A/N: Heeeeey, an update! That didn't take months to post! Crazy!
ForeverACharmedOne, Aw, thanks, that's nice to hear that I didn't suddenly get weirdly inconsistent with the story, lol. And that's true, that's true, Arachne and Thalia are doing pretty well, though I do think they're in their honeymoon phase right now, lol. PadfootCc, thanks, I'm excited to be updating again! Sea's Lullaby, Yeah I'm changing some of the book canon up to fulfill my needs, it's kinda fun, ha. Good luck with your story! dinohuntsmen, yes, I'm alive! DreadDaora91, I really like writing Apollo because of reviews like yours, haha. Is he a reliable source? Is he messing with everyone? Who knows! (I do.) Melissa Fairy, I'm sure you're not the only one that feels that way! BabyAngel-tears, I'm not sure Manny could do that, and even if he could I'm sure Jack wouldn't think to ask since... well, Manny's good at listening but not great at actually responding. Luminesyra, I would like to draw Erato and North, hopefully some day.
Her hands were always cold, and there was a time that Jack could remember finding that somehow comforting.
Chapter Fourteen: Fake A Smile
The rehearsal was starting soon and Jack was hardly paying attention to what anyone else was saying or doing. He wasn't really sure why rehearsing was even necessary; he already knew the basic gist of what it was that he needed to do.
Walk one of the Muses down the aisle.
Walk to the groom's side of the altar once they reached the end.
Stand there and be happy for his friend on this happy, if political, occasion.
It wasn't hard.
Well, the "walking down the aisle" part wasn't, at least. Standing there with a smile was going to be the hard part.
The ceremony was to take place in a wide, open courtyard, overlooking Sandy's island in the most romantic, picturesque way possible. There were two staircases leading to an archway where the aisle would begin.
The bridesmaids would line up on one staircase, the groomsmen on the other. They would meet at the top, link arms, and walk to the altar.
Jack was standing at the top of the staircases, elbows resting on the railing as he looked out across Sandy's island. Golden sand looked orange and pink with the distant sunset. The breeze was warm. Dream sand creatures roamed around freely.
Rowan would love this.
The thought was so immediate, almost instinctual, it sort of took him by surprise the moment he realized he couldn't tell her about the island or bring her by.
"One day, Sawyer, can't I have one day?" he mumbled, wondering if there would ever be a point when absolutely everything stopped reminding him of her.
"All right, we're gonna cue the music and run through it a couple times," Calliope said, leading the way down one stairway as the other Muses followed.
"C'mon, Jack," Tooth said, flying up next to him. "This won't take too long, then we get to go back to the pole for dinner."
"Mmph," was Jack's noncommittal response. Was it rude to skip out on the dinner part of the rehearsal? Jack barely had a moment to try and come up with a reasonable excuse that wasn't I'd much rather go home and sulk, when Cupid, who had been walking toward the staircases, stopped in his tracks.
He awkwardly watched Jack and Tooth with his eye that wasn't blackened and swollen shut. Jack and Tooth awkwardly watched back, neither of them having spoken a word to Cupid ever since news of what had happened with Artemis had come out.
Cupid cleared his throat and opened his mouth as though to address them before seeming to think better of it and shuffling past them to the staircase.
"I want to talk to him," Tooth said in hushed tones to Jack as soon as Cupid was out of earshot. "But I don't know what to say."
Jack nodded as Bunny and North walked past them as well. "Yeah, I mean, I get why he did what he did but I don't even know how to start a conversation about it."
He and Cupid had somehow become friends between the New Years Eve Ball and the night that Rowan had died. Enough that Jack had sat with Cupid on a rooftop on Valentine's Day and actually laughed a few times as the other boy harassed those that passed by with rejection arrows.
But it was hard to say if they were friends now. Now that neither could seem to figure out what to say to the other.
"Come on, come on, we're burning daylight," Arachne said, gesturing for Jack and Tooth to head down the staircase. She carried a clipboard in one of her hands, constantly scribbling down notes with one of the others.
