Week Four: Humanity
The Guardians saved looking for Jack in his hometown of Burgess for last, knowing from previous experience that it was better to go to Jamie's house when he was awake. When the Guardians landed beside Jack's lake in Burgess, they tumbled out of the sleight and immediately searched the surrounding area for their missing friend.
By 3 o'clock in the morning, the Guardians regrouped by the sleigh, completely exhausted. "Personally, I don't care if it is 3 in the morning. We have to go to Jamie's house," said Tooth. Back into North's sleigh they climbed and soared off to the boy's house.
One by one, as quietly as they could, the Guardians slipped through Jamie's bedroom window. Just as they were about to awaken him, Bunny's hand hit the bedside lamp and it crashed to the floor. Momentarily forgetting where they were, North swore out of extreme frustration. Jamie woke up. "You know," speaking to the rabbit, "you'd think they'd remember about crawling through my window from the last time," poking a white bundle of fur that had been sleeping on his pillow.
Jack the rabbit blinked as he took one look at the visitors and promptly fell off the bed in surprise. Laughing, Jamie looked over the side of the bed and pulled the rabbit onto his lap. Before he could explain Jack's situation to the Guardians, Tooth gently asked, "Jamie, why are you talking to the rabbit?"
Jamie hesitated for a second. "Umm…" Jack loudly started to cut in when suddenly North had to clap his hand over Easter Bunny's mouth before he reacted. His voice muffled behind North's big hand, Bunnymund words still escaped, "That little rabbit just TALKED!"
Jamie shook his head in amusement, as he and Jack the Rabbit shared a look. From that look they decided they'd tell the Guardians a story. "This rabbit wasn't always like this," Jamie began. "Actually, he was a human but one day, he had a small magical accident that caused him to be in this rabbit form." The Guardians looked at each other, then at Jamie. "Please continue," said North.
"I found the rabbit outside on my porch, and I couldn't just leave him in the cold. So I brought him inside. Guess what I named him?" asked Jamie.
The Sandman rolled his eyes, making a large question mark above his head. Every Guardian knew what Jamie would call any pet. "I named him Jack," said Jamie. Tooth flew closer to get a closer look at the bunny rabbit. Jack as a rabbit was enjoying Jamie's story and knew to stay quiet during Jamie's guessing game.
"Speaking of a Jack Jamie, ours is missing and we were wondering if you've seen him anytime recently," asked North as he removed his hand from Bunnymund's face. Jamie smiled. "Yeah, I have," he answered. "Do you know where he is now?" North continued to quiz the boy for information.
"Ahhhhh…you're looking at him?" Jamie answered like it was a question, receiving very perplexed looks from the Guardians. Suddenly, an almost audible thought clicked into place in the Tooth Fairy's mind. "Hang on a second! Are you trying to tell us that..." Jack burst out, "Yes! It is me! I know this looks weird, OK? Please don't laugh at me. Kangaroo I was talking to you."
The four other Guardians shoved a knuckle in their mouth to stifle their laughter. It was almost too funny to be true, but it was. This was quickly confirmed by Baby Tooth. Before anyone could stop the little fairy, she whipped out from behind the Tooth Fairy and slammed into the rabbit, trying to hug his ears and pry open his mouth at the same time.
"Yep! That's definitely Jack Frost!," the Tooth Fairy said. With his paws, Jack gently pried the jubilant mini-fairy off his head. Baby Tooth didn't appreciate this and simply resorted to petting the fur on his back. Her tiny fingers revealed an unknown fact about Jack Frost: He was very ticklish! "Who would've known?" Bunny smirked at this new finding.
Sandy was finally able to get his fellow guardians attention a few moments later, pointing rather crossly at Jamie's bedroom window. "Hello, my children," the Moon spoke gently as its light beamed into Jamie's bedroom, forming a white-ish circle.
"Hello, Manny. As you see, we're in need of a little help," said North.
"Yes. Oh hello Jackson, you make a very nice rabbit. I can tell you a way to fix this spell," said the Moon. Tooth asked, "Which is…?" The Moon then replied, "Call in Mother Nature. She will guide you the rest of the way. Farewell for now."
Jack gathered from the Guardians' mutterings that they had some history with Mother Nature. One of the worst was the time that the mini-fairies had accidently lost some of Mother Nature's memories. When Jack asked Tooth if the lost memories were ever found, she replied with a quiet, "Yes, but…" So something must have gotten ugly there.
"How do we call Mother Nature?" asked Jack. Tooth replied, "Well, you basically talk to the ground, oh and by the way, call her Rose." Since the stairs weren't very well an option for (most of) the Guardians, they had to climb out Jamie's window again. Jack the Rabbit, on the other hand, was carried down the stairs by Jamie and they met the Guardians at North's sleigh.
