Chapter 13: War

The Guardians weren't looking forward to the next memories. If the last one was any indication, they didn't want to see any more. And Jack still had yet to lose his melancholy expression, which put the others on edge. He looked centuries older without his smile, and it rubbed them the wrong way. With his face set into such a serious expression, and his white hair, if they squinted, they could mistake him for an old man.

"You know... I heard about this guy once... He's called Old Man Winter." Bunny spoke up suddenly.

"Yeah, I've met 'im." Jack replied, shoving his hands in his hoodie pocket. "He's a nice guy. But unfortunately, he's very busy, and doesn't have a lot of time. I didn't even know about him until recently, anyways."

"So he is still around. Rumor said that he passed his mantle onto someone else." Bunny rubbed his chin.

"He did. I've met them both. Both the old one, Old Man Winter, and the new General Winter. Grandpa Winter's a bit of a grouch, but he's a good guy. Just a bit rough around the edges. But General Winter is... well... he's not what you'd expect. He's so bubbly and cheery, and he's honestly someone I'd peg for spring or autumn, not winter." Jack shrugged. "But I suppose everyone has their masks."

"Wow! I didn't know you could pass stuff like that on!" Tooth flitted around excitedly.

"Normally, you can't. But Grandpa Winter's a bit of a special case. The Four Generals are older than dirt, and know a great deal more than the rest of us. I'm the Spirit of Winter, which sorta makes me like his son or grandson. In other words, if General Winter is the King of Winter, then I'm the Prince of Winter." Jack explained.

"So there's a General Summer, General Autumn and General Spring, too?" Tooth tilted her head.

"Yeah, but Autumn and Spring are referred to as 'Admirals' instead of 'Generals'. No real reason. Just Admiral Autumn sounded better. Some people still say Sergeant Spring, but she threw a big hissy fit, saying that if her brother, Autumn, as an Admiral, then she was too."

"Wait... You've met them all?!" Bunny's eyes were wide. It was rare enough to meet one of them, regardless of if you were a spirit, sprite, or Guardian, but to meet all four?!

"Technically, yeah. I've met Admiral Autumn, Sergeant Spring, General Winter, Old Man Winter, and both the old and new General Summer."

"Wait, so Summer gave up his mantle, too?" Tooth blinked.

"She. The old General Summer's a girl. She's Old Man Winter's sister, but call her old and you'll end up melted to the sands of the Lut Desert—hottest place on earth." Jack nodded sagely.

"So you've called her old, then." Bunny deadpanned.

"It was a mistake!" Jack defended himself. "Honestly, she looks really good for her age. But her protégé has a serious language problem. He cusses more than a sailor." Jack muttered. "Not that I've had too much contact with him, but apparently both the new Generals are blood-related twin brothers! Pretty crazy, right? Summer and Winter, twins. But I guess it's fitting, in a sense."

"So if you're essentially the second-in-command of Winter..." Bunny started, waiting for Jack to confirm the information. "Then does that mean that you've met the other princes of the seasons?"

"Well... You heard Damian mention 'Freyr', right? He's the Prince of Summer. He's also a very old Spirit who has been mistaken for a god by several different cultures." Jack informed. "But right now, the seats of prince or princess of Autumn and Spring are vacant." He shrugged. "At least as far as I know. But then again, the other spirits don't exactly keep me in the loop."

"So you're royalty?" Tooth's eyes glittered with excitement, causing Jack to take a step back.

"I-I guess? I've never really thought of it that way." He didn't like that look. It reminded him of the look Tooth gave him right before she'd stick her fingers in his mouth to look at his teeth.

The memory blurred to show Frost flying across a cloudy winter sky, drawing the Guardian's attention back to the matter at hand.

"Guardians. Jack is 205 in this memory." MiM informed.

"Great." Jack huffed. "We're right smack in the middle of World War One."

"Oh yeah..." North recalled. "Lots of very sad children who wanted presents."

Jack blinked, miffed. "That's it? Countless deaths, and all you remember is that kids were sad?"

"Mate, we never actually saw the war. We just did our jobs." Bunny stated. "Spirits have no place in a human's war."

"So you really have no idea just how awful it was..." Jack spoke with a dawning realization. "B-but you guys have... seen war, right?"

"Of course we have!" Tooth crossed her arms, and Jack relaxed a bit. "We've fought the darkness numerous times. Remember? You were part of this last war against Pitch."

"N-no, I mean human wars." His earlier trepidation reared its head.

