Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ROTG (SORRY)
A/N: Author notes are always at the end ;)
Thanks again for choosing to read this!
Also I wanted to remind readers that this story takes place AFTER Rise of the Guardians.
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When Jamie went to bed that night, he knew that something was wrong. It was marked on every calendar, the symbol of the full moon tonight. It was supposed to be a clear night, yet when he looked out the window, there were no stars, no moon.
The ten year old strode to his bed and stared down at his bandaged hands. When examined by the hospital, doctors told him to keep putting on a soothing clear gel that would help heal his burns. The burns were pink and peeling, covering the bottom of his palms to his fingertips. They flared in pain at any contact.
"Ow," he gasps as he clenches his fists accidentally. The boy leaps up and runs to his dresser. "Gel, gel."
He freezes.
On top of his dresser besides the glass jar of anti-burn gel, was a large fist sized ball.
The soul.
Memories of the explosion and the voice whispering, "Non omnis moriar," echoed through Jamie's head.
Burnt hands forgotten, Jamie slowly backed away from the ball towards the door.
A sudden voice, "Jamie?"
His mother leans on the frame of his bedroom door with the hallway light outlining her figure like a halo. Her brown eyes are dull and bags underneath her eyes due to the stress.
"Bedtime, kiddo." She runs a hand through her hair.
Jamie reluctantly crawls beneath the covers, an eye on his dresser the whole time. "G'night Mom."
"Sweet dreams." The door closes.
Jamie launches himself towards the dresser and snatches the ball. Hands shaking and burning, he examines the sphere.
The ball has round and flawless. It originally had mixed colors of gold and grey within it, but now it had an odd metallic sheen on the surface where Jamie could see his haphazard reflection in. Jamie unwrapped some of his bandages to feel the ball and was surprised to discover that the surface had a lukewarm warmth to it, like a creature was deep in slumber beneath the smooth shell. He tapped it, tossed it, banged it, but there was no reaction. The sphere stayed the same.
Non omnis moriar. What had it meant? Who told him this? Was it some sort of sign from the aliens who lived on Jupiter? Was it a-
"New toy?" an amused voice asks.
Jamie lets out a sound between a shriek and a snort as he quickly shoves the warm sphere into the vicinities of his striped pajamas. His eyes dart to the bedroom window and he sees the delicate fern patterned frost that swirled all over the glass. Then he notices the new chill to the usual stuffy spring air and he turns around to face his best friend, Jack Frost.
The immortal teen leans on his staff with a cool smirk. His snow white hair and skin seem to glow in the night and his eyes sparkle mischievously.
"Jack! You came!" Jamie faked a smile. "It's the middle of spring! What brings you to Burgess?"
Jack let out a hearty laugh, "Yeah, this darn spring is taking its tole on me!"
"Don't melt on the floor! I just got this rug!" Jamie forces himself to laugh as well.
Looking up at his friend again, Jamie realizes how long it's been since he's seen Jack. As usual, he hasn't changed one bit. The child throws himself at the spirit and a muffled shout comes from both of them as they crash to the floor in a huge embrace. Jamie wraps his little arms around Jack's waist and snuggles, while Jack protectively wraps his cold arms around his first believer.
Then the warm greyish ball rolls out of Jamie's sleeve.
"Jamie, what is that-"
"Nothing!" Jamie screamed, grabbing the ball and retreating to his bed with his back the confused frost spirit. "I mean, nothing..."
For the first time, Jack notices the pale strips of bandages wrapped around both of Jamie's hands. Anger flares in the pit of his stomach. He takes the child by the shoulders and turns him around.
"Did someone hurt you?" Jack asks in a low voice.
"No! I just...burnt myself when I was making...tea..." Jamie stutters.
Sensing the lie, Jack narrows his eyes, but backs off. "Alright. I believe you."
Jamie lets go of a breath and the two boys sit on the floor across from each other awkwardly. The rug beneath Jack begins to crackle as it freezes and Jamie rubs the back of his neck hesitantly.
"Look," Jack sighs, "Setting all of this aside, I needed to tell you some news."
"Oh, okay." Jamie internally breathes in relief that Jack wasn't going to ask him about his hands or the odd ball.
"As the Guardian of Fun, I hate to burden you with these things, but I have really bad news." Jack whispers.
"What?"
Before either of them could take another breath, A long feminine scream pierces their ears, making Jack jump up at the pain of a child and Jamie bolts out of his room and down the dark hallway to a room.
Sophie's room.
The scream continues without pause and Jack is forced to cover his ears and lurch after the boy.
"Jamie!"
Jack skids into Sophie's room and sees his believer squatting next to the young girl's convulsing body on the pink sheets. Her eyes are open, rolled back into her head as her mouth opens for air for another even higher scream. Her blonde hair is covered in cold sweat, plastering to her ghastly pale cheeks as she. Jamie is shaking her with all his might, trying to jerk her out of the awful trance.
"Let me," the spirit comes to his senses and speaks. Jamie steps aside and watches anxiously as his friend rubs his fingers. An intricate, crystalline snowflake appears between his digits and it automatically flies to Sophie's trembling nose and bursts. Blue static runs along her face as she rises to consciousness and her screaming and the spasming stops. She droops onto her bed and sighs tiredly, quickly falling back asleep.
