Author's Note: Some changes have been made to the story due to new ideas I incorporated into it. Thanks for you patience and I hope you can enjoy the story.
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Farther away, the Wind was whistling through the trees. Free. Breath still almost couldn't believe it as she went spiraling up into the sky, bursting through the cloud cover before diving back down and continuing racing and playing with the leaves. She was free.
And she was making the most of it. She'd only gotten out of that hole in the ground mere hours ago after being being caught and entangled by Pitch's nightmares until she almost couldn't move. Bristling with anger, Breath huffed; currents blowing in all directions. She still couldn't even believe how-
A call. She froze. Her winds had come back, one direction answering with something like a howl, pain, and that thick, creeping presence Nightmares gave. But it seemed, off. Turning in that direction, Breath sent another breeze out there...
There it was again; stronger this time, and there was diffidently something wrong with it and how it felt. She hurried off in that direction, her worry and dread building the closer she got. Fear and fading was what it was. Something that Nightmares weren't capable of, but spirits were. Whirling around the corner she found what it was coming from.
A girl lay curled on the forest floor, a red cloak obscuring most of her body. Breath couldn't see anything that explained the terrible feeling she got, so she swept a gust over the form to blow the cloak off. She froze, paralyzed in shock and maybe horror. Next thing she knew, she was trying to shake the girl awake before remembering that she couldn't really touch anything, as she was essentially wind herself.
Cursing her stupid luck, she started tearing at the cloak. The cloak almost seemed to know what she was trying to do or something else did, because it started to loosen and yank even when her gusts weren't blowing.
Finally she wrenched it free, and Breath took to the air with it fluttering eagerly beside her. Breath then sent currents every which-way to try and see if she could pick up on any of the Guardians; trying to find who was closest. Any one of them would have a better idea and chance of helping this girl.
The first result that came back was chilly, heavy, and obviously with Frost. Mind made up, Breath went speeding off in the direction of the guardian boy.
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Over in some provience in Canada, the teen Breath was looking for had his own worries and thoughts.
During the flight North had offered him and the other guardians, Jack's experience in Antarctica with his memories started to catch up to him; all the details that he'd been in too much of a rush to notice while going off to save the fantastical world. He guessed he must've accidentally let something slip when Tooth asked about what he'd said to Jamie about how everything would be fine.
"Wait, you remembered!? How, What...!?" she'd shrieked after she caught on to whatever Jack had said. That of course had drawn everyone's attention, which was immediately followed by a flurry of questions and looks from everyone on board.
Quickly realizing that he'd be stuck there for who-knows-how-long if he stayed and also needing time to process it all himself, Jack gave a flustered if somewhat nervous response of needing some time before he bailed the sleigh.
He'd quickly realized after the fact that it'd been a kind of stupid thing to do as it would either 1), lead them to be suspicious or distrustful of him again [with it being so soon after Easter], or 2), cause at least half of them to go after him like a flock of mother hens.
Slapping his hand to his face, he groaned. Great move there Frost... Jack sighed and looked around himself listlessly before he shrugged it off. What was done was done, and he had other things that, at least at the present, where more important.
Tooth's question from earlier had brought up the memory of his sister, Roux, and his brain had been driving him crazy saying that there was something he was missing, something from this second life from the past three-hundred years that was important and connected with it. He couldn't catch it until he saw some girl that looked kind of similar to Roux a too-big red jacket being herded around by someone who was probably their babysitter. It suddenly hit him, and his flight staggered then stopped as he stared at nothing in disbelief.
Red. That little fire-haired dork in a hood that neither she nor him could help but make a contest or game out of everything that would end in both of them doubled over in bruises, giggles, and shouts of either triumph or indignation. Her being the feisty worry-wart and him the cool dare-devil. That was just like how he and Roux were like all that time ago. She, was, Roux. Just with different color hair and eyes like he did and...older.
Jack's brow furrowed, and his grip on the staff tightened as he thought. Red looked like she was fourteen, maybe fifteen, and Roux had only been eleven when he'd gone. What had happened to her for her die only a few years later? Jack tried to think of the first time he'd seen Red and what might have happened, since that day on the lake had been the last time he'd seen her as Roux-
Wait. That wasn't the last time he saw her. A memory from his first few years as Jack Frost came back to him. Of teasing winter into the late autumn air in the northern woods of North America. The wind playful before a slight tremor carried a faint, fleeting sense of danger. Speeding as fast as he could, the wind continued to tell him whispers of what was going on: two kids, wolves closing in, the whistle of a shot, another different girl down, screams and howls and more chaos.
