Hey guys! Sorry about the lack of an update last week, I was hanging out with my friends all day Saturday and didn't have time to finish up the chapter (I swear, I go outside for one night and I end up with six mosquito bites and a bruised rib via a young child accidentally karate chopping me there...fun. I'm fine though, don't worry!). However, here I am now, with the second-to-last chapter of Running for Life!
Wow...that feels weird to say. I still remember the day I started this story...
...but the heartfelt goodbyes can be saved for next chapter. Now, onto the reviews! Huge thanks to A chaotic person, BooksAreMedicine, pikachukite, Serami Nefera (Huh, interesting way to think of it! I did only intend it as Jack's subconscious, but I suppose it could be interpreted like that), WinterCrystal1009, Brenne, Guest (Haha, you're welcome and thank you!), SylfElf (Thanks!), rwbygirl, and OneWhoDreamz (Thanks!)!
So, without further ado, on with the chapter!
Chapter 39: The Start of Acceptance
A week later, they returned to Soluna City. They were to report their success to the Tsar upon arrival, but the Guardians were adamant that they should announce their victory to the townspeople first. Jack couldn't understand why, but he did not object, and so here they were, standing on a raised platform in the center of town, right in the middle of a large crowd.
Each of the Guardians stood on a different side of the platform, leaving Jack to occupy the middle. Due to the diversity of the people in Soluna City, every language of the Tsardom needed to be spoken in order to get the message across to everyone.
North spoke to the Iskaldites, Toothiana spoke Kilatese, Aster told the story in Motorish, and the ever-silent Sandy simply wrote out the words of the speech in Ostean. Jack, only knowing Iskald himself, focused his attention on North's rendition of events.
The young sprite frowned slightly. The man's retelling was accurate, sure, but also seemed to lean heavily towards praising Jack for his role in the whole ordeal.
Almost like he's leading up to something… he thought, then, with a flicker of realization, heaved a sigh. Damn it...they're probably going to publicly announce that I agreed to become a Guardian...did I not tell them I didn't want this?
Sure enough, before long, North had stepped back, taking Jack's arm and leading him up to stand in the direct view of the entire crowd. The boy, even with his hood covering his hair and ears, felt his anxiety levels skyrocket.
"North," he hissed. "I told you, I don't think this is such a good idea-"
The man bent known and whispered to him, "You will be fine, Jack. They deserve to know who saved them."
Jack strongly disagreed, but North had already straightened back up again before he could express this. He gulped, feeling incredibly small before the crowd.
How about that? he thought. You fought the damn Nightmare King himself, but can't face a crowd of regular people. Ugh…
"The boy I spoke of before is right here!" North was calling, the others translating his words. "This is Jack Frost, the fifth Guardian of Childhood!"
The applause that ensued made Jack extremely uncomfortable. He noted that North had not mentioned that he was a snow sprite, nor had he gotten to how prejudice against them was entirely Pitch's creation, and Jack had a feeling that the applause would change drastically should his hood go down.
Unfortunately, this was exactly what North seemed to want him to do.
"Let them see you, Jack," North whispered. "We will support you, do not worry. It will be alright."
I seriously doubt that, he thought, but out loud, he said quietly, "Okay...I'm trusting you on this…"
North smiled and patted him on the back gently, nodding at him as a signal for him to go ahead. Jack took a deep breath and looked out at the mass of people. He hesitated a long time, but finally, he slowly lifted his hands. He grasped the brown fabric of his hood, then, with one last deep breath, he lowered it, revealing his identity.
The silence that ensued was nothing short of deafening.
What felt like three centuries passed before someone in the crowd shouted, "He's a snow sprite! What's the meaning of this!?" Then the rest of the uproar was instantaneous.
"How can a snow sprite be a Guardian!?"
"They're demons!"
"There's no way he was the one who did everything you said!"
"Don't you know they're raised to despise all non-sprites!?"
"He's more likely to have been in league with the Nightmare King!"
"Why did you bring him here!? He'll freeze us all over in a heartbeat!"
"There must be some kind of mistake!"
These exclamations and more rang in Jack's sensitive ears, and he found his heart beating increasingly faster. He wanted nothing more than to turn tail and run, but North's strong grip on his shoulder held him in place. Biting his lip, the boy glanced upwards at North's face.
