A/n: This chapter might be a little confusing, it takes place several weeks before chapter 27. It just felt like that's how I should write it, so there it is...
.:28:.
Sophie stared out her window in misery. She hadn't seen or heard from Jack in weeks, Bunnymund didn't even know where he was. Tooth came by sometimes to check on her and see if maybe Jack had shown up, but they always parted ways in sad silence. Heaving another sigh, Sophie ran her hands through her unkept hair and stared down at the flowers now lining the sidewalk.
Winter was over, and she dreaded what that might mean. It was still early for spring, but the snow had melted and given way to lush green grass and wildflowers. There was a certain warmth to the air, and Sophie cringed in worry. It didn't feel right, it wasn't supposed to be warm yet. It was still his time, and it should be snowing. She hugged herself and let her gaze sweep over the yard again before tears stung her eyes and she turned back to her bedroom.
Something had happened to Jack, and Sophie felt so miserably helpless. She had no idea where he might be, or how she could possibly find him. She didn't know if he was okay, and she didn't know if he was ever coming back. The stress was taking a heavy toll on her, and she wasn't sure how much more she could take.
The sun was setting, and dark shadows reached out across the landscape. Sophie set her jaw in determination as she stared at the shadows stretching across her bedroom. She slid her boots on and threw open her bedroom door, nearly trampling Jamie as he wandered up the stairs.
"Whoa! Where are you going? It's getting dark out, Soph." Jamie watched her in concern as she reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to glare at him.
"What do you care? Go make out with Clara or something." Sophie growled bitterly.
Jamie looked hurt, and he narrowed his eyes at her as she dashed out the front door.
Sophie jogged through the empty streets, hating how her breath no longer puffed up in little clouds. It was still cool enough for a sweatshirt, and she was still wearing Jack's hoodie. The frost had long since melted, and it just looked like a regular blue hoodie, but she loved it all the same and dreaded the day it would be too hot out to wear it anymore. She reached the edge of the forest and ducked into the deep shadows of the trees.
"Pitch! I know you're lurking out here." Sophie called out, trying to keep her voice from cracking.
She slowed her jog and moved slowly in the darkness, glancing back and forth for any sign of the man.
"I want to talk to you." She said quietly, and paused to listen for a reply.
"Pitch! I know you can hear me!" Sophie stepped further into the trees and stopped again to listen.
"What on Earth could you possibly want?" Pitch groaned distastefully as he stepped out from Sophie's own shadow.
She visibly jumped, then tightened her hands into fists in determination.
"Please, you must know where Jack is." She said softly, and Pitch glared spitefully at her.
"Why would I care?" He hissed in her ear and she shivered.
"Maybe you do, maybe you don't. I really don't care how you feel about Jack, I just want to find him." Sophie murmured and shied away from him.
"Yes, I know. Your fear of losing him permeates your very soul. It's sickening. Jack is radiating similar disgusting emotions. His fear of facing immortality without you is staining my existence." Pitch ground out hatefully and Sophie's eyes widened.
"What do you mean?" Her voice wavered and tears began to sting her eyes.
"Even now, Jack's heart is nearly overflowing with his fear of having to outlive you. He appears to have chosen not to do so at all, and is doing his best to fade from this world." Pitch crooned at Sophie and brushed his fingertips along a lock of her hair.
Tears stained her cheeks and her back straightened as she tried to fight back her own fear at Pitch's words.
"Where is he?" Her voice trembled, and Pitch sneered at her.
"Find him yourself." He hissed and slid back into the shadows.
"Pitch! Stop! Please!" Sophie sobbed and lunged forward, but her palms landed against a tree. Pitch was gone, and she slid down to her knees and let out several broken sobs.
Their conversation had done little more than confirm her terror that Jack wasn't coming back to her. Wherever he was, he needed help. Sophie hugged herself and cried into his hoodie. Her hands shook as she kneaded her fingers into the soft blue fabric. She was so tired of being helpless, she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't lose him, and she bit back another sob.
