AN: Over three hundred reviews! You guys are awesome, I think I'm going to cry!
RECENTLY RE-EDITED (12/6/16)
Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians or Alice: Madness Returns.
When we were young
Oh oh, we did enough
When it got cold
Ooh ooh, we bundled up
I can't be told,
it can't be done
Stubborn Love ~ The Lumineers
~O~
As the two spirits strolled down the abandoned sidewalks of the quiet Burgess neighborhoods, a soft clearing of the throat pulled Jack's attention from the full moon hanging in the sky, and towards the girl walking along side him.
"Tell me something, Frost," Alice spoke up. "What do you recommend I do when I meet these children?"
"You're asking me?" Jack laughed, disbelief layered heavy in his tone.
"Yes," she retorted as her eyes narrowed. "I was led to believe that you were the guardian of fun, but perhaps I was mistaken?"
"Well no, you're not...but-"
"Then unfortunately, you are the most qualified person who can help direct me in the best ways of dealing with children," Alice finished matter-of-factly.
Jack bit back another laugh at how utterly robotic the girl's last statement just sounded before he rolled his eyes.
"For starters, you don't deal with children, Alice. You play with them. Disgruntled parents that are two seconds away from losing their minds because they're late for work and they just spilled hot coffee on their lap, deal with children. Second, I can't direct you in anything. Fun is my center, not yours. If you're going to be a guardian, you're going to need to figure out how to interact with the children on your own just like I had to."
"And how am I suppose to do that?" Alice asked hotly, crossing her arms.
"Well, what are you good at?"
"Pardon?"
"What are you good at?" Jack repeated in a slower, somewhat teasing tone. "If you want to learn how to interact with other people, figuring out what you're good at as a guardian is always a good place to start. For example, North is a master craftsman so he makes toys, Tooth is really good at multitasking which helps her teeth collecting, Bunny uses his painting skills on his eggs, Sandy is an expert at weaving his dreamsand, and of course, I can make a fantastic snowball. So that just leaves you. What are you good at?"
Her gaze dropped away from Jack as she thought about it, eventually coming up with, "fighting."
Surprise, surprise.
"Wow, that helps a lot," he replied, sarcastic. "You can't fight the children, Alice. They're not monsters."
She scoffed in response. "I believe that's a matter of opinion."
"Try again," Jack prompted. "What are you good at?"
Another silence fell as Alice thought. Jack would have laughed at how intensely she thought about the question if he didn't find the whole thing kind of sad. Coming up with an answer to that type question shouldn't have been nearly as difficult as Alice was making it.
"Look, don't worry about it," he said. "Trust your instincts. If you really are our new guardian, then you'll do just fine."
"You're starting to sound like North," Alice commented dryly.
Jack shrugged his shoulders, unsure whether she meant that as a compliment, or an insult. Ultimately, he decided to go with the former. He wouldn't dream of taking a comment like that as an insult. North was a great person and it made Jack feel a bit bashful to be compared to the proud Russian, even in such a small way.
"Yeah well, he's a very wise man."
Her eyes flickered in his direction. "Indeed he is."
The last stretch of their journey was spent in another silence as they both seemed content with the lack of conversation. Any person could see that the two spirits' interaction skills with each other still needed work, but at least they could maintain a comfortable silence together.
When the odd pair finally arrived at the house of Jamie and Sophie Bennett, Jack motioned Alice to follow him into the backyard of the two-story home.
The backyard was empty, but in a state of disorder. There were half-deflated balloons littering the grass, abandoned toys left carelessly in weird places, and a messy picnic table with cake-covered paper plates and punch-filled cups still sitting on top. Jamie's mom would no doubt be out there first thing in the morning, cleaning up the mess. Jack didn't doubt that the poor woman was probably too tired to do it tonight after taking on a small army of hyperactive children for a few hours with only the help for Jamie, and maybe a few sympathetic parents.
Alice scanned the area, taking in the big oak tree in the corner with a rusty swing set rooted next to it. She also took in the mess that was left behind and her face curled up at the sight of an obviously abandoned party.
"I'm confused," she said, gesturing at the picnic table. "This party looks like it has been over for hours."
"No, we missed the party, but I'm sure Jamie and his friends are still awake," Jack smiled before making his way to the back porch of the house. "Just wait here. I'll go get 'em."
"What do you suppose I do while you're gone?" Alice asked indignantly, her hands resting on her hips.
"I don't know," Jack shot back in the same tone. "Look around or something. I'll be right back."
