Hum... Hello ?

Okay, I really though the hiatus would only last a few months. But it turned out that it took me longer than I expected to complete my One Piece OS and then I didn't have inspiration for Crystal Tales. Honestly, I came up with this chapter unexpectedly only a few hours ago.

I'm little ashamed for coming back with such a short drabble, but I thought it was better than nothing so here I am.

But good news, now that I'm back in the ROTG you can expect more to come (for exemple, the sequel of the last chapter).

Timeline : 2100-ish
Words : 279

Don't get too close, it burns

It took a while, but Jack understood.

The first one was unexpected and burned him deep. The absence left him lost and defenseless, with only the flames licking his body for company. He thought then, than nothing could hurt more.

Wrong. Each time that followed, an invisible iron mark was inked into his skin.

It would have been easy, to get rid of the smell of ash and burns like all the others and to return to his frozen world, where the brightest of light couldn't be seen.

But now that he tasted the warmth, he never wanted to let go.

More than once, North wanted to ask Jack why he was inflicting himself this. Why he kept on going, when all of them stopped when it became too much.

North knew all about the inferno. How the first burnt that cut your skin like a razor blade was only the foundation of many to come. How the gentle fire only became a blaze as the years passed.

He tried, still. He drapped his heart with dragon skin and kept on touching the lights, but even he had to gave up when it started to melt.

So what kept Jack, Sweet Young Jack, from doing the same ?

"Doesn't it hurt ?" he dared to whisper one day, when his comrade's smile seemed faded.

"Of course it does." The finality in his tone may have surprised him, North didn't miss the softness present in his eyes.

"So why ?"

And Jack gave him the sweetest smile he ever saw.

"I really missed the warmth."

It took a while, but North understood.

I'm not sure everyone understood I was talking about the pain when a child the Guardians became close to dies or either stops believing. I tried my hand at something different so please tell me about it.