Hey guys, and welcome back to Running for Life! Just so you know, I'm updating a little early today because I'm going to a friend's house in a little bit. The update time'll most likely be back to normal next week!

SO! Not too many reviews this time around, but all the same, huge thanks to TreeOfLife1997, Brenne, Serami Nefera (Thanks! I'm glad I've kept them in character so far. :), and justsomeone (That's right, you'll have to wait and see! ;)!

With that done, on with the chapter!

Chapter 9: At the Center

Jack found himself standing alone in the Tsar's audience chamber, having slipped away to travel there on a whim. He wasn't sure why he had come back, save for the fact that perhaps he just needed to be alone.

He stared up at the small balcony where Tsar Lunar had once stood. The sprite desperately wished he had been able to hear whatever the mysterious man had said to the Guardians, but knew they would never tell him.

"No one tells me anything anymore," he said aloud, flinching slightly as his low voice echoed loudly around him.

I wish that something, just something, could be clear, Jack thought frustratedly, staring at the silvery floor. Instead, no, I'm dragged into a job I never wanted where I work for a person who I've never even properly seen. How's that for insane?

He looked once again up at the throne, sitting proudly upon its ledge. "Why me?" he asked it, as though speaking to the Tsar himself. "Why was I chosen? You knew my name, you must have intended for this to happen. But how? And why? What exactly are you expecting me to do?"

Jack felt himself growing angry. "And why don't you even have the decency to speak to me!?" he shouted, letting powerful emotion override the practiced formality. "I never asked for this! I just wanted to live my life in peace! To be who I am without having to worry about getting decapitated for it! Why are you doing this to me!?"

He fell to his knees, hands gripping his dyed hair tightly. The boy panted, struggling to regain the cold composure he had worked so hard to make automatic. The truth was, he despised formality. He would so much rather kick off the boots he now wore and throw snowballs at passerby. He would rather tell stories and openly use his magic. He would rather smile. He would rather laugh.

But he couldn't.

He had to blend in, be just another face in the crowd. He had to be a shadow. He had to be invisible. He had to be nothing.

These thoughts in mind, Jack stood up, dusted himself off, and gazed up at the throne a final time. "You think you can keep me contained?" he asked, imagining the Tsar hearing his every word. His cerulean eyes narrowed. "Good luck."

Without another word, he spun on his heel and exited the audience chamber.

()()()()

Somehow, I get the strangest feeling that I've just signed my life away, Jack thought somewhat bitterly as he helped North outfit the man's pale stallion (whom Jack had learned was named Petrov) with saddlebags. Though every bone in his slender body had been screaming at him to shut his mouth and run, the sprite had squared his jaw and admitted his intentions of escape to the Guardians (Aster had let out a triumphant, "Hah!" at that). He'd then proceeded to give his word that he would instead stay and join them on their mission.

Why did he do it? Even Jack himself wasn't quite sure. Perhaps a part of him knew that no matter what he did, the Guardians would find him and bring him back, possibly in more violent ways than previously, meaning that consent, while far from desirable, would earn him the best treatment in the end. A small voice in the back of Jack's mind still told him he had a chance of escape, but the boy pushed it away. A foolish, hasty half-plan would be far from helpful in this situation.

Maybe I really can't escape from this, Jack thought dejectedly. Maybe, after years of running, and running, and running, Jack Frost has finally been caught.

The young sprite didn't even bother hiding his mood from the man next to him. He openly bowed his head as he adjusted the saddlebags with one hand, using the other to absentmindedly stroke Petrov's mane. Despite the teenager's icy touch, the horse didn't seem to be bothered by the action. Instead of acknowledging this, however, Jack simply stared blankly at his hands with empty, half-lidded eyes. As such, North caught on rather quickly.

"Jack," he said gently, nearly startling the boy with the softness of his tone. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," the boy responded automatically. "Of course. I'm fine."

There was a long silence.

North let out a long sigh. "It is alright to be afraid-"

"I'm not afraid." The response was too quick to be believable. Jack found himself unable to care.

