"That was awesome!" Jack panted heavily, the power he'd had to use weakened him a lot; from holding the hole open, freezing the tank, unfreezing the tank and closing the hole again... Jack winced.
"Y-Yeah it was." He said, falling onto the ice in pain.
"Jack!" Jamie knelt next to him in sudden concern. Jack laughed.
"J-Just got weak in the knees don't worry about it." He kissed Jamie but then went unconscious. Jamie caught him before he passed out and sighed a little.
"Perhaps you just need to recuperate a little more my snowflake." He murmured as he picked Jack up and headed into the hut. They'd been through a lot, now that he thought about it all. He loved Jack to pieces, but sometimes he thought that his love was a little too stubborn for his own good at times. He carried him back to the bed and snuggled up to him.
"Stubborn... still love ya though." He brushed a gentle kiss to Jack's forehead. Jack dreamed of Jamie and him riding that monster of a fish underwater and finding the lost city of Atlantis. Jamie stayed close, content that he seemed to be having good dreams. It's the next morning when Jack felt a sudden headache, it hurt a lot. Jamie kept Jack in bed the rest of the day, gently insistent that they take a day to just be lazy just because. Jack sighed.
"Fine ok." He kissed him.
"You know, I love you very much."
"Yup, all the more reason to stay in bed and cuddle you." Jamie replied after returning the kiss, snuggling against him. Jack smiled.
"Aww, God Jamie that feels so good." He kissed him gently. Jamie snuggled happily against Jack as he returned the kiss. There's a loud explosion, causing Jack to gasp.
"JAMIE!" The hut shook and Jack looked outside.
"JAMIE TANKS!" It appeared that Russia was going to war.
"JAMIE WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!" Jamie groaned, so much for peace and quiet.
"Do what? The Russians are prepared for the cold. Besides, we don't even know who is in the right. We really shouldn't interfere until we find out." Jack nodded.
"But we really should get out of here." He looked outside, there were soldiers all around.
"I donno... I mean, can they even see us? If not we might as well stay put. I can't imagine they're gonna raid the place or anything. Not like there's anything here they'd want." Jack sniffed.
"They'd take everything in the cabin out... they might blow it up during their scuffle." Jamie frowned.
"Well I don't know about you, but I'm not letting them raid this place." Jack sniffled, hugging Jamie.
"Jamie what do we do?" There was crash and slamming downstairs.
"No..." Jamie's eyes flash.
"What we have to." Jamie darted downstairs and summoned the wind, blasting the men out the door and icing the broken windows. The men yell at the unexpected blows though they are more stunned than hurt.
Jamie blasted the surrounding men further and summoned ice to begin creating a dome up around the house itself... it's tremendous effort... but knowing how much this place meant to Jack... he'd do anything to keep the men out. The men yell in astonishment and on the ice in their native tongue Jamie etches into the ice in large letters:
This place is protected. Leave or suffer the consequences.
They yell, shocked and retreat; Jack sniffed, seeing the destruction of the items that held so many memories for him. Jamie swayed a little, he wasn't used to using so much power all at once... He shook himself and went back inside, sighing a little at the damage he saw. Well... he rummaged about until he found what he was looking for. He couldn't make things back as if they hadn't happened, but he could put some of these things back together. He picked up the first item; handling it with great care, he'd seen his mother do this once when a friend of his had accidentally broken a vase that had belonged to a friend of his mother's. With great care, he began to piece it back together, using a bit of ice to make the glue dry faster and help hold it in place. The teddy Jack's friend had left behind for him to talk to when he wasn't there was nothing but ash now; it made Jack cry.
"Why would they d-do this?" His voice went quiet, no tears, but seething rage came off him in waves. A rage with an urge to kill and obliterate everything and everyone in his path... Jamie pieced together everything he could and put it back in his place, discarding the ashes of things that he was unable to fix before putting his arms around Jack.