He wasn't anywhere near close enough to the clearing help much, but Jack had swung his staff, shooting out ice and frost in the wild hope that maybe it could buy some time for those against the howls.
Jack was now so close that he could hear what was going on with his own ears instead of the wind: the thud of an ax and the frenzied yelp of a wolf, with its paws running through leaves. Suddenly he could see the wolf as it stopped by the edge of the clearing, and he smiled.
Then it fell as he saw it turn tail and run back. His eyes shot forward and first noticed the kids it the tree struggling to stay in there.
Sending breezes to balance them and then some others to hopefully spook the wolf on the older girl and the other ones. He then grappled a few around him and sent them into the woods were he'd heard footfalls. Heavy ones.
A bolt shot out of the forest, and Jack, noticing it was going too high, gave it a small sliver in ice to weigh it down. It hit true, and he got out of the way by scaling a tree as the man who'd taken the shot took down the other wolves without hurting anyone else like his ice might've.
He didn't look at the girl as he passed her, or as the man helped her, feeling sick. Jack remembered feeling anxious about her. He couldn't tell what the original color of the cloak had been with all the dirt on stuff on it. It might've once been red, but the amount of blood he'd seen on the ground and it made him warily think otherwise. Somehow, he knew that the girl wouldn't make it, and he couldn't stand the thought of looking into the face of someone he'd failed to save. Without his noticing, snow started to fall.
He'd stayed the tree as the man helped the other kids down and cared to the young girl as the dying one comforted the little boy. He watched as the two kids played and as girl and the man talked, though Jack was careful not to make eye contact. They wouldn't see him anyway, so there wasn't any point. Then he heard it. On a little sliver of air that was going against the way the wind was carrying it: Jack Frost.
His eyes snapped to the girl in shock. He couldn't have heard that. Nobody saw him, nobody in the real world would know that name...right?
And yet the girl did. The only thing Jack could see between the hood's cowl and the man's bulk was her brown eyes, and even that was far enough away that he couldn't make out any other details, but the fact that she could see him was unmistakable.
He started back hesitantly, almost shaking his head, almost about to smile. Half of him told him it wasn't possible and not to hope it was true, the other ready to explode in shouts of joy and somersaults. The hooded girl looked up at his snow in wonder, and laughed. Weak and small, but it was there. She loved it, and she could see him.
The smile was starting to break though his face when he saw it happen. The girl's eyes were fluttering as snowflakes fell on them, and they weren't as bright as a moment or two ago. Jack suddenly felt like he needed to shout, scream, do something to keep it from happening, to keep her awake, but his throat closed on itself, and he couldn't seem to make himself move. The brown eyes finally closed, and she was gone.
Jack could almost feel himself unlock as he started to shake. No. No, no, no, that- that can't be it. Why? How could life be so cruel? Jack didn't know if he was thinking more on how someone had finally seen him just for it to be taken away an instant later, or that someone who could look at something invisible like it was precious could be taken away so suddenly.
Plip. Jack blinked. He looked down at his arm, at the wet spot that was joined by another, and another on his tunic sleeve. He hadn't realized he'd been crying. He looked back to the girl and the other people below, and could see from the man's shoulders he wasn't the only one. Or by the whine he heard below.
Looking down and back into the forest, Jack could see another wolf. Eyes narrowed, he almost turned it into a block of ice before he realized it had something around its neck. A dusty, shredded, and red-stained bit of cloth. Its fur looked mottled, like part of it was stained. Jack could also see a mangy, lighter colored body underneath it; bigger than the darker wolf on top of it and the other downed wolves in the clearing. Jack almost started crying again as he stumbled from the tree while the canine quieted and stilled. It didn't take long for Jack to put two and two together. The cloth collar, how it'd downed another - the biggest - wolf, and was sad at seeing the hooded girl dead...
It must have belonged to her, or at least knew her. And it had died trying to protect her. Soft blue light glowed from the staff as Jack's knelt down to the wolf, hand tightening on it and eyes shining, as a promise was made.
The snow started to fall in earnest as the winter spirit started to leave, heart broken, mind set on not letting something like this happen again. To be able to protect.
In the present, Jack had shut his eyes tight, warding off the sadness that came with the memory, along with the realization he'd had. He got a sudden, ridiculous urge to laugh and he didn't quite keep it from coming out. The curves life threw at you.
