"HOLY SHIT! Was that a dragon!?"
Charlie's voice rang out from the other end of the call. Lucy was excitedly holding her phone out, capturing live video of the bypass as she walked through the massive halls.
"Yes! Yes it was! Charles there's unicorns here. UNICORNS! There's literally so much, I couldn't even describe it to you."
Lucy kicks her converse' across the tiled floor, making her way down the expansive building. With staff tucked under her elbow, she fits right in with the rest of the magical crowd on their daily commute. The intrigue and mysticism of the Bypass hadn't yet worn off to Lucy, and half of her thinks (and hopes) that it never will! So before he can get here for the family meetup for Christmas, she excitedly shows Charlie a bit of the greater fantastical world.
She's retracing the steps her and Father Time took yesterday, stepping onto one of the many golden platforms embedded into the floor. The circular metal lift was engraved with sweeping art nouveau details. And when Lucy was surrounded by other folklore (boxed between a pair of Satyrs and a gaggle of nymphs), the platform gently lifted itself into the air and to the multitude of floors that it needed to go to.
"And you gotta be stuck in the south pole when all of that is literally right there?! Couldn't be me for sure Luce, I would've gotten distracted so fast," Charlie remarked.
"I know! It's like if the world's biggest airport met Times Square. Hopefully I can have a few hours one of these days to wander around the other realms for a bit. I know I've only visited like twice but that place gives me the heebie jeebies."
"And you thought you were going to like the south pole? There's actually nothing there but ice Luce."
"I know! But what I think I don't like about it is that he's just so alone there ya know? Like there is literally nothing for miles and miles! And you know what my dad says about isolation and the human mind."
"Sometimes I think you might be too much like him sometimes. You don't need to psychoanalyze him ya know."
Without her consent, the phone in her hand as well as the palm it was sitting in, glowed a bright purple and lifted out of her grasp. The phone floated upwards a few inches, catching Lucy by surprise. She tried for a moment to turn off the telekinesis, hovering her free hand under the phone, just in case she ends up dropping the thing. She awkwardly tries to grab at it before the magic disappears after a few swipes. Luckily falling back into her hands. She sighs in relief at the avoided inconvenience.
"Hard to do when I can literally see peoples cores and souls," she remarks, rudely reminded of her new abilities. "And even then I'm not really psychoanalyzing, I'm just…observing from afar. Picking up on patterns. Because unlike you I'm actually smart enough to recognize those."
"The girl gets magic powers ONE TIME and suddenly she thinks she's better than everyone."
"Better than you at least. Maybe when you get your Christmas powers I'LL show YOU the ropes. Stick with me kid, you'll go places."
She ventures to the tower's teleporter. The traffic here is much slower compared to the rest of the Bypass. She walks up the ramp and through the magic veil, ending up yet again at the bottom most floor of the tower's great expanse upwards.
"And here is where Father Time Lives!" her voice echoes as she presents the phone to the place, tilting it up to try and capture the whole thing.
"Oh no way! Are you kidding? How many floors are there?!" Charlie exclaims, flabbergasted by the size of the space.
"I think it just goes on forever, it literally just stretches into infinity! Fitting for Father Time if you really think about it," Lucy responds, finding another circular platform at the very center of the tower's column.
Going up some more to her desired floor, she can see the few folklore meandering about on the different floors as she passes. Not many have much direct business in Father Time's realm, but he does offer a few different public access points for his future seeing services.
"From what I can see, better than Antarctica by a long shot. Speaking of, how was the first day of training yesterday? And you can be honest with me, is he giving you any trouble?" Charlie prodded with his reassuring brotherly tone. As if he was going to beat his ass himself if she said yes. It's hard for Lucy to be annoyed with him, when she knows he genuinely cares about her well being.
"Honestly? Not as much trouble as everyone has been hyping it to be. He's just a little rough around the edges, I think he just isn't used to having someone to talk to. When I say it's lonely there, I mean lonely," a hint of pity seeps through her statement.
"That's just what prison is though. And that's essentially where he is; a glorified prison. And those aren't supposed to be pleasant."
"Ooh don't even get me started on the prison system, Charles. But this doesn't feel like just jail ya know?" she ponders, "It's more like solitary confinement. And of course, that's been proven to work wonders long term on the human psyche."
Charlie's face in the corner of the phone screen contorts to look like how sarcasm sounds, "Yep, definitely not psychoanalyzing."
"I'm NOT psychoanalyzing! I'm just curious. He's a curious character. He's got a whole thing with Mother Nature going on. Apparently he's basically her estranged son," she half whispered the last sentiment as if it was a piece of highly coveted gossip.
Charlie's expression shifts into bafflement, suggesting that he's doing math equations in his head at the remark, "Heh?"
"Yeah! In a weird, impossible magickey kinda way."
He gave another puzzled silence for a beat, "Ya know…can't say I see the family resemblance."
"Yeah you and me both. And that's a whole other thing; family dynamics and the fact that they technically don't exist in the first place."
The platform stops at Lucy's designated floor, cheerfully hopping off the floating disk, sending it back on its way to somewhere else. She makes a quick walk around the circular overlook before reaching the library entry way. Its importance signified by the tall open archway of a lighter marble. Stone columns on either side frame the dark velvet curtains, pulled back for clear entry. The entrance, much like most things here, is very tall and in theme.
"Ah, here it is. Sorry Charlie, I gotta go! I got a book to find! And looking at the craziness of this library, it might take longer than I thought."
Peeking in, she was not exaggerating to her brother. The library was a mess of sweeping shelves, staircases, and catwalks that navigated the mountains and mountains of books. All stacked on top of eachother, giving a very faint hint of an M.C. Escher work. A few books actually off the selves and flying in criss crossing directions like birds. From what little she knows, this should be the place that has any book imaginable.