She curled up in the darkness beneath the tree and cried. Her head hurt and she was terrified for Jack, and she cried until she ran out of energy. She was too tired to deal with it anymore, and didn't even notice the golden sand reaching down to her from above.
Pitch glided from the shadows, his arms crossed and glaring as the Sandman landed gracefully beside Sophie's limp form. The two of them exchanged wary glances, then looked down at her tear-stained face. She was relaxed as the Sandman's wonderful dreams danced through her head, but Pitch glared in spite and growled.
"Fantastic. Now if we can just keep her that way forever I'll finally be able to get some sleep myself." Pitch said bitterly as Sandy looked up sharply.
Several images flashed over his head, essentially saying "Thank you for calling me, but we're not putting her in a coma."
"Well I can't put up with the two of them going on like this much longer." Pitch spat harshly. He turned to point accusingly at the moon.
"If you won't make her immortal I will, and you're not going to like it!" Pitch said threateningly.
Sandy gave him a sly look, and Pitch scoffed at the images he was showing him.
"Don't be absurd, I simply can't stand them pining after each other like this. Whimpering and fearing their futures, it's disgusting. Both of them will shut up and be happy if we just make her immortal, it's not that difficult." Pitch stepped forward menacingly, and Sandy got in front of Sophie and shot him a death glare.
"Come on, Sandman. You can't tell me you'd honestly prefer to see her get old and shatter Jack's soul with her death." His words were venomous, but Sandy himself was doubting the entire situation.
After a few tense moments, his shoulders slumped. He asked Pitch what he had in mind, and a vicious grin crossed Pitch's face.
Neither of them had to worry about it, however, as the Moon took the opportunity to shine down a beam of light onto Sophie's limp form. Sandy stared in awe and Pitch grinned a little maniacally as they watched Manny give in and take over the situation. Sophie's hair was the first obvious change, as it faded from shining gold to platinum. Tendrils of frost creeped back into their usual place along Jack's hoodie, and her skin took on a much paler hue. She shivered in her sleep, and her breath sent frost swirling out across the ground in a halo. It was over fairly quickly, and Sophie continued to sleep under the Sandman's dream sand.
"Pity, she would have been such an adorable little nightmare." Pitch mused to himself, and Sandy gave him a sharp look.
The little man moved forward to stroke Sophie's hair, and she sighed happily under his touch. He smiled to himself and settled down beside her to wait. Pitch crossed his arms and started to step away.
Sandy quickly flashed some images at him, roughly translating to "Why did you do this?".
Pitch stared at him with emotionless golden eyes. If he'd had a less-selfish motive for helping Sophie, he wasn't going to admit it. He stalked off into the shadows in silence, and Sandy continued stroking Sophie's hair as he stared after the man in slight confusion.
Sophie awoke around midnight with a gasp of slight panic. Frost exploded out across the ground in a twelve foot radius, and Sophie stared at it in shock. Her hands began shaking as she looked down at Jack's hoodie to toy with the little ice tendrils that had been missing for so long. It took her a few long minutes to register that Sandy was watching her with concern from a safe distance.
"Sandy..? What happened?" Her voice trembled, and Sandy worried that maybe they'd made a terrible mistake.
He showed her images of the moon and snowflakes, then pointed at her for emphasis.
She seemed to understand, and spent a long time looking down at herself and the frozen ground all around her. After a while, she seemed to be adjusting to the shock, and got shakily to her feet. The moon was lingering along the horizon, getting ready to set. She stared at it for a few moments, then nodded and turned back to Sandy. He was glancing between her and the moon curiously, and Sophie looked a little embarrassed and cleared her throat.
"I need to find Jack." She mumbled, obviously not wanting to share what the moon had told her.
Sandy communicated that no one knew where he was, and Sophie nodded.
"I'll find him." She assured Sandy and herself, and started walking back toward her house.
Sandy caught up and asked if that was a good idea. He showed her images of her family not being able to see her anymore, and Sophie shuddered. She hugged herself and started running, hoping he was wrong and nothing would have changed between her and her family.
