I'm so sorry for the long wait! I had this all written up right up until almost the end then I had a writer's block (I struggle so much with dialogue, it's ridiculous!) but here it is eventually. The next chapter should be a request one so anyone who has given me a request, I will do them! I just wanted to get this one out there. Anyway, shout-outs…
sparklehannah: His sister, you say? Hmmm… *Shifty eyes* I shall leave that up to you XD But thanks!
Giulia (Guest): Haha! That's great! (Everyone needs a sneaky Disney reference in their day)
ActionLover203: If it's one of your own OCs then sure! I could sure have a go if you would like me too. However, if it's someone else's then I would rather not, I respect other people's creations and think they should stay with that author unless they specifically asked me to include their character. Hope this helps!
Summary: Jack finds himself in a spot of bother so he heads to the Pole hoping to recover on his own. However, he reluctantly accepts help from the Guardians when they have other ideas.
Chapter4: The Unfortunate Incident
"SNOW DAY!" Jack Frost yelled in excitement as he flew across a snow white landscape, looping and diving through the frigid air. Woops of laughter echoed between buildings, being heard by none but a single child who believed in the magic of the winter season.
Jack admired his hard work from above; the frozen wind biting at his face and whipping his untameable hair into even more of a mess. He swooped through the air before landing gracefully in the top branches of a tree that seemed to tower over the park it was situated in. The young winter spirit gazed at the view for a moment before his childish ways got the better of him. Quite suddenly, he stood with his back ramrod straight and a clenched fist on his hip, looking like a king surveying his kingdom. His deadpanned face judged the landscape to the left, then the right before he stared straight ahead and gave a very serious nod of approval.
As quickly as it went, the grin that Jack Frost was known for returned to his pale face. He swapped his crooked Shepard's staff from his right hand to his left before he placed the ancient piece of wood behind his neck and hooked both wrists over it. He started walking along the branch he was on, carefully placing one bare foot in front of another along the natural tightrope.
A high pitched screech from above had the spirit staring upwards just as a little Robin flew across the cloudless sky. As the bird disappeared from view, Jack found himself switching his gaze to the moon. The same moon that had watched over him for 300 years with the name Jack Frost being the only words he spoke. Of course, he had the Guardians and his believers now, but the winter spirit still found himself wondering what Man in Moon's motive was to keeping him in the dark for all that time.
Jack frowned at the moon, more in thought than in judgement. However, his expression changed rapidly to that of shock as the familiar feeling of bark against his foot vanished as his foot slipped from the branch. He gasped at the sudden shock as he lost his balance and he felt himself start to fall. Of course, the wind was there ready to catch her favourite spirit, if only his staff hadn't been knocked out of his hand by a rapidly passing branch. The wind was helpless in trying to help Jack as he fell, seemingly catching every branch on the way down.
Finally, after what felt like years to the spirit, the ground approached rapidly. However, since the ground was uncovered of snow due to the tree's cover, the landing was very unforgiving. Jack yelled out in pain as he landed hard on his right arm; a crack sounding from his wrist upon impact. He lay still for a moment before the pain built up so much until he had no choice but to take the weight off of his injured arm. He carefully pushed himself up using his left arm but even that proved a challenge as pain shot down his fingers.
"OK, definitely not my most graceful landing," The young Guardian said to no one in particular. He sat cross-legged, clutching his limb to his chest and pondered what to do next. After a minute or two, he decided the Pole was probably the best place, just to see what the damage was to his wrist (he was pretty sure he knew what it was but just to be sure) and maybe get some rest whilst trying to avoid the Guardian of Wonder as much as possible.
Decision made, Jack stood up carefully; grabbing his staff, which had landed not too far away and now had permanent residence in his left hand. He tucked his right hand into his hoody pocket as a makeshift sling before flying off towards the Pole.
0o0o0o0
His usual window leading into the Globe Room was open when he arrived. His wrist had been bothering him the whole journey there so he was fully looking forward to resting his throbbing limb. However, his plan of finding a quiet chair somewhere was thrown out the window when he discovered the Globe Room wasn't as empty as he had hoped. All four of the other Guardians were gathered in various armchairs around the fireplace. Jack thought he'd gotten away with not being seen but, unfortunately, his hopes were dashed when North suddenly looked up and spotted the young winter spirit floating just inside the window, looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights.
