I only own the story idea.
He felt weak, and powerless. Without his staff, he was nothing. As of now, he was sitting in the Warren, watching the small eggs run around, getting painted. He hated that the most he could do right now with his magic was make a few flakes of snow fall around himself. He sighed softly, looking down. His hands were shaking. He jumped as a touch on his shoulder surprised him. He looked behind himself to see Bunnymund. The pooka smiled a little.
"Its time to go. MiM answered us. Now, I said that you weren't coming, not on my nelly, but Tooth and Sandy think you should, mate. Manny also said you need to. Just, promise to be careful, okay?" He spoke softly. Jack smiled.
"Promise." He jumped up. "Lets go."
The sky was dark. Too dark, Jack noted. He shivered as he walked along, standing beside Bunnymund and Tooth. MiM was the only light in the sky. "Well this looks ominous." He groaned, looking around. "Where are we?"
"Near the entrance to the mirror realm, mate." Bunnymund answered. "Mary lives in the land of mirrors, moving from one mirror to the next as she scares her targets." He explained. Jack blinked.
"There's other realms?" He asked.
"A lot! You know how humans have those really fancy phones that have those fancy commercials that say 'there's an app for that'? Well, just like that, there's a realm for that." Tooth said.
"Ah… that's a lot of realms…" Jack blinked, thinking about certain things that the realms would be awkward for. He froze, and flinched all of a sudden, collapsing. He held his hand to his chest. This pain… he recognized it. It was the same pain he'd felt when Pitch had broken his staff before. Tooth and Bunnymund kneeled beside him, Sandy stayed on guard.
"Jack! What's wrong, mate?!" Bunnymund asked, concerned. Tooth looked over him for injuries.
"T-This pain… S-she's breaking my staff…" Jack sat up, the pain fading slowly.
"I'll burn it to ashes if you come any closer too." Mary's voice rang out around them. "Do not enter my realm, or else this boy guardian will meet his demise." She threatened.
"Give us North back first!" Tooth yelled, looking all around. An evil laughter echoed around them, then stopped.
"You cant make me. I don't have to." The voice hissed. Jack noticed something, and slowly stood up.
"… Attention." He muttered, and looked up. "You long for attention. That's why you're doing this. Not only because you want to grow more powerful, but because you wanted us to notice you. And because you want the –world- to notice you. There's better ways to get noticed. I know how you feel." He looked down. "I was alone for three hundred years. No one talked to me, no one knew me, no one saw me. I… It hurt. So I know how it feels to be attention depraved. But there are positive ways to get attention!" I-"
"SHUT UP!" The voice screamed, making all of the guardian's ears ring. "You are WRONG! That isn't true, that isn't…" The voice stopped. Jack groaned, the pain in his chest changing to numbness.
"Mate, you should stay here. We'll go-" Bunny started. Jack cut him off.
"No. I need to go. I… I think I can end this without anyone else getting hurt." He said. "You all need to wait here." Tooth gasped.
"We cant just let you go alone! Its too dangerous, she may kill you!" The worry in the fairy's voice was apparent. Sandy stepped forward. He slowly nodded, and handed Jack a small pouch. It was full of his sleep sand. 'In case you need it..' He motioned, and smiled. He had faith in Jack. Bunnymund hopped up.
"Jack, mate. You… You better bloody hurry back. I swear Frostbite, if you don't come back-" Jack hugged the pooka tight, smiling.
"I'll come back, Bunnymund. Promise." He stood tall, and kept walking. He could feel their eyes on his back all the way until he disappeared into the darkness. He soon came upon a small, torn apart wooden cabin. It was literally falling apart. He slowly walked inside. Now that he knew the legend, he knew where to go. He entered the bathroom, the only room that still had the roof over it. A full body mirror was in the corner, beside the old fashioned sink. A torn old blanket covered it. He took a deep breath, and pulled the blanket off.
"Here goes nothing…" He jumped into the mirror, and gasped as he was met with air just as chilled as he was. He looked around. Mirrors were everywhere. He was met with thousands of reflections of himself. He stepped forward, looking around. A mirror maze… Just great. He began to make his way through all the mirrors, bumping his head quite a few times. He groaned, leaning against a mirror after a while of walking. He felt weak… and he could feel himself warming up. Not good. He looked up, determined, and continued walking. He soon emerged into a large room, with only one body mirror in the middle. He gasped, seeing North inside of the mirror. "North!" He yelled, and ran forward. He placed his hands on the mirror, but they wouldn't go through. North wasn't responding. He was unconscious.
"He cant hear you. All he can hear is me, the thoughts I give him…" Jack swirled around, looking the way he came. A woman, slightly taller than him, stepped out. She had long nappy black hair, one eye bright red, the other a clear green. She wore a torn bloodstained dress. It appeared to have once been red, but now it was so stained with blood, and dirt, it seemed it was a muddy red color. Her skin, where it wasn't covered in dried blood, was a pale cream color. Very little of her skin was showing though; she was almost completely covered in blood. Jack shivered, but remained tall. His eyes fell to his staff, being held in two pieces in her hand.
