Tale

Chapter 10 : Promise

/!\ I do not own Rise of the Guardians, only my OC.

Jack Frost

He looked at her, not really knowing what to say. It was true that this place felt like home, as he wanted it to, but it felt even more like home with her close to him. He just smiled at her. They both observed the Globe for a while. Lía also looked outside through one of the huge windows of the room with admiration, making Jack prouder with each glance. It was his work that she was admiring like this.

"So?" the shape-shifter asked after a moment. "What now?"

"I don't know", Jack admitted. "We should probably rest."

She nodded.

First, they headed to the tower's kitchen. It was furnished like a modern kitchen, with an oven, a fridge, a sink... they prepared a simple dinner of raw vegetables on some bread before going to the main living room.

"It's really cozy here", Lía said as she sat in a comfortable armchair near the fireplace.

"Thanks." Jack answered with a smile.

They stayed silent for a while, appreciating the peace and quiet, before beginning to speak softly. Sitting next to each other, looking at each other, they exchanged some stories, some trivia and some jokes. Lía told Jack a tale and he admired her tale-telling skills. Then, silence again. It was a cozy, nice silence that allowed them to just rest and enjoy each other's presence. They could forget about Pandore, the other Guardians, the Man in the Moon and everything else. They could take a break and be themselves.

Finally, after a while, Lía fell asleep. The tale-teller turned into a cat in her sleep, curling up in a ball. A furry, soft, warm ball. After a hesitation, Jack slowly raised a hand and stroked her black fur. She didn't wake up and purred in her sleep. Jack stopped and cat Lía whined. She started fighting in her sleep, claws out, meowing and fidgeting. She was obviously having a nightmare, but Jack didn't dare to wake her up. She fell off the armchair without waking up and continued sleep-fighting. She turned into a wolf, howled and growled, and then was back into her cat form. Jack didn't know what to do and panicked. He held out a hand and touched her back.

Immediately, the cat stopped fidgeting. It was like Jack's cold touch had soothed her fear. Lía was now peacefully sleeping and even purred when the Guardian of Fun hesitantly took her in his arms, stroking her fur. He smiled and headed to the only guest room of the tower.

He carefully lay her on the bed and the cat immediately curled up in a ball. She was still purring, even without his touch. He looked at her, finally able to stare at her without anyone noticing. He felt like he was invading her privacy, but he couldn't look away. As strange as it could seem, even in her cat form, she still felt like Lía. She was still her, as if her human self was inside the cat too. No, that wasn't it. Watching her sleep, moving her paws in her slumber, and remembering how she would move in her cat form earlier, Jack realised that she was never entirely something. Even when she was human, a small part of her was still cat. It didn't really make sense, but the thought seemed right to him.

"You're always Lía", he whispered, watching her sleep.

She stretched in her sleep and turned back into a human without waking up. The way she could shape-shift in her sleep was impressive. Like it was nothing. He refrained the need to put a hand on her cheek, to hold her close against him, and turned around. He had imagined one last thing, on the way to his home, to make her feel better. But he had to go retrieve something. He looked at her one last time, saw her smile peacefully and left.

Lía Tale

She woke up slowly and yawned. The air was cool against her skin but she didn't feel cold. She felt good. Well rested. She looked around, trying to understand where she was. She recognised the icy walls, the white furniture and the blue bed covers of the tower's guest room. Lía got up, smoothed her clothes and walked to the open window of the room. She looked outside, once again admiring the cave that Jack had turned into his home.
The shape-shifter then left her room, went to the guest room's bathroom and cleaned herself. She didn't linger in the bathroom and climbed the stairs to get to Jack's room. The door was closed and no one answered when she knocked.

"Huh", she said to herself. "He isn't in his room. Where could he be?"

She went downstairs to the library without finding her friend. She searched for him in the living room, the kitchen and dining room, the Globe room... she then left the tower and explored the cave, searching for Jack near the lake, in the frozen gardens and on the ice rink that was behind the tower and that she hadn't seen before. But after searching for more than an hour, she had to face facts: Jack was gone.

"He... he left me..." she whispered.

