New chapter finally! Sorry this took so long to update, guys. School and finals kept me busy and my other fic kind of needed an update too. But it's here now~! :D
Oh, and I'm sorry but don't expect an update next week. Hijack week on Tumblr is the week afterwards and I REALLY have to work on my prompts for that. If you want, you can read those prompts during Hijack week on my Tumblr account: Purplerose128 (same as on here. :P )
And thanks to all of the reviews, favorites and follows on this story. They all make me smile and giggle like an idiot. :P I hope you like this chapter!
"Snow day!" Jack shouted from the air as he began to send a blanket of snow down on Burgess. The sun hadn't begun to show in the sky yet and, when it did, Jack intended for it to be blocked out by the clouds that he created to dust the town in his white flakes of fun. He free fell from his high altitude, leading a gust of frosty wind behind him as he sped straight down in a tiny fit of joyous laughter. It had been nearly a year since the young spirit of winter became a Guardian and he was finally graced with the pleasure of seeing his first believers for the first time since spring forced the eternally drifting youth from the place he considered home.
His descent toward the ground below propelled icy wind into his face and ran through his wind-whipped white hair in the best possible way. The way the ice lingering in the air seemed to kiss his pale skin as he moved was always a magical feeling, despite it being a near daily experience for him. Dragging his winds along with him, Jack swerved through the streets and sidewalks he passed; giving some spots a touch of ice and making some unfortunate souls slip on them for his pure enjoyment as he flew. Jack tapped his staff to the windows of the shops and apartments, dressing each one with his best frosted ferns yet (but he had always said that about his patterns… every year) and finally found his desired destination within his sights.
He swooped into a landing atop one of his favorite places in the city: the Bennett household. Jack leapt down from the snow coated roof and peered inside from a windowsill. Behind the frost forming on the glass, Jack watched a soundly sleeping Jamie relish in the last few hours of the dreams that Sandy had created for the young boy the night before. A small smile was etched on his face and the slow rise and fall of his chest were the only signs that the child was even still alive, as his body hung limp yet solid as a rock underneath the layers of blankets covering him.
"You're gonna love this, kid." Jack chuckled as he began to inscribe on the icy window pane "Jack was here," with some difficulty because he had to write it backwards so that Jamie could properly read the little note from the warmth of his room.
The winter spirit didn't move from his place when his was done writing the message. Rather, he just sat for a moment longer and watched the boy sleep. There was something that Jack loved about every emotion that a child expressed and the look that Jamie presented in his slumber was quietly screaming peace. It reassured Jack that the day was going to be worth it, knowing that he could spend the day having a snowball fight and playing games with Jamie and all of his friends; not having to do anything else. It had been a few weeks since Jack started a good snowball fight anywhere and he really needed one soon or else he would start a blizzard out of pure boredom.
Then, Jack's train of thought was interrupted by the color that started to dance on the ice in front of him. The shades shifted from pinks to blues, mixing in tints of purple and the occasional glimmers of green and orange, bringing Jack to turn his gaze towards the source behind him. The flares of light danced overhead, creating a stunning sight to compliment the brightening sky that began to welcome the sun's highest point back over the horizon. But the young Guardian's admiration of the lights was short-lived to the extreme. To humans, the sight was something wonderful to behold; a spectacle that should be on everyone's bucket list to see. But the Guardians and all other mythical creatures within this world knew far better. The auroras appearing in the sky were their warning siren. Something really bad had to be going on for it to be shining that brightly at such an early hour of the morning. And, as much as Jack regretted leaving Jamie to enjoy the snow day he created without a welcome, the Guardian swiftly gripped hold of his staff and soared after the source of the lights.
Jack followed the beams of color without question as the wind carried him to their source. Though, he did begin to wonder who had sent the call when he began to cross the Atlantic Ocean. It was far too south for North to have called them, yet too northwards for Bunnymund to have either. It may have been Tooth, but then Jack would by pretty much flying around the world to get to Tooth Palace. And he wasn't even sure if Sandy even had a lair to send the signal from in the first place. Jack always assumed he did, but he had never been to it, if it happened to exist after all. Then, the winter sprite came to a setting all too familiar to him. The lights were coming from one of his favorite year-round playgrounds: the Himalayas. The mountains were really the only place, besides to North and South Poles, that pretty much constantly had snow on them. In fact, they were the only spots on the map that Jack could use his powers on all year long, when he wasn't busy bringing winter to other parts of the world. Jack had even spotted North around these particular peaks from time to time with a few of his yetis, most likely just getting a chance to stretch their legs after a long day of making toys. It was quite amusing when one of those outings would occur and people would later enlighten others on the vague glimpse of a yeti that they managed to snag on a hike. Jack always found it amusing how no one every seemed to believe the real believers of the world.
