Title: Hibernation
Summary: The one where Jack hasn't been to meetings lately and everyone panics.
Hibernation
by FeastofDeath
It was around the second week of May when Jack felt the warmth in his bones, making him feel like he didn't fit in his own skin. Looking at his rippling reflection his lake, he noticed his cheeks were flushed and his eyes distant and sleepy.
This was Jack's three hundred and third hibernation. At first it had scared him, flying across the world and suddenly dropping off to the earth, unable to move, eyes too heavy to open. There had been a few nasty incidents, when he didn't know that his sudden collapse was actually hibernation and that being in tropical countries around May and June made him sleepier. He thought he was going to melt then and there if the wind hadn't slowly dragged him to the ocean.
But just like everything else, he eventually got used to it. Listening to the signs of his body preparing him for his six-month slumber. He'd usually get a one or two day warning, just enough time for him to prepare a decent place to sleep in, preferably somewhere in the southern hemisphere.
He'd gotten used to having a system for hibernating, that he'd forgotten to add a new rule before hibernation. He forgot that he had people to tell about it now.
The first time he'd spent his hibernation as a guardian, none of the other guardians noticed him missing. It was directly after the Easter disaster and everyone was too busy fixing up their places and making plans to notice Jack's half-a-year absence.
The second year it happened, it was the first Easter after Pitch's defeat. After helping Bunny make the greatest Easter ever, the guardian immediately retreated back to their own homes to make plans of their own to help Bunny gain more believers and to continue reconstruction of their places, seeing as the havoc with Pitch had caused years of damage to repair. (It was easier, after all, to stop believing rather than to start believing again.) And Jack came back just in time to help with Christmas anyway, so the guardians were none the wiser about his half-a-year sleep and Jack, himself, didn't know it was common courtesy to inform friends about things like hibernation.
It's the third time that they start to notice. Third time is the charm, after all.
Month One
Jack had a longstanding invitation to the Tooth palace, which he took advantage of, at least once every two weeks. He'd come and visit her and the baby fairies and bring Baby Tooth with him for a two-week adventure and come back two weeks later, to drop her off and see them again.
On his last visit, Jack had dropped off Baby Tooth, who chirped at him in worry. Thinking back, the winter spirit had a sort of vacant look in his eyes and his attention was harder to catch than usual.
As two weeks turned to three, then four, Tooth couldn't help but wonder if the winter guardian had forgotten about his weekly visits. But then again, they weren't mandatory and Jack had done the prior visits by choice. Tooth couldn't force him to come, unless he wanted to.
She, after all, had that talk with the other guardians about being too clingy with the Frost spirit. They had learned their lesson, after the last time they got too involved in Jack's business. Jack had backlashed and told them he could take care of himself, before proceeding to show them exactly that by not visiting any of them for a month.
Tooth sighed and she wished that Jack had really just forgotten to visit, after all.
Month Two
Kringle spilled a cup of hot chocolate on one of the sockets, somehow causing a black out all throughout Santoff Claussen. The yetis were all grumbling and shooing the elves away while complaining to North, who was sitting by the huge window in his office.
The rare darkness in the room allowed the brightness of the snow to come through and in that moment, North realized it had been awhile since he last saw Jack- not since he helped out with the Easter preparations and had a celebration feast with them.
If the young Frost had been here, no doubt he would have somehow made the blackout more fun, made fun of the stressed out yetis, easing the tension and frustration in the air. This thought led him to wonder as to where the young guardian was now, if he was visiting Bunny or Tooth, or going with Sandy on his rounds or spreading snow around.
Just then, the lights flickered on and North was swept away again into the usual busy buzz of his toy factory.
Month Three
Bunny cherishes the months of spring and summer before autumn takes place, and then, winter. He uses the time to go out, around the world and visit the endangered plants and animals, find some new plants for his garden-
He may have also, unconsciously started keeping an ear out for a tinkling laugh or a brush of cold air.
It's been awhile, since Jack dropped in for a visit.
Month Four
Sandy sensed a strange dream as he's doing his rounds in New Zealand. There were five perfect depictions of him and the guardians playing around the snow, and aside from Jamie and his friends, rarely anyone knows what they actually looked like nowadays.
