Where there is a Flame
Rating: T
Summary: Jack is badly injured while performing his duty as a Guardian. It is up to the others to help the spirit recover and also teach him that just because he was alone before doesn't mean he is now.
Author Note: I have too much yarn. This revelation came to me as I was organizing and packing for home. I have more yarn than I really know what to do with or time to knit really. Aaaanyway… I write and produce a chapter every day simply because I am horribly bored and sit in my room to avoid my craptastic, whiney completely childish apartment-mate because I can't stand the fact that an idiot like her is still breathing…. Anyway, onto the fic!
Chapter 7
It should be recorded that an angry Jack Frost is a formidable opponent worthy of the ancient Roman coliseum.
"Do. Not. Touch. Me." Jack growls out as Phil escorts the convalescing teen back to the common room after another kyboshed attempt to escape. The tall Yeti grunts tiredly at the teen that drops into the arm chair, his rolling emotions producing a fine frost over the once cheery and vibrant red upholstery. Phil growls out a command for him to stay before retreating just far enough to give the youngster privacy but close enough to still monitor the crafty winter spirit as Jack gives a frustrated sigh and rubs his head in a display of unexpired energy before glaring over at the Yeti in the corner, his expression flat but eyes narrowed.
"I just want to go outside Phil." He tries to reason but the tall creature only grunts with indifference. Phil only took orders from North and at this moment in time the master toy maker put Jack under his surveillance with the explicit orders that he was not to escape.
The tally was currently Phil: 5, Jack: 0. the betting pool out on the production floor was going crazy after today's botched attempt.
Five attempts have been made since Jack woke from that first day he was allowed out into the common room, the day he was told that until his body regained the energy he lost while rescuing Sophie, he was basically back at square one with controlling his abilities.
"This is ironic isn't it Phil?" Jack calls over to his Yeti shadow who merely cocks his head to the side and rumbles in question. Jack blinks and rubs at his eye for a moment before clarifying
"You spent.. What? Thirty years keeping me out of this place. Now you're keeping me in." he laughs bitterly before striking out at the battered coffee table with a splinted foot. Phil grunts back a response that has the winter spirit waving his fingers dismissively in the air. Jack itches at his eye before striking out at the heavily abused piece of furniture once more, this time leaving a large dent in the wood before sighing loudly and bringing his hand back up to itch at his eye. The bandages covering his eyes had been removed a day ago and although the winter spirit was overjoyed to have his sight back the sensitivity to light still bothered him. Bunny assured him the confounded itch was normal and nothing to worry about as long as he doesn't rub or scratch at it too much.
"Ironic…" he echoes once more mostly to himself before shoving himself to his feet, balancing with a moment of difficulty on the splints before moving around the room, the excess energy looking for a way out making his skin crawl. Phil watches the narrow spirit with a worried frown, noticing the rapid change in the spirits moods as he switched between being sullen to being angry within a span of a couple of seconds. Phil thinks of himself as a smart Yeti, able to work through the most complicated schematics to produce a wonderful toy but he is also instinct driven.
Phil's instincts are screaming at him that danger is approaching
The mood swings are alarming for a spirit that he'd come to regard as fairly harmless over the last thirty years of dealing with him. Sure, Jack's got a mischievous streak that moonlights as being criminal in nature at times but he's never willingly harmed Phil during his attempts to gain access to the toy shop. In the end Phil concluded that the ice spirit was simply lonely and curious, but he had a job to do and every time the teen showed up he chased him away.
But now, now the Yeti can see how deadly the Frost child could be, the hint of something dangerous and threatening brews behind the spirited blue eyes. The temperature in the room drops quickly, leaving Phil to watch as his breath condenses in the chill. Jack is standing in the center of the common room, stock still and attentive as his eyes track something only he can see rapidly. This was something Phil had been instructed to watch for while he shadowed the recovering teen. North had distinctly informed him of periods of time when Jack would become almost comatose, when the abilities of the young elemental would be presented spontaneously.
Of course, North never said what to do when that happens.