She stopped outside her front door, staring up at the house she'd grown up in and dreading what she knew was about to happen. Sandy tugged on her sleeve with concern, and she shook her head.
"I have to know, Sandy. They're my family." Her voice wavered, and she opened the front door.
She stepped into the house, and a cold winter breeze followed her inside. Jamie's head appeared around the doorway to the kitchen, and Sophie held her breath hopefully as he rushed forward. Jamie walked right through her. The shock sent a jolt through her system. She'd never felt anything like it, and hoped she never would again. Sophie huddled her arms toward her chest and felt her eyes tear up at the realization that her own brother couldn't see her. He closed the front door, muttering something about a broken latch, then wandered back into the kitchen. Sophie took a moment to let everything sink in, then she wandered up to her room.
She wondered what her family would think when they walked past her bedroom. Maybe they remembered her, they just assumed she was dead? All her stuff was still right where she'd left it in her room, and she wandered around and poked at things as she tried to figure out what to do next.
Sandy appeared in her window, and she opened it for him and beckoned him in. He glanced around her room curiously, and waited patiently as she made a plan. She kicked off her boots and threw her socks in the dirty clothes hamper. She figured she wouldn't need shoes anymore. She was wearing tattered blue jeans, which she considered to be highly fashionable. It seemed fitting, wearing something that corresponded to the year she became immortal. Her hands shook when she thought about it, and she pulled off Jack's hoodie and set it on her bed. She was wearing a white tank top underneath, and she figured that was good enough.
She picked up a small messenger bag and put a few things into it that she'd like to keep. She took her camera and some extra film, a few pictures, a couple of knick-knacks she'd had for a long time, and a few other mementos. When she was satisfied, she slung the bag over her shoulder and secured the strap over her chest. She turned back to Sandy and nodded.
"I'm going to look for him." She insisted. Sandy pouted and crossed his arms.
He showed her more images, asking her to stay there and wait. Jack would come back for her, and Bunnymund was already looking for him. It wouldn't help if they were both lost. Sophie shook her head.
"I can't wait anymore, especially not like this. I can't just sit here and wait for Jack to show up while my family can't see me and I'm holding winter in my hands. I have to go." She was so serious and determined, and Sandy nodded and moved aside.
She paused on the window sill. She'd seen Jack do it a hundred times, but she'd never took the time to think that maybe one day she'd be the one leaning out her window and getting ready to jump. He made it look so easy, but Sophie stared down at the ground and her still-human mind insisted gravity was real and she should take the stairs.
Sandy put a hand on her arm and she looked down to see him smiling encouragingly at her. The corner of her mouth turned up a little, and they shared a long meaningful look before Sandy make some more images for her.
"Why would I be mad at you?" Sophie asked with genuine curiosity.
Sandy made a few more images to let her know he and Pitch were behind her becoming Jack Frost's new partner. Sophie laughed.
"I think I might be in shock, but I'm not mad. It's what I've always wanted, I just thought there might be some kind of ceremony or at least I'd know beforehand. I just woke up from a nap…" Sophie shook her head and sighed in resignation.
"Well, if you're not coming with me then I'm heading north without you." Sophie smiled down at Sandy, and he took a moment to ponder the situation. After some deliberation, he make motions to shoo her out the window and Sophie stared down at the ground once again.
Sandy showed her that the wind would catch her, it liked playing with winter spirits. She was doubtful, but she took a deep breath and jumped out the window with the confidence that Jack had always shown. The wind grabbed her and whipped her up into the sky, over the houses lining her street and out over the treetops. Sandy drifted up beside her, laughing silently as she tried to figure out how to get control and right herself. It took her a bit, but she finally seemed to stabilize herself in the air and got moving in a northernly direction.
A/n: I'll leave Pitch's motives to your imaginations. Other than that, I lost count of how many times I have scrapped this chapter and started over. I give up, just have it. I'm eager to be done with this story so I can start on some other ones guilt-free! Also I apologize for any mistakes, I did my best to catch them but I'm sure there are still some lurking that I missed.
