Jarida Drabbles

All over again

She's familiar, but he doesn't know why.

She's got hair as red as fire, like the sun, burning and rising into the sky just as the day starts. It's a wild mane of hair, spiralling and curly and untameable, and for some reason, it suits her.

She's got eyes that are a shocking, piercing blue; not an icy kind of blue, like his, but it's a warmer kind of blue – the kind of blue that makes him feel kind of warm and fuzzy inside.

She's got freckles all over her face – days spent in the sun, running and whooping and yelling and screaming, racing her neighbours across wide green lands and leaping up onto her horse, to gallop away when her mother starts to nag.

She's got a flaming temper, and a ridiculous laugh, and a crude sense of humour.

And he knows her from somewhere. He knows he does.

So even though Burgess is his home, he makes the time to visit Scotland whenever he can, because he knows her. He does.

One day, he finds out her name.

They're at the Pole, in North's home, he and all the other Guardians. Tooth is telling them about three triplets whose teeth she's just collected: "They all lost their teeth at the same time, can you believe it? When they were playing some prank which went wrong, something to do with a lot of paint and whip cream and a horse – !"

Sandy makes an excited tinkling noise, and a golden image forms above his head – of three very familiar, curly-haired boys.

Bunny laughs: "I knew it. The Dunbroch triplets."

"The Dunbroch triplets?" Jack leans forward, interested, because he suddenly remembers these boys – they're her brothers, the brothers of the girl whom he's sure he knows but doesn't know how. "Who are they?"

"They come just below you on naughty list," says North, in his accent, and letting out a booming laugh. "Every year. They nearly top you once!"

"Hubert, Harris and Hamish," says Bunny. "The little anklebiters. They nearly mess up my egg hunts with those pranks!"

"They've got a sister, too," Tooth supplies, and Jack's heart starts to pound suddenly: "She's got lovely teeth."

"What's her name?" Jack tries to ask, casually.

Bunny sends him a knowing look, a look that makes Jack squirm uncomfortably, and grins and says, "Merida Dunbroch."

Merida.

He knows it. He knows that name. It's a familiar sound, washing over him, drowning him in what feels a lot like warmth and happiness and just pure, plain joy. Merida.

"Why're you so interested, mate?" Bunny asks, and there's a smirk on his face now.

Jack shrugs: "Just asking."

"She always comes just at bottom of nice list," North tells him. "She is good girl, yes? But argue with mother a lot. Does not always think before she act."

Doesn't always thinks before she acts. Yes, that sounds familiar – reckless, fiery, brave.

Why doesn't he remember? He should, he knows he should. He thought he'd remember, after getting his teeth, from that battle with Pitch. With it done, he'd gone through it again, reliving all his memories, finding out who he was before he'd been Jack Frost.

He can't remember a red-headed Scottish girl called Merida.

"She don't like being told what to do, that one," says North. "Terrible temper, yes? Very headstrong. Very much like you." This last part is directed towards Jack, who blinks.