Chapter Twenty-Three
Out of Place
Jack still kept the memory box tucked inside one of the drawers in his room at the North Pole; knowing what had been inside of it made something inside of him squeeze tight until his chest hurt. He decided he'd open it once the feeling stopped showing up whenever he thought about the box. He couldn't sleep that night so he laid in bed until the sun came out from behind the clouds that had hung over the horizon and decided that he was wasting time trying to sleep; he decided to go out instead of wasting any more of his time on sleep that wouldn't come.
He ended up walking through the North Pole, from his bedroom to the workshops, to the stables and finally, to the lounge where the others liked to sit in the armchairs and rest with the fireplace going in the background. Jack wasn't a huge fan of the room; it was cosy, he liked the atmosphere but the fireplace had always...felt wrong to him, so he tended to avoid the room. It was empty now, since the others were likely still asleep or out working. North would likely be up first, out of the others, so that he could get a start on what needed to be in the workshop for the day. The fireplace was lit but the flames were only small, doing more to light the room than providing any warmth.
Jack didn't have any real reason why he was in the room, he'd never really gone in there before, it had always felt out of bounds, like he shouldn't go in. Maybe he'd been using the fireplace as an excuse to himself, so he didn't have to think about it. Jack hadn't noticed the person come into the room behind him until they spoke.
"Ah North- oh." Dawn said, her voice changing as soon as she realised who was in the room. The somewhat fake pleasant tone changed to what Jack could only call disappointed at the very least but closer to disgust.
"Afraid not, sorry. North should be awake soon though-"
"He should be awake already. What has got that man thinking he could sleep so sleep into the day? It's past sunrise already!" Dawn said, sighing to herself, obviously frustrated. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I couldn't sleep so I went for a wal-"
"Not in this room, I meant in this building. Does North know you're walking around like this? As if you're perfectly at home?"
"I-"
"Unbeliveable, really. Just...head off, go back to wherever you...live, I suppose. I just don't understand why you're still here, bothering them." Dawn said, turning to leave.
"...Because I'm a Guardian as well?" Jack offered and asked at the same time; he wasn't sure which of them he was asking.
Dawn stopped walking for a moment and let out a light scoff.
"Do you really believe that? That The Man in the Moon hasn't made mistakes before? You're only one of them. It's...hard to hear, I can imagine but they really should have told you already." She said before swiftly leaving the room and closing the door after her, leaving Jack on his own in the room.
The door made a gentle click as it closed but the noise struck Jack, hard. It seemed deafening against the silence in the room and in his head. She couldn't be right; the others had told him so many times that 'Manny' never made mistakes.
Even though...Bunnymund had let it slip that they'd thought it was a mistake when they had first found out and...surely they'd considered it after the attack on the Warren. Jack couldn't be in this room any longer. He yanked the door open, much harder than he needed to, and raced out, heading towards his room.
He slowed and came to a stop in the hallway; he could see the door to his bedroom from here. They'd made it for him, hadn't they? So that he had somewhere to stay, to sleep, rather than outside. It could have been pity though...or guilt.
Guilt did make some sense, after everything that had happened with the Warren and Pitch. So...it was certainly a possibility but it didn't change the fact that they did it, right?
Jack stared at the closed bedroom door from down the hallway for a moment before he turned, and left the hall. He used the main door of the North Pole to head outside and stand in the snow, taking in how calm it was outside. It was...nice, being outside, away from the warm air and fireplaces inside the North Pole. He thought about it while he walked back to his room to collect his staff; he couldn't travel far without it.
Unsure of how exactly he fit in here, or if he really ever would, Jack Frost decided he'd leave the North Pole and just...be anywhere else. He'd find somewhere, even if he was on his own. North missed Jack leaving through the skylight by only a few seconds.