AN: Sorry for the long wait, next chapter. Maybe I'll get this fic done before Frozen III comes out, ha. As always, new chapters hit AO3 first.
Jack sat high up on one of the towers at the North Pole, vaguely paying attention to the barely contained chaos below. The wind and snow howled a lonesome song through the mountains that he had no part in making. He enjoyed the feel of it whipping past him at this height, tossing his hair and clothes with its sharp cold fingers.
Christmas was less than a week away and he'd spent every day the last few weeks trying to thin out the number of nightmares with the other Guardians. It had helped, at least so far but with the turmoil of the pandemic still at full force, more nightmares were being created constantly. Pitch didn't even have to lift a finger, as far as they could tell he'd yet to make any kind of reappearance.
Manny was silent.
They hoped that if they kept the nightmare numbers down Pitch wouldn't be able to return. It had taken him centuries to regain enough power to return after the end of the dark ages, but they had no guarantee that would be the case this time.
There was so much fear right now and panic traveled so quickly. The world was so connected in this day and age that something happening in Hong Kong could reach Paris or New York in nearly an instant. Fear no longer traveled in ripples but instead great waves.
Jack had not been a Guardian when an illness of this sort had last gripped the world, but he remembered it. It had taken years to die down, with the two terrible world wars to bookend it. He ardently hoped to the moon and back that would not be the case this time.
He sighed heavily, his breath did not fog in the subzero air.
In the brief lulls between patrols, he found himself seeking a bit of tranquility, though the artic wind was far from 'quiet' he still found it peaceful. North was very busy right now and as much as Jack enjoyed pranking the elves and yetis this year he thought it better to tone it down.
He still froze a metal pole in the workshop to watch the elves try to lick the frost and get their tongues stuck.
He laughed thinking of it. Even North had given a bit of a chuckle at that. Amused, he noted that at least that would keep the elves busy for a bit and not running around underfoot.
In the vast openness of the artic though, staring out at the ever-changing landscape he found his thoughts returning to the Enchanted Forest and Elsa. He wondered what she was doing, walking the forest with Gale and the little fire spirit perhaps? Going to see the temperamental water spirit? He hoped she wasn't too lonely.
His hands tightened on his staff as he thought of the sadness in her eyes before he left.
The same sad look as her childhood image on the box Toothina had brought to the North Pole.
He'd felt like someone had punched him in the gut when he'd turned that tooth box over to see her face.
Memories so painful they create bad dreams all on their own.
He knew a lot of her past had been difficult, she had told him as much herself. Her parents dying, becoming a spirit and outliving all her loved ones, and then becoming invisible and unseen to all but other spirits.
But her childhood had been so painful it had permanently tainted her memory box.
She had mentioned struggling with her powers when young, had it really been that bad? Or had it been something else?
He would not risk her memories and convinced Tooth to use a different box. He didn't think telling the other Guardians about Elsa and her past was his place. Who was he to go spilling her history to people she didn't know?
Jack cursed whatever powers that be that had not allowed them to meet sooner. Someone as kind and gentle as Elsa shouldn't have had to struggle so much. For a brief second, he had contemplated opening the box before giving it back to Toothina. He wanted to know what had happened, but he decided to wait, and hopefully, Elsa could tell him herself one day. Even Tooth was hesitant to view tooth box memories herself unless the need was great.
Elsa had slowly warmed up to Jack over the last several months, he could tell at first she was very hesitant to open up. He did not want to betray that trust by prying unbidden into her memories.
Tapping his staff against his knee Jack stared out at the expansive white landscape. His time in Elsa's forest had been the last time he'd had any real fun, he'd not done much else but chase down nightmares since. It'd been weeks since he'd even started a snowball fight. Unthinkable for him under normal circumstances. Even with the pandemic limiting people's interactions he still encouraged children to play when he could.
