This is a sequel to Holidays. It happens the year after Closure.
"Did it have to be in spring? Couldn't you find yourself a holiday in winter?"
"Like what? Anyway, if it was winter here, it'd be summer up north. Just see it that way: I'm saying goodbye to the kids before leaving until next year. Winter is officially over."
"Winter was already over." Bunny mumbled. Jack smirked.
"If you think it's not appropriated for Jack Frost to still be around, I could have dressed as the Easter Bunny."
"That's out of the question, Snowflake, don't even think about it."
Jack shrugged with a laugh. He had not really planned on doing this as someone else, anyway. He had considered it, since it was Halloween and disguises were a tradition, but he ultimately decided that he wanted Jack Frost to be the one handing out treats to children. That did not mean he did not wear a costume. North had been all too happy to help him out with that. It had taken a lot to convince him that the shoes would not be a good addition.
"Fine, be that way. How do I look?"
He did a little twirl, grabbing one edge of his heavy fur-trimmed cloak to spin it dramatically around himself. Bunny snorted.
"It's not bad."
Jack grinned. Coming from Bunnymund, he would take "not bad" to mean "really good". He reached into the bottomless pocket inside the cloak, grabbing a piece of clear, snowflake-shaped hard candy and tossed it to Bunny.
"Sorry it's not chocolate, but happy Halloween."
It was time to get started.
"It's Jack Frost! Look," a kid said with wonder in his voice, pointing at him. One of his friends turned to stare at him, a smile illuminating his face. Jack smiled back. The third child rolled his eyes.
"That again? Stop being babies. There's no such thing as Jack Fro-"
The kid stopped abruptly, looking straight at him. This wasn't the first time it happened tonight. When their attention was directed at him, many children who did not believe in him saw him anyway. Jack was not sure what it was, but it only ever happened on Halloween, and only when he wore some sort of costume.
Maybe it was just that, tonight, there was nothing about a white-haired teen wandering the streets dressed like the Winter Prince that was a cause for disbelief. Not when those streets where full of zombies, cardboard robots, fake anime girls and other less recognizable things. Tokyo could be a little baffling on Halloween, or on any day, really, and he fitted right in.
Or maybe there was some truth to the old belief that the veil seperating the spirit world was thinner on this night, allowing him to be more easily seen.
"Nice costume," the kid said.
Jack grinned at the three of them, holding out candies. He did not know if that particular child would still be able to see him tomorrow. Likely not. But tonight, he was getting a treat from Jack Frost.
He spotted the green blur from he corner of his eyes as he walked through one of the less busy areas of New York. He floated up to an isolated rooftop and observed the anxious the anxious Tooth Fairy. She hovered just out of sight of the children running in the streets bellow, sometime moving forward a little as if to join them, then changing her mind.
"Something's wrong, Tooth?"
He had a pretty good idea of what bothered the fairy tonight. She startled when she heard his voice, calming down for a moment as she stared him up and down, smiling a little in approval. Wringing her hands, she joined him on his rooftop and looked down at the passing children. She bit her lip, obviously not pleased.
"N-no... nothings wrong. It's just... this tradition of collecting candies. It's not good for them. They often don't take proper care of their teeth after eating so much sugar. They rarely floss properly."
"Things that are good for us are not fun, Tooth. It's only once a year."
"I-I know... but-"
"Tooth," he interrupted, putting a hand on her shoulder. "If you try to keep kids from doing anything that could maybe harm them, you'll keep them from living their lives. Stop fretting."
Tooth sighed in defeat and nodded. She looked up at him and gave a bashful smile.
"You're right, of course. I'll go back to the Tooth Palace. We can do damage control later."
He smiled back before reaching into his pocket to pick one of his sugar snowflakes With a wink and a grin, he tossed it at Tooth. She looked at it with something akin to horror.
"Happy Halloween. Don't forget to floss!"
A light snow had started to fall by the time he made it to Burgess, but it was not too cold to be comfortable outside. He had not been there often the previous winter. He had been actively avoiding the place. But he had a job to do, now, and he was certainly not going to forget the children of the place he called home.
Even before he decided to make this a world-wide thing, he had occasionally come here to give candies to kids on Halloween in a variety of costume. This wasn't new to them. Some of them ran up to him, crowding around him for the treats and fun they knew would come. Small snowflakes melted on their noses, making them laugh. He thought coming back would be hard, but the smiles and laughter of happy children dulled the pain of the memories.
