A/N: As promised, your extra-long update! Enjoy!
Jack really shouldn't have worried about her not being able to accept it.
The second the words left his lips, her eyes lit up, changing from the shade of hardened ice to the color of sunlight, dancing on water.
"Me?" her voice was hushed, as if she couldn't believe it, "the moon chose me?"
Before this moment, he would've sworn up and down on his staff, his magic, and the moon that Snow was utterly incapable of any emotion, save extreme anger and terror. He'd also could've sworn that Jamie's eyes, the way they had lit up the second he had first been seen, been believed in, was the most beautiful thing that he'd ever seen.
It was apparently not a good betting day for Jack, because that, of course, was before he'd seen her smile.
When she smiled, it was a sputtering, punched-in-the-gut kind of smile – radiant like the winter sun. It transformed her from sharp glacial spikes to a snowflake – from harsh and dangerous to delicate and utterly beautiful.
He realized that he had been staring.
She hadn't noticed.
"Oh, moon!" She seemed happy, for the first time that he had met her. She turned to Jack, her eyes shining, "I'm… one of you?
Jack was shocked. He'd hoped that she'd take the new information well, in an "I'm-not-going-to-try-to-impale-you sort of way," but this? Being ecstatic?
His eyes narrowed.
"What's with the sudden trust, Snow?"
She paused, the moonlight hitting her face at an angle, giving her an ethereal glow.
"I never said anything about trusting you. But the moon has been my friend, and I can feel it."
And she did. Over the years of sitting in her castle, the moon had been her only companion, shining through her isolation. Reminding her that one day, the people would come, and she would be safe, and that she would know, if she relied on her heart.
And now, she knew. She just knew. It was a satisfying feeling, a completeness she'd never known before. She belonged here. It burrowed, piercing through the fear and mistrust, and though Snow would never completely put down her frozen façade, she just knew.
They will come for you, the moon said, and you will know when.
The beams had shone so brightly then, reflecting off the icy surfaces of her room, dazzling, and shining in her eyes. But she had sighed, because waiting, waiting, waiting had been her life. But now they were here, and now she had finally been taken.
Jack, on the other hand, was utterly bewildered.
"The moon talked to you? While you were in your fancy palace? He said stuff?"
Snow looked a bit shocked at the outburst, with the flailing arms and everything.
"Well, yes…" She trailed off, looking as Jack's pale face grew steadily redder.
"Every night, when the moon is at its peak, he talks to me. Told me to wait. He was my only friend in time of isolation."
Jack's face was the shade of beetroot. "What?"
He looked like he was going to murder someone, but with the shade of purple his face was turning, it looked as if he'd choke to death first. Snow stared, her eyes wide.
"What? Is there anything wrong with that?" she demanded.
"All these years," Jack hissed, sparks and frost shooting out of his staff and whirling everywhere, "and not more than two words. And then- and then-"
He seemed to be at a loss of words, which, to Snow, was a first. A very pleasant first.
On the other hand, she, with all her powers, had failed to skewer him, even with the fancy barbs and suspended spikes that she'd been working on for a while, which meant he was powerful. Extraordinarily so. If he lost control, lost her will like she did, with jagged edges and ice everywhere…
…let's just say that she didn't want to be in the middle of it.
"Children!" she blurted, saying the first thing that ran through her mind in a wild attempt to escape a possible snowstorm, "What are they like?"
Jack paused in the middle of his rant, his eyes huge in disbelief, his chest heaving, as if he'd just run a race – which was ridiculous. Jack flew everywhere, and made a show out of doing it whenever he could, just to spite Bunny, who seemed to be the only one who couldn't fly-
But his thoughts digressed. He went back to being in shock.
"You're a Guardian, and you don't know what children are like?" A short, small burst of laughter rolled off his lips, dripping with incredulity.
Blood rushed to her cheeks.
"I was in that palace for…" she blustered, trying to think of a word, "...forever! You expect me to know what these- these children are like?"
Jack stopped, his head tilted to the side, almost like a curious puppy.
