Chapter 18

Afraid of Winter

"No!" Jack shouted at no one but himself. "I didn't mean it! I did but, not, oh come on!" He ran his hands through his hair and groaned, kicking at a rock in the grass. The rock flew through the air and fell into the small river with a soft plop; Jack stared at the ripples in the water for a few seconds before he groaned again and flew off, muttering to himself as he made the journey to the North Pole. North was busy in the workshop so Jack was able to crawl into bed without making conversation; he just stared at the ceiling in the quiet of his room.

How could he have said it out loud? Jack could just imagine her and Eros laughing about it; laughing over the child winter spirit, who can't control what he says. Jack fell into his thoughts and never realised how tired he was, and before long, a tapping at the window woke him up. He ignored the sound but it continued, getting louder as time passed; it was impatient. Jack sighed into his pillow and slowly sat up, and was surprised to see nothing at the window. He crawled along his bed to see outside, and was surprised to see a green field rather than the cold tundra of the the North Pole. Curiosity got the better of him, and so he climbed out of his window and dropped gently to the ground; carried by the wind. He landed next to the small river, recognising it once he was close by, he hadn't seen it when he looked out through the window. Jack looked at the water and felt odd; his skin began to feel damp, and he could swear he could feel the water pressing against his ears.

He looked down and was shocked to see the water had climbed higher, and was now over his ankles, and seemed to be climbing quickly. Jack scrambled backwards, but found that the water was spreading, following him as he tried to make his way out of it. Jack stumbled and fell, landing in the water on his side. Water splashed against his face, close to his mouth and he pulled back. He flailed his arms around him, suddenly aware he didn't have his staff; and he found something. His hand found the piece of black fabric; a coat, floating in the water. Jack couldn't take his eyes off of the coat, but his mind focused on one thing; where was the owner of it? He looked up when he heard noises; splashing nearby, and saw someone standing in the water. She was standing in the water, in her jeans and singlet, covered in fresh cuts. Her hair was a bright blonde, and her eyes were so brilliantly blue Jack didn't believe they could be real.

"I was so pretty." She didn't speak, but Jack could hear words; over and over, repeating in his head, gradually becoming louder until they were shouting at him; desperate for Jack to agree. He stared at her, the two of them locking eyes, not speaking. He blinked, and she was gone, and Jack woke up. He sat upright in his bed, suddenly feeling a lot drier and warmer, his ears were no longer blocked and he couldn't feel the mud under his feet anymore. He could hear laughter in the background and blinked a few times; what was going on? He wasn't sure what the date was, but he could tell who was outside; Bunny, North, Eros and someone else, who he couldn't quite hear. North was shouting, and Bunny was cheering at something. He made his way out to the workshop and was greeted by colourful cut outs of eggs hanging from the ceiling, and dozens of tiny chocolate eggs sitting on every and any surface in the main room.

"Jack! You helped her, didn't you!?" Bunny asked, clapping Jack on the back with a laugh. North did not look impressed.

"Help who with what?" Jack asked, laughing at what was going on, or at least how strange everyone was being. Bunny pointed up at the higher beams of the ceiling, and Jack saw her sitting on one of them, her legs resting on the beam, she was smiling down at them; smirking.

"How she up in roof?!" North asked, obviously frustrated by the eggs. He was shaking his head, and Bunny was still busy laughing.

"No eggs!" North yelled.

"You said we'd have an egg hunt!" Eros defended himself, and perhaps her.

"Not here!" North responded, throwing his arms in the air.

"Where did you get so many eggs anyway?" Jack asked, picking one up.

"Ahh, not every question needs an answer, Jack." Eros said, winking at Jack. Jack smiled and shook his head, which he noticed was throbbing. It would likely be from his poor sleep, and bad dreams; the headaches seemed more common lately. The group laughed a bit longer, and soon Bunny and North settled down for a game of chess, and Eros settled himself on a couch near a window, enjoying a smoke from a pipe Jack hadn't seen before; he was surprised North was okay with it inside the building. Jack noticed a thin cut across Eros' cheek, it had begun to heal but was still noticeably fresh. Jack wondered over and sat down next to Eros on the couch, and glanced up to see that she was laying on her back on the beam of wood, one leg dangling from it. Jack heard Eros chuckle next to him and glanced over, catching Eros with a smirk on his face.

