~An Icy Rescue~
The icy water stung Jack's skin and penetrated through his clothes as soon as he dived in. He could barely see anything in the murky darkness below the thick sheet of ice on the surface. Then a bright flash of blue came from directly below him, illuminating what was going on in the depths of the lake.
He looked down and saw the girl, locked in fierce underwater combat with the nightmare sand that had broken the ice. Her necklace glowed with blue energy from the last blast of power. But her own energy was fading fast as the cold water drew the small amount of heat from her body.
She was thrashing and kicking the long back tendrils of black powder which where trying to get a firm hold of her and drag her to the bottom. Jack swam to her as fast as he could, but she was so deep down the only light he could see was the glow from her necklace. Her hair had fallen out of its bun, and now swirled around her face.
The black sand swirled around her, grabbing onto her legs and arms trying to stop her from thrashing. Then, it made the mistake of grabbing onto her glowing necklace trying to pull it off of her neck. She went into a frenzy trying to shake the tendrils grip on her and her medallion. Then suddenly her necklace began to glow a bright blue once again, much brighter than the short blast before. The nightmare sand writhed in agony at the light and fled.
She began swimming with all of her might back to the surface, but her ice ice skates were weighing her down. Jack swam even harder to her and grabbed her outstretched hand. She took it immediately, even though she didn't know who it was that was helping her.
Jack pulled her up a few feet and he reached for the light above him, his legs and lungs screaming in agony. He could feel his hand reach the surface air and he grabbed onto the frozen waters edge, pulling them up the last few feet.
Jack's head broke through the water and he gulped in the precious air. In one mighty tug he pulled the girl to the surface. Her face was pale and her skin ice cold. She grabbed onto his sweatshirt and coughed out some water and with difficulty inhaled some of the brisk air. Their puffy breaths made the air foggy around them.
She was shaking uncontrollably in Jacks arms. He couldn't tell if it was from cold, or if she was just so scared of reliving the way she might have died in her pre-life. And so Jack held her for a minute and let her shake and sob into his shirt. Her hair was plastered to her back and her lips where turning blue. Now that he was this close he noticed small ice pieces where incrusted near her eyes
He looked around at the ice. He had to get her out first; she was smaller than him and had been in there longer then he had. The ice was pretty thick all around them, so he said to her softly, "Im going to push you out on three okay?"
She sniffled and nodded, her eyes still shut. "All right."
Jack pushed her around to the ice and said, "Okay, one...two...Three!" Then he pushed her out onto the frozen top. She pulled herself up shaking with the effort. Then she swung her legs to the side and rolled onto the ice.
She gasped and pulled her knees to her chest, clutching her necklace in her shaking hands. Then tucked her hair behind her ear and slowly opened her wide eyes, amazed that she was even alive.
She crawled on all fours over to the ice's edge and grabbed hold of Jack's icy cold hand like he was going to sink. He looked up at her and her heart skipped a beat. It was the first time someone had really looked into her eyes in such a long time.
She coughed and said to him, "Ready?" Jack nodded at her. The color was fading from his face and his wet hair was sticking to his forehead and neck . She summoned a wind to pick her up, because she didn't have the strength to pull the full grown boy out on her own.
The wind picked her up, and with some difficulty, Jack too. After his body was halfway out of the water he let go of her hands and pulled himself out. He rolled out onto the ice and groaned. All his muscles ached.
He sat up and wiped the water off of his face. He reached for his staff, but it wasn't there. He started to panic and stood up looking for it feverishly, but it was no where in sight. Jack cursed himself. Why had he left it out when Pitch was nearby? How could he get back to the workshop?
Just then he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He spun around and was met with a set of bright blue eyes and a timid hug. Jack blinked in surprise, then wrapped his arms around the girl. "Thank you," she whispered.
Jack answered, "Hey, don't mention it." They broke apart and Jack saw she was holding his staff in her hands.
"Is this yours?" She asked holding it out to him.
Jack sighed in relief. "Yeah, it is. Thanks." He took it from her hands.
She smiled back at him, showing off a beautiful set of white teeth. Jack inwardly groaned. Tooth would be all over her!
Suddenly cold gust of air came by and she shivered and rubbed her wet arms. It made Jack remember he had come to bring her something.
"Hey," He said to her as he dug around in his sweatshirt pouch. "I think this belongs to you…"
What he pulled out of his pocket looked nothing like the dainty lacy scarf it was. It now resembled a wet bundle of dirty blue clothing that had been in his pocket for too many days. She cocked her head to the side as if to say, 'Why would you think that would be mine?' But when Jack unraveled it and she saw the lacy underside her face lit up and she squealed with delight.
"My scarf!" She squeaked. She took it from his hands and said, "Thank you thank you thank you! I thought it was gone forever!" Jack smiled as she held it disbelievingly in her hands.