Jamie drops to ground numbly, his sister's screamed still ringing within his head.
"This was what I came to tell you about, Jamie." Jack finally says. He tightens his grip on his staff. "It's Sandy."
The brown eyed boy's chest tightens. "What about Sandy?"
"He's missing. Sandy is missing." was the softly spoken answer.
Images of golden sand trickling from window to window and giant living figures of dream sand flash through Jamie's head. Sandy.
"W-we have to find him!" Jamie shouts. "A search party! A-ah, you can sense other Guardians or something can't you?! Use your powers or something! Anything!..."
"Jamie," Jack says in an even softer tone. "He's not the only one."
Jamie's stomach drops to his toes like a rock.
"Pitch Black is missing too. Sandy and Pitch are missing."
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Perhaps telling a ten year old boy that two powerful spiritual figures were missing wasn't a good idea, considering he had just watched his little sister have a terrifying fit in bed.
Even worse was the idea of taking the said boy to North's workshop while he was unconscious. That idea was commonly known as 'kidnapping'. Jack did not do any of this because he is a very good and smart Guardian...or he told himself so as he flew rapidly through the sky towards the North Pole.
A few minutes prior to this, Jamie had just crumpled to the ground after hearing that Sandy and Pitch were missing. Carefully, as not to wake him, Jack scooped him up and flew him to North's place. Halfway there, the spirit of fun realized that he had a snow globe in his pocket and the whole idea of flying to the Pole was silly.
In a shimmering burst of silver, gold and candycanes, the two were standing in the middle of a quiet workshop where a few yetis were busying themselves with untangling the elves from Christmas tree lights. It was spring, so the crew wasn't so busy yet. North, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found.
Jack shifts Jamie's body onto his left shoulder as he flies over the giant oak door where the large man of wonder is usually found.
Without thinking twice, he summons the wind to open the door and it does with a grand creaking flourish. Inside, an angered yelp sounds out at the same time something shatters. Pieces of ice spray onto the floor besides Jack's bare feet. There is stomping and a large, buff man cradles his head in his large hands.
"Phil!" He shouts with a Russian accent. "How many times have I told you to-Jack?"
"North!" Jack stands in the doorway. "I brought Jamie. And sorry about your ice sculpture..."
"Is no big deal!" North waves a tattooed hand marked Naughty. "Now you've brought first believer, we can all talk about Sandy and Pitch!"
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"Ah!" as if a pail of cold water had been thrown into his mind, Jamie is wrenched from his sleep.
Deep in his heart, he had this rising anxiety inside that would boil over soon if he didn't do something about it. It was what awoke him. Jamie had never stepped foot into North's workshop, yet he knew where he was and his brain automatically knew every nook and cranny of the place. Before he knew it, his legs were leading him out of the small cot on which he woke up on.
His destination appeared in his head like a movie picture. It was a spacious balcony with mahogany railings and tapestries hung over a roaring fireplace. But best of all, a huge globe was spinning slowly outside the room with thousands of little firefly-like lights decorated upon its surface. That was where they were. The Guardians.
Jamie burst into the room and was surprised to see the exact place he expected. The Guardians, without Sandy, stood in the center, conversing. They stopped when they saw the little boy. Jamie dazedly slid his hand along the solid railing of balcony and gaped around the room in awe.
Then, the boy's eyes fell onto North.
The anxiety that had been rising suddenly boiled over and he stiffly walked over to the man.
The large man sensed something in his belly that there was something up with Jamie.
Jamie wriggled uncomfortably as if he was fighting an invisible fight within himself. At last, he burst out, "North, he told me Non omnis moriar. Non omnis moriar is what he said... He's gone now I think..."
A silence is cast upon the members of the room. Even the elves who were goofing around stopped their jingling. It was like Pitch had entered the room and dumped his nightmare sand upon all of them because each Guardian's eyes turned stony with fear.
At last, a single word breaks the silence; a needle sinking into nothing.
"Man in Moon," North says in a hushed voice. "is gone."
A nearby yeti faints, causing the ground to tremble as his bulk hits the floor. Everyone snaps out of their stupor. The Guardians immediately butt heads and argue about the issue. The sound of chaos was like an inexperienced band who decided to play all at once. Jamie tries to back away from the noise, but he ends up tripping over someone's cup of eggnog and landing painfully on his behind.
"EVERYBODY SHUSH." roars North.
Jack and Bunnymund look up from their brawl.
Tooth finishes her panic attack and lands from her flight.
The Guardian of Wonder storms over to the fireplace and grabs an ornate sword with a silver handle that hung above. He brandishes it at an unknown enemy while everyone watches. He mutters and grumbles under his breath while pacing agitatedly.
"You all know what this means!" He declares at last, whipping his weapon in circles. "We all knew this day would come! Now is time! Non omnis moriar! We must activate the Games!"
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A/N: I know only about two people are probably reading this (unless you're a nonnie), but I want to give the promised SHOUT OUT to Yondaime Namikaze for translating the quote from last chapter correctly and for being an awesome and kind person and reviewing! Thanks Yondaime!
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