'Once, there was this kid, who

Got into an accident,

And couldn't come to school.

But when, he finally came back,

His hair, had turned from black into bright white.

He couldn't quite explain it,

The cars had smashed, so, hard...'

'Mmm, mmm, mmm' by Crash Test Dummies

Chapter 11

Now, finally, the map showed the way to Burgess, the birthplace of Jack Frost.

He could finally start his mission.

Rhos really poured on the speed to reach the colony of Virginia before autumn ended. Once winter really got going, there would be almost no chance of finding Jack Frost until winter was over. The kid, (and wasn't it weird to think of... himself?/the other him? like that), would be too busy spreading snow and frost to stay in any once place for longer than an hour. And while Rhos knew he was fast, no way was he fast enough to catch Jack Frost with the North Wind at his back.

September 31, 1715

Rhosgobel couldn't beleive that he'd almost forgotten an entire war.

The brown and black Pooka had almost wandered right into the middle of a battle feild. It was the Tuscarora War in North and South Carolinas, the colonists against some of the native tribes. It was bloodshed and slaughter and pain and dying. It was horrible!

Oh sweet MiM, please don't have let Jack Frost seen any of this yet...

But Rhos knew it was a vain hope. This war had started two years before Jackson Overland's death. He might not have remembered much of his first few decades, but this, his first taste of war, had left a grisly impression on the former winter spirit. The history books claimed that this war ended in 1715, and formally, maybe that was true. But the fighting just got worse and spread to Virginia later on, then called the Yamasee war, the conflict not ending until 1717.

He had to get to Jack and get him out of here! Somewhere, anywhere, that didn't have any wars going on for about the next 20 years. Which, sadly, was a much taller order than one might think for this time in history. The Pooka was probably going to have to take the kid to unclaimed territory in northern Canada to get some peace and quiet.*

October 1, 1715

The brown Pooka's thickly furred feet beat the ground as he ran, minutes away from the pond that had been his former birthplace. He was almost there. Light frost had been forming on the autumn leaves and trees in the last three days, meaning that Jack Frost had begun to stir. The lightest snowflakes began to fall from clouds just starting to roll in over the night sky. Oh please let him still be there, if the spirit was already in the air Rhos would never be able to catch up to him!

A sudden cry cut through the night, making Rhos freeze in his tracks. His ears swiveled, trying to locate the source of the sound. He could make out sobbing, fists hitting the ground, and then a tortured voice screaming. It was coming from the pond.

His pond. The site of his death and rebirth into Jack Frost, so long ago.

He ran faster.

Rhos burst into the clearing, flinching in horror at the sight before him.

A white and brown spotted dog, little more than a puppy, had fallen into the cold waters of the pond. It was clear that Jack had tried to get him out, but in his distress and panic, his powers had activated. The dog was encased in a thick coating of ice from head to tail, half in and half out of the now completely frozen pond.

Rhosgobel bowed his head. He remembered this. It wasn't the first time he'd accidently killed something with his frost, but normally that had happened with his staff. It channeled so much of his power, and in those first few decades when he'd been learning how to use it, he hadn't known how to control its output. And unbeknownst to him back then, a high emotional state just made it worse. But this time, this was the first time he'd found out that he could kill something by touching it. He hadn't known how much ice magic could come from his hands. This had been his first lesson in how powerful it was, and he could honestly say that it had scarred him for life.

The fact that it was an absolutely adorable little puppy that had looked at him with such desperate hope for rescue only to be unwillingly betrayed certainly hadn't helped matters either.

A near hysterical Jack Frost was sobbing in horror and grief, his staff flung to the opposite shore. He was curled into a ball, thin arms wrapped around himself as he rocked back and forth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to! (*sob*) I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!"

The brown cloak was soaked with water, already freezing into frosted patterns. His white shirt was becoming streaked with the ice of his tears. "I-I'm so sorry, I'm sorry!" The winter spirit looked up to the cloudy sky that hid the moon, his face changing from greived to raging. "Why?!" Jack screamed, tears freezing on his cheeks. "WHY?! Why did you give me this power and not help me use it?! Why do I have to kill everything I touch?! Why can't I help?! Why can't I talk to anyone, why can't they see me?! Why did you leave me here alone?! WHY?!"

