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The next day flew by in a flash. Jet was kept busy from the time he woke up. First there was breakfast, which was more of a thanksgiving dinner than breakfast. North and the other three male guardians, having decided to stay the night on account of Jet, Seneca, and Sophie's arrival, had no sooner sat down than they were inhaling the feast. The rest of the table's occupants were a bit slower on the uptake. Tooth steering them around the dishes to find the actual breakfast items.
Jet was sure he had spotted Jack passing Seneca a fat piece of chocolate cake. His suspicion was confirmed when he glanced at them a few moments later. They were giggling like crazy and doing their best to cover up her chocolate smeared face from Tooth. He chuckled and tried to push the consequences out of his mind. She would be super hyper later, but he didn't want to think about it.
The dark teen went back to his pastry filled plate. He didn't really have a sweet tooth, but Sophie had insisted on him trying everything. It seemed that North didn't have much that wasn't huge thanksgiving dinner cuts of meat, and sweets. Oh well, he thought to himself, it could be worse.
After breakfast, the Guardians, North and Jack mainly, insisted on a tour of the workshop. Almost as soon as they entered the Yeti filled room, Jack and Seneca ran off. North exchanged meaningful looks with Sophie, after which she the Sandman and followed in their wake.
North, Tooth, Bunny, and Jet continued through the workshop. After a few moments Bunny split from the group to go inspect a table full of boomerang toys. He kept on with North and Tooth, supposing the Pooka was curious. The largest guardian showed him several Yeti manned stands of toys. One with remote control cars, another with dartboards, yet another with train sets. The large Russian and the small fairy showed Jet several more stands with such toys before Tooth was drawn away from the group by something that he guessed had caught her attention.
The trio, now reduced to a duo, continued to several additional stands before North led Jet into his office under the pretense of showing him something. As soon as they were inside, the door slammed and the twisting latch locked itself into place. Jet whirled around to the door, the only way of escape now blocked. He did not see any obvious way to open the door back up either. He turned back to North, and was surprised to see him leaning against his massive desk, expression all business. Suddenly it clicked. The others had each found a convincing excuse to leave the group until it was just him and North left. This was a rehearsed plan.
The comparatively small teen gazed at the large spirit before him, an aware edge in his eyes. Blue eyes returned his gaze for several minutes. When North finally spoke, it was a question.
"Can I trust you Jet?"
"Yes," The boy replied in an instant. He knew that any hesitation would have been grave mistake. When someone askes 'can I trust you' they want a real answer, without hesitation.
"How can I be sure?" the man spoke again.
"Test me any way you think necessary," He responded with defiant confidence.
"How about you just tell me your side of story?" North said gesturing to an empty chair a short distance from the desk.
Jet moved to the chair slowly, keeping his eyes constantly on North, as if expecting an attack. When he came to the piece of furniture, he sank into it equally as slowly. He closed his eyes tightly, finally taking his eyes off of the large man before him. He rested his head in his hand, and began to gather his thoughts. Every painful memory came rushing back, racing to be first into his mind.
"Take as long as you need," North's voice broke through the river of pain flowing through the boy.
"No, no I'm ready." Black hair swished as he brought his head up again, letting his hand fall at the same time. Silver eyes met blue once again, before falling down to the floor.
"I suppose the story begins nearly about 18 years ago," Jet began his tale. "I was born in the small town of Burgess, in the state of Pennsylvania. I was almost a normal kid. I had a single mom because my dad had left us. I went to school, I had friends, everything was fine. I used to go out into the woods outside town to practice with my sand. It came naturally to me, it was under my control from the day I was born.
"Well, when I was 13, he came back. He didn't seem so bad, he actually seemed nice, just a normal guy. He spent the day with us. I'd never seen my mom so happy. . . I was happy too. I had never known my father, I actually hoped he would stay. Anyway, he must have left sometime in the night, because he was gone in the morning. Mom was devastated," Jet's voice broke. "I must have reminded her of him, because for at least a week after that her eyes would fill with tears whenever she looked at me. It was then that she told me who he truly was. I hated him after that. I couldn't bear to see her like that. . .
"About a month later, Mom took me to dinner and told me I was going to be a brother. I was so happy, I actually forgot about him. Mom and I would read to her every night, even before she was born," He let out a weak chuckle. "When she was born, she was so beautiful! When I saw those big green eyes, I just melted inside. She was my world after that.