"How did you get roped into being the wedding planner on top of everything else?" Jack couldn't help but ask as he followed Tooth down the staircase.
Tooth snorted, "I'm sure Arachne is the one that roped Sandy and Calliope into letting her plan the wedding."
"So, do you just… not sleep or?" Jack said, cocking a brow at the redhead, following them close behind.
"I don't have to sleep much, when I do it's a short nap every now and then. I suspect it's the spider in me. I love this, though; I love being busy. It stresses me out when I don't have million things to do," Arachne said, her smile coming through in her voice.
"Well, you're doing a lovely job," Tooth said, reaching the bottom of the staircase where the others were waiting.
When it came to Sandy's half of the wedding party, Jack had expected only the Guardians and Cupid. Mother Nature standing tall and poised, small storm clouds gathered around her as usual, was certainly a surprise. She was watching the ocean in the distance, her expression inscrutable.
She was not the only new addition. North was cheerfully speaking with a strange-looking butterfly, if it were a butterfly at all, as it looked more like a flying book. The front cover, back cover and pages acted as wings, while a kind, bespectacled face and body were set into the spine.
A few paces over, speaking to Bunny and Sandy, was a mermaid, settled into a golden wheelchair. She had long red locks and her skin was speckled with green scales that eventually came together to form something resembling a dress above her tail.
Bunny was inspecting the wheelchair. Judging by the egg-shaped decorative elements, Jack had to assume that he had crafted it.
"Jack, I don't think you've met Maris yet," Tooth said, gesturing to the Mermaid. "She's the most celebrated warrior among the mermaids."
"Thank you, Toothiana. Jack Frost, it's so nice to meet you, Sanderson has told us so much," Maris said with a smile, reaching her hand out to shake Jack's. Her skin was moist, and almost immediately, a layer of frost coated her hand and part of her arm. Jack pulled his hand away, wincing.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"Do not worry, I can handle some cold," Maris assured him, rubbing the frost a moment until it melted away. She had some sort of accent, but Jack couldn't quite place it.
"I'm so glad to see that Sandy and Bunny figured out how to have you in the wedding party," Tooth said, gesturing to the wheelchair.
"So am I! I am honored to be representing the mermaids at this ceremony, Sanderson is such a dear friend of ours," said Maris.
"Sanderson, can we sort out the stair situation for Maris before I get everyone lined up?" Arachne asked, flipping through a few pages on her clipboard. Sandy nodded, approaching the staircase and raising his hands.
A few quick gestures and the golden staircase expanded until an equally grand ramp ran alongside it. Maris fiddled with some of the buttons on the wheelchair, guiding it to the ramp in order to test it out.
"Remarkable," said an unfamiliar voice near Jack. He turned to find the book butterfly fluttering nearby, though his eyes were not fixed on the ramp that Sandy had just constructed, nor on the wheelchair that Bunny had created, but rather, on Jack.
"Er, hello?" Jack said, unsure why the creature was looking at him with such awe.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, you just remind me so much of someone I used to know," the book butterfly said, his smile seeming a bit sad.
"Nightlight?" Bunny asked, turning away from Maris testing out the ramp long enough to glance the butterfly's way.
"Of course," the book butterfly said.
"Nightlight behaved better, didn't talk as much, less obnoxious," Bunny said, playfully shoving Jack.
"Who's Nightlight?" Jack said.
"Old friend of ours," North said.
"Old friend? He was a Guardian! They didn't tell you about Nightlight? What about Ombric? Katherine?" the book butterfly said, eyes wide.
"There's been a lot going on since Jack joined," Tooth said sheepishly.
"And he still has not read Book of Guardians, which mentions them," North said, crossing his arms. Jack avoided eye contact with the man, knowing quite well that North had been getting on his case (basically since he had taken the oath over a year ago) to read that book on the altar in the North Pole.
"Well you'd think you guys would have mentioned that there used to be other guardians," Jack said, having never once heard about the people the book butterfly had mentioned.
