Chapter 10: A Flare of Hope

The next memory faded in to show Frost, now fully recovered, gliding gracefully atop the wind. He looked almost ethereal, now, compared to his initial klutziness that had him falling out of the sky at random intervals.

He seemed to be enjoying spreading winter around London, when a sudden high-pitched scream filled the air, only to be abruptly cut off. Frost immediately sped towards the source of the sound—a river. The fast moving waters had pulled a young girl under the surface of the water.

"Guardians. Jack is 104 in this memory."

"So that's what... 18...er..." Bunny scratched his head, unable to remember the year Jack was born.

"1816." Jack spoke up. He looked down at the struggling child who could scarcely keep her head above the icy waters.

"A-a kid?!" Frost looked around desperately, trying to find someone nearby who could save her, but it seemed that nobody was around. "Looks like I'll have to try." He flew down towards the water, trying to get to the girl, but there were too many low-hanging trees to be of any help from the sky. "Guess I'll have to dive in, then." He went to fly into the water, before he froze.

"What is wrong?" North asked, looking at the petrified memory-Jack.

"W-why can't I move?" A sudden flash of being pulled under the surface of the lake as a human was shown, though it was too fast to process if you didn't already know what it was.

"You're scared." Tooth realized. "You're afraid of water."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Jack shot back sarcastically. "Sorry, Tooth. I don't mean to be such a brat, I'm just... overwhelmed. Seeing all these memories again..."

"It's alright, Frostbite. We can understand." Bunny placed a comforting paw on his shoulder, causing the white-haired youth to blink up at the Pooka in surprise.

"That's a new one, comin' from you." He smirked.

"Sh-shut up!" Bunny quickly pulled away his paw.

"Aww, you do care!" Jack teased, and the Guardians relaxed at the familiar banter.

"I... I have to save her!" Frost shook himself, and forced his trembling to subside as he dove headfirst into the waters. The memory was encompassed in black for a moment before clearing to show a still obviously scared Frost fighting the fierce currents of the icy water.

It didn't help that his heightened emotions made controlling his winter powers harder, and he had to fight to keep himself from freezing the water around him.

It took far too long, but he finally made it to the child. Her struggles were weak, and she looked to be giving up. "Don't you dare!" He yelled at her. Upon closer inspection, she wasn't quite a young child. She looked to be about fourteen or fifteen years of age; old enough to not believe.

Yet, at the sound of his voice, her blurry eyes focused upon the white-haired spirit. "I know you can't hear me, but!! Don't you dare stop fighting! You can do this! Just... Hold on!" He cried out desperately.

The girl reached out a hand towards the white-haired youth, shocking him for a brief moment before he reached back out. He barely managed to grab her hand, and called the wind again.

"KAZE!" He cried out, as the wind managed to pick him up out of the water. He kept a hold of the girl, and the two of them flew away from the frigid death trap that had nearly claimed her life.

The two landed somewhere that was sheltered and secluded. "You okay? Man! You scared the crap out of me! And... I could... touch you..." He blinked owlishly at the girl, who looked on the brink of passing out.

"Who... are you?" She managed to wheeze out through her coughs.

"I-I'm Jack Frost... Spirit of Winter." He stuttered out, in disbelief.

"I..." She pitched forward, out cold. Frost's excitement died suddenly and was abruptly replaced with worry.

He gathered up wood, seeing that the sky was darkening. "Let's see if I can do this..." He pulled out a flint and steel that he'd snitched off of some guy on the street. He gathered the kindling into a neat little pile beneath the wood, and struck. It took several attempts, before the fire flared to life, nearly scorching the one who'd created it.

"Ah!" He fell back in surprise as the flames happily munched upon the offered feast of wood. "Well, that's that taken care of." He smiled as the girl snuggled closer to the flames in her sleep. "You won't survive the night without some kind of heat." He spoke, "so I thought I'd give this a try. I've never built a fire before. You know, since I'm a winter spirit and all... I don't get cold. I don't even know what cold feels like. People say it's painful, but... It's comforting to me. Heat's the painful sensation for me. And warm days just sap my strength. But I can create the most beautiful winter you've ever seen!" He spoke to the unconscious girl all through the night, even as he kept the fire burning bright.