"Alright. Just try and not overthink all this too much ok? Even if you can see cores and stuff, this is about you Luce. This is for your own benefit," Charlie explains, trying to further work the big brother angle on the topic.
Lucy has a fleeting thought about how he's been playing that card more frequently since she got her powers. And another thought soon after of showing him what exactly she can do now and just how long she's gonna hold it over his head.
"I know. He's just an overstuffed snowman, I can definitely take him."
"I know you can. With magic on your side now he better watch his ass!"
His sudden exuberance at the last sentiment made Lucy chuckle, "See ya Charles."
"Later loser."
With the phone call ended, Lucy sets her sights on the labyrinth of a library. Confidently walking down the corridor, she quickly comes across a centerpoint for the literary chaos. A single large sphere on a stand, with golden rings floating around it. The sphere has a faint purple glow emanating off its surface. Magic and idle, it waits for the correct sequence of actions to activate it.
With staff in hand, Lucy closes in on the sphere, but confusingly looks all around her.
'Alright, so big legendary book. Very classified…if it's so classified then it probably won't be anywhere in here,' she thought to herself as she scanned the bookshelves. 'Probably in some kind of out of the way hiding place. But where would out of the way be in here?'
The cogs in her mind were turning, trying to put together a strategy for searching this place. And the first step was going to be inspecting the little structure in front of her.
Until a familiar face made himself known.
"Ah shit! Stupid things," he grumbled, sounding very far away, "he really needs to get some air traffic control in here."
Lucy looked up to the high ceilings to find none other than Cupid zipping through the air above the shelves. He just narrowly avoided a flying book in his flight path, and had to readjust himself to continue on without hindrance. His arms were full of papyrus scrolls and he was just about to make a speedy escape through the open door.
And that's when the idea hit her.
'Required reading material for Legendary Figures…heavy lock and key! I need his help!'
"CUPID!" Lucy shouts upwards.
The holler does get Cupid's attention just as he was barely out the door. He looks back to the center point of the library to find the teenager excitedly flagging him down. He was caught a little off guard by the girl's presence and zipped down to where she was standing.
"Lucy? What are you doing here?" he asked, hovering just above her head.
"Cupid! It's actually really great that I caught you! This place is really big and I need to find something really specific and I don't know where to start."
"Oh," he raises an eyebrow, "is that it? You just use the little thingy there," He explains with a pointed finger to the spherical ringed device next to her. "You put your hand on it, think of the book you need and then it teleports you to where it is. Listen kid I gotta go, I got a whole thing going on at a retirement home next week."
He tries to fly away again and is once again intercepted by Lucy.
"No wait! Just give me five minutes! Because what I'm looking for is very…classified. Do you know where the Moon's Tome is?"
Now this request just perplexes him even more and his accompanying expression says as much.
"The Moon's Tome? Why do you need that hunk of junk? Us Legends hardly use the thing anymore."
Lucy's tone becomes delicate as she explains, "Well, my first official day of training with Jack was yesterday. And he told me about this book of a bunch of spells by the Man in the Moon himself. He said it would be a good idea if I looked it over. Apparently magic from this guy seems to be rare and in high demand."
Cupid's quizzical expression now added a deeper frown to the mix. Puzzled and now a little suspicious. You get used to this particular thought process when Jack Frost has an idea.
"I mean…I guess that makes a little sense," Cupid says cautiously.
"That's what I thought too. I'm just doing some background research. Anything at all will be helpful to me right now, and it's a whole book on Moon magic and I probably need a Legendary key to access it. So can you please help me find it?"
Lucy works her puppy eyed magic and charmingly waits for his response. This kind of thing usually doesn't work on Cupid for the most part. But he can see it with his own magic vision that Lucy has nothing but good intentions. He, above anyone else, knows that Lucy has always held a great capacity for love of all kinds. Through his eyes she's practically glowing with the sheer volume of love she possesses. And well, when you are THE Cupid, that's pretty much all he needs.
He rolled his eyes along with admitting a big sigh in defeat. Another aimless victim relented to the adorable will of Lucy Miller.
"Augh, alright alright! Put the eyes away Miller! I'll take you to the damn thing, but only because I'm confident that you'll actually handle it well. If Jack were with you this would be a different story."
Lucy pumps her fist in the air in triumph, "Yes! Thank you Cupid!"
"Ehh, don't mention it. Now just grab on tight, I'll be taking you the expressway."
And just as he said, Cupid wished away the scrolls he had been carrying in a flurry of pink magic, grabbed her by the middle and sent her off into the air with him. Despite his diminutive stature Cupid was actually quite strong, and carried Lucy with him over the tops of the shelves with surprising ease.
The redhead has been off the ground before, riding shotgun in the sleigh and even flying with Roy on rare occasions will give her the precedent for being airborne. But Cupid was much faster than she was expecting, and even a little tight on the corners as he maneuvered his way through the library. Overall, not the worst rollercoaster she's ever been on! Another generally positive flying experience for the books.
They reached their destination in record time. An out of the way corridor in the very back of the library that held a rather unsuspecting hallway. And at the end of it was what looked like a complete dead end, nowhere for either of them to go.
With glowing pink magic engulfing his hand, Cupid pressed it to the area on the wall where the doorknob should be. His eyes alight with the same glow. Holding it in place, a magic design etched itself into the material in sweeping organic swirls. The last thing to light was the crescent moon symbol at the very top. The seams of a door made themselves known, as it receded inwards and lowered itself into the ground below, revealing the pedestal that held The Moon's Tome.
