Frozen Love: Jelsa

Chapter 1

Jack

  Jack had always been free. No responsibility, no seriousness. It was all jokes and tricks for the Spirit of Winter. That is, until he became a Guardian. Now he had a purpose to follow, an expectation to live up to, and a team to be on. He had also never expected to find love. After all, he was invisible to the world. Sometimes it seemed like he was looking in on it through a window. Of course, there was Jamie. Jamie believed in Jack Frost with all his heart, but Jamie had grown up. Now, all Jack had was North, Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny (as annoying as he could be). He had never expected anyone else. Until he remembered her.

            It was the day after Christmas, and all of North's yetis were busy cleaning up the mess of toy-making in the workshop as the elves stumbled around, screwing things up as usual. It had been a pretty strenuous day for both North and Jack. After all, Jack thought that Christmas day should always be the snowiest day of the year. But that wasn't the only weight on his mind. Jack had visited Jamie's town, as he did every year. Jamie had waved to him and said hello, as he also did every year, but Jack could see a blond woman holding a small child through the window of the house. Jamie had grown up, and he didn't need Jack anymore.

            That was the reason that Jack had to get away to think, so he did what he always did in times like these. He slung his wooden staff over his shoulders and flew off to the roof of North's workshop while Santa Claus and the other Guardians celebrated another job well done, occasionally interrupted by Bunny and North's annual Christmas-is-better-than-Easter and vice versa argument. The only one to notice him slip away was Tooth, who quickly flitted after him.

The cold wind blew straight into his face as he paced the edge of the rooftop, but Jack was too busy thinking about Jamie's new life to notice. Besides, what kind of Spirit of Winter gave a second thought to a little chill? He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice Tooth fluttering nearby. Her shimmering purple and green wings' beating couldn't be heard over the howling of the wind.

        "Are you all right?" she asked quietly. Jack decided he couldn't lie to his friend.

        "No," he said, with a hint of frustration in his voice.

        "I couldn't help but notice--," Tooth started, but Jack interrupted her.

        "Did you see him? He has a family now! No matter how much I care for a person, I'll just have to watch them grow up without me. Sometimes I wish I wasn't Jack Frost." With this confession came a vague recollection of an extraordinary young girl with platinum blonde hair. He wasn't sure where the memory had come from, but as soon as he thought he remembered, the image floated away like his friend Baby Tooth. This had been happening a lot to Jack lately, and it drove him crazy. He then pushed it out of his mind and turned back to Tooth.

            Jack hadn't meant to sound so angry, but sometimes the world seemed so cruel he lashed out. To his surprise, there was sympathy in Tooth's eyes as he looked at her, not anger.

        "I know." She said. "Don't you think I've experienced it? We all have. But you're not alone, you know. You never are." Jack felt selfish as he listened to The Keeper of Teeth's kind words. Of course all of the Guardians had felt like this. They were all immortal after all. But they had each other. Still, he couldn't help feeling like he was alone. "Well, why don't we go back and join the party?" asked Tooth, obviously trying to sound cheerful and failing, but Jack appreciated the gesture. So they went back inside, and he was able to distract himself with cookies and eggnog. But it wasn't long before he took Tooth aside and said,

        "About what you said earlier. I have an idea. Could I see some of my old memories again?"