Both he and Roux had lost the other, seen it happen even. Then they were both brought back, and acted like siblings even though neither had had a clue of who the other was until today when he'd gotten his tooth box.
For a moment Jack wondered why Manny hadn't left them know sooner, or why their memories had been taken away in the first place. How was it fair for them to have been in the dark for centuries? Jack's frustration soon left as he thought about the memory he'd just relived, his staff at his side as he flew back into the air. He'd been crushed enough then from the whole experience when it first happened. If he'd known then the the dying girl had been his sister, he probably would've broke.
At any rate, Jack remembered now, and he knew how to help her remember too. All he had to do was find her. And so he would, so she wouldn't have to keep walking in the dark.
As he quickened his speed, little did he know that that was exactly what she was doing right now.
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After the dark had come back, numbing her, Red could tell she was fading; something that could happen to a spirit if they lost themselves. Usually it happened to those were weren't believed in when they used to be. That happens a lot with monsters under the bed and imaginary friends that their kids grew out of, and that's the risk that comes with the power having believers gives. Most risk it though because otherwise its just so lonely that existence simply doesn't seem worth it.
Turns out it also happens when your existence slowly gets taken over, being twisted around until nothing but a husk of the worst of you is left.
She'd actually been fading ever since that arrow cut her, but the searing fears and nightmares had kept her distracted, blindsided to the fact. The dreams and memories that came next had stopped its rampage, giving her some time to recover. But that had only lasted for a little while. Now Red was dealing with a new horror, one where she could see and feel in crystal clarity what was happening to her. She would almost call this worse.
But at least now she could think. Roux knew who she was, and because of that she now she had something more than just herself to fight for. Jack was out there, and she owed him a thank you at the very least, and two life stories - his and her's - if it came down to it. She guessed that whatever had happened to make her remember would've done the same thing for him; and if it hadn't well...they would figure it out together. So she started work her way out again with newfound determination.
Red continued to forge forward, dragging herself out of the mess as it got thicker. Not so much that she couldn't move, but it was definitely getting harder and more frustrating with each step.
Groaning as she shoved off a chunk of darkness that clung to her like a tangle of weeds, Red couldn't help lamenting the fact that the powers she had couldn't be a little more helpful in situations like this: She could find a path to and from just about anywhere and take them at incredible speeds, which was how she got around. Something in forest and wild seemed to see her as a friend. She also had her cloak, which was able to bring warmth and something somewhat like comfort to whoever it was stretched over; including children to some degree, which was the only way she was able to interact with them at all. And it had seemed to always get her out of or protect her in any messy situation she ended up in.
Until now. Now she was in the worst danger of either of her lives, and it had gone dead; hanging lifelessly from her shoulders and dull, nothing like the bright and moving, almost alive thing it usually was. Like it too had abandoned her.
Seriously, why couldn't she have something more obvious, more helpful right now like others did? The Guardians were guardians because they had more and stronger powers and abilities then most - swords or wings, winter or spring, slashing or exploding. Then there were other spirits: Nightlight could literally turn darkness into light. The Leprechaun could get out of anything and warp dimensions from one land or place to another. No one could question Uncle Sam's firepower. And the guys in the Zodiac had little bits of influence and power in just about everything. But she...
She was just a fairytale. A story that everyone was told from the start it wasn't real. A story of a girl that did something that she knew was dangerous, and to learn from her example. All she was to anyone was a lesson they didn't want to listen to. And all she had to prove them wrong was an ax out of her reach, a lost and broken crossbow, a way and friend she didn't know, and a cloak that was supposed to help and protect her while ironically colored blood red.
Red had almost come to a standstill, trembling with the effort off getting out of this nightmare and from those stupid thoughts she hated but couldn't seem to get rid of. Then quickly, as thought scared she would stay lost there forever if she didn't keep moving, Red shook her head and started to stumble her way forward again.
Unbeknownst to Roux as she had pushed and waded through the blackness, small bits of light had started to leak their way into the dreamscape. But Fear was a slippery thing, and it wasn't going to let the little hood go that easily. Slowly it dripped down, curling around her, so slow and subtle that she didn't even notice as it started to poison her thoughts.
As it slowly, carefully, cut off the light.
Now it wasn't forcing them on her, no. Fear didn't work that way. It preyed upon insecurities and little weaknesses that were already there. It just helped bring to the forefront, to light one might say, as to snuff it out.
Red may have won a battle, but she was still in over her head. It was just a question of how long it would take for her to drown.
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