A/N: Merry Christmas! I hope you had a great one! I sure did (I got on and saw that my story had over a hundred reviews! A great present.)
This marks the completion of this story, a sad but happy moment! I can't believe that I've hit over a hundred reviews! Plus those huge amounts of Followers/Favoriters! Thank You guys so much! If you ever want to read more of my work, my story "Jackie Boy & tAoaWWS" it could always use more readers! (Look at that shameless advertising of my story!)
Thank you for reading my story! I leave this final chapter as your gift from me to you! (Guys, I'm tearing up right now as I type this.) I love you guys! Thanks for boosting my confidence, and being awesome readers!
Merry Christmas. :D
Russian Translations (As seen in Google translate)
Сын – boy/ son
Снежинка - snowflake
December 25th
Family
Three hundred years was a long time.
It hurt. It hurt so badly.
The loneliness. The silence. The miserable existence.
Not being seen. Being shunned and looked over by those who could see him.
Jack didn't cry. He didn't show that weakness.
Sometimes though. . .
It happened when he watched.
When the human people showed him just how alone he was.
They had family.
They had each other.
Reunions. Holiday parties. Christmas Eve, or Easter morning. Children running to their parents after a nightmare.
It hurt to watch.
It just reminded him of the pain.
It made his eyes water with that odd substance called tears. He couldn't let them fall. They'd just freeze on his bone-chilled skin. He didn't want that. He didn't need it.
So he kept it in.
When the other spirits loosed their frustrations on his frail, unprepared body, he didn't cry. He was emotionless.
Nobody wanted to be near him.
But then, there were those select few who somehow dug underneath his shield, and hurt him on the inside.
The Easter Bunny somehow wormed his way into Jack's brain, knowing just what to say to drop that protective shield.
The Sandman somehow made it okay to have emotions. Up high in the clouds with the dreamgiver was the only place where his body was allowed an emotional rest.
But none of it mattered, he barely saw either of them. It didn't matter. Not at all.
Why did he kid himself like that?
It killed him.
On the inside.
He was alone.
Alone. Alone. Alonealonealonealonealnoealonealonealonealone.
That was the mantra that beat a tattoo on his brain. In his heart.
It was there.
Day.
Night.
Asleep.
It didn't matter.
Alonealonealonealonealnoealonealonealonealone.
And then, one day he was pleading to the moon. Making his soul bare for him to see. Not that it ever worked.
A shadow flickered by, and he chased it, silently anticipating an attack. Not that it mattered.
Then the portal and yetis and North and Tooth and Pitch and fighting and Sandy and Jamie. Jamie. Jamie.
He believed.
In Jack.
In Jack.
In Jack!
He didn't walk through him.
He talked to him.
And then more.
More believers.
That syrupy feeling came.
He'd heard it described before, but now he felt it.
And then the cold, cruel, frozen winter spirit felt warmth.
Then suddenly the Guardians – wait no, his . . . coworkers – suddenly wanted him around.
Why?
Why, why, why would they want him anywhere near them?
He was bombarded by North's ingrained sense of closeness. The man had no boundaries.
Tooth had the same problem. Suddenly the fingers in his mouth. Chattering talk bubbled from her mouth like a leaky spout.
Then Sandy suddenly had a thirst for Jack's company and the teen's blabbering habit of putting his thoughts into words.
The most confusing one was Bunny. No longer did he prod at the prone feelings of the winter spirit, but mildly teased and joked around with him, being friendly.
What? Why, why, why?
He was Jack Frost.
Harsh, hardened, killer. The epitome of Winter.
Then, precipitously, his shield was being shoved down. He found his emotions closer to the surface than they had been for centuries.
The yetis no longer shoved him out, but welcomed the entertainment he provided. The elves were still the elves, but loved to bug Jack, showing their love for him. Baby Tooth and all her sisters loved him, and his teeth a lot. He still had them fainting whenever he smiled.
And then the meetings. They served almost no purpose, except to hang out with each other and for North to brag about how well Christmas was going. The parties. The sleepovers. The room each of them erected at their own home for the nomadic teen.
And unexpectedly he found himself loving it. It was unfamiliar and odd, but his coworkers turned into something more . . . acquaintances maybe?
But then, there were things that weren't great.
He had to sacrifice his privacy.
Every. Single. Time.
Nobody at the Pole bothered to knock. The fairies intruded on his personal bubble, pretty much every single time he saw them. Sandy loved to give hugs - once again with the personal boundaries thing! Bunny was the only one who gave him a break - in that area.