Alice gave him an unimpressed glare, but he ignored it. He stepped up to the kitchen window and peered inside. The kitchen, of course, was dark and empty. Jamie's mom must already be upstairs in her room for the night, but judging by the faint, blue light coming from the entrance of the living room through the kitchen doorway, someone was still downstairs.
Jack spared a glance back at Alice to see her poking around the small spice garden Jamie's mom planted last Spring before he hopped over the porch railing and made his way around the side of the house to the window that looked in on Jamie's living room. The window wasn't view high, but due to his below average height, Jack had to stand on his toes to get a good look inside.
He spotted Jamie sitting his couch with four of his friends; clumsy Monty, sweet red-headed Pippa, and the infamous twins, Claude and Caleb. They were all piled on to the worn-out couch, watching something on the television. but from his impaired line of view and the position of the window, Jack couldn't see what it was. If he were to guess, he would have to go with a scary movie. The group of friends were curled close together as they stared at the glowing screen with wide eyes, just waiting for something to pop out and scare them.
Inside, Jamie and his friends leaned in closer as the eerie background music grew more intense and the young woman on the screen slowly inched closer to the closet that everybody knew the masked killer was hiding in. When the actress reached out and gripped the doorknob, the group of pre-teens leaned in even further before jumping backwards when the doors suddenly flew open and the woman screamed. They gasped at the shrill spike in the music, but once they saw that it was just the woman's cat and not the killer, they relaxed, letting out a collective sigh of relief.
It only lasted a second before a tapping noise that wasn't part of the movie echoed through Jamie's living room, scaring the friends out of their wits. They all jumped and screamed in fright. Claude and Caleb screamed the loudest as they clutched each other for comfort while Jamie and Pippa buried their faces in the wool blanket they were sharing. Monty's reaction was the most dramatic. He screamed shrilly, falling off the end of the couch and sending the popcorn bowl in his lap flying into the air.
"Holy crap! What was that!?" Claude shouted as his grip on his twin brother tightened.
"Please tell me that was the TV," Pippa groaned, her words muffled by the blanket.
"I t-t-think it came from the w-window," Monty stuttered out before he reached up a shaking hand to fix his glasses.
All at once, the five friends looked at the window across the room to find nothing on the other side. Jamie picked up the television remote and put the movie on mute. No one said a word as they stared at the window.
"Are you sure it came from the window?"
"Y-yeah, I think so."
"Maybe one of us should go check it out."
"Are you volunteering, Claude?"
"Of course not! You do it, Caleb."
"You're older."
"By like five minutes!"
"That's never stopped you from rubbing it in my face before!"
"Jamie should do it! It's his house!"
"Hey, don't bring me into this. You're the one who came up with the idea! You do it!"
"No way! Make Monty do it, he's the weakest!"
"Am n-not! T-take that back, Claude!"
"Oh you bunch of babies, I'll do it!"
With a huff and a roll of her eyes, Pippa untangled herself from Jamie's blanket and stood up from the couch. Once she was on her feet, the short-haired girl took in a deep breath and pulled back her shoulders in forced bravery before making her way to the living room window.
"Be careful," Monty whispered, hiding behind the arm of the couch.
Pippa didn't turn, but she raised a hand behind her back in acknowledgement. The girl tried to fight off the irony of being in a similar situation as the actress she just saw in the movie. Her heart pounded as she drew closer to the window while the boys behind her watched with anxious eyes. When she finally got close enough, Pippa reached out both hands and rested them on the windowsill, looking out the window into the night.
The boys jumped when she let out a gasp.
"What is it!?" Caleb asked desperately.
"Is it a monster!?" Monty cried.
Pippa didn't respond; instead, she reached out and unlocked the window.
"Hey, are you crazy!? Don't open it!"
"Calm down," Pippa said, shooting the boys a look as she pulled the window open. "It's only Jack."
The boys halted in their cowering.
"Really?"
On cue, the white-haired spirit pushed off the ground and pulled himself up on to the windowsill. He grinned at the pre-teens with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
"Hey kiddies! Did I scare you?"
"Pffft, no!" Claude scoffed as he and his brother pushed away from each other.
Jamie jumped off the couch and ran over to his immortal friend. "Jack, you're here!"
"I told you I was coming, didn't I?" Jack laughed as the boy hugged him around the waist. "Whoa there, take it easy. I just saw you the other day."
"I know," Jamie said, pulling his face from Jack's hoodie. "But you weren't at Sophie's party and it was getting late."
