Author's Note: Chapter twenty-two, chapter twenty-two! Only three more days until Christmas! =D
I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! =)
Chapter Twenty-Two: A Familial Consolation
December Twenty-Second
Jack flew through the halls of Santoff Claussen, trying to ignore the emotions that were churning inside of him like a raging blizzard. Jack veered left and headed toward the bedrooms, and eventually came to his own, which still had the wreath that he had placed on it while he and the Guardians were decorating the North Pole for Christmas. Jack glared at it with disdain, and the winter spirit yanked open his door and stepped inside. Jack felt safer in his bedroom than he did out in the midst of Santoff Claussen, but the winter spirit didn't want to stay. He wanted to leave.
Jack tossed off the cloak that North had made for him, removed the formal clothes he was wearing, and put on his regular clothes. The Guardian of Fun then grabbed his staff and opened his window. The Wind swirled around him in an attempt to comfort him. While Jack was touched that his old-time friend was trying to make him feel better, the winter spirit didn't smile.
"Thanks, Wind," Jack whispered. "Can you take me to Burgess? I think I'm just going to sit the rest of the celebration out…"
The Wind whistled and scooped up Jack, carrying over the village of Santoff Claussen and toward the direction of Burgess. Jack looked back once, debating whether he should leave or not, but he continued toward his destination.
They don't want me there, thought Jack. I might as well do what they want me to…
And as Jack flew away from the bright, festive village of Santoff Claussen, he tried to ignore the tears that reflected in his blue eyes.
…
The crowd of immortals and spirits were still yelling and shouting in complete disbelief that Jack was a Guardian. All except for Emily Jane, who turned to the Guardians of Childhood with a look that said that they needed to do something.
No one seemed to have noticed that Jack had left, and no one seemed to even care that he was gone. The Guardians were completely shocked by the reaction that the immortals had given, but they were even more worried about Jack. The winter spirit had seemed off before the party even began, and he was rather anxious before he was announced as a Guardian. The Guardians felt that he must've known that something like this would've happened, but that didn't mean that he should not have told them.
"I can't believe it. I won't believe that Jack's a Guardian," said Autumn to her fellow Autumn sprites. Her friends nodded in agreement.
"Why was he even chosen? All he does is make a mess of everything," added a summer sprite.
May shook her head. "I think Tsar Lunar should've chosen someone else."
"All of ya bloody drongos, hush up!" shouted Bunny. Everyone in the room quieted. "I can't believe all of ya. Jack deserves this role far more than any of ya! Did ya not hear when North said that Frostbite helped us defeat Pitch? He sacrificed a lot fer the ankle-biters!"
Tooth nodded and her wings beat furiously. "Bunny's right! Jack did a lot for us! He came back to help us even though we blamed him for something that was our fault."
"Jack iz Guardian, and he deserves his Guardianship," North added. "The boy has been through a lot, yet he still fought by our sides vith no argument. He saved children; he saved us."
Mother Nature stepped forward. "And Jack's been working really hard to get used to his new role. I've never seen a spirit as young as him work so hard. He has to manage winter by himself, and he still manages to get everything done."
"But what about all the damage he's done?" asked Autumn. She pointed to Bunny. "Weren't you the one who said that he ruined Easter for you back in 1968 with that horrible blizzard that he caused?"
"Yeah!" hollered one of the Spring spirits.
Bunny winced. He had been one of the immortals who objected to Jack's Guardianship. He wasn't fond of the winter spirit at all back when he first heard of him, as he saw that all he did was mess with his holiday and freeze things. But after spending time with Jack and after getting to know him, Bunny knew that Jack had a good heart. The Blizzard of 68 was an accident, and Jack had gotten Jamie to believe in Bunny even though he and the other Guardians thought that the winter spirit had betrayed them. Jack had done a lot for them, and if it wasn't for him, the Guardians of Childhood wouldn't be standing where they were, they wouldn't be working together, and they wouldn't have learned how important it is to interact and spend time with children instead of cooping themselves up with their jobs. Jack had gotten them to realize how important it was to work together. How important it was to play with important it was to spend time with each other.
"I did say that," admitted Bunny, and the immortals and spirits were about to argue when Bunny said, "But I was wrong ta get upset with Jack for that."
"Why?" asked a fairy from the corner. "He destroyed Easter. You could've lost your believers."
"And he made it hail in the middle of the summer!" exclaimed a Summer sprite."
The immortals and spirits began to shout once again, and it was Sandy who got them to stop talking and listen. The Sandman conjured up the image of an arrow pointing at Autumn, and the fall sprite stopped talking and looked at Sandy. The little golden man produced a series of images: a leaf, a gust of wind, trees, and a sun. Autumn cringed and some of the Summer sprites turned to her with slight frowns.
"What's he sayin'?" asked Bunny.
"He's talking about the time Autumn and her sprites totally demolished a whole forest of trees that we finally got their leaves to turn green," said a blonde haired Summer sprite. He crossed his arms. "She and her sprites created this strong gust of wind and changed the leaves back to orange, and it took us forever to change them back."
