Snowflakes And Shadow Crowns

Hide-and-Seek; Lost and Found Again

The morning sky lacked it's typically cheery chirping as the sun lugged itself over the horizon. In actuality, the sky was missing a lot of things: the birds themselves, the usual cluster of clouds, any form of aircraft; furthermore, unbeknown to most, it lacked a particularly mischievous winter sprite.

Jack Frost was not quite himself. Not today, anyway. The boy, forever trapped in the body of a teen, sat in the middle of the pond that he claimed as a home, casually lounging atop the thin ice as if he were weightless. His legs were pulled up against his chest and his pale chin rested atop clothed knees. The surrounding air was rather dull and silent.

He let out an emotionless sigh, staring at the frozen water as he did so. With the tap of his smallest toe, an intricate pattern of frost wove itself into the crystal lake before melting and vanishing. There was one painstakingly inevitable truth that nailed itself into every fiber of his being:

Jack was bored.

Another winter had come and gone, and before he'd anticipated it, the next was already upon him. Of course, during the periods that the warmer seasons took over Burgess, Jack would go somewhere cold to wait it out. Maybe to visit North, or to Antarctica again, but just when he thought he was having fun, he'd suddenly feel rather lonely. This didn't really surprise him, as he was prone to such a feeling and was rather used to it, but the real issue was that it would never go away. He always figured that he was just homesick and longed for the familiarity of his lake, but once the winter came again and he returned, he always found himself sitting.

Just sitting. Jack thought and released another empty sigh. It had been four lackadaisical years since they defeated Pitch. The world seemed in order and without fear. Children slept peacefully--their faith restored--and were happy.

However, despite everything seeming to be the way that it should, Jack thought that his day-to-day life had been consumed by boredom rather than the sense of justice that he'd expected. He was the guardian of fun, for the moon's sake! Sitting around being perfectly content and happy was completely out of his element.

With a huff, Jack stood. An irritation was growing inside his stomach and he needed to burn some energy lest it consume him. Kicking his staff off the ice, he grabbed the long Shepard's cane and threw it over his shoulder. With nothing more than a small flex of muscle, Jack lifted himself into the sky.

"It's not like I don't like being a guardian," he mumbled to himself, still not quite out of his old habit of talking to the moon, which had extended to include the sun apparently. "I just wish there was something to do."

Jack landed on the asphalt tiles of a nearby roof. He scanned the surrounding houses from his perch, noticing how they all seemed to huddle together almost as if trying to keep warm.

"I've found my center and my reason for existing, but Pitch is gone now. The kids are safe; there's nothing to go against." Gripping his staff, Jack plopped down on the reddish brown tiles and hung his feet over the gutter. "I don't do anything special like the others, so I just don't see the point in being here anymore." Hanging his head, Jack stared at his toes, wiggling and scrunching them together to amuse himself.

"Jack!" He heard suddenly, lifting his eyes quickly to see a short mess of brown hair stuffed beneath a turquoise bomber-like hat. The boy waved to him which earned him more than one strange look from the adult onlookers. Jamie didn't really seem to care though, so Jack smiled and waved back.

"Hey, kiddo." Jack chuckled and came down from his aerial seat to greet him. "How've you been?"

"Cold!" He exclaimed with a joking glare, which earned a laugh from Jack, "But I've never been better, otherwise." Seeing Jamie growing up overtime filled Jack with a sense of joy that felt familiar--almost brotherly--somehow, and he always looked forward to seeing him, even if only a couple times every year. Having him here now, however, seemed to Jack like perfect timing.