As the Guardian of Fun, this was just not fun, at all. He could feel the urge to start up a really good blizzard brewing. His magic thrummed, whispering against his skin, eager to spill out. At this point just bumping into something could end up with it covered in frost if he wasn't careful.
Okay, so last week he buried the western Alps in nearly three meters of snow, but that hardly counted. With an exasperated sigh, he stood with a swoosh of his staff and wheeled into the air and back through a window.
He needed to find North first and then Phil.
North to let him know he was heading out and Phil, the head of North's workshop, to check in on a favor.
After the prior meeting once they had succeeded in getting Bunny and North to calm down, they had all finally agreed to use a single tainted tooth box on Christmas Eve. If it ended up causing too much trouble, Bunny would help Tooth to return the memories to the Tooth Palace.
To Bunnymund's annoyance, he had been chosen to carry the box while they attempted to lure in nightmares. North would be focused on delivering toys and Bunny was the only Guardian not able to fly, making it easier for him to carry it while Tooth, Jack, and Sandy followed after, hot on the tail of anything that took the bait.
Once that had been settled and everyone had headed out Jack had flown down to the lower level where Phil the yeti was very busy coordinating the last-minute toy prep for Christmas. He'd given the winter Guardian a rough grunt in acknowledgment but raised curious eyebrows when Jack spoke, "Hey Phil, I need a favor."
Said favor Jack now went to pick up before heading out, he hoped to squeeze in a quick trip before the nightly hunt for nightmares began.
Elsa visited Arendelle more often in the weeks after she and Jack had come. Honestly, she should have made the sleigh and snow deer ages ago. The Nokk would allow her to ride, but she did not treat the water spirit as a beast of burden, it was not at her beck and call. Besides, she had gone back down to the sea a few days after Jack left and found the Nokk to have gone back to sleep. It was impossible to tell when she'd see it again.
Her snow deer made less than half a day's ride out of the trip back to Arendelle.
She would sometimes rise early and reach just outside the town proper by midday, but on most days she'd wait until midday to leave, arriving in the early evening. She noticed that many kept to themselves and did not leave their homes except when necessary, always with their faces covered. Jack had mentioned to her in passing that many people had taken to covering their faces due to the illness.
She understood, but it did make her a bit sad not to be able to see the people's faces. As December progressed she was happy to see many of the old yule traditions were still celebrated, and much to her delight she learned of a new tradition.
Christmas lights.
The village had adorned many buildings with strands of electric lights, like hundreds of tiny candles. The city glowed with gentle light at night.
There were not many children in Arendelle these days, maybe two dozen at best, but she was always happy to see them. They kept in small groups, but would still play in the snow near their homes. The two siblings she and Jack had seen liked to race downhill on sleds.
More than anything she liked to sit up on the hilltops outside the main town and watch the dreams come in each night. They were quick and easy to miss, but she was patient. There was something about the gentle glowing swirls of golden sand that brought her a kind of bittersweet peace. Their soft glow along with the Christmas lights did bring a special kind of magic with them.
She dared not touch them again as Jack had, afraid to impede their work, but she was happy to know the Guardian of Dreams looked after the people well.
This night, before the dream sands arrived, she found herself walking the mostly empty streets. While admiring decorations, she visited old places she was familiar with while peaking into windows of shop fronts. Most were closed, save a few, but all were decorated. She smiled at the figurines and images displayed in the windows.
Passing by a familiar home Elsa happened to glance in the window to see a family happily sitting around a roaring fire, she could just make out the sound of a radio through the window. This was the home of the children whom she and Jack had seen the dreams of.
It was rude to snoop in windows, but she found herself drawn in by the scene. Warm light shone threw from inside to cast a halo of light on the snow outside and she felt compelled towards it like a moth to a flame. Oh, how she missed spending nights sitting by a fire, enjoying tea or hot chocolate with Anna. Or sitting around a campfire with Honeymaren and her brother listening to their pleasant chatter.
The cold had never bothered her but she still longed for warmth.
