Sky Clock
Chapter 7
Jack woke up the next morning tiredly due to less sleep hours than usual. He yawned and stepped out of the messy bed making his way into the bathroom. He finished the refreshment and joined Hiccup downstairs who was currently drinking a cup of homemade coffee. The kitchen room was lit up like every other day, the sky still dark outside and snow gently fall onto the ground covering the grass. Jack took the coffee maker and pour one for himself, black and bitter, sure to keep him awake. Hiccup handed his phone back to him when he reached the counter.
"So you got anything on them?"
"Nothing that'll help much," Hiccup sighed, "Common delinquents, terrible grades, often hang in a group. We'll have to trail them and maybe find something more worthwhile."
"Well that shouldn't be too hard," said Jack.
"Yeah you're right, but with their conditions we probably won't be seeing them today at any rate," Hiccup chuckled drinking his coffee. "What did you do after beating the crap out of them? You didn't leave them in the snow did you?"
"I left them in the dumpster, with all that body heat they should still be alive." Jack answered with a shrug.
"How'd you find them in the first place?"
"I was driving around in some neighborhood, saw a group in black walking and didn't really care about them until I saw that they were following somebody, so I got out of the car and went on foot."
"Who was the person they were following." Hiccup asked interested.
"Believe it or not, it was Anna." Jack answered.
"Anna? Why was she out so late?"
"Apparently her sister doesn't like the fact that she eats so much chocolate so she sneaks out at night to get some for herself and hide them."
"In the middle of the night, alone in the dark, for some chocolate?" Hiccup asked incredulously.
"Yep." Jack confirmed.
"So why were they following-oh, dang." Hiccup realized the problem before finishing the question. "Did anything happened to her?"
"No, I stepped in before anything could happen so she's safe."
"From what I saw, you sure did a quick work on them. Did Anna know that it was you?"
"No, I had my hood up, faked my voice, and told her my name was Jaden, she didn't really say anything afterwards so I think I'm still good."
"Alright, though you should probably not wear that jacket anymore, don't want her getting curious now. Anyway, at least we now know that these Syndicate guys are already in the school, there should be more of them so we just gotta look." Hiccup walked over to the sink and washed his empty cup.
"Aw, I liked that jacket, it's so blue and it's so me," Jack gave a small disappointing look at the thought of ditching his jacket. "Friday already huh? Time flies by before you even know it."
"You tell me, I've been here for a year already and it felt like it's been only a few months. Let's get going, don't want you missing that chess game with Elsa." Hiccup walked out into the garage carrying the backpack in his hand.
"Right I forgot about that," Jack snapped his fingers remembering what happened from last time. He quickly cleaned his coffee cup and hurried after Hiccup. "You got any tips for me to beat her?"
"When you're losing go wild like you don't even care." Hiccup replied stepping into the driver's seat.
"Are you serious?" Jack rose an eyebrow.
"Does it matter? You're gonna lose anyway." Hiccup smirked shifting the gear.
"Douche." Jack said in an irritated tone buckling the seatbelt and lower the chair taking a short nap.
"Nah that's you."
After Hiccup pulled the car into its usual parking spot, Jack went his way to the library's top floor. As he walked inside, he saw that there were more students than usual chatter among each others. He decided to take the spiral staircase instead of the elevator. As he went up the number of occupants decrease until the very top where it seemed to have been abandoned. The lights were on so he knew someone was still here, the one he came for a rematch.
Jack walked to the spot where he would expect to see Elsa sitting reading a book, but to his surprise she had her head in her arms on the table sleeping, a book lying underneath opened. Through his sensitive ears he could hear the soft snores from the peaceful sleep, he chuckled quietly to himself when he saw a small drool at the corner of her mouth making its way down onto the book. She must have stayed up late in the previous night to explain why she was napping in the library. Maybe he should leave and let her rest, the chess game can wait another day, he turned around to leave, but the backpack accidently knocked onto the shelf causing several books at the edge to fall down. He managed to catch a few but several made contact with the floor making thumping sounds, he winced and reminded himself to be more careful next time.