Then her face suddenly drained of all color. "Wait, where did you find this?" She said, trying to hide the apprehension in her voice.
He answered, "I found it right here, about a year ago."
She looked at him in panic, "Did you find anything else when you found this?" She questioned.
He looked at her confused and said, "No. Did you loose something else?"
Her shoulders sank in relief. "No, I was just wondering…"
"Well. I'm sorry its wet…" Jack said. "I wasn't thinking when I jumped in."
She looked at him and answered, "Don't worry, I can fix it no problem."
She then took her necklace and tapped it to the scarfs edge. All the water on it froze into a thin layer of ice. She then crumpled up the scarf in her hands and shook off all of the broken ice shards.
"Ta-da!" She said as she held up a now dry scarf. Then she wrapped around her wet arms.
They then began to walk to the edge of the lake, well Jack walked. The girl skated across the lake next to him, pulling her wet hair up into a ponytail. They talked for a while and Jack goofed off and made her giggle. Her laugh was like the tinkling of bells.
They reached the edge and she willed a wind to pick her up and take her to a fallen log. She then turned her attention to her ice shoes.
Jack just stood mesmerized as she took off the skates. She tapped her fingers lightly in different places and the ice lobs on her feet just broke and fell to pieces into the deep snow, revealing her bare foot.
"How did you do that?" Jack asked in awe.
She looked up at him with an eyebrow raised an a quirky smirk and said, "Can I trust you?"
Jack looked startled by the question. Then he laughed and crossed his finger over his heart. "Cross my heart and hope to die!"
The she laughed at Jack and gestured for him to come to her. "Come here then, I'll show you!"
Jack sat down next to her and watched as the girl explained. "You see the flowery pattern inside the ice, with the vines?"
Jack nodded.
"Well, there is always a flower with 3 petals on it. Most of them have 4 or 5. See! This one has 3 petals right here." She pointed to a flower pattern on her ankle.
"Okay." Jack said.
"And you just have to tap each petal..." And she touched each petal lightly with her finger. "And then..."
The ice broke into multiple pieces, splitting wherever there was a design or a vine.
"Cool huh?" She said
Jack nodded. "Where did you learn that?" He asked.
She shrugged. "Picked it up over time I guess." Jack smirked and stood.
"The Man in the Moon didn't tell you?" He asked as he reached for her hand to help her up
She froze and looked at him, confusion in her eyes. "He talks to you?" She said breathlessly.
North had told Jack that the man in the moon would talk to all of the minor Guardians, especially if no one could see them. Jack had been a weird exception, but did the man in the moon not talk to all of the legends and myths he had created? Where there more like Jack?
Jacks face got serious. "Wait, he doesn't talk to you?"
She stared at him and shook her head. "He hasn't spoken to me since I woke up, and he only told me my name."
Jack and mentally slapped his brain. He hadn't asked her name! "What is your name?" He said quickly.
She bit her lip and tucked some hair behind her ear. "Its Emma."
"Just Emma?" Jack asked.
"Well, its Emma Snow," She answered. "But I guess you can just call me Snow."
He smiled. "Well, Snow, my name is Jack, Jack Frost."
"Jack…" She said, testing out the name, smiling.
Then she turned to the forest. There where some animals waiting by the trees, not wanting to get near the new male stranger. But the baby bunny came hopping back and Emma laughed and picked it up once again.
She sighed and looked towards the forest. She peered behind a tree and looked all around. "Is it safe?" She asked.
But Jack didn't even have to answer. A loud noise broke through the silence and made them both jump. It was an unmistakable NightMare neigh. It echoed throughout the woods, sending chills down their spines. All of the creatures fled in different directions trying to get away from the dreaded sound.
Emma turned to Jack her eyes wide with fear. "Where is it?" She asked. The echo made it seem like the NightMares where surrounding them from all around.
Jack grabbed her hand and said, "I don't know. We should get out of here."
She nodded and set the bunny down on the ground near a rabbit hole and he scampered inside to the safety of its walls.
She stood and Jack summoned a strong wind to pick them up. He held tight to her hand and tried to pull her up into the sky with him, but she remained grounded.
He called down to her, "Come on! We need to go!" She was holding her scarf to her chest so it wouldn't fly away in the wind. She had an uneasy look on her face.
She gazed at him tensely. "We are going to fly?" She said.
Jack gave her a confounded look. "Cant you fly?" He said.
She shrugged. "I just hover when I need to. I haven't flown in so long! Is it safe?" She questioned anxiously.
Jack noticed some black sand seeping in from the forest. They had to go now or else they would have another battle on their hands.
He held her hand tighter. "Snow, Do you trust me?" He yelled over the wind.
She looked up at him and there was a slight pause. "Yes." She called back. Her body relaxed and she didn't look so nervous anymore.
Then she let her feet slowly leave the ground and Jack pulled her up into the nippy afternoon sky.
