Author's Note: Happy December fifth, ya'll! =D (We're not that close to Christmas yet, but we're getting there =P) I hope you enjoy chapter five of "That Time of Year!" =D
Chapter Five: The Lost Letter
December Fifth
While children and adults around the world didn't know that Santa Claus was actually Russian, had two swords, and was more muscle than fat, there were a few things that they got right. Every year on December first, North would magically teleport all of the children's letters addressed to him to Santoff Claussen. Large red bags were filled to the brim with envelopes with childish handwriting scrawled onto them. Some envelopes were addressed to the "North Pole," but the majority of them were addressed to North himself under the name of "Santa Claus" of course. These bags were stored in the mail room where North stored all of the letters that children sent. The letters were fastidiously organized by year, so North had no trouble finding the recent letters that had been sent for that year's Christmas. The ex-Cossack spent a lot of time reading through each and every letter, taking note of what each and every child wanted, and sometimes added things that they needed. Lots of the letters wished for unrealistic things like a unicorn or a dinosaur, and North would always laugh at the children's vivid imaginations when he read those Christmas lists.
The mail room was extremely large and had hundreds of shelves from the very first Christmas list letter to the most recent one. Yetis were constantly placing new letters in their designated slots. North greeted each yeti he passed and shooed out a few of the elves who were getting into mischief inside of the room. The mail room's walls were made of ice, and round lights hung from the wooden ceiling. North weaved through the several shelves until he reached the one he was looking for and he began to pull out the letters that he hadn't gone through yet. North placed the envelope in a bag and threw it over his shoulder and began to make his way to the library to sit down for a nice, peaceful letter reading session.
Suddenly, a yeti who was not looking where he was going crashed into the man in red. North dropped his bag and backed into a shelf and knocked a few boxes of letters down to the floor. The yeti babbled his apologies and North reassured the tan, furry creature that it was fine. The two picked up the fallen letters and made sure to place them in their correct boxes and neatly placed them back onto the shelf. The yeti had to hurry to the other side of the mail room to help the other yetis put away newly sent letters and North nodded. The ex-Cossack watched the yeti walked away and was about to place the last and final dropped letter into his box when a familiar name caught his eyes. North picked up the envelope and gasped at whose name was written on it. The writing was faded, but the Russian could make out "To: The North Pole. From: Jack Frost."
Jack? thought North in slight bemusement. He sent letter? He didn't remember ever seeing this particular letter before. The year it was sent was sometime in the 1800s. North stared at the letter in his hand and then picked up the bag of letters he was planning on reading. The ex-Cossack's eyes were fixated on the letter the entire way to the library. North wanted—needed—to read the letter. He had a feeling that whatever was inside was important, and North was curious as of to why Jack had sent the letter in the first place. North didn't know of many immortals who sent him Christmas letters; Jack was the youngest immortal he knew, but he was still seventeen. It seemed slightly peculiar that the winter spirit would send Santa a Christmas letter at his age, but North knew that no matter how many times Jack adamantly insisted, he was still a child at heart, so North wasn't completely taken aback by the fact that Jack had sent him a letter.
North pushed open the large library doors and entered the room of books. The library was one of the calmest places in the North Pole, and North often came there to think or read when he had the time to. The ex-Cossack took a seat in his favorite red chair and stared at Jack's letter. He wondered if he should ask Jack before reading it, but North decided just to read it then and there. North carefully tore open the envelope, holding it as if it was as fragile as glass. North pulled out the faded piece of paper and folded it open, revealing Jack's letter. As North read, he could almost hear Jack's voice and could even see him sitting on his favorite branch at his lake with a pencil, writing enthusiastically on the piece of paper. Excitement danced in his cerulean blue eyes as he wrote, the thought of Santa actually receiving his letter and possibly granting his wish made the winter spirit bubble with hope.
Dear Santa Claus (or Mister Claus if that sounds more polite),
I know it's three days before Christmas and you're probably really busy, but I heard a lot about you from some other immortals and spirits and they said that you could do pretty much anything, so I snagged a piece of paper, an envelope, and a pencil from a schoolhouse and here I am writing this letter to you. I really hope you get this, and I hope you have enough time to make this happen, and I don't know if you will or not, but you probably can. You're Santa after all. You can do pretty much anything, right?
