Post Midterm Updates:
The first term at Moonstone Arts Academy seemed to fly past before anyone really realised what was going on. Before the students knew it, midterm exams for each of the major arts subjects had come and gone (Hiccup had managed to meet his deadline of getting new dance leggings before the finals but he still insisted on wearing additional leg warmers, pointing out that his medical form said he had very bad circulation in his hands and feet and thus they needed to be kept warm at all times) and everyone was now focusing the majority of their attention to the term finals which would happen just before Christmas. At least...some people were.
"Sign-up sheets are being passed around for the Academy's dance competition," Belle Reine announced the morning after midterm break in homeroom (or 'Form Time' as Merida kept calling it). "It's a chance for everyone to show off their own individual skills outside of the classroom – personally I'd encourage as many of you as possible to take part, especially with your scores from the midterms."
"I'm guessing this is an individual contest, Mrs Reine?" one of the students, a girl with a New Orleans accent named Tiana, asked, raising her hand as she did so. Jack, Hiccup, Eugene, Merida, Rapunzel and Astrid were all sitting at their cluster of desks examining the leaflet advertising the competitions. Over the last half a term, they'd become seriously close. Outside of class, it was rare to not see them all sitting together at their favourite spot by the gate or hanging out with each other around town. Jack and Hiccup got along like brothers, with Hiccup often being the one to keep Jack from doing anything completely reckless; Astrid and Merida seemed like twins separated at birth; Rapunzel had become like a little sister to Hiccup and Merida, just as Eugene had become fast friends with Jack; and this was all topped off with the occasional spats between the feisty Merida and the frosty-haired Jack. No one knew exactly why – those two just seemed to find an excuse to get down each other's throats a lot.
"Yes, Tiana," Belle confirmed. "Each participant is judged individually but each part of the contest will test a different skill-set of dance. Interested in signing up?"
"Well...not really," Tiana admitted. "Outside curricular stuff...I don't have time for dancing. I'm working on my music." Belle smiled as if to say 'fair enough' before a boy (from overseas – Macedonia, in fact) called Naveen began saying that Tiana just didn't want to compete because she didn't want to show everybody else up – it was no secret to the form that Naveen, whilst a ladies' man in general, had a thing for Tiana and for a time she'd retaliated to his charms by whacking him over the head with a book every now and then, although in the lead up to the midterms they'd started to get on better terms.
"Well, never mind showin' anybody up – coun' me in!" Merida grinned, holding her hand up for a sign-up sheet. Belle passed her one and the Scottish red-head quickly scribbled her name down before turning to the others in her group of friends. "Anyone else interested?"
"Could be fun – beats studying," Jack shrugged with a small smirk (contrary to what Tooth had said the previous summer, despite somehow liking Moonstone and attending it as a school, Jack still had a major dislike for actual studying. In fact, outside the practical arts exams for the midterms, Jack had just about scraped passes), making a motion with his hand for the sheet. Merida passed it over her shoulder to him as he dug out a pen.
"I'm all for a little competition myself," Astrid admitted slyly. Jack handed the sheet to her next.
"Yeah, you should've seen her back home," Hiccup chuckled. "Every single time we had karaoke night or were out at the rhythm games at the arcade Astrid would leave us in the dust."
"Says the guy who managed to beat Guitar Hero on Expert+ Mode for the drums," Astrid pointed out with a playful pout. Eugene sat up with his eyes wide in admiration and Rapunzel looked stunned.
"No way!" she exclaimed. "We've got to have a jam someday – I'll take the guitar on Expert and you take the drums!" she suggested with an excited grin.
"Teach me your ways, Senpai!" Eugene begged.
"It was that one time!" Hiccup protested. "Besides, you should see Astrid on Dance Nation." Astrid thwacked his shoulder for that and threatened to do the same to anybody who pressed for the full story. Needless to say, Jack's curiosity was now piqued. However, he noticed that Hiccup hadn't gone to write his name down for the dance contest.