Puzzled at first by what Tooth was doing, Jack bounded out of Jamie's arm. He landed near the Tooth Fairy who was whispering to a patch of brownish grass poking out of the snow. The Guardians and the child Jamie who hadn't met Mother Nature got a shock when a soft sing-song voice said, "I hear that you need my help." The beautiful form of a twelve year old girl stood before them.
Jamie had been standing quietly beside the Guardians, and stumbled back surprised, into a snow drift. Sputtering, he asked, "You're Mother Nature?". Her sing-song laughter filled the air as she replied, "Hello, Jamie. Yes, I am Mother Nature, the Guardian of Life. And I request that you call me Rose."
Jamie was too scared to respond with anything but a whispered, "OK". After pulling Jamie out of the snow, the Easter Bunny and the other Guardians explained their problem to Rose. They let her know that the Man in the Moon had advised them to seek her help.
Mother Nature's gaze was stern as she turned to the Tooth Fairy and said, "Ah, Tooth. You of all beings should know about this. Don't you remember the library that I created after my memories were misplaced?" An embarrassed Tooth looked away for a moment, and mumbled, "Do you mean the library?"
"What library?" North asked.
With another soft laugh, Rose waved her hand and they all fell through a tunnel that opened in the earth leading to a large cavern. For the first time in his life, the Easter Bunny understood why some beings were afraid to travel in his tunnels. Maybe North's sleigh wasn't so over-rated after all.
Getting to their feet, with Jamie holding Jack the Rabbit, the Guardians and the boy approached Mother Nature, standing in front of two golden double-doors. "Welcome to my library," she said, putting her hand on one of the ruby door handles. "But beware. This place holds many secrets and ancient wisdom. Each of the creations beyond these doors holds the past, the present, and the future."
With that, the doors swung open. And Rose, Mother Nature, the Guardian of Life evaporated into mist. "Tooth? Please, um, could you explain?" Bunny pointed at the second set of doors a few feet away.
"Well, when the fairies and I lost Rose's memories, well, she created the Guardian Library. The Library holds books of all that has happened, all that is happening and all that will ever happen to any immortal. And… every book has a Quill, one that writes it all down."
That was a lot of information to process. Tooth apparently had been there before and when the guardians and Jamie asked why this place was never mentioned, the reply was simply that it was just a bad memory. Since when was this not important, just didn't seem to register.
"To open these doors,
Innocence is chosen.
Locks and Keys will not abide,
For what you need is a pure human child."
The Guardians, including Jack the rabbit, all looked at Jamie. "What?" The boy asked. Tooth grabbed his hand and pointed at the hand print in the left gold and this time emerald door. He got what to do then. Squeezing his eyes shut, Jamie handed Jack to North and placed his hand in the print. A rush of air whipped around the six of them and the doors blasted open. "Whoa!" All of the guardians exclaimed loudly at the sight before them.
Pedestals of every element and color held huge books of the same elemental color and material. On top of each book, a quill was literally, racing back and
forth across the pages. Some books looked not used very much and others were worn.
"Oh and guys, watch out for the Guardian Books." added Tooth.
"The Guardian Books? Like the ones you said were on the tables?"
"No Jamie. Like, the Guardian Books!"
"Okay Tooth, we are obviously not all on the same page here…"
"Spirit of Kwanza… BUNNYMUND! The Guard-ian Books!"
"Jack, has Tooth gone crazy… not to be rude or anything,"
"I don't know… hey, does anyone hear that? Besides me and probably the Kanga here?"
"Excuse me!?"
"I MEAN THE GUARDIAN BOOKS! AS IN THE ONES HEADED RIGHT FOR OUR FACES!"
"Okay, whatever you…WAIT. THOSE ONES?!"
"SHASTACOVICH, RUN!"
Sure enough, three giant metal books were zooming straight at the six guardians, mini-fairies and all. With a yell of "DUCK!", Tooth pushed everyone under a table. After going back and forth for a couple more seconds, the books disappeared back into wherever they came from. "Nobody. Move. A. Muscle." Bunny whispered. The others didn't listen though and got up. The Easter Bunny joined them again as the stood in front of three GIANT books in the middle of the room. Dreamsand made an exclamation mark above Sandy's head.
Tooth explained that the three large books belonged to Mother Nature, Father Time the Man In The Moon. After staring at these two central books, the Guardians began to search for Jack's book. After looking at the books circling Mother Nature's and the Man In The Moon, Jack hopped over to Sandy and asked about the books on other immortals. Tooth and North joined the exchange while Bunny and Jamie continue to search for Jack's book.
