In which Jack Frost is more than just a simple winter spirit or a Guardian.
Also, yes I totally quoted part of Gandalf's lines from The Two Towers. I REGRET NOTHING.
Ice cracked under his feet. His only thought was to protect his little sister from the icy death that awaited her if she didn't move from that spot. However any attempts to do so would almost certainly cause the ice to shatter beneath her.
He didn't really think about what he was doing. He just wanted her to be safe.
Using his crook, he managed to throw her off the dangerous section of the ice, even as it cracked under him and sent him down into the icy depths of the pond. There was no way he'd survive, but he didn't mind.
Ice crept over his body, he could no longer breathe. Strangely, it didn't hurt at all. Then again, he had always had a love for the cold seasons, because he loved the snow and the way it seems to dance around his fingers. The cold never bothered him anyway.
Darkness crept over him. He strayed out of thought and time...stars wheeled overhead and every day felt like a life-age of the earth.
However this was not his end. Power coursed through his veins, something he had only felt echoes of but had never really touched because magic was highly discouraged. His brown hair turned white as his power began to awaken in full. His skin turned as pale as death itself, and his eyes went from a warm brown to a pale ice blue.
That power surged in his veins, awakening a legacy that had been dormant in the short sixteen winters of his life.
His body began to float above the ice, and the first thing he saw was the moon. It was so big and bright. As long as he saw that light, he was not afraid.
He lightly touched down on the pond...properly frozen over now and no longer dangerous. His foot brushed up against a familiar crook. He touched it, and it began to ice over. However just holding it made him feel safe, like nothing could harm him. In fact it made him feel powerful.
Jack Frost.
That was the name the moon gave him...and it would be the only time Jack heard his voice for a very, very long time.
Three centuries later...
Jack didn't know why the Guardians or the Man in the Moon thought he was a good candidate for their job. He wasn't guardian material.
They were the Big Leagues, whereas Jack...Jack was always a nuisance that couldn't fit in anywhere. It seemed like no matter what he did or tried, it turned into disaster. He couldn't even remember who he was before he became Jack Frost.
He finally lost his temper when North started to make a big production of "being a guardian".
"Enough. What makes you think I want to be a Guardian?" snapped Jack.
North just laughed, and to be quite honest, it kinda pissed him off.
"Of course you do!" he laughed. "Music!"
Jack growled at that.
"No music. I don't even get why you want me to be part of your little group when every one of you has spent the past three centuries ignoring me. Bunny can't stand to be around me because he's only ever concerned about his stupid egg hunts!" said Jack, with no little amount of bitterness and resentment in his voice. "I'm not Guardian material."
"That's exactly what I said!" said Bunny.
"Jack, I don't think you even understand what it is we do. We protect the children," said Tooth.
"Good or bad, naughty or nice, we protect them," said North. Hearing a noise, he said with an exasperated tone "Tooth! Fingers out of mouth."
"Sorry...they're beautiful," said Tooth apologetically.
"And right now Pitch is out there, waiting to attack. When he threatens us, he threatens them all."
"Find someone more qualified," said Jack. "I have no idea why you even picked me in the first place...everyone knows I'm just a screw-up."
"Pick? You think we pick? You were chosen, as we were all chosen. By Man in Moon," said North.
"Wait...he talks to you?" said Jack, upset.
"Last night he chose you," said Tooth.
"After three hundred years, this is how he responds? By having me become one of you guys, hiding in your little individual fortress of solitude ignoring everyone but your little group?" said Jack, openly angry now. "No thanks, that's no for me. No offense."
"How is that not offensive?" said Bunny. "I think we dodged a bullet...there's only thing this brat will bring to our group is trouble. Besides, what does this twerp know about bringing joy to children?"
Jack glared at him, but held his temper.
"Ever hear of a snow day? It's not some half-forgotten hard-boiled egg, but kids like what I do."
"But they don't believe in you, do they?" countered Bunny.
Something inside Jack all but demanded he show this overgrown kangaroo who the superior spirit was. To display his power against this pest.
The last and only time he followed that particular urge against another spirit, he nearly died. Jack had learned to be much more subtle.
"Like I care what some overgrown bilgesnipe says," snarked Jack.
"What did you call me?" said Bunny, an odd expression on his face.
"A bilgesnipe. Big, ugly lumbering thing without any real thoughts in their head," snarked Jack.
Jack noticed the other Guardians giving him odd looks now.
"What?" he said confused.
"Jack...how do you know what a bilgesnipe is? They're not native to Earth," asked Tooth slowly.
Jack blinked.
"Wait... you mean you guys don't travel to other realms?" he said openly confused.
"We are restricted to Earth's children, by Man in Moon. Pitch has the same restrictions," said North.
"Hold up...this annoying brat is able to travel to the other realms?" said Bunny incredulous.
"Uh...yeah? I mean Jotunhiem is actually pretty nice once you get used to avoiding the natives, and it's a lot of fun sledding down the mountains there," said Jack.
He was really getting uncomfortable with the way they were staring at him. Was it really that big a deal he could go to other realms?