With a low grumble the Yeti shifts, fighting against the instinctive response to run or fight that is curling his stomach into a knot. His slight shift in posture breaks the elemental's attention and within seconds the chill that had been present in the room is gone, the usage leaving a shaken Jack in its wake. The teen swallows thickly and stumbles to the back of the couch, resting his head as he focuses on breathing. Phil offers a bark of concern which Jack gives a breathless laugh in response.
"Yeah Phil, I'm alright." He states and moves to stand upright once more before promptly collapsing into a heap on the floor.
"Alright, I am going to be up at North's till tomorrow. I want you to keep fertilizing that garden of wine tulips. You, I want to pull the weeds up on that terrace." The egglet lets loose a series of clicks and clacks in defiance
"What do you mean 'you already did'? I call bull on that one mate, look at those weeds." Bunny objects and points over at the terrace of lilies that was overgrown with weeds almost up to Bunny's hip. Again the egg lets off a defiant series of clacks and clicks, stomping its small feet. Bunny rolls his eyes for a moment and shakes his head before getting down to eye level with the protesting creature.
"If you don't weed that terrace by the time I get back, I am putting you on chalk chippin duty." He threatens and suddenly the egglet is off and waddling towards the pathetic terrace. Once back on his feet the tall Pooka glances once more around the warren before giving a satisfied snort at everything working as it should be. Slinging his bulky rucksack over one shoulder the Guardian of Hope passes the stone guardians and leaps up into one of the tunnels that would lead him to the Pole.
"Hopefully snowball hasn't given Phil too much trouble." Bunny smirks to himself, readjusting the bag and maneuvering to all fours. He can move through the tunnels much quicker and more comfortable like this than crouched down. Although each guardian wanted to be there for the struggling winter spirit, their jobs still needed to be done, schedules needed to be kept. Once Jack was fairly mobile and able to get around on his braced feet North returned to his work and Bunny his. North would, of course keep a closer eye on the teen and with the help of the Yeti's hopefully keep Jack from escaping off to what he perceives as a safer location to recover. Lost in his thoughts of how much trouble Jack could have gotten into Bunnymund barely catches the scent before he breezes past it. Claws digging into the dirt of his tunnel to stop his forward motion the Pooka stops quickly and sniffs again, cocking his ears for any available sound.
" Bunnymund!" the voice carries from the tunnel to his right. With another long inhale the warrior moves slowly towards the voice, sneezing at the intense scent of incense.
"What is a Patron doing in my tunnels?" he questions loudly, resisting the urge to wipe at his nose as the source comes closer. The young man stands stooped over, fingers digging into the soil as he smiles warmly.
"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" he asks and kneels so he can regard Bunny from a more natural position. Bunny narrows his eyes and drops back onto his haunches, freeing up his hands for the conversation.
"What do you want Gabe?" he asks simply, brushing off the patron's smile. He had places to get to, winter spirits to assess the damage of. Simply, he didn't have time for the immortal saint and his small talk.
Not now and frankly, not ever.
"Gee Aster, age has made you sour." He jokes and Bunny just rolls his eyes and crosses his arms in his trademark demand of 'get on with it'.
"Heard one of your guardians was injured recently." He announces and Bunny merely shrugs at the statement.
"What of it?" he asks pointedly and watches as the happy smirk that had been on the Patron's face dissolves into an expression of annoyance.
"He was injured saving a little girl. Sophie, I believe her name was." He draws out and again Bunny can only shrug his large shoulders and sigh with impatience. Gabriel's face warps to an expression of intense anger and annoyance.
"Do I have to remind you that saving children is the business of a Saint, not a guardian." He seethes and the Pooka congratulates himself silently for getting the Patron to reveal what has his him so annoyed. Bunnymund had sporadic dealings with the Patrons since he'd taken on delivering eggs and hope to the children and every time he's had to deal with one it was like pulling teeth to get any information out of them.
"Listen, Jack is new to his guardianship. He is close to Sophie and her brother Jamie and he was in the area when they needed help. He didn't realize he was stepping on your toes, don't worry I will let him know not to interfere with a Patron's work again." He assures, making sure not to give out too much information on the formerly solitary winter spirit. Gabriel frowns at his response and the Pooka suddenly worries that the young Patron already has all the information.