Tooth explained, "There are many immortals that the Man In the Moon and Mother Nature created. Mother Nature gave us new life and the Man In The Moon gave us magic and our powers. That group of six books over there on pedestals are about the Avatars. Each book is about one of the Avatars."
"Who are the Avatars?" Jack asked.
"The Avatars are spirits of the elements somewhat like you Jack, except that they control an element of nature and not a season," Tooth continued. "The Avatars received their powers from Mother Nature, not from the Man in the Moon."
Suddenly, Jamie shouted from the other side of the circular room. "Hey, is this it?" he asked. Jamie pointed at a white book that was resting on a pedestal made of ice with frosted designs on its sides. A quill was dancing across its pages writing in silver ink. Lifting the cover up to take a look at it, Bunny affirmed that the book was indeed about Jack Frost.
"I still don't understand how this is supposed to help Jack return to his Guardian form," North yawned, rubbing his eyes. Tooth remembered something about the library that Mother Nature had told her hundreds of years ago.
"Guys, these books work the same way as my tooth boxes that store children's memories. Maybe we're supposed to find something in Jack's memories."
Looking almost embarrassed, Jack quickly countered Tooth. "Um, well that's not really…Jamie's here and…" Jack stuttered as he crouched lower to the ground. "Oh stuff it, show pony. Tooth, how do we do that?" Bunny reached down and grabbed Jack the Rabbit's tail and hauled him into Jamie's arms again. "If I remember correctly…" Tooth began.
"You're the Guardian of Memories, yet you manage to forget so much; that's quite a feat Tooth!" North laughed. Not at all discouraged, the Tooth Fairy took a squirming Jack Rabbit and just before she placed him on the frosty book, she motioned that the three other Guardians should place their hand on Jack's book, too. "What about me?" Jamie jumped up and down at the thought of another adventure with the Guardians.
The Sandman used dreamsand to hold Jamie to the pedestal and Jamie, smiling like crazy, slapped his hand to the page. Jack the Rabbit was then dropped onto his book and with a rush of snow and ice, the room disappeared as all of us entered his memories.
North's POV
"…All that we have, all that we are, and all that we will ever be," I heard myself say and saw once again the day that Jack became a Guardian of Childhood. "I remember that." Jamie whispered beside me. Well, he should remember. It was only eight months ago! The current Jack not-really-Frost looked longingly at his human shaped self. After a bit, the memory changed and we were in Wichita, Kansas and Jack was climbing into the sleigh, sighing about his staff.
"Ouch," Jamie commented. "What in the name of the Halloween spirit are we supposed to find?" Bunny looked giddy to be in a place with infinite causes for embarrassment. Even Tooth didn't know what to look for. I looked at Jack, who shrugged. After five more memories, I realized that we'd started in current memories, but we were going back in time. "Jack, I hope you know that we are all sorry for Easter," I said. Jack, even in rabbit form, smiled a true, genuine smile. I knew then we were forgiven for last March.
The memories were getting sadder. "Sorry Jamie, you shouldn't be seeing this." Jack shook his head, his ears flopping up and down. We had started seeing the darker memories, of the 300 years Jack Frost was alone. Sandy, Tooth and Bunny and I all knew these were the years Jack wasn't proud of. Not that after seeing his pain and angst, we were either. "Jack, you are family now. You are different." I rested a hand on his white furry back. We went back so far that Jamie stopped counting the dates. I was surprised when we went into Jack's human memories. Suddenly, I heard Jack inhale sharply as a new memory started. I wondered what was so bad about this one in particular.
"Be careful!" We saw a woman who had to be Jack's mother call out to the human Jack and a girl that wasn't in any of the other memories. "Jack, who is…" Tooth racked her brain for some remembrance of the girl. "Just watch," Jack sat on a pile of snow over-looking a familiar lake. I sensed a difference about this memory, something sad.
"Isn't that the lake in Burgess, where you banished the Nightmare King?", I nearly fell over. I'd forgotten Jamie was even there. He had watched most of it all in silence. "Yes, but I don't see how this helps," Sandy made the words above his head. Jack shushed us.
"Jack, I'm scared!"
That was when I saw Jack's connection to the girl: She was his sister. "Oh I get it now!" I said to the group at large. For the first time, I didn't receive a reply.
"I know, I know. But you'll…you're gonna be fine."
"No! No we won't!"
"Would I trick you?" Everyone laughed at that one. It was just so…Jack.
"Yes, you always trick me!"
Jamie sighed and said "Heh, I can relate to that one."
