Hey, guys! Welcome back to Becoming a Guardian! Before we do anything else, let's take care of reviews!
Thanks so much to Loftcat27 and Demi clayton for reviewing! Glad you guys like the story so far!
Ooh, and as a quick note, know that, regardless of anything that has/hasn't been confirmed, Olivia is the name that I've always used for Jack's sister, so...yeah. Gonna stick with that.
That being said, on with the chapter!
~ Family Tree ~
As much of a part of me always wished that I could just be a normal person, even I have to admit that being a centuries-old spirit from the colonial era has its uses. The fact that I've lived through the entirety of the amount of time the United States has even existed is actually pretty useful in performing certain tasks.
Namely, helping Jamie with his history homework.
Yep. Look at me, I'm a helpful little Jack. Granted I'm pretty much useless for anything else school-related thanks to my lack of quality formal education, but...history, I've got down.
Though, Jamie's a smart kid, so I doubt he really needs much help from me, but hey, I'm always willing to spend some time with my first believer.
Anywho, right now, since I don't have any Spirit of Winter business to attend to, and the other Guardians are all busy, I'm in Jamie's room, sitting on the edge of his bed as I watch him pull out supplies for some sort of assignment he hasn't explained to me yet. He's got a poster board, a pencil, markers, a couple of glue sticks, and a bunch of circular pieces of paper bearing images that I can't properly see from my current position.
"Whatcha working on, kiddo?" I ask curiously, pushing myself up and going to look over his shoulder.
"Some family tree project for school," Jamie replies, sounding somewhat weary of the assignment in question. "Luckily I'm all done with the actual research part...that was taking forever. Now all I have to do is put everything together on a poster and present it in a couple days."
"Huh...interesting." I comment, watching as he starts sketching out the basic structure of the family tree. "So...as boring as researching sounds...did you learn anything cool?"
Jamie shrugs in response. "A couple things," he says. "For one, my family's apparently been in this town since like...before it was even called Burgess. I even found records going back to...the late 1600's, I think?"
Now this peaks my interest, seeing as this was around the time that I was alive in my human form. Maybe I knew one of Jamie and Sophie's ancestors? Or maybe I...no, no, I doubt it. That'd be too much of a coincidence, probably.
...never mind that. Moving on.
"You know..." I say slowly, leaning casually against my staff as my eyes roll towards the ceiling in thought. "I'm a little over 300 years old myself, and I was a human that lived in this town for 17 years before becoming a spirit."
At this, Jamie blinks in surprise and looks up at me. "Whoa, seriously?" he asks in awe. "Then...how did you end up as...you know, 'Jack Frost'?"
I hesitate. I...probably shouldn't be talking to a kid about how I fell to my watery grave beneath the ice of a lake that's only a few minutes away from here...just doesn't seem like a good idea. As such, instead of potentially scarring him a bit, I simply wave off the question and say, "Eh, that's a story for another time. First, I want to ask you something myself."
Jamie seems a little confused at the deflection, but luckily doesn't protest it. "Well...okay," he says, looking up at me. "What do you wanna know?"
"Could you maybe...tell me the names of your relatives from that time period?" I inquire. "I'd like to see if they were anyone I knew...and maybe if they were, I could tell you a bit about them?"
"Oh, okay!" Jamie replies with a grin. "Let's see..." He begins sifting through the small stack of paper circles, which I can now see show images of various people, at least up to a certain point. Eventually, they just begin showing generic male and female silhouettes, presumably due to the fact that they're meant to represent people from before the time when cameras were invented. A few even simply have question marks on them, serving as placeholders for unknown family members.
"Ah, here we go," the kid says eventually, removing five circles—two male silhouettes, two female silhouettes, and one question mark—from the stack.
When I see the names written on the papers, my heart nearly stops.
Jamie, however, doesn't seem to notice my stunned expression, and begins laying out the circles in front of him. "Couldn't find anything on my...uh...however-many-greats grandfather," he says, gesturing at the question mark circle. "But I did find stuff on his wife and her family! We've got...Benjamin Overland, Sarah Overland, Olivia Overland, and...Jackson Overland."
...oh.
My.
God.
For the uninformed...that's me. Jackson Overland. That was my human name...and Olivia...Livi, as I always called her...she was my sister. And Benjamin and Sarah were our parents...
...Jamie and Sophie are my sister's descendants. Which means...which means I'm their...uh...however-many-greats uncle!
...dear God I was not prepared for this kind of revelation today.