"Yeah, we were starting to think you weren't going to show up," Pippa added. She walked around the two and went to help Monty pick up the popcorn on the floor.
"Sorry about that. I was held back by...someone."
"Who?" Caleb asked with a mouthful of popcorn he picked off the ground. He ignored Pippa's grossed out scowl as she shoved him away and walked out of the room.
"Well..."
"Hey Jamie!" Pippa called from the kitchen. She went into the kitchen to wash the butter off her hands, but when she turned on the faucet, she looked out the window above the sink and spotted something outside. "There's someone in your backyard! I think it's a girl!"
"What?" Jamie blinked.
Monty and the twins looked at Jamie, and then at each other in confusion before they got up and moved towards the kitchen in a hustle. Instead of following, Jamie stayed behind and looked at Jack. The Winter spirit was leaning casually against the wall of his living room, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible, but he couldn't hide the devilishly sly smirk that threatened to spread across his pale face.
"You didn't," Jamie shook his head with a growing smile.
"Oh, I did," Jack said in a sing-song tone of utter smugness.
Jamie spun on his heel and ran into the kitchen to join his friends.
"Pippa's right!" Monty said with his freckled face pressed up against the glass. "There is a girl in your backyard, Jamie."
"Move over, Caleb!" Claude snapped as he jumped up on to the counter, pushing his brother aside before looking out the window. "Whoa, what a babe!"
"Who is she?" Pippa asked from the ground. Other than Jack, she was the only one tall enough to see out the window without having to climb on the counter.
"That's Alice!" Jamie exclaimed as he ran into the kitchen.
With a grunt, the boy pulled himself up next to Monty on the counter and looked out the window. By now, Alice had noticed the small gathering of children looking at her from the window. Jamie easily recognized her from the picture Cupcake found on that website he had brushed off as one of those false conspiracy websites. He made a mental note to apologize to the older girl for doubting her because the young woman in his backyard looked exactly like the woman in the old photograph.
He found it kind of funny though, that she really didn't look anything like the blonde Alice everybody was so familiar with. He knew she would probably look different from her modern portrayal, but he also thought she would still resemble it in at least some ways.
When Jamie first met all the guardians, they looked extremely different than he expected them to, but at the same time, their true appearances made sense. They looked right somehow, as if he always subconsciously knew what the famous childhood icons truly looked like, even though Jamie would've never imagined, in a million years, that Santa Claus was really a large mountain of a man who spoke with a thick Russian accent and wielded two deadly sabers, and not the plump grandpa everybody thought he was. And not to mention the Easter Bunny, who was something else entirely.
The girl standing in his backyard certainly didn't look like Alice from Alice in Wonderland, but then again, what did he know? Two years ago, Jamie didn't even know who Jack Frost was, let alone believe in him, and now he was Jamie's best friend. So did it really matter that Alice looked so different? Not really. In hindsight, he should've seen it coming.
Despite having grown up watching only the blonde version of Alice, Jamie figured he could get used to the real Alice.
"Alice who?" Pippa asked as she stood on her toes to see over the top of Claude's head.
"You know, Alice from Alice in Wonderland."
Pippa turned to Jamie with wide eyes. "Are you serious, she's real too?"
In his excitement, Jamie could only nod.
"No way! Sophie's going to flip out!" Pippa gushed, giggling in excitement. "Can we go out and talk to her, Jack?"
"Yeah, can we?"
"I wanna meet her, she looks nice."
"She looks hot!"
"Isn't she supposed to be blonde?"
"I think so. Maybe she dyed her hair? My mom dyes her hair to keep it from turning gray."
"Hey, our mom does that too!"
"Yeah, she says it's our fault it's turning gray."
"Gee, I can't imagine why..."
"I think we're getting a little off topic here."
"Yes we are," Jack agreed as he tugged Jamie off the counter and kneeled down next to the boy. "Where's Sophie?"
"Upstairs," Jamie replied. "Mom put her to bed hours ago."
"Well go wake her up and bring her down here." Jamie nodded and moved to walk out of the kitchen, but Jack grabbed his pajama shirt and pulled him back again. "Where's Cupcake?"
"She got grounded for fighting in school again, but she said to call her if anything interesting happens and she'll sneak out. Should I call her?"
"Well, I really shouldn't condone children sneaking out of their houses in the middle of the night, on account of my new title and all," Jack said thoughtfully, "but then again, I could probably excuse it if it were an emergency, and this could definitely be considered an emergency. Plus, being a joy-kill makes me feel like I'm going to turn into the Easter Bunny."