Sandy wanted to follow the dream to its source, see who it was that dreamt of such fun and peaceful times among the guardians, but then, a nightmare distracted him from it and his connection to the dream. It overlapped with the millions of millions dream out there.
Fleetingly, the Sandman thought that it's been some time since he and everyone properly got together.
Month Five
North had gathered them together because a case of "hairy hands under the bed" nightmares have been cropping up in Eastern Europe. They thought it was Pitch again, but Sandy did his usual monthly rounds and Pitch was definitely down for at least another century or two. And this time, a few children had gone missing for a few nights and came back traumatized. Pitch may be the Nightmare King but he was not the only nightmare out there and he wasn't the type to kidnap children and whisk them away.
"It musta been a La Mano Peluda." Bunny said to the group at large. "A few always crop up every century or so, a child kidnapper's execution is usually the cause. It originated in the 1500s, hairy hand of the dead coming from under the bed for revenge…" He said curling his paws, clawing at air, "But it's the kids who get targeted because they're more vulnerable, their fear richer. Helps keep 'em Mano Peluda alive."
"Hm, our enemy is hairy hand, yes?" North tapped the bottom of his chin. "We burn or freeze them?"
"Either will probably do, but then again Eastern Europe isn't under my rounds." Tooth said, "But freezing is a safer option, fire can catch on to things, it spreads."
"Speaking of freezing," Bunny raised an eyebrow, "Where is our resident frostbite? Is the kid slacking off?"
Tooth dithered, "Maybe he's caught up with something? His season is almost coming up."
Sandy shook his head and made a snowflake before putting a question mark over it. Then he made a symbol for eye and a question mark again.
"Oh, you ask if we've seen him?" North asked and Sandy nodded.
"Not since Easter, mate." Bunny said, shrugging. "But then again, he's barely 'round in the Warren after Easter so it's not unusual."
"Jack usually comes by once every two weeks to visit and to invite Baby Tooth on adventures and bring her home." Tooth said worriedly, "But I haven't seen him for about the equivalent of six baby mouths plus ten bicuspids and eight lateral incisors."
The guardians shot her a look.
Tooth blinked, "The average number of baby teeth is twenty."
"Yes…?" North said uncertainly.
The guardian of Memories sighed, "Twenty, times six baby mouths- One hundred twenty! I haven't seen Jack in about a hundred and twenty days, North!"
The Russian huffed, "Why you not just say that? Instead of baby mouths and teeth." He gestured
Sandy made a "greater than" sign, a number four and a question mark.
"You haven't seen 'im for more than four months?" Bunny translated for Sandy. Tooth nodded. "And North and Sandy?"
Sandy made a sign for three months and two weeks.
"Four months or so, I believe." North said scratching at his beard, face growing concerned. "Do you think he is-?"
"In trouble?" Bunny grunted, crossing his arms, "With his personality? I wouldn't be surprised."
"In danger?" North corrected, face grave. The guardians fell quiet.
"We have to find him, see if he's…" Tooth gulped, delicate hands twisting together, "We can't leave him alone… not again."
Bunny sighed, "Hope ya have an invention in this shop that can keep track of an ice brumby, mate." He referred to North, "We'd need one after this, just so this ain't happening again."
"Mobile phones." North said simply, "Has trackers and everything, wonders of modern technology."
Sandy made a sand version of an iphone and then a sand Bunny cursing the phone as he tried pressing with his wide paws.
North nodded, "Ah, yes, that would be a problem."
"And they're heat sensitive." Tooth said, "So you have to modify their heat sensors to Jack's temperature."
"Getting off topic…" Bunny rolled his eyes and said in a more serious tone. "We have to find Jack."
"The Mano Peluda?" North asked, reminding them of the problem at hand.
"I'll ask the European Mice Division to start preliminary investigations and keep an eye out. It should buy us enough time to look for Jack." Tooth said, nodding at one of her fairies to carry along her message.
North nodded, "Now that the matter is settled, to the sleigh!"
Bunny gulped, "Oh, bloody hell, not again."
Five months before...
