Chapter 11

Don't Let Me Burn

Jack heard footsteps nearby, but didn't move from where he was laying. The wood beneath him was cool, and he wanted to absorb as much of the cold as he was able to. He let his head roll to the side as his body relaxed and he saw the body lying next to him. She was laying on her side, facing away from him, unmoving. The footsteps had grown louder, and Jack felt the vibrations in the ground beneath him.

"Jack!" He heard North shout, and he saw her stir. She sat herself up slowly, accepting some help from Toothiana. She groaned and rubbed the back of her head, and looked at Jack.

"Hey kiddo." She was smiling, and let Toothiana help her to her feet. She brushed off her clothing, and her arms before letting out a breath. It was shaky, and Jack felt she wanted to get some time alone, but she was rather stuck now; she would be until Tooth's worrying had stopped. Tooth moved to Jack and helped him up, moving him to a couch where he sat down, sinking into the soft cushions.

"Dirt!" North said, unpleased as he saw her shaking the black dust off of her clothes, letting it fly through the air of the workshop.

"Ashes, I think." She said, smiling at North. Jack liked her smile, it was friendly.

"Sandy doing okay?" She asked, letting her shoulders relax when the others nodded in response.

"He came back last night exhausted, hung around for a little then headed out to do sleep for the other kids." Bunny said, joining the group. He looked at her, then to Jack, and raised an eyebrow.

"Any reason you two smell like a barbecue?" He asked with a smirk.

"Because your country keeps trying to burn itself down." She snapped.

"I don't have a- christ kiddo, you were in that?" Bunny's face fell; he had heard about the fire.

She gave a sigh and a nod in response, and waved towards Jack.

"I don't care what Dawn says, the kid's good." She said.

"Of course is good!" North said, apparently offended by the remark.

She rolled her eyes. "Not moral-" She was interrupted by someone falling through the skylight, as Jack often did, and joining the group. The group turned to see Eros standing amongst them, staring at her. She gave a wave, but scowled at him.

"Checking on me?' She asked.

"You were in a fire; of course I'm checking on you!" He said rather loudly, his voice sounding exaspaerated.

"I'm fine, Eros. I shouldn't have travelled so far with two people, but that's my own fault."

"Two?" He asked, and watched her gesture to Jack, who was sitting on the couch. Jack gave a weak smile, but didn't move from the seat.

"You travelled with Frosty? Why? And why is he…covered in dirt?"

"Said was dirt!" North joined in.

"Someone had to drag him out of the fire!" She shouted, and shook her head as everyone turned to look at Jack.

"I don't know what Dawn's issue is; how long has it been since a winter spirit walked into a fire?" She sat on the floor and leant back against a couch across the room from Jack. Her shoulders ached, more than they had in a long time. She would have joked about it being a sign of her old age, but that wasn't a concern anymore.

"Is it bad she travelled with me?" Jack whispered to Eros as he sat on the couch, joining Jack.

"What? Oh no, sorry kid. It's just more strenuous than a one person travel is, especially when you're already weakened." Eros explained, smiling at Jack. Jack nodded and relaxed into the back of the couch.

"Why were you there?" Tooth asked, looking at the girl. She shrugged in response.

"Doing my job, I guess. Thought Sandy could use a hand." She looked over at Jack and looked confused.

"Hey Frosty, I heard you got your teeth back. You haven't mentioned anything. Can't get it to work?" She asked; Jack looked at her with wide eyes.

"I-I, it feels weird when I hold it. Like it doesn't want me to open it." Jack admitted, he had been avoiding the little box.

"Jack it has to want you to, the entire purpose of them is to help you." Tooth was talking now. Her hands were folded together in front of her. Tooth looked at the young lady, and seemed nervous.

"Your call Toothiana." The lady said; it felt so strange to hear Tooth's name said in full. Jack watched Tooth closely, she seemed anxious, like she wasn't sure what to do. Tooth looked at Jack.

"Have you got it, Jack?" She asked.

