Author's Note: So it's summer. And it's really boring without a bunch of hotheaded teachers nagging on me about not doing my homework. So I've been feeling really lonely lately (remind you of someone who can relate?) Therefore I write this fairly cute short oneshot thingy before continuing from where we left off last chapter (yeah, gee, this is really turning out to be a collection of oneshots B[).

Oh and uh the next chapter's gonna be fairly morbid, cuz I was playing DeadSpace2 before writing it : ) Ya gotta love mutated dead people.

Chapter Five: Only Her

Chapter Song: Falling Inside the Black (hey, how fitting!) by Skillet

Be careful.

That was the first thing he failed to do. The second was failing to check the ice to be sure it was thick enough for them to skate on. He did neither of these things. What kind of brother was he? Allowing himself to be led by the false feeling of comfort that nothing could possibly go wrong, how pathetic. Blindly giving in to that misleading sense of innocence that ultimately squandered the carefree lightheartedness of any situation. How could he?

"So what do you think of your new skates?" Jack asked nonchalantly as he helped his little sister put them on.

"I still can't believe that Santa got my letter!" she replied enthusiastically. "Guess you were right, Jack. He is real."

"Of course I'm right. I mean, when am I not right?" he joked, tying her last skate and standing up. She looked up at him doubtfully with beady brown eyes, a quizzical expression obscuring her gentle features.

"That time you swung from the tree branch on Easter and you said it would hold your weight."

Jack rubbed the back of his head as the painful memory returned. "Well I figured-"

"And that time you said that my flower wouldn't die if I put it in the shade."

"Okay, that was a mix up, I-"

"And then there was that one time when we were playing catch and you said we were too far away from the house for the ball to go through the window,"

Jack threw his arms up in defeat. "Alright, I give! I get it! Not everything I say is right,"

The young girl carefully stood up on two wobbly feet and looked to the house. She smiled.

"But you were right about the designs in the frost, Jack." he looked as well, analyzing the carefully etched patterns and images from a distance. It took him all night to accomplish, using only a small knife and one of his mother's sewing needles, his steady-working hand adding as much fine detail as he could without scraping off to much of the frosts original beautiful design.

His sister pulled him back into reality as she spoke in his direction.

"They're beautiful. You should do them every year!"

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He knelt down and reached for his own skates. "Alright, sounds like a plan. Maybe next year, I'll teach you how to do it too, so you can help me. But this year, I'm teaching you skating. So just stay put and wait for me to get these on."

That is, Jack thought to himself, still crouched over the skates and mentally ridiculing their size as he inspected them. If they'll fit me. These things look too small to even-

The unmistakable sound of ice cracking drew his attention, and Jack immediately flung his skates off to the side and glanced up at his sister so fast his head hurt.

Jack's eyes widened in horror. She didn't stay put; she'd wandered towards the center of the ice. Jack scolded himself. He didn't even check to see if the ice was thick enough prior to coming outside. How stupid of him. How stupid of him!

The ice was too thin, cracking beneath her quivering legs as she balanced herself with outstretched arms. She looked down and watched as the cracks rapidly spread below her, a fear-stricken look hungrily consuming her babylike face. A look that sickened Jack and made his stomach churn with unease. He hated seeing his sister so afraid. He had to intervene.

"It's okay! It's okay, just…" he softly beckoned, his brotherly instincts taking over before he had a chance to come up with a plan. "Look at me."

It was an impulsive quality Jack had yet to understand himself, assuming it was only natural, the rush of the situation that clouded everything around him except for one thing and one thing only.

Protect her.

"Jack," she whimpered with a shaky voice, looking back and forth between her brother and the cracking ice underneath her. "I'm scared,"

It drove him insane, seeing her standing right in front of him in such a state of fear and not being able to do anything but stand there with her.