His attempt at conversation having been thwarted, North fell silent once again. Although, true to the man's nature, he tried again not a minute later. "So...earlier, you wanted to know what centers are, yes?"

"I suppose," was all Jack permitted himself to say. Truth be told, he was curious, but he couldn't say that he was really in the mood for idle chatter at the moment.

"Well," North continued. "I think I have found way to...begin to tell you."

Jack said nothing, which the older man apparently took as a cue to continue. He reached into the pocket of his red fur coat and pulled out what appeared to be a doll replica of North himself. It was only vaguely humanoid in design, and every body part and feature was merely painted onto its surface. Doll North wore a judgmental expression, with tight lips and one arched eyebrow.

"Really?" Jack deadpanned upon catching sight of it.

North only laughed. "Look at it. At first glance, is very intimidating, no?"

Jack had no response to this.

"Okay, I know is only doll, but use imagination," North told him. "Pretend doll is me. As I said, at first, I am very big, intimidating...but if you get to know me a little…" The man suddenly pulled the two halves of the doll apart, revealing a smaller, more joyous North doll underneath.

"You are downright jolly," Jack finished, unable to keep a steady trickle of sarcasm from seeping into his voice.

"Ah, yes, but not just jolly!" North exclaimed, apparently not catching on. He once again moved to pull apart the two halves of the doll. "I am also mysterious-"

"You have got to be kidding me," Jack mumbled to himself.

"-fearless-"

"Why do you even have this?" the sprite asked with half-lidded eyes.

"-and caring-"

"Fantastic, now you're completely ignoring me."

"-and at my center…" North motioned for Jack to hold out his hand. When the boy reluctantly complied, the Guardian dropped the smallest doll into his palm. Jack gave a heavy sigh.

"There's a tiny wooden baby," he deadpanned.

North shook his head vehemently and said, "Look closer! What do you see?"

"I don't-" Jack held his hands up in defeat. "I...sigh, you have big eyes?"

"Yes!" was North's reply, much to Jack's surprise. Even more to Jack's surprise was the fact that the man then grabbed him the shoulders and positioned his face only a few inches away from the teenager's own. "Big eyes! Very big, because they are full...of wonder."

A long moment of silence passed.

"I'm...not following you," Jack finally said, edging backwards as much as he could.

"Ah Jack," North began wistfully as he pulled away from the sprite. "Wonder is...is what I was born with. I have eyes that see lights in the trees, and magic in the air."

"Is that so?" Jack asked flatly, gripping the edge of his cloak tightly. This man is insane…

"It is what I put into the world! What I protect in children. It is what makes me a Guardian," North continued. Jack wasn't sure if the Guardian was purposely ignoring his comments, or if he really was just too lost in his own world to notice. Finally, however, North calmly looked down at Jack. "It is my center," he finished softly. "But real question is, what is yours?"

Jack blinked up at the much taller man, then glanced at the doll that still rested in his hand. "I don't know," he heard himself mumble. He only looked up again when North closed the boy's fingers around the tiny doll, winking as he did so. Unsure of what else to do, Jack nodded and slipped the wooden figure into a pocket within the folds of his cloak.

"Oi," came Aster's voice from behind them. "If ya two are done, everythin's all ready. Time ta go."

"Ah, yes, thank you, Bunny," North replied, taking Petrov's reins in hand and walking over to join the Motorean. Without turning to ensure that the sprite was following, the Guardians began to stroll over to where Tooth and Sandy were waiting.

As he trailed a little ways behind the two, Jack glanced up at the sky above. By the position of the sun, he estimated that it was early in the afternoon, well before dusk would come, meaning that the five of them would have plenty of time to travel before needing to stop for the night. He supposed that, when that time came, he could try to slip away and make an escape, but quickly banished the idea.

Face it, Jack, he thought. You're stuck with them. No matter what you do, they'll always find you. With any luck, once this whole "Nightmare King" ordeal is taken care of, they'll let you opt out of actually becoming an official Guardian. 'Tis not that I like being invisible...I simply have to be. Otherwise...I'll die.