The man's expression was grim with an underlying tone of surprise to it. It was clear he had expected some resistance, but not unanimous horror. Jack sighed and thought, Guess they never truly knew how deep snow sprite prejudice truly runs…
"That is enough!" North called, his booming voice ringing out over the crowd, causing their shouts to taper off into nothing. "We have learned something new! Snow sprites are not inherently evil race! It was the Nightmare King that framed them! He staged attacks! He destroyed their reputation! It was no fault of their own!"
Once again, silence reigned. North cleared his throat quietly and nodded at Jack, apparently wanting him to step up and speak. Though in truth, this was the absolute last thing he wanted to do at the moment, the young snow sprite found himself nodding and stepping forward. The other three Guardians sent him encouraging looks, ready to translate everything he said.
In a voice louder and clearer than he had thought was possible, he called out, "'Tis true! Though I concede that there are evil snow sprites out there, there are no more than any other people. Every race has their thieves, their liars, their murderers. We are no different.
"The only reason rumors about my kind being evil exist is because the Nightmare King wanted it to be so. He had heard of Tsar Lunar's plans to choose a new Guardian to help defeat him, and found out that said individual was to be a snow sprite. Rather than trying to find the specific sprite in question, the Nightmare King took things to the extreme to be safe. After staging situations that worsened sprites' reputation, he cultivated the Fear he had planted until it had grown into terror. Hatred was turned towards us, and humans living in the Iskald region were recruited to burn our villages to the ground, kill the adults, and capture the children so they could be 'saved'.
"As far as I know, when my village was destroyed, I was the only one who escaped. My parents were killed and my little sister was captured...she too is now dead. Killed by one of the Nightmare King's minions." He took a deep breath and swallowed the lump in his throat before continuing. "Anyway...the Nightmare King wanted the adults dead so the Tsar could not recruit them for Guardianship. He wanted the children turned for a few reasons. Not only could he get them out of the way as well, but he could also feed off their powerful Fear. Most importantly, however...he could use both them and the power he sapped from them.
"He used the children's magic to create ice-Nightmare hybrids that proved much more powerful than normal Nightmares. Not only that, but he used the children to…" He nearly choked on his own words as his voice cracked at the thought of the sprite children they could not save in time. It took him a while to recover enough to speak, and once he did, his voice noticeably shook. "He...he turned them into Fearlings."
The hushed, horrified whispers that flitted over the crowd gave him a grim sort of hope. If the people here could still show empathy for the children of his kind, perhaps the feeling could extend, given a bit more time.
Once he had regained his composure, he continued. "Those children...they cannot be reverted to their former forms. They now sleep with the Nightmare King in his lair for all eternity. The...only solace I have to offer in this situation is that the children lucky enough to not be recaptured are safe from his schemes. It will not happen again."
Jack took a deep breath. "When the Tsar chose me to become the fifth Guardian of Childhood, I was as shocked and horrified as all of you are. I must confess that I felt betrayed. The Guardians, the individuals that I had hoped would be the most sympathetic to my plight, instead were the very people who first had ignored me and my kind, then hunted me down and captured me, and ultimately expected me to forgive everything and instantly join them. I refused, taken aback by the sheer audacity of their request. I...admittedly still harbor a bit of resentment for their actions.
"However...overall, I can see that they are legitimately good people, and they have repeatedly apologized for everything. Because of this, and everything we've been through together...I have accepted the title of Guardian. It will be made official in private in a bit, but we thought the general public should know about the new addition to the team...and who he is." A lie, as he would rather the general public have no idea who or what he was, but he decided it was best to word it in the way he did.
"I stand before you now to show you that snow sprites are not inherently evil. In modern society, there is no such thing. The only pure evil being we know of is a Fearling, due to their primal nature. They know nothing but the hunger for Fear." Jack gazed out at the people of Soluna City, feeling far more comfortable with his speech, and said calmly, "Everyone, from sprites, to humans, to Pookas, to...well, any other race of people in existence. Everyone is a complicated being with complicated emotions and morals. The world is not divided into black and white, or rather, good and evil. Every part of the world we know is drawn in grayscale, and nothing can change that.