But he could not entirely avoid those memories. Sooner or later, his wandering took him in front of the Bennett's house. He lingered just long enough to see Jamie open the door to a little vampire holding a plastic pumpkin bucket. The teenager, or young adult now really, didn't spot the winter spirit standing on the curb, no matter how hard he was to miss in his long fur-trimmed cloak, with an elaborate crown of ice sitting on his brow. Jack did not stay much longer.
He found the other Bennett not too long after, a blond harlequin walking from house to house with an FBI agent and a ketchup bottle. He waited for her to notice him, part of him fearing she wouldn't. But she did and gestured to her friends to continue without her. Sophie walked slowly toward him until the other two costumed kids where a fair distance away before breaking into a run. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"I'm glad to see you, Jack. I thought—I thought you wouldn't come back."
"Of course I came back. This is my home too."
She nodded and smiled at him with tear-filled eyes.
"Did you see my brother?"
"I did."
Jack didn't say more and Sophie didn't ask. She squeezed him a little tighter before moving back and holding him at arm's length. She gave him a slow, critical look, taking in the cloak, the dark blue clothes with delicate silver embroidery mixing with actual frost, the ice-covered staff and the crown.
"Well, that's an impressive costume. You're disguised as... Jack Frost?"
"That's right!"
She laughed.
"It looks good on you."
"Happy Halloween, North!" he said, grabbing a handful of candies as the elves jumped up and down in excitement.
"Jack! How did it go?"
"It went well. Really well."
"I can tell. We have some new lights flickering on Globe tonight."
Jack smiled and took a look at the Globe himself. He didn't doubt that not all of the kids who had seen him tonight would still believe once Halloween was over, but there seemed to be some new believers. He felt like he had actually accomplished something.
His thoughts were interrupted when North lifted him off his feet into a bone-crushing hug.
"Well done, Jack Frost. Well done."
Finding Sandy wasn't too hard. He only had to figure out which part of the world was due to receive his visit and follow the streams of golden sand to their source. Sandy waved at him as he got near. He fished one more candy from his greatly diminished stash.
"Happy Halloween Sandy!"
Sandy briefly shaped the dreamsand into the cloaked figure of a crowned teenager waving an arm to toss snowflakes around. He gave him a thumbs up before sending the dream on its way.
Cupid's floating palace was empty when he got there. It did not surprise Jack and he knew that finding the spirit of love would be a great deal harder than finding Sandy had been. He left his Halloween treat on an empty pedestal with a short note.
Dear Cupid:
I decided to follow your example and find myself a holiday of my own. Consider yourself lucky; I'd make an awful job at Valentine's Day. So have a happy Halloween.
love,
Jack Frost
It was very late by the time he returned to Burgess. The temperature had dropped and a light fog covered the town. The streets had gone quiet. The Halloween decorations that floated in the wind, partially hidden from view in the mist, didn't look as cheerful as they had earlier as laughing costumed children ran by them.
A new bed frame sat on top of the hole in the ground. A more modern one, made of black metal, the kind you bought in a box and assembled yourself. It was slightly crooked and twisted where metal rods had been forced into position. Jack wondered if Pitch did that on purpose to give it a more sinister look, like the decrepit wooden frame previously placed there, or if he just failed to properly follow the instructions.
Jack floated between the parallel beams that should have held a mattress, entering the lair of the Boogeyman. The place was just like he remembered it, dark, twisted and confusing. He wasn't sure he could find his way out should Pitch decide to play with shadows. The others would have told him of the utter stupidity of coming here if they knew.
The winter spirit reached the central room, with its hollow Globe and hanging cages, without any troubles. He walked to that Globe and looked upon its lights as he waited. A long stretch of time passed before the cold voice came from the darkness.
"A little foolish of you to come here alone, Jack."
"Why? Are you going to throw yourself at me unprepared?"
"What do you want?" he snapped.
Jack turned from the Globe. He could not see Pitch in the surrounding darkness. He grabbed one last sugar snowflake from his pocket, holding it in front of him as an offering.
"It's Halloween, Pitch. I'm giving out candies."
"Get out of here, Frost."
Jack shrugged. He placed the treat in the hollow of the Globe before turning to leave the same way he came in. He was halfway up the stairs leading out of the room when Pitch spoke again.
"Why?"
"Because you always did believe in me."
I have this absurd image stuck in my head of Pitch trying to assemble an IKEA bed.