"So...is that yes?"
"What do you think, kiddo?" Jack laughed as he ruffled the boy's hair.
Jamie smiled before turning to face his friend. "Pippa, go call Cupcake and tell her to get over here now!"
Pippa nodded and both kids made their way out of the kitchen. Jamie ran towards the upstairs, making sure to step as quietly as possible so he didn't wake up his mom, while Pippa went into the living room to retrieve her cellphone from her overnight bag.
Jack walked up behind the remaining children sitting on Jamie's kitchen counter and looked out the window from over the tops of their heads.
Alice had lost interest in the juvenile faces pressed up against the window. She was now wandering idly around Jamie's backyard, kicking a few half-deflated balloons out of her way. She had removed her black coat to reveal her blue dress underneath and seemed to convince the pre-teens that they were truly looking at Alice in Wonderland.
The three boys in front of Jack continued to bicker back and forth, trying to shove each other off the counter, but Jack remained silent as he watched Alice, hoping that none of this would blow up in his face as he waited for Jamie to return downstairs with Sophie.
~O~
Outside, Alice paced the yard for what had to be the twentieth time as she tried to keep from wringing her hands in apprehension.
Admittedly, she was a tad nervous. She never was one for meeting new people and judging by the little faces observing her from the window, she was about to encounter quite a few of them. At least they were just children, though. She didn't like the unpredictable aspect of children, but it was comforting to know that it was always followed by a fair amount of innocence, unlike adults who could easily be unpredictable in all the bad ways.
She tried to ignore the several pairs of eyes watching her every move. It was times like these that Alice wished Bunny was standing next to her. He was always her rock of wisdom and support when she found herself in uncontrollable situations. Even when she was a child, she looked to him, her constant variable, for help in stabilizing the world around her.
But Bunny was miles away now and Alice needed to face the horror that was socializing on her own. The mere thought almost made her shudder.
If Alice were to be completely honest with herself, which she usually was, she would realize that she would much rather be back in Wonderland, dodging flaming doll heads and oversized eating utensils. That was her element, not this.
She could easily abandoned this whole situation. All she would need to do is just turn around and walk away, there was no one around to stop her from doing so, but the faint glimpse of white hair in the nearby window stopped her, and she found herself strangely not wanting to disappoint the Winter spirit. Jack seemed so excited when she told him she would accompany him to Burgess for that little girl's birthday. His striking, azure eyes shined with such childlike joy and excitement that even cynical Alice would have found it criminal to crush his spirits.
Not to mention is would be incredibly not nice of her to not follow through with her promise.
So she stayed.
Partly for Jack and partly for Sophie, but mostly for herself.
Alice still had great doubts about the Man in the Moon's decision, and his existence, but she couldn't deny that the prospect of being loved and adored by all the children of world sounded rather appealing, if not entirely whimsical.
She also couldn't deny the part of her that clung to the idea of gaining a new family that expanded beyond just her and Bunny. It sounded delightful to her ears, despite what her outward demeanor might portray, but if the past taught her anything, it was that people had a habit of dying around her, and rather violently, too.
So Alice was sent back to square one in her long, internal struggle of whether to seriously consider the offer that the guardians placed in front of her.
Somewhere between her endless circle of thoughts, Alice failed to hear the creaking of a door opening and the sound of footsteps against withering grass. She also failed to see the small bundle of colors coming towards her. It wasn't until a sudden weight crashed into the back of her boots and wrapped around her legs, nearly knocking her down, that Alice realized anything was amiss.
Confused, she twisted at the waist to look behind her to see what had ahold of her. The pressure around her legs disappeared (but not before squeezing tight one last time) and she was able to turn around without falling over. She almost jumped backwards when tiny hands came out of nowhere and grabbed a handful of her white apron. Alice looked down at the end of her blue dress to see a little girl with unruly blonde hair. Her eyes were a similar shade of green as hers, but not nearly as sharp. They were lighter and more innocent.
"Hi!" the girl greeted as she let go of Alice's dress and placed her hands behind her back, turning shy. "Hi, I...I'm Sophie...my big brother says that you're Alice from Wonderland. Are you? Are you Alice?"
The girl stared up at her with hopeful eyes. Alice's gaze lingered on the girl for a few seconds before it flickered towards the kitchen window. There were now five children, along with one spirit, watching from the window, all still as they watched the scene in front of them.