Bunny's expression had been fun-filled but like me, was starting to see the danger in the situation. "Jack, the ice?", I nodded at the cracks forming. "It's fine." The white rabbit at Jamie's feet looked away. I didn't argue.
"Ok, well, not…not this time. You just gotta, you have to believe in me. Hey, want to play a game? We're gonna play hopscotch! Like we play every day."
I cringed as the icy web grew bigger. Tooth's eyes were wide with worry, but all Jack did was stare at an old memory. "Why is he like this?", Bunny muttered in my ear.
"Um, it's as easy as…one," Jack slipped as he took a step toward shore but pretended it was funny. "Two…!" Everyone but Jack as the white rabbit breathed in relief.
I thought, 'Something is definitely going to happen as Jack coaches his sister onto thicker ice.'
"Oh, no," I whispered as I saw the inevitable disaster coming. As Jack's sister took the last step toward safer, thicker ice, Jack called out "Three!" He used the wooden staff at his feet to hook his sister and sweep her off the thin ice. The momentum of Jack's powerful motion propelled him back across the slippery ice onto the thinnest patch. He smiled, but then it cracked under his weight and he fell into the dark, frigid pond water.
That was the first time that I understand how and why Jack became the Spirit of Winter. I laughed as Jamie's terrified eyes grow big with wonder as a moonbeam drew Jack out of the pond, and we all chuckled watching Jack discover his staff's frost powers and ability to fly on the wind.
The light mood quickly became more somber as we witnessed Jack's dismay when he realized that people couldn't see him and how he felt the shock of being walked through. I thought that Jack's memories were ending as we watched him disappear into the dark forest.
However, at least one memory remained. I heard Jack the Rabbit whisper as we all watched a delighted Jack riding gusts of wind and leaving frost patterns everywhere he went, "This is one of my first fun memories as Jack Frost!"
With his hand, Jack Frost created a glowing blue snowflake that drifted over our heads. Almost sub-consciously, Tooth reached up and caught it in her hands. Strangely, it didn't melt. Simultaneously, a wave of realization reached over us. Jamie asked, "Is that snowflake what we're looking for?"
Tooth nodded with a giddy smile. She placed the blue snowflake on the white furry back of Jack the Rabbit who began to glow with the same blue light. Suddenly, we were all jolted out of Jack's memories and back to the library of the Guardians.
The last to arrive back was Jack Frost who literally, fell from nowhere. I cringed at the loud crash and his yell of "Ouch!". Finally, Jack was himself! Jamie ran up and hugged his friend, the Guardian of Fun. That's when I remembered a rather important detail. Yanking my watch out of my pocket, I saw that it was already 7 a.m., Christmas Eve day.
I also recalled that many of the presents I was to deliver were damaged or destroyed during the caffeinated-tea-leaf episode a few weeks ago. "Oh, great. It's Christmas Eve Day!" I shouted at my fellow Guardians. "How am I supposed to deliver presents to all the children if they're not all ready now?"
Jamie's jaw dropped as he moaned, "Oh, no. Good luck, Santa!"
Yeah, I was going to need it. Then, out of the blue, Jack Frost gave one of the most generous offers I've ever heard him make. "Well, North. The four of us could help you, you know." Huh, and that's from the record holder on the naughty list… maybe if he kept this up he could be on the nice list after all.
After dropping Jamie off back at his home, the five of us returned via snow globe portal to the North Pole and got straight to work. With my friends' help, we'd make this the BEST Christmas ever! "And by the way, my fellow Guardians. Remember, Christmas Eve is the one night that my reindeer can talk…" I added as we were lugging the bags to the launch room.
"Not this again," Tooth sighed
"The reindeer can talk?! I did NOT see that one coming…" Jack stopped flying in complete shock for a few seconds and fell into my bulging bag of gifts, almost becoming a present himself!
"Cupid's Arrow…not the Dasher, Comet and Blitzen trio! Oh, and Rudolph, he is going DOWN for Christmas of 1983!" Bunny muttered sourly.
Ah yes, I remembered… Now that was one weird Christmas. Reindeer dance-off and all.
"What happened Christmas of 1983, Kangaroo? Was it worse than when I froze you to the sleigh and made the reindeer take off?" Jack asked, climbing out of the bag and retrieving his. Sandy, Tooth, Bunny and I shared an awkwardly knowing look, and then Bunny answered.
"Not even close Frost, not even close. But just be aware that I still have a perfect excuse to get you back."
I sighed again as yet another argument sprang up between Jack Frost and Bunny.
This was going to be a very long night…and my reindeer are quite social creatures.
The End
...for now…