Alaia Skyhawk: There are a number of things in this one, which I know you guys are going to love. Hehehehe :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.
~(-)~
Chapter 47: A Gift of Confidence
The two teenagers watched from the pond's edge, as a certain white-haired immortal slid around the frozen surface in complicated filigree patterns, and really he was generally just showing off. But then winter was nearly over, and all three of them knew it. In another week or two, Jack would have to leave and follow the trailing edge of Northern Winter towards the Arctic Circle, before then going to the southern hemisphere to rest for a month before Southern Winter started edging out from the Antarctic Circle.
It was the fifth of March, a little over three months since Laura had moved to Burgess, and already she had settled in as if she had always lived here. Craig had introduced her to his circle of friends at school, she now knew her way around town as well as anyone who had grown up here. And added to that was her staunch belief in Jack Frost, even if her parents remained sceptical.
And now she sat beside Craig, who was undoubtedly her boyfriend even if neither of them had said it outright. The two of them enjoying what would be one of the last few times they could hang-out with Jack before he had to go.
The clock on the town-hall rang out, declaring to the town that it was ten o'clock in the morning. Jack immediately changed direction when he heard it, and came to a stop a short distance from the pair with a smile on his face.
"Time to head to the other end of the park. I promised the kids one last snowball war before the snow turns to slush in three days."
Craig and Laura stood, the both of them grinning as the former spoke.
"Well let's get going. You go on ahead and set things up. We'll be there in ten minutes."
Jack's grin widened.
"Any excuse for some alone-time, eh?"
He swooped away, laughing as Craig began to blush. Laura giggled at the expression on his face, and tugged him by the hand to get him moving.
"Come on. If we want to make our own fort, we need to get there before it starts!"
She pulled him into a run through the ankle-deep snow, the two of them heading through the woods to reach the other end of the park. When they arrived, Jack had already set up two opposing rows of snow-forts, and he had also left a large pile of snow off to one side, halfway between those two lines.
Laura made a bee-line for it, laughing as she urged Craig to hurry and help her dig out the back of the pile so it could be their fort. The snow they'd moved was then packed into snowballs, which they mounded into piles ready to throw.
It was around about then that Laura noticed a group of boys and girls from their class, watching them from one of the park's paths with weird expressions on their faces.
She frowned.
"What's up with them?"
Craig sighed, shaking his head.
"Ignore them. They just can't figure out why I'd rather hang out with little kids and have snowball fights, than go to the diner, complain about homework, and eat pizza if I'm lucky enough to have the spare change to buy one."
Jack drifted down, landing on the edge of their fort.
"In short, they're boring and, like typical teenagers who have let go of belief, have no clue anymore as to the true meaning of fun." He pointed to himself. "I, on the other hand, am still a barrel of laughs and good cheer at the grand old age of three-hundred."
As he chuckled, Laura glanced at him. His actual age had never come up in conversations before now.
"You're three-hundred years old? When is your birthday?"
Jack shrugged.
"Fourteenth of March."
Laura's eyes widened in surprise.
"That's just after next week!" She looked at Craig. "We have to have a party! He'll be three-hundred and one! It's the first birthday of a whole new century!"
Craig glanced at her, and then at the over-the-top pleading expression Jack was giving him in an attempt to be funny.
"Ok, we'll ask my parents. But I doubt it's going to end up being more than you having dinner at ours, and us ending it with a birthday cake. We can't do anything that would look too weird if our neighbours notice."
Jack smirked.
"Or you, Laura, and your parents could come have the party at my place." He punched a fist into the air, whooping. "Oh yeah! This is going to be fun! As the Birthday Boy I get to invite the guests, so I'm going to invite Sandy!"
Craig brightened at that, having never met the immortal in question. He then noted Laura's unspoken, curious question, and answered it.
"The Sandman, the bringer of good dreams. His friends call him Sandy."
Meanwhile Jack had took off and made an abrupt change of direction, pelting a nearby seven-year-old with a snowball before yelling.
"Free for all!"
Behind him, Craig and Laura were forced to take cover when they were immediately targeted by over twenty kids. Laura then giggled.
"He's really three-hundred years old?"
Craig's expression became bemused.