Letting out a long breath, Jack mounted Zephyr, who had not been outfitted with saddle bags (Probably because they still don't trust me to stick around and they don't want their supplies being run off with, Jack thought) and turned his gaze one last time to the Tsar's palace. The silver exterior gleamed in the sunlight, dazzling the boy to the point where he had to shade his eyes with his hand to retain the ability to see straight.

"Jack," Toothiana called from somewhere behind him. "Are you coming?"

The young sprite glanced over his shoulder to see that the rest of the Guardians were already making their way out of the front gate, North and Sandy on horseback, Aster on foot, and Tooth in the air. He sighed to himself before turning Zephyr around to follow.

"Yes," he shouted back. Then, quietly, "I'm coming." He urged the stallion forward, and didn't once look back.

()()()()

The trip out of Soluna City was by no means a long one, but incredibly dizzying for the snow sprite that rode in the back of the line. There were people everywhere, human and otherwise. Every single one of them was there to see the Guardians of Childhood leave on another fabulous quest to save them all (though Jack was 99% sure the general public had no idea what was actually going on. He could relate to that), and every single one of them whispered questions about the mysterious brunette following these well-known heroes.

"Who is that?"

"Is he a new Guardian?"

"Can't be, he's just a kid."

"Then what is he doing up there with them?"

"Dunno…"

Though the very tips of his ears were invisible thanks to the potion Sandy had applied, Jack could feel them turn blue with embarrassment (for some odd reason that even Jack himself couldn't understand, snow sprites blushed blue despite the fact that their blood was very clearly red. This in mind, Jack made sure to keep his head down so that his own blush wouldn't give his identity away). He wasn't used to being the center of attention outside of being shot at, and he wasn't sure that he liked it.

Perhaps I am just better suited to being a wallflower, Jack thought mournfully, painfully conscious of every gaze cast in his direction. He had brief flashbacks of a small, bright-eyed boy excitedly telling stories to the younger children in the village, surrounded by people and loving every minute of it.

He decidedly hated flashbacks.

Jack allowed his mind to wander as they continued to make their way through the silvery streets. He thought back to what North had told him about "centers". From the man's words, it could be assumed that each of the Guardians had something similar within them.

Come to think of it, I have heard North be referred to as the Guardian of Wonder before, and the others were called similar things, Jack acknowledged, thinking of the tiny doll in his cloak pocket. I suppose their "centers" spawn their titles.

A frown crept onto the boy's face. So if I was chosen to...agh, be a Guardian...does that mean I have a center?

He considered this for a moment. North sure seemed to think that was the case, if the question that ended off the man's speech was any indication. But what would a frosty teenage thief have at his core that would be worth protecting in children?

While cold and cunning certainly helped me survive, I doubt that would be anything anyone of sound mind would want to encourage in their sons or daughters, Jack thought. ...nope, I'm stumped. Perhaps they're all wrong. Perhaps I don't have a center. Perhaps I'm not meant to be a Guardian. Perhaps I'm overusing the word "perhaps".

The teenager bit his lip, blowing air out through his nostrils as he ran his fingers through his dyed hair. Who wants to bet that these four are going to rob me of my final shred of sanity by the time we're done here? he thought bitterly. They're already starting to make me lose my mind.

After what seemed like an eternity and a half, Jack and the Guardians finally were able to leave Soluna City. Jack found himself breathing easier once the relentless stares of the various citizens were finally no more. Glad that's over…

"So," North spoke up, once they were a good distance away from the entrance to the city. "We are heading back towards Iskald, to find where Nightmare King is keeping stolen children. Tsar has given us general location, and our job is to infiltrate it. Any questions before we set off?"

Millions of them, Jack thought, but kept silent.

"Very well," North said, nodding in approval. He turned Petrov so that he was facing a direction Jack knew to be north. "Let us go."

And we're off.

And they're off.

That's all for this update, guys! Hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you all back here next week for Chapter 10!

'Til then, Sapphire316, out.