It was cold.
It was never cold.
Jack felt himself drifting in the water, his eyes focused yet unfocused on the swirling brown water. Or maybe that was his blood?
He giggled, as best as he could underwater. The water choking choking choking him. It felt like watching his death all over again, but in slow motion. Was that possible?
Jack watched the bubbles from his last breath float toward the surface. His lungs were gradually growing heavier and heavier, feeling like they were about to explode from the pressure forcing down on him.
There was one happy thought that fluttered through his head like fish swimming forcefully.
Everything was so still. It was like time withheld for a moment, everything pausing in mute. He couldn't even feel his own heartbeat in this own silence.
Black crowed in on his vision. He looked down to see his sister one last time.
Jacqueline smiled at him from her drifting eyes. She too was losing conscious, and she could have sworn she felt her head was bleeding. Maybe smashing it against the ice wasn't such a good idea.
But she was happy.
But something else filtered into her mind.
That dam guilt was still there! She was free! Free! Why was she still feeling this horrible sensation all through out her stomach and chest?
Jack! Jack would help her with this! But Jack's eyes were directed in the distance, eyes looking scared and uncertain.
NO! NO! NO!
This wasn't her Jack.
He was an imposter for the real Jack. Her Angel. Her angel would never abandon her like this. Her Angel would never hurt her like this. He was sweet and compassionate with an extra heart to spare.
THIS WAS NOT HER JACK!
The ice gave with a large groan, the twins disappearing underneath the surface.
"Jack! Jacqueline!" Tooth lurched herself toward the thin ice, one hand outstretched with a look of pure agony on her face. She was held back by Sandy, sadly shaking his head.
"It can't be," She whispered, horrified. She sunk to her knees, her wings giving out underneath her. Her fairies chirped from her shoulder, watching with eyes wide.
"No!" Bunny yelled, crouching to all fours and took of on the ice. He gritted his teeth. He wasn't going to sit back and take it, even if it meant he had to see the body...He choked on his own thought and skidded to a stop.
Stop thinking about all the horrid possibilities, of seeing a lifeless pair of eyes staring right back in to yours. To see thousands perish in man's own hate, seeing seventeen year old Jack drown on thin ice because his sister was angry with him for rejecting her.
Stop reliving the one death over and over again.
Right at the edge of the hole, he bounded his haunches and dived in to the cold water, North right behind him.
Jack eyes drifted away for the third time. He was...confused?
He was sinking faster and faster in to this dark path. Jack's mind drifted to the guardians. They were..so kind to him. The kindness that didn't expect anything in return and was given out with the pure willingness because they wanted to.
Something inside of him snapped.
He didn't want to go! He wanted to sit and watch Sandy's dream sand and watch it take form with the weaver himself sitting next to him. He wanted to sip eggnog with North and help him with his toys idea. He wanted to fly with Tooth and her fairies in the air and enjoy the feeling of company. He wanted to jest with Bunny and maybe even play a few pranks together. He wanted to have snowball fights with Sophie and Jamie and lead the army of neighborhood kids in an all out war.
He wanted to live.
Jack began to pull away, But Jacqueline's grip tightened. Her glaring eyes said all he needed to know. She was one step ahead of him and not letting him go.
Jack released the last effort of fight he had left in him in to thrashing around madly, but Jacqueline's grip was relentless. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't be released.
Jacqueline smiled at him when he stopped moving, her eyes sliding shut. Her chest no longer moved. He couldn't try to move anymore, he was just so tired to even fight it.
"Come on Jack!"
Jack turned his head. Pippa was standing there with the largest grin on her face. Both of her hands were held by two older adults.
Papa, Mama...?
Mama smiled at him, her expression kind and without a hint of negative emotion. "You've waited long enough."
Papa kneeled down on one knee, holding out his free hand. "I missed you, my boy."
Jack looked uncertainly between the two of them. He could go too? He cast a long glance at the light shining through the water.
When he turned his eyes back to his family, someone else had stepped out of the mist on Mama's side. Her hair was long and brown, eyes glittering with untold adventures and mischief waiting to happen.
Jacqueline?
"Let's be a family again." She whispered.
Family?
He cast his gaze upward again, only to be staring at the harsh sun. All around him was fields of wheat, drifting lazily in the wind. His family was once more waiting for him in front of their little house.
He took a step foreword, only to be stopped by Pippa raising her hand and shaking her head.
"It's not your time yet."
It's not his time yet? Did that mean he was going to live?
"But what about you guys?" Jack whispered, half-terrified they were going to leave him all alone.
"We've waited a couple of centuries." Papa kissed Mama's head."We can wait a little longer.
Jack choked. His family...Will wait for him?
Nothing could stop him as he took up running through the wheat and in to his mother's arms.
"I l-love y-you guys so much." Jack cried. "Wait for me!"
Papa's arms wrapped around his shoulders with Jacqueline around his chest and Pippa around his waist. Their warmth was exactly the same as he remembered.
