Hey, guys! Sorry it took me so long to get around to posting this chapter today. I worked too hard yesterday and got myself all exhausted and didn't wake up until about 3PM. :P Yep. So, you have this chapter arriving fairly late in the day. Sorries! *laughs*
But yeah, this is the final chapter in this arc. I'll post the first chapter of the next arc as soon as I finish editing it, which I'm hoping is either tomorrow or Monday. We'll see. Wish me luck!
Anyway, without further ado, here's your chapter. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Still don't own ROTG or GOC. Yep.
Jack's eyes went wide as he regarded the figure in front of him. This was the man who pulled the strings for the Guardians? The man who had turned him into his current form? He narrowed his eyes then as he thought. This was also the man who had abandoned him for three hundred years.
It seemed his expression was not the most welcoming one, as the Man in the Moon raised an eyebrow at Jack. "What's the matter, Jack?"
"What's going on?" said Jack. "Why am I here? Why is everyone chasing me around, trying to erase my memories? Why did you guys pull me out of my body?" His voice raised about an octave as his level of emotion boiled to the surface. His voice began to crack. "That's so wrong! Put me back in my proper body!"
An almost amused smirk answered him on the Man in the Moon's face. "But you almost died in that body. It's in pretty bad shape."
"I don't care!" Jack screamed. "You can't tear people out of their bodies and expect it to be okay. Even if that body is injured, it's my body! I want my body back!"
The Man in the Moon sighed and looked at Jack for a minute in sorrowful silence. Didn't this guy understand what Jack was going through? Who would want to be torn out of one's own body and forced into a fake one? It wasn't natural.
After a moment, the Man in the Moon turned and gestured for Jack to follow him. "I have something I want to show you."
Jack had no alternative but to obey since he couldn't open the door. The Man in the Moon led him to a little cylindrical room. It opened when they approached and then closed when they stepped inside. Was this some sort of elevator?
"The Preservation Room," said the Man in the Moon. A bright flash occurred, and then he blinked his eyes open to a room filled with those accursed tanks. But this wasn't the same room he had started in, and the figures in the tanks were not all the same. Every single figure was different, in fact.
The Man in the Moon walked a ways and then stopped in front of one of the tanks, then gestured for Jack to come and see. Jack didn't want to see anything in this room. These tank things creeped him out, but he figured he might as well humor the guy. He strolled up next to where the Man in the Moon stood, looked up at the figure in the tank, and his heart stopped.
He knew that figure in the tank. A brown-haired teen in pauper's clothes from several hundred years ago. Draped around him was a very familiar cloak. It was him. He knew that face. That was who he had been before he had become Jack Frost, but how was he seeing this? Hadn't the Man in the Moon transformed his body into his new form?
The Man in the Moon then gestured at the figure in the tank. "Your original body," he said. "This isn't the first time you've switched to a new body, Jack. You haven't been in your original body for a very long time."
A million questions sprung into Jack's mind. They all started competing for the right to use Jack's mouth. And thus all his questions got caught in his throat. Only a little one managed to wiggle its way through, and Jack said, "Why?"
The Man in the Moon raised his eyebrow. "Why what?"
Jack waved his arms around as he grasped for words in the air. "Why... everything! Why do you do this? Why am I here now? Why are you guys trying to erase my memory of it? Why... Why did you turn me into this?"
"So many questions," said the Man in the Moon.
Jack nodded his acknowledgment of that fact, but he still needed the answers. "But why?"
"Don't you like being a Guardian, Jack?"
Jack shook his head and slammed his fists by his side. "That's not the point! What I want to know is why this all happened in the first place." He gestured toward his old body. "I was that." He then gestured toward his current body. "Why am I now this? What did I do to deserve getting ripped out of my old body and stuck in this one?"
"The world needed you, Jack," said the Man in the Moon, who then clapped his hand on Jack's shoulder. Jack wasn't sure he wanted the gesture, but didn't shrug the hand off for the moment. "We needed someone who could harness the elements of winter and protect children's sense of fun. Most people couldn't handle such a task, so we chose you."
Jack growled and finally took the opportunity to shrug the Man in the Moon's hand off his shoulder. "But it's not fair! I had a life! Why did you think it was okay to deprive me of the life I had so you could have someone to fill this role? Did it never occur to you to ask me how I felt about all this?"
The Man in the Moon sighed again and shook his head. "Jack, in all fairness, you did drown. If we hadn't done this to you, you would have died."