Despite the discomfort the extra heat caused him, he couldn't stop grinning. "You know, it's crazy! Finally, someone can see me!! I mean, I've been asking for this day for over a hundred years! I swear, I was gonna go crazy if someone didn't talk to me! Just last year, I swear my reflection spoke back to me! I'm not kidding! And I even gave my shadow a name! If my only friends are a reflection, a shadow, a rock and the wind, then my social circle needs some serious improvements. Though I once saw a guy talking to a stick, so I still think I'm better off than him..."

Just around sunrise, the girl started to stir. "Ah! You're awake! How'd you sleep? Are you cold? Well, I mean of course you are! It's snowing out here, but I hope the fire kept you at least a little bit warm! Like I said earlier, I'm Jack Frost, and I'm the one that saved you from the river yesterday. What happened, anyways? Did you fall in or something? And oh, wow, I didn't even catch your name!" He smiled as he rambled, too excited to pace his own speech.

The girl looked around, confused. "Where am I?" She winced as she held her head, coming away with dried blood.

"Oh! You must've hit your head when you fell in! I'm so sorry! I don't really know how to tend to other peoples' injuries..." Frost looked down for a moment, before looking up again with a grin as the girl got to her feet unsteadily, using the nearby alley wall to balance herself. "But there's no need to worry, I'm sure you can—"

In that moment, she walked through him. He gasped, clutching his chest in pain as the memory hazed for a brief moment. "W-what?! But... you could... she could... see me..." He turned in disbelief.

Bunny winced fiercely. As the Guardian of Hope, he could sense the hope within all living things. And he could, to an extent, feel the hope of memory-Jack. And whatever hope he'd had well up within him over the last century, had just been brutally crushed. And watching hope die was the fastest way to depress the Pooka.

"Oh, no..." His ears drooped with sorrow as he realized what had happened.

"She forgot she saw you..." Tooth realized. "The concussion..."

"You'd finally had a believer..." North swallowed thickly, fighting the tears.

Sandy didn't have any kind of reservations. He hugged the winter spirit as golden tears ran down his sandy cheeks.

"Hey, now. What's with the tears and sad faces? Come on, guys! You're killin' my center, here!" Jack grinned. "I think we'll need another break soon. You guys are makin' me all depressed over here." He laughed.

"But you..." Tooth looked towards the girl who walked away, leaving a very lonely winter spirit beside the brightly burning fire to dwell upon his emotions alone.

"Lived through this already." Jack finished. "It's done. The past is the past. But I've got believers, now!" He grinned, and the Guardians were abruptly reminded of his earlier outburst.

None of them mentioned that Jamie would one day die, and leave Jack alone again. They didn't like seeing him so downtrodden. It didn't look right on the fun-loving boy.

A sudden thought occurred to Sandy, who created a golden exclamation point. He made the image of the kids of Burgess and Jack, before letting the kids fade away. Little Sand-Jack then fell to his knees and passed out.

"That's right!" Bunny paled. "A Guardian without believers..."

"Oh, no..." Tooth's eyes went wide.

"Normally, they die, right?" Jack spoke up. "But don't worry. That doesn't affect me. Unlike you guys, who need that belief to continue existing as you are, I am first and foremost winter. And so long as my season exists, and nobody kills me, I'll survive." He smirked. "Come on, you can't be rid of me that easily!" He teased.

"Still... I am not wanting to take risk." North shifted.

"Look, guys! You're too serious! Come on, let's cheer up a bit! Where's that holiday cheer? Don't tell me Easter and Christmas are always this depressing!" Jack smirked. For a moment, he considered using one of his Special Snowflakes to bring the mood up. Nah... I'll save that for the break. He cackled quietly to himself as he planned out his next prank. He'd tell Sandy later, and bring his little golden friend in on it, but for now, Baby Tooth would be his accomplice.

A/N: Wow, I'm on a roll! Update number 3~! It's short, but we're working our way through the memories, slowly but surely. I may end up going back and adding in more at some point, but for now, we'll just work our way through to that one horrible memory Jack wants to forget, and the movie. Wonder how Sandy will react to what the other three did in the movie? *Evil Smirk*

Words: 1,623

Pages: 3

Posted: 04/11/2019