The air crackled with the magic forming from the distressed spirit. The wind roared throughout the forest, the clouds picking up speed as they raced to cover the sky. Rhos immediately leapt for a tree, climbing as fast as he could to the higher branches. He knew exactly what was coming and it was not going to be pretty.

Frost and ice exploded out from the winter spirit onto the trees and ground, coating the area around Jack as his emotions poured out. Thick ice formed spikes on the pond, frost inches thick was blasted onto every tree with such a cold intensity that would have flash-frozen and killed any living creature. Such icy devastation was nothing compared to Jack's distress.

"WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?! What did I do to deserve this?! I'd take it back, I would, I'd do anything, just don't leave me a monster! I don't wanna hurt anybody! Why am I like this?! Am I some ghost, some demon and you're punishing me?! Well, I'm sorry! You hear me, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry," his voice fading into sobs as his eyes fell on the little frozen dog. "I'm sorry, oh god, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

It took ten of the longest minutes of Rhosgobel's new life for Jack's magic to calm enough that he could risk getting out of the tree. His black Pooka feet made no noise on the hardened ice as he padded out to wear Jack was. He slowly approached the teen, unsure of what to say.

The winter spirit was slowly rocking himself back and forth, tears still freezing on his pale cheeks. He didn't even look up when Rhos knelt down beside him.

The Pooka had thought of a dozen fancy speeches for meeting his other self as he'd traveled, but every last one suddenly left his head. He couldn't think of anything to say in the face of such utter loneliness. He lifted back his hood, pulling back his cloak to not trip over it on the ice. Rhos kept his voice soft as he spoke. "Hey. Hey, kiddo, you okay?"

"Oh god, its the dog's owner," Jack murmured, wiping his nose on his sleeve, still not looking up. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I know you can't hear me, but I'm sor-"

"I can so hear you, and I'm not the owner," the Pooka chuckled. "I'd like to think that his owner would have the good sense to keep him inside when its cold like this, you know?"

"-didn't mean to k-kill your..." Now Jack's eyes widened, his young body going still in rising, paralyzing hope. Wide ice-blue eyes slowly turned to look at him, the young voice trembling and soft. "What? ...what did you say?"

Rhos moved so that he was standing right in front of the spirit, sitting down so that he looked him in the eyes. "I said I can hear you. And it wasn't really your fault, okay?"

"You...can hear me?" Now Jack truly looked at Rhos, glacier blue eyes going wide in shock. "You can see me? ..what...you're a...what are..."

Rhos smiled, his long ears twitching playfully. "Yeah, I can hear you. Kind of hard not to, what with these giant ears. And I can see you. And no, your eyes do not deceive you, you're looking at a giant rabbit-man. Feel free to make a lot of carrot jokes later."

"You can see me," Jack said in wonder, new tears forming. "You can see me!" The boy lunged forward, and to Rhos's shock, hugged the Pooka tight. Rhos was still for a moment, then slowly put his furred arms around the spirit, his enhanced hearing picking up the muffled words he was sobbing. "I can touch you! And you hear me and you see me, oh thank god, thank you, thank you..."

The kid was practically nuzzling him! Rhosgobel didn't remember being this...emotional, the last time around. But then again, by the time he'd been chosen as a Guardian, he'd had 300 years of loneliness to toughen him up. 300 years to build up walls, convince himself that he didn't need anyone, so that the loneliness didn't completely crush his soul. 300 years of going without touch, to the point that actual physical contact had frightened him. (The Bunnymund in his timeline had had to be very patient to work around his issues with touching.) This Jack only had 2 years of that isolation, and mercifully, it wasn't enough for him to willingly cut himself off from others when the chance came.