"That was an accident!" Autumn stated. Her sprites nodded in agreement with their leader.
"You cost us an entire day's work because of your little mishap!" retorted another Summer sprite.
"I think I get what Sandy's trying to say here," said Tooth. She turned to the large crowd. "Sure, Jack has made a couple of storms that may have wrecked some of your holidays or seasons, but they're all accidents. Jack's still young, and he didn't have anyone to care for him or teach him things about controlling his powers and his winter. He was alone for 300 years with no one but himself and the Wind, and he had to learn everything he knows by himself." Tooth paused and made sure that everyone was listening. "Unlike the rest of us who were each taught by someone or got help from a friend."
Sandy nodded his head and created the image of Jack in the middle of a snowball fight with kids. The sand-children ran through the winter spirit, but he still provided the group of kids with snowballs and played right along with them.
"And he spent time vith kids even though they could not see him," translated North. "Something that some of us probably would not have done if ve veren't able to be seen."
"Jack even got the last believer ta believe in me again," said Bunny. He turned to the other Guardians. "Even though all of us turned our backs on 'im."
The Guardians shared remorseful looks. They had apologized to Jack about the Easter fiasco, and the Guardian of Fun had reassured them that it was okay, but the Guardians knew that what they had done was terrible, and they still felt bad about it. Sandy wasn't present when Easter was destroyed, and the Sandman had given them an earful when he found out what Tooth, North, and Bunny had done to Jack. Despite the fact that Jack had forgiven them, they still felt a little guilty whenever the subject was brought up.
"Jack is a Guardian, through and through," said Bunny. He turned to the large crowd. "And ya all need ta get past all of those past encounters and see Jack the way he really is."
Everyone in the room was silent, and the Guardians hoped that they were thinking about what they had just said. Tooth turned to her friends and said, "We need to go and find Jack."
Bunny nodded, and he gave the crowd of immortals and spirits a glare. "And ya all will be apolgizin' once we bring 'im back."
The large group of guests shifted and looked down shamefully, and Bunny was glad that they felt somewhat remorseful about how they treated Jack. The Guardians walked down the stairs on the side of the stage and walked through the large crowd and to the door, leaving the giant party room to search for Jack.
…
The Guardians walked through the hallways still dressed in their formal attire, their eyes peeled for any sign of Jack Frost. They called his name and searched around in all of his favorite places: the kitchen, the Globe Room, the library, and up high in the rafters. Jack wasn't perched on one of the beams, he wasn't snacking on something in the kitchen, he wasn't sitting in his favorite chair in the library, and he wasn't flying around the Globe of Belief. The Guardians finally went to the one final place that they hoped Jack would be: his bedroom.
The Guardians soon arrived at the door to Jack's bedroom and Tooth tapped the door. "Jack?" she called. "Are you in there?"
There was no response.
"Jack, ve just vant to talk to you," said North. Still, no response came from the winter spirit on the other side.
Bunny grabbed the doorknob and opened it. Jack's bedroom looked the same, slightly untidy, yet somewhat clean. The Guardians looked around and saw that the window was wide open. Ice lined the windowsill meaning that Jack had used the window for an exit. His formal clothes laid in a careless heap in the middle of the floor. Tooth picked up the dark blue cloak and finger it worriedly.
"We need to find Jack," she Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies looked out the window. "He needs us."
North nodded. "I know, Toothy, but ve first need to find out vhere he vent."
"Our best bet is his lake in Burgess," said Bunny seriously. Sandy nodded in agreement. "We're gonna need ta get there, and fast."
North was about to usher everyone to his sleigh when Bunny suddenly slammed his foot against the ground and a large tunnel opened up, swallowing the Guardians and closing up behind them.
…
Jack landed nimbly on his lake and slid across it to his tree. The winter spirit wiped at his eyes as he flew up to his favorite branch and leaned against the tree trunk, flipping his hood over his face to hide his dejected expression. Jack hugged his staff close as he gazed out toward his lake; the insults and hurtful comments made by the other immortals at the party still flickered through his mind.
"Jack Frost? A Guardian?! Seriously?!"
"What was the Man in the Moon thinking?"
"All he does is mess with the other seasons and causes unwanted blizzards!"
"Why was he chosen anyway?"
"The Man in the Moon must've been crazy when he chose him!"
Jack squeezed his eyes shut. No, no. Don't think about what they said. They're wrong. You're a Guardian, and you deserve it, he thought, but the winter spirit couldn't help but let every single insult, every single pernicious thing that he had heard several times before in his 300 years of loneliness sink through. Jack groaned in frustration and shifted on his branch, wondering what he was going to do now.
I'm not going back, that's for sure, thought Jack. They don't want me there, so I won't go there.
But what about the Guardians? They wanted me there…
They aren't even here right now, thought another side of Jack's mind. Don't you think they would've come after you to see if you're alright by now?
