Sequel to Afternoon with Friends and Always Believe.


"Daddy, you're going to make yeti stew again, aren't you?"

"You liked it?"

"Yes! It was delishuss."

"Delicious."

"Yes, it was that."

Jade ran to her room to play while Jamie gathered the dishes, bringing them to the sink Ashley was filling with warm water.

"Jade was right, it was delicious. So, you said it's your friend Jack who taught you to do that?"

"Yeah, we ate that while we were visiting."

"And are you ever going to introduce him to us?"

Jamie sighed. How easy everything would be if he could just do that? If only Ashley could see Jack...

"I would love to. But I don't think it's going to be possible."

"He's a pretty mysterious man, this Jack Overland."

You have no idea. Jack had been his best friend for years and he barely knew anything about him. Most of what he knew about the Guardian, he had either seen for himself or learned about in that one conversation they had the second time he saw him. Jamie felt like Jack wouldn't even have told him that much if talking to kids hadn't been so new to the Guardian and Jamie just happened to pry enough at the right moment. Jack had never mentioned any of it again after that one time.

It wasn't until recently that Jack had started to open up a little to Jamie. Both when he spoke to the Guardian in the attic and more recently, while they were visiting the Ice Kingdom. He could hardly believe that Jack had never mentioned he used to be human. That seemed like one of the most basic things he should have known, yet he hadn't.

"Just go."

"W-what?"

"Whenever you get that look on your face, you go out to take a walk. To visit that lake. Just go already."

"But the dishes-"

Ashley raised an eyebrow and pointed to the wet dishes she had been piling in front of him. He hadn't even noticed them. He flustered and grabbed his towel and a plate, rubbing furiously to make up for the time he lost spacing out. She pulled the towel from his hands and swatted him with it.

"Do I need to chase you out?"

"I'm going, I'm going!"

She still swatted him one last time for good measure when he turned his back to her.


Jamie hadn't seen the Guardian since coming back from the Ice Kingdom a few days ago. He had been in a great mood upon his return, but he had also been left with many questions and he didn't know how to ask Jack for answers. Not all of them were about Jack himself, either. As much as he had been surprised to see all of the Guardians on the second day of their visit, he felt like they had been even more surprised to see him and Sophie. Was he missing something? Had Jack broken some sort of rule by bringing them there?

He didn't see Jack when he reached the lake, but he knew he was there somewhere. The place felt different when the Spirit of Winter was there. It had a touch of magic that was otherwise missing. Jamie thought about calling him, but he still didn't know what to say. Sighing, he sat on the big square rock by the lake. He soon heard a rustle in the trees and saw from the corner of his eyes Jack float down to sit by him.

"Hey."

"Hey. I made the yeti stew. Everyone loved it."

"That's great. Phil's going to be happy."

He turned his head to look at Jack and was surprised to see him still wearing the outfit he had when they visited his Ice Kingdom, except without the ice crown. He raised an eyebrow at that.

"You're taking this Winter Prince thing seriously."

Jack's cheeks frosted over and he wrapped his cloak around him. He might look like a prince, but he still acted like a self-conscious teenager. Jamie didn't think he had ever noticed how insecure the Guardian was when he was younger. Maybe he didn't want to notice. He had held Jack up on a pedestal and refused to see the cracks. He had seen him hurt, but something big had always been happening, then. He assumed that otherwise, he was bright and cheerful and so strong. It was no wonder the Guardian hadn't wanted to share his history with him.

"My clothes were getting a bit old. I had been wearing those pants for over three centuries."

"My mom always says that, back in the days, things were made to last."

Jack laughed. "Yeah, well, we couldn't afford to buy new phones every year. Not that we had phones in colonial times, of course."

"It's so strange, imagining that you actually lived back then. Who were you? How did you become Jack Frost? Did you have white hair then too?"

"Of course I didn't. I had brown hair. Brown eyes, too, and I wasn't as pale, either. I looked like a perfectly normal human boy, which is what I was."

"Perfectly normal? I have a hard time believing that."