It made his head spin.
Why, why, why?
It continued.
Bunny let him help with Easter. That had to have been a huge amount of trust . Right? Right?
It didn't make sense.
Were they. . .?
No.
They couldn't be. . .
Were they trying to be friends?
Were these the things friends did? Did they give each other hugs at every moment? Did they intrude on each other's privacy at every turn? Did they argue like he and Bunny did?
Questions whirled around in his head, more replacing each lost one.
Did they, did they, did they? Why, why, why? How, how, how?
It could make a person explode.
He stuffed it down, emitting his normal Fun-loving self.
His insides were turmoil.
It hurt his head.
It made his heart stiffen and convulse.
And so he pushed it away.
Pulled back his shield, trying in vain to avoid the Guardians.
But they noticed. They asked questions. Checked his temperature and then freaked out because they'd forgotten his below normal heat output.
He couldn't stop it. Why, why, why? December was a terrible winter for the humans. His misguided emotions caused huge snowstorms. It wasn't right. But there was nothing he could do.
The Guardians tried to help, but their attempted support backfired.
It was only a week until Christmas when Jack couldn't hold it in any longer. The Guardian meeting turned to disaster when Tooth moved to check on Jack's teeth. He pulled away from the touch, eyes wide and pained. Sandy moved to hug his leg, but Jack's expression turned ferocious.
"STOP! It hurts. It hurts. Stop! No. Don't touch me! Stay away!" His eyes roved across four startled expressions.
Tooth moved to touch his shoulder, but stopped when his staff was aimed at her.
Jack's chest heaved, tears threatening, making the whole thing worse.
"St-stay away from me."
"Jack –" North was cut off, his baggy eyes showing just how exhausting the Christmas rush was.
"NO! STOP." Jack's voice wavered again. "Just – just stop. No more."
He turned, the wet, itchy feeling in his eyes worsening as he fled out the window. Behind him he heard his name, but refused to go back, refused to cry, refused to do anything except get out of there. Out of the enclosed space. Out of the reach of the Guardians.
He sped through the air, no destination in mind. He stopped over Antarctica, his conflicted emotions causing the sky to emit a sprinkling of snowflakes.
His chest was tight. His throat had closed up.
No.
No tears.
Nonononononononononono.
He couldn't cry, couldn't show that vulnerability.
Clouds covered the sky as he screamed, pouring his being into a giant surge of power. Snow whipped past him, hail pounding against his unprotected head. Wind howled, Jack began to scream even louder.
It had to get out. Out of him, out of his essence.
Scarce minutes later he flopped to the snow covered ground, energy depleted.
It came.
He couldn't stop it.
As the world howled and stormed, Jack cried.
It started out as one small droplet of water, unnoticeable in the wet.
But then it became more.
Liquid dropped out of his eyes as sobs wracked his prone body.
Not even his staff could comfort him.
The noise of the blizzard muffled any sound the sleigh had made when it landed.
The four immortals were stunned at the sight in front of them.
How could one small boy wreak this much havoc? What had they done wrong?
As the wind, ice, and snow battered their bodies, they marched on, searching for their missing member. Sandy was the one to spot the splotch of blue in the sea of white. Pointing the others toward the figure, the dreamgiver felt guilt wrap itself around his insides.
They trudged on.
Never would they have expected to hear the sounds they did.
Jack wasn't one to cry.
What he was doing now was even worse. It sounded like he was yanking his soul away with his screams.
North looked to the others for ideas, but Bunny had waited long enough. He hopped forward, leaning down to Jack. He pulled the teen to his chest, burying his muzzle in white hair. He felt ice pound his back as the winter spirit pulled away with all his strength. The Pooka wasn't about to let go.
Jack couldn't handle this. They couldn't be here when he was like this! They would get hurt. And they saw him crying. They saw him weak and unstable.
Nononononononononononononono.
He tried to drag himself away from the crazed Kangaroo, but Bunny had even more strength then he realized. As the others came into clearer view, he strained once again for freedom, but to no reaction. Tooth's troubled expression was the turning point.
He stopped pulling away, instead hiding his face from view in Bunny's torso. Tears still came, freezing into the fur. Hands grasped for his dropped staff, but instead found a coat. North had kneeled close to the duo, pulling them into a hug. Tooth and Sandy too hunkered down in the embrace, trying to comfort the boy.