"We have seen human war. But not for many centuries. After becoming Guardians, we only see whatever is going on during our holidays." North explained.

"Yeah, and my baby teeth are more than capable of handling themselves. I've never had one die on me before, so it's all good. Though like I'd said earlier, I hadn't been out in the field in centuries!" Tooth grinned, remembering how good it felt to go out and collect teeth again.

"Oh, no..." Jack looked at Sandy who shared a grave expression with Jack. "Sandy... have you seen any human wars like the World Wars?"

The little man shook his head. Several symbols flashed above his head. "So other than the dreams of children, you haven't? You've passed through some battlefields by accident, but you tried to steer clear of them?" The golden man nodded.

Jack heaved a heavy sigh. "I didn't expect this."

"Didn't expect what?" Bunny asked. He was growing frustrated. Why did Frostbite keep asking about war?

"Seasonal Spirits and Sprites work all year long. Not just one day. Not just around kids. We don't get to simply skip over battlefields. We don't get to turn away from war." He looked up at them. "We have to be there. Myself especially."

"What? But humans..."

"Die." Jack cut off Tooth. "I'm not just the Spirit of Winter, but part of Manny being allowed to bring me back tied me to Death, too. I'm technically a Death Spirit as well. Which means when a war of this scale breaks out, and there aren't enough reapers..." He looked towards the memory as Frost approached an old cabin. He went inside and grabbed a black hooded cloak that hung upon the wall. "I have to help them." Jack finished as his past self donned the Reaper's Cloak and pulled up the hood.

His staff glowed for a moment, the frost designs becoming more metallic and silvery-black, than silvery-blue. It seemed more dangerous, all of a sudden.

The Guardians gasped. "You're a Reaper?" Bunny stared in horror. Death was never something to take lightly, and this poor kid had been forced to kill all his life. No, he wasn't afraid of Jack. He was scared for him.

"Only part-time." Jack gave a small, dark smile.

Frost sighed. "I hate war." He mumbled to himself as another Reaper clapped his shoulder.

"We all do." His voice was low and gravely. "Take care of yourself out there, kid."

"Heh. Ironic that the only people who care about me are those that bring death." He shook his head.

"So... are they your friends?" Tooth asked tentatively. Reapers were very mysterious, and nobody knew who any of them were. They didn't just kill humans, but spirits and sprites, too.

"Sort of. Reapers don't even know each other's identities, so they only know me by my Reaper Name." Jack explained. "Though I hope ol' man Death doesn't give me a hard time about you guys knowing. We're supposed to guard our identities fiercely. Even from each other. We aren't supposed to tell."

"Sorry, Peace, I don't mean to be so depressive." Frost apologized to his companion.

"It's all right, Life. It's honestly expected."

"Those are... unexpected names." Bunny blinked. "I thought that Reaper names were things to do with death... Like 'Despair' 'Grief' or 'Carnage'."

"They usually are." Jack nodded. "But there are four people who are different, and they're all part-time Reapers. The only part-timers. This guy and myself are two of them. We're given the opposing names of our Teachers."

"Teachers...?" Tooth looked lost.

"Yeah. The Four Horsemen. We're their second-in-commands." He explained softly, half-hoping that the Guardians didn't hear him.

"WHAT?!" Oh well. They heard anyways.

"Yeah. I'm the 'Prince' of Death, I suppose you could say. I was the best Reaper, so he made me his successor. Meaning if anything ever happens to Death, I take his place. This guy," Jack jabbed his thumb at the red-cloaked companion. "Is the successor for War."

"So... you're... one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse... they've chosen..." Tooth's head was spinning, and the other Guardians looked somewhat mildly terrified.

"And this is why these things are secret. I'm hated enough as it is just being Winter. How much more do you think I'd be hated if they knew I was essentially death, too?" Jack huffed, frustrated. "This is exactly why we aren't even allowed to know each other's identities."

"We don't hate ya, Frostbite. It was just unexpected. Nobody even knew that the Horsemen were even still alive, let alone had protégés... They're still just legends, even to us spirits." Bunny explained. "Reapers, yeah. We all know they're real, but everyone thinks of Death as just another spirit... that the Four Horsemen are actually real..." He shook his head.

"That aside, now that you know how things work, maybe we should try getting through this memory?" Jack suggested. "War isn't exactly something I take joy in watching."

"R-right..."

The scene showed the two of them leaving the cabin. Instead of calling the wind like he always did, Frost instead climbed upon a black horse. Peace followed suit with a white one.