Jack spread his bought southern hemisphere map (bought in the sense that he used wind to grab an errant map and leaving some change on the counter) and pinned it on his home cave near Burgess lake. He tilted his head from side to side, he'd had to replace his fifty-year-old map because it was torn in a lot of places and barely readable. The new map he got was… colourful at least.
The guardian of Fun bent down and picked up a dart, "Okay first step for hibernation: Find a place to sleep." He'd developed this system in the 1700s, after one too many close calls and nearly overheating during hibernation. He learned it was safer to choose where he slept and that the Southern Hemisphere was the wisest choice for that.
Jack closed his eyes and aimed.
He opened them and floated in front of his new map. He traced cold fingers on the letters.
"N-New Zea-la-and." He narrowed his eyes. Then he smiled, "Looks like it's decided!"
The wind howled in agreement outside.
Present…
Unsurprisingly (or surprisingly to the guardians but not surprising in general), a sprite of ice and snow was hard to find. They all went through the places likely covered in snow at the time, most were in the Southern Hemisphere. This was after the dropped by Burgess, to ask Jamie whether he'd seen the errant Frost Sprite.
"I haven't seen Jack in months." Jamie blinked at the four guardians, staring in awe, since they all decided to come and visit him of all kids. "He usually stops coming by around this time, he comes when it's winter." He shrugged. "I thought it was because it's too hot because when I asked, he told me he usually spends most of his time in the Southern Hemisphere since it's Winter there. I thought it's his thing, being a winter guardian and everything."
The guardians thanked him and headed to the Southern Hemisphere.
North landed his sleigh in one country at a time. He sent inventions of his to the air, made to track winter spirits within a thousand mile radius, Bunny scoped the land with his tunnels, Tooth sent her fairies while she stayed behind to help North navigate his inventions, and Sandy checked his dream sand connections, in cases Jack was sleeping.
"This is taking too much time." Bunny grumbled after the fourth, or fifth, time they came up empty-handed.
"Maybe we should head back to Burgess?" Tooth suggested, "We might have missed something.
Sandy gestured with a sandy number one.
"Sandy is right, one of us can go and the rest is to keep looking." North agreed, "Bunny? You can find Jack's lake and see if he left any clues." He gave Bunny an automatic snow globe that honed in wherever the sleigh was parked.
"The dill better have." Bunny huffed and accepted it. He tapped his foot and went through the opened tunnel.
Five months before…
Jack whistled as he packed up his meagre possessions in a worn duffle bag. One was a snow globe from North, floss and a brush and toothpaste from Tooth (though he'd hardly use it in his sleep but maybe after) a sleep charm made from sprigs of rosemary, thyme and lavender, a white feather, and a blue ribbon with a sprinkle of dreamsand from Sandy, and a carved goose eggshell with a white led light inside from Bunny (it could serve as a nightlight).
He'd also bought himself a mother goose book on one of the second hand shops in Burgess, this time with Jamie's help. Jamie also gave him a drawing of him, the guardians, Jamie, and Sophie for Christmas last year- which he folded carefully and inserted in one of the pockets.
He had one extra, old, light blue hoodie and a warm quilt with funny barn animals stitches on it- Jamie's gang gave them to him. They said they got them from the lost and found box, it had been there for years.
"Okay, I'm all ready to go." Jack patted the walls of his cave and went out to look at his lake, which was now thawing. "I'll see you in six months." He said decisively to his territory. "Wind!" He called and the Wind picked him up. He cradled his staff and bag carefully. "Take me to the Southern Alps, new Zealand."
And then he was gone.
Present…
"Got it!" Bunny said when he went through the portal and landed right in front of Tooth and North. Sand landed from his high vantage point to look curiously.
"You know where Jack is?" North asked.
"Well, the general area at least." He waved a map in their faces and then spread it. He pointed at a hole on the map. "Found a dart sticking out of it here, over New Zealand."
"In square kilometres it's equivalent to thirteen thousand four hundred one point oh-five baby mouths filled with teeth." Tooth determined. When the guardian looks at her, she sighed, "Times twenty baby teeth, it's simply two hundred sixty-eight thousand and twenty-one square kilometres we have to go through."