He paid her a warning however, that only Legendary Figures are allowed to remove the book and take it elsewhere. She would not be allowed to bring it with her, but since she knows where it is, it'll be easier to find it again. He wished Lucy good luck, gave her the directions to the exit, and took off in a flurry. Again spouting something about nursing home anniversaries or something of the sort. He took off, leaving Lucy with the book.
But she almost didn't feel alone. She couldn't tell if it was the book somehow staring at her or something else entirely, but she could almost feel the ghost of another presence watching her. She looked around the immediate vicinity but of course found no one. It was a very old, rarely used section of a magic library. Things are bound to feel off this deep in.
The cover of the tome was a very faded royal blue, with golden embeds decorating the corners. The image of a stark crescent moon against a black starry sky sat right in the middle; the face of the moon jovial but in somewhat of a wrong way. It looks like a storybook from a time long since passed.
The book opened easily enough and she did a preliminary flip through of its contents. Most of which were extremely foreign magic concepts that read like a different language to her. Understanding just what any of it means will take more than one read through. The pages were very pristine given its approximate age. Every spread was completely identical, and the words were written in a script that could've been mistaken for something typed. The letters reflected the light as if they were written in molten metals.
Legendary Cancelation, The Star Beacon, Impenetrable Barriers, all types of all powerful spells that went right over the girls head.
'This thing is WAY too thick for me to read all in one sitting. And I can't stay here all day to try anyway, I gotta meet up with Jack still. Do I just read it one chunk at a time and keep coming back?'
Lucy wracks her brain on the logistics of gaining the book's contents. Her eyebrows hopped higher onto her forehead with a realization.
She pats down her denim jacket making sure it's still there, and pulls out her phone from one of her pockets. The pink case was filled with liquid, sequins and glitter that sloshed around at the smallest movement. A small Animal Crossing star fragment charm was dangling from a short chain on the case.
Lucy then proceeded to take pictures of as many of the pages as she can, in the best quality that she can muster. The library crypts dont have the best lighting, but recording all the information like this will really streamline her efforts. She plans on making small digital adjustments to the images before printing them all out back and home, and having the tome with her in copy.
And after managing to capture almost every page, the clock on her phone lets her know that it's time to take her leave. Noting to take a closer look at the book's contents later, she closes the cover and retraces her steps back out of the tomb. The magic door closes and disappears behind her.
Based on Cupid's directions she managed to find her way back to the entrance from which she came, taking three separate flights of stairs and going across two other skywalks. While being windowless and a maze of directions, Lucy can't help but think the place was insanely cool! So far on her trek back she's come across a multitude of strange sections. Labeled by hanging signs above them, so far she's seen divided sections for: Books Yet Unwritten, Library of Alexandria Archive, Magical Literature, Prophets Archive, Political/Emissary Protocall and many more.
But it wasn't until she'd almost reached the exit, hopping off the last set of stairs did she see the one that really captured her attention.
A section of tall shelves with their corresponding sign that read: Alternative Timelines. And her curiosity, once again, has gotten the better of her. She finds herself strolling over in between the sectioned shelves, craning her neck to try and see the books at the very top. But her eyes immediately started scanning the bottom most shelves, near her own eye level.
The titles on the spines she was casually perusing were interesting at least (and plentiful in multiple volumes). The Escape Clause Novelization, Crystal Springs, Rules of Engagement among many more. The title of Miller's Law earned a chuckle out of her in simple amusement of finding her own name out in the wild. All somewhat vague titles that only stir her imagination as to why they would be so firmly in the Alternative Timelines category.
But she stopped in her tracks when she saw one particular title. A volume so intriguing to her that she simply had to take this particular tome off the shelf to inspect it further.
"Frostmas…?" she whispers to herself.
She held a fairly thick, blue covered book in her hands. The only title on the front and spine of the thing read simply: Frostmas (1994-2006) in silver metallic cursive. The book seemed more worn than it should have been considering the dates it was labeled with.
And the title alone only gave Lucy one thought. This, almost literally, has Jack written all over it. The second most thought she conjured about the book was the rather egregious naming conventions. She hasn't known him for long, but she could tell that he definitely named this thing himself. And probably felt as though he did something clever there as well.
But it's the dates that really made her start piecing it together. 2006 is obviously the year of the fateful Escape Clause Christmas. Buddy's birth year, in-laws, awol Bernard, frozen parents, the works. But it's the 1994 that makes her scratch her head.
Until her eyes snapped in realization. She remembers Scott telling her about what happened that day. Trying to explain as delicately and simply as possible at least. Being a mere ten year old she couldn't have possibly understood what an alternative timeline is; heck she just barely understands what it is now!
But the way that he explained it was that Jack ended up creating a set of events that he himself made right again, so they technically never happened to begin with. He never went into more detail than that, no matter how much she begged him to. Eventually she put the idea to rest and simply carried on with her life after the fact.
But now with the dates right in front of her, she can reasonably assume that the book contains twelve years of recorded information on whatever Frostmas was. Whatever series of events Jack created and then were erased.
She spared a glance back toward the exit. She could still leave, she does have a prior engagement in the south pole to get to. But, it is a somewhat public library right? This information is totally up for grabs. She redirects her attention to the minimalistic cover.
'I mean, might as well, right?'
She reasons as she cracks open the cover to be greeted by the prologue. Something about a magic snowglobe…
Some time later, Lucy makes her way to exile with new knowledge in tow. And after a quick change into winter outwear, and her pockets thoroughly stuffed with hand warmers, she made her way to banishment and filled Jack in on the status of the book.
He paid most of this no mind and only cared if she'll actually read the thing. He hides his appreciation of her cleverness regarding the workaround and insisted on getting straight to work.