"I don't understand it myself Jack. All I know is that armies raid places for supplies... I don't know why they would do something this horrible." He wished he could comfort Jack, but for now all he could do was try to calm him down before he decided to actually take action on the rage he could sense from the other winter spirit. Jack sniffled, having tried to find and save the last of the items that had been destroyed in the brief break in. Jamie did what he could to help Jack salvage the last of the items. Jack hugged the final items in his arms as if they would blow away, but the slightest touch turned them to ash; Jack cried, mentally and emotionally destroyed at that moment. Jamie did his best to comfort Jack, holding him and wiping away the tears; he's not sure what else to do, but it's exhausting work and eventually he succumbed to his tired body's demand for sleep. Jack sniffled a little, having been up most of the night crying. Jamie hasn't moved, leaning against Jack, his arms draped around him gently. Jack looked about the destroyed cabin, only full of broken and forgotten memories now; Jamie had done his best to fix things, but he wasn't a miracle worker. Jack sighed, grabbing Jamie he wrapped him up in a blanket one that wasn't destroyed and took off with him to a warm, but cool, area that he know of; not wanting to be there any longer. Jamie slept through the entire thing, thoroughly exhausted. Jack groaned, shaking a headache away as he set Jamie on a soft bed of leaves; a nest of leaves he'd made in a cavern in the woods, with soft bushes nearby that glittered with ice in the sunshine but would help them to stay cool for hours. Jamie stirred an hour later, blinking away the sleep he looked around in confusion. Jack quivered a little, as his headache returned full blast he stumbled and hit the cave wall hard with a loud smack.
"Jack?" Jamie glanced around in confusion. Where was he?
"Hmm?" Was his reply to Jamie as he stumbled into the room he'd made for him.
"Where are we?" Jack didn't answer right away because he was rubbing his temples.
"Guh... a cave that I made into a home."
"You okay?" He asks gently, noticing that Jack seems to be rubbing his temples. Jack shook his head.
"No, no... just a headache."
"Maybe you should drink some water... I read somewhere that doing so can help with headaches."
"I've tried that several times, no go here." Jack winced, the sunlight harming his sensitive eyes at the moment and turning the headache into a migraine.
"Ah fuck."
"Hmmm... well my only other suggestion is sleep then. I don't know of anything else that can cure headaches." Jack winced and tumbled into another hole in the cave that he'd forgotten to cover.
"SHIIIIIIIT!" Jack fell, and fell, and fell... it was really deep. He yelled in pain as his funny bone met the stone floor of a hidden cavern hole; it was pitch black dark.
"Ow, I think I broke my elbow." Jack whined. Jamie wandered over to the hole, slowly floating down into it; as he noticed it get dark, he placed ice to act like mirrors to reflect down and light up the hole.
"Geez this thing is deep." Jack groaned, holding his arm in a tight grip to staunch the bleeding since his funny bone was sticking through the skin and bent back a little bit. Jamie winced at the sight and iced the wound over after making sure the bone wasn't dislocated or anything. It would heal in time, but he didn't need Jack bleeding out in the meantime. He then wrapped his arms around him and gently lifted him back out of the hole.
"Ow ow ow ow..." It's all Jack said for the moment; his arm hurt, a lot.
"Ouch. Well next time - ow - I'll be more careful of the holes in here - ow - and cover them. Ouch, ow."
"Why are you bothering walking around a cave you don't even know? I mean... wouldn't it make more sense to float so this doesn't happen?" Jamie asks, rather baffled that Jack was in this mess in the first place.
"I don't remember there being a deep hole last time I was here so that was my bad and I probably will be icing holes." Jack grunted and yelped as the last of the cast was made.
"OWW!"
"Well, places change, just like people and the weather." Jamie replied and iced over the hole once they're both out of it. Jack sighed.
"Yep, I supposed so." He winced as he walked to the other leaf bed nest.
"Was your arm all you hurt?" Jamie asked, noticing that Jack winced as he walked. Jack's head drooped and he sighed like a teenager who didn't wanna tell their mother something.
"Nooo." He said it real slow like, as he all but limped to the bed; but forced himself to walk correctly even though it hurt and Jamie felt all Jack's pain through the bond they shared and he could sense Jack was lying.
Jamie waited until Jack was on the bed before checking him over more thoroughly, though he was very gentle about it. Jack winced a couple of times when the touch was by his ankle and right leg but said nothing. Jamie took note and did what he could, but there wasn't much he could do about the pain as since they were both winter spirits his ice wasn't really that good in dulling Jack's nerves. Jack winced and finally a whine of pain escaped him.