Jack felt hopeless. Pitch had kidnapped the baby Teeth and he had been utterly useless. And to make matters worse, his lost memories were gone too. All this time and they were hiding in Tooth's palace.
He knew collecting the teeth was a temporary measure, but it was better than nothing. Something in him was screaming that he could do so much more if he wasn't being fettered by the Guardians. That he could take out Pitch himself if given the chance.
Jack ruthlessly squashed that thought. He had barely survived against that pissy summer spirit...he'd never be able to handle someone like Pitch Black.
It soothed his anger, seeing Bunny and the others taken out by that ball of dream sand.
He felt only rage and horror, when Pitch shot Sandy with an arrow of black sand. He tried to fly to his aid, but he wasn't fast enough.
Seeing that wall of black sand come towards him, Jack could only react on instinct.
He felt it try to overwhelm him, but he reached deep and pulled more of that power he knew lay dormant inside. Sand clashed with ice and magic, and it exploded violently.
"Jack...how did you do that?" asked Tooth.
"I...I don't know," he said honestly. He knew he could do so much more, be so much more...but the thought of tapping into that power properly scared him. He knew once he properly awakened it, he would never be the same...nothing would be the same.
It was a somber group that returned to the workshop. Sandy had been lost, and while Jack had beaten Pitch back, neither side had won.
Jack sat against the window, silent. He felt incredibly guilty, and couldn't help but think that maybe if he had really pushed himself, he could have saved Sandy.
"Jack, do not beat yourself up. Sandy would not want that."
"But Sandy..."
"Would be proud of what you did. You saved us Jack," said North. "I don't know who you were in your past life, but in this life, you are Guardian."
"How can I know who I am until I find out who I was?" asked Jack, a look of hopelessness on his face.
He knew there was something...different...about him. Something that made him far more unique than the Guardians. He was just afraid of learning what that was. Something told him that it would open up a door he wasn't sure he was ready to face.
North tried to look empathetic, but even he could tell Jack was special. That there was something about him that made him different from the others.
In the Warren...
"Sophie?" said Jack, amused.
"What is she doing here?" said Bunny horrified.
"Snow globe," said North, patting his jacket.
"Don't look at me, I'm invisible remember?" said Jack amused.
"Snow man! Snow man!" cheered Sophie.
Jack's expression was one of disbelief.
"Aw...Snow man disappear..." said Sophie disappointed.
"Wait...she could see you, if only for a moment, how?" said Bunny.
Jack thought back to that surge of power he felt against Pitch. Was it really that simple? He circulated it, like he was planning to use a bigger spell.
"Snow man is back!" cheered Sophie.
"How is she able to see you?" said Tooth.
"I...I don't know," said Jack.
All this time he was invisible, and suddenly he was able to be seen? What was going on?
Seeing the eggs marching on to be painted, Jack knew someone would have to take Sophie home. She didn't belong there...she belonged with her family.
"How about I take her home?" asked Jack.
"But Jack, we need you. If Pitch attacks..." started Tooth.
"He won't be able to handle me."
Jack wanted to do something right, and the Guardians had been able to handle Pitch for centuries. They could handle one day without his help.
As he carried Sophie home, he heard a voice on the wind calling his name. Baby Tooth tried to remind him he had to get back, but that voice was so hauntingly familiar. He had to know who it was.
He flew. He flew into the darkness following that voice.
What he found was the missing Baby Teeth...and the stolen memories of the children. He had a sinking feeling, and rather than try to find his missing teeth, he decided escape was a better idea. He would need to let the Guardians know where they were.
"Going somewhere, Frost?" said a voice in the darkness.
Jack's sinking feeling had gotten worse...he had been lured into a trap by Pitch.
"You know for a neutral party, you seem overly invested in those weirdos. Especially considering what they've been keeping from you all this time," said Pitch.
Jack didn't answer. Some part of him woke up and was coiled like a snake ready to strike.
"I don't like it when people target kids," said Jack. "Call it a pet peeve of mine."
"Why should you care what about the children? They don't believe in you anyway," said Pitch. His voice came from behind, but Jack didn't turn around. He knew it was pointless. "Come now Jack, why are you even fighting alongside them? They've ignored you for centuries."
He didn't know what made him answer. Or why he even said it.
"Because the Man in the Moon knows who I am. He's the only one who might have the answers I'm looking for," said Jack.
"And what answers is that Jack? They'll never believe in you, you know. Just look at the Guardians...it only took a little shove and now the children have lost their fickle belief. Meanwhile the fear...the fear never leaves."
Jack sense something to his left. It was a way out that Pitch wouldn't see coming.
"What did you do?" said Jack.
"No Jack...the question is...what did you do?" said Pitch smugly, tossing something to him. It was one of the odd containers of teeth that had been stolen.
'Oh no...' thought Jack as he fled the tunnels.
Only to find that every egg had been smashed, and the children's belief in Bunny had been damaged severely. The expression of disappointment and betrayal on their faces...especially when they saw the container...it was too much for Jack to take.
He fled.