Bold= Thoughts

Regular= Guardians

Italics= Memory

Childish Snow, Chapter Thirteen: The Annual Visit

They pause, their eyes wide as they take in the strange scene around them, having barely blurred through the white room before being deposited in the next memory- here. Row after row of little grey stones, some ornately decorated, and others just barely there. Some seeming to be older then time itself, and others still smooth and shiny, obviously recently placed. In front of some rests beautiful flowers, tulips, lilacs, daisies, and others are bare, which is normal for the middle of winter, as it happens to be.

But the front of one particular stone is not bare, nor filled with flowers. Instead, there is a fluffy layer of snow resting on top and around it, with a few small snowdrops- beautiful white flowers with purple insides- gently pressing into the snow. Upon closer observation, one notices that the stones have markings on them, and then one notices that it forms writing. Dread settles in their bellies as they come to the same conclusion- they are in a grave yard, and this is where their Jack is buried.

"Jack?" Tooth asks, a soft lilt to her voice.

He nods, "Yes?"

She looks down, her wings fluttering furiously, "Is this where… is this…" She is unable to go on, but he understands anyway.

"Yes." He answers with finality, "Yes."

An even more hushed silence fell over the five of them, and Jack got the feeling they were trying to give him privacy, which he appreciated, but how much privacy could you really have when you're being forced to show four others your memories?

They hear soft and respectful footsteps coming from the entrance, and to their surprise, they see a young girl aged 12, holding tightly to another girl's- this one aged 17- hand. The older girl navigates the area with the ease that only comes from practice- lots and lots of practice.

A figure wearing brown pants, a white blouse, and a brown vest and cape, clutching a staff that looks remarkably like that of a shepherd, drops from the sky, his bare feet hitting the ground softly and causing icy ferns to spread out from where he landed as he stares at the two girls with an expression of utter sadness on his face.

A voice sounds in their heads, 'This is three years after Jack has been reborn, Guardians.'

Immediately, they comprehend who the girls are- the twelve year old is little Pippa, and the older girl- no, woman- is Rachel. Her beautiful blonde hair is now trimmed shorter, and her green eyes seem to have lost some of their sparkle- at least for today. Rachel takes Pippa by the hand and leads her up to the one grave with the snow and the snowdrops, and softly recites the words written on the grave to her.

She reads, "Jackson Overland Burgess,

December 22nd, 1698- December 22nd, 1712,

Beloved Family Member,

He Will Be Missed."

To Rachel's credit, her voice doesn't crack once, though it does get dangerously close as tears threaten to spill out of her eyes. Pippa grips Rachel's hand tightly, and together they kneel in front of the grave, the two girls Jack loved most.

"So this is Rachel and little Pippa?" North asks, attempting a smile.

Jack nods, "Yes, North. Those are them." He flashes North what he means to be a reassuring grin.

He studies the two girls, his distress not clear as he remarks the little things- the reddish orange flower in Rachel's hair, the small silver locket around Pippa's neck.

Bunny smiles, besides himself, "Cute little anklebiter." He murmured fondly, staring at Pippa with a grin, clearly remembering an Easter long past.

Tooth hushes everyone, "Shh!" She gives them all a death glare, and even though none of them know exactly what they did wrong, they all quiet down. No one wants to risk getting on Tooth's bad side.

Memory Jack inches closer, curious as to what they're doing here, in this stone forest, where very rarely do the living tread. He taps his staff gently against the stone they're kneeling in front of- his stone, he'll later find out-, and smiles as it begins to frost over.

The two girls begin to laugh, and they say together, smiling through their tears, "He would have loved that."

"I do." Jack confirms, thinking about how lovely that snow would be to make snowballs with.

Tooth huffs, pursing her lips as she warns, "Jack."

He rolls his eyes and falls silent, annoyed- but in a good way, of course.

Memory Jack glances closer at the face of the littlest girl- it is frighteningly familiar, as if he has known her his whole life. But he hasn't, of course. He normally sees her sitting dejectedly by the door to her home, or visiting the other girl with her, whose name he has come to learn is Rachel.

To him, Rachel too seems devastatingly familiar, and it seems she should matter a great deal to him, but he doesn't quite know why, so he just brushes aside the strange and unusual feeling. But she is the only one who comes close to what something tells him he's supposed to feel for the little girl, though he doesn't know why. It confuses him, and he frowns, "Why do I feel this way?" He asks.

Sandy smiles, creating the picture of a family and a crowbar, but then the crowbar snaps in half, and Jack guesses, "Family can never be separated?"

Sandy nods, finally someone is good at his symbols! It's well past time, anyway.

Jack smiles, "I agree, Sandy. I'll never forget them."

Tooth wraps her hand around Jack's and gives it a squeeze, "You have two families now, Jack. You have them and you have us, aren't you lucky?" She asked softly, smiling hugely when he nodded, grinning slightly.

North agreed, "We may not have been there for you before, Jack, but we are now."

Jack smiles, carefully untwining his hand from Tooth's and looking back out at the scene in front of him, "Well, let's watch."

Rachel looks tearfully at Pippa, who had started to cry, "I miss him."

She nodded, wrapping her arms around the younger in a comforting embrace as tears flowed down her own face like a waterfall, "I know, Pip. I do too."

Pippa buries her face in Rachel's shoulder, much like a younger sibling would do to an elder, "Rach, I really miss him. H-He did everything he could for me, and I want Jack to come home."