"His excuse is that he's the living embodiment of fun, and fun only has to be serious when it has to be serious... The rest of the time, fun is chaos and snowballs."
A bucket-worth of snow was dropped on Craig's head from above, followed by the sound of Jack laughing. In retaliation, Craig grabbed a one of his pre-made snowballs and threw it in an arc that nailed the Spirit of Winter. Of course Jack had let it hit him. Where was the fun if people always missed?
The snowball war went on for an hour, before the kids start heading home to warm up, and Jack left to track down Sandy. Craig and Laura only saw him twice in fleeting passes over the next few days, usually he was sat telling stories to the local kids before flying off again.
And then the day came, Monday the fourteenth of March. It wasn't a Snow Day unfortunately, since Ariko would have chased Jack down and yelled at him if he'd slipped a last late one in. It meant the day dragged a bit for Craig and Laura, as they endured school and then sprinted to the Bennett House as soon as it was over.
David and Marie were already ready and waiting, with warm coats, gloves, and ice-skates on hand to take with them. Craig's father shouldered the bag containing those, and then all four of them headed out to the pond.
Jack was there waiting for them, wearing a very wide grin, and he waved for them to follow him into the woods.
"This way. I had to put the mirror where none of the neighbours might see you vanishing into thin air." A short way under the trees he then stopped beside a large disk of ice, practically bouncing in excitement. "I've never actually had any mortals except Ombric or the Selkies see my sanctuary before. You're the first!"
He dashed through the mirror, which showed what appeared to be a passageway carved into solid ice, and Laura frowned.
"He's never had any of your family come visit him there?"
David placed a hand on her shoulder, guiding her towards the portal.
"He's never had the need to. For him, coming to visit us in the Bennett House where he's perfectly comfortable, meant far more sense than bringing us to his home where we'd have to wrap up in thick clothing or c0ome down with hypothermia."
Laura raised her eyebrows.
"Good point." They stepped through the mirror, and immediately passed from spring-chill to freezing air. Laura then shivered. "Whoa, it's cold here."
Jack's voice called from just along the passage.
"It's just below freezing. This is as warm as I can make the Winter Sanctuary. It just can't get any warmer than this in here." He waved for them to follow. "Come on, everyone else is waiting. You're going to be surprised who I managed to talk into coming."
The four mortals followed him along the frozen passage, until they reached the point where it opened into a vast cavern. The sight made them stop in awe, for everywhere there were garlands and streamers of dreamsand hanging from the stalactites above, and little golden snowflakes also fell among the drifting of normal snow coming down.
They were then startled from their staring, when a gaggle of Winter Sprites scurried over and began trying to push them towards the plaza. Laura had already been told all about Jack's Lieutenants, so she had no trouble seeing the massive white stag and tiger near a table and chairs made of ice. Could clearly see a groundhog passed out under the table, having gotten drunk on eggnog that wasn't even alcoholic. She also had no trouble seeing the two Slavic and Asian women who came over to welcome them.
Marzanna shook hands with David as she introduced herself, and in the meantime Yuki shooed the sprites from around their feet and pulled Marie into a hug. An action she repeated with Craig and Laura, much to the boy's embarrassment and the girl's delight.
"It's wonderful to have you here! Jack's been practically bouncing off the walls for the past three days."
She and Laura both giggled, before they were interrupted by Jack coming over with a little golden man at his side.
Sandy smiled and waved at the four mortals, before he fired off a rapid succession of symbols above his head. Jack translated.
"He said 'Happy to meet you all. We're going to have lots of fun. I'm the Sandman, Bringer of Good Dreams'."
Laura, who was awestruck at meeting the Sandman, murmured quietly.
"He really said all that with just those symbols?"
Jack shrugged and glanced at Sandy.
"Well if you want it exactly, he drew 'happy meet, I Sandman, good dream give'. With Sandy, you have to fill in the little bits for him, otherwise it takes him forever to say anything if he tries to do every word."
Sandy grinned at that, nodding, and then he pointed to the table made out of ice. It had an array of cookies shaped like snowmen, stars, and just regular cookies. There were also three fruitcakes, and a small keg's worth of eggnog, and a birthday cake topped with ice-cream that Yuki had made.