"Alright, I can understand if he is new to the position. Make him read the handbook Bunnymund, if he interferes again it won't be pretty." He threatens and Bunny's shoulders stiffen at the warning. In contrast to Guardians of Childhood who are gifted with powers that come with the position they also retain the skills and abilities learned during their mortal life, Patron Saints are elevated into a different bracket of power and skill set making them a formidable being to come up against.
"I will make sure he is informed." Bunny assures, keeping a watchful on the Patron as his mood suddenly swaps and he flashes a smile.
"Alright then. My business with you is done, carry on guardian." He waves and suddenly the section where he stood is dark and devoid of the overpowering stench of incense. Bunny allows himself a hard twitch to release the tension in his muscles before moving off once more. Gabriel Gowdel, a child who was elevated to the station of Patron when he was murdered at the age of six. For whatever reason – Bunny learned to never questions why things happened and just assume it was for a damn good reason—the Patron appears to other spirits as a much older person, age undefinable but to young children he appears as he did when he was a mortal.
Of course, years of being a Patron has warped him from whatever kind of person he was as a mortal into a sarcastic, snarky and possessive individual who is almost cruel in his regard to other spirits. Bunnymund had dealt with him a few times in the past and every time the Pooka had to shove down the urge to drop kick the kid upside the head until he learned manners.
Thankfully Patrons rarely, if ever get involved with the Guardians and vice-versa
"Well, shouldn't be seeing him for another two hundred years. Hopefully." Bunny mutters and moves quickly through the tunnels, the feeling that he'd wasted a precious amount of time pressing him into moving quicker to his destination.
"Seriously?" Bunny comments as he walks through the door and into the guest common area. The area looks like a tornado hit it, papers strewn around wildly with several pieces of furniture upended and moved. The puddles gathering on the polished hardwood floor suggests a flare up not too long ago but the silence of rooms is what catches his attention.
"Phil?" he calls, wondering cautiously from the disheveled common room into the room Jack had occupied since he'd been injured. The bedroom is not as bad off as the common room, the bed is askew and sheets thrown about but nothing was obviously busted up. Bunnymund frowns at finding the bedroom and bathroom empty of the troublesome spirit. He's about to head out when Phil emerges from the main door, his face lighting up in greeting. He gives a series of grunts and barks by way of explanation and Bunny thanks him, heading for the globe room. Upon reaching the expansive room Bunny slows his pace, listening as Jack gives a soft curse and North responds with a deep laugh.
"How's it going?" he asks, rounding the corner to find the two guardians eyeing each other over a spread of cards.
"You're playing Poker?" He gapes, dumbfounded for a moment as Jack casually put down a card and at North's groan he takes a stack of cookies out of the middle of the table for himself, happily placing the treats beside an impressive stack.
"He." North begins, pointing a single finger at the smiling teen "is very good." Jack laughs and gestures to his face, now devoid of the bandages but still a bit puffy and red around his eyes.
"I have the look of pure innocents, you see this face and automatically think 'he's harmless'." Jack laughs and waves at the stacks of cookies happily.
"We can deal you in Bunny. Sugar cookies are ten, peanut butter are fifty and the chocolate chip are a hundred." He informs, pointing out each stack individually before tossing his cards onto the table for North to reshuffle.
"Naw, I'm good mate. Maybe when Sandy and Tooth get here we can play Billabong." He suggests, sitting down at the couch North is occupying and watches for a moment as the Russian expertly shuffles the deck. Jack watches, mesmerized as North cuts the deck and fans it out before proceeding to do a few more parlor tricks. The youngest guardians blue eyes are wide enough for Bunny to examine their condition from across the table. The whites are still a pale red, denoting an irritation but they look clear.
"One more trick Jack." North rumbles cheerfully and stands, drawing the teen's attention upward as the toy maker smiles and spills the desk from his hand, sending the cards raining down all over the table, floor, couch and the teen himself.
"This game is called fifty-two pick up." He announces happily and laughs as Jack simply stares at him. Bunny snickers to himself and resists the urge to help the teen but he can recognize a distraction when it's presented and stands.
"What's the trick?" Jack asks curiously after a minute or two and Bunny can't help but let out a roar of laughter even as North gives a deep laugh before explaining the premises of fifty-two pick up.