"We were a happy family. Until," Jet took a deep, shaky breath. "Until about a year ago. My. . . My Mother passed away. Suddenly, my whole world was broken. The funeral, the move, the pain, explaining to Seneca that we would never see her again. Everyone suddenly looked at me differently. Pity mixed with curiosity." Jet felt his fists clench. "It made me sick. And all the apologies. . . They just made things worse. People I don't even know saying they're 'sorry for my loss'! They aren't sorry, they don't know me!" He checked his anger.
"Then the rumors came. It started as whispers, but grew steadily. Everyone was saying they were having nightmares again. I knew it could mean only one thing. My father was back. Sophie knew we couldn't stay in burgess. So she made plans to leave. I'm sure she has filled you in on the journey itself," Jet finished.
North broke out of his silent thought. "Yes, Miss Bennett has informed me of your adventures. Clever of you, getting past the trials. Yes, when she told me that I was convinced. This is why I brought you here Jet. I had to be sure."
Jet nodded his understanding.
"Well, I'm sure now! You are worthy of trust. I am sorry to put you through that, but-"
"I do understand Mr. Nickolas," Jet interrupted.
"Don't be so formal! Is just North."
It was like having a huge pressure lifted from his chest. Jet was thankful North had been so understanding, so ready to accept. He was also thankful that he was able to check his anger, and keep his voice somewhat steady at the same time. Losing his temper and control, or appearing weak, were not things he wanted to do any time soon. It wouldn't leave a good impression, and bad impressions were like poison to a relationship of any sort. He needed the Guardians to trust him, this was their one shot, and he was not about go and screw it up. Then again, if the Guardians could keep Seneca safe, he would do just about anything to keep them happy.
Suddenly a new pressure descended upon the teen. He had forgotten. He still had to tell Seneca about Sophie leaving the next morning. His chest tightened. The small blond girl wouldn't be happy. On the contrary, she would be quite distressed. If there was one person Seneca had absolutely adored besides himself, it was Sophie. The young woman had become something of a second mother to the girl in the year the three had spent constantly together. There was no way that Seneca would be fine with it when she was finally informed about the departure of the older female. Lost in his thoughts, he let out a low groan. He didn't want to make her unhappy. That was the absolute last thing he wanted to do right now. She had been so sad when their mother died, always crying until she fell asleep. It had been painful to watch, he couldn't imagine losing his mother so young. Then Sophie came. She had acted in their mother's place. She helped bring back his sister's natural glow. She was finally happy again, and he would have to tell her Sophie was leaving. Why did he agree to this?
"You alright Jet?" asked the deep rumbling voice of the large Cossack before him. Jet looked up quickly, somehow he had forgotten about the towering man.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."
"Don't," said North putting on a serious face.
"What?" asked Jet confused.
"Don't think. Is dangerous," North elaborated a wide smile breaking out across his features.
"I'll try not to in the future," the boy replied, allowing a hint of a smile pull at the corners of his lips.
"Good! Now, the others will be wondering where we are. We should continue the tour," the man said getting up from his position against the desk and taking great strides toward the door. Jet stood up from his chair and followed the Wonder Guardian out of his mystery filled office, door swinging wide before them.
As soon as the door was open, loud laughter filled their ears. A high giggle, and a deeper, slightly more mature, rolling laugh. Then they heard the sound of falling cardboard boxes and plastic toys. Jet saw a glimmer of white, blue, and gold out of the corner of his eye, then it was gone. Another flash, and more crashing noises. He looked to his right to ask North what was going on, but the man had set off around the edge of the room. The teen ran after him, determined to figure out what was going on. He caught up a moment later as the man was entering the main area of the workshop, but didn't need to ask his question anymore.
He stopped in his tracks, shocked. Jack was zooming around the workshop with Seneca on his back. It looked like he was racing some of the flying duck toys, but instead of passing them, grabbed them and turned them off, then releasing them and moving on to the next one. The duck toy would then fall back down to the working area, knocking over stacks of boxes and toys. There wasn't any damage to the toys, as he wasn't flying very high, but it was still highly destructive.
One of the toys looked to have had enough. It turned around, and instead of running from the snowy haired teen, flew straight for him. The bird gathered speed, and was soon just a streak of brown and green. Jack let it get close before grabbing one of its wings and freezing it to the other, and letting it go. This brought on another bought of laughter from both, the teen and the small girl on his back. There was a loud quack from behind the pair, another duck was charging. This one was already in the streak stage. Jack whirled around so fast Seneca was thrown from his back.
