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Chapter eleven: To understand again
"In understanding people I've a long way to go
And even those close to me that I think I do know
I do not know that well I've come to realize
The workings of Human Nature never cease to surprise
The words of a cynical one I recall
Everyone for themselves and God for us all
The one who first said that may seem a lesser light
But that person though cynical may have been right
A scientist or psychologist or psychiatrist in the World one could not find
Who would understand all of the workings of the human mind
My long standing friends with fondness I recall
Though I feel that I do not know them well at all
And when I dislike in my friends some of the things in them I do see
Those are the things that I do dislike in me."
-In Understanding People by Francis Duggan, poemhunter
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"…creepy…"
Alright, so perhaps the first thing out of Jamie's mouth shouldn't have been that, what, with suddenly being told—that is, after Cupcake was safely tucked in by the convenient fireplace downstairs and his mother was assuredly asleep—that he had been reincarnated several times (Jack refused to go into detail), and was being possessed…ish….by some old spirit guy with a rather lame name.
Yes, creepy shouldn't have been his word of choice, in fact, it should have—and would have—been weird. Well, at least, until Jack had randomly declared that the only reason Old winter was even targeting him was because Jack had been stalking him since the very moment he had become a sparkle in his mother's eye…the first time.
Yes, creepy suddenly became an option…although, in hindsight, perhaps it shouldn't have been the one to use. But who could blame him for concentrating on the simple fact that Jack had been stalking, stalking, him for several hundred years, and here Jamie thought he was bad!
"…creepy!"
But what was even worse, was the fact that some old spirit who should have been dead, was trying to take possession of them both! Though mainly Jack…
"Why is he after you again?"
Thin shoulders shrugged, staff rising slightly from its reclined position on the winter spirits arm. "I haven't the slightest idea."
"What are you?"
A smile, thin, joking, formed on pale lips, "I'm Jack Frost of course."
Yes, and Jack Frost was the supposed spirit of winter…but why would there be need of another?
"I was human once."
And humans are the only things susceptible to curses…
"Wait, human?!"
A laugh, light, gentle, fluttered into the air, "What, did you think the snow birthed me?"
"Eh…" Jamie didn't want to admit it, but he had. And the answer, so obvious on his face, caused Jack to double over in laughter, pale hands clutching tightly to his staff as he leaned on it.
Unknowingly Jamie smiled, for there, in the firelight, lights dancing about Jack's form, the house, usually cold, usually sad, and so very, very lonely, seemed like home.
Like dancing torchlights flickering at his presence, the fire light appeared to play with Jack's shadow, taunting it, begging it to dance along with some unheard song. And the sight, so right, as if some missing piece was finally in place, made the human children relax, the one awake unknowingly humming, and the one asleep curling into a content ball of happy bliss.
That is where their conversation, for that day, came to an end, and it would be a long while before it would ever pick up again…
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Loup wasn't one who paid attention to detail, but even he, a meager wolf spirit, burnt alive in a whirl of flames and chaos, could see the strange connection between the human child and winter spirit.
Alright, so half of the connection wasn't all that weird. For all Winter Bringers—his mother, her name now lost to memory, had called them—had one human they grew attached to. This person was to be—usually—their successor. Usually, of course, because this time the successor was taken before he could be properly taught, and, thus, created abnormalities in the What Is. Not only that, but the human choice of the successor, he didn't even meet the requirements!
One shouldn't ask Loup what these requirements are, of course, because he'd simply growl and proclaim that if you truly wished to know the answer, than go take it to the Sandman, or even MiM.
Nonetheless, the human child did not fit the requirements. An abnormality in the system, or what used to be the system. But the successor was an abnormality to begin with, why? Obviously for not being taught, and for being taken long before planned, but also because the Winter Bringer was—as his father had screamed of the humans that tore through the village like starving dogs—possessed.
But the strange voice, taking form in the snowflakes, the gentlest gusts of wind, the flickering of fire, and the cry of deep, dark, dank caverns, held the possession at bay. How, why, since when?
Loup's mother had called the voice The Songstress, and time held no meaning to her, to her song, her dance, for she was everywhere, and yet nowhere, all at once, so long as the successor, the newest Winter Bringer—child of winter, his younger sister had laughed—was there in some way, either human or no.
Yet The Songstress was not all powerful, and most certainly not all knowing—that is why she sang such sad, sweet songs after all—and thus the possession spread, grew, became stronger.
Yes, the previous Winter Bringer hadn't been called the Dark Trickster by Loup's grandfather for nothing. He hid, sifting his consciousness into the wind, into the snow that clung to, and followed, the successor everywhere. For, if The Songstress was currently the ultimate defense for the successor's heart, then the predecessor would simply have to wait until he had enough control over his successor's powers, his winds, his snow, before he struck.
The human child the successor chose…the child had no defense, no annoying songs of lulling and destructive capabilities, the child was weak, and vulnerable.
Better yet, each human in whom a Winter Bringer became obsessed with was given, from the very moments the eyes of the Winter Bringer and their human meets, a portion of said Bringer's heart and soul. The human doesn't know this, and will not until the day they begin the training to take up the position, but as the successor was an abnormality, neither did he.
And, because the Winter Bringers tend to be rather…mischevious….by nature, Loup recalls, it's only obvious that the predecessor would thus try to use the human child's portion of his predecessor's heart and soul to try and control him…after all, it's hard, isn't it, to deny the request of those you love beyond all else?
With a sinister smile Loup paused in his inner musings to sniff the air, the predecessor had made his move, now it was his turn.
A laugh, a howl, a cruel snapping of jaws, marked his entry into the town, and while the people cringed in fear, running from shadows and a fiery whirl of wind, Loup grinned a toothy grin, drool pooling at his feet at the mere thought, the slightest thought, of getting his revenge…
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A/N: Sorry if this chapter isn't all that well done, I wound up typing it all up in what little spare time I had today…which means it was finished at around 1am. Beyond that, of course, remember the magic three.