Anyway…what I really, really, really, really want for Christmas is…is a family. Or at least a friend. Just someone to keep me company. I mean, I have the Wind and she's really cool, but it's just not the same as having an actual person who can talk to you and is there for you. I've mostly spent most of my time just flying around watching the kids play with each other and families having fun around this festive season, and I can't help but wish to…to have experience that. I've tried to make friends with other immortals and spirit but none of them seem to like me. I guess that's what happens when you accidentally cause blizzards and ruin other people's holidays…
North immediately knew that Jack was referring to the Blizzard of '68. North remembered how infuriated Bunny was when Jack had caused that snowstorm on Easter Sunday and spent the whole day ranting about how the winter spirit was an immature pest who needed to be taken care of. North knew that Bunny probably took back everything that he had said that day and forgave Jack after getting to know him, but North still felt a little bad for Jack at the mention of the inadvertent blizzard.
North could see Jack tapping his pencil against his chin, wondering what else to write down. The winter spirit then continued to scribble down on the paper, swinging his legs as he sat on his branch.
If you have the time to do this, I will be extremely happy. Maybe I'll even stop by and give you some extra snow to say thank you. I heard that the elves work pretty hard making the toys, so maybe they can play in it and have a snowball fight with or something. Please, please, please make this happen. I hope you can squeeze this in somewhere on your list, but if you can't…well…I guess that's okay too. I know this is a long shot and there's a high chance that you won't even see or read this…
Anyway, that's all. I hope that when Christmas comes 'round, that you have a lot of fun flying in your sleigh and delivering toys to the kids. I think it's super awesome what you do, and it's nice that you get noticed for your work, something that I've been wishing to happen to me for a long time. Thanks for taking the time to read this if you did, and I hope you have a holly, jolly, happy, merry Christmas!
From Sincerely,
Jackson Overland Frost
North reread the letter a few times and couldn't help but let out a remorseful sigh. He hadn't read the letter, and even if he did, he knew that Jack's wish for a family was something that he couldn't grant. Still, North felt bad for not doing at least something to cheer up the winter spirit in his 300 years of solitude, or even invite him over to Santoff Claussen to spend time with him. The ex-Cossack slipped Jack's letter back into its envelope and stood up, completely forgetting about the other letters that he had to read. The next time he saw the winter spirit, he was going to talk to him.
…
"Woo-hoo!" whooped Jack as he flew through the air. The Wind flipped her winter child in the air, making Jack laugh in delight. The winter spirit made sure that his hat hadn't loosened and tugged it onto his head.
"Do it again!" shouted Jack happily, and the Wind complied, carrying Jack into a loop-dee-loop as he flew toward the direction of Santoff Claussen. The Guardian of Fun had just finished his work for the day and was looking forward to spending time with his fatherly figure, North. Jack wondered if North was up for another ice sculpting session, help prepare for the party on Christmas Eve, or just reading in the library. The winter spirit didn't care what they did as long as they did it together. Another laugh burst from the winter spirit's mouth as the village of Santoff Claussen came into view. Jack dived through the open window, bringing in his friendly chill of air and a trail of snowflakes in his wake. Several yetis and elves looked up to him and waved in greeting. Jack smiled waved back. He landed in the middle of the Workshop activity and asked, "Where's North?"
A yeti pointed to the library and Jack headed in that direction. The winter spirit opened the large ornate doors and looked around. North wasn't in sight. Jack guessed that he must have left the library. Jack noticed a bag filled with letters sitting next to North's favorite red chair and he walked up to it. Jack lifted three letters from the bag and smile. They were letters from children. Children asking for toys, presents, and impossible things. Jack gingerly placed the letters back into the red bag and continued hi search for North. The winters priti asked around and eventually discovered that North was in his study. Jack made his way to North's office and with a gust of wind, threw open the door and entered with a flourish.