The noises weren't loud, but they were enough to wake the sleeping reader. Elsa raised her head and her arms yawning, she the chapped her lips and blinked a few times looking around, her eyes landed on Jack.
"Jack?" Elsa asked looking surprised.
"Hey." Jack answered trying to shelf the books back to its place, but he didn't know where they go so he just randomly guessed.
"What are you doing?" Elsa asked curiously.
"I, uh, was just leaving since you were asleep and all. Accidently knocked the books down and woke you up," Jack chuckled looking apologetically. "Sorry, I'll go now so you can go back sleeping."
"No, no, no it's okay. I'm awake now." She sat up straighter.
"Are you sure? 'Cause I don't want to bother you or anything."
"It's fine, come sit down."
"You could still have your nap."
"I said I am fine."
"I could still-"
"PLEASE take a seat." Elsa interrupted Jack with an annoyed tone.
"Ok, ok see? I'm sitting down." Jack raised his hands up surrendering while pulling out a chair. "So uh, why were you sleeping then? You were always awake in the past few days."
"It's because of my sister Anna really." Elsa sighed.
"Your sister? Why?"
"Every Friday night she would sneak out to buy chocolate, I stay up to make sure that I see her come back safely," Elsa chuckled softly. "She thinks that I don't know that she hides them in her closet, but I do. I won't be surprised if one day she cries about how much weight she had gain."
"Wow, okay. So uh how late were she last night?" Jack tried to sound interested.
"Past midnight, it was a bit later than usual actually and there was someone with her."
"Someone you say?" Jack became a bit nervous, but he hid it. Hopefully she won't know it's him since he was only there for a very short time.
"Yes, it made me wonder if he was the reason why she was late."
"What makes you think it's a guy?"
"His pose, the way he walked. I also think he's some sort of fighter, a disciplined one actually."
"How so?" Jack was inwardly impressed with her observation skill. Her eye sights must have been really good to notice small details like that since there were only a few street lights at the time.
"Even though he was dressed like a normal person, he walked in stride and his shoulders were squared with back straight." Elsa described and tilted her head smiling at him. "Kind of like you."
"I'm sorry what?" Jack looking surprised, he doesn't do that does he? There's no way she could've known it was him. That smile of her though, it made him feel like a kid got caught stealing a cookie from a jar. "Are you saying that the stranger was me?"
"Well I can't be sure, but are you?" Elsa asked still smiling at him.
"No no no, it wasn't me, I was at my home all night yesterday." Jack tried to lie, hoping that'll she would drop the subject.
"Hmm, he was also wearing a blue jacket similar to the one you wore in the past few days, and today you're not wearing it."
"It got smelly so I had to wash it. Plus a blue jacket isn't exactly rare." Jack started sweating, this girl and het crazily good eyes, he could feel the room temperature drop slightly, but his body is doing the opposite.
"Yeah, you're right, it couldn't have been you since you don't know where we live." Elsa sighed looking disappointed.
"Anyway do you two live alone or no?" Jack changed the subject and was glad she didn't keep pushing the questions, the room temperature seemed to have turned back to how it was before when he came in.
"We live with our parents." Elsa answered. "What about you?"
"I actually share a house with Hiccup," Jack said. "We're just roommates," he quickly added.
"Don't worried I'm not like Anna," Elsa giggled lightly at Jack's second part of the answer. "Though I think you might have a similar mindset."
"That's...not bad is it?"
"At our age, I don't think so."
"Ok, good." Jack sat there not knowing what to say next, he then saw the light drool still at the corner of her mouth and chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Elsa asked.
Jack simply pointed a finger to the edge of his mouth.
Elsa looked curious and touched the drool with her fingers. When she realized what it was her cheeks went pink and she quickly wiped it away with a sleeve.
"That's not funny." She complained with a pout.
"Yes it is, and did you know that you snore too?" Jack teased with a smirk.