"Easy, kiddo. Its alright," Rhos said softly, hesitantly running furred fingers through the white hair. Was I really like this before? Really? The poor kid is so attention-starved that he doesn't even care that he's practically climbing up a complete stranger. Or that I'm a giant bunny-man. That's actually...kind of desperate and sad. Dammit, how could everyone just brush this off?! How could HE have brushed this off as acceptable? I might have forgiven Manny, but there are times I really, really don't like the bastard. "Shh, kiddo. I'm here. I'm not gonna leave or disappear, I promise. I'm gonna help you, okay? I can help you train your powers and find a way to help people see and hear you, and I'm staying right here with you."

Jack pulled back from his desperate hug, the pure hope shining from his face able to pull mercy from the coldest heart. "Y-you can? You will? You're staying with me?"

"You bet, kiddo. Nothing in the world is gonna make me leave your side," the Pooka said firmly. He gave the teen a smile. "You're stuck with me."

"I don't think I mind," Jack said with a shaky laugh. He seemed to suddenly realize that he was still hugging the Pooka and jerked back, a deep blush frosting his cheeks as he stepped to the side and walked over to the opposite bank of the shore, trying to collect himself. He picked up the aged piece of wood that was his focus, and fiddled with his staff. "S-sorry about that."

"Aw, don't worry about it, its fine," Rhos said. He glanced back over at the dog, looked down to his pendant, and got an idea. "You stay here, kid, okay? I'm gonna try something, and if I screw up, I don't want you caught in the backlash."

The winter spirit nodded, his eyes following as the bunny-man carefully tested the ice before taking a step, moving closer to the dog. "So, um, what are you doing?"

"You'll see." When he was within touching range, he gently reached out, palm spread, and the other hand clutched his weird-looking necklace. There was a soft glow of silver light-

A splash, the sound of frantic claws scraping at ice-"Arf, arf!"

Jack Frost gasped in stunned amazement. His ice had simply disappeared from the dog. The rabbit-man carefully reached into the ice and pulled the puppy out; the living, breathing puppy! It barked and whimpered, shivering in the cold, and the male reached into his pack, pulling out a cloth and drying it off.

Jack was awed and ecstatic all at once. "You saved him! How-how did you do that?! Is he okay? How did you do that?!"

The furred male laughed softly. "Yeah, kid, he's fine. Cold, but fine." The puppy licked at his hand (paw?), and the male walked over to Jack, the dog yipping and jumping up around the spirit's legs. "We should probably get off this lake, the little guy needs to get somewhere warm. C'mon, boy, lets get you back to the village."

Jack eyed the stranger out of the corner of his eye. "How did you do that? Was that magic like me? Well, not like me, obviously, but you're like me, like you can do magic? Is it magic? Or some kind of demon power-"

"No! No, kiddo, this is not demonic power," Rhosgobel hurried to reassure the boy. "But magic, well, yes and no. Sorry," the Pooka rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I'm not the best with explanations. My name's Rhosgobel, er, please, just call me Rhos. I'm a Pooka, part of a race of people from a different star that look like rabbits, and in the magical world, I'm the Guardian of Time. And you're magic too, just so you know. I pretty much make sure that no one abuses Time or tries to become immortal without the higher-ups' say-so." Blue eyes looked down into Jack's. "And how I did that thing with the dog is, eh, fairly simple. I used my powers to reverse the dog's time to before the cold killed him, so that he wasn't frozen anymore. Got all that?"

Jack blinked, his face clearly showing that he barely caught any of that. "Um, yes?"

Rhosgobel laughed again, not unkindly. "Don't worry, we have all the time in the world to get to know each other. So," his ears twitched a bit, "what's your name, kid?"

"Me? Oh, right. Sorry, forgot my manners," the spirit grinned brightly in obvious pleasure at being able to do this as he stuck out a hand to shake. "I'm Jack Frost."

Rhosgobel cocked an ear, smiling crookedly as he shook hands. "Nice to meet you."

*The Yamasee War is real, and actually this time period, from 1710 to 1750, was loaded with wars world-wide.

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