Jet was running before he realized it. Time slowed as he raced for his sister. He knew he couldn't make it in time to catch her himself. She was much too close to the ground. He stretched out his hand, obsidian sand shooting out from it at once. It was under her in a fraction of a second, and he brought his hand up, closing it loosely. He tripped over a fallen duck as he did so. The dark sand enveloped the little girl, the dark haired teen hit the ground, but the ball of sand containing his sister slowed to a stop just above the floor. He pushed himself up into a sitting position with his free hand, bringing the other, and the sand, closer to him. When the sand landed gently on the ground before him, he opened his hand so it was flat. The ball of sand opened, and there sat Seneca, a bit disheveled, but whole.
The dark clad teen pulled the small girl towards him, wrapping her in a tight embrace. His eyes however, were on the man he hated most at that moment. Jackson Overland Frost landed lightly on the wooden floor of the workshop, and walked quickly over to the pair.
"You okay Snowflake?" he asked, a tone of worry in his voice.
"Seneca is fine, no thanks to you," Jet replied for her, his voice as cold as the ice the other boy produced.
"I didn't mean-" Jack started but Seneca cut him off.
"Don't be mad at Jack, Jet. We were just having a little fun, and look! He got one of the big kitty-cats to give me a new doll!" the girl defended, leaning out from him and holding up said doll for him to see. She must have seen that her plea wasn't working, because she gave him the puppy-dog eyes as well. Jet sighed.
"Alright, I forgive him, but he better be more careful in the future," the dark boy said.
"I wouldn't count on it," said Sophie walking up behind him. "What do you call that one Jack?"
"Duck-alition Derby. Jamie thought of it ages ago," said Jack proudly.
"That figures," said the woman sighing and smiling at the same time.
The rest of the day went by uneventfully compared to the first part. The tour went on, and by lunch they has seen the better part of it. Then it was on to who would be there when, according to each of their schedules, what each of them did when, and what meetings they had. It was a big confusing mess, and to top it all off, Jet hadn't been given a ghost of a chance to tell the youngest of their number about the departure of her substitute mother! It had to be done gently, and quietly. He could hardly accomplish that around Jack alone, not to mention the other Guardians. With Tooth constantly rambling instructions to her minions, Bunny and North arguing about which of their holidays was better, and Jack causing who knows how much trouble, it was impossible to have even a moment of quiet! Every time he thought he had a minute, one of the Guardians came up with something else they had not told him. It was mostly Tooth, North, and Sandy dealing with him. Jack was too busy playing with Seneca, and Bunny was still skeptical of the whole thing.
If there was one Guardian Jet knew he had to look out for, it was Bunny. He had heard enough stories from Jamie to know that he wasn't what he seemed, but knew enough about him and Jack to know he wasn't a guy you want to mess with. If the Pooka didn't like you, he made it perfectly clear. Jamie was the source of most of Jet's reliable information. That's not to say he didn't do his own research, but there weren't many books at his local library about the Guardians. Mostly individual myths. What he had managed to find, only he and Jamie knew. They had discovered a lot about the Guardians, and their pasts through the stories Jack told Jamie years ago, and what Jet had dug up in the past ten years. They had found particularly valuable information in the stories of a story teller called Mother Goose. She was particularly accurate, so much so that they came to the conclusion that she must have known the Guardians long ago. I should have told Jamie where we were going, Jet thought. He deserves to know. I've trusted him with everything else, why not this?
"Jet whacha thinkin' 'bout?"
Jet glanced around him quickly, coming out of his trance.
"You were spaced out bud," said Sophie's voice off to his right.
"Yeah, sorry about that," he said quietly, "I was just thinking about Jamie."
"M-kay," she replied softly turning back to her plate.
Jet glanced around again, taking in his surroundings once more. The Guardians, Sophie Seneca, and he were all seated at the North Poles massive dining table, half way through dinner. All the other Guardians had already turned politely back to their own conversations, but Jack was unable to resist looking curiously at Jet.
"How is Jamie? I haven't seen him for a long time!"
Jet saw Sophie glance at him out of the corner of his eye.
"He's alright. Got a few kids of his own now," Jet said to Jack, whose eyes widened. Tooth looked up immediately.
"Ooh! Who's the lucky girl? How many kids do they have? How old are they?"
"Well, the oldest is Jack, and he's five now, same as Seneca." The winter teen nearly flipped his lid from excitement, but Jet ignored him.
"Then there's Sandra and Nickolas, they're three and a half." Sandy and North broke out in smiles.
"Next is Anna, she's just 1." Tooth's feathers ruffled, and she looked shy all of a sudden.
"Pippa's just started her second trimester with baby Aster. So that makes five, two girls and three boys."