Jack looked up toward the Moon for reassurance, but he couldn't seem to find anything pacifying in its pale glow. Jack sighed and the Wind laced around him, trying to bring solace to her longtime friend. Jack smiled softly, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Hey, Wind," whispered Jack. "I guess I shouldn't have gone to the party after all."
The Wind fluted in response. Jack sighed.
"I think I'm just gonna turn in for the night," said Jack. "I have nothing else to do. I guess we'll just be spending Christmas alone…again…"
The Wind whistled sadly, but she swirled around Jack in an effort to cheer him up. Jack chuckled softly.
"You never give up, do you?" he remarked. The Wind pushed him lightly as if to say, "No, I don't. And the Guardians don't either."
The Guardians? Jack turned around and saw a large hole open up nearby, and out of it came the veteran Guardians. Jack felt the Wind push him toward his friends, but the winter spirit stayed where he was.
"I'm not coming down," he whispered to the Wind. "I'll just stay here. Besides, they'll probably leave once they realize that I'm—"
"Jack? Jack are you here?" called Tooth. The Tooth Fairy was fluttering around the lake; her amethyst eyes scanning for any sign of Jack.
"We know yer around here somewhere, mate," said Bunny as he walked around. "So ya might as well give yerself up now."
Jack stayed on his branch, and he watched as the Guardians scoured the area for him. A part of Jack felt touched that the Big Four were looking for him, but he still didn't come down from his perch.
"Moy mal'chik, please come out," said North. "Ve just vant to talk, iz all."
Jack chewed his lower lip. The Guardians sounded like they really wanted to see him, and Jack didn't want them to think that he was ignoring them. The winter spirit sighed and leapt off his tree branch. His bare feet crunched in the snow as he landed. The Guardians turned around and smiled when they saw Jack.
"Here I am," said Jack, although he did not sound all that happy. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We came to see if you were alright after what happened," replied Tooth as she fluttered up to him. "Jack, we're really sorry."
Jack shifted on his feet. "It's fine, you guys. It's my fault anyway…I shouldn't have gone to the party, and I ruined it for all of you—"
"Jack, you did not ruin party," said North. "Ve just veren't expecting such reaction to happen."
"And every single thing that those drongos said in there isn't true," added Bunny. "Yer a Guardian, and ya deserve yer Guardianship."
Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I know, but…" Jack sighed. "I just don't understand what I did that made them not like me so much…I didn't mean to cause those blizzards and hailstorms, and I said I was sorry, but they didn't forgive me. And now all of those spirits and immortals hate me because I'm a Guardian." Jack sniffed. "I'm never going to get accepted by them…"
"Oh, yes ya will," said Bunny. Jack looked up at him. "When ya left, we gave everyone a good lecture."
Tooth nodded. "I don't know if everyone feels this way, but I definitely know that some of them feel ashamed of themselves.
Sandy conjured up the image of the large group of immortals and spirits in the party room. "And they're still waiting for us to come back so they can apologize."
Jack blinked. "They're waiting to apologize?"
"Yes, Jack," said North. He laid a large hand on his shoulder. "They may not have reacted nicely at first, but I know that if we announce Guardianship again, ve vill get nicer reaction."
Jack winced. "About that, North…I kind of didn't want my Guardianship to be announced in the first place…"
"Really?" asked North in surprise. "Vhy didn't you tell me?"
Jack fiddled with his hoodie strings. "I-I was trying to avoid something like what happened at the party room; I kind of expected it to happen. And I was really uncomfortable about the whole thing too. But since you all got your Guardianships announced at the past Christmas parties, I decided to go along with the tradition too." Jack shifted awkwardly. "I guess I should've told you that I changed my mind sooner, but I just didn't want to upset you."
"Upset me?" repeated North.
"Yeah," said Jack. "You seemed so excited to announce my new status as a Guardian, and I didn't want to downgrade your enthusiasm."
North was touched that Jack just wanted him to be happy, but he also felt bad that he hadn't realized how nervous Jack looked before he announced his Guardianship. Now that he looked back, Jack must have tried to ask him not to announce his new role as a Guardian back at the party, but the ex-Cossack didn't listen.
"Jack," said North softly. The winter spirit's deep blue eyes met North's. "You should've told me that you did not want your Guardianship announced at party. I vould not have been upset at all, and I am sorry for not listening to you."
A small smile crawled onto Jack's face. "It's okay, North. And thanks."
North smiled and patted Jack's shoulder, then he turned to the others. "So, shall ve get back to party?"
"If Jack wants to," said Tooth as she turned to the teenage winter spirit.
Jack nodded. "Let's go," he said. "It's about time I faced the others anyway."
The Guardians smiled at Jack and then turned to Bunny, who was already ready to tap his foot against the ground.
"Buckle up," he said with a smirk. And soon, the Guardians were tumbling down one of Bunny's tunnels to Santoff Claussen.