"I do not."
"Next time I'll record it for proof."
"Don't you dare!" Elsa looked flabbergasted.
"Oh yeah I would."
"I don't want to see myself snoring and drooling. It's not pretty." Elsa shook her head rapidly.
"I think it's pretty cute really." Jack shrugged still smiling.
Elsa didn't respond as she looked at him with wide eyes, then down to the table as Jack could see the pink on her cheeks became brighter. For someone so smart, she sure could be easily flustered, snoring and drooling must be a big deal for girls. He didn't want her to die from embarrassment so he looked at the clock hanging on the wall in front of him, a minute until the bell.
"Well class is about to start, shame we couldn't have our rematch. I would've won with my new strategy." Jack said and he saw Elsa looking back up back to her composed self.
"Yes very much so, I was hoping to take from you another bar of chocolate." Elsa retorted with a smug expression.
"Yea sure, whatever you say princess."
"Princess?"
"I don't know, aren't like the royal people really good at playing chess?"
"I think you're just not good at it." Elsa answered smirking at him.
"Ouch. Anyway I think we should go, bell's gonna ring at any second." Jack stood up and he saw Elsa followed suit.
"Yes, we should."
When the bell rang, Jack and Elsa parted ways and went to their scheduled morning class. The periods passed quickly and lunch came. Jack just bought a hamburger for himself sitting at the table with Hiccup talking. A short while later he saw Anna in the distance walking with auburn hair towards their table. She stopped and looked at him.
"Hi Jack and are you his friend?" Anna's eyes darted to Hiccup.
"Yes I am." Hiccup answered looking amused.
"Hi I'm Anna, what's yours?"
"I'm Haylan, nice to meet you." Hiccup nodded his head.
"You can call him Hiccup." Jack poked in.
"You don't have to share my nickname with everyone." Hiccup scowled but Jack just grinned.
"Hiccup? That's an odd name," Anna giggled with a hand over her mouth, Hiccup pouted but didn't say anything. "Anyway, this is my boyfriend Hans, I said I would introduce him."
"Hello there." Hans put his hand out.
"Hello." Jack and Hiccup shook his hand. Jack noticed that hand was rough almost like his, but he didn't think much about it. "Anna told me about you."
"Oh did she? I hope she didn't say anything embarrassing." Hans laughed nervously with a hand behind his head.
"Nah, she's been saying nothing but good things about you." Jack answered.
"Haha, I think she probably exaggerated everything about me."
"I did not!" Anna crossed her arms. "I only say the truth."
Hans's phone rang and he looked at it, apparently it was a text and Jack saw his eyes narrowed at it.
"I'm sorry, I would love to talk, but there's something urgent so I have to go." Hans put his phone back in his pocket.
"Aw you always leave in a hurry." Anna whined looking up at him due to being shorter.
"Don't worry I'll be back soon." Hans leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, he turned around and left.
Anna stood there with her shoulders sagged down looking disappointed, Jack and Hiccup looked at each other not knowing what to say. Suddenly she brighten up again.
"Well I'm gonna go find my sister," Anna jaunted in a random direction and called back. "Bye Jack and it was nice meeting you Hiccup." She giggled at the name.
"Bye." Jack and Hiccup said in unison with a wave.
"Ugh, another person knows my ugly name." Hiccup slapped his forehead and groaned.
"Relax it's not that bad." Jack laughed and sat back down.
"Please tell me you're not gonna tell Astrid that too when she comes here."
"Wait she doesn't know?" Jack looked surprised.
"Of course not."
"Well she's gonna know soon." Jack grinned.
Hiccup slammed his head into the table.
...
Lunch ended so Jack continued his duty as a patrolman in the school's East Wing. Nothing of interest happened so he spent the last 20 minutes sitting inside the piano class listening to the music. Elsa avoided looking at him while the other girls would often glanced in his direction, he felt a bit uncomfortable when someone would stare at him for too long, luckily the melodic sounds in the air canceled it out.
