocent souls separated by fate a second chance to be together again in their new life.
Her time to be reunited with her father may eventually come, and she knew that a little part of his humanity was still there and she would continue to reach for it. She would remain patient even if it will took her a thousands years.
Using a stream of air, she manipulated its direction toward the pond where she could imbue herself in one of the leaves of an unsuspecting pine tree not too near for the little fairy to feel her presence before she revealed herself.
Watching her movements, she could feel her aura being different to her supposed 'sisters'.
Baby Tooth did lots of things in the snow like making tiny snow angels, throwing armfuls of snow into the air and making snow versions of a sandcastle.
She rolled a regular sized snowball towards a bigger one with twigs on both sides where she lifted it in the air. In her effort, she beat her wings to haul the snowball and dropped it gently on top of the larger one. She let out a huff and smiled at her faceless miniature snowman and its three companions where they were smiling to nothing.
"Mr. Snowy, should I get you pebbles to put a smile on your face?" she asked the snowman pretending it nodded in agreement. "Okay!" She dashed on the pond's shore, where she gave the frozen body of water a short dazed glance, and dug in the snow until her hand groped on some smooth objects. She beamed with her arms full of tiny pebbles, going back to her work.
She checked on her mother through their link and found that she was cooing over a molar with a white filling. She giggled at the tooth, poor kid who just lost it after the dentist filled it with pasta.
She started assembling the pebbles on the supposed face of her snowman while humming a random song. She picked two pebbles larger than the ones she had been using for the mouth and inserted them on the upper part of the face to serve as eyes.
She stepped back and looked at her four snowmen lined up together holding hands. She glanced up at the dark sky where the moon was providing her light around forest. She critically stared at the old Moon Clipper where she could trace the image of a rabbit or a cat on the moon's battle scars when Pitch attacked the Lunanoffs.
Scarred yet beautiful her mismatched eyes stared at the celestial object for a long time…
A white flash appeared and she found herself staring at the blurry memory of the boy again.
The image of the same boy smiling at her with the moon shadowing his face... but wait! The image moved!
His lips parted and his shoulders shook in laughter, but there was no sound.
His silent laughter was for two seconds and he disappeared. She gasped where she's staring back at the moon instead.
She blinked in disbelief and moved her head back and forth hoping to have another flashback of the boy again. But there's no sign of one.
She looked at the moon again with her mind screaming, The boy just laughed! He never does anything but smile in my dreams. Who the heck is he?!
Is she the only one with this memory? She never knew since she was afraid to ask her mother and her sisters about this. It's a little secret she kept and never tell to anyone, but why was this happening now?
Suddenly she felt someone familiar observing her.
She whirled around and scanned the trees, the leaves, and the clouds. She knew that very observing presence. What was she doing here? Baby Tooth about to open her connection with her mother when a woman spoke somewhere in the trees.
"Peace, Toothiana's fairy. I come not to harm but to speak with you."
A gentle breeze with some leaves caress around her before swirling a few feet in front of her where they gathered and multiplied forming the shape of a person. The leaves continued to shape into a more refine form of a person until they gently floated away and disappeared as they touched the ground.
There, standing before her was a cloaked regal lady with flowing raven hair and an elegant dress that made her appear as if she were wearing the clouds.
You didn't see her coming, did 'ya?
(1)In the beginning of the movie, Jack walks through the village and the folks there are playing "Kemp's Jig" in honor of William Kempe. He was a famous 16th century English comic stage actor.
I base Jack's LSS from my experience last year, that song messes around my head for months that it irritates my concentration (personification?) especially my school use it for dance presentations. I'm not really into K-pop and at school my classmates may treat me as a freak, I'm totally a minor outcast when it comes to their likes and preferences.
And the second song was base from Easy A where Emma Stone goofs around her grandmother's card that it was so funny!
I add some historical references from the Mock Battle and a headcanon for the pond, but Hazelton is really a part of Pennsylvania and they had coal mining.
There's a minor plot hole that few of you may have notice in the movie, Jamie went to bed and his clock is set on 9:30. The same goes to the children's when the Guardians collect the teeth. And when they were in Brooklyn Bridge Coin-Laundry, the clock is in 12:55 am! Brooklyn is in New York and New York is above Pennsylvania that the two have, I don't, 1 or 2 hours away! Did it made any sense to you?
Reply time!
SomeRandomPerson: Thank you!
Cerealfreak: Again with that debate. Of course I won't name her Emma! I'll name her that starts with the letter J. I don't care if they copy my idea, but I hope they make their plot better. Rosewaver beat you with the longest review, ha! And see you tomorrow for the Inter-private, this time my team will win against you!
Ieatcarrots: Oh thank that's so sweet! But I don't know if I'll get more reviews since I'm a slow updater and few appreciate it.
SevenLies1Truth: My grammar improved because of betas' help, one from
SongOfAFreeHeart and Bookworm1756. And I love your fic.
Rie-san: Some day in the following chapters the two will realise and I promise I won't stop writing this fic because I have evil ideas to type!
Rosewaver: umm, thank you? And congratulations! You just beat my friend cerealfreak for the longest review in chapter 3!
Note: If anyone has read the third book, can anyone give me an idea of Mother Nature's manner of speaking? I need it for the next chapter and the update depends in your cooperation! Onegai!
And there's a poll in my profile about Jack's sister's name so don't forget to vote!