Thirty-one years previous
Late May
Five days after the news of his pregnancy broke, Jack Frost met a stranger. Only he – she? It? – wasn't truly strange, once he got a second look. In fact, Jack probably knew her – it. Them. – as well or better than any other creature alive.
They appeared to him in the Alaskan mountains, where snow and ice continued to linger even as spring took hold of the lower lands. He spotted them while flying overhead and knew, without knowing, that they waited for him.
The wind set him down among the frosted boulders and lingered there, reluctant to leave his side. They turned, imperceptibly, to face him. In doing so, they made no noise. "HELLO, JACK FROST."
"Hi there," said Jack. He smiled, because it was in his center to smile especially while nervous or uncertain or afraid. Tonight was the first in a week that he'd intended to spend along, away from the fuss and excitement of his mate and fellow Guardians. To be approached by such a force did not bode well at the best of times.
His skin prickling with anxious nerves, Jack leaned his whole weight on his staff, balancing precariously on the curved face of a weather-worn stone. "Well then. To what do I owe the honor?"
His companion rose from their seat on another rock, unfolding like a deck chair on the shores of the sea of night. They inclined their head to him in a way that was almost polite. "I COME WITH A MESSAGE," they said. "FROM THE MAN IN THE MOON."
"Manny?"
As though answering a cue, the clouds parted, giving way to a gibbous moon that shown down from a dark and starry sky. Jack frowned up at it in confusion, then turned the expression to his companion. "Since when do you play messenger?"
"I DON'T."
Jack stepped off the rock, scuffing the dirt with the butt of his staff. The message must be important, to enlist the help of such a force of nature. But still… "Why not go through the Guardian channels? I've been at the Pole all week. It would've been easy."
"THE INFORMATION IS, AT THIS TIME, INTENDED FOR YOU ALONE IT PERTAINS TO YOUR RECENT…DEVELOPMENT."
Dark eyes like distant stars peered at Jack's stomach. Jack, his instincts screaming danger, leapt back, brandishing his staff with one hand as the other pressed over the slightest lump hidden by his hood.
"CALM YOURSELF. I AM NOT HERE FOR THEM."
Yet, whispered an unspoken voice at the back of Jack's mind. His grip on the staff tensed as the wind picked up its roar. He would have answered its call to fly, but knew it would do no good. They were everywhere. They always were. Always would be.
"Why are you here, then?" he demanded. "You said you had a message. Let's hear it."
The stillness of his towering companion continued to unnerve, no matter how familiar they seemed. Even their jaw did not move as they spoke. "DO YOU KNOW HOW YOU CAME TO BE?"
Jack snorted. "Well, when my mommy and daddy loved each other very much…"
"NOT THAT. YOUR CURRENT EXISTENCE."
"It was a joke."
They stared at him. Jack rolled his eyes. There were some creatures in this world who never quite found their sense of humor. "Yes. I know I got here. Manny brought me back to life."
His companion snorted. How they managed that without a proper nose, Jack would never know. "TOO SIMPLE. BUT CLOSE ENOUGH. YES, TSAR LUNAR TOOK IT UPON HIMSELF TO RAISE YOUR SPIRIT FROM ITS ICY REST AND FILL YOUR CORPSE WITH THE MAGIC OF LIFE – AFTER HE HAD OBTAINED MY PERMISSION, OF COURSE."
"Of course. So what?"
"SO," said his companion, without a hint of emotion or strain. "THE TSAR LUNAR IS MANY THINGS. BUT HE IS NOT A GOD. BY ITS NATURE, EVEN HIS MAGIC HAS ITS LIMITS. IT CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH."
"THE MAGIC OF LIFE WITH WHICH HE INFUSED YOUR BODY CONTINUES TO BURN TO THIS DAY. IT IS WHAT HAS KEPT YOU ALIVE THESE FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. IT SHOULD HAVE CONTINUED TO DO SO FOR MILLENNIA MORE. HOWEVER…" Again, the dark eyes settled on Jack's stomach and the splayed, protective hand. "THE GOOD TSAR DID NOT ACCOUNT FOR THIS."
Jack's throat tightened. Of course Manny couldn't expect this. He hadn't expected it. Hell, Bunny hadn't expected it, and the whole thing was his fault. It'd been an accident. A miracle. But had something gone wrong…?
The other stared at him, as though waiting for his thoughts to silence themselves before they spoke again. Their voice this time was soothing, but not quite gentle, like rocking waves beneath a ship in the center of a vast sea with no moon and no lights, only stars and endless darkness.
"THE CREATION OF NEW LIFE IS A MAGIC OF ITS OWN. BUT IT IS NOT SELF-SUSTAINING. IT MUST BE FED." They paused, allowing the words to sink in before delivering the final blow. "THE MAGIC OF LIFE WITHIN YOU CAN ONLY SUPPORT SO MUCH. IT WOULD BE STRAINED TO ITS LIMITS IN CREATING EVEN A SINGLE ADDITIONAL LIFE, LET ALONE THREE."
Three…?
Three!
Jack's heart leapt. A litter. An entire litter. Three precious, beautiful babies all his own, a perfect mix of him and Aster. Which would they resemble more, he wondered. Would they be boys, girls, a mix of both?