"I know I can't change all of your minds right away...if I could, I'd be proving myself wrong just like that. Not everyone's mind works the same way, of that, I am certainly aware. But please...consider my words. I mean no one any harm. All I want is to fulfill my role as a Guardian...and to be able to move about without needing to hide my face and constantly run for my life. My name...is Jack Frost. I have made plenty of mistakes, but I will do all that I can to atone for them. And I hope that, upon becoming a Guardian, I will, at the very least, be tolerated."
The silence that followed nearly suffocated him, but he stood up straight, head held high as his azure eyes swept over the crowd. He had said his piece. The results were up to the people.
Just as Jack was beginning to be convinced that his speech had not gotten through to anyone, his elfin ears picked up a few stray claps here and there. His eyes widened in shock as the claps transformed into full-blown applause from many of the gathered people. Sure, there were plenty that still gave him reproachful sideways glances, but a startling amount of people wore smiles instead. As it was, some people had gotten his message.
In a rare moment of actual happiness, Jack allowed a small but genuine smile to form on his lips. Applause from part of one crowd wasn't much, but it was certainly a start.
Yeah… Jack thought. A start of acceptance.
()()()()
"Will you, Jack Frost, vow to watch over the children of the world, to guard them with your life, their hopes, their wishes, and their dreams, for they are all that we have, all that we are, and all that we will ever be?"
"...I will."
"Then, congratulations, Jack Frost, for you are now, and forevermore, a Guardian."
()()()()
Immortality was weird.
There was really no other word to describe it. The moment his Guardian ceremony had finished, Jack had felt a new kind of power coursing through his veins, strong enough to make him gasp aloud. A Guardian had to be immortal, after all, in order to effectively serve their purpose. However, as strange as it had felt in the beginning, now, Jack felt no different than he had before. Despite the fact that he would now never age another day, he felt as if all was still normal.
Although I suppose...I suppose I'm glad things are no longer what I considered normal… he thought with a slight smile. 'Twas not exactly the most ideal "normal" there could be.
Currently, Jack was on his own, save for his horse, who had also been granted immortality. Zephyr stayed loyally by the boy's side as he walked through the courtyards of the Tsar's palace. The other Guardians had allowed him to take some time by himself to process things after the small ceremony, and he was extremely grateful. He still wasn't the fondest of crowds, regardless of how spectacular the others assured him his speech was.
"Who would've ever thought we'd get here of all places, Zeph…?" Jack asked with a light chuckle. "I'm a Guardian...wow. The road to this place was full of sorrow...but maybe...just maybe...things will be okay…"
As Zephyr nuzzled him, nickering gently, the newest Guardian laughed slightly and smiled. However, his smile faded to an expression of neutral curiosity as he looked past his horse. The door to what he knew was the audience chamber in which he had first learned of his intended Guardianship was slightly ajar.
Jack's blue eyes narrowed slightly and he whispered to his horse, "Wait here, Zephyr...there's one more thing I need to do...then I'll have all the answers I wanted."
Giving the stallion one last stroke on the neck, Jack walked to the door, pushing it open and entering the silvery room. He stepped forward a bit, footsteps echoing in the huge chamber. He wasn't sure why the presence of the familiar masked figure-a figure who was surprisingly short up close-standing in the center of the room didn't surprise him. Then again, the Tsar didn't seem very surprised at the young sprite's entrance either.
The two stared at each other for a long time, completely silent. Then, just as Jack was opening his mouth to speak, Tsar Lunar beat him to it, his deep voice soft but somehow still powerful. "I had a feeling you would come, Jackson."
Jack blinked, then frowned, eyes narrowed. "Did you? Then...I suppose you also know what I'm going to ask?"
The Tsar gave a slight nod. "You want to know why I chose you to be a Guardian," he said.
A nod was the only response Jack gave.
Tsar Lunar heaved a slight sigh. "Well...I suppose I can tell you. Though first...in order for you to understand, you must know who I am. Or rather...who I pretended to be." In a gesture that Jack hoped would explain the cryptic statement, the man lifted his hands to remove his full-moon mask, then lowered it completely, revealing his face for the first time.
Jack let out an audible gasp, eyes widening significantly. "W-What!?" he stammered. It had been a long time, but he had seen that face before.
He recognized the Tsar.
Come on, I had to have one last little cliffhanger for you guys! Heh, next time, the last of the questions will be answered! Hope you enjoyed, and see you guys then!
For now, Sapphire316, out.