Bunny ran an exasperated paw down his face. "Ya could have just said that, Sheila."
Sandy had a thoughtful look on his face before he lit up, his sand flashed over them excitedly
"Sandy, we cannot keep up." North said.
The sandman inhaled and stopped the barrage of sand figures before forming a snowflake and a check mark.
"You know where Jack is?" Tooth took a guess.
Sandy levelled his hand in a 'sort of' manner. Then he flew over to the sleigh and gestured for everyone to follow him
Five months before…
Jack found a small cave on one of the mountains about nine thousand, eight hundred feet from the ground. He preferred it to the bigger ones which were sometimes occupied by hibernating wild animals and weird small insects. This cave was unoccupied and the only occupants were frozen beetles and some ants. With a few Jack Frost touches, it could be a homey cave, so Jack set to work immediately.
He touched the inner walls of the cave and his frost automatically covered it in a fern-like pattern. He put down his duffel on one of the rocks and took out his quilt, spreading it on the ground.
Jack went back to his bag and carefully took out his floss, placing it on a rock near the entrance, to remind him to floss and brush before and after his hibernation. He left the brush inside his bag so that the bristles wouldn't stiffen.
North's snow globe was a powerful transporter but it was nice to look at too, so Jack took it out and looked at it for a few minutes, whispering the places and territories of the other guardians, watching the image inside change but not throwing the globe on the ground for a portal. He placed it back inside the duffel. He took out Sandy's charm and Bunny's handmade nightlight, placing them on the quilt. The he took out the hoodie as a pillow for his head and the mother goose book.
On the horizon, the sun slowly sets and soon, the mountains were dark except for the light coming from Jack's little cave. The light from Bunny's carved egg was impressive, it illuminated the inside of the cave, the light bouncing from the frost and creating an impressive glow.
Jack bundled himself in his warm quilt, head on his extra hoodie as he read through the mother goose book. Under his hoodie was Sandy's charm for sleeping.
With every page, his eyes grew heavier and soon, he was yawning and his eyes were barely open.
In his small, quiet cave, in the darkness of the alps, Jack's hibernation begun.
In his mind, as he drifted off, he mentally checked all the usual steps he went through before he hibernated… his thought process stuttered to a slow stop.
He wondered if he forgot something.
Present…
They land in a town called Omarama. The sun has set and darkness had overlapped the sky, stars twinkling down on the guardians.
"So, here? You saw Jack here?" North asked and Sandy shook his head and the shrugged, confusing the guardians.
He summoned up the dream he had seen months before.
"I don't remember having a snow fight here." Tooth said and then Sandy shook his head and swatted the dream.
He made a figure of himself spreading dreamsand and Tooth's mouth opened in understanding.
"Oh, it was a dream?" Sandy nodded and Tooth asked, "You saw it here?"
"You think it is Jack's dream?" North asked and Sandy nodded quickly.
"Which house was it coming from?" Bunny asked, "Maybe he's been coming here because he found some believers?"
Sandy hums to himself, thinking. He points towards a certain direction, gesturing that it's where the dream came from.
Bunny straightened, sniffing the air, ears swivelling back and forth. "That's the direction of the Southern Alps." He said, eyes narrowed. "What's Frostbite doing away from human civilization?"
"Guess we will find out." North said, "Everybody back in the sleigh!"
Bunny took a step back, "Uh… ya know what, I'll just take a tunnel through there, ya cobbers go and-"
North grabbed Bunny by the scruff of his neck and dragged him into the sleigh anyway.
The winds were strong up in the alps at night, buffeting the sleigh. It was only through North's expert control of the sleigh that they managed to stay airborne.
"I told ya, we should've taken the tunnels!" Bunny yelled above the howling of the winds.
North made a face and mocked-spoke Bunny's words.
"HEY I CAN SEE YA DOIN' THAT, YA DIPSTICK!"
Sandy rolled his eyes while Tooth sighed, the two of them doing their best not to be thrown off the sleigh.
The queen of fairies cleared her throat, "North! I think we should land!" She yelled over Bunny's curses.
"Yes, good idea!" North called out and the guardians closed their mouths as the sleigh suddenly descended like a meteor heading towards the ground.