"Ouch." He didn't look at the swollen purple black bruise that had bone broken in places. Jamie figured it had to be bad if Jack said 'ow.' So he wrapped it up to heal in ice. Jack whined but slowly fell asleep from the pain, eventually he was snoring and dreaming of sugar plum fairies, strangely enough. Jamie spent the time that Jack was asleep exploring the cavern and sealing any holes he found to ensure it wouldn't happen to anyone. Jack awoke in the most awful pain.
"OUUCH!"
"Take it easy. That fall was rough on you." Jamie said softly from nearby, he'd been staring out at the cave the last few minutes. Jack panted, rubbing his elbow and winced as he had bumped his leg.
"Ow."
"Yeah... it's gonna hurt for a while. I can't do much about it unfortunately. You'll just need to be extra cautious until it heals." Jack whined.
"Awww." But he lay down again.
"Don't whine at me now, it was your carelessness that got you into this in the first place." Jamie gently chides. Jack groaned.
"I hate myself now... fudge I forgot about the fire ants next door."
"I took care of those while you were sleeping... among other things. Don't worry about it." Jack nodded and patted the leaf bed meaning 'get your ass in here or I won't sleep.' Jamie chuckled a little at the invitation and got up to settle next to Jack, knowing very well that if he didn't that Jack would just lay there and probably pout. Not that it would hurt if he didn't sleep for a while, but Jamie knew he needed the sleep and he liked cuddling up to Jack so he didn't have any reason to decline it. Jack slowly cuddled and hugged Jamie like a monkey, falling asleep on his chest; Jamie wrapped his arms around Jack gently, mindful of the healing arm as he held Jack. He didn't take note of the small smile that played on his lips as he stared up at the ceiling of the cavern. He was just glad that things were peaceful and that he was where he belonged, at Jack's side. Jack 'mmmed' in his sleep, talking to himself in a dream. Jamie listened to the peaceful silence around before he drifted off himself. It's a few hours in the morning before Jack wakes, his stomach growled, waking him completely.
"Oh, guess I'm hungry." Jamie slowly stirs a little as Jack does. Jack grumbled and fell out of the bed; a loud smack and a crunch was heard of the unhealed broken bones. Jack whimpered a little and just lay there. Jamie let out a soft sigh and asked the wind to help move Jack up while he redoes the ice bandages... fortunately most of the "crunch" was the bandages shattering and not bone. Jack sighed.
"Ouch." He winced and whimpered at every touch and rewrap. Jamie winced a little but continued the work until he's done. Jack shivered and sit up with Jamie's help.
"I'm hungry." Jamie propped Jack up against the wall.
"Sit tight. I'll be back with breakfast." Jamie left the cavern to do just that; Jack counted to 200 while waiting, slightly bored and only wincing in pain ever once in a great while. When Jamie came back nearly an hour later he had an ice plate with some fish on it, along with some wild onions he'd found. For himself he'd managed to snare some wild animal that he'd cooked and he had eggs on both plates too. Jack smiled.
"Wow, you're a real hunter aren't you Jamie." He said more than asked.
"Not really... The fish was luck and it's not hard to catch an animal that doesn't run from you."
"Oh." Jack ate the fish quicker than the wild onions and vegetables. Jamie ate his meal in peace. It was something he'd discovered while out... most wild animals didn't run from him like they did when he was human. Well... that just made it easier to feed the two of them. Jack finished his rabbit, or what he thought was rabbit, but he didn't really care what it was. Jamie finished his meal and his ice plate vanished into thin air.
"You've gotten way better with your ice powers." Jack said, snickering; he was amazed how fast a learner Jamie proved to be.
