Hi guys! I just wanted to thank all of you who read the story. I received a lot of emails about this story, wich really surprised me in a good way! Thank you for the favorites, the followers and the reviewers. I feel so grateful to all of you and so happy! Now, here is the second chapter, I hope you like it as much as the first.
Chapter Two
Jack just stayed on the bed awestricken watching at his little sister weeping in front of him, still standing in the doorway. She had suddenly started crying and, as suddenly as that, she ran to him and hugged him tight. He awkwardly returned the hug, still not knowing what was happening. Last night he slept on a tree, and now he woke up in a bed inside a wooden cottage. And not only that, but he was being hugged by his long dead little sister.
"I thought you were never going to wake up," she sobbed in his neck, still hugging him. He looked at himself quickly; he didn't remember feeling so sore in a while; right after the battle with Ptich, actually. He discovered his hands weren't as pale as they used to and, instead of his hoodie, he was wearing a white long sleeve shirt.
"What happened?" He murmured, more to himself than anything, but his sister heard him and broke the hug to look at him. Hey eyes were red from the crying, but her eyes were still beautiful. She was somehow bigger than in his memories. She looked surprised when she spoke again.
"You don't remember?" she asked puzzled. Then, as Jack was about to answer, they both heard a closing door. They heard light footsteps nearing the room, and in the door frame a middle aged woman peeked in. Jack gasped when he realized it was his mom; now he was definitely sure that something was wrong. Was he sick? Had he died the night before in his sleep without knowing it? His mother too looked surprised at the sight, for what reason Jack didn't know.
Pippa ran to their mom and hugged her by the waist. "He's awake, mommy! I told you he would wake up, see? I told you." She told her excitedly, happy. Her smile was as wide as it could get, her eyes were gleaming with emotion and unshed tears. Their mom looked down to her and smiled sweetly before nearing Jack. She sat on the edge of the bed and put a hand on his cheek, her eyes watering too before spilling some tears.
"My boy," she whispered and embraced him too tightly. Jack returned it, and all of the sudden he too started to cry too. How he had missed his mother since he retrieved his memories, but he wouldn't… he couldn't tell anybody. He didn't fully realize it himself until he saw her in front of him and felt her warmth. Warmth; the hug was warm, the house and the bed were warm and he didn't backed away, he didn't show any sign of disgust towards it. He actually liked it, he actually wanted to remain warm a little longer. It was a feeling so alien to him, being the bringer of winter and all for three hundred years. But now, in the middle of it all, he just wanted to stay like that forever and don't let go.
"I missed you," he told her, merely in a whisper, and tightened his grip on her. It was almost as if he was afraid of letting go, which he actually was. He feared it would fade away like a dream. Then he thought of something. Maybe it was all a dream, one of Sandy's creation to make him feel better or something. Well, when he woke up he would smack Sandy in the face for the dream. It was sweet and all, but it would be too painful when he would wake up and they were gone again.
Almost at the same time, something else occurred to him. Sandy didn't know him as human, much less his family, so how would he create a dream about his past when he didn't know anything about it? Maybe it was the sand's job on his head, and Sandy was just watching it wouldn't go berserk? He didn't know, and he was tired of thinking. All of those thought happened in a millisecond and neither his mother nor his sister noticed. They broke the hug and stared into each other's eyes. Then Pippa jumped in the bed and joined them.
Without thinking Jack raised his fingers to his arm and he pinched himself. Pippa and his mother looked at him in a strange way. Then, to explain himself, he asked out loud "Am I dreaming?"
They laughed. "Of course not silly, in fact, you just woke up," his mom told him. Seeing that the pinch didn't wake him up although it did hurt he decided that it was not a dream. But then, what was happening? Why had he, somehow, traveled through time? In time travel there were supposed to be two Jacks: the one of the present and the one of the past. That much he knew, and here it seemed like he was the only one, so, what was going on? He laughed with them and decided he would dwell on it later, because now he had a lot of catching up to do.
"What happened?" he asked, stunning his mother and sister. "Why do I feel so sore? Why did I just wake up?"
"Don't you remember?" His mother asked, and he remembered Pippa asking exactly that question some minutes ago. Jack shook his head, not sure of what should he remember. Sure, he remembered a lot of things, but they didn't match what was happening at the moment, so he just said he didn't. "You fell into the frozen lake this winter. You saved your sister." Then everything seemed to click. He never died, never became Jack Frost. "Someone nearby saw what happened and jumped in to rescue you."
"What? Who?" he asked. He did remember saving his sister thanks to Tooth, but he didn't remember being saved. The one to save him was the Man in the Moon, and that was when Jack was already dead. This time, however, Pippa answered.
"It was a travelling man just passing through. He jumped in right after you and he took his time coming out. I thought he was not going to make it, but then he emerged out of the water with you. He managed to get you breathing again and brought you home, but you just didn't wake up… Until now," she told him, tearing up at the painful memories. Jack swallowed the lump on his throat and shut his eyes to stop himself from crying. Somehow, he was alive. He was living. Was this a second chance? But why wait three centuries for it? Did that mean that he never actually lived for three hundred years? Had that been the dream he had just woken up from? If he never died and never became Jack Frost, never met the Man in the Moon, had three centuries really gone by?