The lurching feeling in his stomach made Bunny ill, Sandy raised his arms a smile on his face, while Tooth was careful to keep her wings and few fairies tucked around her.
"Which mountain do we land on?" North yelled, "Sandy?"
The sandman spread his hands and the golden sand spread throughout the air. A certain strand of dreamsand made Sandy turn and the remaining dreamsand enveloped the sleigh and directed it towards the thicker strand.
The sleigh landed roughly on one of the mountain peaks, bumping and jostling its passengers.
Bunny was the first to clamber out, a paw on his mouth as he tried to get his breathing (and lunch) back in control.
"Haha! Perfect landing!" North said as Tooth and Sandy got out.
"Ya call that a perfect landing!?" Bunny snapped, the gesture to sudden that he had to double over and keep a paw on his mouth. Sand approached and patted him on the back. Tooth shivered at the cold gust of wind and snow.
"Is this where Jack is?" Tooth asked.
Sandy nodded in a way that seemed to say I think so.
"Hm, we leave sleigh for now and look around." North said.
"I can barely see anything in this snow though." Tooth said, "We might get separated or worse."
"Sandy can lead us," Bunny said finally straightening and shaking the snow from his fur, teeth chattering slightly. "And I can keep track of yer scents in case we get separated."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Sandy go ahead!" North gestured. The sandman nodded his head in acquiesce and spread his sand. One clear golden path revealed itself to the sandman and he floated onwards, the others in his wake.
This is how they find Jack Frost:
They saw the glow before the boy.
It was coming from a small cave they would have missed if not for the glow and Sandy's dreamsand. From afar it looked like there was a pile of cloth in the middle, up close they could a well-worn quilt and a carefully folded hoodie, and a shock of white hair poking out of the quilt.
The guardians approached with caution, thinking Jack was hurt or on vacation, just camping out for fun.
When they arrived right in front of the cave, they discovered they could only fit in one at a time. Sandy was the first one inside, looking in wonder at the things scattered about while the guardians looked in from the outside.
"El Ahrairah," Bunny muttered as he looked at the frost covered book and the carved goose egg nightlight he'd given Jack. Everything was covered in snow and frost, looking as though they haven't been touched in months. "How long's he been here?"
"Jack?" Tooth called as she gently peeled back the quilt. The younger boy was curled up beneath it, hair frosted, eyelashes decorated with snowflakes and ice. Tooth placed a hand on his cheek and almost immediately retracted her hand.
"He's so cold!" She said and the guardians looked closer, wondering if the guardian of fun was alright.
"Jack, Jack, oi mate, wake up." Bunny said, poking Jack with a boomerang, because he was too cold for him to touch. "Oi, ya lazy dill, get up, ya have some explaining to do!"
"He is all right, yes?" North asked Sandy.
In reply, the sandman spread his dreamsand over Jack, revealing him to be dreaming. Sandy made "Zzzz…" figures over his head.
"He's just asleep, then?" Bunny huffed, shivering. "But why isn't he wakin' up?"
"Hm," Tooth hummed, looking closer. Her eyes widened in realization, "Oh," She gasped as she turned to Bunny, "Could he be in hibernation?"
Bunny looked back in surprise, he glanced back down at Jack then Tooth. He leaned down and leaned into the cave, sniffing. "It could be, sheila." He muttered, "But then again, I haven't actually met human sprites who hibernated, plenty of spring and summer animal spirits and sprites do, but human ones? I don't know if it's different for Winter Ones, they do tend to hibernate longer."
"He's sleeping and won't wake up, it seems like he's been sleeping for awhile by the state of his cave… All I can think of is hibernation." Tooth said, gently pushing Jack's hair back.
"Do we… move him?" North asked, already thinking of the blankets stuffed at the back of the sleigh.
Almost immediately, the three other guardians shook their heads and expressed negativity on the suggestion. North held up his hands in surrender.
"Yes, yes I get it, bad idea." North said.
