Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Rise of the Guardians or Once Upon a Time.
(Many years ago, in Burgess)
The first thing Jack remembered seeing was darkness. He was wet and cold, with no memory of how he got here. Vague images were in his head of people and voices, but no true memories existed before this single moment. He floated up to the surface of the icy water, opening his eyes and seeing a bright light above him. It seemed to chase away the darkness he had been in, making him realize that he didn't have to be afraid. As he climbed out of the lake. he heard a voice in his head. You are Jack Frost. It told him. Nothing more came, and with that Jack began exploring where he was.
The lake itself was frozen over, hidden within a forest of some kind. Jack walked across it, trying to figure out why he was here in the first place. Glancing around, the only clue he saw was a long stick on the ground, curved and shaped almost like a staff. Walking over to it, Jack gently tapped the edge of it with his foot to see if there was some kind of trick going on. He felt like there might be, but instead he found himself in wonder of the frost that covered the stick when he touched it. Deciding to try it again, this time Jack knelt down and touched it with his hand, feeling a connection deep within himself as he did so.
Grinning, Jack began to pick up the staff and experiment. He might not know where he came from, but he did know that this was making him happy. As he touched his staff against the trees nearby, ice covered them. When he slammed it against the ground, frost spread from the end of the staff, creating patterns on the ground that were amazing to behold. When he focused even further, he found that he could sense the temperature and wind around him. As he did so, he laughed and began to surround himself with the wind, making it carry him into the sky.
"This is amazing!" Jack yelled, landing ungracefully back on the lake after a few moments. He wasn't used to his magic, but he already loved having it. Staring at the sky, he wondered if he would get any more answers from the moon. Maybe he could do even more if he just remembered his home, but nothing came. Sighing, Jack took off towards the sky again, searching for another place that might hold the answer to who he was. He found a small village nearby, a place that seemed to be rather busy when he arrived. Even late at night, people were wandering through the streets, talking to their families and enjoying the peaceful scenery.
Jack walked up to one of them, thinking maybe someone here might recognize him. It wasn't far from the lake, after all. "Hey!" Jack called out, waving towards a girl he saw. She ignored him, simply walking down the street further. Getting annoyed, this time Jack flew directly in the path of a couple, thinking it would at least catch their attention. "Look, can either of you tell me where I am? Maybe you could-" Jack began, stopping when they walked straight through him. He felt an immediate sensation of cold inside of him as they did so, making him shudder and stumble back slightly. They weren't the only ones to walk through him either. Everyone in this town did the same, not hearing Jack and not seeing him.
"Why?" he whispered, his body shaking with sadness. He had this amazing gift, but at the same time no one could hear him. He had no memories and he did not know what to do now. Glancing up at the moon which was still hanging high in the sky, Jack asked him his question. "Why am I here?" he repeated, waiting for an answer. When silence was the response, Jack pulled his hood over his head and flew off, back towards the lake he came from. He had no interest in playing anymore. All he wanted was someone to talk to, someone who could give him some answers.
Every night, Jack would ask the moon the same question, hoping that this night would be the day he got an answer. As he began wandering outside of the lake he had begun to think of as home, he began to hear some things at least. There were others like him, but they had discovered the way to be seen. It had been on a holiday that he realized this. Jack had been bored, sitting in the park and playing with his own frost when the children arrived. His snow had begun to melt already, but that didn't stop the children from finding fun elsewhere.
Jack sat up, watching them closely to see if maybe one of them could see him. As a final check, Jack yelled out to them. "Hey! Any of you want to have some fun?" Jack offered, feeling disappointed when no one responded. Sighing, he leaned back down on the bench with his staff hanging by his side. They were being so boring, just digging through bushes and putting strangely colored eggs in their baskets. It wasn't fun at all, not to Jack anyway.
"Look! The Easter Bunny!" a voice called out, catching Jack's attention. He glanced up, surprised to see a giant rabbit with boomerangs strapped to his back running through the forest. "Uh oh. That wasn't supposed to happen." he grumbled, moving quicker to get out of sight. Children were supposed to find his eggs, but they weren't supposed to see him. It wasn't how the Guardians operated, knowing that being seen and interacting with children had resulted in Pitch's jealous attitude. "Out of my way, you little ankle-biters!" he called out, running past Jack Frost and making him interested in following as well.
"Hey, wait up!" Jack called out, flying after him to try and keep up. The children fell behind quickly, but Jack was not going to let him win so easily. Grinning, Jack decided to have a little fun and make this a race. As he twisted and turned down the streets, Bunny kept running, trying to get away from the boy chasing him. He didn't understand how a child had been chosen as a spirit, but he didn't have time to play games right now. He had more eggs to hide and more hope to bring to the world. "Don't think you're getting away that easily!" Jack warned, laughing as he began to catch up to the rabbit.
"Crikey, he's fast! I gotta lose him, though." Bunny commented, glancing behind his shoulder to see the flying winter spirit getting closer. "Better luck next time, mate!" he yelled, this time talking to the boy as he stopped moving completely. "Wait, I just wanted to ask you a question." Jack stated, making Bunny pause as he was about to open a path to his tunnels.
