A/N : Wolf Girl: the song's name is "The Christmas Song" :)

Chapter 5

"You jerk! Why'd you do that to me?! I've never ice skated in my life!"

I punched him half-seriously and half-jokingly on the arm. His gaze finally lifted to my face.

"Because, I like to mess around with people, pull pranks. It's my nature. But I really am sorry about the last fall you took. I didn't hurt you, right?"

His eyes widened at me, wanting to know the truth. I told it.

"Well, ya. You kinda did, Jack."

His face turned red from embarrassment and he quickly dropped his head again. I could see how uncomfortable he was, withstanding my gaze, so I told the rest of the truth.

"But I forgive you... It's ok. You were just playing around. Nothing to worry about. No harm do-"

"Look, _, you don't know who I was... I almost hurt someone I cared about really bad messing around on the ice... And... I just can't believe that I let myself put you in danger after what happened to my-"

"Jack. I'm fine, ok? You didn't hurt me that bad."

I rubbed my lower back without thinking and winced visibly.

"Yes I did! Look! Your back is still hurting from that fall! I can't believe how stupid-"

"Jack."

I carefully stepped closer to him. He looked up at me.

"Could you show me how to ice skate?"

His eyes dulled for a moment, probably recalling a distant memory. He looked worried.

"Well... Yes. I could. But I don't think that this is-"

"Nothing's gonna happen to me. You'll be there to help. I need to learn sometime. Come on. Please?"

I grinned, trying to reassure him that it was perfectly safe out here. He seemed to be deep in thought. Then he raised his staff, touched it to the icy surface and held it there. I could hear a strange, crunching sound come from under the pond. The staff glowed blue in certain places. He was concentrating. I looked down, and realized that the dark hues of blue were turning lighter and lighter. He was freezing the pond through solid, until there was no liquid water left. I gave him a puzzled look.

"Are you that afraid of falling through? You could just fly out. There was already a foot of ice anyways."

The staff slowly stopped glowing until it was back to its wooden brown color. I never would've thought of Jack as being the serious type, but he sure was demonstrating it now.

"I'm trying to protect you, _. I once thought that the ice was thick enough. But I was wrong, so I'm just trying to be on the safe side for once in my life."

When he finished his explanation, he looked intently at me. I could tell that he wanted to say more.

"Jack, what happened to you?"

He sighed, looked down at the ice, looked back up at me and told me his story.

"A long time ago, before I was Jack Frost, I had a family. A little sister."

I nodded, and realized what he was saying. He used to be human.

"One day, a pond near our house froze. I decided to take my sister out to it to show her how to ice skate. Her name was Pippa. That was 328 years ago. The ice looked fine. I went out onto it, and she followed me. I should've tested it more before telling her that it was safe. It cracked where she was standing, and I had to use this-"

He lifted his staff up a couple inches to indicate it.

"to save her. At the time, it was just an ordinary branch. I used the end to scoop her up and switched places with her accidentally."

My eyes widened.

"She was fine. But I fell through the ice into the pond... And...drowned."

My mouth was slightly open, and puffs of white smoke escaped as my breathing became uneven. My eyes were pricking sharply, and my vision blurred.

"I died, and then I woke up after floating to the top of the pond. It was nighttime, and there was a full moon. The Man in the Moon told me that I was Jack Frost, and was a Guardian. I found the branch, now a staff. It gave me control over the wind, the cold. Everything about winter."

He stopped speaking and saw my red eyes. I wiped them quickly. It was hard to believe that he had died. I felt horrible for asking him to teach me. But I understood him now.

"Jack, I'm so sorry for what happened to you. I had no idea, and I shouldn't have asked-"

"It's ok. I'll still teach you. I want to teach you. Besides, there's no water to fall into now. I didn't freeze an entire pond for nothing you know."

He seemed ok now. Everything was cleared up between us. I straightened up and carefully glided over to him. He held out his hand to me, and I grasped it with my mitten covered one. His feet left the ice, and he sailed slowly forward, pulling me along easily, staff in his free hand faintly glowing. There was barely any wind now, and I smiled up at him as he flew a little faster over the mirror of ice. Then my hair started to fly back behind my head as we picked up more speed. The ice flew by below my blades making a soft hissing noise as they cut into the glossy surface. He looked down at me.

"_, I'm going to let go of your hand, ok? I'll be right behind you though! Don't worry, I'll catch you if you fall!"

I nodded my head, heartbeat making me feel a little sick inside my chest. Then, the cold left my hand and I sailed along the pond with ease. The wind helped me keep my speed by pushing at my back. I laughed into the freezing air.

I squinted at the ice ahead. There was something different about it. It was dipped lower than the rest of the pond. Townspeople called it a "soft-spot". I was approaching it too fast. There was no way I could avoid it in time.

"Jack! There's a soft-spot-"

"I gotcha."

He grabbed around my waist with one arm, and with the other holding the staff, lifted us into the air just before passing the soft-spot below. I shivered. He was freezing! He pulled me closer to him, laughing.

"What? You cold _?"

"N-n-no! I'm fine!"

All the teeth rattling around inside my head begged to differ. He smiled at me.

"Is that you shivering? I thought you said you were fine?"

He laughed yet again at my red face.

We flew around the pond's shore until I spotted my gamebag in the snow by the log. He slowly lowered us to the ground, grinning the whole time. I undid my game bag, sat on the log and ate my lunch after I unlaced the skates. I offered Jack some food, and he took it happily.

"I don't need to eat, but I still can enjoy food."

After putting on my furry boots, I tried to stop shivering by rubbing my arms to no success. Strange. That usually worked. Then I whirled around to face Jack, staff glowing in his hand, wearing a comical grin. He was the one making me cold!

"Jack! Stop it! I'm freezing man!"

He sighed in defeat, and let the staff fade to brown. He walked around the log and sat down beside me after leaning his staff against the spot next to him. The sun was setting already, and pastel colors smothered the pond's surface. It was once again, absolutely beautiful. Jack turned to face me.

"So, I'm guessing you live around here. Want me to take you home yet?"

I nodded. The temperature was dropping quickly, and it was getting dark. Wolves would be out soon. I stood, grabbed my bag, bow and quiver, and ice skates. He surprised me by wrapping his arm around me again. I thought we were walking back. Instead, he lifted me into the air once again, and we floated above the evergreens. I let out a small yelp, and he pulled me closer. My face reddened, then became cold in the next instant. I cleared my head and pointed us towards the direction I had walked from that morning. Searching the horizon, I finally spotted it. The cabin was soon below us, dark and deserted.