Another snowball nails her right in the shoulder, splatting on contact. Lucy takes a second to wipe off the residual snow and resumes a defensive stance. With the head of the staff pointed outwards, she focuses all her attention on the task at hand.
Jack stands about 20 feet away from her, with a snowball being tossed between his hands and a pile of more premade snowballs at his feet. He's been hurling the things at Lucy for her to catch with her magic. He said that they should start off simple and focus on the use of the staff as her "bat" so to speak. But instead of hitting them away, her job was to access her magic intentionally and catch them before they hit her.
Whether it was going well or not was a subjective matter.
"How am I supposed to do this again?" she shouted the question at him.
"Everything you need is all right there for you to use. You just have to reach deep down for it. Obviously you don't have a magical core, which makes it a bit more difficult. But you do have a soul, so that'll work just fine here. Reach into your soul," Jack takes a pause after the explanation.
"...you do have a soul don't you?"
Lucy merely rolls her eyes at the comment, "God I sure hope so," she says sarcastically. "Do you have a soul Jack?"
"Of course I do."
She shoots him a questioning look with a single raised eyebrow. Somewhere between unimpressed and doubtful.
"Of course I have a soul!" he rebutled offedendly.
"Maybe you do, but maybe you also have a little bit of a frozen heart obscuring the soul bit."
Now it was Jack's turn to roll his eyes. He feels as though he's about to hit the eye roll record in the next two weeks.
"Very clever. Haven't heard that one before," He deadpanned.
He puts the annoyed temperance into his next throw, tossing it in the teens direction. She tried doing as he instructed by tapping into something deeper. But it only half worked as the purple light on the staff was lit but the snowball was instead hit with a blast of magic particles instead. It exploded in a mess of white and periwinkle and the remnants drifted down to the floor in two perfectly equal piles.
"Closer? I suppose? But not what we want. Try again," Jack directed, leaning down to pick up another projectile.
Lucy took this potential lull in the conversation to bring up the matter of recent importance. Intrigue with a hint of anxiousness clouded her throat as she went into it.
"So, while I was at Father Time's place, copying down the book…"
"Uh huh."
"I ended up in the Alternative Timelines section on my way out, and found this weird little book on the shelf with a weirder title. I just wanted to ask what exactly Frostmas is?" she asked cautiously.
Jack was suddenly frozen in his tracks and halted in the motion of picking up the snowball. His heart plummeted to the floor as he stayed perfectly still. Petrified at the sound of that name being spoken by an outside voice. In the proper timeline no less. He was a deer in the headlights at the inquiry. It caught him so off guard that anyone else even knew about such a series of events. The very catalyst that had been causing his troubled mind to rot in his prison.
But he quickly tried to maintain his composure, standing back up and producing the best grin he could muster, "I—uh—nothing. Nothing much really! Why—why do you ask?"
With such an active use of her magic today, her core vision has been on for the duration of the training so far. He managed to hide his unbalancedness well enough usually. His core is still all kinds of out of whack, making unusual motions and such. But the internal struggle spiked at the mention of Frostmas, it jerked this way and that, pushing and pulling against itself in unrest. Curiouser and curiouser.
"Well, because I remember Scott vaguely telling me about some kind of events that happened during the escape clause that got erased. Vaguely mind you. He didn't want to confuse the ten year old too badly. But then today I come across a book with almost your name on it with dates that line up with Scott's first year as Santa and the year of the escape clause. I thought you might have something to do with that."
She lowers her staff and relaxes the defensiveness when she sees that she's distracted him from throwing any more snowballs. He merely clutches onto the thing, subconsciously freezing it over.
"...Did you read the book?" he asks almost innocently.
"Kind of? I skimmed most of it, but once I got the gist of the thing I stopped. Figured I should ask you directly about it."
She looks on with concern as his core continues to waver under the mask of indifference he's desperately trying to adhere to.
"Well then? How much do you know exactly?"
"Obviously I know that you tricked Scott into not being Santa anymore, and then became Santa for what? Twelve years I think? And then something called Frostmas became a thing way later. Some talk about an amusement park? Tourist attraction? But what was it exactly? What was Frostmas?"
If it were physically possible for his face to be any paler it would be. He never thought that someone on the outside of the situation would ask him this question. His stint as Santa was only somewhat discussed during his trial, but never much brought up again. Considering that he and Scott are the only ones that directly remember the other timeline.
Now that he's had ample time to look back on the details of his reign. He only recently noticed just how noisy it all was. A sour taste creeps into his mouth.
"It was…great," he scraped through the answer; a lie but an answer nonetheless. "It was the end goal. The thing that I've worked towards for thousands of years, the thing that got me out of bed in the morning. Ya know, life goals! Aspirations," his words fell with a heavy tone.
"Right," Lucy treads gently, "but what was it though? Was it the theme park or something else?"
"In essence, yes. It's called innovation and I am a master at it. When one is looking for a holiday, there really is no better contender than one already established right smack dab in the middle of your own season!" His voice intensified at the last sentiment of seasonal disputes.
"Well why would you do that?" she asks genuinely curious, "Why steal someone else's holiday when you can probably just make your own?"
His irritation climbed at the remark as he sarcastically feigned ignorance, "Oh right! Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Spoiler alert: I DID! But of course nobody wants Jack to have his own holiday, for whatever reason. So one thing led to another and—"
"You stole Christmas and made it all about you?" Lucy bluntly cut straight through the bullshit before it could go on for much longer.
Jack looks at her indignantly, "If you must put it like that, then yes. The whole park was still called the North Pole, the elves still worked there and all that. It was a lot like Christmas but—," he stopped himself mid sentence.
His knee jerk reaction to call it Better died in his throat. If he were still in the other timeline, or even in the first year of banishment he wouldn't hesitate to label it as such. He'd still like to think that all of it was worth it…somehow. He has to believe it in order to keep going.
