*~* Chapter 2
With a nod of satisfaction, Jack looked over the town of Burgess. Beautiful in a fresh blanket of snow, as it always had looked. How different things were now, than they were at the time of his drowning. He had watched the town grow bigger and modern as the years went by. But the people somehow always managed to stay the same. With a whisper to the wind, he took to the skies.
The wind carried him to a different town. It was a one stoplight kind of community, the red signal being something Jack much enjoyed toying with. Floating right over the city, he went on to a patch of woods. They were no different than any other woods he had seen, but he had to come back here.
Upon seeing the town graveyard, he landed silently before scanning the stones with grim curiosity. The stillness of the air about him in this snowy landscape made him shiver. Graveyards had always given him the feeling that someone was watching him. He pondered if it was Death himself surveying the living that he would one day hold in his clutches. Or perhaps it was the stepping on the edge of the line between life and death. The living treading on territory that was opposing to them. Whatever it was, it made him look quickly through the tombstones, holding his breath when he didn't find what he was looking for. The whole scenario from yesterday must have been left out in the woods. His eyes rose to take in the thick spread of pine trees he had fled from the day before. This meant that all that had happened had gone unnoticed and untouched.
He didn't want to even bother calling for the wind again. His voice was too weak to whisper, his shoulders sagging as he walked into the woods. The trees passed by the boy's vision one by one, just like the many years he had passed through. Aside from all the supernatural events, the Jackson Overland in the pioneer days would never have dreamed that he would be the Jack he was today. All the loneliness and horror, the triumphs and guilts would never be even imagined by the boy with the brown hair, that the boy with white hair had experienced. Sure, he still had his fun-loving side and he was still the same guy... But some things he had seen.. Some things he had done, just couldn't be forgotten.
"Or forgiven," he muttered bitterly under his breath.
He eventually came to a clearing, which looked oddly placed, considering it was randomly in the middle of a forest. No doubt this meadow was luscious and green in the springtime for it was not far from a water source. That being the lake, which babbled quietly to his right a ways. Unwillingly, his feet took him right to it.
"Why must it always be water?" he asked himself, self-loathing thick in his voice.
There was the lake, vast and dark. He could just see the other side's shore as a line of white, with evergreens sprouted from the snow lining it. It's short choppy waves rippled in the low breeze that seems to be over any body of water. He made it to the edge, slipping once from losing his balance. As much as it tore at his heart, he forced himself to look at it, seeing the deep blue eerily slopping against the snowy shore. It was something that looked so dead but was so alive. Robotically scanning all around, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. However, the motion grated against his nerves, and with one swift movement, he tapped his staff on what was now ice spreading over the lake.
Then with tear filled eyes, he trekked his way back to the meadow clearing and halted. Balling his fist, he pressed it against his forehead, making desperate whimpers against crying. There was so much pain in his heart.. So much hurt.. But it was his fault. And he should get everything that he deserved..
Nearly sobbing, he slowly searched around in the snow. This was where he had dragged the body before losing his senses completely and flying away as far as he could from it. At first he was timid, afraid of finding the scene again. But if no one else had, it was his decent duty to take care of it himself. And as he continued to look and found nothing, continually nothing, all the grief suddenly bore down on him.
He let loose an agonized yell, and began frantically digging in the snow. He chucked his staff to the side and dug with his hands, wiping the snow from side to side, turning over logs, and shooting sticks into the wood. His lungs burned as his screams rubbed them raw, and his throat felt as if it were going to dislodge itself. At one point, he tripped face first into the white powder, only to slip and slide all over from blindly trying to get up again in his white haze of emotion. His anger had caused a strong wind to pick up, the snow now coming down as sleet and ice. The wind blew through him, tousling his hair and whipping his face, comforting and chiding him for his sorrowful outbursts. But Jack shielded his face from the wind and kept going.
What a mess. He scolded and cursed himself with every slosh of snow. Breathing heavily, his vision became cloudy as his head felt woozy. He only stopped when the urge from his stomach was too powerful, sending him to his hands and knees. His eyes widened in a delirious panic as he heaved until he could no longer sit upright. Instead, he fell to his side and curled up in the smallest way he could, coughing and sobbing. Instantly, the blizzard stopped, replaced by the slow falling of wet snow.
The picture of his sister on the ice, smiling and carefree flashed through his mind. The face of the frozen body from yesterday replaced his sister's face as she daintily took her first tries at ice skating, only to land on her rear and giggle.