As a child, she'd spent many a cold lonely day in her bedroom, longing for her family, but too terrified to reach out to them but also yearning for the freedom that lay just outside her window. A place where she could let her powers go and have no fear of harming anyone.
She'd finally found her place and her freedom as a spirit of the forest. She had roamed far and wide in her newfound independence, happy to leave the people in Anna's capable hands. Yet somehow, over the many long years, she'd ended up right back where she had been in her childhood bedroom.
Surrounded by people yet still alone.
How had she ever come to let herself become so isolated again? But what could she do now? No mortal had been able to see her in almost a hundred years.
Longingly she reached out and touched the window. It was instantly covered in frost. Sharp patterns filled the space reminiscent of stained glass, diamonds, and fractals etched across its surface. Elsa quickly pulled away, looking down at her hands, she had not meant to do that, but a noise from inside brought her attention back to the window.
"Look at the frost, it has a funny pattern." The young boy of the family had noticed and pointed it out. His little sister gasped and jumped up to run over to the window.
She pressed her face close to the glass and Elsa smiled at her wide curious eyes. "It's so pretty! Don't you think Kai? I bet the Snow Queen made it!"
Elsa's eyes widened, the girl could not see her but knew her old name. After Anna had taken the throne some of the townspeople began to refer to her as the Snow Queen. Even more so once Anna's son had ascended to the throne.
"Hush now Eva, that's bad luck!" The mother of the two ushered them back away from the window, "You'll bring about a harsh winter talking like that."
Elsa stepped away from the window and out of its warm light, fighting back the sting of tears. After all that had come to pass, was that all she was remembered for? Did her people remember nothing about her but the Great Freeze she had accidentally brought upon the Kingdom during her coronation?
Was that to be her only legacy?
She gripped her hands into tight fists and briefly looked back to the window to see the young girl in her seat staring longingly at the frost pattern she'd left behind. The girl could not see her, no one in the town could, but…they could see her magic. Her ice.
With newfound determination, Elsa marched back to the town center.
It took her most of the night, but before dawn, Elsa had blanketed the village in a soft blanket of pristine white snow, every lamp and light post was adorned with frost. She topped every roof spire with ice, and large, carefully crafted snowflakes hung in every window. At the town center, where she had once so many years before, she created a beautiful tree made entirely of ice with a shining star atop it. She left no corner of the town untouched, even adding her snowflakes back onto the empty palace's towers.
Exhausted but exhilarated, Elsa returned to the hills outside of town where her sleigh waited just before dawn.
She hesitated to get back into her sleigh, on one hand, she wanted to see the townspeople's reaction but on the other, she was terrified. What if they thought her ice was a sign of something bad? Chewing on her bottom lip she stood by her snow deer, gently stroking their necks.
She was startled when one of the deer gave a low snort, its sharp gleaming hoof of ice pawing the ground. Both deer shook their heads, great antlers swaying in challenge to something she could not see.
Elsa looked all around, the light was faint in the predawn and the lights from the town were too far to offer much illumination. She strained her eyes but saw nothing but the hairs on the back of her neck rose, sending an unnatural chill down her back.
She felt like she was being watched.
She held her breath, listening, her deer pawed the snow, giving a low bray. There was a whisper of wind as if something had just brushed passed her. Taking a risk she threw up her hands, creating a bright snowflake that suddenly threw light all around them in a bright burst.
A screaming cry rang out, a high-pitched neigh she'd heard before.
There just behind her on the edge of the tree line was a nightmare, it had just slipped into the shadow of the trees, retreating from the light she had created. Quickly Elsa jumped onto the back of her deer, ice reins forming with a quick flick of her hands and she urged the deer forward and plunged into the dark woods after the nightmare.
It was inky beneath the trees, the waxing moon had set already and only her small snowflake and the fading stars offered any light. The nightmare melted into the shadows quickly but Elsa followed after it, losing it for a few moments she then barely caught a gleam of its dull yellow eyes before it headed deeper into the trees.