"—like Christmas but different. Tweaked a few things here and there, you know how demanding the field of marketing can be."
"And as horrible as that is, somehow none of this is remotely surprising to me. You do seem like the kind of guy that would hijack a holiday," she says in response to him dancing around the subject, "But why do you need a holiday though? Why is that so important?"
And as if he couldn't get any more jostled, in comes the million dollar question. Either her magic was making her far too perceptive for her own good, or he was somehow that easy to read. Neither seemed to be the case, but nonetheless he paused once again. His gaze off somewhere a million miles away. Looking as if he just saw a ghost. This time however he tried extra hard not to dwell on the question that won't leave him be. The following voices…
"…..B-because! Do you know how many times winter has been brushed off because Christmas is more important? How many times my work gets pushed to the side and overlooked because Santa's coming to town?! I STILL hear people who think Mother Nature is the one doing all the winter work!"
Before Lucy could fully register the spiking in his core, he lobbed the snowball at her unexpectedly, still wrapped up in the bitterness he didn't even know he was wearing. This time however the snowball ended up getting caught in the tractor beam so to speak. She managed to catch it with her magic this time. She held the staff straight ahead of her as the moon shaped head and the snowball a few inches away glowed their usual hue. Both onlookers seemed surprised.
"Fair point," she commented, swinging around the snowball mid air, "I know I wouldn't want my hard work to be ignored that often. I guess I can see where you're coming from, but is taking someone else's holiday really the best option?"
The magic however did not last as it blinked in and out of existence before releasing the snowball, letting it fall to the ground in a pathetic lump.
"It was the only option left," his tone at the sentiment switching from something remorseful to more matter-of-fact, "After a couple thousand years you tend to run out of those fairly quickly. But! It's not like a matters much anyway, considering that all those years never really happened."
Lucy figures that she's poked enough holes for the time being, sparing another glance at his core. His face is serving as a minimum, but he's really tied up in knots under the surface. She squints her eyes to try and get more information, concentrating on the vibes around him. His "levels" aren't where they should be, more than one thing about him isn't aligned properly. He's restless, more than a little off-kilter. He's not intune with himself, that is for certain. All the talk of Frostmas made it go even more heywire, but then that begs the question.
What happened during Frostmas that would warrant such a reaction from the guy who led the entire thing? It was all his idea! So why is he utterly recoiling from the concept now? Shying away from it when he should be bragging about it like it's the highest honor.
But during her assessment she completely forgot to respond to his sentiment, the idea of the conversation at hand being temporarily lost.
"HEY! Earth to Miller!"
Lucy snaps back to attention to the sound of Jack shouting and aggressively snapping his fingers in her direction.
"Yeah! Yes! Yes, what do you want?"
"No dozing during class! You had a thousand yard stare there for a second."
"Hardly a class so far," she remarks, readjusting her focus. "And as if I would be even tired right now. I just keep noticing that something about you is weird."
Jack rolls his eyes at the comment, "Weird?"
"Yes! Something about your core is all wonky."
"I didn't ask you to look!" he turns his back to her in a huff, side eyeing her from over his shoulder. As if this would block her view somehow. Wonky? What is this? 3,500 BC? As if he hasn't heard that one from the likes of everyone from back in the day.
"And I know that I am an ethereal sight to behold, but you should know that staring is rude. Especially when I'm trying to explain something about an alternate timeline here."
"Oh please, do not flatter yourself! It's not like I can control the magic vision anyway. If anything this is a testament to a lack of good teaching on your part."
"Alright alright! You want good teaching? Well then let's switch up now. Keep up, we're gonna try something different," he demanded, very grateful for the change in discussion. "Instead of holding them in the air, what I want you to try instead is to intentionally blast them to smithereens."
Lucy readies herself in the same defensive stance as she has before. Done with the invasive questions for now and ready to hone back in on the task at hand, "Ok then. How exactly do I do that when the last time was a complete accident?"
"I want you to do the same thing as before, the reaching deeper bit. But now I want you to reach deeper in another area so to speak. Different abilities require you to think differently when trying to use them. Let's just toss this at the wall and see if it sticks."
And so they did. Jack allowed more room between himself and Lucy as he threw more projectiles for her to potentially destroy. In between the failed attempts at blasting the snow (and dodging the fallout of the missed shots), Lucy's mind wanders to the absurdity of the situation she's in.
She's standing in the middle of Antarctica, wielding a magic staff to try and destroy a barrage of snowballs being thrown by Jack Frost, with magic from a dead god. She honestly thought she would be used to any kind of magical nonsense that would be thrown at her. But now she's willingly marched into wonderland head first and is somehow already up to her knees in magic business. All of which being more than a little difficult to fully understand.
But right in the middle of her reflection, Jack just has to come in and disrupt the flow.
"So, you've asked me a couple questions so far. Now I have some for you," he says, hurling another snowball.
The concentration Lucy had was shaken as the light from her staff flickered, allowing the snowball to strike her right in the chest. She's noticed that he doesn't do too well with lulled silences. She shutters at the thought of what the rest of exile must have been like up until this point.
She wipes the snow off of her coat with a mitten clad hand, "Fair enough. Hit me!" She takes a brief pause at her own wording before quickly backtracking, "I mean not literally! Don't actually hit me. I meant, ask me your question."
Jack picks up another snowball, also thinking about the arrangement currently at play, 'There has to be something she wants here. I froze her parents and locked her in a closet as our ONLY interaction seven years ago. There has to be some kind of motive.'
"I just wanted to ask what your plan is."
This question gives Lucy pause, "My plan?"
"For the future, obviously. After this whole two weeks is said and done, what will you do?"