The lights took him into one of the warmer parts of the mountains, where the snow and ice were slimly on the tips of the rock structures. Jack floated about the epicenter of the lights' source and found the entrance to an area hidden from people for great reasons but he himself had never had the pleasure of exploring it himself: the home of Father Time. It was strange how the guy looked like he lived in ruins. This wasn't exactly what Jack had pictured someone like Father Time choosing to live in. But, for sure, the place looked as ancient as the man claims to be.
On the other side of the aged doors, though, Jack was taken aback by the polished air of the space. The marble doors revealed the true essence of the residence, closing Jack within the walls of the regal library before him. Now Jack could see why the outside had to be so misconceiving. A place as elegant as this would draw in any believer that may or may not be looking upon the mountains. It was the perfect plan; hiding in plain sight. The dark wood shelves lined the walls and the bold red carpet felt almost like a pillow below his bare feet. Jack glanced about the room and noticed four familiar figures surrounding a table at the far end of the room, in front of yet more doors. Tooth turned her head to see who had entered the room and waved over for Jack to meet them. He complied and floated to the other Guardians' sides.
"Took you long enough, Frost." Bunny scoffed.
"I got a little distracted." Jack shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
"Good." North stated, his back turned to the others "Now that Jack is here, we can get down to business."
"Thank you." An unfamiliar voice sighed with relief.
Jack raised an eyebrow at the new interjection. Who was that? He silently asked himself. His question was answered when North stepped beside Sandy, who was looking in the large man's general direction with concern on his face, and revealed the origin of the new voice. Jack had to admit that, yet again, this was not what he was expecting at all. The person before them, who he was assuming was Father Time, was far from what Jack's imagination had come up with for his image. He was much younger looking than Jack had thought he would, bearing striking silver eyes behind frames of glasses and a head of messy chocolate brown hair. He had his hands shoved into a brown trench coat, tied closed. And, overall, he looked far less than thrilled with them all being in his home, an eyebrow raised at Jack, as though he thought the teen would break something if he wasn't watched.
"Jack, you two haven't met, no?" North asked.
"No, we haven't." Jack replied.
"I am Chronos." The mysterious men declared "Or, as others have come to call me, Father Time. You are?"
"Jack Frost." Jack answered.
Chronos held out a hand. "Pleasure." After briefly staring at the man's hand, noticing a slight coating of blood on it, and shook it half heartedly. "Now, if you'd follow me, I'll show you what has happened around here."
Without another word, Chronos opened the door he was directly behind and lead his five guests down a hallway of marked doors. Jack's reading had grown rusty in his three hundred years of not having to do so, but he recalled some of the spellings. "Massachusetts" "Connecticut" "Virginia," all of them states that Jack had grown up and spent so much time around both in life and after his death.
"As you can tell," Chronos continued "The corridors are, thankfully, unharmed. The problem is still massive, though, because of what is damaged." They groups came to the other end of the hallway and came into the light of the center of the library. But the sight was far from grand. In the middle of the room was a humongous broken hourglass, being repaired slowly by a small flock of crows that were picking up the shattered pieces on the ground and flying off with smaller hourglasses of silver sand that was being taken from the damaged one. "It's terrible that I have to do this to the poor thing." Chronos sighed "I only hope everything stays stable long enough for us to repair it." He placed a delicate hand on the cracked glass and closed his eyes, almost as if he was trying to share the pain between himself and the hourglass.
"Oh my gosh." Tooth gasped, cupping a hand around her mouth with wide eyes.
"It's worse than we though." Bunny muttered, in shock himself.
Sandy floated over to Chronos and patted him on the back. The pair looked at each other and Sandy created the image of a thumbs up above his head, assuring him that it would be alright.
"Was any stolen, Chronos?" North questioned.
"I'm afraid so." He answered, disheveled at the thought "And so is one of my books."
"By who?" Tooth added on, Sandy assisting her with a question mark appearing over his head.
"The Boogeyman…" Chronos chocked out after a long pause.
All other faces became those of shock.
"How is that possible?" Inquired Tooth.
"We took him out." Bunny assured.
"He escaped from his lair." Chronos answered "And now he'll use my sands and my history books for things I don't want to imagine."
"Not if we can help it." Jack stepped forward "We stopped him before and we'll do it again."
"It may not be that simple, Jack." North proclaimed "With that sand, Pitch can travel through time. He can be anywhere, at any time right now."
"That may be the only good thing about him taking my book." Chronos turned back to them. "Follow me." He led the Guardians back down the corridor they came from and back to the main part of the library. "When Pitch came here, I was re-reading one of my books on the Viking period. This precise book is the one that was taken. That is most likely where he is right now."
"But how are we going to get to him?" Jack asked.
