Nightlight froze. The ballroom began to grow colder around the two of them, a wave spreading outwards from where they stared at each other. Frost began to creep across the floor from Jack's feet, and faint snowflakes drifted down from the air around the two spirits.
"Nightlight..." Jack said, quiet as a falling snowflake but loud as a falling rock in the circle of silence surrounding them. "Nightlight, please, tell me something this big wasn't kept secret."
Nightlight still stood frozen, his mind racing. The other Guardians, somehow alerted to the emergency, pushed through the circle surrounding them, and Jack looked at all of them rapidly, breath coming faster and faster, frosting in the air.
Nightlight raised a hand, reaching out towards Jack and Jack broke, leaping into the air and disappearing out a skylight, leaving behind staff and party and Guardians alike.
The party broke into furious whispers, and Tooth and Sandy braced themselves to follow.
Nightlight waved at them to wait, and took off after Jack himself, making a quick detour to get both staffs, more worried than ever when he realized that Jack had left his behind. Jack didn't let the staff leave his hand, for him to leave it behind...
The cold didn't bother him, he could take Jack's anger and pain in ways the others couldn't, and he was the one Jack had asked, who had failed at the moment of truth.
He was going to be the one to answer.
Jack was furious.
With the Guardians, who never told him something that important. With the other spirits, who apparently knew but never thought to tell him. With the other spirits, with the Guardians, who had probably been laughing at him. Stupid Jack Frost, thinks he's worth something, we won't tell him this super important part of being a Guardian. He's only worth his power, don't want to have to deal with him thinking he's actually part of us.
With himself, for thinking someone might actually want him around for once. With himself for forgetting his staff back at the Pole.
At least he wasn't dependent on it to fly anymore. Small comfort that was, he still had to go back to the Pole and get it. He needed it.
Worst of all was the little voice in the back of his head, asking again and again, "Why?"
Why didn't they ever tell him? Why didn't they kick him out when he tried to make them? Why did they stick around, tell him things, act like they cared, and never tell him this?
He landed in Antarctica, his landing sending up sharp spikes of ice and a billow of snow.
Jack spun and kicked out, sending sharp ice spikes shooting out. He never used his power like this, save the few times he lost control, those times almost always in lonely places like this save for when he lost control of that storm in Easter of '68, and that one wasn't started by him. It was dangerous, without his staff as conduit, and more difficult.
His emotions were in a muddle, and his emotions controlled his powers. Right now, he needed to get it all out. All the pain, the anger, the confusion, the hole suddenly ripped in his heart. He punched and lunged and kicked, screamed and cried and cursed, kicking up a storm to rival the one of Easter of '68.
There was little control or finesse, not without his staff. Later he would be able to be amazed that he could do so much without his staff, which had always focused his powers, which had always seemed to be the only way he could tap into his them at all, helpless as he'd been without it just a couple short years ago, during Easter of 2012.
Finally Jack exhausted himself, sinking to his knees on the ice.
No one there had come out and said the word 'Marriage' but him, but the look on Nightlight's face when Jack asked...what else could he think? With the conversation he had broken into, all the whispers he had been hearing, the way everyone reacted...he wasn't stupid. He could put the pieces together.
They'd been married. This whole time, they'd all been married, somehow, and Jack had never known.
Had Jack been married, too, all unknowing? No one had ever made a move towards him like that, had said anything...were they keeping it hidden from him so they wouldn't have to marry him, make him a full Guardian? Using him for his powers?
Did he even want to be married to them?
No! Yes. Maybe...? He was so confused.
There was a soft sound behind him, of someone landing gently on the snow and ice he had created, and Jack whipped around, ready for a fight.
Nightlight was perched lightly on one of the spires of ice Jack had created in his temper. He was looking around, whistling silently, not trying to hide his amazement.
In one hand he held his staff and in the other, Jack's.
Nightlight looked down at Jack and hopped off the spire, floating down to meet him. Standing only a few feet away, he carefully flipped Jack's staff with the ease of a long time staff wielder, offering it to its rightful owner.
Small lights glittered along the staff, stardust sparkling in the cracks, and Jack had to pause to take it in for a moment, remembering how nightmare sand had darkened those cracks the day Pitch had taken the staff from him. Then his hand was on the staff and frost coated the staff again, though there was still a faint glitter left behind.
Jack clutched the staff tight, frowning at Nightlight. He was furious, but even so, he didn't want to fight. He still cared about all of them, loved them, and though that made the hurt sharper and deeper, he wasn't quite ready to lash out at any of them. Physically, at least.
He was drawing breath, searching for words, when Nightlight spoke.