He simply couldn't imagine. The better part of his life so far was spent around children, flying around with them, laughing at their antics, starting random snowball fights, eliciting smiles and laughs. Children, were, quite literally, what he lived for. With children, he was the Guardian of Fun, of laughter and joy, and without them – without them, he was nothing.
Yes, he'd been lonely, but at least he had the giggles and snow to live for. She'd been alone, been trapped in that castle of hers, never leaving. No wonder she had been so terrified.
Jack shook his head, trying to dispel the thoughts that disgusted him so much.
"Well," Jack said, a grin lighting up his face, a valiant attempt to hide his emotions, "we're going to have to change that, won't we?"
"What?" Snow asked, her pale skin edging even more towards white.
"The fact that you don't even know what kids are like! You're a Guardian! You live for kids!"
In all his excitement, he grabbed her hand, cold and thin, fitting into his, perfectly.
Jack was far too excited, and Snow too overwhelmed to notice.
"And then, maybe we'll find your center!"
"My-my what?"
"I'll explain later."
Jack's grip on his staff tightened. His feet left the ground, and with a startled cry, so did hers.
Huh. I guess that being my apprentice has its perks. Or maybe Wind likes her.
"Wind!" Jack called, his voice echoing off the walls, "Take me home!"
.X.
"Today was a slow day," she said, her teeth bared as she rifled through a thick book, a quill in hand.
"Was it, mistress?" His eyes were dull, barely any light in them.
"Yes, I believe the mortals decided to stay intelligent for now."
With that, the large, dusty tome slammed shut, and vanished.
"Well, the job's done for now. I just hope the humans give me a few seconds to start."
"Start what, mistress?"
Pitch had never felt so tired, so exhausted, and the dust was still whirling around his wrists, cutting in, searing away, excruciating. Nothing mattered but the pain, which flared whenever he had so much as a rebellious thought.
"The plan, obviously. It seems as if you get duller by the day."
"Yes, of course."
Just agree, just follow, there's no escape.
It seemed as if his new mantra was exceedingly dark now.
"Now, to start. Just a precaution, really, to warn an old friend, who put me here."
Her hand wound around a silver horn, long and fluted, and Pitch couldn't help but think that he'd seen it, knew it, something.
He promptly forgot.
The woman lifted the horn up to her lips, and through it, she whispered.
"I know you can hear me, old friend."
Her lips curled into a frightening grin, her teeth white against the black.
"Oh, you were always able to hear me, darling. But now you have no choice. You like this new toy of mine, this lovely, harmless looking instrument? It's made of silver, the metal that is partially made of the moon. Renders you immobile, unable to turn around the Earth, while I speak. Of course, it can only be used once, and it's useless when you reach your peak," she laughed, a sound like a million tortured souls, "but it doesn't feel good, does it, Moon, when someone else has control."
The moonbeams, once dull in the cavern, beamed bright and warningly into her lair.
"I've seen you gotten your power back already, Moon. And shame, that little toy took me hundreds of years to perfect."
The moon shone, almost blindingly bright, the light glancing everywhere, the blackness turned white. Pitch couldn't help but watch, transfixed.
"Oh, I'm back. You sent me here to do your dirty work, Moon. I had, for thousands of years, and you give me no rest, no rewards."
Her snarls echoed off the cave, the moon glowing with even more intensity.
"Instead, you gave the Guardians everything. Love. Respect. They do nothing except take care of your precious little children, "she hissed, her eyes burning, "you never noticed me, never did anything at all, and after millenias of waiting, Moon. You let my work slowly eat away at me, let me turn and twist, and yet, you did nothing, giving all the light to your Guardians – and they are as good as dead.
The moon beams dulled suddenly, as if the Moon had sighed, resignedly.
"And I'm not afraid of you, Moon. Not with everything I have now. I am the oldest being you have formed, and also the most powerful. Especially now that I have Pitch, the Nightmare King and his power."
The beams are so dull now, thin streams of light that are barely visible.
"Even the little new Guardian, what was her name? The one who died of grief – I would know – Elsa? She can't stop me, Moon. You very well know. False hope never works, Moon, and you should stop supplying your cherished Guardians with it."