"What? I can't ride the wind as a Reaper! It'd be a dead giveaway to my identity! Very few people can ride the wind." Jack explained.

"Hey, Silence. How've you been?" Frost patted his stallion's neck softly, as the horse nickered.

"All right. C'mon, Crimson! Let's go!" Peace grinned as the two rode out. "You wanna call it, Life?"

"Sure!" Frost grinned as he held up his left hand. His index and middle fingers were held out before him, and as he slashed them horizontally, he yelled out a word in a foreign language that none of the Guardians recognized. A moment later, a tear appeared in the air, and a portal opened. The two rode straight into it with no hesitation.

"That's one of the Eight Primal Languages." Jack explained before Tooth could shoot off another question.

"Wait! One of The Eight Primal Languages?!" Bunny's eyes were wide. Sandy had several images above his head.

"Yeah, there's Time, Creation, Destruction, Space, Life, Death, Mortal and Immortal. As you may know, only two languages are commonly known, Mortal and Immortal." Jack nodded.

"Yeah... Mortal is what the human languages evolved from, and Immortal is the language that all spirits and sprites instinctively know." Tooth nodded as she spoke. "So which one was that?!"

"Well, I know Mortal, Immortal, and Death... though I also know a few words from the Language of Life." Jack explained. "That was a word from the Language of Space, which is why it opened a rift in space to allow us to travel to another location."

"What about the others? Do you know more?" Bunny tilted his head.

"Not really. I'm fluent in the Language of Death, but most Reapers are. I only know a few from the Language of Life, because it's expected of me to know these things if I ever need to fulfill Death's role. Knowing a few words in the Language of Space is common for us, but nobody's allowed to touch the Languages of Time, Creation, or Destruction. They're all far too powerful for anyone other than the lords of those stations." Jack explained. "For the Primal Languages... other than Mortal and Immortal—which are used purely for communication—a single word holds a great deal of power. I could say the word 'die' in Death, and whatever I intend to die, will die."

"Mate, that's terrifying." Bunny gulped. He didn't want to imagine what would happen if Pitch ever learned that language.

"Yeah, why do you think only specific individuals are allowed to learn it? Aside from that, we are only allowed to use it off-duty under very specific conditions. You know, like the end of the world or something." He shrugged.

Frost and Peace rode out onto the edge of a great battlefield. It was horrible. Bombs went off every so often, blowing people into pieces, and even children were on the warfront. Some of them couldn't have been older than 17!

"How awful!" Tooth brought up her hand to cover her mouth. "Is this what war has become?"

"Yeah. It isn't swords anymore, Tooth. It's guns. Grenades. Cannons and bombs. Mines and gas. It's horrible, and mindless and all it brings is pain and suffering." Jack's eyes were shadowed, even as his past self looked at a wave of soldiers attempting to cross No Man's Land. He sighed, and waved his staff-turned-scythe. A wave of grey energy swept through the group, missing only a very specific few individuals.

Instead of falling to the ground, dead, as the Guardians expected, they continued their charge. A moment later, a landmine went off, blasting the group to pieces. The Guardians watched it unfold in horror.

"You see... A Reaper does not kill a person. We merely sever the connection between body and soul. They do not feel their death. They feel a sense of detachment in the moments before, as we sever their connection with their bodies." Jack explained.

"So..." Bunny looked at Jack. "So you just make death easier?"

"Yes. All living things must one day die. We just help make it peaceful. We erase the pain, and end the suffering. We guide them towards peace and rest, wherever that may be." He looked wistfully off at the tiny white orbs that floated up into the sky. The souls of the humans who'd died.

"So..." North sighed. "This is war?"

"Yes, North. This is war."

A/N: So that's one war covered. Sorta... I didn't expect to make Jack a Reaper, but I suppose it's fitting. Let me know what you think of my idea of the Hierarchy of the Spirits, and what you think of the entire Reaper idea. I'd write more, but I now need to go to work. *pouts*

On the other hand, that's the fourth update this morning! Wow, I'm on a roll!! I've written 6,843 words in four hours! Whoo! So I hope you've enjoyed this. Next chapter should bring in that horrible thing Jack's been hinting at all story long. ^^ So look forward to the pain and torture I'm going to put our favorite Winter Spirit through.

(Wow, that probably sounded really twisted if you aren't familiar with my writing style [I specialize in angst]).

Shoutout to anyone who gets the Hetalia/Memories of Old references in here!!

Words: 2,445

Pages: 5

Posted: 04/11/2019