"I was a shepherd's son. See my staff? It's a shepherd's crook."

"Like those farm boys in the stories who go on some adventures and end up slaying the dragon and rescuing the princess?"

Jack laughed again, but he stopped quickly. "This wasn't like in the stories. I never left my village and all I did was fix the stupid mistake I made. There was no dragon, Jamie. The damsel-in-distress wouldn't have been in any danger if not for my stupid decision to go ice skating before the ice was thick enough."

Jack gazed across the surface of his lake. Whenever Jack was in Burgess, the ice was always thick enough to skate on. Jamie realized that this very place was where Jack must have become a Guardian. It made sense, but Jamie had to wonder how it could have happened.

"Who was she?"

"My little sister. She was just a child and she was terrified when the ice started to crack under her feet. I needed her to get closer to me, so I could get her to safety, but she was too scared to move. So I made a game out of it. I told her we would have a little fun."

"Like you told me when we faced Pitch! You said it was your center."

"That's right. That's why I was chosen to become the Guardian of Fun."

"Because you saved a kid using fun? But how did you become a spirit? Did you just wake up one day and you weren't human anymore? What about your family? Did they look for you? They must have believed in you, but you said I was the first, how-"

"Slow down! One question at a time. They believe in Jackson Overland, not Jack Frost. And anyway, they had no reason to think I was around. I didn't just wake up one day as the Spirit of Winter, Jamie."

"Then how-" Jack was still staring across the lake and Jamie suddenly understood. "You died here."

"I did."

Jamie swallowed, licked his lips and stared at the Guardian. Jack was avoiding his eyes. Jamie shifted on the rock enough to put his hands on Jack's shoulder and make him turn around. The Guardian sighed.

"You died," Jamie repeated. "Here. And you still live here. You froze to death. And now you're the Spirit of Winter."

"I drowned before I could freeze to death, actually."

Jack's casual tone didn't help any. Shaking, Jamie pulled the Guardian against his chest and wrapped his arms around him. He didn't know who he was trying to comfort, himself or Jack. The way the Guardian patted his back made it obvious who he thought needed comforting.

"Look, Jamie, it's no big deal."

"No big deal!"

"I didn't even remember it until recently. I lost all of my memories of who I used to be when I died. If it wasn't for the teeth, I still wouldn't know."

"The teeth? Oh. Right. You told me about that. They hold precious memories, right?"

"Right. And that's one of my precious memories."

Jamie held the Guardian a little tighter, still shaken. He understood, now, why Jack hadn't told him this when he was younger. He didn't think he could have handled it. Not because it would have broken his image of Jack as his strong, powerful hero, because, if anything, that image had been reinforced in Jamie's mind now, but because he would have freaked out even more.

"I'm sorry..."

"Jamie? You're not making any sense. What are you sorry for? You weren't even born!"

"I'm sorry. You were my best friend and you were always there for me when I need to talk to someone about whatever silly troubles I had, but I could never be there for you the same way. I know you've been alone for three centuries, I knew that even then, and it must have been so hard. But I couldn't handle you talking to me about things like this. So you didn't. I feel like I've just been taking and never giving anything back and—ow!"

Jamie let go of Jack and rubbed his head where the Guardian had whacked him with his staff. Jack glared at him.

"I told you before, you gave me the one thing I always wanted. Don't you dare dismiss it as nothing."

"I..."

"Look, I didn't tell you that I died before because it doesn't matter. It doesn't bother me and I didn't want it to bother you. And I didn't talk about anything else, because... I didn't want you to think I was weak. And it felt selfish to trouble you with that, when I already owed you so much. You could have handled it. You're stronger than you think."

Jamie gaped at him. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it and hugged his friend again instead.

"I'll never think you're weak, Jack Frost. And you owe me nothing. We're friends."

This time, he felt the bony shoulders tremble beneath the thick fabric of the cloak and he knew he wasn't the only one who needed comfort.


This chapter just didn't want to be written and I should be sleeping right now. Sorry if it's bad.