Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians

Death

Despite her mild fears that Jack may catch wind of her being Burgess and try to stop her before she could reap a child, she was glad to be in her old hometown. Despite the changes that had developed in the town, stepping into it always gave her a sense of nostalgia.

And… she wanted to keep an eye on her niece and brother. She wasn't blind she'd seen how confused and lost Jackie had been when she found out her best friend had been taken by a friend of Sarah's that Jackie hadn't even known about.

And emotions like that tended to make someone unaware when danger struck.

She opened her watch to stare into it and grinned a little, she had some time before she was expected at the hospital. She could spend a couple of minutes looking in on her brother and niece.

Almost as if he'd been listening to her thoughts, a man who looked an awful lot like Jack if Jack had had the chance to grow up stepped out of the house that was on the right side of the pond.

Given her years of spying on Jack and the Bennett family, she knew that the reason the man looked a lot like Jack if Jack had had the chance to grow up was that it was Jack.

But to be safe she took her cloak off and waited for Jack to notice her.

It didn't take long.

"Jane." Jack said hurrying toward her, he touched the broach on his jacket and his appearance changed to his normal appearance (or the appearance he most preferred, white-haired, blue-eyed and 16 years old.) "Any news?"

Jane shook her head. "We have a few places that the Krampus could be. And I've been attempting to explain to the guardians but…"

"They're a bit hot-headed?"

Jane smiled and looked down. "Yes."

"They'll warm up to you." Jack said, "It took them 300 years to warm up to me."

Jane decided not to point out that the only reason they 'warmed up' to him, was because the man in the moon had all but demanded it. "It probably won't matter, anyway." She sighed, "Once Krampus is taken care of, we'll all go our separate ways."

"I'm sure that's not true."

Jane decided that she wasn't going to argue with him about it, she didn't know much longer she would have to speak with him, and she didn't want to waste the few precious moments she had arguing. "How's Jackie?"

"Last I saw, she was engulfed in conversation with Sophie's youngest cousin."

Jane smiled, happily, glad that her niece wasn't spending Christmas moping. "You should go back inside. I have a feeling you'll be missed."

Jack looked back toward the house, "They know I'm gone, after 300 years of loneliness, being around so many humans, who can see me, can get stifling after a while."

Jane wasn't surprised she looked at him, when something caught her eye, "The moon gave back you're white hair." She mused.

Jack touched his hair before looking up at the moon, "Yeah" he said then he looked at Jane curiously "You know about that?"

"That the moon turned you? Yes." Jane said with a nod.

Jack looked up at the moon and then down at Jane. "Do you know why?" Jack asked. "Why I wasn't…?" He trailed off unable to finish. Fortunately, he didn't have to Jane knew what he wanted to ask.

"Your reaper was late," Jane said softly. "If you had been reaped when you died, the Man in the Moon would not have been able to revive you, and you would have likely had to have waited for another cycle before you could have been made a guardian."

"I would have gotten another shot?"

"I don't know," Jane said honestly. "I don't know enough about Nightlight's soul, to know why you were reincarnated, and I don't know if you'd have gotten another go around," Jane said.

"But what I do know is that if you had the option, it would have been your choice."

"My choice?"

"Yes," Jane said, she took out her watch and sighed. "I have to go." She said.

"It's Christmas day." Jack said, "You reap on Christmas?"

"I reap every night of the year but one," Jane said starting to walk away. "April 15th.

"Is that you're birthday or something," Jack asked looking vaguely amused.

Jane smiled a little, "Close, in a way," Jane said then she elaborated, "It's the day I died."

Jack sobered and looked down. "I think that's the day my sister died." He said softly, Jane held her breath worried that she'd revealed too much. Idly she wondered how he could know that, had he been there? Did he look up her tombstone? Because of how she died Jane wouldn't have been buried in blessed soil, she didn't even know where to find her grave… so how…?

"Did you reap my sister?" Jack asked as they crossed a street, unaware of the hospital that they were approaching. "She… she died of hypothermia 6 years after I did, right?"

Jane looked at him surprised. "You were there?"

Jack shook his head, "No… Sophie… Jackie's mother, ... she … she did some research for me before Jackie was born. My sister died of hypothermia one cold early spring day."

Jane looked down. "I didn't reap her, too recently dead myself to have started reaping."

"Do you know who?"

Jane looked down and shook her head, Jane's soul had fallen unconscious when her body did, she'd woken up somewhere else hours later. She never knew who reaped her, only that she had been their final soul before they could move on. "Sorry. No. I do know that they were admitted into the gate shortly after your sister was reaped."

"Do you know…" Jack looked at her. "Why she was in that pond."

Jane stared at him, her whole body buzzing even as she forced herself to continue walking to the hospital. "Why do you want to know?" Jane asked softly.

"Because she's my sister, and the last memory I have of her before I became Jack Frost is her screaming my name before I fall through the ice. At the exact same pond, she died in, 6 years later." They stopped in front of the hospital, but Jane found herself unwilling to move since Jack seemed to be becoming increasingly distressed.

"What are you saying?" Jane asked though part of her knew the answer.

"Did she kill herself because of me," Jack said.

Then his eyes widened, and he covered his mouth. As though surprised, he'd said them at all.

A/N So... Jack has figured out how she died. It's kind of a realization he's had for a while, though it's always been a subconscious realization that he doesn't like thinking about. Jane, for reasons he hasn't figured out yet, is bringing those thoughts to the surface.

Hope you enjoyed it.