Jack left and fetched the memory box from the drawer he had hidden it in; he had grown tired of it making him feel so sick when he tried to sleep. The box felt heavy and strange in his hand; it was cold in a way that Jack didn't enjoy. He joined his friends again and handed the memory box to Toothiana, who held onto it with trembling hands, before holding it out to the young lady. Jack sat on his couch and saw that North and Bunny had both found seats, and Sandy had joined them, floating nearby. They were watching the young lady as she took the memory box, and held it on the flat of her palm. Jack saw the movement from the corner of his eye, and noticed someone else had joined the group. The short lady was watching the group, her hands on her hips, her face a scowl. Jack felt his chest fall; it was Dawn.

"What are you doing? Who gave you that!" Dawn shouted, storming over to the young lady.

"I did." Jack said, hoping his voice wasn't as shaky as it sounded in his ears.

"Jack gave it to me and I gave it to her." Tooth said; looking dead straight at Dawn. Jack had never noticed quite how tall Toothiana could be when she tried.

"W-what!" Dawn spat out, looking with disgust from Toothiana to the memory box. She moved forward, and grabbed the arm of the young lady.

"That does not belong to you." She hissed, staring at the girl, who seemed to ignore her.

"Y-you're a mess! Did your parents not teach you anything?!" Dawn shouted and reached out to grab the memory box. The memory box moved, it jerked from side to side on the hand, then floated upwards from the hand, hovering a few inches above the palm. The box rotated until its colourful top was facing the hand, and two tiny doors sprung open. Jack watched as a handful of black sand trickled out of the memory and collected in a tidy pile in the palm of her hand. Dawn let go, and took steps back, watching in horror as the sand fell from the box. Finally, after no more sand fell from the box, the doors closed themselves and the box dropped to the ground. Tooth picked the cylindical box up and passed it to Jack, who took it carefully. He didn't trust the little box at all now; knowing what it had been filled with.

"Don't look at it like that, kiddo, nothing wrong with it." The young girl said, smiling gently at him.

"Why would Pitch fill it with the sand though; did he know what it would do?" Tooth asked, looking at Jack with nervous eyes.

"Well truthfully, we don't even know if it was on purpose." The young girl said, rubbing her eyes with her hands. "He's constantly surrounded by the stuff; it could have made it's own way in when he was simply holding it."

Dawn opened and shut her mouth, unable to speak, and after a few moments of this, shouted.

"Of course it was on purpose! Why are you on his side?" She asked, her tone of voice accusatory.

The young lady threw her hands into the air, sending the black sand above the heads of everyone. The sand shook in the air, before floating to Sandy's cloud, and joining the mass of sand as it's colour changed from black to a bright gold.

"Why are you here, Dawn?!" She asked, resting her hands on her hips. "You weren't invited; you just barged in, grabbed me, and tried to snatch something off of me!"

"I came to speak to Bunnymund; he wasn't at the warren so I guessed he was here." Dawn said, looking at Bunny. He looked confused, not sure why the woman wanted to speak to him of all people.

Dawn rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Uhh good guess, I suppose." Bunnymund said, standing straight and looking at the short woman.

"Hmph. I came to see if you've begun any preparations for the nature repair that we will need to do. The forests are ruined aafter those fires, luckily the last one didn't spread nearly as far as the first. I know you vowed to protect all children but, some simply are brats."

Bunnymund grew much taller; his back and shoulders stood tall as his eyes narrowed at Dawn.

"It was an accident." Bunny said, his voice stern. Dawn's face seemed to melt into a smug grin.

"The child was an idiot; and could have caused people to lose their lives. Why defend them?"

"They're a child! They didn't know what would happen." Bunny argued back.

"They were foolish, and caused damage that will take years to repair! The child was irresponsible and has no understanding of the damage they have caused; though I shouldn't be surrpised you're defending him, you've pratically adopted one of your own!" She yelled. Jack wanted to shrink away into the couch, to hide outside in the snow. He had felt strong until now, until she had brought her attention to him. She didn't mention him by name; she hadn't needed to.