Another snowball goes flying, and this time Lucy manages to will a small blast of purple sparkle. Granted it was indeed very small and pitiful and only managed to scrape next to the snowball, but it was a blast in definition.
"After I've learned everything? Then I have magic powers for the next ten years! I guess I'm just gonna try and use them responsibly and all that. Help people where I can, be the best spirit I can be. Ya know, something along the lines of an upstanding citizen."
"And after that?"
"After what?"
"After the ten years. When you're able to give up your powers. What happens after that? Are you going to give them away right off the bat?"
She wouldn't know it by the casual tone and the physical activity distracting her, but he was in the middle of digging. Poking around in her mind, dissecting it, trying to find something about her that he could potentially use or manipulate. He couldn't care less about her actual life plans. What he needs is a file for these jail bars.
"No way! I'm totally gonna keep them way after that. It's magic! I wanna try and keep them for as long as possible. So far having them has been really cool! Plus it's not everyday that a human gets superpowers out of the blue."
"Right. But what's the plan after that? Didnt you have a regular life before getting magic? Doing whatever teens are supposed to be doing I assume. But what's the plan Miller? What is your deal?"
This series of questions above the rest traps Lucy's attention. All of a sudden the thoughts of her life before magic came crashing through the proverbial window. It was only four days ago that she came home from school, looking forward to winter break. She can't help but think of the conversation she and Charlie had that day about life choices. The stack of college brochures she's been acquiring the whole year. The fact that she quit gymnastics six months ago. The fact that she didn't know where she was going in life and what exactly she was going to do.
But when she got her magic she was so distracted with learning how to use it that she forgot all about her human struggles. And a cold realization makes itself known. Not only does she still not know what to do with her life going forward, but now adding magic to the mix has made the idea of future plans even murkier than before.
How does she split her time between those? Is she going to have to ultimately choose one or the other? Is that even possible? How much time in her life will be spent dealing with magical Balance? Scott has been notoriously busy ever since he got his powers. And the Christmas when Buddy was born where he tried to advocate for both sides went, a little less than ideally.
If she's not a gymnast and maybe not even a scholar, and probably not a myriad of other things than. Who is she?
"I—I guess you'll just have to wait and see won't you. Maybe I'll surprise you," she stumbles on an answer, "Why the sudden interest anyway?"
Jack maintains an air of casualty, but internally scoffs at the rebuke. What kind of an answer is that? It was her idea for her to be here in the first place, and yet she can't say what she's gonna do in the future? He takes mental note of the way she tries to change the subject and hesitation at the response. He bookmarks these things for later use.
"I already told you, I'm just a very curious person. What? Am I not allowed to conduct a background check of my own?"
Lucy makes a face of disapproval to further try and cover up the seed of unrest that was planted, "I don't think curious is the right word. Need I remind you that I'm not playing any games with you. This is serious business and you still need to earn my trust."
"Of course. Such trust only serves to benefit the both of us," he smirks, "What else do I have to do in here anyway? I guarantee you, Miller, that you will be an expert in this by the end."
He punctuates the statement with another toss of a snowball, and this time Lucy was ready. Her stance on the ice was firm and her staff was aimed. Lazer concentration puppeted her fingers and sparked her will. She stretched a metaphysical hand into the dark, and pulled out a consistent blast of magic. The snowball burst on impact, sending tendrils of powdery snow and trace magic particles drifting down to the floor. The snowball was thoroughly exploded.
The rest of the day goes by without a hitch. Lucy retreats home and the Miller household settles in for the night as does the rest of the world. The sun sets on another day gone by, and night falls in its place. Humans and folklore alike retire for the evening. Families tucking in their children at a reasonable hour. Rowdy teens returning home at a less reasonable hour. Tiny fairies nestled into trees, mermaids retreat to their homes of coral and dragonkind doze off in nests of smoldering coal.
Elsburg is much the same, as the village surrounding the toy factory is only illuminated by red and green string lights, golden lamp posts and the occasional amber glow from windows of those still awake. A ghost of a flurry rains down on the houses as the night creeps onward.
Sandy's dream dust could be seen dancing in the air if you squint, sent out to the world by the man himself to provide a pleasant night's sleep to all. Most dreams are a series of strange circumstances but also enjoyable and entertaining at times. Sandman has been carrying out his duties to a tee for thousands of years, and is a master at his craft. But sometimes even he cannot keep everything at bay from his sleeping citizens.
He's not the only one who works the night shit.
Human children are not the only ones that worry about what's lurking in the darkness of their bedrooms at night. Magic and mortal kids alike sometimes fear what lies behind their closet doors and under their beds. Watching and waiting. The only difference between the two is that magical children know for certain that the entity they fear is all too real.
Said incorporeal blob of darkness makes its way through Elfsburg. It leaps from rooftop to rooftop, slithering in and out of the shadows, avoiding any direct light source. It slips through the darkness like water, sending motes and shadowy beasts to invade the homes of elven children. Cultivating the fields of nightmares.
He doesn't often like visiting the North Pole himself, usually leaving the area up to remote work. During 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year' Santa himself often takes a chunk off his plate when dealing with misbehaving children. But his methods he could never get behind. The whole schtick of lists and coal was just so boring. Never much cared for the guy, and Christmas as a whole. But he remembers that his own kid takes up residency at the workshop. And he never misses an opportunity.
Santa's workshop, unlike the rest of the town, never sleeps. It's always kept running through the night by a team of dedicated night shift staff, keeping them on schedule. The only place in the workshop that doesn't follow this agenda is obviously Santa's quarters. His family's personal wing has been dim for a while now. All the Claus' sound asleep.