She ended up following it back to the stone markers just outside the Enchanted Forest, the first pink of dawn was showing in the east. She hung back, dimming her snowflake, following behind it slowly. Partway back to the stone markers two more had joined it. They moved quickly, but not like they were fleeing from her. They did not act like horses really, if anything their movements reminded her of another animal entirely. They moved slightly spaced out, their nostrils flaring and their heads low to the ground.
Like a pack of hunting dogs, hot on the trail of their master's quarry.
Whatever they were after she would not allow them into her forest. As dawn broke Elsa raised her hands and brought down from the sky a hail of sharp icicles. The nightmares barely had time to react before they were turned to dust and sand. They gave out a single cry before the forest was quiet once again. Elsa dismounted and wearily watched the black sand scatter in the wind.
From what little Jack had told her about them, nightmares were attracted to fear and were sometimes born of children's bad dreams. They brought the fear they collected back to their master, the boogieman.
Jack and his friends had been fighting them in droves since the pandemic had begun, all to keep the boogieman from gaining enough strength to come back into the world to terrorize children.
Why had they gone this way towards the Enchanted Forest? Even if any children's bad dreams had created them in the town, there were no children or people in the forest these days. The Northulda had all moved south many decades ago.
Elsa stroked her deer's neck, brows furrowed before jumping onto its back.
What exactly had they been hunting for?
With a heavy sigh, she headed back to retrieve her sleigh.
It was late morning before she finally returned home, releasing her deer with a wave of her hand. Her feet felt heavy and slogged her way up the hillside in the snow, ready to crawl into bed. She was so tired she almost missed the vibrant-colored objects sitting just outside her door. Blinking she stared at them for a moment, not sure if her eyes were playing tricks on her.
There sitting by the door were two packages, one was bright blue with silver ribbon, and the other was bright red with green.
She knew instantly who had left them, no one else would have even known she was there.
Jack.
She carefully picked up both packages and took them inside, the red box was quite a bit heavier than the blue. Sitting them down on her small table she waved her hand to thin the ice and allow more morning light into the room. Noticing a small card tucked among the blue package's ribbon she tugged it free. In a quick bold script, she read;
Sorry I've missed you Elsa, hope you are well. I didn't have much time but I wanted to bring these to you. I should have some free time around the New Year if North and the others don't work me to death in the meantime. Haha. Mostly kidding. Mostly. Happy Birthday!
P.S. Don't open the red one until Christmas!
P.S.S. Um, Bruni may have set a tree on fire when I dropped by, I um– put it out, sorry!
~Jack
Elsa reread the card twice and something halfway between a laugh and sob escaped her. She was incredibly touched that he brought her anything at all and honestly she'd half forgotten her birthday was even coming up. Though her shoulders slumped a bit, disappointed at having missed seeing him, if only for a short visit.
Taking the card she gently tucked it into a box on her shelf with an old bundle of letters she kept from Anna. Returning to the boxes she eyed the red one curiously before moving it aside and pulling at the ribbon on the blue one.
It'd been years and years since she'd last been given anything, most of the gifts she treasured and held onto were from Anna, with a tiny few things that had been from her parents and her nephew.
Removing the lid from the box she looked down to see a small red tin nestled onto tissue paper. The tin was plain with only a single stripe of white on it. She pried it open and the sweet smell of chocolate filled her nose. There, in a neat little row were a handful of chocolate-covered cherries.
As a spirit, she'd found long ago that she didn't need to eat, but that didn't mean she didn't enjoy a treat from time to time. She popped one into her mouth and savored the sweet filling.
Carefully she replaced the lid and turned her attention back to the box, it was a bit big to only have a single small tin in it. Reaching in she neatly folded the paper aside and her hand brushed something soft. Pulling it out she was greeted by a pair of tiny blue glass eyes.
Made of fine soft white velvet was a miniature reindeer, a perfect, if not slightly cuter, replica of one of her snow deer.