Actually spoke, not in Star, not with lights, but with words. Not in lights, but in a voice, soft and husky with disuse but growing stronger with each word spoken.
"It wasn't supposed to go this way," Nightlight said, his voice lighter than Jack's, the shock of hearing his voice making Jack stop and listen. "Each time we thought we were ready, something happened, and we were so sure you weren't. That this would happen."
Jack flailed, staring in shock at Nightlight before snapping out of it. "Well why not tell me right away?" he demanded, still angry, still hurt. "Why wait until now? Why let everyone else know and laugh at me, again? Do any of you even want me?"
The last question came out with more hurt than Jack had intended, and he turned away as he felt the tears well up.
He scrubbed a sleeve roughly across his eyes. "And don't try to say 'of course we want you'," he said harshly. "No one's wanted me for three hundred years."
Jack sighed, some small part of him allowing for, "Okay, I know Tooth hasn't left her palace for longer than I've been alive, and that probably goes for the rest too, but that doesn't change the fact that I've been alone the whole time, and that they lied to me."
He glanced back over his shoulder as he heard Nightlight move.
Nightlight was silent, unsure of what to say for a moment, before moving closer, careful to make his steps sound loudly on the fresh snow and ice, crunching with each step so Jack knew he was approaching.
"Do you remember," he said, "When I said the others – all of us, really – tend to forget that not everyone know things?"
Jack made a small noise of unwilling agreement. "For a long time, everyone knew the Guardians were married," Nightlight said. "Then...it was like everyone forgot. Including them. And just like everyone else, they assumed you knew. It was such common knowledge. They're married, they just haven't acted like it in centuries."
"Just like everything else," Jack muttered.
"And by the time they found out you didn't, it would have been so awkward," Nightlight agreed. "How do you tell that to someone? That the vow they just took was supposed to be a marriage vow, too, but they didn't know?"
"It didn't sound like a marriage vow," Jack said, shooting ice from the tip of his staff at one of the sculptures he'd made in his anger beginning to pace angrily. "I promised to protect the children. There was nothing in there I recognized about being married. They still should have said something later."
"It kept getting more and more awkward, the later they waited," Nightlight agreed, matching Jack's pacing until they were walking a circle, each on the opposite side of it. "But they told us they wanted you to feel wanted, first. To be happy, to feel secure that they cared. That they wanted you around for you, not because Manny said you should be a Guardian. They wanted you to be happy when they told you that it could be a marriage and they wanted you to be one of their Spice."
"Multiple for spouse," he clarified when Jack paused, looking at him oddly. Jack mouthed the word before he nodded shortly and continued his pacing.
Jack's temper was beginning to cool off. He was still hurt, and that wasn't going away, but his temper was always like that – unless it had a good head on it, growing slowly as a glacier until it became a cold ball of ice cold rage, then it flared and cooled quickly.
The hurt, though, wasn't gone, though it was dulled with Nightlight's explanation, a throbbing hurt instead of the knife through the heart it had been.
"That still doesn't say they couldn't clue me in earlier," he said.
"They thought they'd been caught over and over again, but you didn't pick up the hints," Nightlight said, and there was a hint of amusement there, and Jack had to push down a surge of anger and hurt at that.
"What do you..." he paused, and Nightlight nodded as he watched Jack think over the last few years, moments he had dismissed that took on new meaning with this information.
Jack cursed and flung a ball of ice, destroying one another of his sculptures, far off to the left of both of them. This show of temper was a bit out of character for him, but Nightlight thought he was entitled to it. Still, he didn't flinch, knowing to his core that Jack wouldn't hurt him, no matter how hurt, how angry he was right now.
"None of you could keep it hidden," Jack raged, the wind picking up again, blowing their hair and clothes about, snowflakes surging around them. "And I still didn't pick up on it! What good friends, I thought, I hope they like me, what an idiot!"
"You're not an idiot!" Nightlight snapped, and the tone made Jack pause, look back over at Nightlight, who never lost his temper. He was across the circle in a flash, gripping Jack's shoulders. "Don't you ever say that about yourself. You were almost totally alone for three hundred years, you're allowed to forget how to read people in that much time."
Jack's mouth opened and closed, staring at Nightlight blankly. His hand came up to touch Nightlight's, who seemed to realize what he had done, letting go of Jack's shoulders. His staff had been stopped from falling by the snow, resting at an angle, and he scooped it up.
Jack didn't move his hand from Nightlight's, sliding to hold it as Nightlight retrieved his staff.
"None of it was done because we don't want you," Nightlight said, back to his normal, quiet tone. "Most of it was because of how much we wanted you to stay, and how afraid of how you would react when you found out."