Including Buddy, who has been out for quite a few hours now. The lights in his seasonally appropriate room are off as the child peacefully rests. All would be well in paradise, if not for the vaguely human shaped silhouette standing outside his bedroom window. Only somewhat obscured by the sheer curtains, the bright red eyes of the shadow casts its gaze into the room, thinking of his next move.
Without any effort, the shadow trickles into the room through the slightest crack in the windows insulation. Rematerializing on the other side in his true form.
Leather boots silently materialize on the hardwood, the tattered edges of the overcoat hover a foot away from the ground. Fingerless gloves attached to scarred hands were firmly tucked into the coat pockets. The beanie dampened the mop of messy red hair; a section of it slightly diluted with gray poking through. A hideously green scarf hung loose around his neck. His face, also scarred, was aged and lived in a permanent state of scruff.
He looms over the boy as he sleeps, trying to see what he sees through his psyche. This kid doesn't seem to have a lot of fears. Not any he wishes to work with at any rate. How dull. So if he doesn't have any suitable fears right now, why not give him a new one.
A strange combo of black and red magic washes over his hand, stretching out over the kid's face. He quietly snaps his fingers just above his forehead watching the residual magic dance around his head before fizzling out. Perfect.
His body deconstructs into darkness yet again, to expertly slip back out of the window from whence he came, slightly obscured by shadows. The disheveled man looks through the glass and watches the magic happen. His own eyes turn a bloody red from pupil to sclera, to see exactly what the kid sees.
All is well so far, his fathers sleigh flying high above the clouds as he usually does. But then something goes awry. Something in the mechanisms malfunctions and the sleigh starts to fall. Buddy's face frowns as he sleeps as a subconscious response.
But falling soon turns to plummeting, at breakneck speeds through the air. The ground so far away yet coming closer by the second. His heart rate skyrockets at the image of his dad falling to his tragic demise. Combine that with the sinking feeling of falling himself and a taste of vertigo, the impact with the ground comes crashing through the boy's senses. The sensation is so real feeling that Buddy is startled awake.
Yelling out into the night he jolts forwards righting himself in bed. Trying to catch his breath, tears involuntarily start to roll down his face. He doesn't wail as he cries but more so silently sobs, his breath wavering in and out.
The man on the outside of the window isn't noticed by the child yet, but remains a little disappointed. He was really expecting a nightmare like that would warrant a reaction with a little more screaming. But I suppose you can't get them all.
"Buddy?"
Drawn in by the shout, in walks none other than the head elf, Bernard. Taking an emergency call in from the usual night staff supervisor, he looks just a tad more tired than usual. Ever the one to stretch himself thin, the developing dark circles under his eyes suggest that this is one of those times.
He lets the residual light from the hallway illuminate the room just enough to see his boss's child crying and shaking like a leaf.
"What's going on, kid? Bad dream or something?" he asks calmly, hanging just outside the door frame.
Buddy can only nod his head in response to Bernard's question, his face still wet with tears. He shuffles off the bed with a blanket in hand and walks over to Bernard. The head elf looks down at the kid in sympathy. This isn't the first time he's had to comfort a Calvin kid during the night, and it probably won't be the last.
"Alright then come on," he holds his hand out to Buddy, "I'm sure the kitchen is still open. But you only get something small, and then it's straight back to bed."
And just when it seems the man outside the window is about to conclude another successful scare, a light starts to blink. Something in one of his pockets was flashing a bright pink and green color. Ths illuminates his face more and catches his attention, causing movement from behind the glass that Bernard finally sees.
'Shit,' he growls to himself.
The color from the elf's face drains as he notices the intruder outside Buddy's window, frozen with fear. He and the homeless looking man make eye contact. A grimacing smirk on the man's face, taunting him from afar. With a sly wink and a dark chuckle under his breath he was gone. Carried away by the darkness as swiftly as he came.
Bernard was left with his mouth slightly agape staring at the place where he once stood. Buddy takes notice of how stiff he is and tries following his line of sight. But nothing was there.
"Bernard…?" he asked in a warbly voice.
The latten fear was quickly buried with a heavy sigh, covered up by annoyance. Bernard knows exactly who that was. Everyone in the realms knows who The Boogeyman is. An unpleasant nightly guest to say the very least.
"Let's go Bud," he takes the kids' much smaller hand in his own and leads him out of the room and down the hall, "I guess I might have to explain to you where bad dreams come from."
Swimming through the darkness, the man travels outside the village bounds, taking cover in the surrounding evergreen forest. Knee deep into the winter woodland, he reforms back into human shape and irritably riffles through his pockets to procure the flashing object in question.
A small ping pong ball sized crystal, spherical and usually dark red in color. But now annoyingly flashes with a sickening secondary color scheme, illuminating the surrounding forest in its light. His eyebrows furrow as he activates the orb, letting it float a few inches above his open palm as he takes the call.
"KILLIAN! I got news for ya!" sang a woman's alto voice from the other end of the crystal ball.
"Mera, i'm on the clock right now, what is so important that you have to call me during work?" the Boogeyman's deeper voice reprimands.
"Because I have news! Didn't I say that?" Chimera excitedly responds, "Big news even!"
"News about what?"
"Exile!"
Killian's expression snapped to one of indignation, "You—you called me at work for an update on your soap opera?!"
"Have some tact will ya Kills?" she said with a faux sympathetic drawl, "This is a man's punishment in solitary confinement, and more importantly it is the best reality show I've seen in a while. Be nice to me and respect my interests."
"I'll start doing that when they're something to respect. I keep forgetting that you only enjoy trash entertainment."
"You laughed SO HARD at that clip I sent you of him getting chased by a polar bear! Don't even lie to me."
Killian pauses with his mouth in a tight line, "Just because I'm bitter doesn't mean I can't have a sense of humor."
