I got a late start today, then got really distracted looking at fanarts, but I still managed to write a little chapter before going to sleep. This is a sequel to Kids Need To Grow Up.
North hurried to the Globe room after the yeti came to fetch him. Jack had been coming here frequently all through the summer. He was normally somewhere in the southern hemisphere, this time of the year, bringing winter there and visiting Bunnymund. Or bothering him, as the pooka insisted on calling it.
He knew why, of course. He hadn't, when he first notice how often the young Guardian chose to make the trip across the tropical lands and the warm, summer weather. He would arrive exhausted and would sit in the Globe room for hours, watching the lights. North did not understand it, not until he noticed a specific light starting to dim. He did not know what happened to cause this, but obviously Jack did and was not surprised. It did not look like it hurt him any less.
The winter spirit was right where North had expected to find him. But he wasn't looking at the Globe this time. He had buried his head in his knees and was hugging his legs. His shoulders shook slightly. All around, yetis and elves shifted around uneasily, unsure what to do. An elf stood next to the boy with a platter of cookies, but he was ignored. North sighed. This had to happen sooner or later.
He almost did not want to turn around. To see what he knew he would, or rather would not, see. But he did and his suspicion was confirmed. Jamie's light, once so bright, was gone. The child, now almost a man, had stopped believing in the Guardians. North felt a deep sadness at that. There had been a time when he was the only one left to believe in them. Their fate had depended on keeping that light burning. But that was years ago. The light had burned longer than it should have already. It was time for Jamie to become an adult.
North looked back at Jack, then at the crowd that had gathered, and sighed. He walked to where the boy was sitting and simply scooped him up before walking out of the Globe room. Jack's fingers clutched at his shirt and he leaned his head against his shoulder. North could feel the icy tears soaking the fabric before freezing. He carried him to his room, regretting not taking his coat with him before coming here. The young Guardian's room was, as usual, freezing and the cold body in his arms was not helping. But he was not about to let go just because it was a bit chilly.
North sat down on the bed, Jack still cradled in his arms. He gently stroked his hair and whispered soothing nonsense in Russian in his ear. He held him until the silent sobs calmed and the tears stopped. Only then did he try to talk about what happened.
"It was time, Jack."
"I know." Jack's answer was quiet, barely above a whisper. North squeezed him a little more tightly.
"You came here often, all summer. How did you know?"
North felt Jack take a deep breath and tremble slightly. He rubbed the boy's back soothingly.
"Because I told him it would be better if he... if..."
Jack could not finish his sentence, but North didn't need him to. His eyes widened.
"You asked him to stop believing?"
"It was time..." he whispered in a broken voice.
"It was."
"North... the way he looked at me, when I told him... it was... as if I was abandoning him..."
Jack buried his head in North's shoulder again and he felt more tears wet the frozen fabric. He rocked the boy gently until he had stopped crying again. He knew that if there was one person who would feel terrible at the idea of abandoning anybody, it was Jack.
"You did what was best, Jack."
"I know. But why does it have to hurt so much?"
North had no answer to that. He just held him closer.