"You gonna sign up, man?" he asked. Hiccup blinked in confusion at the sudden change in conversation for a moment before glancing at the sign-up sheet.
"Nah – I've already said I'd help out with the tech for stuff like this," he explained. "Besides me, it's just Jim and that exchange student from San Fransokyo on the tech team..."
"That Tadashi guy?" Merida remembered. Hiccup nodded. "I hear he's breaking the hearts of tons of girls in the school," she added with a mock adoring tone to her voice.
"Oh, come on!" Jack exclaimed with a huff. "He's not that good looking..."
"Tell that to the group of girls stalking him outside the tech room at lunch," Hiccup grimaced.
"He's got someone back home, hasn't he?" Astrid thought. Hiccup shrugged – the heck he knew! The only thing Tadashi had ever said about Honey Lemon (apparently it was a nickname but how'd she gotten stuck with that?!) was that she was a lovely girl who made doing chemistry in heels and with your hair down most of the time (even Merida with her apparent lack of concern for danger knew that was incredibly hazardous!) look like the most fun you could ever have on the face of the planet.
"Anyway! Back on topic," Eugene cut in. "That's still two guys on tech, Hiccup. And you got the highest dance marks for ballet in the school!" Hiccup flushed and averted his gaze to his desk where his suddenly found something interesting with the wood grain.
"Come on, Hiccup!" Rapunzel pressed. "I'm sure you'll do great!" Hiccup didn't say anything in reply but Astrid stepped in for him.
"Look, if he doesn't want to take part, leave it at that," she argued, a little more snappishly than perhaps she'd meant. She calmed down and offered the sign-up sheet to Eugene and Rapunzel. "What about you two? You up for it?"
"Sure – why not?" Eugene shrugged, accepting the sheet of paper and scribbling his name down. He then passed the paper to Rapunzel and she began writing – after a moment or two she raised her hand for Belle to come over and collect the sheet.
"Alright – first rounds are in a couple of weeks," the homeroom teacher smiled as she scanned the names. "You'll get details about it soon. Good luck!" she added cheerfully as she went to check the rest of the announcements. As she did and her voice faded into the background, Hiccup's phone buzzed in his pocket (for now it was on vibrate mode but the guy had a rather cheesy ring tone so you couldn't blame him).
"Di'ja father finally get back to you on that Skype video message you left him at the start of term?" Merida groaned sympathetically as Hiccup pulled his (flip) phone out of his pocket and examined it under the desk.
"Nope, and to be perfectly frank I've given up expecting an answer," he replied cynically. Astrid hissed a reproachful "Hiccup!" in his ear but it went ignored.
"What is it, then?" Rapunzel asked curiously. Hiccup's face lit up.
"Well, I signed up for that theatre tickets thing that was advertised at the start of term..." he explained. The others knew what he was talking about. Moonstone had set up an agreement with local theatres (both cinemas and stage) to allow students attending the Academy to get discounts on tickets. If they signed up for a subscription to a theatre service, they could get notifications on what shows were playing and where, as well as get primary choice of seats. A lot of students had signed up, including Hiccup who now received emails on a fortnightly basis on what was playing in the area. "...and there's a showing of Billy Elliot going on at the theatre close by," he finished. Astrid's eyes sparkled.
"Whoa! We haven't seen that one since..." she trailed off but quickly covered herself up. "Well, you know – your sixteenth, right?"
"That your favourite musical or something, Hiccup?" Jack asked. Hiccup nodded in reply. "Can't say I've seen it myself," Jack admitted.
"Cannae say I've ever been a fan of ballet but the show itself is pretty good," Merida shrugged. "Also – the kid going against his parent's expectations for him...I sympathise."
"Anybody up for a night out this weekend?" Hiccup offered. A murmuring of agreement sounded through the friendship group and Hiccup's crooked smile, which everyone who met him found to be rather endearing, widened happily. "Great! I'll book things up this evening," he smiled, hammering the keypad to give himself a reminder.