"Spirits and sprites, usually animals but I guess maybe even human ones, whether spring, summer, autumn, or winter, are vulnerable in their hibernation state. They must not be moved or disturbed until they wake up. Interrupting a hibernation has consequences, either to the hibernating spirit or sprite or to the person who woke them." Tooth explained patiently. "We don't know if it's the same for uhm, human hibernators but it's better safe than sorry, I guess. They usually protect themselves, in this case, the blizzard outside is probably Jack's doing."
North huffed, "So now what do we do?"
Bunny raised an eyebrow, though the effect was less impressive with all his shivering. "Simple."
They all looked at the guardian of Hope and he shrugged.
"We wait."
Month Six
This is how Jack wakes up:
His eyes were frozen shut but it always happened. The coldness and snow sticking his eyelashes together, his clothes were stiff and almost frozen, as was the quilt around him. These were all the things Jack expected when he woke up.
What he didn't expect when he sat up and rubbed his eyes was to see a certain bunny wearing a brown beaver full fur Russian hat with long ear flaps and a long black Russian fur coat that strangely reminded Jack of a certain Santa. He was curled up at the mouth of the small cave, a hot thermos in his paws, as he grumbled and sniffed.
Jack scrambled up, surprised, "B-Bunny? W-What- what are you wearing?"
The rabbit huffed and straightened, shivering, "F'nally awake, I see. And what I'm wearin' 's none of yer beeswax." He said as he glared, "Anyway we need to have a little chinwag, Frostbite."
"Uhm," Jack tried to rack his mind about any pranks he may have done or trouble he may have caused, his thoughts still a little muddy with sleep. "I don't- Did I… do something?" He asked slowly.
"The fact that you don't even know what it is, is something." Bunny rolled his eyes.
Jack didn't understand what Bunny was saying and shook his head with a great sigh, "Look, what are you even doing here? How did you know I was here? And how long have you been sitting there? When did you find me? Do the others-"
"Crikey." Bunny covered his mouth with a cold paw, "It's too early for this, Frostbite. Can't you just wait 'til I get the others or would you rather we all went back to North's place?" He retracted his paw.
"I…" Jack looked around, "I guess I could clean up and meet you guys there?"
"Oh no, I'm not letting you out of my sight, Frost." Bunny said.
Jack's eyebrows furrowed, "But you're freezing and even if Santoff Claussen is as cold as here, at least North has a fireplace-"
"Ah, belt up, Frost!" Bunny interrupted, "We haven't seen you in over half-a-year, I can wait a few minutes for yeh to get yer stuff together."
Jack gave him a questioning look but complied, carefully packing his things with care as Bunny watched on.
"So," Jack said, fidgeting with his duffel and looking at the four guardians, "Long time no see?"
The four guardians crossed their arms and gave him a disapproving look, all at the same time.
"Okay, you guys definitely rehearsed that." Jack pointed, when no one cracked a smile he asked, "What?"
"Jack, why not tell us you hibernated?" North asked first.
"Uh, because I didn't think it was important?" Jack said with a shrug, looking away, "I mean, you guys didn't say anything about it for the past two years so I figured you either knew or didn't care, you know?"
At those words, Tooth's expression turned soft, "Of course we care! We didn't ask because we haven't noticed, I mean, we've been busy rebuilding our beliefs and our territories-"
"Basically, our point here, Frostbite, is that we would have appreciated knowing where you disappeared to every six months or so." Bunny said and Sandy nodded in agreement.
"Oh… kay, well, now you know?" Jack said, still not understanding the deal. "So… is that all?"
"No, that is not all." Bunny quoted, "We were worried, ya didn't bother to let us know yer hibernation's started, we didn't see ya for months, anything could have happened, we only realized none of us have seen you when North did the whole northern lights thing-"
"Wait, what? Something happened while I was asleep? The children?" Jack asked but then he doubled-back and gave Bunny a disbelieving look, "Wait, you were worried? What for?"
"Well, Jack, think of it this way," Bunny said in an accusing tone, ears flat against his head in embarrassment at the 'worried' comment. "If one of us hasn't been seen for more than four months, is the first thing ya think of hibernation?"
Jack quieted and Bunny huffed.
"Exactly." Bunny said proving his point.
Tooth tittered nervously as North cleared his throat. "Jack, as Bunny said, we were very worried about you. We realized when we all met, that we hadn't seen you for months. We decided to search for you and put the mano peluda problem on hold."