Elsa gave a little laugh and stroked its soft velvet fur, it even had shiny hooves and small silver antlers. She brought it close, hugging the small toy, it smelled of warmth and spices.
This type of toy had not been in fashion when she was young, but she had seen many in later years with the town's children. Animals were popular, especially bears, but this was the first reindeer she'd seen.
Replacing the tin into the box she took the stuffed toy with her upstairs and set it on her bed as she washed her face and changed her dress into a nightgown.
Sliding into bed with a relieved sigh she pointed a finger at the wall, thickening the ice to darken the room. She fell asleep quickly, the little reindeer sitting next to her pillow having chased all thoughts of nightmares away.
At any other time, Jack might have been highly entertained by the amount of complaining and running Bunny was doing, but at the moment he was too busy blasting nightmares into oblivion as fast as he could.
Their plan was working, almost too well.
Nightmares were swarming after Bunny as he dashed down city alleys and streets, the tainted memory box slung over his shoulder. From above Sandy used his sand whips to herd the nightmares closer and closer together, right to the waiting Guardians of Fun and Memory.
Jack did have to say he was very impressed with Toothina's sword skills. When they'd fought Pitch, Toothina had been the first hit when the children's belief had started to fade, she had not been at her full strength then.
Now she zipped past Jack at blazing speed, her blades shattering Nightmares he'd already frozen, rending them to dust. He could grudgingly admit she was faster than him, his only saving grace being able to hold a high speed for a longer period.
The perks of being friends with the North wind.
They raced ahead, with North following after them, delivering presents with relative ease after they had cleared the way for him. The pace was relentless, but they were already halfway done. They were currently zipping across North and South America with the help of North's snow globes.
Jack was happy they only had to do this one night a year.
Toothina zipped ahead, her wings growing as she turned back to face Jack and Sandy. She beat her wings at a furious speed creating a powerful gust that the nightmares could not get past. With a blast of ice, Jack froze the group of nightmares and one of Bunny's boomerangs hurtled in, shattering them.
"Good work mate, this area is pretty much clear." Bunny hopped up and jumped up the side of a building as the rest of them hovered in place, he sat on the roof and gazed over the city to watch North hop up and out of houses and apartment buildings. "Looks like he's almost done too."
Jack lounged on top of a billboard sign as they waited for North to finish so they could jump to the next city. This was their second to last stop in North America, they'd already finished Asia, Africa, and Europe. North went to every city and town, while the rest of the Guardians stayed mostly in the larger cities, where the nightmares tended to congregate, making it easier to round up larger numbers.
He had not been able to pass by Elsa's forest or the little town she watched over, but he had dropped off her gifts a few days prior, along with something else he'd snuck into Santa's gifts.
Come morning, there was a little girl in Arendelle that would be opening a gift that had a book filled with fairytales. One of those was a story about the Snow Queen. Even if it wasn't Elsa's story exactly he made sure it was a happy story. He could not make the townspeople see Elsa, but he could at least help to make sure the stories they told were not scary.
"Ah, ha! Good work everyone, here we go, next stop Mexico City!" North drove by on his sleigh with a shout and shook a snow globe, tossing it in their path.
Bunny sighed, "Well at least some of us are having a good time," with that he jumped in.
Tooth and Sandy gave each other amused glances before they followed, Jack came last with a final glance around before jumping into the swirling portal.
He did not see the single remaining nightmare that lurked in the shadows watching as they left and then slipped away back into the night.
The Guardians were just ahead of the sunrise when the final large city was cleared, North had finished leaving all his gifts and joined in to help clear the last few. In his words to 'not let his skills become like rust'.
Sandy had even been able to turn quite a few nightmares back into gold dream sand.
With moods running high and joy from a successful Christmas Eve, they had only one task left, to return the tainted tooth box to the Tooth Palace. They emerged in the air above the Tooth Palace to a flurry of little tooth fairies and excited squeaks.