"But you've got this crazy advanced technology and whatnot." Jack gestured around to the building at large. "You could have revived me and sent me on my way."
The Man in the Moon shook his head. "Reviving someone from drowning without killing them is no easy feat, Jack. What we specialize in here is creating special bodies and switching souls to the new bodies. We don't heal the old bodies."
Jack couldn't argue. If they didn't have the technology, they didn't have the technology. But that didn't excuse the unforgivable acts that had been committed against him. "But you never asked my permission to put me in this body." Jack wrapped his arms around himself and turned his back toward the Man in the Moon. "I would have liked to have some sort of acknowledgement, at least."
"Even if you had still decided on the same path you're on now?"
Jack nodded.
The Man in the Moon paused to consider his words. He nodded as though beginning to understand where Jack was coming from. "Jack," he said, "as terrible an excuse as this may sound to you, we couldn't risk asking permission of anyone from your time. The people in that time were paranoid. Your new life would have been so difficult if word of your existence had somehow leaked into their world. Do you want to think of what they might have done to you while you were in this form?"
Jack shivered as visions of flames and pitchforks filled his head. "I'd rather not think too hard about that."
The Man in the Moon nodded. "I know we didn't handle your case well, but we were out of answers by that point. We assumed pulling anyone out of that situation would improve their life. But we couldn't risk asking them."
Jack wasn't sure he liked that answer, but he couldn't argue with it. If he had been asked and then he had blabbed, things would have gotten harder for him. And the likelihood of him blabbing was not unbelievable. Bunny knew very well that if there was something Jack wasn't supposed to say, he would say it before too long.
After a moment, he said, "But why erase my memories? Why force me to not know what you did to me once my people couldn't hurt me anymore?"
"Ah, that." Once again, the Man in the Moon sighed as though not wanting to explain his reasons but seeing no other option. "Most people who undergo the operation will lose their mind if they remember the details. It's safer to blot those memories out each time they return here for a new body."
"Then why did I manage to maintain my memories thus far?" Jack turned back to face the Man in the Moon, then crossed his arms over his chest. "I was under the impression that switching to a new body was supposed to erase any memory of having been here."
"Normally, that's all it takes, yes," said the Man in the Moon, "but you're special, Jack. You always have been. You've been figuring things out more and more each time you return here. I've been waiting to see how long it would take you to figure it out."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "You expected me to?"
The Man in the Moon nodded. "I was hoping you would." He twirled a finger through the curl on his head. "This business is a tough one, turning people 'immortal' when they're needed for a longer period of time. You have to maintain all the replacement bodies for everyone in the system. You have to keep track of the beings on Earth so you know when they need a new body. And you have to ensure that none of this makes them lose their minds. This requires someone to live long enough to know all the people in the system. And they have to understand the full context of who is needed and when. So we have to have someone in charge with a sort of 'immortality' up here too."
Jack raised an eyebrow as he regarded the man. "I would assume you mean yourself there."
The Man in the Moon nodded. "You catch on. Now, the problem is that sooner or later one's soul gets tired of clinging to bodies. Each transfer it grows weaker and weaker. You're nowhere near that point yet, Jack. But I'm not sure how many bodies I can maintain before I pass on into the otherworld. I need to find myself a replacement before that happens. Someone who has a desperate need to help protect the people of Earth. Someone who is capable of having full knowledge of all this without losing their mind."
Jack stared uncomprehendingly at the Man in the Moon for a moment as the man stared back. After a moment, Jack caught the way the man looked at him, popped his eyes wide open, then gestured toward himself. "You don't mean me, do you?"
"Why not?" said the Man in the Moon. "You fit the bill perfectly. You even found your way to the control room and managed to send a message to the Guardians. You're perfect for this job."
Jack placed a hand on his forehead. No wonder he had managed to escape from the clutches of those other people and not get caught. No wonder he had found the control room completely empty. The Man in the Moon had been testing him to see if he could figure all this out on his own. He could feel a headache coming on.
"So, what do you say?" said the Man in the Moon. "Do you want to become my protege and learn how to do what I do?"
Jack sighed. "I'm not even made to handle working in a place like this. I'm a nature spirit, remember? I'll freeze everything I touch."
The Man in the Moon dismissed his concern with a wave of his hand. "Your powers are in your current body. All you need is another set of bodies made for you that are more appropriate to your new role." Jack shivered and his stomach did a somersault, but he maintained an appearance of calm.
He shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, but I don't want to be stuck on the moon. I miss my friends on the earth."
