Starting Over
7-Santa's Workshop
You and Jack slowly lowered your arms, opening your eyes to meet his.
"Did it work?" you mutter to him, not noticing the big man freaking out beside you.
Jack looked around him, then back at you. "Yep," he smiled, sticking a hand in his pocket. He nodded his head towards North's private workshop. "Let's go find Santa."
Your eyes widened in excitement, not wanting to wait any longer to see the jolly fat man of your childhood days.
"Looking for me?" a voice with a thick Russian accent spoke.
You and Jack alike jumped about ten feet in the air, except Jack sort of stayed in the air.
"North! Buddy! I didn't see you there!" Jack exclaimed, floating down in front of the giant man.
Your jaw dropped to the floor at the sight of Santa. He did not look like how you expected him to be. He was tall and stocky, with at least some fat around his waist—still not what you expected though. He also had tattoos on both of his arms—'naughty' on one, 'nice' on the other. You cringed when you noticed two lethal-looking swords resting in the sheaths of his belt.
Santa—who Jack had called North—laughed heartily, and you calmed down when you saw the jolly look in his ocean blue eyes. "I figured you didn't, which is why I startled you!" he explained, holding his belly as he laughed on. Once he calmed down, he motioned towards you, and you unintentionally moved towards Jack, trying to hide behind him. "And who is this lovely lady, may I ask?"
"It's okay," Jack whispered in your ear, trying to comfort you. "He's just a big, soft kitty, really." You relaxed, and inched forward to stand next to him. Then, to North, "This is (F/N)," he introduced for you.
North smiled. "Is she that mortal girl Manny told us about?"
What? You think, looking at Jack. Manny? Who's Manny?
Jack looked down, swaying on the balls of his bare feet. "Actually, that's what I came to ask you about."
North looked surprised. "Oh, okay. Want me to call other Guardians?" he offered.
Guardians? Why does that sound familiar? you think to yourself, still inching closer to Jack.
Jack smiled, looking back up at North. "Yeah, that might help."
North grinned. "Well, alright. Make yourselves comfortable, I'll be right back." He winked at you and walked to the counter by the globe.
"Follow me," Jack whispered to you, taking your hand and leading down one of the many hallways.
"That was Santa?" you ask once you were out of earshot.
Jack laughed. "Not what you expected, huh? I probably should've warned you."
You rolled your eyes. "You think? Those swords look like they could kill somebody."
"Well, they can kill somebody." You widened your eyes, grabbing his hand tighter. "But, he wouldn't have the heart to kill anyone. He's still Santa Claus, you know."
You exhaled sharply, loosening your grip on Jack.
"Here we are," he said, pushing open a giant wooden door covered in frost. You gaped at the sight in front of you, it was so magnificent. "It'll take a while before the others get here, so we'll just hang out here."
"Is, is this your room?" you managed to stumble out, staring at the icicles hanging from the ceiling about forty feet up.
Jack smirked. "Yep, made especially for me."
"Wow," you muttered, trying to take the beauty in all at once. There wasn't much to it, since Jack didn't have to change clothes and he really didn't live here every day like North does. The walls were a deep blue, with white frost spreading like pine trees across them. Snow acted like trim, lining the floor all around the room. Jack's bed was simple, the covers the same color as his eyes. Next to the bed on the wall was a 3-D snowflake, made to hold Jack's staff up against the wall as he slept.
Jack picked you up bridal style and slid across the floor—which you realized was made out of ice. He gently laid you down on his bed, which was so soft you almost disappeared in it.
He sat down on the side of the bed and stared at his bracelet, poking the snowflake gem.
You felt a slight tinkle on your wrist, and you looked at your bracelet. The snowflake itself began to glow.
"Hey, Jack?" you ask, still staring at the gem.
"Hmm?" he mumbled, putting his arm down and looking at you.
The glow on the snowflake went out. "Oh, wait. Do that again."
"Do what again?"
"Poke the snowflake on your bracelet. I think it was causing mine to glow."
He looked at you weird, but did it anyway. The gem on your bracelet brightened up again, and when you looked at Jack's, his was too.
"Cool…" you mutter, sitting up and putting Jack's arm back down. "You could stop poking yourself now," you smirked, getting off the bed; which was a huge mistake.
You slipped on the ice and fell down hard on your butt.