Craig stared at it all.
"Where did you get all that?"
Sandy started to chuckle silently, as Jack laughed more openly.
"I may or may not have broken into North's kitchens, and slipped all that to Sandy, before seeing if I could get into the toy factory... I still can't get past those yetis; Phil caught me again. But I don't think they discovered the missing food before he'd already thrown me outside."
Marie raises her eyebrows.
"So I'm guessing you'll be on the Naughty List again this year."
Jack's grin widened.
"Hey, I need to live up to my reputation. If I didn't try to break into the toy factory at least once a year, Phil would wonder what happened to me... Although I still think North has no clue I've been trying. I don't think Phil has told him." Jack turned, looking to where two invisible individuals were picking over the cookie each of them had been given, as they tried to decide if they really wanted to eat them or not. "But back to the matter of introducing guests... That's Achieng and Oisin over there, so you four need to close your eyes, focus on believing in an African woman who wears tribal clothing and her hair in braids, and a bearded English man wearing furs and leathers."
All four mortals did so, Achieng and Oisin remaining bored and oblivious until both felt belief click into place. Neither of them was a stranger to the sensation, they'd been around too long to have never had one or two believers in the 'Spirits of Summer and Autumn' crop up by chance. But neither was prepared when Laura strode over and curtseyed to them.
"It's an honour to meet you, Achieng Sunblessed, Oisin Leaffall. I'm Laura Pendel, and these are Jack's relatives; David, Marie, and Craig Bennett."
Both Achieng and Oisin went still in surprise, staring, until Jack landed behind them and gave them a small shake.
"What? You didn't think I wouldn't introduce you to the other guests? It wouldn't have been fair to invite you to this party, and have you be invisible to some of those here. Any mortal can believe in any immortal, here in my Sanctuary."
Achieng flushed a little, clearing her throat, before she inclined her head to Laura and the Bennetts.
"It's a pleasure to meet you."
Laura grinned.
"Even if you've still not figured out how you managed to let Jack talk you into coming."
Achieng's expression became incredulous at that, while in the meantime Oisin coughed for a few moments before chuckling quietly.
"We should have expected that, and you are quite right. I was thinking that. It's a pleasure to meet such a witty young lady. I dare say you'd have Ariko in a fit of temper, almost as fast as Jack can manage it."
Jack smirked.
"Well if she can rile her up just by looking at her for less than a second, I will admit defeat."
An elderly voice interrupted, making all of them turn to look towards another Ice Mirror placed close by.
"I see you're still playing word-games. If you desire to pit your wits at wordplay, I'm sure Mr Qwerty would be delighted to face off against you."
Ombric smiled warmly, stood there in his robes with staff in hand. The book-like Mr Qwerty fluttered in the air beside him, it being unusual for the bookworm to leave Santoff Claussen. But that wasn't the biggest surprise...
No, the massive white Himalayan Snow Goose was by far the biggest thing to have squeezed through the mirror, although the apparently middle-aged woman stood with it, and a slender boy who glowed like starlight, were by far the least-expected.
Jack gaped, having no trouble in recognising the pair. Even if he'd never had chance to meet either during his two-hundred and eighty-three years as an immortal.
"Katherine and Nightlight!"
Katherine smiled, her goose, Kailash, honking in greeting.
"It's lovely to finally meet you, Jack. Ombric's told me so much about you, and about how much the children of Burgess have enjoyed you telling my stories to them."
As Jack hastened over, scrambling to show them courtesy, Katherine then reached out and pulled him into a hug. She then glanced at the glowing boy, who tilted his head and smiled as well.
"Nightlight says 'hello'. He doesn't speak with words, but rather with his heart. Few but the Immortals can hear him, but even so he tends to make himself understood."
Nightlight took a step forward, swinging his diamond-topped staff to his back, where it then hung as though held there by something. He then opened the small bag he held, and pulled out a silvery box.
He held it out to Jack, and shook it a little when the Spirit of Winter hesitated. Laura then nudged him, her and the Bennetts having managed to focus their belief on Nightlight thanks to Katherine's introduction, and she pointed to the box.
"I think that's a birthday present. Aren't you going to open it."
