Chasing Jack

Here's the follow-up to Perception, as promised. Someone requested it too (sorry, I don't remember who you are), so thanks to you for that motivation.
This chapter was really hard to write, for some reason. I think I need more practice writing fluff and things like this. I really like reading it though. Maybe it's because I tend to write when I'm sad and read when I'm happy. Whatever.
Enjoy!

It was only after North recovered from his hangover that he thought to ask a yeti where Jack was. It only shrugged and muttered something in yetish about "trouble-making spirits" and "drink less eggnog." Then it stomped off to go make more toys.

North frowned at its retreating back. If Jack hadn't gotten a bed from the yetis, and hadn't slept in the room with them, where was he?

Tooth flitted up beside him. "So? Where is he?"

"Not here. Yeti say they did not see him," North said. "He must have left."

"Well, I have to go. I'll tell my fairies to look for him, okay?" She flew off towards the room holding the snow globes, since the blizzard outside hadn't died down at all in the past several hours.

Sandman and Bunny also said their farewells, and promised the worried Russian that they would look for Jack.

"I don't see what the problem is, but I'll do it," Bunny grumbled. "He's a loner. I'm not surprised he didn't stay for the whole party."

"I just want to make sure he is fine," North said. "Thank you, Bunny."

Two days later, the blizzard had let up, and there had been no sight of Jack. Of course, it was spring in the Northern hemisphere and fall in the South, so perhaps he was holed up somewhere, waiting for winter. But North had a feeling that it was important to find the young Guardian as soon as possible.

Then he had an idea. Jack had been a child when he became a spirit, and he obviously believed in the Guardians, so his light should be on the globe somewhere! North came out of his office smiling. Of course! It was all so simple! He could calibrate the globe to show him where Jack was! Then he could go and visit him and make sure everything was fine, and put to rest the uneasiness in his belly.

Calibrating the globe was easy enough; North's globe was specifically made to tell him who each believer was, where they were, and what list they were on. It made Christmas Eve much easier.

Jack Frost, North typed into the globe, and hit enter.

Not found.

"Not found?! What does mean?" North growled. Only children who stopped believing were "not found." Jack believed. There was no way he couldn't.

Then North's belly dropped into the earth. Jack didn't believe in the Guardians. He didn't believe that North would give him a present, he didn't believe that Tooth would give him money for any teeth he lost. He didn't believe that Bunny left eggs for him, he didn't believe that Sandy crafted dreams just for him. North now knew that there was a far more serious problem than he ever dreamed.

Jack didn't believe they were there for him, so what reason would he have to stay with them?

North mourned Jack's lack of belief for a bit, then rolled up his sleeves.

It was time to get serious about Operation Find Jack Frost.

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Sandy found Jack three after the blizzard in the pole ended. He was in Northern Canada, a few miles from the arctic circle, in too deep a sleep to dream. That alone worried Sandy. Jack never slept more than a few hours at a time, never getting deep enough to not dream. North was right to be worried about the winter spirit.

Sandy flew to Santoff Clausen, letting his dreamsand direct itself around the world. He didn't have to construct dreams with it, but he enjoyed giving children extra special dreams. With a personal touch, he could make sure that nightmares were kept at bay, and that children who needed dreams were getting them.

When Sandy found North, the man was bustling about, yelling at yetis and elves. The screen before the globe had a single message on it: Not found.

Sandy could have told North that. Now, if only he could get the other's attention, they could get to Jack and remedy that.

"Dingle! Get sleigh ready! No, not going to use it now! Just later! Yes, I know reindeer feel overworked. Tell young ones who are ready to take places. Not all of them! I know that."

Sandy sighed soundlessly. Yes, he was short and didn't make noise, but was he really that noticeable?

He seized an elf running by, and shook it vigorously.

North turned around. "Sandy! What is it?"

Dreamsand formed a snowflake, and a map of Canada.

"You know where Jack is? Let us go!" And North dragged Sandy off to the sleigh. "You!" He gestured at a startled yeti. "Tell the others!"

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Jack was buried deep in the branches of a pine tree when they found him, fast asleep, curled around his staff. No golden dreamsand danced above his head. Sandy flew up to wake him, and the wind swirled around him, making it difficult to fly. The rough breeze drew Jack from his sleep.

"Wind, calm down," he muttered, eyes half open. Then he saw the two Guardians. "Oh. What do you want?" His voice changed abruptly from joking love to a flat, joyless tone.

"We were worried about you, Jack," North said. "You disappeared after party. No one has seen you for days!" Sandy nodded vigorously.

"And here I thought that was usual," Jack snarked, sitting up on the branch. "You never cared before. Why start now?"

North felt a pang in his chest. "I wish to make up for that, Jack. We cannot go back in time, but we can try to start over. Come back to Pole with me?" Sandy smiled hopefully.

Jack stared at him. "Why? So you can ignore me again?"

North shook his head. "No, so we can talk, get to know each other. I won't ignore you, promise."

Jack bit his lip, eyes darting around. He shifted, looking like he was ready to fly off into the wind. "I don't know. Haven't had the best experiences there."

North frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't even notice. At the party." Realization dawned on Sandy, but North was still clueless. "I might as well have been invisible to you."

"Oh!" North was surprised, then guilt slammed into him. "I am so sorry you felt like that, Jack. You just seemed so comfortable, and you were smiling..."

"Now you know. Go away." Jack turned his back on them, but didn't fly off. North and Sandy still had a chance to start fixing things.

An Australian accent made all three jump. "Ya can't get rid of us that easily, ya gumby. I know ya ain't used to people, but we ain't mind readers." Bunny had his arm crossed, and Tooth fluttered beside him.

"Bunny's right, Jack," she said. "We have to get used to you, too."

"Come back with us?" North asked. Sandy smiled pleadingly, and images of iced elves and cookies danced above his head.

Jack looked at them, unreadable, biting his lip. "Maybe." A gust of wind pushed him off the branch, lowering him to the ground. "Hey! Wind!"

North laughed, all the way down to his belly, at Jack's indignant face. "See! Even wind agrees!"

Jack looked around him, at the laughing Guardians surrounding him, and slowly smiled. "I guess I'll have to come back, then."

North's smile grew even bigger. "Come! To the sleigh!"

Bunny gulped. "I'll take -"

"Nonsense!" The Cossack grabbed him. "Sleigh much better!"

As Bunny scrambled for handholds, Jack laughed. It was like a bell ringing through a snow-filled clearing, and the Guardians knew, all of them, that they could make this work.

I borrowed the bit about Jack not being on the globe from someone's fic. I really should look that up to figure it out, but I'm lazy like that. & North's speech is really hard to write! Bunny, I just look up Australian slang. North, I have to figure out what words to take out. Meh. I'll get the hang of it eventually.

Edit: The fic I'm talking about is The Brightest Light by whitetiger2194. Thanks, Witch08 and Effugere for telling me!