Jack laughed but instantly picked you up again, bringing you up into the air.
You screamed and hugged him tight, hiding your face in his blue hoodie.
"Didn't that hurt?" Jack asked between laughs, flying higher until the icicles were at poking distance.
You nodded, too afraid to say anything out loud.
"Oh, well, you didn't react, so I needed to make sure."
"The ice fall doesn't compare with being flown up twenty feet in the air!" you managed to complain, digging your fingers into Jack's jacket.
He tried not to laugh, but failed. He slowly began descending, and you relaxed a little. "Oh, you'll get used to it. I find it quite fun, actually."
"Yeah, okay, fun," you mutter angrily. You felt the soft covers under your feet again and tried to fall back into them but Jack wouldn't let go.
Instead—with a smirk on his face—he pushed you backwards, causing you to bounce when you hit the blanket.
You were mad that he did that, but you couldn't help but laugh. You pulled him down with his pant legs, causing him to fall on top of you. You both laughed until you realized how close you were to Jack's face. Then an awkward silence followed, feeling the heat rise to your cheeks. Then Jack slid off you, lying down beside you and staring at the ceiling.
"So," he coughed; his cheeks still blue. "Do you want to play I Spy?"
You giggled. "Well, everything's kind of blue in here, so it could be anything."
Jack smirked. "All the more fun."
You smiled. "Alright, I spy something blue."
"The wall," Jack guessed, smiling wide.
"Yep, your turn."
"Hmm… something difficult…" he murmured, rubbing his chin as if he had a beard.
You laughed, pushing him away from you. "Hey! I didn't make it hard for you!"
"Nothing's hard for me," he smirked, scooting back to you. "Anyways, I spy something blue."
"The floor?" you guessed, even though it was more clear than anything.
"Nope, try again."
"The covers?"
"Oh!" Jack shouted, pretending that he got shot in the chest. "You got me!" He fell down in the bed, trying to be dead.
"Oh no! I'm a murderer!" you played along, covering your mouth with your hands. "Oh, Lord! Have mercy on me!" You fell back into the bed next to Jack, who was trying not to laugh as to not ruin his cover.
Deep laughter echoed from the doorway as North made his presence known. "Oh, I just love children," he said, smiling at you and Jack. You both sat up, the smiles disappearing from your face. "You guys can come on back now, the others are here." With that, North turned around and left, leaving you and Jack alone again.
"Who are the others?" you ask Jack, sitting up and crawling to the edge of the bed.
"Oh, just the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Kangaroo," he replied, flying over the bed and landing in front of you, extending an arm out to you.
"Kangaroo? I thought he was a bunny," you question, looking at Jack funny. You took his hand and held onto it tight as to not slip on the ice again.
Jack laughed. "Oh, he's a bunny, don't worry about that. I just thought he was a kangaroo at first—actually, no, I just did that to torment him—but the name sort of stuck."
"Oh," you giggle. The door was finally within reach and you grabbed onto it, releasing Jack's hand so you could step on solid, non-slippery ground. Then you followed him in silence to the globe room, where a short golden man, a large hummingbird creature, and an extremely tall rabbit stood in a circle, discussing something amongst themselves.
"Guardians!" North bellowed, coming up from behind you. The three creatures stopped chattering—well, actually two, the golden man displayed images over his head—and stood at the attention. "Man in Moon's prophecy may have come true." He motioned to you, who began to hide behind Jack again.
"Is that the girl? Oh my gosh, she's so pretty! I recognize her, must've been one of my special pick-ups, how are her teeth?" the hummingbird creature rambled, flying towards you excitedly.
Jack stood in front of you protectively, frowning at her. "Hands out of mouth, Tooth," he warned, but you could hear the hint of a smile in his voice. You figured that she must be the Tooth Fairy, so you smiled and waved at her.
Tooth—which is what Jack called her—smiled back at you. "By the way, your teeth are absolutely beautiful," she murmured. You figured she examined them when you had smiled.
"So, anyways," Jack said, moving back to your side. "That's Tooth, obviously," he introduced. Then he motioned to the golden man. "That's the Sandman, but we call him Sandy. He doesn't talk, and it's pretty hard to understand what he is saying when he does his image talking thing." Sandy smiled at you, waving a little. You smiled back, deciding you liked the little man. "And," Jack continued, waving to the large bunny. "The Easter—"
"Kangaroo," you finished for him, laughing. He laughed with you, ignoring the steaming bunny charging up to him.