"How can they see you? I've tried…everything and still…no one hears me." Jack asked, his voice sounding lost and desperate. Bunny felt sympathetic to the boy, but he also wondered how he didn't know such basic information. Manny had informed all the Guardians of the price of magic before giving it to them, so why was this boy different? Deciding he should help the poor guy out, Bunny gave him a brief explanation. "They have to believe, mate. It's why we Guardians are around to protect the believers." Bunny told him, tapping the ground with his foot to open up his tunnels. As he disappeared inside, Jack let his head fall down. How was he supposed to gain belief in this world without being seen or heard? It was a mystery that would take him hundreds of years to solve, when he finally got belief from a boy named Jaimie Bennet.
(Today in Storybrooke)
Jack Frost had a smile on his face, happy that he was able to defend Jaimie properly this time. There was plenty of room for the kid to hide while he fought off Pitch's army. As he swung his staff, he sent a blast of ice towards one of the creatures on the street, freezing it and forcing it to explode in a shower of sand around them. As he fought more of them off, Hook unsheathed his sword and begun swinging it at them. It cut through the sand, gradually wearing the beasts down until they fell apart completely without enough sand to stay together.
Emma was waiting for a chance to attack, standing back as a last line of defense. She would not let them get inside to hurt her family, not after she had worked so hard to keep them together. She was this town's savior and she would keep them safe. "Emma, watch out!" Hook called, seeing a nightmare break free and charge towards her. Emma held her hands out, channeling light magic through them that blasted the horse. As the white light hit the creature, Jack watched in shock as it transformed, purifying and becoming a normal dream. The now golden horse flew above them, making Jack laugh at the sight. "Way to go! Hey buddy, why don't you find a child in need of a good dream?" Jack commented, first to Emma then to the horse. He watched it fly off, outside of the town before focusing back on the fight.
Emma didn't quite understand what had happened, but she knew that it was effective to destroy these things. Channeling her magic again, she did the same to another one of them. "Keep it up, Emma. Bring back the good dreams and maybe Sandy will be strong enough to help us out." Jack suggested, knowing that these dreams were the fastest way to create belief in children. Jack sent another ice blast into the horde of nightmares, taking two of them out at once while Hook finished another one off with his sword.
As Hook spun around, facing yet another creature he began to wonder how large this army was. It didn't seem like they were making a dent in the army, even though they had been fighting for quite some time. He swung his sword down once more, defeating yet another nightmare just as one grabbed his coat from behind. He felt himself trip and fall, grunting as he hit the ground but feeling the pressure vanish as Emma blasted the creature with his magic. "Just how many of these things are there?" Hook asked, getting back up and standing next to Jack as they became surrounded with nightmares.
Jack frowned, not quite knowing how to explain. This army was as endless as dreams were, created by dreams and strengthened by fear. If fear was destroyed, the nightmares would fall as well, but right now there was plenty of fear for them to feed on. Jack could tell that Pitch had been spreading his darkness around this town, so it would be impossible to destroy them by eliminating the fear here. What Jack could do was find and destroy their master, though, if he could just get a break from the fight. "It doesn't matter! We can't let them get to Henry." Emma insisted, wanting to protect her son.
"Aye, let's take them down!" Hook agreed, rushing forward and taking out a few of the nightmares on his side. Jack blasted ice towards the ones in front of him, freezing them all before they exploded in a shower of snow and sand. Remembering how he slowed them down before, Jack began to call forth a blizzard in Storybrooke, holding his staff above his head and shooting a blast of blue magic into the sky. It began to rumble, clouds appearing as the temperature dropped and the wind picked up speed. "What was that?" Emma gasped out, feeling tired from the fight.
Jack grinned at them, once again holding his staff ready for fighting. He swung it at a horse that had gotten too close, not even bothering to use magic on this one. It backed off immediately, not liking the pressure and cold that emanated from Jack's staff. "Just a little bit of snow." Jack told her, watching it begin to fall down. "Snow? What is snow going to do against them?" Emma asked, watching him carefully. "It slows them down. They hate the cold, surprisingly." Jack told her, grinning as she purified yet another nightmare.
"Ah yes, typically cold and dark would go well together, but this is more like cold and sand. That is another story entirely, wouldn't you agree, Jack Frost?" a voice called out, hidden within the darkness of the nightmares. Jack grew tense immediately, his smile vanishing as he recognized the voice of his old enemy. "Pitch! Show yourself!" he yelled, sending a much more powerful wave of ice through the nightmares. It created a massive path for all of them, destroying more nightmares in one blow than he had destroyed throughout the entire fight so far.
Pitch smiled, feeling entertained now that Jack was fighting back. Yes, he would have preferred to win unopposed, but at least Frost was making it fun. He would play this game with the boy for now, before moving on to the rest of the world. No matter how many nightmares Jack destroyed, Pitch knew he could create more. His army was endless, much like his own power, and he would stop at nothing to destroy the belief in this world. Jack Frost might have his fighting spirit back, but he was still nothing compared to Pitch Black.
Please review and tell me what you think!