Nightlight chuckled quietly and waved the box again, before Jack at last accepted and opened it. What he pulled out was a slender strap of some sort of silvery mesh, which fastened with a silver buckle, and he regarded it with puzzlement.
"A belt?" He blinked. "It's a bit long to be a belt, and I don't exactly need one.. But um, it's a lovely present, thank you."
The latter part of that was said rather hastily, when Yuki had frowned and glared at him for being apparently ungrateful. Katherine then rescued him, by explaining what it actually was.
"It's not a belt, it's for your staff. It's made of Moonsilver, which can conduct the power of belief. Nightlight has one; it's what's holding his staff to his back right now."
With a quick gesture she divested Jack of his staff and the gift, touching it to the strap before letting go of the wood. The staff then hung from strap, even though there was no apparent connection holding the two together, and she handed it back.
"It will stick to the strap if you want it to, and the strap will release it if you want it to. You just have to use belief, that it will hold or release it whenever you need one or the other."
Jack took hold of both, tugging them apart in the manner she'd said. And then he looked between the silvery strap and his blue, knitted sweater.
"I'm not sure it will look right worn over this. I think it'll make my clothing snag."
Katherine rolled her eyes at his uncertainty, divested him of strap and staff again, and handed both to Nightlight. She then proceeded to grip Jack's sweater and haul it up over his head.
"That's because it's meant to be worn under your clothing."
Jack barely had a moment to protest, before Katherine had pulled off his sweater and thrown the strap over his head. She then tugged his left arm through it, so it would cross his torso, and began to adjust the buckle so that it would fit correctly.
And as if Jack weren't embarrassed enough already, it got worse a moment later... When in obvious relation to a conversation at some past point, Laura elbowed Craig and pointed at the Spirit of Winter.
"Ha! I was right when I said he wouldn't have a hairy chest!"
All around her Sandy, David, Marie, all the Lieutenants, Achieng, Oisin, and Ombric burst out laughing. Beside her, Craig put his head in his hands. The teenager was flushing a shade of red that was almost as vivid as the colour Jack's face had turned.
Jack pointedly looked anywhere but at any of them, waiting until Katherine was done before practically snatching back his sweater and pulling it on. He was still flushing when Nightlight passed his staff back to him, and he clung to it until Cernunnos cleared his throat.
"Aren't you going to test it?"
Jack winced, took a deep breath, and swung his staff around his right shoulder as Nightlight had done. When the length of wood touched between his shoulder-blades, it then stuck in place at an angle as he let go.
Jack glanced over his shoulder at it, noting that it was iced with frost at the point where it was 'held' by the strap under his sweater, and as a test he then kicked off the ground with the intention of floating in the air.
He found that his powers channelled through his staff as they always did, reassuringly steady, before he landed again and took hold of his staff once more.
"It works, but I think I'll still hold my staff most of the time." He looked to Katherine and Nightlight. "But you're right in that it'll let me carry things with both hands if I need to, and still be able to fly. Thanks."
At the back of the nearby group of individuals, Zuě Hu called out.
"Should we perhaps begin with the food? Before it freezes?"
Everyone glanced at each other, before all of them hastened to the table to devour the feast that had come, mostly, from Santa's kitchens. After that, everyone but Achieng, Ombric, Mr Qwerty, and Kailash set about ice-skating on the little rink Jack set up for them. Oisin being the surprise participant, who proved to in fact be quite good at it.
When the party finally ended a couple of hours later, and Laura and the Bennetts had been sent home, Katherine, Kailash, Mr Qwerty, and Ombric departed as well. Those three were followed closely by Achieng and Oisin, until only the Lieutenants of Winter and Nightlight remained.
The Lieutenants headed off to the Residence and Garden respectively, and it was then that Nightlight pointed to the opening in the cavern ceiling. Up above, night had fallen, and after grinning in agreement, both he and Jack flew up and up until they were above the clouds.
Once up there, Nightlight landed on the top of the clouds, patting their surface with a hand as though they were solid, in an invitation for Jack to come sit beside him.
Jack did so, a little startled to find that the cloud they'd just flown through was now supporting their weight. He then raised his eyebrows, able to guess why.
"That's a neat trick."