"Had a good teacher." He replied back with a slight smile. Jack sighed, laying back; he decided to add a window of a type that opened up only by their magic signatures. A slight smile tugged at Jamie's lips as he lightly frosted the window to the outside, making flourishing little patterns along the 'glass.' Jack watched him in awe as if he was Jamie as a child and Jamie was Jack. Just as Jack had once done, he used his frost to create an etching of a small rabbit, though it was smaller than the one he'd seen as a child, and brought the tiny creature to life. It was no bigger than a baseball as it peeled itself from the 'glass' and began to hop about. Jack laughed, giggling excitedly in surprise as at the end it exploded into snowflakes; his eyes wide with awe and memory, it was Jamie and him when they had first really met and Jamie had started to believe in Jack. Jamie smiled, watching the snow rabbit dart about only to burst into snowflakes... he remembered, very vividly, that fateful Easter evening. That had been the first time he had actually met Jack. It had been the snowflakes that had clued him in that something was different, there was no reason for Bunny to make snow... and when a bit had landed on his nose he remembered what his mother had said about Jack Frost nipping at his nose... He'd begun to believe then that his mother had been wrong... that Jack wasn't just an expression, he was... and he'd turned then after calling out the name in hopes that his newfound belief wasn't wrong... and he had been rewarded with the best friend ... love... he could never have imagined he'd ever have. Jack felt like crying, somewhat remembering it all; he don't know why, but tears started to fall down his cheeks without his consent as the flashback ended in his mind. Jamie moved over to Jack, concern flickering in his eyes. Had he done something wrong? He'd just been showing off... Jack hugged Jamie so close and tight it was like being bear hugged.
"Thank you so much my precious light." Jack hadn't called him 'light' in a long, long time. Jamie was startled by that but he held Jack close, it had never occurred to him that it would mean so much because he had forgotten that he'd once been Jack's only believer. It was easy to forget, that he had been the very last believer that night... and the first one, in a long time, to truly believe in Jack. Jack cried a little, having remembered as well; he was Jack's last light, the last child on the planet who kept on believing and Jack had helped him believe in the Guardians again.
"My little light." It's all Jack repeated before becoming exhausted. Jamie kept Jack close to him for the remainder of the day, nuzzling a little against him when he slept and made sure that there was some meat and vegetables to eat when he woke up in time for the evening meal. Jack sighed, his arm started to hurt less and less but his leg seemed to get worse and worse.
"Ow my leg." He rolled up the pant leg, probably need some new pair soon, but they'd never ripped up anymore. Jack noticed a large indentation in his skin, it was turning a black color, like it was rotting inside and that made him scream in shock. Jamie looked at and groaned.
"Great... you're gonna like this even less probably... but I don't think we have a choice..." Before Jack could think about what he was doing, or Jamie thought to explain much, he scooped up Jack and flew off to the pole. This wasn't good and he didn't have medical supplies to take care of... whatever was causing THAT... Jack squirmed.
"NO! NO POLE! NO HOSPITAL!" He struggled and called wind to carry them back. Jamie rebuffed Jack's attempts, the wind was on his side... this time. It didn't like seeing Jack hurt anymore than he did.
"We don't have a choice Jack. I'm not a medical doctor or a miracle worker." Jack squirmed more and more.
"NO DOCTORS! NO HOSPITAL! NO! NO!" He fought, squirmed, even bit Jamie to get him to let go. Jamie countered everything Jack tried. He'd been prepared for this and had hoped that it wouldn't be needed but like he'd told Jack... he couldn't let it be and he wasn't capable of taking care of whatever this was. He landed in the infirmary, getting a questioning warble from the yeti who was changing some sheets.
"I donno what's wrong, some injury he got when he fell down a hole... no I don't know HOW he managed that." Jamie settled on a bed, shifting his hold of Jack so that he could keep Jack from getting away but also allow the yeti to examine the leg. Jack struggled and bit Jamie's hand hard.
"Wet mwe goff!" He said between his bite, he squirmed and struggled to be let go; the yeti warbled at Jamie who only winced at the bite. It moved over to a cabinet and came back with something hidden in its hand. That something turned out to be a needle full of sedative that the yeti stuck into Jack's neck to take effect faster. Jack squealed and struggled more and more before becoming drowsy.
"Damn it, I hate you both; I hate you." It's all he said before going unconscious. The yeti sets to work then dealing with the wound, warbling every now and then at Jamie who answered the various questions. Jack started the stir during the little procedure.
"Hunn." He looked up blurry-eyed before he freaked out and tore the tools out of his leg.
"AHHH!" He yelled in pain, having ripped out a IV as well as some of the stitches. Two yetis instantly held Jack down and sedate him a second time with a stronger dose to finish what they were doing. Jack struggled a couple more times before going limp; he forced his eyes to stay open as long as possible.
"Mmff!" It's all Jack managed to get out before going under into blackness, the hole was twice as big now then it was before; when Jack woke up again Jamie was dozing in a plush chair that had been set next to the bed.