Chapter: Howl (Part 1)

Rating: K+/T

Genre: Angst/Hurt/Comfort

Warning: Death, swearing

Time Period: Post- Movie

Characters: Jack, Wind, and a few OCs

Summary: Betrayed, forgotten, useless, dangerous… The words raced through his head as he raced to Antarctica.

"Jack how could you?"

"I knew he was dangerous, we can't trust him."

"I don't… I don't understand, why Jack?"

"You hurt them! They were innocent!"

"What were you thinking!"

Jack viciously wiped the tears from his eyes as he races across the ocean on the wind. The bitter cold air snapped at his red cheeks that were a bit puffy from continuously wiping at them, refusing to let tears fall. It wasn't his fault. He didn't mean for those people to get hurt. He didn't want to hurt anyone.

Contrary to popular belief, he has a responsibility. He reads the winds, which tell him where he needs to make storms or bring snow. He doesn't like making storms. Nobody likes storms.

About twenty hours ago, he had found the best spot to start the storm. It was in a huge open field next to a river, and it looked like nobody was around. He started 'brewing' the storm as he called it, and launched into the air as heavy snow started to fall and the wind started to howl. Within a few minutes, it was hailing and snowing and the wind was blowing everywhere.

That's when he noticed the color. Everything in the area was supposed to be snow and dead grass, but over by the river a little girl in a pink coat and a boy in a green coat stood with their mom hunched over them. Jack immediately went into action, trying to calm the wind and slow the snow and hail fall enough for the small family to leave. They must have been fishing or something and Jack hadn't seen them when he combed the area.

The mom started to walk with her kids, but the wind blew harder with Jack's panic and knocked them down. Shit shit shit shit shit gotta save them.

Jack wanted to help so badly, he really did, but he was sure those kids wouldn't be able to see him so he wouldn't be able to do anything. The mom got up and pulled up her children with her, the harsh wind whipping at their coats and making it harder to keep walking. They kept walking and stumbling, and they were so close to the road.

And that's when they fell into the river.

Jack went into full on panic, making the wind and snow worse accidentally, raced over, and struggled to pull the group out of the water. Oh fuck! He got them up on land, the mother and little girl unconscious, but the boy awake, dazed and shivering.

Jack knew he had to do something. He looked back at the road and saw a few cars coming. If he could get the boy to the road, he would be able to flag someone down. Jack started forming large snow balls and placing them on the ground, catching the boy's attention. The boy got up and followed the snow in confusion. Jack got the boy towards the road, and the boy realized he could get help from the passing cars.

He started jumping up and down and waving his hands and a car pulled over.

Jack felt useless as the man from the car helped the mother, little girl and boy into his truck. Jack went with them to the hospital, but stayed outside of the room they were sharing, looking in through a window.

The boy seemed to be fine and was sitting up, telling his half asleep sister about the snowballs that lead him to the road. He was saying it was magic, or something. That's when the kid looked towards the window and saw Jack.

Jack plastered a sad smile onto his face and waved a bit.

"You saved me!" The kid exclaimed.

The little girl slowly looked out the window. "Who are you talking to, Tyler?"

The boy, Tyler looked at his sister in confusion. "You don't the boy?" He asked, pointing at Jack.

Jack put a finger to his lips as if to say, it's a secret.

Jack stayed at the hospital when the little girl passed away. He stayed when their mother passed. He watched as the little boy cried when he was told he would be put in foster care. He watched as the police took the boy away to his car. Jack did this. It was his fault.

And when Jack went to go meet with the Guardians, they knew about it. But they didn't know the whole story. They only knew that Jack caused a child and her mother to die and orphaned a boy.

They refused to listen to his side, yelling carelessly in anger. When Jack had enough, he bolted out the skylight, ignoring the way Bunny yelled, "Don't come back!"

They wouldn't have to worry. Jack wasn't coming back.

Now he sat curled up in a small cave of ice in Antarctica. He wasn't crying, he wasn't angry, he wasn't vengeful. He knew he deserved this. He orphaned a child and cause two people to die. He was a useless, dangerous mistake.

He was there for hours, not moving, trapped inside his own head.

Jack jumped when he heard a howl. He looked around and saw a huge white wolf walking towards him. He scrambled backwards, looking for his staff only to remember he had discarded it in the back of the cave. He froze as the wolf walked right up to him and sniffed his hair. Then the wolf licked his cheek.

"Wha-" Jack mumbled in confusion.

"You are the Spirit of Winter," The wolf said.

Jack's eye widened. "You can talk?"

"Yes," The wolf said. "We are spirits of winter as well."

"We?" Jack said, looking behind the alpha wolf. Standing at the entrance of the cave was another wolf, which was slightly smaller, but still big, and two wolf pups.

"Why are you here, child?" The wolf asked.

Jack curled in on himself. "I had to create a storm and… I hurt some people. I didn't mean to…"

The wolf nudged Jack's chin to get the boy to look up. "I assume the Guardians saw it differently."

"How did you-"

"Everyone knows about the Guardians and you, Jack," The wolf said.

"You know my name?" He hadn't said his name, had he?

The wolf laughed a little. "You are the most important winter spirit, everyone knows your name."

"Oh…" Jack looked down. Important? He didn't think to. All he did was cause problems.

"My name is Lumi," the wolf said. Jack noticed he had a grey ring of fur around his right eye, matching the one on the other wolf's left eye. "And my mate over there is Xue."

Jack watched the two pups that were playing in the snow. "Are they yours?"

Lumi turned to look as the pups. "Yes. The one with darker grey fur is my son, Azure, and the one with lighter fur is my other son, Erion."

Jack smiled a bit.

"Would you like to come home with us?" Lumi asked.

Jack's eye widened. "N-no, I can't. All I do is cause pain. I don't want to ruin your family." Jack whispered the last part.

Lumi shook his head, "You are forgetting that we are winter spirits as well, boy."

Jack looked Lumi in the eyes. They were the same color as Jack's eyes. "Are you sure?"

Lumi looked over his shoulder at Xue, then back at Jack and nodded.

Jack stood and smiled. "Okay."

Lumi lead Jack over to introduce the boy to his family, and then lead him to their home. Jack walked with them, almost happy, forgetting about his staff sitting in the back of that cave.

Xue is pronounce Zoo-eh

Erion is pronounced Air-E-on

So this is the first arc in this series! That means there will be a part two to this.

See you there!