"Wait, you did what?"
"Oh, don't worry, the European Mice Division managed to solve it spectacularly without us." Tooth said proudly and then said in a soft tone, "We had to find out if you were all right. We didn't want you to be alone again, Jack."
Jack swallowed, eyes wide. "But- I was just hibernating. It's no big deal." He shrugged, looking away.
"Spirits are vulnerable in hibernation, this is what Tooth says." North said seriously, "We could not leave you vulnerable, Jack. We are family, you are important."
Jack flushed, whether in embarrassment or happiness no one could see. He scoffed, trying to hide his blush, "It's not like you guys could do anything about that."
"There was one thing we could do." Tooth said, "We stayed with you."
Jack looked at them blankly, "What do you mean stayed?"
Bunny rolled his eyes. "We found you about a month ago mate, looking cozy in your quilt and surrounded by knick-knacks."
Jack refused to feel embarrassed by that and glared at Bunny instead.
Tooth immediately spoke before they could began bickering, "And it took us a few minutes to realize you were hibernating, because we haven't met a human sprite who hibernated yet, and North wanted to move you but we said no-"
"Oh that's good that you didn't. It wouldn't have been pretty if you did." Jack said, thinking back to the summer and spring spirits that tried to get him out of their territories when he was new to the whole hibernating things. "Let's just say that the weird freak storms and hail storms in the tropical countries back then weren't exactly coincidences."
"Figures," Bunny sighed, "Anyway, we couldn't just leave you there mate."
"So, instead, we chose to stay with you, Jack." North finished. When Jack looked on blankly, Sandy summoned sand figures of Jack asleep and the four guardians sitting outside his cave, waiting.
Jack blinked, "You- all four of you stayed with me for a month?" He asked, mouth agape in surprise. An inexplicable warmth spread across his chest.
"At first, but then we took turns." Tooth explained. "Whenever I finished my rounds, I take my turn, North helpfully provided us some winter coats for the stay."
Said Santa Claus winked and gave Jack a thumbs up.
"Sometimes we'd stay by pairs, because just as my turn ended, Sandy just got there. North came by as much as he could with all the Christmas preparations, Bunny was there most of the time since Easter just ended and he could bring some egg shells to paint." Tooth explained gently and at Jack's disbelieving expression, she added quietly, "We'd like to think that we kept you safer just by staying."
Jack looked at all of the guardians, the earnest look on Sandy and Tooth's faces, the soft smile on North's and Bunny's usually huffy attitude. Suddenly, he felt very small, "You didn't have to."
"*Mal'chik moy," North said as he approached and gently patted Jack on the shoulder, "We wanted to."
Jack stared at all of them with wide eyes, his breath hitched and he nodded, finding that this time, words would not be enough to express his surprise and happiness at what was happening.
"Next time, if it is all right with you, you can spend hibernation, here, safe in my workshop." North suggested, smiling at Jack's wide eyes. "As you know, you already have a room here. The yetis and I can make sure no one disturbs you."
"You're welcome with us too." Tooth gestured to herself, Sandy, and Bunny. "I mean if it isn't too hot in our territories for your sleep, we're happy to have you."
"There's a cool spot you can stay at in the Warren. Won't take long to build you your own burrow or somethin'." Bunny shrugged. At Jack's open-mouthed surprised he said defensively, "What?"
"Nothing." Jack said immediately. "I just, wow- I didn't expect you guys to-" He cleared his throat. "I mean, you have to know, you're not obligated to-"
Sandy shook his head, waggling his fingers. Then he spread his hands and his dreamsand created the figures of the guardians, all hugging Jack.
North smiled, "Sandy is right, we are family."
"There is no obligation, Jack." Tooth said determinedly, "Just care and love. We want to look after you."
Jack found his throat closing from the unexpected emotions and his eyes burned as he ducked his head, "I don't know what to say…"
Bunny rolled his eyes and gently hit Jack on the back of the head, "How 'bout ya just tell us where ya gallivant off to, next time."
Jack blinked and nodded his head. "I-I will." He looked up and smiled, "Thank you… so much."