Alice took a breath before looking back at the girl by her feet and smiling as sweetly as possible. She pushed her anxiety far back in her mind while bringing forth her memories of tending to the orphans at Houndsditch.
There was once a time when Alice was quite good at interacting with children, but after a century and a half of isolation, her skills were now almost nonexistent.
Still, she forced herself to try.
"Indeed I am," Alice said as she bent over and rested her palms on her knees. "I'm Alice Liddell."
Sophie inhaled in awe as her eyes lit up like little stars. She let out a laugh and wrapped her arms around Alice's legs again, burying her face into the woman's stockings as she proclaimed, "I love you so much!"
Before Alice could reply, Sophie pulled away from her again. She bounced on her toes as she launched into a long monologue of random topics that Alice failed to follow. Sophie was at that age where she could form complete sentences, but hadn't quite grasped the concept of stopping between them to breathe. The girl's lungs could only go so long without oxygen before she stopped in mid-sentence to take in a large gulp of air.
"Today's my birthday, did you know that?" she asked, once she was able to.
"Yes, I heard," Alice nodded. "How old are you?"
"Six!" Sophie announced proudly as she lifted her chin and put her hands on her hips.
Alice let out a soft laugh at the girl's satisfied expression. "Impressive."
"Can I ask you a question?" she asked, a bit redundantly as she didn't wait for Alice's response. "Does the Easter Bunny know the White Rabbit?"
"Why yes, he does" Alice answered, a little thrown off by the unexpected question. "Bunny knows the White Rabbit."
Sophie grinned. "Really! Are they friends?"
The woman stalled, unsure whether to be truthful or not, before responding, "no, I'm afraid they're not friends."
"Aww, why not?" Sophie pouted. "They're both rabbits. They should be the bestest of friends!"
Oh dear, how should she answer this one?
The White Rabbit wasn't friends with Bunny at all. Alice wouldn't say that Rabbit hated Bunny, because that would be a little too harsh on Rabbit's part, but he disliked the pooka a great deal for reasons that Alice suspected had to do with Rabbit being just a teensy bit jealous of Bunny, and how much attention he received from Wonderland's queen.
Alice's other creations, though, they made their hatred for Bunny rather obvious. They used to attack him all the time when he first started visiting Wonderland. It wasn't until the whole Duchess incident that nearly ended with Bunny being made into an Easter Bunny stew and Alice cutting open the fat pig's throat for it, that the deadly creatures finally backed off in fear of evoking her wrath.
Of course, Bunny never gave them a reason to hate him so much. They just did. They were spiteful in every shape and form. In fact, they weren't particularly fond of Alice much either, but that was something else entirely. Despite her being their creator and queen, only a handful of Alice's creations treated her as such. They weren't like North's yetis and elves who saw the Russian as their boss, leader and companion. And their relationship was definitely not like the one Toothiana had with her little fairies. The mere thought of Alice being someone's mother made the dark-haired girl want to scoff.
But how was she supposed to explain all that to a six-year old girl in a way she could understand? She couldn't.
So instead of answering, Alice gave up her pride in a last-ditch effort of trying to make this night work, and thought back to the advice Jack had given her earlier.
'Trust your instincts.'
"Would you like to see something beautiful, Ms. Sophie?" Alice asked as she moved to sit down on the grass with her legs tucked under her.
As she spoke, she regarded the girl standing in front of her more closely. Sophie was wearing a pair of lavender pajamas with pink ruffles on the sleeves and hems. Her small feet were covered in rainbow socks and there was a pair of pink butterfly wings made out of sparkly fabric. One of wings had a small rip in it and the childish accessory as a whole looked worn and ragged, telling Alice that the girl was very fond of them.
That was where Alice decided would be a good place to start.
"Watch closely," she instructed the girl as she cupped her hands together.
Very curious as to what Alice was doing, Sophie stopped with her excessive bouncing and moved closer to see.
~O~
Jack watched with a smile as Sophie bounded out the back door of her house and across the yard to Alice. Just a few seconds ago, the little girl was whining and yawning as Jamie gently led her into the "too bright!" kitchen, obviously not pleased about being woken up, but when Jack picked her up and placed her on his hip, pointing at Alice, she was wide awake and squirming to get out of his skinny arms. If Jamie hadn't opened the back door when he did, Sophie probably would have ran into it.
Jack laughed when she ran straight up to Alice and latched herself on to the woman's legs, nearly sending the spirit toppling over.