"Stop!" Jack cried, clawing at his head and writhing on the ground.
"Jack!" She called out to him. "Jack, I'm scared!"
"I know! I know.." he wept in anguish, smashing his ears with his hands. "S-stop! Please, just stop.."
The memory of him pulling the soaking wet young woman from the lake yesterday hit him in the face. Her lips were so blue...
"No, no no no, STOP!"
He lifted his shaky hands from his eyes. A gnawing pain ate at them, the reason he saw being the cuts and bruises that now lightly bled from his blotchy skin. Those hands... with them he had saved his sister years ago. But now he had taken the life of another.
He moaned again as he rolled over, a pressure behind his eyes increasing. He gripped at the snow for something to clutch, but the snow just squished in between his fingers. He gasped for breath, his lungs quitting on him due to exhaustion.
"It was an accident!" he roared between clenched teeth, although knowing that wasn't a good enough excuse. There was no good excuse really.
His legs kicked and he grabbed at his heart. Anything, he needed anything to get this overwhelming swell in his chest to stop. It was suffocating him.
Another family had to deal with loss because of him. Tears streamed down his face as his sobs became slower and deeper. "Why do I have to be so useless?!" his sore throat croaked, when his sobs finally broke into choppier trails.
The sun had almost gone completely down, and he felt the beams of the moon touching his face with its featherlite fingers. A fresh cold breeze swept through the meadow, kicking up bits of the disheveled snow powder and tossing it into the air, some of it pecking Jack's outstretched frame. His body now spent, he simply laid there and finished off his sobs.
"Jaaack?" he heard the distant voice of his sister. Part of him wanted to get up and look around to find the source of it. But then he realized it was all in his head. Contemplating if this was really such a good idea after all, he ventured to look up at the moon that now stared right at him from the sky.
He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came. The Guardian of Fun had lost his energy for a moment, and hoped that the Man in the moon would understand his condition. It seemed like it might be rude not to address the old, luminous light, but he literally couldn't. So, he gazed up at it, soaking in its lovely round shape and stark contrasts in color from the night sky. As the gentle breeze wrapped around his body, he closed his eyes in comfort, relishing the silky effect it had on his pale skin. He gave a shaky sigh and then looked to his left for his staff.
It was 't there. He looked to his right, and it wasn't there. So, with a heave, he slowly sat up onto his rear. After taking a break for a few minutes to catch his breath, he wearily stood up, painfully dusting the snow from his clothes.
His staff lay a few yards away. Picking it up, he stuffed his other hand into his pocket and ducked his head, heading out of the forest. He had enough of that place. His ever bare feet made no noise as he walked.
*~*~*~*~*G*~*~*~*~*
Bunnymund cupped his chin with his paw in thought. Jamie had shown up in the Warren, just out of the blue, frantically waving his arms about Jack. A tad bit reluctant to put the next Easter operations on hold, he stopped and led the kid into the meadow of eggs while he listened.
"So, ya say that he juss up an left. Juss like that?" he asked, repeating what Jamie had said to solidify it in his brain.
Jamie nodded, picking up a wandering egg and placing him closer to the short herd.
With a thoughtful hum, Bunnymund reviewed Jack's behavior. "That isn't all that uncommon, Kid. The blighter always keeps himself to himself. "
Jamie huffed, exasperated. " I was hoping you would help me. You see him more than I do."
"Not necessarily, kid, I'm just as busy with Easter as he is with his snow days." Bunnymund paused from rounding up the eggs. There was something about that sentence that didn't fit. Jack Frost, busy? "Well... Not that school days keep him busy all the time. But ya get what I'm sayin'." Jamie chuckled.
A foreign draft wafted its way through the green meadows, passing right through the two egg wranglers. They both realized it simultaneously as they eagerly searched for its source. "Jack?"
The winter spirit appeared on the edge of the horizon, bobbing up and down, up and down. He would pause, stuff something in his pocket, and then he would repeat. "What's he doing?" Jamie asked.
Bunnymund squinted a moment when it dawned on him. "Oi!" He called out. "Stop eating the chocolates! Those are for the eggs' dinner!" He took off after Frost.
Jack, realizing he was caught, stood up straight and stuffed both hands into his pocket with wide eyes. Jamie snickered when they reached him. "Caught redhanded, huh, Jack?"
Jack's head tilted as his mind formed a question of his own. "What di-How did you get here?"
"Snow globe," Jamie smirked, taking the ball from his pocket and lightly bouncing it in his hand.