Pitch's wrists stung, burning, and as the pain brought something close to tears to his eyes, he wondered what she was talking about.
"Once the Guardians are dead, so are wonder, and hope, and memories, and," she spat, "fun. With them gone, everything you stand for is lost, Moon, and with everything at my disposal, you can do nothing to stop me."
.X.
Jack didn't understand. He'd always been spontaneous, but this was just purely abnormal.
Why, why did I take her to Burgess? Am I getting dumber as I get older?
On the other hand, he was immortal, and never really aged - but that was another internal battle for another day.
He should have told her that nothing was safe, that there was still a darkness for them to battle together, that she should be learning everything she could while there was still time. There wasn't any time left.
But she didn't know what children were, and that was all the reason in the world.
Through the flight, he'd laughed and whooped, enjoying riding the wind as always, while she has stared, her eyes wide and terrified, her hand clenching his tightly, trying not to fall off the current. He desperately tried not to notice.
They landed, Snow's long hair disheveled, her breaths coming in short pants. She collapsed on the ground, her hands clutching at it tightly.
"Oh, Moon," she breathed, her fingers starting to clench into fists, trying to maintain some sort of balance, "I'm never doing that again."
Meanwhile, Jack stood, a crooked grin on his face as he looked down at his apprentice, who was still gasping like a fish on land.
"Oh, come on, Snow," he said, trying to hold back a laugh, "as if Wind would ever let you fall."
"It was more like she was trying to hurl me across the Earth! Is your pet homicidal?"
The wind whistled angrily, and Jack couldn't help but give a chuckle.
"Calm down, Wind," Jack said soothingly, "and no, Snow, she's not my pet, Wind owns herself. And she won't hurt you. Promise."
She finally regained her breath, and her normal heart rate. She gingerly lifted herself off the ground, her translucent cape rising from a ruffled heap and settled elegantly down her back. Her wide blue eyes looked around her, at the warmly painted houses and the black and yellow roads, taking everything in.
"Okay," Snow breathed, looking around her, "where am I? Why am I here? Is this about the children?"
She never seemed to run out of questions.
Jack tried to answer what seemed to be the simplest of the questions.
"This- this is…" Jack trailed off, trying to think of a good name, "… home."
"Home?" Her interest grew, "this is where you live?"
He winced. How was he going to explain this to her? Jack just met this girl, and though, admittedly, she did try to kill him, this wasn't a burden you just went telling people. Not even the Guardians, his closest friends, knew.
"It's where I lived, three hundred years ago." Maybe he could get off the hook, she didn't need to know the full story -
"Really? What was it like? What happened?"
-or not.
But he couldn't just brush it off. He'd been the one to yell at all the Guardians, to tell them that she'd never trust them if they didn't tell her the truth, to tell her everything. Jack had to follow through on his words.
He took a deep breath.
"This place is called Burgess, and I was born here. I had a family and all. A little sister, too."
Snow's bright blue eyes widened, and seemed to glaze over, a little. Her voice seemed strange, a little off. "… A sister…"
A flash of red hair, streaked with white, large blue eyes, ice, ice…
She came back with a snap, her eyes blinking erratically. There it was again, the strange visions she'd been having, the ones that came back randomly. Snow wondered if she should tell Jack about it, ask him if these strange images were something that came with being a Guardian.
But he was in the middle of telling her something important. She could feel it, see it in the countenance he wore: a heartbreakingly melancholy expression. She couldn't interrupt him now – it'd have to wait.
"Yeah, a sister," Jack continued, lost in his memories, not even noticing the odd, nostalgic look in her eyes, "I think her name was Emily. Little thing, with big brown eyes that took up half her face."
Jack smiled, a peculiar, brave smile.
"We were always together, joined at the hip. I'd always made jokes, played pranks on her, did everything to make her laugh. She loved new things. Everything was great."
Snow watched him, entranced. A change was settling over him – the playful, flippant boy he was before was gone. This was deeper, cracking the surface, knowing who he really was.
She hated to admit it, but it was fascinating.