The children in front of him watched from the window as they waited for Jack to let them out and meet the new, mysterious spirit in Jamie's backyard.
"Wow, she's pretty," Pippa commented.
"Yeah, she is," Jack agreed absently, his focus on watching the interaction between Sophie and Alice closely just in case something went wrong and he needed to step in.
He hadn't really been paying attention to what the girl next to him was saying, but he thought he should probably show a little acknowledgement. However, his efforts were wasted, as usual, because barely two seconds afterwards, the room was filled with giggles and the classic, childish proclamation of 'Oooh'.
Jack turned from the window and looked at the giggly pre-teens. "What?"
"I said 'Wow, she's pretty' and you agreed with me," Pippa said as she held back her laughter.
It didn't take long for Jack to figure out what they were all thinking, one look at their faces said it all.
"Oh not even, you little trolls!"
"Jack loves Alice! Jack loves Alice!" Caleb and Claude chanted. Jamie didn't join in on the teasing, but Jack could see the smile he was trying to hide behind his hand.
"Oh ha ha, very mature," he snapped. "You guys are totally wrong. Alice hates my guts and I don't think she's all peaches and cream, either."
"Mmhmm," Claude hummed. "Yeah, we believe that. Don't we guys?"
Stifled giggles passed through the group, earning a glare and biting retort from Jack.
"Oh shut up, what do you know?"
"Defensive much?" Jamie asked, looking up at Jack.
"You're against me too, Jamie?"
Jamie only laughed and patted his immortal friend's arm. "Of course not. We're only teasing. We don't mean it, so stop pouting already, you're three hundred and twenty years old."
"I'm not pouting," Jack snapped at the boy in a tone that sounded suspiciously like a pout.
"Okay," Jamie laughed again before barely dodging the half-hearted smack that Jack tried to deliver to the back of his head.
Playful rough-housing ensued as the two boys shoved each other. Eventually though, Jamie had to surrender when he found himself on the wrong end of Jack's staff.
"Alright, alright, you win! Just don't frost me! My mom will kill me if I ruin another one of my shirts!"
When Jack ignored his pleas and took aim, Jamie let out a small squeak before ducking behind Pippa.
"Hey!" Pippa shouted, trying to push Jamie back in front of her. "I don't wanna get frosted, either!"
"Someone hold him still!" Jack ordered.
"We got 'em!" Claude and Caleb shouted as they jumped from the counter to help Pippa wrangle their friend.
"Knock it off guys!" Jamie laughed as he struggled against their hands while also trying to stay out of Jack's line of fire. "Seriously! This isn't fair!"
His friends had their hands wrapped around his arms, but Jamie was able to pull free from some of the hands and with one, final heave, he managed to bring down all three of his captors along with him to the floor. They landed in a pile of tangled limbs as they laughed uncontrollably. Jack pulled himself out of his aiming position and watched with a smirk as the kids on the floor try and untangle themselves.
The hilarious sight of Jamie being buried under his friends while Claude and Caleb broke out into a wrestling match ended abruptly when Pippa let out a cry when someone accidentally stepped on her hair. She was fine, having easily brushed off the pain in her scalp soon after, but her cry attracted the attention of the only adult in the house.
Everyone in the kitchen froze when the click of a switch sounded from upstairs and the hallway light flickered to life.
"Jamie!"
The boy in question flinched at the warning call of his mother from underneath his friends. He pushed on Caleb's back to get the heavier boy off of him so he could answer his mom. Once he pulled himself from the dog pile, Jack reached out and pulled the boy up on his feet by his pajama sleeve. Jamie mouthed a 'Thank You' to the Winter spirit before he went out into the hall.
"Yeah mom?"
Jack watched him until he disappeared before he went to work untangling the rest of the children on the floor.
"Hey Jack," Monty called from where he was still sitting on the kitchen counter, not one who enjoys rough play very much. Jack looked over at the bespectacled boy as he helped Pippa to her feet. "Alice is doing something."
"What do you mean?"
Monty pointed. "Look."
When he did, Jack didn't see anything at first. Sophie was talking while Alice only nodded, no doubt having trouble keeping up as the little girl talked a mile a minute. Then, Alice moved to sit on the grass and motioned for Sophie to step closer. It was difficult to see what was happening, but when a blue light started to glow around Alice's cupped hands, Jack's brow furrowed as he stepped closer to the window until his stomach pressed against the kitchen counter, stopping him.