"Exactly!" Chimera laughs, "Just take a smoke break for a little bit because I have actual news regarding exile. Something is happening, Kills."
Her tone dropped to something slightly more serious at her last sentiment. Picking up on this shift, Killian cocks an eyebrow at the thought. And gives in after a beat of silence.
"Fine. Just make it quick ok?"
He leaves the glowing orb floating in the air near his eye level. With a flourish of his wrist and a splash of shadows he produces a worn lighter and a pack of cigarettes. Making quick work of sparking the lighter, he lights a cigarette as his friend explains.
"So I checked in on him a few days ago like usual right? Got an extra day off, just wanted to chill, see what the blue pygmy was up to right? And I tuned in just in time because he actually had visitors. Plural! But not just any visitors."
The crystal ball shined as it produced a flat plane of pink and green magic hovering just above it. And on the plane displayed the soundless footage of Jack, Mother Nature and Lucy all talking amongst themselves in the south pole.
"Mother Nature, Kills! I would have thought she didn't want anything to do with him anymore. But here she is seven years later with a whole sorcerer in tow talking to him!"
Killian scrutinizes the footage. The cigarette smoke drifts off of his lips and mixes with the usual white of his breath as he stands in the cold. He pretends to not be interested.
"So what? So his estranged mother and a pint sized spell jockey visit him in jail. Is that all you wanted to show me?" he glowers.
"Nope! Because after this I checked back in yesterday and the little redhead was with him again. For a good portion of the day too. He nearly ended the kid!"
The corresponding footage from yesterday's excursion started to play on Chimera's command. The video of Lucy's powers activating in her fight or flight state punctuates her sentiment. Now his attention is hooked. He leans in closer to the display to better look at the pair in training.
"And what do I find when I rewind the footage from earlier today? The same thing. Just Jack and Jill over here doing who knows what."
The display flips to a recorded feed of the two in banishment. Much earlier in the day when Lucy was trying to catch the snowballs that were being tossed at her.
Killian gets lost in his contemplation of the events on video, taking a long drag from the cigarette. He critiques the state of Jack as he continues tossing snowballs at the girl. A drop of venom finds its way down his throat.
He looks like shit. Decrepit and tired. Ghostly almost. Maybe even malnourished just a bit.
He hates how many details he can still remember. Just how many of his stupid little minute mannerisms stand out to him against his will. How poisoningly different he still is despite it all.
"It looks like Little Red can come and go whenever, but I can't figure out any reason why Jack would be issued a sorcerer though. I just figured that you should know, considering that it's already been a couple days of this kid popping in and out."
"And why do you feel the need to tell me?" Killian snaps, trying to bury the true amount of disdain in his throat.
"Just in case you ever take my advice for actual revenge sometime," Chimera prods.
"I've been getting revenge for 910 years now! Motherfucker never knows what's gonna hit him or when. I've been doing that, Mera!" he shouts at the crystal ball.
"Kills," Chimera starts, her tone noticeably softer than before, stopping him before his tirade could properly start.
The image in the air abruptly flickers to a live video of Chimera herself. The woman was tan with long dark curly hair; currently tied up past her large horns and lion's ears. Her hips and downwards was replaced with the body of a lion, adorned with leopard spots. A pair of dark dragon's wings sat on the haunches of the cat's body, with a snake for a tail curled up behind her. Her golden eyes held a gaze that was tactful and sincere.
"You're my friend, and I care about you. And you've grown a lot in the past 900 years. But I can't help but feel like you still haven't fully gotten that closure yet. Not fully. I really feel like you still need to get that last little bit out of your system. Put him in the never ending nightmare, fist fight him in an alleyway if you have to. For your own benefit. To really seal the deal and to put this whole thing to rest."
Killian barely managed to make eye contact with his friend, busying himself with another long drag. He hates how she's right sometimes. More often than he'd care to admit. More often than he's willing to tell her at least. She means well, and when you are the one and only Boogeyman, having someone who cares about you is always rare.
"….Thanks, Mera. I do appreciate the thought, but this? Him? Means nothing to me. I'm past it, really. And I don't wanna get all bent out of shape about it again. It's fine, I assure you."
Chimera, having been Killian's friend for thousands of years now, knows when he's lying. He does a bang up job of hiding it for the most part, from most people who don't know him as well. And as much as her care saturates her gaze through the crystal ball, she knows better than to force him to do anything. She knows that he's lying, but refuses to pry and will wait until he is ready and willing to talk with her.
"Alright, fair enough shadow boy," she concedes, "I won't bother you with this kinda thing anymore, if you want. Guess I'll just have to find someone cooler to watch my shows with."
"Don't even play that game, you love me," Killian smirks, "Nobody else would hang out with a freak like you anyway."
"If i'm a freak then you gotta be the whole damn circus! I'll catch ya later Kills."
"Cya."
And with Chimera ending the call, the crystal ball retracted its light back into itself. Leaving its usual dark red and falling directly into his awaiting palm. The forest around him was plunged into terrible darkness yet again, leaving the man alone with his thoughts.
He takes another inhale off the cigarette.
'Mother Nature and a sorcerer in exile…? Mandated? Planned? Requested? What could he have to gain from having a witch around…?'
His posture splinters, catching himself mid thought as if he did something wrong.
"We're not doing that again," he says out loud to himself, reprimanding the knee-jerk reaction to try and get inside his head, trying to see Frost's thought process.
'Were past that now. He doesn't deserve to take up space in my head. Not anymore,' he laments, 'I'm sure this will all amount to nothing. The spell caster will leave and he'll be back to rotting in Antarctica for the rest of time, just as it's supposed to be.'
With his cigarette finished, he drops the butt into the snow and smothers it under his boot.