Meanwhile, Jamie is still talking. "This is actually the other cool thing I was gonna mention," he says with a grin. "I never thought I'd be related to the Overlands in the legend..."
This, thankfully, snaps me out of my overwhelming shock, and I'm able to move and speak again. As such, I glance at him and ask slowly, "The...legend?"
Jamie nods. "You know, the one about Overland lake! The one a few minutes away from here?"
...I can honestly say I've never actually heard anyone refer to that place as "Overland Lake." Or...wait, actually, I don't know. Maybe I have, but it just hasn't clicked until now...
Either way, I just nod and let Jamie move on.
"Well," he continues. "Apparently, centuries ago, the Overland kids went skating on the lake when it was frozen, not realizing that the ice was a little too thin. People tell the story in a bunch of different ways, but...it always ends with the brother saving his sister's life, while he falls in and drowns."
...yep. Sounds about right. Oh boy...I guess I should've known my story would get told...I never expected it to be passed down this far through the generations, though...
"Legend has it," Jamie goes on. "The spirit of the brother still haunts the lake to this day, though...they say he's more like a guardian angel than a ghost, I guess. It's said that, to prevent others from suffering the same fate as him, he always makes sure the lake is kept...is kept..." Suddenly, his eyes widen as all the pieces click into place. He looks up at me, stunned.
"...is kept frozen," I finish for him with a slight grin. "And, uh...I don't know about 'angel,' but..." I wink. "I'd say 'Guardian' is a pretty apt term."
It is now that I can practically see Jamie's mind being blown.
With the same wonder and awe with which he first spoke to me the night he started believing, he exclaims, "You're Jackson Overland!? You're...you're him!? You're...we're related!?"
I laugh, unable to keep myself from smiling back. "Yes, yes, and yes!" I reply, matching his enthusiasm. "Wow...didn't think there was a whole legend in place about me!"
"There is!" Jamie confirms with a laugh. "You...wow...you're like, actually a hero! I mean I already knew that 'cause of last Easter, but...even as a human! You saved your sister! You..." Suddenly, he cuts himself off, eyebrows creasing as his expression sobers. A moment later, he says more quietly, "...you died..."
I sigh and give a sad smile. Guess there's no hiding anything now. "Yeah...that's, uh...actually how I became Jack Frost," I tell him softly. "I drowned in that lake...and the Man in the Moon brought me back as...well, as me. It...makes for a sad story, I guess, but...don't worry about it. I'm actually kind of okay with it."
"You are...?" Jamie asks hesitantly.
I smile and nod. "Yeah. Sure, I died, but...my sister didn't. And if she had, you and Sophie wouldn't be here...and even if both of us had survived, I still would never have met you two and the Guardians. So...yeah. I'm okay with how things turned out."
Believe it or not, it's actually not really a lie. Sure, I wish that my 300 years of solitude had gone differently, of course, but...at least the ultimate outcome is something I can be content with.
After all...even after everything I've been through, I can now say that I'm no longer alone. I found friends in my believers...and family in the Guardians, and now Jamie and Sophie.
All things considered...things didn't turn out so bad in the end.
To convince Jamie of this, I flash a genuine smile, which he soon returns. "Well...okay," he says. Then, he laughs. "Wow, this is just...this is just so cool! You're our uncle!"
I give a laugh in return and reply, "Yeah! It's definitely cool!"
"I gotta go tell Soph! And then all my friends!" Jamie starts to jump up from his chair, but I hold a hand out to stop him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I say, feigning seriousness. "You're not going anywhere yet, kid."
He blinks in confusion. "Uh...why not?"
I smirk and gesture at the poster board. "No fanboying until your homework is finished, young man," I tease, to which he gives an exaggerated groan.
"Oh, come on!" he protests, crossing his arms. "I thought you were supposed to be the Guardian of Fun..."
To this, I give a sly grin. "Hey...I'm just trying to be a responsible uncle here."
Jamie rolls his eyes and sits down. "Not funny..." he grumbles, though I can see the smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.
"Nah...it's pretty funny," I reply with a chuckle.
As Jamie starts working on his project again, I lean back and smile. Damn...who would've thought that I'd turn out to be related to two of my first believers?
Heh...funny how these things work out.
I know the family tree thing is a little overdone, but...I couldn't resist giving my own version a shot. :) Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed, and don't forget to leave a review to tell me what you think, or maybe even something you'd like to see in the future! See you guys next time!
'Til then, Sapphire316, out.