Jack's brow hinted a bit of frustration. Now Jamie was out away from his home, his safe home. Not that Pitch was out prowling around at the moment to antagonize the 15 year old, but Jack for some reason didn't like the feeling he got from Jamie standing there in the Warren. "Jamie, I gave you that for strictly emergencies. Like if you get hurt, or trapped, or something. "
"This is an emergency." The brown eyes were again firm.
Jack eyes rolled to Bunnymund, who had a curious expression on his fluffy face. He looked like he knew what Jamie was referring to, the little discussion they had earlier. But the worry in his eyes said that he didn't quite know what was going on. The hare was in on it all, nonetheless.
"You know, Jamie, if you counted everytime I left a scene as an emergency, you'd have to hire an entire EMT squad to chase after me all the time," Jack smiled crookedly.
"Eh, that's what I said, Mate," Bunnymund said, turning to Jamie. But the boy would have none of it.
"I got a feeling in my gut, and it bothers me that something's wrong with you!" Jack leaned back as a finger poked into his personal space. " You aren't acting yourself, Jack. So tell me. Tell me now!" Man, his friend was really riled up about knowing.
Jack laughed weakly, backing out of Jamie's pointed finger stare. "Not acting myself? Why, sure I am!" He pulled out his hands to reveal them full of wrappers of the chocolate candies.
Bunnymund gasped. "Frost! You butthead, I have those for the eggs!" He reached out and swiped the wrappers from the boy's hands.
"You should be happy. I very much enjoyed them, and that's a compliment, dude. You've got plenty here to go around." Jack laughed to himself. Little did Bunnymund know that he just foiled a plan for his own prank. A tad disappointed that he wouldn't be showering empty candy wrappers around the Warren, Jack shrugged. Ah well, he'd try again later. Glancing at Jamie, he was relieved to see that look of consternation gone from his face. At least he was still good at distractions.
"So," he picked up his stick. "What to do? Now that you're out of the house and in the neighborhood..."
"Jack, you're creating a diversion, I know it," Jamie said, still insistent on accomplishing what he came for.
"You all could high-tail it to the river and make sure the eggs are throwin' themselves in," Bunnymund suggested. Jack gave him a look of gratitude.
Jamie grumbled something under his breath. Jack could tell he was frustrated, but unfortunately, it would have to stay that way. It would wear off eventually.
"What a great idea!" Jack leapt into the air. "Come on!" And he took off before Jamie could protest.
Bunnymund's river always fascinated Jack. How he got the swirling colors just right, he would never know. And with each egg that emotionlessly threw himself off the cliff of the shore and into the waters, Jack and Jamie heehawed and beat the ground with their fists.
"They're so stupid!" Jack managed between laughter. "They're like, 'Hey! Lets go throw ourselves off a cliff! That sounds like fun!'"
Jamie laughed. "I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing."
"Suuure.. So did you when you about cut off your arm while mowing the grass"
Jamie punched his shoulder. "Hey! How was I supposed to know the blade was lose?"
"You just gotta know these things, Jamie," Jack's eyes rolled with sarcasm. "You're expected to know everything, you know." He stood up next to Jamie, both of them hanging on the edge of the shore.
"No, I didn't know that."
Jack laughed. "You will." With a quick call, he successfully tipped the boy into the colorful water. Jamie surfaced, gasping and bewildered, paddling the water. "Did you know I was going to do that?!"
"No, but Frost, I'm going to GET YOU!"
"Yeah sure. Hey, I wonder if you could find any fruity pebbles down there." Jack lifted into the air above. "A river like this HAS to have fruity pebbles at the bottom."
"I don't know, why don't you LOOK YOURSELF!" Jack felt a wet hand grab his ankle and drag him down into the color.
He sputtered and coughed, whipping his hair out of his eyes to meet his loyal friend's high pitched laughter. Confused, Jack grabbed a lock of hair and pulled it down, anxious to see what Jamie was laughing so hard at. The hair that was once white, was now purple. "Oh man.. You know that you just subjected yourself to a whole string of pranks."
He watched Jamie shrug. "Heck, they come anyway, regardless of whatever I do."'
"Well phooey, you better not have ruined my sweatshirt," Jack bobbed out of the water to check his hoodie, only to find it dripping, as purple as his hair. "Dang. It was my favorite."
"Not to mention you're only. Don't worry, I'm sure it'll come out. When's the last time you flippin' washed it?"
Jack smirked. "Me? Doing laundry? Seriously, Jamie?"
"Well then good, I did you a favor."