She was devastated. She was alone again. Her only friend had left her. Why did she think that anything could change? Why did she hope that she wouldn't be alone anymore? Lía felt tears fill her eyes, but she shook her head. She wouldn't cry anymore. She couldn't let loneliness overwhelm her once again.
She breathed deeply and tried to focus, but she couldn't. She had to find a way to calm herself before trying to think about the future. Before deciding on what she should do, she had to calm down.

Lía took a minute to think before running to the eighth floor and reaching a room filled with all sorts of things. Jack had told her that it was a room where he would put things that he liked, that interested him or that he wanted to learn more about. Placed against a wall, between a table covered in small flowers of ice that Jack had sculpted and what seemed to be a giant accordion, there was a piano. It was white with blue ornaments and the bench was blue.

The shape-shifter smiled when she saw it and sat in front of it. She slowly raised the lid and gently touched the white and black keys with the tip of her fingers. She pressed a key and the sound that resonated in the room amazed her. It was pure, strong and clear. She put both her hands on the keyboard and started playing, putting her heart and soul into her music.
She expressed her sadness and loneliness, all those years of solitude that weighed on her heart. She expressed her disappointment too. How could he leave her? Was she destined to be alone forever? Were the birds and the animals of the forest meant to be her only company? Was Bunny right? She thought she could trust Jack, but she couldn't. She had lost the habit of living with other people and didn't know who she could trust. She had always been alone, and being with someone for just an instant had made her believe that she would never be alone again. She was wrong.

The shape-shifter felt tears running down her cheeks as she played. She played the last notes of the song and let them slowly fade away before using a corner of her cape to wipe the tears on her cheeks. New tears filled her eyes, but she breathed deeply and held them inside.

Suddenly, Lía heard someone enter the room. Since she was turning her back to the door, she couldn't see who had entered. Startled, she jumped off the piano bench and turned around. It was Jack.

Jack Frost

He had entered the tower and immediately heard the piano. Hiding his gift for Lía in the pocket of his hoodie, the Guardian of Fun ran up the stairs and stopped in front of the closed door of the eight floor's only room. The music was clearly coming from here. He also heard someone sobbing, but he wasn't sure. He waited until the song ended before opening the door and entering the room, grinning.

Lía was playing the piano and crying at the same time. Jack's smile immediately disappeared. Why was she crying? What had happened?

"Lía!" he exclaimed, rushing over to her side. "Are you okay?"

"I... I just... you're here... but you weren't before... and I thought..." she stammered, unable to express her thoughts clearly.

Jack gently grabbed her arm and led her outside of the tower without a word. He was hoping that the cold air inside the ice cave would help her organise her thoughts and express herself.

"I thought you were gone." the shape-shifter finally explained as they walked side by side, heading toward the lake.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked. "Wait... you thought I had left you?"

She shyly pushed some hair back behind her ear and looked away.

"Lía..." he began.

But then he stopped talking. He had no words. He used his staff to create something, a snow flake carved in ice, that really was a pendant. He also created a thin ice chain to hang the pendant on. Finally, he offered the necklace to Lía as they sat together on the ground, near the lake.

"I would never leave you." he finally declared with a fond smile.

He couldn't believe he had just said that, but he was glad that he had. He tried not to blush and focused on Lía's relieved, joyful expression as he gently hung the necklace around her neck.

"I promise you that, as long as this necklace exists, I will never leave you. And since it's made of eternal ice, you will have to wait for a bit to get rid of me."

The shape-shifter smiled and chuckled at the joke, stoking the pendant with her thumb. Without a word, she plucked some of her hair and used the magical threads to make some knots and braids. She finished her work in a matter of minutes and offered it to Jack. It was a blue and purple bracelet, beautifully weaved, which he gladly put on his wrist.

"You already made the dramatic declaration", she said, grinning, "so I'll just return your promise. As long as you can stand my presence, I'll never leave your side."

He smiled, and inside his head he was screaming and laughing with joy. Now nothing could tear them apart.