"You can have them come up here any time you wish. I can teach you how to transport people here with the push of a button."
Jack sighed and shook his head. "Still, I don't feel comfortable with the idea. Me, the new Man in the Moon? Thanks, but no thanks. I'm still determining the ethicalness of what you're doing with your company without doing it myself. My place is on Earth."
The Man in the Moon seemed disappointed. His shoulders sagged. "You don't suppose there's any chance of changing your mind?"
Jack shrugged. "I don't know. Give me another couple hundred years or so. The idea might have grown on me then. But for now, I need to be down there."
The Man in the Moon held out his hands in a resigned gesture. "Very well then. I'll hold on as long as I can. Understand that you're welcome to pay a visit up here anytime you wish. Now," he turned and grabbed a small item that was about the size of his fist, "about your memories."
Jack's eyes widened and he took a couple steps away from the man. He began to shake his head. "Don't take them away from me again. I'll get them back sooner or later, and then I'll only be angrier that you tried to keep them from me."
The Man in the Moon chuckled. "I know. I was actually going to trigger all your other memories to come back. You still have all the memories of having been here before buried in your soul somewhere. A little spark ought to bring all those memories out."
Jack didn't deny he was hesitant to trust this man since he wasn't sure if it was a trick to erase Jack's memories. He decided to trust the man on this though and see what happened. His memories were bound to return sooner or later even if it was a trick.
One click of the Man in the Moon's device as it lay against Jack's head, and all his missing memories came flooding back. He had been here before. Many times. As he counted over his memories, it dawned on him that this wasn't his second change into a new body. It was his tenth. It seemed he got himself into mortal peril every thirty years on average and had to replace his body. That was kind of creepy. He should try to stop being such a risk taker.
"Alright, that should do it," said the Man in the Moon. "Now come on, let's get you home." He led Jack back to the elevator thing and teleported back to the control room. Then he retrieved Jack's staff and handed it to him.
"Now, remember," said the Man in the Moon, "most people can't handle what you've experienced here. Don't go blabbing about everything you've seen."
"I make no promises," said Jack. "If someone asks me, I'll tell them. But... if they seem they would rather be ignorant, I suppose I can let them."
"Good enough," said the Man in the Moon. He then directed Jack to stand on a circular pad in the middle of the room. "I hope to see you around here again soon, Jack."
Jack shrugged. "Maybe, but I hope not too soon. I like keeping my feet on the ground, thank you."
"Ha, says the person who flies everywhere."
"You know what I mean!" said Jack.
The Man in the Moon laughed as he pulled a lever, and the pad beneath Jack's feet started to glow. "Well, goodbye for now, Jack."
"Goodbye," said Jack, and then the light flashed up over him and everything vanished from sight.
When his vision cleared, he saw four sets of worried eyes poring over him. His first reaction was to yelp since these people didn't understand personal space. But he soon regained his bearings and realized he was in the presence of the Guardians. He breathed a sigh of relief. It was okay. He was back on the earth. Everything would be alright now.
"Is everything okay, Jack?" said a worried Toothiana.
He flashed her a thumbs up and said, "As okay as talking with that guy ever can get. My head is more muddled than ever, but no bones are broken or anything."
Jack caught a very worried expression from Sandy who wasn't falling for his facade. That could be a problem if Sandy decided to go and make the other Guardians start worrying about him. He rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, Sandy, but you know how he is. Mr. Confusing himself, am I right?" Sandy snorted, but had to concede with a shrug and a smile that Jack had a point there.
"So, Jack, what does Man in Moon want with you?" said North.
Jack jumped up, pinched North on the nose, and said, "That's for me to know and for you to find out." He laughed and took to the air. He claimed he was overdue for a few storms and needed to get to them. They wanted him to stay and explain everything, but he shook his head as he flew off.
Now he knew what he'd felt was so off about his life, but the question remained whether the knowledge was worth it. He shrugged. Oh well. He would know in time.
His life may not have been the life he asked for, but it was what he had, and he couldn't go back and change things. In the meantime, he was going to live life to the fullest extent that he could. Who knows? Maybe he would eventually understand all this. Maybe he would become okay with the turns his life had taken.
Maybe he would even be okay with becoming MIM.
So, now the first arc is done and we finally have answers! What did you guys think of this arc? Feel free to let me know your thoughts or ask questions or whatever you like. I just like hearing from you guys. :)
There's still a whole lot more story to tell, so stay tuned for the start of the next arc soon!