His mind barely registered when the other children joined him as he stared out into Jamie's backyard where the blue light surrounding Alice's hands grew brighter.
"Jack? What is she doing?" Pippa asked.
"I don't know." He shook his head, moving away from the counter and towards the backdoor. "But I think maybe I should-"
He was cut off when Jamie and his friends gasped in awe. The blue light faded and Alice opened her hands again, allowing a cloud of blue dust and five blue butterflies to flutter from her palms and up into the air. Jack could hear Sophie's elated screams and laughs all the way from inside as he looked out the backdoor window to see the little girl running around the yard, jumping up and trying to catch the butterflies fluttering around above her head.
"Whoa! Did you see that?"
"How'd she do that?"
"Can we go meet her now, Jack?"
"Yeah, can we?"
The Winter spirit didn't take his gaze from the backyard even though he was aware that he was being asked a question. Alice was standing on her feet again with her arms held behind her back as she watched in amusement as Sophie ran around the yard, trying to catch the butterflies and running her hands through the blue dust cloud.
Her little butterfly trick, Jack remembered it back in North's workshop when he first encountered Alice.
He didn't get much of a chance to see the trick in full effect at the time, mainly due to the fact that he had just caused a mess in the workshop and would no doubt get thoroughly chastised for it, but he remembered that she had appeared from nowhere within the cloud. Thinking back on what he saw, Jack figured it must be some form of teleportation. The part of his brain that housed his curious side wished she would do it again so he could see how it worked.
"Jack?" Jamie spoke as he walked over to his friend and tugged on his hoodie sleeve.
"Yeah?" He pulled his eyes away from the window and looked at the group of wide-eyed children waiting for permission to storm the backyard and meet the spirit that everybody was familiar with but never imagined really existed. Jack looked at each kid once before letting out a sigh. He was no match for five pairs of puppy-dog eyes. "Oh alright, go ahead. Just try not to touch her-"
The motley crew of friends were out the door before he could finish his sentence.
Outside, the backdoor of the house flew open and a stampede of children came running out towards the oak tree Alice and Sophie were standing by.
The butterflies had already escaped the confines of the backyard and into the night. Alice was glad she was able to please the little girl with her display. Sophie seemed easy to entertain which came as a relief to Alice, but she didn't quite know what to make of these new children. She had forgotten how forward and unaware of personal space children could be, but she was reminded when the group of children swarmed around her like a flock of bolterflies.
Surprisingly, Jamie and his friends heeded Jack's warning and kept their hands to themselves, but they stood as close to Alice as they dared, forming a crooked circle around the spirit.
"I love your dress! It's so pretty!"
"Is that blood?"
"Do you have any cool powers like Jack and Sandy?"
"How come your hair isn't blonde?"
"No! Alice is my new friend! Jamie!"
Jack smirked as he stepped on to the porch and watched Alice being rioted by pre-pubescent kids. The poor woman stood in the middle with her arms raised at waist level as she looked down at the children around her feet. Her expression showed bewildered surprise while her eyebrows lifted and hid behind the dark hair that managed to escaped from behind her ears. Somewhere in the middle of the questions fired at her, Alice looked up and saw him.
For a moment, she looked at him with a perplexed look as if she wasn't expecting such a warm reception, which Jack was willing to bet was true. He returned her look with a lopsided smile and a shoulder shrug before he leaned his weight on his staff.
Maybe after seeing him be so carefree, Alice decided to loosen up a little because her raised arms slowly fell back at her sides and Jack saw her tense shoulders relax. Then, she did something that almost made his jaw drop.
She smiled at him.
It was brief and very small, just a tiny lift of her lips that lasted barely a second before it was gone and was she looking back down at the children surrounding her.
If Jack had blinked he would have missed it, but he hadn't. And even more shocking, he was fairly certain it was genuine, and not one of those vindictive smirks that usually graced her face whenever she thought he was being a fool. It almost made him feel giddy inside because it had been directed at him.
Normally, such a small smile wouldn't matter much compared to the warm, welcoming ones Jack always received from Tooth and North, but when it was coming from someone like Alice, it was like getting to see Halley's Comet; frustratingly rare but undeniably beautiful.
He smiled back even though her attention was now back on the children, but he didn't mind. He would like to think that it was a small sign that she was starting to like and trust him, kind of like when Bunny first smiled at him when they finished preparing the eggs for Easter. You know, before Jack screwed up and made the pooka hate him again.