It worried him a bit, though.
He'd already lost Rowan, and that was proving to be difficult enough on its own. Was there a possibility that he might lose any of the other Guardians? They had lost Sandy before, but as hard as that had been, it had only been temporary.
What happened if next time it wasn't?
"They were long before your time," Tooth said, moving aside as Maris made her way back over to the group after coming back down the ramp. "There are a lot of striking similarities between you and Nightlight, though."
"So they both had a staff and white hair. Like I said, Nightlight wasn't a pest," Bunny said.
"Nightlight was on nice list," North nodded in agreement, smiling.
"Hey, hey, we're not here to reminisce, that's what the dinner's for. North, you go get in line in front of Cupid, then Bunny, you go before him," Arachne said. As the two Guardians in question walked off, the book butterfly fluttered before Jack again.
"I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself! My name is Mr. Qwerty," he said.
"Jack Frost," Jack said.
"I know, dear boy, I know. I've heard all sorts of stories about you. I hear all sorts of stories," Mr. Qwerty said. He gestured to the pages that made up his wings. "I collect them, you see."
"What happened to those other Guardians?" Jack asked.
Before Mr. Qwerty had a chance to answer, however, Arachne cut him off.
"Jack, you're in line before Bunny. Toothiana, you're before Jack, then Emily, Maris, and Mr. Qwerty will be in front, come on," she said. "Sanderson, go take your place at the altar."
"We'll talk later, I'm sure," Mr. Qwerty said, fluttering off to his spot in line. Jack settled into place between Tooth and Bunny.
"Why isn't she fussing over the Muses this much?" Jack mumbled to Tooth.
"I imagine since Clio is Calliope's maid of honor, they're just in order from oldest to youngest," Tooth said.
Arachne cued some dream sand instruments, which began to play a lovely tune. It was slow and soothing, and it made Jack a little sleepy. He noticed Maris yawn as well and Mr. Qwerty falter a bit in his flight.
"Up the tempo, no lullabies!" Arachne said, running one of her hands across her throat to signal the end of the song. The dream sand instruments screeched to a jarring halt before starting up again with a different song as everyone tried to shake off the fatigue.
Mr. Qwerty led the way, followed closely by Maris, who seemed to get the hang of the controls of her wheelchair rather quickly. Mother Nature was next, still having remained mostly silent, then the Guardians and Cupid began their ascent.
At the top of the staircase, Euterpe, the youngest Muse, met Mr. Qwerty. They would walk down the aisle first, before separating and heading to the far ends of either side of the altar.
Euterpe smiled warmly, hooking one of her fingers around Mr. Qwerty's small arm before they made their way down the aisle. Rather than hunch down to link arms with Maris, Terpsichore stepped behind her wheelchair and took hold of the handles, beginning to push the mermaid along.
Urania seemed unintimidated by the powerful, stoic being that was Mother Nature as they linked arms, and it was only mere seconds before Thalia took Tooth's arm that Jack realized exactly what that meant for him.
A smirk twitched at Melpomene's lips as they met at the archway. A string of every obscenity Jack knew was playing through his mind as he forced his expression to stay blank and hesitantly offered her his arm.
Her hands were always cold, and there was a time that Jack could remember finding that somehow comforting. As they walked along, his eyes focused on the back of Tooth's head to keep from looking at Melpomene, he could feel a sense of gloom slowly consuming him.
He was surrounded by friends and he couldn't help but feel so, so lonely in that moment.
How much of it was Melpomene and how much was just the depression that had become normal recently?
How sad was it that he now expected a certain amount of, well, sadness? A certain amount of lonliness, of despair? He now considered it a good day if he managed to leave his cabin and actually do his work without sulking about for hours first.
The cheerful music felt taunting, as did the smiles on those that had already taken their spots at the altar.
He found himself wishing that he, too, could find it in himself to be so effortlessly happy about this wedding, this rehearsal.
Or anything.