Nightlight squeezed Jack's hand. "I...you probably need a little time to think it over. I should go."
"Not far," Jack said, tightening his grip on Nightlight's hand when the star turned to fly away. Nightlight turned back to him, puzzlement plain on his face, and Jack looked away, frosting over his blush. "I...I might get into another spiral. I'm still angry, and I'm still hurt, and I have more questions. Can you wait at the Ice Palace? The cold won't bother you?"
"I'll wait for you there," Nightlight agreed, relief making him glow brighter than usual. Jack let go of his hand then and he rose into the air, ready to head for the palace.
"Nightlight?" Jack said before Nightlight could set off. Nightlight paused again, looking down at Jack, whose eyes had a spark of mischief and affection peeking out through the hurt. "I like your voice. You should use it more often."
Nightlight blushed and hurried off to the Ice Palace, Jack's laughter rising behind him.
Jack watched as Nightlight disappeared, holding his staff close. He was still angry and hurt, but Nightlight had helped.
If Nightlight was telling the truth, but Nightlight hadn't lied to him yet. Avoided telling him things, yes, but not outright lied.
Jack kicked at a small pile of snow. He'd had a good mad going, and Nightlight had ruined it. Now he had to actually be – ugh – responsible and think this through.
He could almost hear Cupid's lecture on how important communication was for relationships, and rolled his eyes. Boy, did the Guardians ever drop the ball on that one. Pretty important thing to know there, that taking the oath meant marriage!
Would he have taken it, if he'd known?
He wasn't sure, Jack had to admit. He wanted to think he'd say no still – he wanted to protect the kids, but he didn't know the Guardians well enough at that point for that kind of commitment, let alone with all his problems with trust. But if he was being honest with himself – something he didn't like doing but was forcing himself to be right now anyway – he might have said yes, if only so they wouldn't abandon him.
Okay, so he had issues and he knew it.
Jack sighed and dropped down into the snow, sprawled on his back. Why did everyone know and not him? Why didn't anyone ever tell him anything?
Halfway to the Ice Palace, Nightlight pulled up short. He'd forgotten to tell Jack about the warnings about the Winter Court!
He hesitated, hovering in midair, looking between the Ice Palace and where he'd left Jack.
Jack had so much on his plate right now, he didn't need this on top of it all...but he deserved to know. After finding out like this (Katherine really had planned a way for them to tell Jack once the party was over, a way to break it to him gently, or so she hoped), Jack deserved to know.
Mind made up, Nightlight changed direction and headed back to where he'd left Jack.
Jack flung another snowball at the hastily created statues of the Guardians. They only vaguely resembled the Guardians, but they were working.
He had to go back, sooner or later. Probably later, to let the party disperse, since this was a conversation they needed to have in private. But they needed to talk. He needed to know, he needed to hash this out. He'd taken the oath, now he needed to know everything that meant, no more holding anything back in case it upset him.
Then, maybe Jack could figure out what he wanted to do next.
Because despite the hurt and the anger, he still wanted to be a Guardian. Being married to all of them? It sounded pretty good, after a couple of years getting to know them – if he were being honest, of starting to fall for them, and in retrospect, so many of Cupid's little hints were making sense now. But not the way it had been handled!
He should have been told! It was his choice, he should have been given that choice, and allowed to make it, to choose – he would have wanted something like what they'd had, a time of being a Guardian followed by someday marrying into the group.
Now...now he wasn't sure.
Motion on the horizon caught his attention, and he paused, floating up to look.
Huh. Looked like Nightlight was coming back. Jack dropped back to the ground to wait. It was going to take Nightlight a while to get here. Hard to tell what he wanted...maybe they were going to get to actually yell this time.
Probably not, that was going to be him and Bunny, most likely. That was a conversation Jack wasn't looking forward too, given how quickly they could rile each other up, and how easy it would be to strike at a soft spot after knowing each other this long.
A faint sound from behind made Jack whip around, staff up and ready. No one should be down here but him and Nightight!
A woman stood there, a woman so pale she was turning blue. A woman who should have been warm, in her rich and heavy dress, weighed down with layer upon layer of velvet, shades of faintest blue to pure white. Hair as white as Jack's cascaded down her back, held in place by a crown seemingly made of crystal, one that reflected light in a way that Jack recognized as ice. It was intricate and large, and more snow and ice lined her robes, covering her shoulders like a heavy mantle of fur and trimming the dress.
"Hello, Jack," the Snow Queen said with a smile as cuttingly cold as the North Wind. "We need to talk."