It was a nice thought, him and Alice possibly becoming friends. Then again, that could just be wishful thinking on his part. Still though, having Alice as a friend had to be infinitely better than having her as an enemy, right?
As Jack watched Alice fight to answer all the questions that were being thrown at her, he noticed something in the corner of his eye. He turned his head and smiled when he spotted the pink and black cladded figure that was Cupcake, standing near the open fence door.
The stout girl lingered in the background the same as Jack, watching the entertaining scene of Alice being ambushed by preteens, but the winter spirit was surprised that there was a sense of hesitation coming off her. He could easily tell by the way she stood with one foot planted in Jamie's yard and the other still behind the fence that marked the Bennett's property as if she was ready to duck behind it if she needed to.
Cupcake was usually a very blunt and forward girl, much like Alice, but now it seemed as if she was almost hiding. Very un-Cupcake like behavior.
Was she nervous about meeting Alice? Jack couldn't imagine why that would be. He hasn't been around Cupcake very long, but in the short time they've been friends, he had never known the girl to be nervous about anything.
Jack whistled to gain her attention. When he had it, he motioned her to join him on Jamie's porch with beckoning flicks of his fingers. She hesitated for a moment, throwing a wary glance at the group gathered around Jamie's tree, before she made her way over. Neither said a word as Cupcake came to stand next to Jack with her arms crossed.
"So that's Alice, huh?" Cupcake said conversationally as they watched the twins get into a fight while Sophie tugged on the tails of Alice's white apron bow, trying to pull the woman's attention back on to her.
"Yep."
"She looks just like the girl from that website."
"Mmhm."
"So I guess everything I found is true?"
"As far as I can tell, yeah."
"Does she know that you..."
"No, and I would really prefer if it stayed that way."
Cupcake could feel his on her, but she didn't turn to look at him. Instead she shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, you don't have to worry about me. I won't say anything if you don't want me to."
"Thanks," Jack smiled before looking back across the yard. "So I hear you got into another fight at school."
"Yep."
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
When Cupcake fought in school that usually told Jack that something at home was stressing her out. Fighting was the girl's way of letting off steam, but that wasn't a very healthy or safe outlet for her anger, and as a guardian, Jack felt he should try to help break her of that habit before it got her into real trouble.
"Not much to talk about," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Just some jerk who thought it was a good idea to shoot spitballs at me."
Jack laughed. "Spitballs? Do kids actually still do that? I thought they just sent displeased looking smiley faces on Twitter these days."
"You know what Twitter is?"
He stuck his tongue out. "Just because I'm over three hundred years old doesn't mean I can't be aware of what's considered 'hot or not' in the current times."
Cupcake snorted and rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, you're a real hipster, Jack Frost."
"And don't you forget it." He narrowed his eyes in false seriousness as he pointed a finger in her face.
"Shut up!" Cupcake laughed, pushing his hand away. "You're such a dork!"
The two laughed together as they took turns gently shoving each other. Eventually their laughter died down and they fell into silence again.
Claude and Caleb were now rolling around on the ground, both trying to gain the upper hand over the other while their friends ignored them and kept their attention on Alice. They were used to the twins' antics by now and they knew it was better to just let them get it out of their systems.
"So are you going to go join the others?" Jack asked as he looked at Cupcake from the corner of his eye.
There was that hesitation again as Cupcake's smile dropped and she gnawed on her bottom lip. "Mmm, not yet. I won't be able to get a word in edgewise, anyways. I'll wait until the others tire themselves out."
Jack narrowed his eyes, but decided to ignore the nagging voice in the back of his head for now. "Alright, if you say so, Cups."
"Are you and Alice still mad at each other?" Cupcake asked as she took a seat on the porch steps.
"No, not anymore," he replied, joining her. "She actually apologized which completely threw me off. It was really weird because she went from being a mean chick to this...delightful one. I'm pretty sure it was just an act because whenever she would say something nice to me, she would get this expression on her face as if she was being tortured. I think maybe North said something in my defense to make her be nicer to me, but I can't imagine why she would even bother trying."
"Does she still hate you?"
Jack sighed as he looked back at Alice. She was now trying to break up the wrestling match between the twins. Jack watched as she bent over at the waist to gently pry the brothers apart. Long strands of dark hair spilled over her shoulders and Alice reached up to brush them back, the moonlight overhead catching the sleek gleam in the deep brown locks.
"No, I don't think so."
AN: Aww, playtime with Jack Frost! He's just an overgrown child, isn't he?
~Scorpiofreak~