Melpomene released his arm when they reached the end of the aisle, and they walked their separate ways.
He took a deep breath as he stood beside Tooth, waiting for the sadness in his chest to subside.
Bunny walked with Polyhymnia, then North with Erato, and finally Cupid with Clio. For a brief moment Jack wondered if he should ask Arachne to re-consider the order she had placed the groomsmen in. How was he supposed to get through this wedding if he had to walk the personification of Tragedy down the aisle?
He shook the thought away. As much as he would like to blame the empty feeling in his stomach entirely on Melpomene, he knew he was giving her way too much to work with. She brought out the worst in him, but the worst was what he was feeling before they had even come into contact.
She had just amplified it.
He had to learn to deal with this; he had to learn to overcome it.
If he could just get through this wedding then maybe he very well could make it to Rowan's anniversary without being tempted by Apollo's offer.
Besides, he would feel so silly asking for the order to be re-arranged because he couldn't handle walking down the aisle with his ex. He could already hear the Muses whispering scandalously about it if he did.
As Cupid took his spot between North and Sandy, the music changed and Calliope began walking down the aisle.
"Too fast, slow down, slow down, walk with the music," Arachne called from the archway.
"I am walking with the music!" Calliope said.
"No you're not! You have no rhythm!" Terpsichore said.
"Which is embarrassing since that's kind of an element of poetry, which is kind of your thing," Euterpe added.
"If you two don't shut up I'm going to kick you out of my wedding," Calliope said to her sisters, slowing down a bit so that she was walking in time with the music.
"You can't do that, then there'll be two more Groomsmen! It'll be uneven," Arachne said.
"She's threatened to kick all of us out of the wedding party at least twice today, don't worry about it, she's all talk," Thalia said. She set her hands to her hips, looking proud, "She's threatened to kick me out four times."
Calliope rolled her eyes before reaching the end of the aisle and standing beside Sandy. He smiled at her, and she smiled in return.
"Okay, not bad for a first run-through but we have to do it a couple more times," Arachne said. "Those of you that are walking, walk in time with the music, please. And for the love of gods and goddesses everywhere, smile."
"What if the person you're walking with has much longer legs than you so you have to walk faster to keep up?" Erato asked.
"North, take smaller steps," Arachne sighed.
"Will try," North said.
"I'll try to take bigger steps, too," Erato said. "We'll meet somewhere in the middle."
"No one is going to be paying attention to how we're walking," Bunny sighed.
"Well if you think that walking in time is too difficult, Bunnymund—" Arachne started.
"I'll walk in time, I'll walk in time!"
"Great! Everyone downstairs, let's go through it again."
And so they started over, walking down the aisle again and again as Arachne called out reminders to walk in time. Again and again Jack reached the top of the staircase. Again and again, he avoided Melpomene's gaze as he offered her his arm. Again and again, they strolled down the length of the aisle.
By the fourth time, their steps were in sync.
By the fifth time, her gray eyes actually caught his and she smiled.
It wasn't that mischievous smirk from before. It was soft, almost sweet. He wanted to say it reminded him of more genuine smiles she had shared with him in the past.
But it was Melpomene and he couldn't say for sure that anything she had shared with him in the past had been genuine. She was so talented when it came to making people feel for her, to drawing people in.
It was little wonder that she and Pitch had gotten along so well.
Her fingertips brushed against his sleeve as they separated at the end of the aisle.
By the sixth time, he didn't dread walking with her nearly as much as he had before. They had already gone through the motions without anything too terrible happening. Was he still miserable? Yes, of course.
But he knew now that he could certainly handle being in close proximity to her without completely falling apart. It was one less thing to worry about, come the wedding.
He still felt lonely, he still felt hopelessly sad, but he was growing confident in his ability to fake something resembling joy.
By the seventh time, everyone was groaning and insisting that they had practiced enough. Nine muses, five guardians, and four other mythical beings should have easily been able to win an argument against one spider-like woman.