"Hey North!" Jack said with a bright smile. He swung his staff onto his shoulder and shoved his hand into his pocket. "I just finished creating a bunch of snowfalls and stopped a couple blizzards that were rampaging through a few cities. I came by to see if you wanted to do anything. Are you up for another ice sculpting session or—-" Jack stopped when he realized that North hadn't said anything since his arrival. The winter spirit saw that North was hunched over something. It looked like a faded piece of paper, but something about it seemed familiar about it.
"North?" said Jack. The Russian looked up from the paper and set it aside, greeting Jack with a warm smile, but the winter spirit knew that North was hiding something behind the grin.
"Jack! I did not hear you valk in," North said. He stood up from his desk and placed his hands on Jack's shoulders. "How are you?"
"I'm good," said Jack. He slid a hand under his hat and scratched his head. "Are you okay?"
North waved his hand dismissively. "Bah! I am fine! I was just gone in thought."
"I think you mean 'lost' in thought," Jack said. The winter spirit looked over to North's desk. "What were you reading?"
North's smile faltered and he sighed. He placed hand on Jack's shoulder, and he led the winter spirit to his desk. Jack took a seat and North sat across from him, just like they had when they were ice sculpting together. The large man picked up the faded paper and turned to Jack, a slightly guilty look was on his face.
"What's that?" asked Jack as he pointed at the paper. The paper looked extremely familiar now that Jack saw it up close, and the winter spirit began to feel as if he had something to do with it.
North ran a hand through his beard. "I probably should have told you about this sooner, but here." He handed the paper to Jack and the winter spirit took it out of his hand tentatively. Jack didn't know whether to feel curious or nervous. Had he done something wrong? Jack looked up at North, hesitation was in his cerulean eyes.
"Go on," said North. "Iz yours."
Mine? thought Jack. If it was his, there wasn't anything to worry about, right? Jack unfolded the piece of paper and Jack gasped when he realized why the old paper looked so, so familiar.
His letter. It was his letter that he wrote all those years ago to Santa, asking for a family for Christmas. Jack's hands shook as he read over the page and he looked up at North, and he knew that he had read the old letter already.
"You vrote that long time ago," said North. It wasn't a question; it was a statement.
Jack nodded slowly. "Y-yeah…I didn't think I'd ever see this again," the winter spirit laugh lightly, but it was distant. "I knew you probably wouldn't be able to give me what I wanted, but I wrote this anyway…" Jack looked up at North. "I'm guessing you never read it until now."
North nodded. Shame written on his face. He wished that he had found the letter sooner, then Jack wouldn't have had to go through another 200 years of loneliness for him to finally get his longtime wish granted. To have friends. To have a family. Something that he wanted—-needed—-for a long, long time.
"I am so sorry, moy mal'chik," North said remorsefully. "I wish I found letter sooner. I could've given you vhat you vanted." Now that North thought about it, he knew that he probably should've looked into Jack Frost when he began to see his name at the top of the Naughty List every year. "I didn't realize how lonely you vere and how desperate you vere for friends. For a family."
Jack nodded as he looked over the letter again. The winter spirit placed the letter on the desk and said, "It's okay. And besides," Jack looked up at North, his blue eyes gleaming. "My wish got granted eventually."
North smiled and crushed Jack into a hug. The winter spirit laughed and hugged North back, but after a while, he said, "You're crushing me, North!"
The Guardian of Wonder let go of Jack and the winter teen gasped for air. North laughed heartily and patted Jack on the back lightly.
"Now, vhy don't ve go and find something to do together, da?" said North.
Jack smiled and followed North out of his study. Before he exited, he turned back and looked at the letter wistfully.
Even though it took 200 years, I'm glad my wish finally came true, thought Jack. And the winter spirit then exited the study, leaving his letter on the top of the desk.
Author's Note: Moy mal'chik means "My boy" in Russian. =D The underlines in Jack's letter means that that particular sentence, word, or phrase was crossed out. =)
I hope you enjoyed chapter five! =D
Until the next chapter!
-BeyondTheMoon1203