Sobs still shook his pale frame, but the weather around them slowed considerably. As the noise died down, North took it upon himself to speak.
"My сын, my сын. We apologize for what we have done." Nobody was quite sure how they wronged the teen, but wanted him to know how sorry they were.
Jack sniffled, heaving moans calming with the storm.
"It-it's my fault," he muttered, voice scratchy, "all my fault. . ." His mumblings sounded divided, as if he was speaking to himself.
Sandy placed a palm on the spirit's head, wanting the boy to know he was there.
Jack tightened his hold on North's coat, face still buried in Bunny's chest.
"Jack, say somethin' please. We need ta know what's going on." Bunny half whispered.
The teen didn't say anything, brain in turmoil from the situation.
"Снежинка, we are here for you." North's comment seemed to shake Jack from his thoughts. He tried once again to get away from the group, but failed.
He tried to form words, but didn't know what to say, so he just choked out a strangled noise.
Tooth quietly murmured to the others, "Let's go back to the Pole, we can talk there."
They all nodded, breaking away from the hug, Bunny still with a hold on Jack. They walked back to the sleigh, Jack quietly whimpering the whole way.
As they made their way to the sitting room, Jack refused to let go of Bunny, keeping his face hidden.
Jack sensed that they were waiting for him to talk, and squeezed his eyes shut, determined to make this speedy so that he could leave.
"Mate, spit it out."
Jack shuddered, feeling the burning blush on his cheeks flame up even more.
"I – I – I. . . just. . . It… It just hurts."
"What?"
"The. . . the whole th- thing." Bunny winced when Jack's fingernails dug into his skin.
They waited for a moment, letting Jack collect himself.
"I. . . I. . ." He stuttered out before suddenly rushing through his words as fast as he possibly could. "Iwasalone, but then – then Bunny and the sack, and Jamie believedanditfeltsogood." He gasped in a breath, "but then you-youwanted me and I thoughtwewouldbe aquaintancesbutitwasn'twewerefriendsbutthen,"
"Whoa, slow it down Frosty." Bunny intervened.
Jack slowed a bit, but not much.
"I-I-I justwanted t-t-to benice but then hugs and knocks and touchanditwassoweirdanditkindahurtbutitdidn'titfelt good."
Tooth was about to speak when Jack started up again.
"You-you-youshouldn't trust me'cuz I mess up everythingAugustsaidso and others and ChristmasdreamsandmemoriesandEaster, and, and, and itwastoomuchandIhurtandIexploded. Iwasn'tsuppos' ta' cry'cuzit'sbadbutithurtsobadandIhadn'tcried for ever and ever."
Jack finished feeling breathless and strangely better. An empty kind of better, but still better.
The Guardians were silent, taking in what Jack had said.
North just decided that a hug was in order.
He pulled everyone into it, and Sandy could feel Jack start to slip away into sleep.
Somehow they all made the trip up to Jack's room, but before they could leave, Sandy conjured up more dreamsand.
They had no idea what hit them.
Afterward they discussed the conversation, letting Jack recuperate in his room.
At the end of the week, they all welcomed North back from a successful Christmas run. Back in the sitting room they had the best Christmas in recent memory. Jack was given actual presents as apologies for the way they had been acting, even though Jack told them over and over that it wasn't their fault.
At the end, North dug out a small card from the bottom of the pile. It was addressed to Jack.
The teen opened it up, wondering what was going on.
Inside was a simple message.
Jack,
We want you to know that we love you. You are family now.
Don't run from us anymore.
Merry Christmas.
-North, Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy.
Jack ran his fingers over the righting, eyes lighting upon one word in particular. In a whisper he said it out loud, almost afraid of the word.
"Family?"
"Yes Снежинка, family. Always and forever."
They shared another hug, and nobody said anything about the frozen tears on Jack's face.
Christmas is a lot of things.
It's a time to open presents and eat a lot of food.
It's a time to get to know one another and reflect upon the new year.
A time to remember the times, both good and bad.
A time to think of all the dreams come true, and those yet to be seen.
A time to hope for a new start and make new commitments.
A time to see the wonder in the air and the amazing things all around.
But most of all, it's a time for family.
A family might not be a normal one.
It might have only two people, or the entire six children and their kids.
It might not happen in a giant mansion or a palace.
It might not be a flesh blood relationship between the members.
But none of that is important.
Christmas is for the family.
Cherish it.
And see the Fun, Hopes, Dreams, Memories, and Wonder.
The End