Jack just stared at him a long moment, trying to look menacing. But the playful glint in his eye gave him away as usual. "You don't scare me," Jamie graced him.
A sliver of what he was trying to forget started inking into his thoughts. He never wanted Jamie to be afraid of him. Before it could fully come back, he dove into the water and grabbed Jamie's legs, pulling him under. He resurfaced and laughed, poking Jamie's head when he also came up again.
"Hilarious, Frosty," he sputtered.
Jack faked hurt. "Oh Jamie! I can't believe you!"
"Well, you better, because you deserve THIS!" and Jamie hoisted himself out of the water, toppling right on top of Jack's head. He didn't quite mean to make such a hard impact, but surely He was okay. Jack could swim very well.
But he was pushed far under, the bubbles tickling his neck as they raced for the surface. He held still, letting the sinking slow, before trying to decided which way was up and which was down. Kicking his feet, he propelled himself forward, groping upward with outstretched arms for the surface. But after a few seconds, he realized that he should have reached the surface by now. Squinting his eyes open, he tried with no avail to to see through the mirky purple water, only to shut them tightly against the pain of the paint. Panic seeped into his mind as he knew that Jamie couldn't look down to see him either. The dang water was too thick to see anything.
Growing frantic for air, he swam around in every direction, groping and clawing the water. This reminded him too much of his death, and too much of the death that occurred yesterday. He wondered if the young woman had felt the same scared feelings that came with drowning... the hopelessness, the choked will to live... as those same familiar feelings of helplessness seeped into his hide, making him lose all sense of reason. And as that mixed with the guilt in his heart, he stopped struggling altogether. It dawned on him... Maybe this was right. Being no longer a Guardian, what use had he in the world anymore?
But the sudden grip on his hoodie pulling him up gave him no choice in the matter. He yelped as he was ripped out of the water and flapped against the ground on his back. There had to be a less painful way to rescuing.
"WHAT were you doing?! Were you TRYING to scare us?! NO MORE tricks, Frost! This is crossing the line!"
It took Jack a moment to realize Bunnymund was screaming in his face.
"Bunny, look at him! Is he even breathing?!" He could hear Jamie's distant voice say.
"Oh no.. Frost. Jack come back! Wake up!"
He screamed and shot straight upright when a sudden blow to his chest brought his vision back. "Oh! Aaah! Ooow!" he panted, wrapping his arms around his chest.
"Sorry to do it to ya, Kid, but we thought you were a goner!"
"Jack, Jack? Are you okay?"
Jack's eyes opened slowly to meet Jamie's, gritting his teeth against the pain that shot through his thin frame when he breathed. What had just happened came back yo his recollection, and he stood up, wobbling to the point of almost falling over.
"Jack, sit down," Bunnymund ordered. The Guardian was rigid, his fur dripping with purple.
"I'm fine!" he heard his voice say. As if an enemy to his own self, his heart screamed that he wasn't okay. But he ignored it and kept walking.
Jamie grabbed his shoulders from behind and spun him around. "Jack! Stop! You're NOT, definitely NOT fine! And you can't fool me this time! Stop being a jackass and knock it off! We want to HELP you!"
Jack barely shrugged Jamie off, realizing how weak he was. "No, I don't need help. I'm just tired. Let me be."
"NO! I won't!" his angered but concerned friend barked into his face.
Jack's eyes suddenly narrowed. They just weren't going to let up on him. And with a whisper, the wind quickly picked its pace and he shot up before they could catch him.
"FROST!"
*~*~*~*~*~*G*~*~*~*~*~
What had he just done, he asked himself.
"Protected a child," he replied.
"But you're no longer a Guardian," his voice said again.
It took a moment for him to respond. "But I'm still Jamie's friend."
The sounds of the cave were nonexistent, save for the wheezing in his lungs. Leaning his head back against the wall of ice, he sighed. It had been another long day, same as yesterday. He honestly didn't know how much longer he could take this.
The picture of the girl he murdered settled into his thinking. She had the greenest eyes and the blackest hair. Her frame was beautifully built, and if the circumstances were different, Jack's heart would have skipped a beat at the sight of her. But it wasn't different. And as those green eyes closed, her lips became a darker blue...
Tears traced his frozen cheekbones as he silently wept into his hands, his crying softly echoing through the cave.
*~*~*~*~G*~*~*~*~*
Lots of emotion going on there.. Lets just say my heart insides feel exhausted... hmm...
Let me know how you guys like it. :)