Okay, so, since I'm in a writing funk for my other stories, take a sad one-shot. This is a fill for the rotg-kink meme. The prompt is basically:

It's the first time the Guardians had seen their headstrong, carefree Jack Frost cry. It broke their hearts.

So, yeah. Not a happy story.

North looked up from the ice-sculpture he was creating to glance at the Globe of Belief. A light had just gone out, signifying that a child had stopped believing. North, like all the Guardians, could feel even a single light going out. It was little more than a ghost of a poke to the back of is mind, but the sensation was there none-the-less. Of course, lights went out and came on all the time, and everyone had learned to ignore the faint sensation.

This light, though, felt less like a poke and more like a needle stabbing at his mind. The child had been a very strong believer, then. It was tragic that he or she lost that belief - that wonder and hope - and North wondered what had caused such a strong light to go out. He allowed himself a moment of silence to grieve the loss of such belief, both for him and his fellow Guardians and for the child.

Then he went back to work. As tragic as it was, children stopped believing all the time, and though North was saddened by the thought, he wouldn't let that stop him from creating wonder for those who still did.

Jack had been missing for three days.

Not that that was anything particularly unusual, but this time winter was conspicuously missing alongside him. Despite being early January, no snow had fallen anywhere in half a week. Humans were beginning to worry about Global Warming and North was beginning to worry about Jack.

Once they were summoned to the Pole and the situation was explained to them, it didn't take much to convince Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny to search for Jack. They'd all bonded during the Pitch Incident and with the inclusion of Jack Frost, they transformed from a group of business associates to a rag-tag family, and everyone - even Bunny, though he hid it beneath a gruff exterior - cared for the baby of their group. So, they set out to search for Jack.

They found him.

He was in Burgess, of course. Jack rarely left Burgess these days, always playing with the Burgess Kids, as everyone had taken to calling them. It'd been years since the Pitch Incident, and they were all (except Sophie) in high school now, but the children still believed, something that amazed North.

Today, though, Jack wasn't playing with his friends. He wasn't creating a snow-day or frosting windows. He was simply sitting on snow-covered ground in front of a freshly dug grave, his knees brought up to his chest and his head buried in his arms. He was still as a glacier and if one wasn't careful, Jack could have easily been overlooked as part of the scenery around him.

As it was, the Guardians all crept closer, unsettled by the stillness of the boy. Jack was never immobile, constantly walking, flying, tapping his staff, tapping his foot; he always moved. He was a walking, talking, bundle of energy, and seeing him here, now, like this, North couldn't even begin to imagine the event that would so freeze Jack. The grave was obviously the cause, but North was too far away to read the name, and he was reluctant to step closer. Though he was loathe to admit it, seeing Jack - their strong, carefree, always smiling Jack - like this scared him so much, he could hardly move.

Baby Tooth was the first to work up the courage to go to Jack, landing delicately on his shoulder. At first, the boy didn't move, didn't even seem to register her presence, but he finally lifted his head to look at her, then at them.

Horror tore through North like a knife.

The expression of Jack's face could only be described as dead. No smile, no frown. His eyes held a hollowness that threatened to suck anyone who looked into them down into a dark abyss, and frozen tears - like little crystal balls - fell, unheeded, down his cheeks. It was the first time North had ever seen Jack cry, and he thought he could feel his heart breaking with every teardrop that shattered upon hitting the ground. Jack's movements were sluggish as he craned his neck to look at each of the Guardians one by one. North couldn't tell if he even recognized who they were. Slowly, the young winter sprite turned his head back forward, staring at the tombstone, and again, North was struck with a foreboding that left him feeling empty.

Tooth was the first to break, flying up to Jack and collapsing to her knees, drawing him into a hug, "Oh, Sweet Tooth, Everything will be okay. We're here. We're here. What's wrong? Shh. Everything will be okay,"

Jack was limp as a rag-doll in her grasp, his head resting on her shoulder and his hands flopped on the ground. It was as if his spirit had departed, leaving only an empty shell behind, and North couldn't take that thought. He walked up to Jack, taking a place beside him and absorbing both him and Tooth into a hug as well, the big man hoping to squeeze some life into the boy. Soon Sandy was there on Jack's other side embracing the icy child as best he could, and even Bunny came up to get in his own, awkward, one-armed hug.

Tooth cooed and fretted and begged Jack to tell them what happened; Sandy created little dolphins swimming merrily through the air. Bunny gruffly told him to cheer up, and under the attention of his new family, Jack broke down. He latched onto them, one hand fisting into North's jacket as the other wrapped around Tooth, and buried his head into the fairy's shoulder as he sobbed and choked out near unintelligible words.