Toothina immediately took the tooth box back from Bunny and hurried down to the lower levels of her palace to place it back into its proper storage slot.
Jack was instantly mobbed by little fairies, Baby Tooth among them, he held out a finger for her to land on. "Hey Baby Tooth, all good while we were gone?"
Baby Tooth's happy expression fell a bit then, and she gave a low chip.
Jack frowned, "What is it?"
They had been careful about leaving the Tooth Palace vulnerable, it was unlikely that nightmares would try anything on their own without Pitch but just in case North had brought several yetis to help stand guard while Toothina was away.
One of the yetis was currently with North, gesturing and grunting in a way only North could understand.
"It seems they did have a few intruders while we were gone," North stroked his beard, "As soon as they were spotted the fairies sounded the alarm and the Yetis chased them off."
"Where they after the fairies again?" Bunny asked.
"No, it doesn't appear so." North shook his head, "nor were they after the teeth."
"Just scouts then?" Bunny offered, absently tossing his boomerang in the air.
Toothina returned, her feathers ruffled and her brows low, clearly annoyed. "They made such a mess of the west gardens and pool there, rooted up flowers and plants! My fairies said there were three nightmares. They made that mess and instantly took off the moment they were spotted. As best as I can tell nothing is missing, they never even made it near the archives."
Sandy made a motion and questioned Toothina as they all went to survey the damage.
"No Sandy, I don't store any memory boxes in this area."
North ambled down as Bunny quickly inspected the damaged greenery, "They did a number on the plants, rooted everything up. Nightmares aren't above wanton destruction, but this is an awful risky place to do it in." Turning to Toothina Bunny reassured her that he could help repair the greenery that had been destroyed.
North stood arms crossed, "They root around like wild hogs, bah! Never seen them do this before."
Jack walked out over the pool of water near a mural, this one showing children pouring water into a lake, the ice forming below his feet drifting off in the current as the water headed towards a waterfall. There were many waterfalls and pools in Toothina's realm, but why the nightmares had been interested in this area was unclear. Had they been trying to find another way into Toothina's palace or were they after something else?
Ah ah ah ahh, ah ah.
Jack's head snapped up at the faint sound, he stilled trying to listen. Baby Tooth on his shoulder gave a tiny chirp but remained silent as he held up a finger to his lips. "Did you hear anything?" he asked her.
She shook her head no with a tiny shrug.
Ah ah ah ahh, ah ah.
It was so faint, but it sounded like it might be coming from above. He walked across the water back to the rocky edge of the plateau they were on, mist hung coiling in the air from the spray of water, this particular one fell a great distance to the next plateau, and the rumble of water falling filled his senses. He couldn't hear the water tumbling down so much as he could feel it. The mist felt almost like a barrier, marking where Toothina's realm ended and the wild mountains began.
Turning to look back up the mountain he strained his ears, listening to the roar of the water, but heard nothing else. He could not see where the river began from this location. He glanced back at the others as Bunny worked to save some of the trees and plants, North did his best lifting up a large shrub but was likely more of a hindrance than a help to the Pooka. Baby Tooth flew back over to Toothina as she and her fairies worked on uprighting what flowers that could be saved.
"Hey Tooth!" Jack called her and she looked up and flew over to him. "What's down there?" He indicated with his staff the pool down below where the waterfall dropped into.
"This river heads down the mountain from here, it's the very edge of my realm." Tooth flittered down a bit lower to hover just beside him, "Long ago, before I had even come here the people of this land had called this place, 'Smrti'. In the old language of this area, this river was called, 'the well of memory."
"A well of memory?"
Elsa's words rang in Jack's ears.
Water has memory…Autohallan is a river of memory.
"There is an old myth that says four rivers diverged from a great basin that holds all of humanity's most important memories. They're engraved so deeply into humanity that they simply are more than they are actually recalled. It's the heart of humanity, in a way, the things all humans are born knowing. All memory is said to flow in them from the beginning of humanity until now."
