What's this? Another update? I'm on a updating roll this week all right. I'm not too happy with how this one turned out, but can't love 'em all, right? Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the second and last part of the 'Believe in the Guardians arc'. Please R&R!
MillyOnFanfics, I hope I continue to exceed your expectations with this one as well. Really hope you like it, Milly! *Double crosses fingers and toes* I'm looking forward to hear your opinion on the result.
Chapter Fourteen: Believe in the Guardians Pt. 2
He had one day. One day to persuade his mom that the Guardians were real. One day to make her believe in Jack Frost, the very expression she so often used to coerce him into using his hat during winter.
It was almost midday and still his mom was none the wiser.
And he'd tried everything. From painting windowpanes with frost, though that wasn't very successful with his lack of ability to make the aforementioned coating of ice. He'd given up on that one pretty quickly. Then he'd decided to draw sketches in the frost already coating the windowpanes of his room, Jack must have returned during the night. The thought made him smile, bringing with it a warmth that bloomed in his chest. His mom didn't believe him and simply told him to stop fooling around and do his homework before leaving with his dirty laundry. Then he'd tried to give her sudden, unexplainable chills by creating frigid drafts inside the house by systematically opening doors and windows to let the wintry breeze inside. When that didn't work he'd taken to follow his mother around while she was outside, mentioning Jack Frost whenever she slipped on ice or commented on the cold and the unusual amount of snow in their garden compared to their neighbors'.
Nevertheless, despite all his attempts his mother remained a firm unbeliever. She didn't even seem the least bit inclined to believe him or hear him out for that matter, just brushed him off with a soft chuckle while ruffling his hair fondly.
With a loud exclamation of frustration, he gracelessly plopped down on his bed.
Why did it have to be so infuriatingly difficult? Why did adults have to be so stupid and nescient and so utterly incapable at believing in things not visible to them without clinging to some scientific mumbo jumbo to explain the supernatural and inexplicable. Like when quarters appeared from somewhere other than parents wallets, replacing lost teeth, or when presents suddenly popped up during the night leading to Christmas Eve, or when intricate detailed eggs were suddenly and gratuitously spread across the globe on Easter Sunday, or when beautiful, swirling fern frost without explanation coated windowpanes of children's bedrooms during the winter season. And the grown-ups called them naïve.
He had to figure something out. Jack was bound to show up any minute now and he so desperately wanted his mother to see him, to show him that he wasn't as alone as he may think. That he could have a mom too. After all the Winter Spirit had done for him, this was the least he could do. He wanted to return the favor. Jack deserved at least that.
He couldn't give up now. Jamie Bennett was no quitter. If it was something his useless father had taught him before jumping ship, it was to never give up.
Perhaps it was time to enlist his sister's help. No one had the power of persuasion like Sophie. Just look at the way the little girl had the Easter Bunny tightly wrapped around her little finger. All it had taken was one small look at the largest, wettest doe-eyes in existence and the Guardian of Hope was doomed. The Pooka hadn't even known what hit him the day he laid eyes on his fearsome, sly and cunning little sister.
He sprung out of bed and was out of the room and across the hall in less than a second. He rapped his knuckles on her door in quick succession. "Sophie?"
The blasting pop music muffled by the door to unintelligible noises abruptly stopped and he could hear rapid, clumsy footsteps approaching the door. It swung open to reveal a messy blond head and piercing green eyes.
"I need your help." He confessed, watching with slight amusement as curiosity flittered over his sister's petite, lightly freckled face.
"I want to convince mom that the Guardians are real." He said unprompted, voice ringing with conviction and gusto. "I owe it to Jack."
"Count me in." There was no hesitation in her voice.
"Thanks Soph."
They went back to his room to plot. And approximately half an hour later they had a plan.
"You think it will work?" Jamie asked skeptically, suddenly having doubts. His eyes skimmed the sketched plan before him, poorly drawn stick figures and squiggly speech bubbles peered up at him.
"Of course it will." Sophie said confidently, then smiled smugly, snatching the paper and folding it neatly. "Just leave everything to me."
He chuckled softly and leaned over to fondly ruffle the messy tresses she so adamantly refused to cut. "The first part's all yours then, Soph."
She gave him a quick thumps up before jumping to her feet, stuffing the sheet in her back pocket. "Let operation: Believe in the Guardians, begin." She whispered as she opened the door, followed closely by her brother.
