Chapter 5

A Possible Outcome

The four Guardians had exhausted all possible options in finding the little winter spirit, and had all but given up. Sandy was the one left hopeful, he just knew they could find Jack eventually. They had all gathered at Jack's pond, hopeful that it would finally give them some answers, or even that Jack would simply be there, waiting. They weren't sure why they hadn't thought to check there first, it was Tooth who had the idea to check the pond, with some suggestions from Baby Tooth. It was close to midnight and the forest was brighter than normal; it was a full moon. The bright moon sat overhead, staring down at them, and the Guardians felt as if it was staring. They had all thought that the Man in the Moon had made a mistake about Jack, when it was them who had misjudged him so harshly.

"Did you ever think, what happened?" The voice came from the shadows, smooth and dangerous. The Guardians stiffened but didn't prepare to fight; somewhere like this would be the perfect place for a fight with Pitch. They wouldn't let it happen.

"With the boy, I mean, did you never once stop and think about exactly where he came from?" They saw Pitch's shape on the floor, stretching out towards them but it was only a shape, Pitch hmself was hiding.

"Of course you didn't." The words came out as a hiss. "You were too busy helping the children! Much too busy to help a child. A child who, need I remind you; has no family, has nobody in this life. The poor boy has been alone for three hundred years. He is given such good news! He is to be a Guardian, to be given friends and a family, believers even! Well, didn't that turn out swell."

North's face changed; his eyes lost some of their sparkle, his mouth dipped when he had the thought.

"Remind you of anyone?" The words were followed by a laugh, and the saw the shape retreat back into the other mass of shadows, that were sitting beneath a cluster of trees, where the moon's light couldn't reach them. The Guardians relaxed, and turned to North as he spoke.

"Pitch." He said, and the others nodded. Of course they knew who had been speaking. "No, no." He continued on. "Pitch also very lonely, how lonely was Jack?"

Tooth nodded. "Three hundreds is a long time, North, but Pitch was alone for much longer, by his own doing." Her response got a shake of North's head in return.

"Is not point. Jack is strong. Must be, to control winter." The others nodded at North's words; it was true. Many spirits had been chosen to control winter, but it is possible for a spirit's element to overpower them. Many had been crushed by their own snow fall, or been swept away by the winds they had created. It was not a simple season. It was a season that had to be balanced carefully, so when they realised just how young Jack was, they had all been a little confused.

"Does the little blight think that though?" Bunny was speaking now. "What?" The others were looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"Think about it; he was alone, yes, but more so than that, he was left alone by the only person who spoke to him in that time. He likely never got told just how careful he would have to be. As much as we seem to forget it, he is still a child. What if he gets too upset, or angry, or hurt? Blimey, who knows what could happen. Kid wouldn't even mean any of it if it happened." Tooth nodded, as did North, Sandy was looking at the Moon with a frown. Bunny was right, Sandy thought. The Man in the Moon had chosen Jack, then simply left him to be on his own; leaving a child on his own for minutes can have disastourous results, that he had seen time and time again. Leaving one alone for years? Three hundred years with nobody there to help him, or to guide him. Sandy turned his frown to Bunny, and a number of rather rude images popped up from his sand.

"Sandy!" Tooth was rather taken aback.

"I'm just saying! What if Pitch gets in his head?"

"No, Pitch was bad long time before we met him." North had joint back into the conversation.

"H-He couldn't do much, anyway, Bunny." Toothiana's words were soft, she sounded upset.

"Why's that Tooth?"

"His staff is broken, we've all seen how he uses it. It might be the source of his power, it might not. At the very least it's a conduit of some sort. He… gosh what if he can't fix it?"

They fell into a silence, and Sandy left, it had gotten too late and the children needed to sleep. They bid the small man a sad farewell, and each Guardian returned to their home. It was North who looked at the calender and realised just how close Christmas truly was; 3 weeks to go. Jack had been missing since Easter. It hadn't felt quite so long, but now the time was really settling in, and just how hurt North was due to it. He had liked the child; though he was apprehensive about his Guardianship at the beginning. The winter spirit had grown on North, and he was marvelled at just how truly chidlike he was, despite everything he had gone through. Just how much he had gone through, North couldn't say for sure, none of them knew Jack before he was Jack Frost. North decided then and there, he had a new gift to make, and not much time to make it.

The others were busy in their own areas, all of them trying to get jack out of their minds; each of them worrying over what Bunny had said, could Jack be driven to Pitch's side? He had said no, and it had caused him to lose his staff. What if Pitch could offer to fix it, or even a whole new one?

They let themselves focus on their work, the worry nagging at the back of their minds. Sandy was busy, casting dreams out to the sleeping children; his thin ribbons of sand searched the world, hoping to find the young white haired boy, but they couldn't seem to grasp him.

The weeks before Christma flew by quickly, and before he knew it, North doing the Christmas Eve deliveries. He only had a few houses left, on a little island. The cold wind rocked his sleigh but he pulled through and landed outside the house. North entered the house slowly through the front door. North was silent as he piled the presents underneath the small tree in the living room. The fireplace was incredibly warm; he loved the smell of a real fireplace. North noticed the little rabbit asleep on a cushion next to the fireplace and let out a soft chuckle.

"Hello small friend, you remind me of someone. Haha, you look much easier to get along with; perhaps you will be next easter bunny. Do not tell him I said!" North laughed at himself,and heard the door behind him open. North cursed himself, he must not have closed it properly behind him. He heard movement and turned to see what it was, and was greeted by the sharp end of a wooden stick pointing to his face. The house had grown colder, and North noticed the frost that had grown thicker on the windows. The light from the moon outside lit up the white hair of the small boy, while the light from the fire lit up his face. North looked into the eyes of Jack Frost, and couldn't believe what, or who, he was seeing. Jack's face changed from one of anger to simple shocked fear.

"Jack?" North asked, and the response he got was not what he expected, nor wanted.

"Oh no, no no no." Jacked whispered, a plea. Jack stepped backwards out of the front door, avoiding North's hand as it reached out, and turned. North watched the small boy dart back out into the snowy night.

"Jack!" North yelled, following after the boy. The staff was still broken, North had seen that the other half was in Jack's other hand when he had been pointing it at him. Why had he done this? What was he doing here? North made chase to the boy as he ran across the snow outsid the outside, and North saw where he was headed; the woods. Even without his staff, jack was far more acrobatic than North, and would easily be able to avoid the older Guardian. This was confirmed with north when he watched Jack in the distance easily push himself up, leaping towards the branch of a close by tree. North reacted quickly by throwing a snow globe towads the tree, aiming it for the trunk behind Jack. Jack turned as he fell towards to the branch, and took aim with the straight end of his staff. The boy seemed to move in slow motion as he swung outward, and sent the end of the half of his staff into the snow globe. Instead of becoming a mess of purple as the snow globe became a portal, it shattered. The snow globe shattered into a cloud of glass of blue and white dust. North saw the look on Jack's face as he was swallowed by the cloud, and gave a yell as the dust seemed to swallow him.

North had stopped running, and simply watched as the dust cloud faded and left nothing where it had been, including Jack Frost. North's eyes were already wide, and grew wider as he realised what had happened.

"Burgess." He said loudly, and shouted for his reindeers and sleigh. The journey back to the pole was much longer than he wanted.