"I-I know," She wasn't scared. She was terrified; as was he. But not scared for his own safety. Only for hers. He attempted to take a step closer. The ice cracked beneath his foot and he winced, withdrawing his step. He hadn't checked the ice. How stupid of him! He had to do something before she ended up going under.

"Bu-but you're gonna be alright. You're not gonna fall in,"

And Jack meant it, despite his shaking hands and his mind reeling with questions. He drowned the panicky voices in his mind out, he only words making sense as of right now was Protect her. Get her off the ice. Keep her safe. Not any thoughts like If it can barely hold her, I'm as good as dead. Only her.

"Uh… we-we're gonna have a little fun instead!" he tried to reassure her with a quirky grin and a lighthearted tone. She didn't seem at all convinced, her words sounding almost like a sob.

"No, we're not!"

"Would I trick you?"

"Yes, you always play tricks!"

Jack couldn't help but chuckle at this comment.

"Well, not-not this time. I promise. You're gonna be… you're gonna be fine."

Again, Jack meant this. She would be just fine, even if it meant that he couldn't be. Only her.

Seeing that these words helped to calm her down immensely, Jack straightened up confidently, trying to show her that there was really nothing to be afraid of while being weary of the fragile ice beneath them.

"You wanna play a game? We're gonna play hopscotch, like we play every day. Look, i-it's as easy as one," he took a step towards the direction of his shepherds crook, the ice producing a sickening popping, cracking sound that sent chills down Jack's spine. I'm gonna fall in. For a split second, his face was contorted with fear. If I'm afraid, she'll be afraid, he thought, quickly pretending he was struggling to balance on his one foot. Her soft laugh urged him on. "Two… three!" he knelt back down on the thicker ice, slyly reaching for his crook as he spoke.

"Alright, now it's your turn."

She looked at him fearfully, and reluctantly took a step forward.

"One…" Jack counted aloud. The ice cracked again beneath her feet, this time more rapidly. She gasped in shock and looked up to her brother with wide eyes.

"That's it, two…" she took another small step, the ice beneath her just about to give in.

"Three!" his hushed voice exclaimed and he shot out his crook, catching his sisters waist and giving it a firm tug. They switched places, as she was spent sprawling against the thick ice and Jack slipped a little ways onto where she was jus standing. The young girl slowly stood up and smiled at him thankfully.

Immediately, Jack relaxed. He stood up and smiled back. Nothing else in the world mattered right now. She was safe. And that's all Jack cared about. As he reassuringly smiled to his younger sister with a chuckle, he looked her in the eye. They no longer contained the fear that they once held moments ago. That alone lifted a huge weight off his shoulders. She was safe.

Jack was about to break the silence with a witty comment when the ice beneath him gave way. "Whoa-!" he started, looking longingly at his sister just as he fell through.

"Jack!" she cried, stretching her arm out as the waters below swallowed him up.

The cold water enveloped him, paralyzing his body as it entered his agape mouth and filled his lungs. The sting of the cold immobilized him, and as the numbness unwillingly overtook his limbs, his mind wandered aimlessly. Thoughts such as I'm dying and Oh my god this is the end were not to be found.

Jacks final thoughts as he submissively admitted that he was dead were these.

Better me than her. She's safe. Not I can't breath and can't move. As the darkness enclosed him, he only thought, Please let her be off the ice. Only Protect the child.

Only her.

His brown eyes closed. Just as his conscious was about to permanently depart his floating corpse and succumb to the deep recessions of death, a pair of hazy brown eyes saw it between two weakly closed eyelids.

It was moonlight. It was bright, glowing, moonlight peering at him from beneath the ice. And as the moonlight chased the darkness away, the feeling of cold returned to him, but in an entirely different form as it crept up his fingertips. A deep and ethereal voice spoke to him five words that immediately gave him the energy to reawaken from his unwilling slumber. And Jack stirred.

Your name is Jack Frost.

His bright blue eyes burst open.

Author's Note: So um. Yeah. Uh…yeah! :D

969~696