Nightlight nodded in agreement, and then he let out a sigh and looked up at the moon. All of a sudden he'd become very sombre, and a moment later his words were whispering into Jack's mind.
'It is, and dancing upon the clouds always brings me great joy, but I must apologise and admit that it was not for games that I invited you up here.' He glanced at Jack. 'How much do you know about me, Guardian of Fun?'
Jack might have flinched at the revelation of Nightlight knowing his secret, but for the fact he did know rather a bit about this star-gilt youth.
"You're the Guardian of the Man in the Moon, his protector. The one who held Pitch imprisoned for near uncountable years, until a moonbeam accidentally released you both around about four-hundred years ago."
Nightlight fiddled with the diamond dagger atop his staff, the moonbeam in question still gleaming within it.
'And since the final battle with him, at that time, I have watched... searched... for signs as to when he would return and strike out again.' The boy's expression became grim. 'I have seen... glimpses... in recent times. During the past ten years or so. He may have gained the ability to walk in light back then, even if his Fearlings cannot, but he has not used it. Never during day have I glimpsed him, and only when the moon is hidden by clouds have I see flickers of him at night. But still, I know he is stirring.'
Jack stared, his expression hardening with concern, but there was also a glimmer of hope.
"Pitch is about to make his move? Does this mean that the Man in the Moon is about to call me into the open?"
Nightlight winced in apology, and shook his head.
'Tsar Lunar agrees that Pitch will make his move soon, but 'soon' by Immortal standards. It could be in two months, or it could be twenty years. There is no way to tell, for the Fearlings have not changed their patterns of action. Either he doesn't intend to mobilise them until the last moment, or he plans to use something else instead. You must continue to remain a secret, until we are certain when Pitch is about to strike.'
Jack gritted his teeth, his knuckles whitening as he gripped his staff.
"Have you reported this to Sandy and the other Guardians?"
Nightlight shook his head, grimacing.
'No. Except for the Sandman, the others tend to... fluster. Toothiana, North, and Aster are all of the opinion that four-hundred years of silence from Pitch, means he's been beaten down so low he will never be back. But you and Sandy both know that not to be true. I can tell you, because you have already spent over a hundred years waiting and preparing for his return.'
"Yeah, I suppose you're right about that. After handling the World Wars without a single hiccup, the other three are so laid back about the possibility of Pitch ever coming back, that they're practically horizontal." Jack paused, thinking. "Though, I suppose that's why you're here, isn't it. I've already been waiting all this time, with no idea when it would be over, and at last I can see that the end of that waiting is in sight. That's why Tsar Lunar sent you, isn't it? So I would know my wait is nearing its end."
The boy beside him nodded, placing a supportive hand on his shoulder.
'The Tsar never intended for you to have to wait this long. He expected Pitch to make his move much sooner.' He touched a finger to Jack's chest, where the strap was. 'That is also why he sent this as a gift... and as an apology. You will be able to weave your frostdust with ease, and still be able to fly. Instead of being forced to stay on the ground and stand on your staff to use that power of your heart.'
Jack's eyes widened a little, in surprise at that revelation. Nightlight was right, he had been land-bound while using that ability. Flying with a staff wedged between his feet was incredibly awkward, to the point he'd given up on it after a few tries. To be able to fly, and have his hands free to fully wield his frostdust, was a gift of tremendous value.
Jack brought a hand to his chest, able to feel the strap as a smooth band beneath his sweater, and then he looked up at the moon.
"Thank you, and don't worry. Even if Sandy and I are the only Guardians who are on watch for Pitch, we'll be ready." He grinned. "You can count on that."
There was no answer from the Man in the Moon, but on this occasion Jack didn't need one. Instead, he grinned as he and Nightlight swooped up into the air beneath the stars. The glowing boy following him, as the two of them began dart and race among the clouds. Chasing the moonbeams that shone down around them.
~(-)~
Alaia Skyhawk: Yeah, I gave Jack a way to use his staff but not hold it, after being bugged by the fact Jack uses both hands to do frostdust and so couldn't fly while using it. I didn't want him land-bound.
But still, the idea led to me finally getting Jack to meet Katherine and Nightlight, so that's a definite plus! :D
...Oh, and it also let me put in Shirtless!Jack :P