"I-I'm sorry. It's my fault. I-I just - I'm sorry. So, so sorry. It's my fault. My fault,"

Confusion and dread wound through North's mind. He didn't know what Jack was talking about, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good for anyone. North's attention was drawn away from the weeping child when Bunny tapped his shoulder, "North, look," The Easter spirit cocked his head meaningfully toward the tombstone.

Grimly, North turned toward the source of this, and again he was faced with a new wave of despair. The tomb read:

Jamie Bennett

February 23 2004 ~ January 12 2021

Loving brother and son

He believed in the magic in the world

Until the very end

"It's my fault," Jack whispered again, and the foreboding North had earlier grew tenfold, "I was just - just," the boy hiccuped as a new wave of tears threatened to consume him. Tooth hushed and fussed and eventually he calmed enough to continue, "It was late; I was bored. I-I created a sledding path. I didn't know," He pleaded desperately, as if trying to justify action he had performed - to them or to himself, North didn't know, "I didn't know anyone'd be out. But Jamie was," Jack hissed, anger at himself and panic seeping into his tone, "He was out driving, and he didn't see the black-ice he was heading toward," Jack was very quickly losing control of himself, "b-but I d-did, but I couldn't do a-anything. He was too far, too fast, and when he hit the ice he...he-"

Jack didn't finish, merely tightening his death grip on North and Tooth, as he silently mourned the loss of his best friend and first believer.

The twelfth of January was three days ago. North recalled the light that had gone out on the globe. He remembered wondering what could have snuffed out such a strong belief. He should have known. No one had a belief as strong as Jamie's, and nothing short of death would have been able to stop it. North should have known, and he shouldn't have left Jack alone for all this time. Alone to wallow in this self blame until he got sucked into the abyss. Alone to drown in his misery. Alone to break until he was the dead thing they had seen upon coming here. North tightened his grip as tears threatened his own eyes.

He wasn't sure how long they were there. The sun had set long ago and the moon's gentle rays shown down on them, doing what they could to comfort the group. Tooth mothered and fussed over him all the while, murmuring that it wasn't his fault and trying to ease the pain of it all. Bunny ruffled his hair and patted him on the shoulder. When Jack finally let them go, he still sagged under the weight of his grief, but he no longer held that hollow look in his eyes.

"The tires screeching," Jack whispered suddenly.

"What was that?" Bunny asked.

"That was the worst part. The tires screeching across the ice. It was loud," Jack covered his ears, as if he could block out the memory by doing so "and it echoed through the trees and it sounded terrible. So terrible. Like the car knew they were going to die, and it was terrified, and it was screaming, just like Jamie must have been. But I don't know. I couldn't hear him. Was Jamie screaming? He must have been. He must have been so scared. He must have been hurt. He probably hates me now. He should; it was my fault,"

"Jack listen," Tooth cut in sternly, cupping Jack's face in her hands, "We all know Jamie would never blame you, and you can't blame yourself for this. It was an accident. Accidents happen,"

"But if I hadn't made that ice-"

"Ya can't worry over every 'shoulda,' 'but,' and 'what-if' in life, Frostbite," Bunny supplied, "Ya'll only drive yourself bonkers,"

"You said yourself. You did not know. It was accident, Jack," North finished.

"But, Jamie!" Jack interrupted, and though that was all he said, North knew exactly what he meant.

But Jamie was dead. Jamie would never have another snow day. He'd never spend another day with his family. He'd never grow up and get a family of his own. Never again would he and Jack sneak out at night to fly around the world. No more games. No more inside jokes. Nothing.

"It is tragedy, yes. The world is darker without Jamie, but it is accident none-the-less, Jack. You cannot blame yourself; it does no good,"

Jack looked up at North; he looked so lost, "Then-what am I supposed to do now?"

"Get back up, ya drongo," Bunny instructed, "Live. Live enough for the both of ya. Keep the ankle-biter's spirit alive. It's all ya can do,"

Jack ducked his head, "I-I don't know if I can,"

Sandy stepped in, grabbing Jack's head by the chin until Jack was forced to look him in the eye. The Sandman was smiling a sad but encouraging smile as he grabbed Jack's hand and gently tugged upward, floating on a cloud of dreamsand, until Jack was forced to follow, slowly standing up.

Tooth immediately caught him, preventing him from collapsing due to legs weak from days of complete lack of movement.

Bunny smirked, "Ya don't know if ya can? Well, until ya do, we got your back,"

"That is what family is for," North said, nodding in agreement. From Jack's shoulder, Baby Tooth chirped, nuzzling against his cheek.

Jack looked at everyone in turn before ducking his head, "Thanks,"

"No problem, Jackie," Bunny said, ruffling the boy's hair, "Now, let's get ya home,"

Jack looked at the grave, looked at his family, rubbed the tears from his eyes, and gave a wobbly little smile, "Yeah, let's go home,"