Disclaimer: I do not own.

She waited.

She waited on the sturdy ice. Her first reaction told her to run towards the ragged hole, but then logic clicked in place. She saw the fragile cracks and knew she couldn't go near lest the game of hopscotch be in vain. And so she sat sniveling and brushing away tears before they could freeze to her cheeks. She stared at the hole, waiting to see her brother pull himself up out of it with that stupid grin on his face. She wanted to hear that laughter in his voice as he would tease her and ask her if she was worried, only to laugh fully then and tell her everything was going to be okay. She wanted to hear that this was all a joke that he took too far. That was all. A joke.

The young girl curled up and wrapped her small arms around her skinny legs as she waited for everything to be okay—for a miracle. And that's how her father found her some time later.

Alone and waiting.

Just as she would wait for him to burst through the door after a long day of working with their father—complaining and whining about being tired, but still having enough energy to play with her. She would wait for that last bedtime story that she would have to unnecessarily beg for that would end up being about legendary adventures of mythical beings. Those waits were short lived compared to now.

After all, he had never kept her waiting for long.

Much like how the first snow never kept her waiting. It always came on the same day and she was almost certain at the same exact time each year. The frost etched across her windows would alert her winter was finally there and past that snow would fall softly. She would run outside and try to catch a snowflake on her tongue just like her brother had shown her years before. Despite the winter's snow and ice being the demise of her brother, she couldn't help but feel comforted by the snow. It put her waiting to ease—almost as if a phantom of him was there with her but she just couldn't reach him—and let her enjoy the one blissful moment that she had learned to wait for each year.

So she let the cold embrace her as if it was her arms wrapping around her to pick her up.

Just like when she embraced death when it came to collect her. It came to her, calling her name soothingly right after she had finished waiting for the first snowfall. When the phantom embrace of her brother left her, death was there to fill the position. She didn't fear though because all her waiting would pay off. She would finally be able to see him once again.

So where was he?

After all the waiting she had done over the years, all of the endless waiting with no results, she thought she would finally find him waiting for her once she crossed over Heaven's threshold. But he wasn't. He was nowhere in sight.

Waiting.

She had been standing there waiting for what seemed like a decade and then two. And soon those decades turned into centuries. At least, she thought it had to have been a couple centuries since time was non-existent beyond the world. All she knew was that she seemed to be waiting the longest. People came and went by her, greeting their loved ones and meeting the ones they thought they lost. But she was a permanent fixture. A greeter to all except for the one she waited for. Where was he?

And so she waited. She waited even though there was an almost definite possibility that he would never show. That she would never get answers. That she would never be able to play and laugh with him again—though wherever he was, she knew deep down that he was laughing and happy. She would still wait for him though. She had forever to wait after all. She wouldn't stop either.

Because he was worth waiting for.

I would love to hear your thoughts and reactions to this. What you liked about this and what you didn't.

I kind of wanted a view of Jack's sister after his death in a more abstract view. And something sparked the idea that she would wait for him in Heaven but he would never show because he was turned into a spirit/Guardian instead.