"Jack! There you are! Come, join us. We are just having catch-up on schedules and plans."
Jack tried desperately to think of an excuse to get out of staying, "Um, sorry, North but I've got to… A lot of work to do. England's due some snow and you know how them Brits are…" Jack's attempt at humour was foiled when North completely disregarded his excuse.
"Pah, I'm sure it can wait for a while. Besides, you've only got here! Now, come, grab a chair."
The youngest Guardian couldn't think of anyway to get out of the situation without looking suspicious. So with a silent sigh, Jack made his way over to the empty chair furthest away from the burning flames, keeping his right arm as still as possible inside his pocket. He plonked himself down, resting his staff across his knees, and then returned a wave that Sandy sent his way from his chair closest to the fire.
"Fantastic! So how are you doing Jack? All well?" North addressed the winter spirit. Jack tried to answer as honestly as possibly (which wasn't all that hard since everything had been going fine until not too long ago).
"Yeah, everything's fine. Great, actually." The spirit smiled, trying to look as relaxed as possible, even though a spike of pain had just shot down to his fingertips as he twisted in his seat to see North.
"That is good to hear, Jack…" North started but was interrupted by Bunny, who had been sitting silently in a chair next to Sandy.
"Hang on a minute, North. Is your hand alright, Frostbite?" Bunny had noticed the youngest Guardian had yet to take his right hand out of his hoody pocket.
"What?" Jack asked, slightly startled.
"Show me ya hand." The Pooka said, bluntly, suspicious that Jack was hiding an injury he didn't want to tell them about. However, he seemed to be proven wrong when Jack, albeit slowly, took his right hand out of his pocket and held it up, completely undamaged, then wriggled his fingers for good measure. What Bunny didn't know was that Jack instantly regretted the last action as he had to stifle a gasp as the nerves in his arm protested at the simple movement. Fortunately, Bunny seemed satisfied with his answer, so Jack lowered the limb as gently as possible and rested it in his lap.
"OK then, now that that's sorted, I was wondering if you guys would give me a second opinion on something I've been working on." North tried to diffuse the tension that seemed to have built up between two of his fellows, slightly confused as to the cause of it.
Jack and Bunny had been having a silent staring war but Jack broke it off as his attention caught on Tooth when she suddenly floated up from her seat.
"That's amazing, North! Aww, this Christmas is going to be brilliant, the kids are going to be so excited! As long as it's not candy, of course." The fairy suddenly paused her excited ramblings to face North with a very serious expression on her face, her hands on her hips.
North held his hands up in surrender and an innocent smile on his face, "Definitely not! Christmas with candy? How strange!" The Guardian of Wonder joked with a chuckle, earning a smile from the Tooth Fairy in the meantime. "That's if Jack doesn't eat all it all first, of course, right Jack?"
"Hey! I would never! How could you think that?" Jack put his left hand over his heart, as if honestly offended. However, the effect was ruined by the mischievous smirk that found a place on his pale face.
Tooth flitted her way across to Jack's chair and gazed in amazement at the winter spirit, "And yet, you still have perfect teeth, how do you do it, Jack?"
The mischievous grin turned charming and the Guardian of Fun shrugged one-shouldered, "Well, it's just a natural talent, I guess." Tooth shook her head fondly, Bunny scoffed from his corner as Sandy chuckled silently from the chair next to him.
"A natural talent you better keep, now come on, I want to see this new Christmas idea!" Tooth said enthusiastically.
Jack was just about to get to his feet when Tooth suddenly grasped his right arm as if to tug him along with her. However, she quickly let go when the young winter spirit cried out in agony. Jack felt as if his whole arm had been crushed under a car; spikes of searing pain travelled up and down his wrist, making his fingertips tingle. He quickly tucked his arm across his chest, supporting it with his left arm at the elbow, as well as taking deep breaths to try and manage the pain. He looked up to see Tooth with her small hands covering her mouth in shock, her violet eyes wide in horror.
"It's OK! I'm alright! I promise!" Jack tried to calm the fairy before she could panic and completely freak out.
Unfortunately, it didn't go the way he'd planned as, after a moment, he heard an Australian accent call from across the chairs, "Well, apparently you're bloody not alrigh'. What the 'ell was that?" Bunny had stood up and had proceeded to make his way across to Jack and Tooth, followed closely by a concerned Sandy.