Mama stroked his head, whispering calming words in to his hair. She reminded him so much of Tooth with her motherly nature and soothing words at ready.
Papa patted him softly, the other arm slung around his shoulders. His hearty laughs and eyes that twinkled in the night of the sky made him think of North who was so different but so similar at the same time.
Jacqueline was defiantly Bunny as she rubbed her head in to his chest. Him and Bunny would probably clash heads if he had known him better. But they both had strong hope for the future and a connection to the world around them.
Pippa was impossibly Sandy with her short stature and meddle personality. Her cheeky grins and innocent looks covered up a prankster overland that would team up with her older siblings to defeat the Huns.
"We love you too, son." Mama whispered, her words sounding like the last of farewells.
The wheat field and his family disintegrated as another pair of warm, furry arms wrapped around his waist and dragged him up to the beautiful surface.
Maybe after this was all over, he could buy some flowers for his family. Gravestones always looked more pretty with splashes of color in them.
Bunny watched warily as Jack coughed up lake water. North landed beside him, his head in his hands.
They were only able to save one.
Jacqueline lied still on the ground next to Jack. No CPR could revive her, Bunny could feel her soul leave her body. Both of her arms lied by her side, expression happy.
Jack curled tighter around himself, shivering frantically. North stood up and picked up his blood-soaked coat and covered Jack in it. Lucky for them, the icicle had came out while Jack was underwater.
Bunny had been terrified when he pulled Jack out of the water to see his chest still. He could still feel his heart racing from where they had to preform CPR.
Tooth fluttered around, talking rapidly about things that didn't even make sense. Bunny was pretty sure her heard her mention 'Polar Bears' and 'The Spanish Flu' several times.
Sandy watched with his face drawn. Even if they managed to save him in one piece, the fragments of his soul would take years to fit each other again.
But Bunny was willing to take that risk. They all were, for they had the time and the patience to see Jack once more happy.
"Bunny?" Jack croaked.
Bunny stood up from where he was sitting and raced over to his side in neck-breaking pace.
"Yes?" The other guardians huddled around the half unconscious boy.
"Did she pass away?" Jack opened his eyes slightly, a slit of blue.
"Her soul left." North nodded.
No one had to specific who 'She' was.
"Jack?"
The said person shifted slightly looking in to round brown eyes and green glittering one's. Jack lifted his arms as both Jamie and Sophie shot themselves foreword and snuggled in to his side.
"Please," He closed his eyes momentarily, "Could you lye her to rest in the lake?"
Jamie handed Jack his staff from where they found it on the thick ice. Jack smiled weakly at the boy as a sign of thanks.
North nodded, Tooth following close behind as they picked up the limp girl and carefully slid her on the ice in till the body tipped in to the water.
Jack smiled up Sandy. "Can you bring me good dreams?"
Sandy shot him a secret smile that sent a little meaning. Of course. Sandy sprinkled the sand lightly over Jack's head, his eyelids already sliding close.
"Bring me home afterwards, please." Jack whispered.
"Home?" Bunny questioned.
"The workshop." Jack simply said before falling asleep.
He dreamt of warm nights by the fire and happy laughs shared and many more to come.
Long after everyone had went home, a hand reached out from the lake.
Then a head rose, gasping in mouthfuls of air. The person shook themselves dry, reaching out to grab a thick sheet of ice. It growled when it could not get a solid grip on the ice, forming an Ice pick in it's hands and hauling themselves out of the water.
It would get back it's angel, It promised. The figure stood up, it's soaked clothe accenting it's figuring around the breasts and hips.
She licked her lips. Things would go back to the way it used to be. That is what she promised her family before returning and running after Jack on that long bridge.
Bring back the staff to me, and I'll tell you all you need to know. The shadows chuckled.
She wondered if North's library had any information on turning back time...
OH MY FUCKING GOD I'M FINSHED!
Longest chapter story, longest complete story, most reviews for a story, most favorites for a story, most follows for a story, most words in a story, I have just achieved so many things.
Thank you everyone who helped me out and kept me strong. Special thanks to;
TheNarrowPath, Ninuhuju, Xion5, lilwritergurl52,
SaiyanPrincess, Cat Lunaoff, Nora Frost, Louisa Rose,
Luminesyra, NoONeSpecial, DjinnAtWood.
Cat Lunaoff: Oh my god You're review made me crack up!
SaiyanPrincess: I'm Going to miss you! :(
Xion5: I was originally going to end it with both of their deaths, but thanks to you I changed my mind. I'm reading 'Of Ice and Thieves' right now actually, It's really good XD
lilNinuhujuwritergirl52: I think that just answered your questions XD
Ninuhuju: No, because all it is is a linkage to her power. She can no longer have the extent of the power she used to have without the staff, but breaking it or burning it wouldn't hurt her since she isn't attached to it like Jack is.
TheNarrowPath: Yes I did ;)
Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians.