Dark was sick of having fun. She was sick of Jack Frost. But most of all she was sick of being cold.
She had spent the two days freezing beside Jack, biting her lip to keep her teeth from chattering. He'd thought that she'd been having the time of her life, playing with kids, when really she'd begun playing a different game; imagining all the ways to kill Jack Frost. Her favorite was roasting him over a campfire.
Dark scowled over the girl's shoulder at the tiny writing on the book she was reading. The room was lit only by the child's flashlight, despite it still being light outside. She had come in here to escape from Jack to some solace and peace, but noises of Jamie's laughter still floated through the open window. Dark wished the girl would shut it; she was lucky, buried under the blankets, whereas Dark was perched on the bedhead, peering over her head at the book.
Jamie was Jack's favourite human friend. Not only being the first child to believe in the winter spirit, Jamie was also a rather nice little kid. Even Dark was struggling not to like him. She remembered when they'd first met, having flown straight from the Pole to Burgess. He'd started his Christmas holidays, and was out with his friends, having a snowball fight.
It had happened almost in slow motion, Jamie spinning around to jump at Jack like a puppy, and, looking over Jack's shoulder; seeing her. Being believed in had felt like every good feeling in the world mashed together, pride and giddiness being the only two discernible from the tide of happiness. The kids had all accepted Dark without question, and the first snowball fight had been one of tremendous fun. But the countless after that... Even Jack's numerous pranks had become boring.
Those two nights they had fled from the moon, simply following the wav of winter fun as it moved around the globe. It was never night for Dark. Thankfully the streetlights allowed Jamie's friends out to keep Jack busy while she hid and read. Though waiting for the girl to turn the page was slightly annoying.
It was a good book, one she had read before, but the only chance she could ever read was over a kid's shoulder, and so few seemed interested in reading anymore. Especially in the dark.
A chilly breeze swept around the room, and she hid a scowl before looking up at Jack as he perched on the windowsill, surveying the scene. "That doesn't look very exciting."
Dark shrugged. "Reading's fun!"
He flew over to her lazily and crouched next to her, staring at the book. His jacket was covered in freshly fallen snow, which sent shiver's up Dark's spine. Squinting at the page, he said, "Now that is not a word."
She looked where he was pointing and gave him a small punch on the arm. "When's the last time you actually read a book? How many hundred years ago? The language has changed, Frost."
He shook his head at her, his white hair catching the torch's light. "I can't even say that."
"It's pronounced scintillating,"
At that moment a voice shouted from below on the street. "Emma! Come out and play, we've made a wicked tobogan course!"
The girl on the bed snapped her book shut and got up, pulling her jumper on before leaving, shouting, "I'm coming Jamie!"
Dark swallowed a sigh as Jack stood behind her, offering her a hand. "I et you we can beat her down their."
"I bet I can beat you," was her only reply, dashing to the window and out onto the snow covered street.
True to their word, the kids had provided a pretty amazing tobogan slope on the icy hill that led down to the lake, which Jamie was already sliding down on. His friends were pelting snow at him as he slid, one of which caught him around the head and sent him sideways over rocky gravel. The kids started to yell as the sled slipped and he crashed along the ground, but then Jack was there, grabbing Jamie and whisking him into the air before dropping him into a snow drift.
Jack relanded beside her grinning as Jamie jumped up. "All right, Caleb, you're gonna pay for that."
Not again. Dark thought as the snowballs began to fly. Of course Jack was the first to let fly, throwing three at once, all of which found their target. Dark watched him as he took off in a whirl of snowflakes, creating a whirlwind of ice that enveloped Cupcake. He was pretty good looking, she decided, if he weren't such a child sometimes. His eyes were nice and light, compared to hers, and his hair. In fact, the only thing they had in common was their pale skin, though Dark's was slightly greyer and looked almost dead compared to his rosy cheeks. What an odd couple they made.
She stopped and frowned. Couple? She didn't think of him in that way- he was more like an annoying brother. A memory spiked at her brain, but before she could focus it was gone. Something about a brother. An irritating one.
She went back to watching Jack enjoy himself. Dark supposed that that was how she had planned to distract him, acting like she had feelings for him. After the incident with Cupid, she suspected this might have been the easiest option, rather than constantly battling him or whatever Pitch wanted. Pitch. Being around Jack was actually making her miss him, as crazy as it sounded. He at least knew how to have some real-
"OW!" Dark yelled as snow erupted around the back of her head. She spun around to see Jamie's friend Caleb and his brother Claude smiling sheepishly at her, Jack crouching behind them, hiding. She scooped up some snow, angry. "That's it, you three."
She was aiming for Caleb, but her thoughts were of Jack, how much she hated everything he did, his stupid voice, of how cold her head was now. Unintentionally she put every once of angry force into that snowball, and it reinforced itself with darkness as it shot through the air towards the child.
The sound of hard snow on skin cracked through the air, loud enough to turn everybody's head toward's Caleb as he fell to the ground. The snowball hadn't even shattered on impact, only split into two hard halves on the ground at his feet. Blood began to trickle through his nose as Caleb let out a sob.
Dark covered her mouth with her hands as the poor boy burst into tears, feeling wretched. She hadn't meant to hurt him. It should have been Jack she'd hit, not the innocent kid who'd just wanted to have fun. Jack was the first to react.