"That is why you'll need these." Chronos gestured to a set of five hourglasses small enough the carry in one's pocket on a desk, each filled to the rim with silver sand. "This sand was spilt from my hourglass; it has the power to travel through great distances of time. I will allow you each to take one of these with you and travel to that time period to bring Pitch back." Each Guardian stepped forward and took an hourglass for themselves. "But be warned, time is much more fragile than you may think. Every decision must be made carefully, for you could alter everything that follows by one simple action at the wrong moment. You must take Pitch out of this time before he accomplishes this on his own."
"Thank you." Tooth smiled.
"Anything to maintain order." Chronos plainly stated. "Are you ready to depart now or would you need to prepare?"
The Guardians glanced from one to another quizzically, with the occasional nod.
North spoke up. "We will need time to make preparations, yes. We will all return within an hour to travel."
At that, he removed a snow globe from his coat, whispered to it and stepped through the portal it formed, taking him to his workshop. Bunny tapped his foot the floor and jumped down one of his tunnels while Tooth and Sandy darted out the skylight, leaving Jack and Chronos alone.
"You're not leaving?" Father Time asked.
"I have everything I own right here." Jack tapped his crook against his leg. "No prep needed here."
"Ah." Chronos replied; a tad displeased at Jack's statement.
Jack rolled his eyes at the tone of Father Time's response. It wasn't like he was going to destroy his precious library or anything; he was a Guardian, after all. He knew better.
Though, that position didn't last very long in the eternal teen's mind. This visit slowly added pressure onto Chronos; a horrible encounter with Pitch Black topped off by basically having to babysit a rather active (and bored) Jack Frost. His child-like curiosity had taken form not long after the pair had drifted into an awkward silence, which resulted in the boy exploring the immediate area and periodically asking his host questions on what he saw throughout the space. This part wasn't particularly wrong to the keeper of time. In fact, he enjoyed informing Jack on his basic purpose of maintaining the delicate balance of time and that the knowledge in his library only grew as the world continued to rotate and take form. It was when Jack became uninterested in the apparent lecture the man was giving that he began to be a problem. The winter spirit had begun to float about the space and leap between the tops of the bookshelves that weren't part of the walls. The time keeper even started thinking that Jack was somehow part cat, by the way that he was leaping about so carefree and didn't seem to listen to any cry to come down. Chronos' heart almost stopped when Jack took a jump from one shelf top to another and the one he used as a springboard began to teeter. But, thankfully, it slowed and wobbled back into place within a moment. Only then could he breathe decently again.
It was a relief when the other four Guardians had finally returned and Jack returned to their side. One nightmare was over; now the other one just had to be rooted out.
North had returned first, equipped with his twin blades and a knapsack that Jack could probably fit inside, if he tried. Tooth came back next, with a few of her fairies and a sack tied to a belt that was now around her waist. Bunny and Sandy appeared almost simultaneously. Sandy had a small sack slung over his shoulder and Bunny had obviously equipped with more weaponry than usual onto his leather holster. It appeared that everyone was finally ready for the journey they were about to embark on.
"We are ready, Chronos." North declared. "What must we do?"
"Take your hourglasses in your hands." Father Time started. As they were told, each Guardian removed their hourglass from where they were keeping it. "Now, they actually work rather similarly to your snow globe system, North. Each hourglass contains enough sand for two trips to and from the time period I've predicted Pitch to be within as we speak. All you have to do is flip them over, to trigger the sand, and say where and when you would like to be."
"Sounds easy enough." Jack commented. "Let's go."
"Alright then." Chronos cheered "Flip them over and repeat after me."
The isle of Berk was more lively than normal on that day for one reason: the approach of Snoggletog. All across the tiny island Vikings and their dragons were decking out the village with decorations and groups of children were playing in the snow, a few Terrible Terrors mixing in with their games. Hiccup and Toothless had been wandering through the square for a few moments before spotting Astrid passing out yet another round of yaknog. Hopefully this year's batch would be better than the previous year's. He tried to avoid being in her sight for the time being; he really didn't want to be sucked into sampling her drink again. She meant well, he knew that. But he would much rather do everything he could to keep himself from having to choke down more curdled yak milk. Though, he wouldn't turn it down if she did corner him to do so.
Then, the square suddenly became less populated. Just as the last decorations had been set up on the outside of the buildings, all of the dragons, besides Toothless, took off into the sky and left their trainers behind. The Vikings were less depressed about it this time around though, as they knew where the dragons were going and that they would return in time. It was the time of year where the dragons all set off to a far off island for them to lay their eggs, as Hiccup had discovered the year before.
"There they go, Bud." Hiccup muttered. Toothless replied with a subtle roar as he watched the other dragons become smaller on the horizon. "I could always make that tail for you again, if you want to go with them, you know." The dragon nudged his trainer gently, though still causing him to lose his footing for a second. "Guess not, huh?" Hiccup rested his hand on the dragon's snout. "They'll be back soon, anyway. It's not like they'll miss much."