As homeroom came to a close, everyone began spreading out across the school to attend their various classes. That morning, Hiccup was due for English followed by tech; Astrid had music, Rapunzel and Eugene had dance; Merida had the misfortune to be stuck in maths; and Jack was heading off for a single of art. As he headed towards the art rooms, Jack couldn't help but smile – he'd known these guys for less than a term and already it felt as if he'd known them longer. Was it something to do with the missing Earth Guardians? No...Jack didn't even know yet if they'd actually taken a human form yet.
Speaking of the Earth Guardians, had he ever been told what their names were? Jack racked his brains to see if he could remember whether or not the other Guardians had told him the names of the Guardians of Spring, Summer and Autumn. However, he came up blank. Nothing in his admittedly iffy memory banks gave him any indication that he knew the names of his supposed fellow Earth Guardians. Eh, maybe he'd ask Emily-Jane about it later. The Earth Guardians were her aides after all – surely she'd know.
Either way, Jack had been attending the Academy for just over half a term now and he still hadn't gotten so much of a whiff of trouble. No black feathers like the ones Bunny had found in the Warren, no creepy high pitched laugh...not even any Nightmares.
"Some 'body-guarding' mission," Jack muttered as he headed into his art class. As expected, his work for the term was waiting on the rack to be continued – now Jack was hardly an artist so it wasn't exactly a masterpiece but he was trying to draw inspiration from the patterns that his frost created. After all, creating individual frost and snowflake patterns that were unique every single time was an art form in itself, in Jack's humble opinion so he did his best to translate his usual work from everyday surfaces using ice to paper using pencil, ink and paint.
"I'm home!" Jack called as he walked through the door that evening, just as the sun had touched the horizon behind the forest nearby. Emma was already at the kitchen table doing homework of her own. To keep up appearances, Emma was attending the local school with Jamie and his friends whilst Jack attended the Academy.
"Dance overrun again?" she asked, looking up from what looked like a maths paper. Jack shuddered at the mere sight of it.
"Yeah – there's a dance contest coming up," he explained. "The others, bar Hiccup, and I have signed up – need to get in all the practise I can," he shrugged. Emma snorted with laughter. "Oh, quiet!" Jack snapped playfully.
"I'm sorry," Emma giggled. "It's just...MOM!" she suddenly yelled. "Jack's going up for King of the May again!"
"AM NOT!" Jack shouted, blushing bright red again. His mother poked her head through the door from preparing dinner in the kitchen.
"I heard something about a dance contest – that right, honey?" she chuckled.
"Yes, and it has nothing to do with May Day!" Jack protested, shooting a mock glare at his little sister.
"How comes Hiccup's not taking part?" Emma asked once her fit of giggles had subsided. Jack shrugged.
"Personal reasons which he neglected to share with us," he replied, slinging his bag onto a nearby chair and heading through to help out in the kitchen. As he headed in, he noticed that Emily-Jane wasn't in her usual spot by the counter with a mug of green tea as she normally was when he came home. "Aunt Jane out?" he asked dryly. His mother caught his tone and tapped him lightly with a spatula.
"Watch your tone, Jack," she warned. Jack mumbled an apology. "And yes, she is out. She should be back soon – she was getting an update on the situation from the other Guardians." Jack silently celebrated – it was about time an update came by! The wind suddenly rattled the windows and sent a draught all the way from under the front door, causing Emma to yelp and draw her feet up onto the chair. "Oh!" Jack's mother cried in irritation. Jack was already on the case.
"Yeah, yeah! I know!" he called. "Calm down, would you? The job's taking longer than expected!" he huffed. The wind seemed to moan in response. "By the moon...I'm doing my best, okay, but I'm not available for now – you know that." Another window rattle. "And mind the windows!" A howl sounded down the chimney. "I'll make it up to you next year, okay?"