"Should," was, of course, the key word, but Jack soon found himself in line at the bottom of the staircase to run through the motions an eighth (and hopefully last) time.
"I am surprised to see you here, Emily, I thought you tended not to take clear sides when it came to the Guardians," Maris could be heard saying to Mother Nature, who was a few paces behind. The evening had been dragged out so long that small-talk was inevitable.
"Sanderson is one of my dearest friends. While this certainly doesn't mean I'll be allying myself with the Guardians, or anyone for that matter, I am not opposed to standing with my friend on his wedding day," Mother Nature said.
"Are you not concerned people will think you're taking sides by being in the wedding party?" Mr. Qwerty inquired.
"If they believe that, they are fools, and I do not concern myself with the opinions of fools," Mother Nature said simply. "I'm too old for that."
"Aren't we all!" Maris laughed. "Are you going to the dinner?"
"No, no, this is enough socializing for me, I think. Are you?"
"Perhaps, I haven't been to the pole in ages."
It was strange seeing Mother Nature speak with anyone so casually. Her voice was velvety and the way she smiled, the way she moved her hands was so eerily familiar.
It was easy to forget how many characteristics could just be genetic.
The music started up again and Jack tried not to think about Pitch, which was no easy feat as he joined arms with Melpomene again.
He honestly hadn't given the man a lot of thought the past few months. Yes, preparing for whatever Pitch would do was everyone's main objective, but Jack had… well, he had other things on his mind.
Namely a pretty, mortal thing.
Everything came back to Rowan, didn't it? His stomach sank as it hit him again that he was rehearsing for a wedding. He was going to have to stand there as two people promised to be there for each other and love each other forever and try not to think of the girl that had been taken away from him much too soon.
He already knew this, so why was it hitting him so hard again?
The sadness that had settled in his gut most have shown on his face, as Arachne pointed to her mouth as she put on an exaggerated smile as he and Melpomene passed.
"Come now, Guardian of Fun," she said.
Jack took a breath and forced a smile, which Arachne seemed pleased with, as her focus turned to Polyhymnia and Bunny, who were a few paces behind.
He and Melpomene reached the end of the aisle and separated once more.
Jack took his place next to Tooth, trying to focus on where he would placed the ice sculptures that North had spoken to him about making before the ceremony.
That was a nice, neutral topic to be thinking of, right?
It didn't make him think of Melpomene, or Pitch, or Rowan. It didn't remind him how hopelessly lonely he felt.
It was just ice, and ice always made sense for him. He took a moment to appreciate that, scanning the room for what the best placement would be.
But then his eyes met Melpomene's once more, and she held his gaze for what felt like an eternity before she turned to listen to something Thalia was saying.
Jack shook his head, crossing his arms before him. Suddenly all he wanted was to be held, to have someone smother this lonely feeling.
Ice, ice, snow and ice. Ice sculptures of flowers, based on the flowers in Calliope's bouquet. Ice flowers. Lilies. Roses.
Rowan loved roses. She drew them all the time.
Jack swore mentally.
"Are we done now?" Bunny demanded. Jack sure hoped so.
"I'm starving! I'm going to wither away right before your very eyes!" Thalia said dramatically.
"Fine, fine, I guess we've gone through it enough," Arachne sighed.
"Excellent! Who needs a lift back to the pole for dinner?" North said.
"Will you be attending the dinner, Jack?" Mr. Qwerty said as he fluttered over to the boy. Jack had spent so much of the rehearsal thinking about Rowan, trying not to think about Rowan, thinking about Melpomene, trying not to think about Melpomene, and thinking about ice and snow in an attempt to not think of anything else, he had nearly forgotten the strange butterfly's comments from earlier.
"I, uh, I wasn't sure," Jack said.
"Well, I hope you do, I would very much like to get to talk to you more," Mr. Qwerty said.
"About Nightlight?" Jack asked, his curiosity piqued.
Maybe the past Guardian would serve as a better distraction than ice and snow had.
"And about you, too," Mr. Qwerty said with a smile.