Rachel nodded, "Think of it this way, Pippa." Her voice is gentle and soothing, "If your brother hadn't loved you as much as he did, we wouldn't be here today. You were everything to him, Pip. His family was, and you were so lucky to be a part of that."

Pippa's voice cracked, "Rach… You were too."

A tear comes to Jack's eyes as he nods, agreeing with Pippa, "I promise, Rach, you are." He murmurs, "You always will be."

Bunny glances significantly at North, as if to say, 'Did he really just say that?'

Everyone knew that she was part of his family, there was no need for him to confirm it.

Tooth smiled at him, "She knew that, Jack, no need to confirm it. We know it too. How couldn't she be?"

Jack smiled, glad they understood, "I just… had to make my intentions clear. Rach was just as much a part of my family as Pippa, and my mother, and my father."

The blonde haired girl nodded, her hair mixing with Pippa's brown, "I-I know." Their tears dripped together onto the ground as Rachel said softly, "Jack's with the angels now."

Though it was meant to be comforting, it just made the both of them cry more, out of both sadness and relief. They just wanted their Jack back, was that too much to ask? They both knew it was. That didn't mean they liked it, though.

Memory Jack's eyes widened, "Hey now! Don't be sad."

He desperately searched for a way to cheer up his two favourite villagers, though he didn't quite get why they were his favourite villagers. Smiling, he skipped forward as if to hug them, only for his hand to pass right through Pippa's shoulder and the small girl shivered, "Brr."

A snowflake formed on his hand, and he had the strangest urge to blow on it. Cocking his head, he did so, only to watch in confusion as it flew towards Rachel's forehead. When it made contact, the most astonishing thing happened- Rachel's eyes lit up and she began to laugh softly, smiling at anything and everything.

North tilted his head, "Was that where you learned to make magic snowflakes?"

Jack nodded, "Yes." A fierce pride shone in his eyes, "People in pain just want to forget, and I just want to help them. It really works out for the both of us."

Sandy smiled, making a picture of a crown, and Bunny guessed, "Kingly?" He shook his head, "Mate, you're not making any sense."

Jack grinned, "Bunny, Sandy means very noble, am I correct?"

Sandy nodded, pointing at Jack and making a check mark appear over his head, while Jack turned and smirked at Bunny, sticking out his tongue.

Bunny glared, crossing his arms and turning away, "Bloody show pony." He grumbled, much to his colleagues' laughter.

Memory Jack grinned, this could work. Forming another snowflake and blowing on it, he sent it towards Pippa and let out a triumphant shout as the blue glimmer appeared in her eyes, too, and she began to laugh.

Pippa pulled Rachel to her feet, her smile seeming rather out of place with her bloodshot eyes, "C'mon, Rach! Let's go!" She cheered, looking up at the elder with the admiration of a younger sibling.

Rachel laughed softly, "In a minute, Pip. Why don't you run ahead and I'll join you in a second?"

Pippa nodded eagerly, calling, "Bye Jack, see you Rach!"

Jack smiled, "They love each other like sisters." There was an unreadable mix of emotions on his face, but a few of the main emotions you could just barely pick out were love, joy, and acceptance, mostly positive emotions, so that was a good thing.

"I bet you are glad that Pippa found such good protector." North remarked, smiling at Jack.

Jack nods, "Yes. You can't get any better then Rachel." He grins, clearly caught up in memories.

The Guardians exchange glances, before shrugging. They wouldn't ask how he knew that, but they knew he believed it with all his heart, they could tell.

Tooth smiles at Jack, "I remember Pippa's teeth. They were so white and shiny, rather like yours, actually."

Jack grins, "Mother didn't want us to have bad teeth, and I on occasion could take some toothpaste- or at least a good substitute- home from work."

The male Guardians smirk at Tooth's appalled expression.

Tooth opens her mouth to scold them, before thinking better of it and closing it with a click, crossing her arms and turning back to the memory.

Rachel watched her go with the protectiveness of an older sibling, before smiling sadly at the gravestone, "I miss you, Jack. You should be here." A single tear dripped from her eye, even while she was under Jack's spell of fun, "I love you. Don't forget our secret."

She headed for the graveyard exit, pausing underneath the arch and looking back for half a second, and then walking swiftly out, following in Pippa's footsteps.

Memory Jack grinned, he had gotten them to be happy! He bet he could make everyone happy! And maybe, maybe one day, someone will see him. He could hope, right?

Their surroundings start to fade, until they once again end up back in that terribly bright white room, each one of them perched on their own armchair.

"Well," Jack grins, "That was different."

"Yes." Tooth agrees, "I wonder what we'll see next."

Jack pales, he really doesn't want them to see anymore of his memories, but exactly can he do? He can't fight against Manny. He just has to trust that Manny won't show them anything too personal. But, Jack knows, Manny won't hesitate to show them the things he believes they need to know to understand him better.

His thoughts are cut off as the world spins around them, everything blurry for a second, until another memory is revealed.

A/N: Hi guys! Sorry about the wait- I had tour with my choir, and I didn't have access to anyway to write- or post- a new chapter! But here it is, the biggest chapter so far: 2,100 words! Keeping with this bright note, I have decided to continue with this story! How could I not? You guys with all your encouraging and heart touching reviews:) Thanks, guys! Okay, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please review and tell me what you think!

Kisses,

Snow