"And one day," Jack persisted, his eyes clouding over, "we went ice-skating on that pond near my house. It was stupid, it was almost spring, the ice was thin, but we still went. I was stupid."
His hand clenched, tighter around his staff, and frost started spreading delicately across the ground, the white gradually taking over the green.
Snow didn't know why he sounded so upset, but she didn't remember what ice-skating was, either. What was it like? Why did he sound so upset?
But it wasn't a time for questions. She kept listening; quietly, attentively.
"We were skating, and I was teaching her how, and suddenly, the ice cracked."
Why did he sound so upset? Wasn't he just like her? Ice was never a problem.
"What are you talking about? Couldn't you just have frozen it over again?"
Jack laughed, a bitter, old laugh.
"Snow, I'm three hundred and seventeen years old. This happened way before I became a Guardian. I didn't have powers at all, back then."
Snow's eyes widened.
Oh.
"So the ice cracked," Jack continued, as if she'd never interrupted at all, "and she was scared, Emily – she was terrified. And so I told her that we were going to have fun."
His fingers tightened over his staff, noticeably.
"And when I got close enough, I grabbed my staff, and grabbed her with it, throwing her away from the spot. But then, then I fell through. I never came back up."
"Wait," Snow interjected, delicately, "then how-"
"How am I here? The Moon chose me, because I saved my sister. To be a Guardian." He shrugged, "But the worst part is, after I became on, I didn't remember it, till I got my memories back."
Jack was suddenly very aware of the golden tube that was still stored in his pocket.
Should he tell her about it, that he had her memories? His hand started to reach towards his pocket -
Wait.
A thought struck him. What did the Moon say? That she had gone through something truly terrible, so horrifying, that it destroyed her at the end?
She just started to believe him – just a little, but it was still something. If he gave her the memories, she'd want to look at them: and then what? She'd just see how she died – a brutal, painful death, by the looks of it. She would just run away, as far as she could.
His hand moved back towards his staff. Later. He'd give them to her later, when she trusted him more, when she wouldn't run at the slightest thing.
"I remember seeing her, you know, after…" Jack continued, trying to smooth things over, "I remember her crying, looking at that pond, but I thought she was just some random girl. I had no clue who she was, until now…"
Jack trailed off. He couldn't help thinking all the times that he'd hated himself, hated the fact that he'd left Emily alone, leaving her brotherless and in pain. He'd never actually figured out what happened to her later – he couldn't even find her tombstone.
Snow stared at him, at the disgust and sadness that marred his expression, at the pain of it all, and, almost impulsively, reached out.
"I'm so sorry, Jack."
The white-haired boy looked up, startled. No, he didn't want sympathy, he hated it, no, he was stronger than this-
"No, it's okay. It was a long time ago, anyway. Not much to talk about, let's just forget it-"
He was rambling, trying to fill up the space. It hurt too much.
"No, it's not."
Jack stopped.
"She meant a lot to you, I can tell. It's okay. I- I…"
Snow didn't know what she was talking about, but something inside her ached. She could feel his pain – it was almost tangible. She could feel the hurt radiating, and it was like her own.
Jack hated dwelling on the past. He hated the way she looked at him now- a mixture of pity and something that was very close to kindness.
It seems like I had to play the weak one to get her to open her shell, didn't I, Jack thought, bitterly.
"Children- you wanted to see the children, right?" Jack blustered, desperately changing to subject.
"Well, yes, but-"
"Come on! I have friends who'd want to meet you!"
Without a second word, he latched onto her arm, pulling her into the air.
"Come on, Wind. Take me to Jamie."
.X.
"Guys, do you think that we should wake him up yet?"
Tooth peered anxiously into Bunny's eyes, which were still open and glassy as he snored away. Dancing dream sand carrots were only amusing for so long.
Sandy shook his head vehemently. As much as Bunny was close to him as family, he was sick and tired of hearing him complain. He justified it by thinking of the silence as a well-deserved break.
"Well, Bunny has been out for two hours," North said.
Sandy shook his head again, and pointed to it. Two snowflakes, one large and one miniscule, floated above his head.
"So, you want to talk about Jack and the Snow Queen?" Tooth translated deftly - five hundred years of working next to Sandy had paid off.
