For as long as he could remember, he had three constants in his life.
The cold, the Wind and the loneliness.
He had learned to love the cold and the way it allowed him to throw snow balls at people, and the wind was one of the only beings that actually listened to what he had to say and even talked to him.
But the loneliness? That he never really got used to.
Then a miracle happened, though it hadn't seemed like that at the time.
Pitch Black returned and was able to give the Guardians a run for their money! He almost won too, except Jack had managed to beat him back using Fun instead of Fear.
He was an official Guardian now! That should have meant something, right?
Apparently the fact he was now an official Guardian of children didn't mean squat. They still ignored him, but it was so much worse now because he had a taste of what having friends was like for the first time in centuries and they were deliberately putting off being around him, claiming they were too busy. Even when he picked times when it would be more convenient to hang out, they still ignored him.
It hurt. It hurt so much that it wasn't even funny.
Out of all the Guardians, only Jack actually kept up his promise to visit the children who had managed to retain their belief.
Finally Jamie (the lone child who still believed enough to see Jack at all) had enough of seeing his friend so miserable.
"I think you need a fresh start Jack. This entire situation is killing you inch by inch and none of them have realized the damage it's doing to your 'center' as you call it."
Jack blinked. Now that Jamie mentioned it, he had found himself feeling somewhat off of late. His center was 'fun', and bringing light and laughter to children everywhere with a little mischief and light pranks.
And yet now it only felt like he was going through the motions.
"You might have a point," he conceded. "Maybe I really do need a fresh start."
So as he gazed up at MiM, he put to words exactly how miserable he was and why he couldn't take this anymore.
He would have been fine acting as Jack Frost, solitary spirit and mischief maker. Except the Guardians had made him think he could be part of a team, and then decided with the threat over they didn't need to pay any attention to him at all. After all, what did he know about being a Guardian when he wasn't as tied up as they were?
MiM was silent, at first.
Are you sure you want this? You may not become a Guardian if you go through with this.
Jack openly scoffed.
"If being a Guardian means only paying attention to each other during times of crisis and having such a disconnect with the very children we're supposed to be protecting, then I don't care anymore for it!" said Jack flatly.
The others were so out of touch outside of times of danger that it was painful. And every attempt Jack made to get their attention or spend actual time with one another failed so dismally he had given up. Sure they got together every once in a while, but Jack had no idea of the little signals they had for each other and often missed those get togethers...and then Bunny would get on his nerves because no one told him anything.
And the less said about their ability to actually handle being around children, the better. They barely managed to deal with Sophie during the whole mess with Pitch!
MiM seemed to sigh in his head.
Very well. I shall give you back your mortality and at the end of it you can decide whether you want to be Jack Frost once more or move on. Knowing you, the Wind will still be at your side regardless.
Jack could only feel a sense of relief as he felt warmth in his body that came from having a beating heart once more. He didn't care that he was obviously being put into the body of an infant. Anything had to be better than this.
It would be several years before the Guardians realized Jack had gone missing, and by then it would be far too late to do anything about it.
Tsuna was an adorable child. Everyone seemed to naturally gravitate towards him, and he was quite mischievous. His father wasn't really around, but his mother doted on him without hesitation.
Then everything changed the day his father brought home a strange old man that Tsuna tried to avoid on instinct. There was something wrong about him that Tsuna didn't like at all. Then again he really didn't like his father much either.
It was as he was climbing up a tree to get the little ball his mother had given him last week that it happened. There was the sensation of falling, and a feeling of heat that felt...odd, yet at the same time right.
So he was quite unhappy when the old man went to take the heat away. He knew that was wrong but didn't know why it was wrong.
Well if they didn't like the heat, then perhaps they would like the cold better?
Before he had a chance to test that theory, the old man tapped his head with that weird fire and he felt something slam down on the heat inside him, forcing it to almost disappear.
Unknown to the two adults, that only caused the cold that had always been there to rise to the surface. Without the heat to balance it out and hide it's presence, it was making itself known once more.
And Nana always made such a fuss when her son went out into the snow without any shoes, yet never caught a cold.
As the two left, leaving Tsuna all alone with his mother once more, they had absolutely no idea what they had unleashed.
It was during one of their little get togethers that someone brought it up. Namely Sandy, even though he couldn't voice what he wanted to say in a normal way.
North actually took note of what Sandy's was saying for once.
"Has anyone seen Jack?"
"He's probably off messing around, as usual," scoffed Bunnymund.
"Actually... I haven't seen him in a while. Have you?" asked Tooth to the little Baby Tooth that had so taken with Jack.
She shook her head, before giving Tooth a pointed Look, as if she was very disappointed with the bigger fairy for something.
"Has any of you seen Jack recently?" asked North.
As that sunk it, it took them several moments to recall that they hadn't seen or heard from Jack Frost in quite some time. Normally he made it to one of their gatherings at least once or twice a year since becoming Guardian, but he hadn't bothered to show up to any of them for a while now.
Sandy suddenly frowned, as a series of pictures flashed above his head.
The last time he heard from Jack, he was trying to see if they could hang out for a few hours. Or just 'talk'. Sandy had been busy as always and had sent a polite decline, and that was the last of it. It had been at least several years since then.