The wind seemed to subside for now but Jack looked a bit dejected. Emma finished making sure none of her homework had been blown off the table before glancing at her brother.
"The wind sure misses you, huh?" she noted. Jack nodded.
"Yeah – it's coming up to Halloween," he explained with a sad shrug. "We always start spreading the frost in the Northern Hemisphere around this time...also we take the opportunity to play a few pranks on Bunny," he added with a smirk.
"Good to see some things haven't changed," his mother snickered. Jack's hand flew to his hair...come on, really? The wind suddenly seemed to shriek again momentarily before ceasing completely – the Overland-Frosts winced. They knew why that had happened. Seconds later, Mother Nature, in her humble human guise, walked in through the front door.
"Ah, Jack – you beat me home. That's a first," she remarked, almost pleasantly surprised when she saw Jack standing in the kitchen with his mother. She passed Emma and ruffled her hair slightly. "Hey, Em," she greeted.
"Nice to see you too, Aunt Jane," Jack greeted as he began preparing some vegetables. "Any news from your travels?" he asked, almost politely. Emma made a small remark under her breath about it but it went ignored (that or Jack pretended to have not heard it).
"Everyone's still looking," Emily-Jane replied. "Even Pitch," she added. Jack looked up in surprise. "He's got enough control over those Nightmares of his to send out scouts in the Shadows," Emily-Jane explained. "After all, that is a realm you Guardians cannot touch."
"Fair enough," Jack shrugged. "I'm still on the fence about that guy," he noted.
"I don't blame you," Emily-Jane sighed. "After what he did to you all last year...I'm not surprised that you have trust issues concerning him." Jack sighed heavily, thinking back to the events that had led to him becoming a Guardian of Childhood.
"The thing is, I understand why he did it," he remembered. Emma fell silent in putting her things away and her mother put the spatula she was using down as her son fell into thought. "I mean...I was in the same position as him! Nobody believed in him." Jack trailed off for a moment. "He...he just wanted to be seen again...to not be alone."
"Like you?" Emma whispered. Jack walked over and hugged her close to let her know he was okay. Emily-Jane nodded in understanding – of all the spirits of the supernatural world, she took a neutral stance in most matters. As such she hadn't intervened the previous year when Pitch had attacked the Guardians. This time, however, her own Aides were required to put things right so she was taking more of an active role this time. Her powers were far too formidable to be used in combat without being noticed but if both the realms of Moonlight and of Shadow were being threatened, Emily-Jane knew that she couldn't avoid this conflict by acting neutral.
"You're not like Pitch, Jack," Emma comforted her now silent brother. "You know that."
"I know," Jack murmured, breaking the hug before turning back to face the woman who was essentially his boss. "So...have we got anything else?" he asked. "The other Earth Guardians, maybe?"
"There's no trace of them among spirits," Emily-Jane confirmed. "I have every reason to believe they've chosen human incarnations for this lifetime." Jack's mind flashed back to his friendship with the others at school. Things were starting to click.
"The guys you told me to keep an eye on," he realised.
"Very possibly," Emily-Jane nodded. "How're they faring, by the way?" Jack shrugged.
"Leading pretty normal lives as far as I can tell – we've got a trip out at the weekend," he explained with a small grin. "Hiccup's booking theatre tickets." Emily-Jane gave Jack a warning frown.
"I hope you're taking this seriously," she said softly. "I don't want the only Season Spirit I've got a tag on to slack off on the job."
"I'm not slacking off!" Jack protested. "I am keeping an eye on them, just like you asked. But I'm also trying to be, quote-unquote, 'normal'!" he added with air quotes. "And 'normal' teens hang out at the weekends."
"It's true – before midterms started they'd be out most Saturdays," Jack's mother admitted.
"Thank you!" Jack huffed in relief. Emily-Jane just raised an eyebrow at him. "Besides, nothing's happened yet that I need to protect them from," he explained. "No...feathers or whatever Bunny saw...no nothing," he added. Emily-Jane sighed.