"Nothing! I'm fine! I-I better go; jobs to do and winter to spread." Jack decided the best way out of this was to get out the way completely. He tried lowering his clearly-injured wrist back to his side but the movement caused a massive wave of agony to snake up his arm. The others noticed the gasp of pain that the newest Guardian had desperately tried to stifle.
"Not a chance, mate. You ain't going anywhere 'till you tell us what happened." Bunny crossed his arms as he stared down at the smaller winter spirit.
"Nothing's happened! Tooth just caught me by surprise, that's all." Jack turned back to face the fairy, "I'm fine, please don't panic! You didn't do anything wrong." He reached out and put his good left hand on her shoulder, attempting to give her a reassuring smile. It seemed to work in calming the fairy down but, apparently, she didn't catch onto his lies of good health.
With a gentle smile, she reached down and took Jack's right hand in her own, then carefully raised it to better examine. With a finch from Jack, Tooth pushed his hoody sleeve up revealing a very bruised wrist. A shocked expression crossed the Guardian's faces; North cursed quietly in Russian.
"OK, um, maybe it is a little bruised." Jack tried.
"Uh huh, and I'm a unicorn." Bunny commented disapprovingly, "That's a nasty injury, Frostbite. So, what happened?"
The young winter spirit shifted nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with his good hand, "I may or may not have, possible, um, fallen out of a tree. But it's not that bad though, just a bruise."
Tooth gently let go of Jack's wrist and he slid his sleeve back over the bruised limb, placing it back into his pocket sling, wincing slightly as he had to bend his wrist to fit the curve of the material.
"Come on, Frosty. Let's go and set your arm before you damage it even more." The Guardian of Hope noticed the flinch and so placed his paw on Jack's shoulder.
"Indeed! And you shall stay in Workshop to rest and heal." North concluded cheerfully.
"Thanks, North, but I think I'll be OK. Quick healer and all that." Jack said.
"Pah! Nonense! Fix and heal, off we go."
0o0o0o0
North lead Jack and the other Guardians to a guest room where Jack then promptly thumped down on the bed.
"I will send yeti to go and get some supplies." The Guardian of Wonder then disappeared out the door where the others heard him yelling at whatever yeti was closest.
"Anyway, kid, how'd you fall out of a tree? What were you doing in it in the first place?" Bunny turned to Jack questioningly.
"Not much. And I just lost my balance." Jack answered vaguely.
"Since when does Jack Frost lose his balance?" Bunny asked incredulously. He'd seen the kid balance on all sorts of impossible objects without so much as a wobble. He couldn't imagine the winter spirit actually slipping and falling.
"Hey! Its does happen, sometimes. Just not very often." Jack shot back.
Just then, North walked back in with an armful of bandages.
"You know, you should probably have a cast on that arm." North chuckled when Jack rapidly turned his head in his direction and glared at him with a look of disgust and betrayal.
"Nice knowing you guys, bye now." Jack stood up quickly then proceeded to make his way towards the door. However, he was stopped abruptly in his tracks when Bunny grabbed his shoulders.
"You're not going anywhere, mate. Now sit down and let us fix your arm."
With a huff, Jack turned back and, once again, slumped down on the bed.
Bunny then took a bandage off of North and knelt in front of the sulking winter spirit, holding out a paw in waiting. Jack took his hand out of his pocket and reluctantly held it out. Bunny gently pushed Jack's hoody sleeve up, noticing the young spirit tense up slightly. He carefully wrapped up Jack's wrist with several layers of bandage then sat back on his heels. "Ok, all done, now rest it! Don't go flying off and cause it more damage."
"Yes, mother." Jack replied with a smirk, earning a poke to the shoulder for his trouble.
"Bunny is right, Jack, fix and heal, remember?" North defended the Guardian of Hope.
Jack looked from one Guardian to another before, arm tucked across his chest, he flopped backwards dramatically. Staring up at the ceiling, he heaved a sigh and let out a drawn-out childish, "Fiiine."
Satisfied that the winter spirit wouldn't just fly away as soon as their backs were turned, the Guardians started making their way to the door before a voice called them back.
"Thanks, guys, for caring and for your help." Jack had sat back up and was looking at each of them with a grateful smile.
North spoke for them all when he said, "You are very welcome, Jack. After all, what is family for?"
Ok, I hope you enjoyed that chapter! As I said, hopefully the next one should be a request so…
Until next time!