"The trick is that he who is showered in cards must pick them all up. The prize for picking them up is you get to eat your winnings!" North educates enthusiastically and Jack simply stares at him for a minute before giving a long suffering sigh and proceeding to gather the cards up. North smiles and leaves the scene quickly and gestures to Bunny to accompany him to another area. Once alone and out of earshot of the winter spirit in question North brings him up to date.
"He attempted to escape earlier this morning and a little over three hours ago. Phil was able to foil the attempts both times, but he reported after the last effort Jack had a flare up and then passed out after. He has been subdued for the remainder of the day, playing cards with me here." He finishes and Bunny shrugs at the newest development.
"I don't know why he'd pass out, that's a new development." He states, pondering over the development.
"It could have something to do with his body resetting itself or how it deals with the flare ups." He hypothesizes briefly and North pulls out his own book to write down the ideas in the cryptic alphabet.
"He has been rubbing at his eyes a lot today as well." North observes quietly and gestures to where the injured spirit is rubbing at his left eye once more. Bunny frowns at this and raises his voice just enough to startle the distracted guardian.
"Oi! If you keep doing that it will roll right out of your head." His words making the injured and antsy teen jump and turn, shooting a particularly hateful glare over his shoulder and sticks out his tongue.
"I have some drops that could help. I can take over the babysitting duty, give Phil some time off I'm sure he's exhausted." Bunny states and the Yeti gives a cheerful bark in agreement and North is already off to walk the production floors below.
"Changing of the guards huh?" Jack states simply as Bunny takes North's abandoned spot, putting his beaten up rucksack on the table beside the other's winnings.
"Nope. I just enjoy your happy face." Bunny retorts cynically and Jack snorts his response to the Pooka's attempt at humor and returns to rubbing at his eye.
"Stop that."
"It itches."
"Tough."
"Screw you." Jack seethes, the anger lacing his words causing Bunny to regard the teen cautiously. Jack seems to know he did something wrong but looks to be at a loss of what to do about it, his eyes wide and body tense. Bunny removes the items from the pack and sets them down on the table one by one, ignoring the way Jack is watching him intently. Although his pride is telling him to act upon the crudeness of the wayward winter spirit he also knows that's what Jack is expecting.
He's played this game before.
He's not going to give Jack the excuse to run off, he won't drive the kid away.
"This is for your eyes." He states simply, holding up the droppers for Jack to clearly see before placing them on the table in front of him. Jack eyes the bottle wearily for a moment before reaching out with one long finger to poke at the glass.
"It's not going to bite you." Bunny assures, pulling out a few more items before getting up and moving around the table.
"Feet up. I want to see how they are healing." He orders and wordlessly Jack presents his splintered feet for Bunny to examine.
"Have you ever played Mahjong?" Bunny asks as he begins to unwrap the bandages. Jack, still playing with the bottle of eye drops shakes his head.
"It's a game from China, it's basically matching up tiles but in complex layouts. It's usually played with two or more people, but there is a single player variation as well." Bunny rambles as he assesses the condition of the burns along the bottom of the spirits feet. The splints did their job and through keeping the areas immobile the naturally quick healing process was able to finally take over.
"You don't have to wear these anymore." He announces and is half expecting a whoop of joy from the teen. Jack doesn't give a shout of joy but remains silent and sullen, fingers distractedly playing with the vial. Bunny moves onto rewrapping the healing burns to give them a little bit more protection for when the teen walks, refusing to push the child to speak to him.
"I want to go outside." He whispers softly and Bunny's ears fall a bit at the quiet demand. Much like the repetitive 'I want my pants' demand, this one had also been frequently stated but with less vehemence and more longing. The Pooka can understand the longing and desire to be outside, after all Jack is an elemental spirit born of nature, the embodiment of winter itself.
Being trapped inside for this length of time is like a death sentence
Against his better judgment the Pooka relents and gives a single nod of his head "Alright mate. We will allow you outside, tonight after dinner and once the others get here."
Now Jack gives a whoop of joy.
Author Note: So, Gabriel is a bit of a prick about the rules and regulations of being a spirit. I dunno why but any OC's I create I typically make them stark raving assholes to be a pain in the butt to the other characters. This chapter was brought to you by The Nightmare Before Christmas and the standup comedy of Eddie Izzard. See you at the next update!