"Mary…" He stepped forward. "Do you want to talk?" He asked. Her eyes widened, she was clearly shocked by this. Jack bit his lip. "I-I mean… You've been lonely, right? Having no one to talk to? I know how much a simple conversation can help with that feeling…" She began to walk towards him. Jack realized that he wasn't scared. He had no reason to be. She was just like how he used to be… So he knew how to help her.
"He shouldn't be taking this bloody long!" Aster E Bunnymund growled. "Frostbite's probably gotten himself caught!"
"Bunny! Have some faith in him! He knows what he's doing! And… We're all worried." Tooth looked down, fluttering a foot off the ground. She was holding baby tooth close for comfort. Sandy stepped forward, nodding. He smiled at Bunny. He knew Jack was safe. Bunny sighed.
"Sorry… Its just…" He looked down. Tooth laid her hand on his shoulder. She nodded in understanding.
"I'm sorry you had to go through all that." Jack looked up at Mary. She'd just told him what her human life had been like. She had remembered everything. "I didn't even know that I had a previous life until 300 years of being Jack Frost. But… I got my memories, and… I had a little sister. We were ice skating and she skated over to the thin side of the ice… I was so scared to loose her. But I stayed calm, and kept her calm. That staff, yes, that one, was sitting aside. I grabbed it and saved her… But I fell in, and drowned. But when I got my memories back, and remembered that… I was just so grateful. She was okay. And now that things are different, I don't think about those lonely 300 years. Because now I have friends. And… You can have friends too, Mary." He smiled, offering her his hand. "I'll be your friend."
Mary looked into his eyes, and smiled. She placed the two pieces of his staff into jack's hand. "I know you can fix it." She walked over to the mirror where North was trapped, and touched the top of it. The mirror appeared to melt, and North now laid on the ground. He groaned, waking up. Mary turned to Jack. "I am meant to be alone, Jack. I see that now. Your offer of friendship has all the meaning in the world to me, yet I must decline. I am meant to be who I am. And I will stay who I am. Now go." She looked away. "If you ever come into the mirror realm again you'll be trapped."
Jack was confused. "Mary, I don't want someone else to go through what I went through. Those 300 years were hell, I don't-"
"GO! Jack. I cannot thank you enough… But I've lived like this for almost 900 years. I realize now… I enjoy this. I answer to no one. But…" She looked at him. "From now on, when I scare those whom call me, I will smile." Jack smiled at her. He blinked as she disappeared. "Go…" Her voice echoed. He rushed over to North.
"Jack Frost…? Is that you…?" North stood with Jack's help, shaking his hand. A new mirror appeared. Jack jumped through it with North.
"Thank you Mary…!" He yelled.
"I'm not the only one that you needed to worry about…" She sighed.
"North! Jack!" Tooth rushed over, helping the two stand up. Jack smiled. North seemed confused, but was still smiling.
"We're fine… Mari isn't a bad person. She's no threat, not anymore." Jack chuckled, and looked up. Bunnymund hopped over, Sandy beside him. Jack handed the pouch back to him. He pulled the two pieces of his staff out, and pushed them together, concentrating as his ice fixed it. In a bright flash, he was himself again. He grinned and jumped up, the wind taking him high into the sky.
"Well, he's himself again." Bunny chuckled. North smiled.
"What all did I miss?" He asked. Tooth giggled. "I have a lot to catch up on, I see."
Jack landed beside Bunny. "So, what now?" He asked, looking up.
"Now, guardians… We go home, and get rest needed." North looked at them all. "If something pops up, we call each other." Tooth nodded, as well as Sandy.
"Then lets get home." Tooth flew up. Baby tooth waved at Jack, then flew off with Tooth. Sandy winked at Jack; he knew full well how good Jack had done. He knew it had took bravery to do such a thing. He made a sand plane, and hopped in, putting on goggles and flying off. North threw a crystal ball, the portal to the north opening up.
"Jack my boy, would you like to come stay at North Pole?" North offered. He had started to look down on the snowy boy like a son. Jack smiled widely.
"Yeah! Just… Give me a minute." He answered. North nodded, and went ahead through the portal. Jack looked at Bunny. Bunny sighed.
"Frostbite, I'm glad you're okay mate. I… I was probably a little bit too worried. Should have had better faith in ya. You've bloody saved us all before, I should've known ya could do it again." Bunny smiled. Jack hugged him.
"Hey, you're my best friend! You know I wont die so easy." The winter spirit grinned. He stepped back. "See ya later." He turned, running through the portal as it disappeared. Bunny chuckled, tapped the ground twice, and hopped in, heading home.
They didn't know it, but more scary legends were out there. More that were about to step out of line, more that were about to endanger people. The Guardians wok wasn't done… But it never would be.