Jack looked back down the river was rushing past them, "Then this river–?"
"No, this is an ordinary river, but this river and area are part of the reason why I chose this part of the mountain for my realm, though I'm not sure how much of that myth is true. I'm sure there's something to at least part of it. Like the stories the mortals tell about us, they aren't necessarily always accurate."
An unabashed grin pulled at Jack's lips, "Yea, too bad for Bunny. Most of them think he's all cute and tiny."
Bunny looked up from his work, "I heard that Frost, give it a rest. Unless you like Old Man Winter getting credit for your work."
Jack scowled at that, it was one of the hardest ways for him to gain believers, making them think of him for fun and snow days and not that old cranky spirit. Thank goodness for Sandy, he often helped by giving the children fun dreams about snow and frost.
Tooth sighed and rolled her eyes at the two of them, while much improved, the relationship between Jack and Bunny remained slightly antagonistic but mostly good-hearted.
Jack's gaze returned to the waterfall, "Do you think Pitch knows about that story?"
"You think he sent the Nightmares looking for a myth?" Bunny's nose twitched.
"We're all myths." Jack argued, "As Tooth said, there's likely something to the story, even if some of the details are off."
"It's possible-" North conceded, "Though we've not seen any sign of Pitch. If we knew exactly where the Nightmares were looking, we might have a better shot at finding what they were searching for."
Jack stood on the riverbank, gazing into the water.
Water has memory.
He walked back onto the river freezing over part of it as he went, slowing its flow.
Maybe he could…
Jack took a breath and closed his eyes, he did have the advantage of Toothina's realm having its own magic, it might be a bit easier here than it had been back in Burgess.
He listened to the flow of the river, the water ebbing beneath his feet, felt the mist curling in the air, the heavy clouds high above that ringed the mountain peaks and the dew that clung to his skin. All other sounds faded away as he took a deep breath.
Sandy noticed first and tugged on Bunny's paw.
"What?" Bunny's gaze followed Sandy's, "What are you doing Jack?"
Jack did not answer and all of the Guardians felt the surge of magic as Jack let go of the power he'd gathered. A sharp cold gust of wind took them by surprise, the small tooth fairies squeaking and chirping as they were tossed around. Frost and ice shot out around Jack and coated much of the surrounding area.
"Oi, you bonehead, what are you doing?" Bunny complained about the sudden temperature drop while shivering.
"Rimsky-Korsakov, look at that!" North pointed to the other side of the area.
At the far end of the plateau were three ice sculptures, the nightmares, two had their noses to the ground, and the other's head was reared high as if on the lookout. They had been headed up the mountain.
"Jack…how did you do this?" Tooth looked back at the Guardian of Fun who was slowly making his way back to the riverbank.
Jack gave a nonchalant shrug, "Water has memory." He felt a bit bad hiding that he'd learned this from Elsa but part of him worried that with everything going on the other Guardians might not like he was 'goofing off' in her forest with her. It wasn't like he didn't get his duties done, but still, it seemed like when things got busy the first thing the other guardians forgot how to do was have fun.
"A little warning next time mate." Bunny hopped over to examine the ice, "So they were headed up, not down the mountain."
They all squinted against the morning light, looking to the highest peak.
"I will leave Yetis here, in case they should try to come back." North stroked his mustache as the examined the ice sculptures.
Sandy made a gesture at North, "Ah, Sandy is right. We should ask Manny on the next full moon."
Ah ah ah ahh, ah ah.
The voice lingered, though apparently, Jack was the only one who could hear it. He stared up the mountain as far as his eyes could see, clouds and mist mostly obscured the highest peaks where only the topmost points kept snow on them. He could not explain it, but staring up at the gleaming silver ribbon that was the river in the morning light, Jack had an overwhelming feeling to follow it to its source.
Somewhere, up there high on the mountain, into the unknown, was something he needed to find.