"Why'd you teach her that, Frostbite?" he snarled, an Australian accent noticeable in his smooth voice. You backed away as Jack and the Easter Bunny stared each other down. "I already have to deal with you, and I am still going with my original statement. This prophecy should've been ignored and thrown away."
Jack's shoulders slumped at the bunny's comment. "We can't just throw her away, Bunny. Some people actually have feelings, you know."
The Easter Bunny threw his head back, mocking shock. "Oh, oh, and I don't have feelings? What about me and my feelings?"
"Not everything is about you, Bunny," Jack growled, clenching his fists.
"Guys, guys," North interrupted, grabbing both boys by the collar and pulling them apart. "Not in front of (F/N)." He put them back down and walked towards the globe. The Easter Bunny stalked back to North and Jack walked back to you, still glaring at the bunny.
"So, (F/N), what brings you to the North Pole?" Tooth asked, flying back to you but staying at a normal distance.
"Actually, it's more who brought me here, not what," you smirked, nodding your head towards Jack.
Jack blushed, rubbing the back of his head.
"Oh, really?" Tooth giggled, fixing some of her head feathers. "Well, Jack, what's the reason?"
"He told me that he wanted to know if she was girl from prophecy," North interrupted, Bunny still pouting beside him.
You looked down at your bracelet, and at Jack's. You wondered if this had something to do with this prophecy they were talking about.
"And she wanted to meet Santa," Jack added, nudging your shoulder.
You smiled, still staring at your bracelet.
North noticed this and walked over to you. "What's this, young one?" he asked kindly, lifting your arm up.
"Um, I was about to ask you that," you stuttered. "It just appeared there a little while ago when we were lying in the mountainside."
"Appeared?" North repeated, looking at the gems. "How about moon?"
"Moon?" you asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Yeah, was the moon big, bright, tiny, what did it do?"
"It was super bright, making our hands look blue."
"Our? Does Jack have—,"
"Yeah," Jack cut in, lifting his arm up too. North also took his wrist, comparing the bracelets. His eyes widened, causing you to become nervous.
"She's the one, alright," he muttered, releasing your arm.
You and Jack looked at each other, the same look on both of your faces.
After the discovery, Tooth had led you back to her room, where you wouldn't fall and hurt yourself. Bunnymund and Sandy left too, leaving Jack and North alone.
"Jack, come with me," North ordered, walking to his workshop. Jack ran to keep up with him, wondering what else could be new. When he entered North's private workshop, Jack stayed in the doorframe, leaning against it.
North whistled as he rummaged through drawers in his desk, clearly looking for something. He laughed when he found it, lifting it up against the light. He held a small book in his hand, orange with a leather backing, held shut with a leaf lock. He walked back to Jack and held it out to him.
"Take this, Jack," he said, becoming serious.
"Why?" Jack asked curiously, cautiously taking the book in his hands.
"It's a journal," North stated.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Why would I need a journal for?"
"Look, Jack, this isn't a game," he said seriously, crossing his arms. "Man in Moon sent me this book for you to keep. He says that you must write down everything (F/N) says, does, and dreams in it."
Jack stared at North, lost and confused. "Everything she does?"
"Every tiny little thing, down to the tiniest feelings."
"But why?"
North shrugged. "Manny must find it necessary for her memories to be written down somewhere."
Jack glanced down at the ground, watching a little elf scurry away from him, probably afraid that he was going to freeze him. "Okay," he murmured, putting the journal in his pocket.
North smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "That's my Jack."
"She's not going to die, is she?" he asked, fear and sadness evident in his voice.
North shrugged, walking out the door. "Only Manny knows, but, hopefully not."
Jack nodded, flying slowly behind North.
"Don't you have somewhere to be?" North asked, giving Jack a knowing look.
Jack's eyes widened when he caught the hint. "Oh, right, yeah, I do." He began to fly towards Tooth's room, but not before grabbing his staff and your sketchbook.
"And remember, Jack. Every little thing," North added to the distracted boy.
"Right, got it." Jack then flew back to Tooth's room, now weighed down with the responsibility of keeping your memories safe.
Author's Note: Quick note, gotta run to school, but updating later and Jack will have some diary inserts in the beginning now. :D Bye!