The other kids followed him over to Caleb, who was trying to wipe his eyes as his brother approached. "Is it really bad?" he asked in a miserable voice.
"Give me a look," Jack commanded. The boy complied and the Guardian sucked in his breath. Dark felt her heart sink along with Caleb's expression. "I have some bad news, Caleb."
The boy stopped pressing his sleeve to his nose. "What?"
"You're brain's leaking." The children all gave a burst of laughter, most of all Caleb. Dark felt her worry fade. Jack shook his head. "I'm serious, there's a little pea sized thing hanging out your nose. We're going to have to amputate."
Caleb jumped back as Jack moved towards him, making scissors with his hands. "You scared me, Jack!"
Jack laughed. "I know. Now run along kiddo, you're mum'll have some tissues for that."
The kid walked off towards his house, grinning, and his friends followed him. Dark took off in the opposite direction, a very bad thought occurred to her.
The moon was high in the sky as she landed on the roof of an old house, partially obscured by clouds. She stared up at it, sitting down on a large fan unit installed for air conditioning. "MiM, if you're listening, I need your help."
The moon didn't respond. Of course it wouldn't, the Man in the Moon wouldn't talk back, he hardly ever did. She continued anyway. "I'm probably sounding really stupid right now, but I didn't hurt that kid on purpose- I wouldn't. So please, please don't let the Easter Bunny find out. You know he doesn't trust me already, but I'm being good, I mean come on; look at me. I'm hanging out with Jack Frost. I'm putting myself out for these kids. If the Guardians take this the wrong way they'll trap me again, and I can't handle that."
The sky stayed stubbornly silent and she scowled, putting her head in her hands. Jack Frost would hunt her down, she knew it. He loved Jamie and his friends, and he wouldn't stand for her hurting them. She needed to leave.
"Dark?"
She spun around to see Jack walking along the chimney's edge towards her, staff lowered.
"Yeah, Frost?"
He jumped down and walked over to her, sitting beside her. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. Nothing. Everything. I didn't mean to do that to Caleb."
"I know," Jack told her softly, and she looked up at him. His expression made her fee slightly safer, out in the open on the rooftop, but that only put her more on her guard.
"I haven't really been around kids before," she admitted. "I'm used to Guardians like you, or Pi-Pitch."
She wasn't sure why she wasn't mentioning Piper to him, or Uni, but she felt like that was too much information to give out on Pitch. Which felt rather silly, considering he left her to the mercy of the Guardians.
"You practically are a child," Jack said with a laugh.
"I'm three hundred and thirty eight," she corrected. "That's hardly a child."
"You still look younger than me."
"But I'm not."
Jack cupped her face. His icy touch gave her instant brain freeze, making her want to jerk away and slap him, but she stayed still and lowered her eyes as he asked, "What else is upsetting you?"
Unused to having adult conversations with Jack, she was caught off her guard for a few moments, and she found herself leaning closer. "It's just Pitch, I thought he was my friend, and then... he betrayed me and attacked me before leaving. I-I can't stop thinking that there's no one I can trust."
It wasn't really a lie, she'd always felt that, but had slacked off slightly over the last century or two. Jack wrapped his arm around her and gave her a squeze. It was a much gentler hug than anything Pitch had done when under Cupid's spell in Paris, and she found herself flushing in the moonlight. "Hey, you don't need to worry about that. Pitch has always been like that, but the Guardians- I won't betray you. Ever. You're safe with us, I promise. Come here."
Dark wans't sure how she could 'come here' anymore as he hugged her, speaking to her as if she were in tears. Her face fit into his shoulder so she rested it there, forgetting for a time about how annoying being with him normally was. He smelt of leaves, which was nice, in an earthy kind of way.
"Now what else is wrong?" He asked, pulling away. "And don;t lie, I know you haven't been happy lately."
She sighed. Debating on how much of the truth to reveal. Standing, she smiled slightly. "Well, it's been a bit... boring, hanging around lately."
Jack followed her to the edge of the rood, mouth gaping. "How can I be boring? I'm the Guardian of fun. Fun and excitement is what I do."
She grinned mischievously. "I guess my idea of fun isn't hanging around with kids and throwing snowballs all day."
Jack leaned his chin on her head from behind, grabbing her arms. He asked curiously, "Then what is your idea of fun?"
"This," Dark laughed, ducking. She flipped him over the edge of the roof and flew off through the town, devoid of lights, hearing Jack's laughter behind her.
He collided with her as she took a corner, sending her sprawling on the street. They wrestled in the middle of the empty road, giggling at each other. Finally Dark gave a gentle push of shadows at his face and he fell back, giving her enough time to take off again. She sped towards the woods, where she began to duck through the trees, the shadows giving her strength as she admired the rays of moonlight sparkling off the dark snow around her.
She felt Jack searching for her behind him, and she ducked behind a tree, her hair creating a shadowy mask around her. Jack walked right by, staff held aloft, and she followed him silently, smiling to herself as she moved up to whisper in his ear. "Boo."
He spun and a beam of ice only just missed her head as he thrust his staff at her. Once he recognised her face he pressed his hand to his heart and laughed in relief, grabbing her hand. "No more doing that, I thought you were Pitch."
Dark lent in closed, her eyelashes brushing his. "Am I really that scary, Frost?"
"No, and my name is Jack," he replied, before bending down and kissing her in a blaze of icy impulse.