History as usual was a boring chore that he had to sit through. Notes after notes after even more notes. So much memorizing and such little creativity. He mentally thanked Hiccup for the Art class, at least he get to make whatever he wants in there. He never liked winter much, but he would often ended up drawing or painting snowflakes or ice-capped mountains with heavy snow, must be a trait from one of his parents or something.
The day passed quickly and Jack noticed that the students from the Syndicate never showed up making the P.E. class quite boring so he just sat on the sideline watching. The beating he gave them must have been really bad or they just couldn't take a hit, probably the latter since he didn't hit that hard.
Jack flopped into the passenger's seat and sighed, finally the day is done, boredom is exhausting for someone like him. He really wished they would found something big by now for some action. Even after that little fight he's still itching for some more. He's not like Hiccup, he was used to move around and not sit in one place for hours, he needed that adrenaline flowing. He sighed once more and closed his eyes.
"Tired?" He heard Hiccup asked.
"Just bored, nothing serious to do so far." Jack responded.
"We found something at least, next time you see them, just put a tracer on their phone and we should be able to find some sort of hideout." Hiccup reasoned.
"Fine, what are we doing this weekend anyway?" Jack asked.
"Nothing for you really, I still have to sit in and monitor so you can drive around the city for fun or something. Maybe you'll find something new."
"Or I'll just sleep in."
"That works too," Hiccup drove out of the parking lot. "So how was that chess game? You lost again?"
"Some friend you are and actually no since we didn't play." Jack replied.
"Why not?"
"When I came in I found her sleeping, she seemed tired so I was just going to leave her alone, but knocked some books over and she woke up."
"Smooth."
"Argh shut up, I ended up just talking with her for the rest of the time."
"What did you guys talk about?" Hiccup asked as he pedaled the gas after the red light turned green."
"What happened last night, and you are not going to believe this." Jack answered.
"What is it?"
"I think she's onto me?"
"What? As in..."
"She might have suspected that I was the guy last night."
"How the heck did she come up with that?" Hiccup asked surprised. "You didn't tell her did you?"
"Of course not," Jack then proceed to tell Hiccup the whole conversation between him and Elsa. When he was done Hiccup looked amazed, similar to his thoughts back in the library.
"Holy dang, she got all of that from just your looks?"
"Yep. She's one smart cookie I tell you."
"Looks like you need to be careful around her, if she can do that from a distance, you're busted for sure if she sees anything up close."
"I know, anyway do I really walk like the way she described?" Jack asked curiously.
"Now that I think about it, yea you do. A lot of the Rangers do it, it's like a natural habit." Hiccup looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Do I have to change the way since she knows about it so well now?"
"I don't think you should, that would make things more suspicious. Just keep it the way you are now."
"Alrighty then," Jack relaxed into the chair even more. "So what should we have for dinner tonight?"
"I don't know, maybe fish or chicken? Oh how about spaghetti? Can you make it?"
"Spaghetti? Yeah, haven't made one in a long time, but I can."
"Sweet."
After a rather tasty dinner, Jack was surprised at how good his cooking skill actually was and Hiccup was delighted at having good food every night. A home meal beats all, even a five-star restaurant doesn't have the atmosphere that makes it as good. Since it was Friday, both of them stayed up late watching movies, empty bags of popcorn laying on the ground and their contents scattered everywhere. When it was time to clean up, they decided to do it with rock-paper-scissor and Jack claimed that Hiccup cheated. He laughed at him and told Jack to suck it up like a man.
It took him at least half an hour to clean up the mess they had made, when he was done the clock's hour hand already pointed at the number two. He yawned and went to his room's bathroom to brush his teeth. Afterward, the bed was like heaven to him, exhaustion hit him quickly and he slept like a log without a dream.
Jack woke up the next day around noon. It was Saturday and he had nothing to do, he went down and decided to take the car out for a drive.
"I'm going out!" Jack called.
"Alright." Hiccup called back from his room.
He remembered a place and drove to the coffee shop named Freezing Fire.