Lía Tale

Lía was so relieved to be close to him. To hear his voice. To see his face. He hadn't left her! In fact, he had promised that he never would! She gently caressed her new necklace, thinking about the promise it represented before finally deciding to talk. She was curious and, even though knowing that he hadn't left her should've been enough, she still wanted to know more.

"So... would you mind telling me why you left earlier?" the shapeshifter asked.

Jack put a hand in his pocket and took a strange object out of it. It was half of a golden and white cylinder, with the face of a young girl on one side.

"This" he said, handing the strange object to the tale-teller, "contains all of your childhood memories. You can access them just by pressing that."

He indicated a precise spot with his index and looked at her. She tried not to look at him, not to stare at his joyful face and instead focused on the present he had just given her. And then, as she looked with more attention at what she was holding, it hit her.

"I can really remember... everything?" she asked, bewildered.

"Yeah, it's how it works. Thanks to Tooth, the memories of your childhood were collected and kept in this box. Now you can relive your past and finally know who you were before... all this."

He waved with his hand, trying to gesture their current situation.

"I... I don't know what to say, Jack... you've been so kind to me, and you already gave me so much... how did you get my memories?" she asked.

"I had to sneak inside Tooth's palace to steal them." Jack admitted, a bit embarrassed, rubbing the back of his head. "But you were worth breaking into the Guardian of Memories' palace and trying to avoid an army of mini-fairies."

"... who are completely in love with you, if I remember my tales correctly!" Lía teased, trying to hide a hint of jealousy.

Jack chuckled awkwardly before answering : "You were worth risking to face them."

She couldn't help but blush at the sentence. Then, more seriously, she looked at him and said : "Thank you... for everything, Jack."

The Guardian looked at her, then looked away, ran a hand through his silver hair and answered : "That's what friends are for."

She should've been happy to hear him call her that, but she had to hold a disappointed frown inside her. Why was she disappointed? It was already incredible that he wanted to be his friend! She should've been happy! So why did she want more?
Lía mentally shook her head and tried to push her thoughts and weird feelings aside.

"So... is this how you got your memories back? Thanks to a weird box?" she asked, trying to get back on a slightly lighter, less strange and "let's talk about feelings and relationships" subject.

"Yep." Jack answered. "It can be a bit overwhelming at the beginning, but it just felt right to get those memories back."

"It felt right..." Lía repeated. She could hear something else in his voice, not just the happiness and relief he must've felt after regaining his memories. She frowned, worried. She had to know what was up, what was hidden behind this slightly sad voice that was hiding something that she was afraid was far worse than what she could imagine.

"It felt right, but did it feel good? Remembering your past, did it make you feel better?" she asked, her eyes in his, waiting for his answer.

Jack Frost

"did it make me feel better?" he asked to himself. And the truth was that he didn't know. No, actually, that wasn't the truth. He did know the answer to that question. He just didn't want to face it.

"It helped me find my center", Jack answered out loud, hoping to convince his friend. "so yeah, it was really good for me."

But the shape-shifter was a real walking lie-detector. She looked at him, one eyebrow raised, and said, in a sing-song voice:

"I can tell you're lying!"

"Am not!" he replied defensively.

That immediately alarmed Lía. She was trying to lighten the mood, but understood that it wasn't the time. She had to know the truth.

"Stop lying and tell me the truth." she asked in a soft, slightly worried voice.

"I don't really know." Jack answered hesitantly.

Could he tell her the truth? Could he say those words that where haunting him?

"Still lying, but we're getting there." Lía replied patiently.

She put a hand on his and looked him in the eye, waiting for him to be ready to open up.

"I know that something happened. Something that you won't tell me." she said. "I opened up to you. It's only fair that you do the same. You're my friend, and I want to help you. Please, tell me what happened after you recovered your memories."

Jack sighed. He wasn't getting away. He had to face what he had managed to avoid for so long. He took a second to prepare himself, his hand clutching Lía's like she was the only thing keeping him alive. She smiled slightly, encouraging him. She was there for him. He could face what he had avoided all those years.

"I recovered my memories right after a battle with Pitch." he began. "but you know that, right?"