"Okay, fine," she muttered. "Just wanted to make sure." Jack decided to ask the question that had been bugging him for a while now – the names of the Earth Guardians.
"Say, about the Earth Guardians...Season Spirits...whatever," he began, pulling up a chair at the table. "I mean, I know my real name right now is supposedly Jokul Frosti and whatnot but...what about the others?"
"Why do you ask?" Emily-Jane quizzed, genuinely surprised.
"Just curious," Jack replied offhandedly. "Don't think I ever got told who my old comrades were," he added with a slightly dramatic change in tone. Man, he'd been spending way too much time with Eugene.
"Well, 'comrades' isn't exactly how I'd put it," Emily-Jane shrugged slightly, boiling the kettle and pouring herself a mug of...yep, green tea. Emma, deciding to join the conversation, asked why. "I don't think I've ever known spirits to be so different to one another and yet so close."
"So Jack had some serious BFFs in a past life," Emma teased.
"Where'd you even pick up the term 'BFFs'?" Jack questioned.
"What? The girls say it all the time in school!"
"You could all throw one heck of a party when it suited you, that's for sure," Emily-Jane chuckled. "Though you...the old you, that it...and Sol always had something or other against each other."
"Uh...Sol?" Jack repeated with a frown.
"Sol Himmel – she's the Summer Guardian," Emily-Jane explained. Jack nodded in understanding – the Guardian of Courage and Prosperity, master of the Water element. "Probably the most spirited of the lot of you. She didn't stay in one place for very long."
"Sounds like she would have gotten along fine with Jack," Jack's mother piped up.
"Oh, trust me – cleaning up after one of Sol's spats with Jokul was more work than keeping track of evolution," Emily-Jane remarked. Jack smirked slightly – he wished he could remember. Then again, with a new life came new memories. He knew that much. "You got along well with Hosten and Fleur, though."
"Spring and Autumn?" Jack guessed.
"Yes, but the other way round," Emily-Jane nodded. "Hosten Redleaf is the Autumn Spirit, Guardian of Knowledge and Change and Master of Fire. Fleur Rampion is the Spirit of Spring..."
"Guardian of Life and Creativity, Master of Earth...well, besides you," Jack remembered, committing the names to memory.
"Well, she's more in command of flowers and plants," Emily-Jane shrugged. "I take care of the heavy lifting." Jack assumed that meant earthquakes and volcanoes and what have you.
"What were they like?" he asked.
"Hosten tended to be pretty quiet," Emily-Jane recalled. "Studious type, obviously, but never afraid to have fun. I still marvel at that pet of his..." she muttered the last part under her breath and moved on before Jack or anyone else in the house could press her further. "Fleur was a sweetheart. She could get along with anybody – fantastic flower arranging skills, might I add." Jack and Emma couldn't help but chuckle. Emily-Jane paused before speaking again. "Look, it's more likely than not that these friends of yours are my Aides," she murmured. "All the more reason you need to keep an eye on them – they won't know their heritage nor will they be able to defend themselves in their mortal forms."
"Got it," Jack nodded solemnly. "I'll be careful," he promised. Emily-Jane expressed her thanks when the announcement for dinner was made. Jack spent the meal in relative silence, left pondering the spirits he'd once known but completely forgotten.
He suddenly felt even happier that he'd found the people he now considered the closest friends he'd had in centuries.
I am SO sorry I missed the update yesterday! University has just started up again so I completely forgot.
EDIT: I've been asked about this in reviews (and this will go into the trivia section of my profile), in regards to the names of the Season Spirits. Hosten and Sol came from the Norwegian 'høst' and 'sol' meaning 'autumn' and 'sun' respectively. 'Himmel' is German for 'Sky', so Sol's name literally translates to 'sun sky', which I felt was very reminiscent of summer. Fleur Rampion comes from the French for 'flower' and the name of the plant from the original Grimms' fairytale, Rapunzel (in fact, that's where the name comes from).