True to Kristoff's words from before, the place was packed. Jack went inside and all the tabled were pretty much filled so looks like he can't stay. He saw Kristoff busy working on ordering with other baristas serving the customers, they looked to be in high school but he didn't recognize any of them. He got in the short line waiting for his turn to order his coffee.
"Hey there, I'll take a Coffee Milk like last time." Jack said when it was his turn.
"Oh hey Jack, sure that'll be just $.99." Kristoff punched the number into the machine and Jack paid him. "So how's life in Arendelle treating you so far?"
"Eh it's pretty peaceful for the most part and school is still school, boring as usual." Jack answered nonchalantly.
"Don't worry about it, when winter sports season come, the students are going to get rowdy at the games." Kristoff chuckled and handed Jack his drink.
"I'll look forward to it. See you around." Jack took the coffee and turned around.
"See you."
...
The snow have covered the streets in white and Jack could see people with shovels shoving the snow onto the sidewalk. Kids were running around pelting snowballs at each other laughing. There were couples holding hand walking about chatting. He saw people wearing different winter outfits and considered it's about time get some for himself. A city like probably has a big mall so he asked for direction, there was a big one not too far from where he was so he got in the car and drove on. The traffic increased on the way so he knew the mall was close by, then he saw a huge fountain with a big sign in the front that says Arendelle International Mall.
Since it was weekend, people were everywhere and all the parking spots were full so Jack had to drive his car all the way to the very top floor of the parking garage. He got out and descent using the stairs and went inside the mall through the overpass.
It was an indoor three-storied mall, there were several escalators carrying shoppers up and down in between. The tall ceiling was made of thick glass in a steep angle to prevent the snow from stacking up. Jack made a decision to go to a winter wear store first so he could get another blue jacket. Searching through the aisle eventually he ended up with a slim navy coat with a hood, it had white stripes along the shoulder area. He bought it along with a pair of slim brown cargo pants and a set of boots with the same color. He was happy with his purchase and carried them to the cashier for payment.
Bored, Jack walked around the mall exploring the place and was surprised at the sheer size of it. Hundreds of stores lined up side by side and many of them were selling decorations and costume for Halloween season. Jack smiled to himself remembering he would dress up when he was little and strolled around the neighborhood with his parents. He doesn't do anything for this time of the year anymore except having a bunch of candies outside his apartment for the others, he put so much that there were always a whole bunch of kids practically shoving the sugary sweets into their trick-or-treat baskets. He made them happy so it was fine, being a Ranger he never had any problems with money anyway.
Some of the shops have even started having Christmas items too and the holiday is still months away, guess some people are impatient. As he toured the mall, he recognized some of the students from the school, some were group and some were in pairs, a few of the girls seemed to remembered him and waved shyly while giggling. Jack just nodded and continued walking once he noticed that many females were looking at him, he could've sworn some of the older women licked their lips, he shuddered and sped up slightly to get outside.
Eventually he reached the center of the mall where the food court was, Jack felt hungry since he hadn't eaten anything yet. He went to an Asian food stall and ordered some chicken and rice with an ice tea. He found an empty table and sat down to eat. The food was good and he was full, he dumped the trash and looked at the map of the mall.
To his surprise, there was even an indoor water park, that explains why there were people buying trunks and bikinis earlier. Makes he wonder how rich the owner of this place is. Jack contemplated for a moment and decided that he'll go to it one day, perhaps he'll drag Hiccup along since it would be boring by himself and maybe he could sign up to be a lifeguard, he could keep a better eye out, for the girls. It still amused him of how females have no problem showing off their bodies in a skimpy swim suit but get crazy when caught wearing undergarments. He shook his head of the thought and laughed to himself.
Jack walked around for a bit more and saw a music shop so he went inside. Numerous instruments were on display ranging from drums to even grand pianos. He browsed the store and saw the guitar aisle. He used to play it during the time back in training camp, Hiccup and other fellow trainees would sit around him listening. He thought about playing it again so he decided to grab an acoustic one and bought it along with replacement strings.