He nodded enthusiastically.
"Well, about what?" North inquired.
Sandy held up a hand, his fingers forming a thumbs up, and then, after a pause, reversing them.
"You want us to tell you what we think about it?"
Sandy nodded again.
"I think that she'd make a great Guardian," Tooth stated brightly, "she's a little scared, but Jack will work through that, right? We'll be friends in no time."
Her words didn't quite have to effect that she'd hope it would have.
Sandy looked at her skeptically.
North shook his head. "Jack must be miracle worker if he wants her to be a real Guardian."
"I bet she's really sweet. She looked that way," Tooth stated defiantly.
Before anyone could answer, a large groan echoed from the side. It seemed as Bunny had woken up.
Sandy sighed resignedly.
.X.
After Snow threw up her arms for the second time and declared that she was never, ever going to ride Wind again (to which Jack inwardly snorted at), they were standing on the roof of Jamie's house. Jack couldn't help but feel a spark of excitement – it had been weeks since he'd last seen his first believer.
"Who is this Jamie? Is this where he lives? What is he like?"
Firing off questions, as usual.
"It's … complicated. Look, I'll explain when you see him, okay?"
He wrapped his hand around the window ledge, and gently rapped on the glass window. After a few seconds, there was the telltale pitter-patter of footsteps, and the window flung open. Huge, eager brown eyes greeted them.
"Jack!" Jamie shouted, delighted, "you haven't been here, in like, forever!"
Jack laughed, swinging himself into the room with ease.
"I know, kiddo. Sorry, I've been pretty busy lately." What an understatement.
"Why are you back now? We've all missed you! Can we have another snow day?"
Jack chuckled and ruffled Jamie's dark hair.
Snow watched all of this, somewhat amused and very perplexed.
"Well, I'm back now. And sorry, Jamie, it's April now. Spring would get so mad at me, and then she'd cut off more of winter next year."
Jamie pouted, but his eyes, large and gleaming, betrayed his happiness.
"Then why are you here?" Jamie huffed playfully.
This was going to be hard to explain.
"Well, kid, there's someone I want you to meet." Jack pointed at what seemed to be empty space.
"What do you mean? There's no one there."
Snow looked on, extraordinarily confused.
"Do me a favor, Jamie. I just want you to imagine, with all your heart, that someone's right there. Just do it."
Jamie nodded, obediently shutting his eyes childishly, and his fists clenched, as if he was trying his hardest to make a wish.
When he opened his eyes again, he couldn't help but gasp in astonishment at the other person who stood there.
.X.
"So what are we to do, mistress?"
It was the first question he had asked in hours.
"What do you mean, what are we going to do?" The woman snapped.
She'd been poring over a book, scratching in letters and crossing things out, dust whirling everywhere.
His wrists still burned.
"About the plan, mistress."
"Oh, of course," she said, waving her hand dismissively, "when I'm done with my work. If I so much as forget one, the humans would be in a panic."
"Yes, mistress."
This was so wrong, so terribly wrong. There was something so off about his mistress. One minute she was raging against the moon, the other she was docile, tractable; all but nonexistent – she couldn't seem to care less.
How strange.
A/N: That took me forever. I hope it was worth it!
Thank you all who wished me luck on my competition! It was so thoughtful of you. I want to thank all of you who reviewed – you guys really make my day.
Anyway – introducing my new beta ... ncarraway! She's amazing – thanks so much, n!
And of course, a big thank you for all who read it, and please, please REVIEW!
A special shout out to :
regina di cuori – thank you so much for the encouragement! That review made me feel a lot better, thanks. : )
Tranquil Dawn- Wow, you play, too? That's awesome! Thanks for all the encouragement, and for reading and reviewing!
Hallow Moon Stone – Wow, I had no idea that so many people also played flute. Thanks for all the kind words!
Guest reviewer and 007 – thanks so much! It means so much to me that you bothered to leave a review!
And last, but most definitely not least,
DarkHorseBlueSky, who knows how important encouragement is to an author and has reviewed on everything I've written so far. Thanks so much!