Sandy floated nearer and shook his head. Tooth was the one who voiced what he was trying to say, "No need to thank us."
"It's what family is for." North said with a smile of his own.
This is how Jack's next hibernation went:
Jack approached North with a strangely quiet air and told him in a day or so, his hibernation would begin. The guardians had kept a careful eye on him after Easter, noticing Jack's quietness and distant air that signalled his oncoming sleep.
North felt a burst of pride in his chest at Jack's approach and trust. Jack's room had been prepared for his stay, the coldest room in his workshop decorated with ice sculptures (made by North), toys (from the yetis), and Christmas lights (courtesy of the elves).
Jack was surprised to be led in the room and see a book shelf filled with stories, a soft light blue bed with blankets, and a new quilt (this time, handmade by Jamie and his friends). It was all for him, North said.
All of the guardians were there on the day of his hibernation. They helped make him comfortable and sat by his bedside. Bunny placed five newly carved goose eggs around the room, their patterns reflecting on the frosted walls of Jack's room. Sandy had renewed his charm, adding a tiny dream catcher on it, and Tooth and the tiny fairies made Jack a molar toy, entirely made of new floss. There was a new snow globe on the room's dresser, not a teleporting one, magical in the way that it showed Jack his friends with every shake. Jamie and Sophie's drawings were carefully hung on the walls by Sandy.
Jack laid on his soft bed, covered by his cold, new quilt, just as he liked it. His family sat on his bedside, arguing which story to tell him.
"Ridiculous Wishes," Jack said, blinking sleepily, "Never heard of that one."
"Well! Then I guess it is settled which story to tell!" North said to the guardians. He handed the book to Tooth and the guardians quieted and listened to her tell the story.
"In days long past," She began, "There lived a poor woodcutter who found life very hard. Indeed, it was his lot to toil for little guerdon, and although he was young and happily married there were moments when he wished himself dead and below ground." Tooth read from the book. Jack was on his side, watching her with half-lidded eyes. "One day while at his work he was again lamenting his fate. 'Some men,' he said, 'have only to make known their desires, and straightway these are granted, and their every wish fulfilled; but it has availed me little to wish for ought, for the gods are deaf to the prayers of such as I.'"
Jack fell asleep to the words of a story telling Tooth Fairy, to the rhythmic breathing of a freezing Easter bunny, to the tapping of the Sandman's fingers, and to the soft humming of Christmas songs by Santa Claus.
He slept and slept and dreamed of family and warmth and belonging.
And when he woke up, he realized he wasn't dreaming…
And that his dreams and wishes were actually his reality.
FIN
Author's notes: Eventually, Jack's hibernation period reduces itself to three months. And he also hibernated at the other guardians' places or sometimes he wants to hibernate at a different place and the guardians always come with him anyway.
North did not use the snowglobe in finding Jack because, well no one knows exactly where he was. I'm going on a limb and say, for this story, the snow globe only works if you know the specific location of the person you were looking for. Sophie managed to use it because North already had Bunny's Warren's location in there.
So yeah, sorry for the late stuff, what do you think?
Here are the links to some of the stuff Jack had in his duffel (erase the spaces). Information on the Southern alps was taken from wiki.
*My boy
How to make a sleep charm: scipa. /2008/03/making-your-own-sleep-charm. html
Carved goose eggshell: img13. /13bf/i/2013/328/f/8/carved_goose_eggshell_24112013_3_by_peregrin71-d6vg498. Jpg
The story was The Ridiculous Wishes by Charles Perrault
La Mano Peluda: /video/images-of-europe/ european-monsters/
Additional notes: Jack isn't the only Winter Spirit out there, there are others who, like Jack, hibernates. Some of them hibernate on the months Jack is awake. These Winter Ones are the ones whose territory are in the Southern Hemisphere, they go hibernate up in the Northern Hemisphere when the S hemisphere goes to summer because it's colder up there. This also applies to Jack, only vice versa. He can feel his territory going over to summer so he goes to sleep because he and his territory are intricately tied that way. But he's a winter spirit so he needs to sleep somewhere cold like the southern hemisphere or the south and north pole
(I will definitely use the other monsters here in future chapters)