"She's a tad old for ya kiddo."

Jack groaned, and rested his face in hands; elbows on his knees. She had told. Eros laughed and patted Jack on the shoulder, before returning to his pipe.

"Kid, you gotta understand."

"What? She told you, there's not much more to understand." Jack didn't mean to sound nasty, and he wanted to apologise; but he didn't.

"Who else is she gonna tell?"

"What?"

"She hasn't got a group like you have; maybe you're not close to them but, you've got em; even it's by force. She's really only got me. You saw the memory, she's not likely to tell Death anything."

Jack sighed and rubbed his face with his hands; this was all too difficult.

"I just- I didn't mean anything by it, it just kinda came out. I didn't think about it, at all." Jack took a breaht, he had begun to ramble. "I'm just tired."

"Mmm, she noticed. Bad sleep?"

"Bad dreams."

"You're friends with the spirit of dreams, and you're having bad dreams?" Eros asked, shocked.

Jack smirked at Eros, looking up from his hands.

"Seems odd doesn't it? What's your deal with her, anyway?" Jack nodded towards her.

"We weren't talking about her though."

"We were talking about me, which I'd rather not do; so?"

"She was right." Eros said, sighing. "You are a brat." Jack laughed in response, not expecting that as the response to his question. Eros leant back in the couch and made himself comfortable, letting his hand holding the pipe droop over the armrest.

"I would regard her as a little sister, if she wouldn't beat me for saying it. We get along well enough, we can have our little jokes but she does need someone she can talk to and well, I guess that's me."

"You guess?"

"Well she's never said it outright but, she'll come to me for advice, or to vent, or to shout about people; lately it's been about you."

Jack sighed and relaxed into the couch, he wasn't surprised to hear that.

"People seem to be shouting about me a lot lately." Jack said, staring at the ground.

"Who, Dawn? Who cares, she's an old bat who's just jealous you're stronger than her." Eros said, waving Jack's words off with his hand.

"How could I be? She's obviously older, and she's been doing this…whole thing longer." Jack said, waving his hands to gesture towards the room, and the people in it. "She's stronger than me, so I don't know why she's so nasty, she could just fight me, put me in my place." Jack said bitterly, and was surprised when Eros laughed.

"Ki-kid oh my god I'm gonna choke, wow, okay. She's loud, rude but she is not a fighter, if you can hold your own against our death kid over here, she's got no chance with you." Eros said, pointing at her with his thumb; she was sitting on the beam, glaring at them both.

"Oh hey kiddo, you awake?"

"Talking about me, Eros?"

"Sure am, show Jack what happened with you and Dawn." Eros said, and they watched her stand on the beam.

"You throw me back into that river, Jack Frost." She said, and she was gone. Jack stared at the spot she had been; his stomach felt heavy. It reminded like that, until the next day, and was still like that when he was standing in the field again. She drew the line in the dirt again, and they began; both of them moved quickly, much like last time. Something was bothering Jack; why did she care so much that he had gone into the water? He'd put her there after all, he should've helped. Surely she understood; she would've done the same, wouldn't she? Definitely for her sister. It struck him; he could see the accident again, as he dodged out of her grasp.

"It was coming from the other way." Jack whispered to himself.

"What was, Jack? You're slowing down!" He heard her warning behind him, and rolled away.

"The truck! It was coming from her side of the car; you spun your car around! You took it on purpose!" jack shouted, his staff becoming thick with ice where he held it.

"So? She's my sister, I had to do something." She said, from somewhere Jack couldn't see her; she sounded odd; mad, taunting. Daring Jack to question it.