North, Sandy, and Bunny all had looks of satisfaction and approval on their faces, Tooth looked dreamy, and Jack was exuberant.
"No doubt Jamie has been telling them all about us! Right?" he half asked, half stated.
"Oh yeah," Jet confirmed nodding as he spoke. "He's been telling his kids about you since before they were born!" They all laughed, but Jet was being totally serious. Jamie would sit with his wife for hours at a time, telling his children, born and unborn alike, the stories of the Guardians who protected them. It was amazing to watch, especially since he was such a gifted story teller. That man could make a dictionary sound interesting. In fact, it was one of the kids' favorite games to play with him. They would pick several words out of the dictionary, and he would tell them a story using those words as a guide.
"It's good to know that he is doing well," said Tooth. Jet could not stop himself from thinking how worried the older man would be right then, but quietly went back to his plate.
The rest of the meal consisted of small talk, and coaxing Seneca to eat her veggies. She ate them fairly quickly when North caught her eye, and told her he had something very special for her for Christmas, and that it would be a real shame if she were to miss out on it. He made sure to convey that it was very nice, and that a few vegies shouldn't keep her from it. For dessert there was a rich, creamy, chocolate ice-cream, with matching syrup, and whipped cream and a cherry on top. Just a glance at one of these delicacy bearing glass set the mouth watering. Seneca actually started bouncing up and down at the sight of them.
Jett's attention was redirected when the small golden man across the table started making signs to him with shimmering golden sand. First a snowflake, then an arrow pointing down to the golden man himself. Jet nodded understanding quickly that the Guardian was talking about Jack and him. The little man then formed an impression of one of the deserts.
"You and Jack made these?" The teen asked.
Golden hair waived slowly as the man nodded, then presented an hourglass with a ruler, and a checkmark.
"Took a long time to get it right, huh?"
Another nod, accompanied by a block of ice, and a raindrop shape.
"Too frozen, or too runny?"
A wide smile broke out across the golden face of the man when Jack made an indignant noise of protest.
"Hey! Freezing things is harder than it looks you know! I'd never really half frozen something before."
The rest of the Guardians, and Sophie all laughed. This apparently being an old joke. Only Jet and Seneca did not join in. The latter too busy devouring the frozen treat set before her, and the elder well practiced at keeping a straight face. He had more important things to worry about than laughing at a joke he did not get. Instead, he plucked the cherry off the top of his dessert, giving it to the small blond girl on his left. She flashed him a wide, chocolate faced, grin before popping it into her mouth, spitting out the pit a moment later. Jet allowed himself a ghost of a smile before he set about demolishing his own helping of previously mentioned frozen dessert.
Soon however, the teen's thoughts were back on the problem at hand. How to tell Seneca about Sophie leaving without upsetting her too much. It would have to be done gently, with plenty of time leading up to it, so it didn't come too fast. If he told her something like that too fast, she wouldn't understand. She would get confused and scared, and that held no appeal. It would have to be tonight, before bed. That would be the perfect environment. Quiet, still, and calm. Silver eyes closed, dread setting in already. The young man took a deep breath, holding it for a moment, relishing the feeling of fullness before letting it go. All he could do now is wait. He had a plan, now he just needed to carry it out.
When everyone had finished their dessert, a comfortable silence having stretched on for an acceptable amount of time, Sophie rose from her chair.
"Thank you for the meal Tooth," She paused briefly, "You too Jack. But we should really get the little one to bed," She gestured to the small girl two chairs down from her.
"Aww! But I'm not - sleepy!" protested Seneca, thwarting herself by yawning in the middle of her sentence.
"I don't believe you!" laughed the older woman, scooping up the girl so that she was cradled, bridal style, in her arms. The little girl squirmed for a moment, then settled down, content with her situation.
Jet stood, ready to set his plan into action as soon as he and his sister were alone. They turned to go, but halted the movement when a voice called the woman's name.
"Sophie?" asked the Pooka, standing as well.
"Yes, Bunny?"
"Could I speak with the kid for a moment?" the Guardian asked gesturing briefly to the boy beside her.
Jet had a fleeting hope that she would say no, but was soon disappointed, as she agreed.
"Sure, but not too long. I need him to- ah, well, just don't take too long okay?"
The Guardian nodded, and motioned for Jet to follow him to the adjacent room. The boy did so reluctantly, glancing at the other Guardians briefly for clues, but gaining nothing. Their faces revealed that they had just as little information as he did.
The Pooka held the door open as Jet crossed the threshold, but closed it soon after he had crossed.
Fun Fact: The story so far is just setting the scene!
Don't forget to R&R!