"JACK FROST. LISTEN." The other's face bore no expression. Jack suppose that it probably couldn't, given what it was. "BRINGING THIS EVENT TO TERM WOULD REQUIRE EVERY DROP OF LIFE MAGIC POSSESSED BY YOUR BODY. IT CANNOT BE SUBSTITUTED. IT CANNOT BE RESTORED. ALL OF YOUR POTENTIAL THOUSANDS OF YEARS WOULD BE THE COST FOR BRINGING THOSE THREE INTO THE WORLD."
Jack swallowed. It hurt, forcing the tension down. It took another before he could again speak. "You're saying that I'd die. For good this time."
The other nodded, once.
Jack's heart came down from its previous leap and sank into his stomach like lead into the sea. He lowered his staff and rested both his hands across his stomach, staring at the place where they clasped. Beneath the hands, beneath his skin, three tiny creatures waited in anticipation of a world they had never seen.
They were so tiny now. From everything they'd been able to estimate, he was perhaps a month along. They were barely creatures. Barely lives.
A pale hand emerged from robes of liquid night, a single finger extended towards him, pointed at the tiny lump he had concealed. "THIS IS WHY TSAR LUNAR ASKED ME TO BRING THE MESSAGE," said the comforting dark voice as its owner took a single step closer. "ASK, AND IT WILL END."
So that was what it came down to, in the end. His life, or theirs.
The other took another step. Jack again retreated, leaping back onto the nearest rock with his staff pulled defensively across his path. "No," he said without a moment's hesitation. "I'm keeping them. All of them. All the way."
The other stopped. They lowered their hand and turned their face to the moon, whose light wavered with reservation. "I DID TELL YOU HE WOULD SAY THAT."
"Yeah. Well. Don't tell anyone else. Please. Not a soul. And that goes for you too." Jack straightened on his rocky perch, turned to the Man in the Moon, and shook his staff for emphasis. "You hear me? Not a single word. Don't you dare try to get the others to talk me out of this. You owe me."
The moonlight shimmered with a hint of distress. Jack could just imagine Manny, as he'd seen him once or twice through ancient machines, wringing his hands and fretting over what was the right thing to do. Jack knew the Man in the Moon well enough now to know that he would only offer this option if he thought it was truly for the best. The prospect of losing a Guardian, the oldest and dearest of his friends, was the closest thing the MiM knew to a nightmare.
The black and pale figure had yet to move. It looked to Jack impassively and said, "YOU ARE CERTAIN."
It was not a question. Merely a formality. Jack took a deep breath.
"Yeah. I am. Just." He sighed. "Can I ask a favor?"
The other moved their head ever so slightly to the left.
"When the time comes…I want to see them. Just once. If I can stay just long enough for that…I just the need the one time. Please."
They nodded, slowly, like waves lapping upon the shore. "THAT IS ACCEPTABLE." The pale hand extended again, this time offering a flat, boney shake. "WE HAVE AN AGREEMENT, THEN."
Jack eyed the hand suspiciously before concluding that it was not a trick. They shook. The other stepped back and inclined their head once more to bid him well. "SEE YOU SOON."
And with that, he was alone.
For a long white after, Jack stayed rooted to the spot. He gripped his staff with both hands and stared down at his own bare feet. His new reality set in, heavy and slow, echoed by a steady snowfall that soon buried him up to his toes. The wind responded to his sorrow, wrapping around him in a comforting hold. The moon watched over him in concern until the hint was finally taken and it retreated back behind the clouds.
It was only when he was truly alone that Jack began to cry.
He sank down to his knees and mourned with heavy, gasping sobs. He cried long and hard, knowing that though he may have the single time to see their faces, he would never live to hear his children laugh or sing or say his name. He would never get to see them grow or teach them to play. He would never knew their favorite colors or favorite foods or favorite games.
And when he'd exhausted all the tears he had for the children he would never know, he cried again for the loved ones he would leave behind. His family and comrades of a hundred years, who'd already lost so much in their long lives, who he couldn't even warn because they would try to stop him and that couldn't be allowed to happen. He cried in turn for North and Tooth and Sandy and, finally, for his lover, knowing that Aster would be in terrible pain. He cried and begged forgiveness from the wind, who could not give such things, but tried to offer comfort in its place.
He cried and sobbed and mourned and shouted until he'd finally exhausted everything he had. It left his body empty and tingling, painfully weak from all the sudden release. He needed rest, a good night's sleep, but he wouldn't get it here. Besides, the others would start to worry for him soon.
He gathered handfuls of fresh snow from the ground and rubbed it over his face until all the remnants of his tears were washed away. When his face was clean and breathing had calmed and his usual smile returned to his face, he again rested his hand over his stomach and called for the wind to take him home.
"It'll be okay," he whispered to the three once more before they took to flight. "Don't you worry. I promise, everything is going to be okay."
A/N: My apologies if this is a bit confusing. To make a long story short, I had two ideas of continuations from the original piece, a sequel and a prequel, neither of which I liked completely on their own. So I decided to split the difference and essentially write them both, alternating between the past and the present with each chapter. This would probably be more effective if my chapter endings didn't suck, but there you go.
We'll be back with Bunny and the kits next time, you'll see...