Baby Tooth was glaring at them all now, and chittered with an unhappy voice, before turning her back on all of them. It was such unusual behavior that Tooth became slightly alarmed by it.
"What's gotten into you?" she asked baffled.
Baby Tooth turned her 'nose' up at them all before chittering again.
"Jack's upset with us?" she translated.
"What would Frostbite have to be upset about?" said Bunnymund.
Baby Tooth 'stomped' her feet, chittering angerily.
"We ignored him, so now he's gone away?" said Tooth.
"Gone away. What do you mean, gone away?" asked North.
"So what if we ignored him a few times? Surely he's not that upset about it," said Bunnymund.
Baby Tooth was outright glaring at all of them angrily now.
"'You made him feel like he was part of a team, and then treated him like an outsider again. None of you bothered to make him feel welcome at all after Pitch was sent back,'" translated Tooth. She blinked and looked slightly ashamed of herself.
Now that her fairy mentioned it, they hadn't really gone out of their way to include Jack as a fellow Guardian. They were so used to it being just the four of them that they hadn't really thought twice of falling into their old habits. And they had always ignored Jack when he was still a normal, mischievous Winter spirit that they hadn't really accepted him as a new Guardian.
Bunnymund flinched, realizing that Jack had told them repeatedly that the reason he missed their little gatherings was because no one had told them where and when they were. He had complained how none of them had told him the 'signals' they gave each other for a get together and he was lucky to stumble into one. Jack had even tried to initiate a few during times when it was convenient for them to relax a bit, but had often been rebuffed as he was unaware that they had already met some time earlier.
"Still, what does she mean he went away?" said North, confused by that.
The fairy means that Jack was so fed up with being excluded by people who had made him feel welcome as a team since he first became a spirit that he has chosen to become Mortal again.
As one, the Guardians turned to the Man in the Moon in shock.
"What do you mean, he became mortal again?!" said Bunnymund in horror.
Jack has been alone ever since he was a spirit, with only the Wind to talk to. Being given a taste of having friends had given him hope, but when you excluded him as an equal his loneliness became too much to take. His very 'center' as a Guardian was beginning to die every time you ignored him. So I gave him back his mortality, at least for one lifetime.
You have only yourselves to blame, went unsaid but was definitely implied.
The Guardians were all looking very ashamed of themselves. Worse, they had no idea where Jack was or how to find him.
Baby Tooth flew off, to parts unknown.
While the Guardians didn't know where Jack was, she did. After all, someone had to collect the teeth of the children and it wasn't like the Tooth Fairy paid much attention to the teeth they were collecting so long as they did their job.
The Guardians might have ignored Jack, but she had often taken time off from her job to 'chat' with him. Her sisters didn't mind, since it meant they could swoon over his perfect teeth whenever he visited, at least until Tooth got annoyed with him there and chased him out thinking he was there to bother her.
Baby Tooth flew to Japan, knowing the Tooth Fairy would be unable to figure out where she was, since she rarely paid attention to all the little fairies under her command anyway.
"Baby Tooth!"
The little fairy chittered and nuzzled against the boy Jack had become. He was still so very cold, but it wasn't as bad because there was a warmth of happiness in him now that came from a childhood.
"Tsuna" was such a sweet kid, and she had recognized Jack in him from the instant he first caught her picking up his teeth under the pillow.
He didn't care that the other children made fun of him for still believing in the tooth fairy and the others. He would still talk to her whenever she visited.
She could still remember the way Tsuna had corrected his mother when she had chided him for staying up to see the Tooth Fairy.
"Mama, the Tooth Fairy doesn't collect teeth herself anymore. She sends her little fairies to do it for her and rarely leaves her palace."
"Oh?"
"And Santa doesn't let the elves make presents... his Yetis make them."
Nana had looked amused.
"What about Sandman and the Easter Bunny?"
"Sandman can't speak...he uses charades and pictures to talk. And the Easter Bunny is really grumpy and full of himself."
Baby Tooth had noticed Tsuna's mother didn't really believe him, but was amused by his "vivid" imagination. Except she knew the second she heard him speak of the Guardians that he had to be Jack. She had been so relieved when she realized he was alright, just human now.
And yet he had somehow managed to retain the cold that was part of him despite being human again.
She had panicked at first, thinking this was some ploy of Pitch... at least until Man in the Moon had explained what was going on to her. She would not begrudge her friend a chance to be happy when the Guardians made him feel unwelcomed.
As Tsuna caught Baby Tooth up on his day, she couldn't help but wonder if the Guardians would ever get their act straight and figure out where he was as quickly as she had.
She dismissed that idea almost immediately. If they had bothered to get to know Jack, then he would have felt so alone that he had asked MiM to turn him human again just to escape the pain of being excluded.
She spotted one of her sisters outside, and sadly chittered a goodbye to Tsuna. He didn't mind... he understood she was busy and was using up her break to visit with him. He appreciated and treasured the fact she cared enough to listen in the first place.
It was the same reason he owned so many wind chimes. He loved the way the Wind would send them 'singing' whenever he left the windows open. Even human, the Wind had always been Jack's closest friend.