"Of course I do, I'm a tale-teller." she answered, rolling her eyes, acting as if she was annoyed by his lack of faith in her tale-teller skills when she was really just trying to hide her concern.

"So, when I recovered them, I learnt how I had died, I remembered everything about my family, my friends, my life back then... but I didn't really have time to process it then."

She nodded. Her hands held his tighter as he continued speaking, as if the shape-shifter already knew where this was going.

"Remembering how I had died was already pretty confusing and traumatic, but I got over it quickly. It was to save my little sister, and I'd do it again and again if I had to, so I think I just accepted it. But then... there's the memories of my family. At the beginning I was glad to remember them, but then... after the fight against Pitch was over, I realised..."

"Jack, you don't have to say it if it's too hard for you", Lía assured him, comforting. She put a warm hand on his cheek and looked at him intently, trying to see the sadness in his eyes. He could see affection and friendship in hers and that gave him enough strength to finally say it out loud:

"I realised they were dead."

"Oh, Jack..." Lía whispered. "I'm so sorry..."

"At the beginning I tried to get over it, you know?" he continued, now wanting to get it all out. "But I just couldn't accept it. Couldn't bear to think that they had died... and the worse part is, I was alive when they died! I was alive and I didn't ever notice that they had died when they did! I just... I just wished..."

"You wished you could go back in time, right?" she asked understandingly, as if she had known such a situation before.

"I did", he admitted. "But I couldn't then, and I can't know. And I don't know why it's weighing on me so much... I just hope I could get rid of this sadness and this... this feeling I can't put a word on."

"Jack..." the shape-shifter said softly, "you shouldn't hope for such a thing... feelings are what makes you you!"

She took his hand and cupped his face with it, her hand on his.

"Those feelings, sadness and grief, they're part of the process. I've heard a lot of tales about it, and they all wisely tell you to accept them instead of rejecting them. Talking about you loss helps too. You have to accept it in order to move on."

"Really? And do you ever feel better?" he asked.

"With time, it gets better." she answered. "But you have to let yourself grieve. Refusing it only makes it worse."

"O... okay, I guess I'll try that."

Lía looked surprised and pulled back before looking at him intently.

"You didn't do it before?"

Jack shrugged and rubbed his neck.

"Well... I didn't have time to grieve during the battle against Pitch. Then, when I became a Guardian, I didn't have a lot of free time, so..."

"And did you at least talk about it with someone else?" she interrogated.

"You know, it felt weird to talk about it with the Guardians. They're supposed to be my new family and I didn't really feel like talking about my old one with them."

He could tell that the tale-teller was holding a sigh inside.

"You can't keep those feelings inside, Jack", she explained patiently. "I know it's hard, but I understood it earlier, when you made me open up to you. You have to let it out if you want to heal. And even then, it takes time. If you keep it all inside, the wound will only get worse."

Jack tried to accept her words. He knew that she was right, but it still was hard to express what he had hidden inside him for so long. He felt tears filling his eyes just at the idea of finally saying it.

"I... I don't know, Lía... I just... I feel that when I'll grieve them, it'll mean that they're really gone... for good."

"But you have to, Jack." Lía answered with a kind smile, her words barely louder than a whisper. "you have to let them go."

"I don't know if I can..." he admitted, half-sobbing.

"I'm here for you." she comforted him. "We'll say goodbye to your family together."

He nodded. He would do it. He would let them go.

Lía Tale

She helped him carve a small raft in an ice block, too small for them but big enough for Ow and Feather to sit in. The two birds, which had followed them to Jack's home, were curiously watching the two teens as they prepared a small ceremony to say goodbye. Lía weaved a tapestry small enough to fit on the raft, her fingers flying above her work. After centuries of weaving, she had become a master in this art, weaving faster and better than anyone else. Jack was sitting next to her on the floor of the eighth floor room, carving the sides of the raft with intricate designs and making small figures out of ever-lasting ice to represent his sister and parents.