His mom hugged him again and Pippa soon joined them. It was a very beautiful reunion for them, especially for Jack. When the hug broke his mom realized the big frown on Jack's expression. "What's wrong sweetie?" she asked soothingly.
"How long did I sleep?" he asked, a little bit afraid of knowing the answer.
"The whole winter; Easter is only a week away," replied Pippa, quite excitedly. After all, they could go together to the egg hunting that year.
"Easter?" he asked again, not quite getting the whole concept. Could Bunnymund still remember him and tell him what was happening? Still, something told Jack it wouldn't work so smoothly. What were the chances that the Easter Bunny still remembered him if he wasn't Jack Frost anymore? The Blizzard of ninety sixty eight never happened, anyway, and he doubted Bunny would remember him for something other than that. Before that blizzard, they practically didn't know each other in person. Jack was inevitably confused, and his mother noticed this.
"Why don't you rest some more, sweetie? When your dad comes home he'll be thrilled to see you. He missed you so much, like us. I'll start making dinner, your favorite dish" his mother told him and stood up. She pressed her hand against his cheek again and turned away to leave the room. "Pippa, darling, let's give your brother some rest," she called his sister and they both left, smiling sweetly at him before closing the door.
When he was finally alone, he slumped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. His whole body ached, and his mind was also throbbing. What was real and what a dream? Did Jack dream about becoming Jack Frost? Right when he wasn't alone anymore, when he finally found a new family with the Guardians, he waked up with his real family. It didn't feel right. He couldn't have dreamt about those three centuries, it all felt so real. But then again he couldn't what was real anymore. His head was throbbing and his eyelids felt heavy. He fell asleep, but before he closed his eyes, he thought he saw a delicate thread of golden sand above his head.
The wind woke him up. The wind he was so familiar with but that at the same time felt cold, too cold for him. He groggily opened his eyes and found himself in a small wooden room, again. He looked the way the wind was coming from and realized that the window was open. Outside it was dark and he could see some faint stars. He started shivering, and he was unfamiliar with feeling the cold. He sat down in the bed, aiming to stand up, and this time he managed it. His legs were shaking and weak and his head still spun around, but he ignored it and tried to reach a mirror. He needed to confirm the theory he had, although it was already proved in a ninety percent.
He reached the door using the wall to support him. In the corner of the room, however, he found a very familiar shape. It was a large wooden stick curved at the top. It was Jack's staff. He quickly reached for it, as quickly as his weak legs and dizzy head could take him, and grabbed it. He loved the feeling his staff produced on him, to hold the familiar wood in his hands once again, yet it still felt different. His staff once felt alive with power, it was the way he transmitted his own, but now it wasn't alive. It felt dead, like the piece of wood it really was, and that shocked Jack.
He resumed his quest to find a mirror. He reached the door again, this time using his staff as support, and exited the room. There weren't any lights, or candles in that case, on and Jack figured that his family had gone to sleep. He was going to the bathroom, to see if there was a mirror there, but a familiar yet forgotten scent caught his attention first. His stomach growled and he swallowed hard. It had been a long time since he felt the pains of hunger because as a spirit he didn't need food to survive the way humans did. But now, and after sleeping for the whole winter, he figured it was only natural for him to feel hungry.
Jack followed the scent, which led him to a small table in a small kitchen. He recognized it all, even some dents in the wood that he accidentally made a few years ago when he learned to use a knife to skin the prey his father brought home from the daily hunt. In top of the table was a plate with what he guessed was his food. It was covered with another plate to prevent it from cooling down too fast, although he could see it had lost its heat already.
Next to it was a note and Jack recognized Pippa's handwriting:
Jack, here are some leftovers from dinner. You were soundly asleep and we didn't want to wake you up, so I saved some in case you get hungry. Love, Pippa.
Jack felt touched by his little sister's act, and he felt his beating heart skip a beat. It had been a long time since he felt so warm inside, so welcome, so needed. He decided he didn't care what was happening; he decided he wanted to live through it even if it ended and it hurt him. He wanted to feel at home once again, but not just any home; his home. He sat down in the table and uncovered the dish. His mom did prepare his favorite: meat broth. What he loved about the dish is that it always used different meat, according to what his dad brought home.
He gulped the broth in five big mouthfuls. Behind him he heard a light chuckle. He turned around and saw Pippa. "I see you did get hungry, huh?" she teased and neared him. Jack didn't reply, he just pulled her close and hugged her. She was taken aback by the sudden hug but she soon hugged him back.
There in the middle of the night, with the stars as witnesses, Jack Frost… no, Jackson Overland whispered at his sister so that only she could hear "I missed you." She didn't reply, she just hugged him tighter, and there they stood with each other. Each one in their private thoughts, but together nonetheless, were thinking the same thing: I wish this moment could last forever.
That's it for chapter two! Please review and tell me when I can improve. Ideas are also welcome and if I can add or adapt them to the story I will. I really wish to know your opinion, I'll try to update as soon as possible. Thank you!