By the time Jack left the mall and entered his car, it was already dusk. He must have spent a long time in there, he drove home.
Jack closed the garage door and carried his stuff inside, he saw Hiccup sitting on the couch watching TV, seeing Jack walked in he looked up.
"Is that a guitar?" Hiccup's eyes narrowed at the case Jack brought it?
"Yep." Jack answered.
"I didn't know you still play it."
"I haven't, not since I started working, but I still remember."
"Sweet, made me miss the good old times."
"Me too, so I'm gonna practice with this baby tonight."
"Alright then, what's for dinner by the way?" Hiccup asked looking at the clock.
"We can just eat the leftovers from last night. I don't feel like cooking tonight." Jack responded.
"Aw, okay then, I'll go prepare the food." Hiccup then saw the bag in Jack's other hand. "You bought clothes too?"
"Of course, I need another blue jacket."
"What's with you and the color blue?"
"Blue is cool."
"Sure." Hiccup stood up and went to the kitchen.
Jack brought his purchased stuff upstairs into his room and changed his clothes to something more comfortable; a boxer and a T-shirt. He went back down and ate dinner quickly before heading back up to open the guitar. He strummed the strings and started playing a simple song, soon his memories came back to him and he played more difficult songs. The entire night was filled with the sweet melody that came from the spruce-wood guitar.
Sunday came and Jack spent the whole day playing with the stringed instrument, he played it from early dawn until it was noon. He was so lost into it that he didn't noticed the knocking on the door.
"Jack!" Hiccup opened the door looking serious. "As much as I love hearing music, but we got something."
"What is it?" Jack stopped playing looked up expecting an answer.
"There was an explosion just now at one of the storage house. You should get there before the police does."
"Got it." Jack put up the guitar, quickly put on some clothes and headed out to the car.
"I'll send you the address." Hiccup went back into his room.
"Alright."
Jack followed his phone's GPS to the designated place within only five minutes, luckily it wasn't too far away. It took him through alleyways and ended up in front of a burning storage house. The fire was quite large, at the rate it's burning, the building will come down within an hour, he had time. Jack got out of the car and dashed into the building avoiding any debris falling. There were boxes in flames, he winced as he smelled a strong draft of gunpowder. He opened one of the containers and saw guns inside, more specifically automatic rifles-the illegal type of guns allowed to be put on shelves in gun shop. He opened a few more boxes and found different types of explosives ranging from C4 to military-grade grenades.
This was a weapon storage he realized, the explosion must have caused by one of these. Jack then saw a few bodies in the corner of the room, he looked closer. There were five of them and they were all dead by a shot to the heart. What shocked him was that they were the same Syndicate goons he had found the previous night, the five students lying with eyes still opened.
Rumble!
Jack looked up and saw that the building is going come down a lot faster than he had thought, he quickly pulled out his phone to photographed the place. He saw a bubble bag lying out so he grabbed it and stuffed in several guns and explosives. He ran out of the building within seconds and got on the car and drove away before anyone saw him.
When he got home, the TV was on and Jack saw a breaking news displaying the building in flames as the firefighters tried to put it out. Hiccup walked out of his room and looked at the bag in Jack's hand.
"You found something important?" Hiccup asked.
"Weapons. Remember the five lackeys from yesterday?" Jack placed the bag on the table announced. "They were in there, dead from a bullet to the heart."
Hiccup's eyes widened in surprised, he took the bubble bag and went into his room. "I'll check for where these came from."
Jack nodded and sat down on the couch watching the news for the rest of the day for he didn't feel like playing any music.
Author's Note: Yay! I somehow managed to write another almost 5,000 words chapter. Wanted to finish this chapter earlier but i started on this one pretty late actually, didn't know what to put in for this chapter so I hope this is good enough. Anyway reviews are awesome and I like to thank anyone who put out time to leave a review, even if it's only like two. Until next time, cheers!
