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Jack is fully aware of his fellow Guardians watching him. He can’t fathom as to why, though.
He lays in the rafters of North’s workshop, having been attempting to nap before the rude awakening of someone(s)’s gaze.
His foot dangles off the edge, arms behind his head like a pillow. It’s how he usually lays, so he’s unsure as to why they’re staring at him now. Seriously, he doesn’t get it.
“We, uh, we asked ye a question, Frostbite,” Bunny says, brow furrowed and foot tapping in impatience, “Seems ye must’ve been too busy sleeping through the meeting to hear it.”
“Da! Jack very quiet entire meeting! Almost send elf to wake up,” North laughs boisterously, the sound driving away any lingering hints of sleep in Jack’s mind.
Jack’s mouth forms an ‘o’ upon the realization, “Sorry, I’ve just been a bit tired. Spreading winter and fun, y’know? And my stupid job as a Winter Herald, and the kids who call-” Jack cuts himself off quickly, “Never mind, what was the question?”
“Jamie somehow found his way in the workshop the other day. He said one of his friends disappeared into the woods a few days ago and there’s no trace of him,” Tooth answers, voice and expression both filled with worry and sadness and fear and so many other things.
Oh, Jack thinks, wondering what he should say.
“His friend is okay,” Jack decides on, “He was seeking asylum and found it.”
Bunny scowls at Jack, “And how would ye know that? What did ye do?”
Tooth and North glance between each other, whilst Sandy gains a look of realization.
“My job. You guys do realize that I have three roles now, not two? Winter Herald is a title gained through the previous Herald fading. Before that, I had the job given to me when I was created. Before I was ever meant to be a Guardian,” Jack raises an eyebrow, floating down from the rafters and sitting on his staff cross-legged.
“And what, exactly, is that?” Bunny demands, likely assuming the worst.
“To take the children home,” Jack answers slowly, unsure of how to continue.
“Then why hasn’t Jamie’s friend been heard from for days? Shouldn’t he be home with his family?” Tooth asks, confused.
Jack sighs, “Let me start from the beginning.
“A few decades after I woke up, I was wandering in the woods near my pond. I heard singing, and there was this girl…”
“Cold feet, cold feet, follow to the woods so deep..,” hums a young girl. Her feet are bare and she wears no coat, despite the freezing terrain she treads.
“Mister Snow will bring you home..,” she squeals as she jumps over a fallen tree, so small it must have been a sapling, “to laugh and play and feet so safe...”
“Cold feet, cold feet, drift into a peaceful sleep..,” she stops her jog in the middle of a small clearing, a pristine layer of snow covering the ground, “Mister Snow will help you grow…”
“Men who hurt and men who lie..,” she laughs when she runs through the snow, ruining the perfect layer as she dances, “Mister Snow will make them die…”
“Cold feet, cold feet, Mister Snow please set me free!”
“…Her uncle had been doing things to her and making her stay silent. So she made up a little song in hopes that Mister Snow, someone her older sister made up to stop her nightmares, would come save her and take her home. So I offered her asylum.
“After her, it was a little boy…”
“Mister Snow, my feet are cold, will you bring me home?” sings a little boy, standing in the same patch of snow the girl before him had, cold tears trailing his cheeks, “I lost my shoes and lost my coat, but I feel warmer here than in that home…”
“Mister Snow, I wish to play, I heard you do so every day..,” the boy continues, broken sobs cutting through the fragile song, “I lost my shoes and lost my coat, I just wish to not be alone…”
“Mister Snow, I’m scared of that home, I know things the neighbors don’t..,” the boy’s tears flow more heavily now, “I lost my shoes and lost my coat, I know I need them no more…”
“Mister Snow, my feet are cold, will you please bring me home?”
“…His parents were always angry and fighting. He heard from a neighborhood kid that their cousin had gone looking for a ‘Mister Snow’ and that he whisked her into the wind to be safe.
“Though, he wasn’t the one that spread the tale. That was the next one, a young man…”
“Mister Snow, Mister Snow, will you please take me home..,” a young man calls out into the wind, voice shaky, “I have no gifts nor toys nor coin, but with you I hope to join.”
“Mister Snow, Mister Snow, will you please take me home..,” the young man drops to his knees, hands together as if he were praying, “My parents are cold and my house stained with mold, I fear of when I grow old.”
“Mister Snow, Mister Snow, will you please take me home..,” the young man lets out a sob, shoulders shaking, snow slowly coating over his folded figure, “The army calls and monsters maul, I wish to play and not to fall.”
“Mister Snow, please take me home..,” the young man please, “Please, if you’re there at all. Please…”
“… He wasn’t old enough for the army, but times were desperate and many underage men still had to fight. His parents didn’t even attempt to save him like most parents at that time did.
”After him, more and more children spread the tale and would visit patches of snow to call out to Mister Snow for asylum…”
“Cold feet, cold feet, Mister Snow watch me leap..,” a young woman sings halfheartedly, “I’ll play and play, so visit me one day…”
“My mother’s gone and my father’s heart is stone, perhaps I’m meant to be alone,” she murmurs, kicking a rock into a tree, the snow shaking off of the branches and onto her head.
“This is stupid!” the girl cries, falling onto her back and watching the sky with tearful eyes, “Of course he’s not real, why would he be?”
“… Some didn’t truly believe I’d come, and it was always fun to see their awed expressions whenever I came to bring them home.
“They’re all still playing in the Alcove, happy and free. The, uh, the Alcove is what we call Home.”
“Mister Snow? I heard I needed to rhyme or sing for you to hear, but I don’t know how to rhyme very well,” a boy calls out, “Do you know Jack Frost? Jamie says he’s friends with him, and, well, I wanna be his friend too. And you. I wanna be friends with you and I want you to take me home.”
“My momma left us all alone and my papa died trying to protect me from a robber..,” the boy explains, “Auntie June isn’t very nice. She’s mean and keeps telling me that Santa’s not real, and that none of my bedtime stories were real.”
“Please come take me home. I don’t want to stay with Auntie June…”
“… So yeah. Leo is fine. He’s safe, and Susie, the first kid I brought home, is showing him around the Alcove. They’re probably playing tag right now? I dunno what they do when I’m not there…”
“Is honorable task. Should have never doubted Jack’s intentions,” North says, patting Jack’s shoulder and nearly knocking the winter spirit out of the sky.
“The kids needed a home,” Bunny murmurs, “‘M glad you gave it to ‘em, mate.”
Sandy nods, pictograms floating around in agreement with North and Bunny.
“Is that why your pond tends to have teeth just… appear there?” Tooth asks, curious.
Jack laughs, “Yeah. The kids like to leave them for you, but your fairies can’t enter the Alcove, so the kids leave them near the pond so that they don’t have to venture far from the Alcove’s entrance to see if you came.”
The end.