The sound of the pale hand striking Dawn's face was not one that any of the Guardians expected, but was one that he would remember. Bunny would also remember it, quite fondly. The air in the room seemed to become still, and felt incredibly thick; Jack was convinced he would choke on the tension in the air. Eyes fell on the young woman, who was standing inches from Dawn; her hair had grown a dark grey, her eyes seemed different, but Jack couldn't place why. Dawn raised a hand and let it rest on her now red cheek; her eyes were wide, and had focused on the girl. She raised her mouth to speak, but was cut off, the young girl had beaten her to it.

"How dare you." She hissed, stepping closer to Dawn. Dawn stepped back, moving closer to the other Guardians.

"I was simply sayi-" Dawn tried to defend herself, but was not allowed to continue.

"You were saying nothing useful; the words you decided were worth our time are in fact, rubbish. How dare you speak about a child like that, and how dare you speak about Jack like that!"

"I didn-" Dawn tried.

"You didn't need to say it Dawn, we know, he knows it. Every guardian, spirit and trickster out there knows how you feel." The young woman said, stepped back and rubbing her wrist gently with the other hand.

"You, of all people, are defending the spirit of winter. I'm simply trying to understand what is happening." Dawn said, but saw the same as the others; when they had blinked, the young girl had vanished. Eros groaned and rubbed his brow. Tooth reached a hand out to his shoulder but he gave her a smile, and she stepped back. Eros waved at Jack, motioning for Jack to follow him. Jack hesiiated for a moment, but got off the couch and slowly followed Eros outside. The cold winds welcomed them, and Jack felt somewhat calmer being in his prefered environment.

Eros let the door close behind them and stood next to Jack; he didn't speak, he just rested his hands in his pants pockets and looked out at the snowy landscape. The pair stood in silence for some time, letting the cool air surround them.

"I thought you didn't like the cold." Jack said, breaking the silence.

"I don't like Dawn more though." Eros said, not looking at Jack, but smiling.

There was silence again, until it was once again broken; by Eros this time.

"I know they were thinking it, but they were too worried to say it to you earlier; you did good kid." Eros looked down at Jack, who was avoiding the older man's gaze. Jack felt his cheeks warm, and he wondered whether or not his skun would redden like children did when they blushed. Eros smiled before letting out a sigh; it was heavy.

Jack looked up at Eros, who was watching the wind throwing snowflakes around in front of them.

"Something wrong?" Jack asked; wondering if he was pushing it.

"I wish she hadn't done it; as much as Dawn deserved it, it wasn't the best thing she could have done."

"Is she in trouble then?" Jack was worried, she had been standing up for him.

"She'll be in trouble with Dawn but that doesn't really mean anything. The problem is, what other spirits may think of what she did. Some will cheer for it, some will think it was unneccesary. They won't say anything to her about it but she's good at reading people."

"So… is going to hide from them?" Jack asked, not wanting to probe too much, but wanting to know if she would do the same.

Eros let out a laugh that startled Jack; it was warm and hearty, almost like North.

"She is very, very good at hiding. Annoyingly so, actually. Problem with it is, she can be nearby, you just don't see her. It's awfully annoying at times."

"Oh, I see." Jack said, and fell silent again, for a moment. "Okay, no I don't." He shooke dhis head, not really knowing what Eros was saying. Eros laughed again and patted Jack on the back.

"Just try to ignore what Dawn says, she's one of our oldest so she has a bit of a…opinion of how things should run."

"Without me." Jack said; it was a statement, he didn't need Eros to confirm it. Eros gave a soft nod to Jack.

"Withot you, and without the kiddo." Eros said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Why? What's she done wrong?" Jack asked.

"Dawn just doesn't like, or understand, what she does. Everyone thinks it at some point but, she isn't death. She does a job people don't really understand, many don't even realise it's a job that needs doing but, we leave her alone to do it. Well most of us, I'll tag along sometimes. " Eros grinned at Jack as he turned and opened the large front door of the North Pole. "Maybe give it a go." He finished as he walked inside, and as Jack followed, he knew Eros would be gone when he entered the room.