They both giggled as they left the room, the excitement almost palpable. Jamie let his sister descend the stairs first, lingering behind for a moment and letting the scene before him play out uninterrupted.
"Mom," He could hear Sophie call from the kitchen with that musical lilt she used whenever she wanted something.
"Yes, sweetie?"
"Is it okay if Jack comes over to play later today?" She asked innocently, and he could just picture her green eyes, wide and begging.
"Jack?"
"Yes."
"Jack who? I wasn't aware you knew a Jack, Soph." Their mother stated surprised, taken off guard.
"Of course I do." Sophie sounded miffed, almost affronted that her mother didn't even remember one of her friends. "And Jamie does too."
It took a moment before the reply came, his mom seemingly having to ponder Sophie's suddenness. "Well, who is Jack exactly?"
"Jack Frost."
Jamie could only smile from his place perched on top of the stairs. That Sophie, he thought, shaking his head in disbelief at his sister's ingeniousness. He forgot sometimes that Sophie was just six; she had the mind of a girl much older. But his mom used to say that girls matured much faster than boys, so it may only be due to evolution and not cleverness and adaptability that his sister so proudly and smugly claimed it to be.
"Not you too Soph." He could hear their mother sigh, exasperated. "What is it with you two and that Jack Frost?"
Uh-oh. A slightly annoyed mom was never a good sign. He got up to interrupt but stopped at Sophie's next words, spoken with such conviction and sincerity that it halted his step.
"He's real mom."
"Sophie—"
"I'm not making it up. I know he's real. Jamie knows he's real. Cupcake too. And Pippa. And Monty. And Claude and Caleb too. We can all see him."
"Who do you think coats the windows in frost mom?" Jamie asked, stepping into the kitchen. "The panes have new insulators. We got them months ago, yet the frost still appears out of thin air. It's Jack Frost, mom. He's real and he's really lonely."
"It's just an expression, honey, you know that. He's not—"
"He's our friend."
"Jamie, do you know how ridiculous you sound right now?" Her tone was hard and unwavering. "This Jack Frost is nothing but a figment of your imagination, a childhood fantasy and an expression for the biting cold of winter. Frankly, I thought you were too old for these childish beliefs."
"Why won't you believe us?" He was getting frustrated, angry tears coming unbidden to his eyes but he stubbornly blinked them away. He felt like stomping his foot, but knowing that it would do more harm than good, he bit down on his lip hard instead. His mom already thought him a child. No need to add fuel to the fire. "We're not lying, mom."
The woman faltered, hesitated slightly, green eyes suddenly conflicted.
"Jack is real." He ploughed on voice full of conviction and eyes flashing with clear belief, not giving his mom room to recover. "And so are the other Guardians of childhood."
Something unreadable flickered in her jade green eyes, softening her expression. Then a wistful smile quirked her lips. "I haven't heard that name in many years."
"You believed in them once too, right?" He almost whispered. "Why can't you do it again?" He took a step forward, closing the distance between them and looked up at her with wide, misty eyes.
"Please, mom." He pleaded, voice unbearably soft and vulnerable, trembled slightly, wide eyes blurred by a thin sheen of tears. "Give us the benefit of the doubt just this once."
Jamie, I—"
Something tapped the window, drawing their attention, and all three heads swirled in that direction.
A pale, young face stared back at them, icy blue eyes beaming and sparkling with mischief, one hand waving, the other gripping a shepherd's crook that he'd obviously used to rap on the windowpane. Delicate fern frost spread from the point where the staff had touched the glass, webbing outwards to cover the whole pane. A huge grin lit up his impish face, snowy hair wild and wind-tousled.
"Jack!" Jamie exclaimed cheerily, his sadness and frustration all but vanished.
He'd almost forgotten about his sister. She'd been unnaturally still and silent during their dispute. Now she squealed gleefully, bounding towards the window, blond, uneven locks bobbing up and down.
Behind them, their mother gasped. Surprised, he turned back to her only to see her gaze fixed on the frost slowly creeping across the pane.
Suddenly he got an idea and without thinking it through, he decided to run with it. It was now or never.
"See," He pointed to the window, it really wasn't necessary with his mom already staring at it, but he wanted to make a statement so he did it anyway. "We told you Jack Frost is real."
She took a step back, hands flying to her open mouth, eyes wide as dinner plates. "It can't be…"
"Do you see him?"