Lía, while working, kept an eye on him to make sure that he was okay. Well... as okay as he could be. He wasn't crying, but she could see tears shine in his eyes. She wanted to hold him close to her heart, to whisper hundreds of comforting words in his ear to make him feel better, but she knew she had to give him some space. So she focused on her tapestry, which represented Jack, before his transformation, with his family. He had offered to give her access to some of his memories so she could know how his family looked, but she had refused. Instead, he had represented his family with some snow using his magic, and she had engraved each of their traits in her memory before beginning to work on her tapestry. She was almost done now, and waited for Jack to put the finishing touches on his own work.

Finally, they each finished what they were working on and put everything together. The tapestry was placed at the bottom of the raft, with the figurines standing on it. Jack used his magic to make small figures of ice skates and other small objects that reminded him of his family. The figure of his sister was the last one to be placed on the raft.

When Jack held the small figure in his hands, hesitating above the raft, tears slowly rolling on his cheeks, Lía walked to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Jack." she murmured.

She didn't know what else to say, so she just whispered it again and again, rubbing his back and patting his shoulder to comfort him in any way she could. She didn't know that her touch alone was enough to comfort the Guardian of Fun, but her voice helped sooth his pain a bit.
Finally, Jack placed the figurine on the raft. Lía helped him to carry it downstairs, then to the lake. They put the floating memorial on the water after Jack, with only a wave of his staff, made the thin layer of ice covering the lake disappear.

"Wait", said Lía as he was about to push it on the water, "just hold on for a second."

She ran toward the tower and picked two roses from one of the bushes bordering the path leading to it. The shape-shifter then went back to the raft and gave one flower to her friend. She slowly kneeled in the snow and delicately put her own rose on the raft, imitated by Jack. He was now crying without even trying to hold the tears inside his eyes. He was freeing himself from the weight of the grief that he couldn't acknowledge, couldn't accept before. Lía put an arm around his shoulders and held him as he cried, helping him to push the small boat on the water.

They watched it for hours as it slowly danced on the surface of the lake, the ice naturally melting on contact with the water. A few hours later, the floating memorial started sinking, and neither of them moved to try and gather what was inside. The lake would swallow it and keep it forever intact in its cold embrace, becoming the eternal guardian of Jack's family's memory.

They stayed together on the edge of the lake long after the boat had sunk. Jack had stopped crying, but he was still holding Lía strongly, as if she would leave him too.

Lía waited until the night swallowed the sun and left them in the dark, only illuminated by moonlight. She took Jack's hand in her own and drew little circles with her thumbs on the cold back of his hands. She looked him in the eyes.

"Jack, it's okay. They're finally at peace." she whispered.

"But they're gone... they're really gone..." he answered, slowly shaking his head, refusing to meet her gaze.

"No they're not", the tale-teller answered. "They will live forever in your heart and mind, in your memories, your words. They are here with you, even if you can't see them. They'll only be really gone when you stop living too, or if you forget about them."

"I'll never forget" he replied, biting his lips as he was about to add "again". A part of him, a really small part of him, hated the Man in the Moon for keeping him away from his family by taking his memory away. Dozens of thoughts were bothering him, but he only expressed one of them.

"I'll be there for you when you'll reclaim your memories." he said, finally looking at her in the eye.

Lía smiled, feeling that he would now be able to get better.

"Let's focus on you for now, okay?" she answered with a small smile.

He nodded. He then opened his mouth, as if he was about to say something, but closed it again.

"What is it'" Lía asked. "Come on, you know you can tell me."

"Will... will you ever leave me like they did?" he finally asked.

It made her want to cry. How could he think that? She could never leave him and let him all alone! He was so sad and desperate, and it broke her heart. Was she like this yesterday? And when he had came back from Tooth's Palace? It made her realise that they needed each other to finally heal from their loneliness.
She smiled.

"I already promised you, Jack. I'll never leave your side."

"Promise?"

She held him against her, felt his cold breath in her neck and hugged him tighter. She wouldn't let anything happen to him and she would never let him be alone again.

"I promise."

"Then I'll never leave you either", he said, already gaining his strength and will back. "I promise."

Author's note: I picture Lía playing "Someone you loved " by Lewis Capaldi or "The Loneliest" by Maneskin on the piano. But that's just me.