"So why don't you understand why I helped you?!" Jack shouted and struck; the ice struck her in the chest, and she flew back over the embankment, and fell into the water. Jack walked to the top of the embankment and stared at the ripples in the water; his breathing was heavy, and he couldn't make his body move towards the water. He heard a splash, and saw her pull herself to the river bank. Jack sighed, relieved, and turned away from her; he turned to find himself standing in his bedroom.

"Oh come on!" Jack moaned, then felt a hand grab his wrist; it only held for a second before it was gone again, but everything had gone white. He was standing in a field, near a small fairy circle made up of tiny red and white mushrooms. He walked ahead, hearing someone shouting, stepping though the mushroom circle on his way. He made his way up and over a small hill, then saw the young girl standing near the edge of the forest; she was leaning against the tree, breathing heavily, she looked sick.

"What a stupid thing to have done." Jack heard behind him, and felt Dawn step through him as she walked towards the girl.

"Morning Dawn, did you need anything?" She asked, her voice flat and obviously bored.

"Why would you do it? An awful, nasty thing, and you wanted to do it! Why he decided to give yu this role, I will never understand." Dawn said, then rolled her eyes. "he, being the man in the moo-"

"I know who he is, it was explained to me."

"By who?"

"Don't know his name, had a bow and arrow, was nice enough."

"Eros? Well, I'll speak to him later about knowing his place; he has no time for you."

"And you do?" She asked, slowly standing up straight, stepping away from the tree. "You don't seem particularly pleased to be talking to me, which is weird, because you came to me."

"Someone had to do it, I know Eros would be too gentle, and the Guardians have more important matters to deal with."

"The guardians?!" She asked, and Jack hated how bitter her laugh sounded. "I'd be surprised if they knew I existed, Spring Spirit."

"…As I was saying, I realized this had to be done as soon as possible. Someone must speak to you about how this world works; the spiritual world, our world. You don't get to just give up your role."

"Why? I didn't ask for it."

"What good would you be alive? You're young, and weak minded; you're pouting over nothing! What god would you be to your sister like this?!" Dawn shouted, and took a step closer to the girl; Jack saw leaves starting to float behind Dawn, pointed their sharp points towards the girl. Jack heard a sigh, and the girl slowly brought a hand up, and ran it through her blonde hair. The hair became a dirty grey, almost black, as her hand ran through it.

"I like Spring; my sister loved summer, out of every season, she loved summer; she got to go swimming, and chase birds at the beach."

"So? You are not speaking to the spirit of summer, or autumn, nor the winter child, it is only me. What do I care that you liked Spring?" Dawn hissed at the girl, who was staring at the ground. Her had rose, and she looked at Dawn with dark swirling eyes.

"I hate winter, it's cold and dark and terrifying; I'm not scared of Spring." She spat, and stepped forward, moving towards Dawn. The leaves around Dawn shook, and slowly began to wilt; turning brown and orange, then falling to the ground. They crunched under the girls' feet; her black boots stepping over the wilted leaves as she moved towards Dawn.

"Don't you dare touch me!" Dawn shouted; the air seemed to shake. The trees blurred, and the sky seemed to crack open, bright white light pouring in from somewhere outside. Jack blinked, and saw that everything was white; but he didn't wake up from the memory, he saw Dawn and the girl standing, inches from one another.

"I wouldn't soil my own hands by doing that, I'm not an idiot." The girl spat, and brushed off the black coat she was now wearing. "I will not touch you Dawn, not now, but know that if I ever do; it will be for a very, very good reason."

"Where are we?"

"Even ground; there is nothing here for you to attack me with."

"This is-"

"I know what this is Dawn."

"You can't take others here. You can't, it's dangerous. You stupid child."

"It is only dangerous if I want it to be. Eros has been here plenty of times, and he is okay, as far as I know."

"But you-"

"I have been here for almost 4 years Dawn; I have known him for some time, just never his name, he never wanted to tell me. Anyway, I have to go; work to do." She said with a bright smile, then Jack sat up in his bed. He felt sick, his head ached and he desperately, wanted to go find Eros.