"I don't know." She muttered, emerald green eyes narrowing and focusing. "I can see a silhouette of someone, the form of a young boy…"
"That's him!" He exclaimed loudly, beaming. "That's Jack!"
He then abruptly turned to his sister. "Sophie! Open the window!"
She did as he commanded and his eyes immediately found the peppy Winter Spirit. "Jack, can you do the rabbit thing you did for me way back?" He grimaced at his lack of eloquence, his vocabulary seemingly having left him in his eagerness.
Jack nodded, chuckling slightly and floated through the open window, landing soundlessly on the floor before gently placing a thin finger on the windowpane. The outline of a Bunny soon appeared in the frost, and it didn't take long before the little creature was hopping around the small kitchen, spreading feather light snowflakes with each bound.
"Do you see that mom?" Sophie asked softly and tentatively, clearly not wanting to break the spell Jack's creation was casting.
Their mom only nodded, mouth agape and eyes wide with wonder and astonishment.
Jamie shared a bright smile with his sister, doing a silent high-five. Then he turned to Jack and had to struggle to contain the snickers trying to escape his throat as hearty, full-blown laughter. He'd never seen the frost teen more perplexed than he was right now.
The Winter Spirit was, a mirror image of his mom, standing straight, mouth agape and cerulean eyes so wide he was almost worried they would pop out their sockets. He was staring at their mother, his expression that of utter bewilderment. His staff was clutched to his chest tightly with both hands, almost like a lifeline.
"Can—Can she…" He stuttered, his pale complexion growing even paler. "Can she…see me?" His voice broke and he blinked repeatedly, shocked blue eyes still staring at his mom, transfixed, who in turn was gawking right back at him, green eyes just as wide and unbelievable. It would have been simply hilarious if not for the raw, emotional, volatile and almost palpable ambience.
"Just barely."
All eyes snapped to his mom. The words was uttered breathlessly.
Jack seemed to snap out of it then, whatever daze he'd been in vanishing in an instant. He whooped in exhilaration, almost levitating despite the room's lack of wind. The boy's pale face was an open book of raw emotions flittering from incredulousness, diffidence, incomprehension and disbelief to wonder, bliss, elation and utter euphoria. He'd never so many emotions dance across Jack's face before. Then a smile so vulnerable and tender Jamie's heart clenched painfully spread across the frost teen's young face, tugging at the corners of blue-tinted lips and lifting them into the Jack-like crooked grin he was so very fond of and familiar with.
Jack flicked his wrist, fingers wiggling slowly and forming a small, beautiful and intricate snowflake. He then gently blew the flimsy flake in his mom's direction.
It didn't take much, the small prompting from Jack's dubbed 'fun-flake' was enough to convince his mom that Jack Frost was indeed standing right in front of her. It was so plain to see when she finally let the guard down completely and accepted their words as truths and not children's balderdash. It was as if a film lifted form her eyes. He'd never knew his mom had such striking, vivid green eyes. They shone brightly with love and merriment, no longer dulled and dimmed by the veil of ignorance and disbelief.
"You are actually here, corporeal and tangible, alive."
Jack nodded, a small unreadable smile grazing his lightly blue shaded lips.
"Have you been watching over my children all this time?
Jack nodded again, shyly duking his head.
"Thank you."
The white haired teen's head snapped back up as if surprised someone was thanking him.
Then his mother's face scrunched in thought.
"Since…Then…Does that mean…"
Knowing where his mom's thoughts had wandered, Jamie piped up.
"They're real. Every one of them is real." He repeated the words spoken to him by the very Winter Spirit standing beside him so long ago. He glanced up at Jack and smiled at the older teen's slightly surprised, wide-eyed expression. Jack's gaze shifted downwards to Jamie and their eyes met, kind brown and affectionate blue, then Jack was smiling warmly, blinking away unshed tears and ruffling his hair fondly.
"Thank you." He barely caught the whisper, Jack's voice unusually tender and unguarded. Reflexively, he reached up, grasped the young Guardian's hand, and gave it a small, reassuring squeeze.
He'd actually done it. He'd gotten his mom to believe.
Thanks to all who've read, faved, followed, favorited, PMed and reviewed! You're all amazing! I really appreciate each and every one.
Shout-out to MillyOnFanfics, AyameKitsune and a certain guest reviewer!