and i'll be there ★

Characters

Jack Frost, Jamie Bennett

Description

Years pass, and the call comes again, and this time, Jack Frost isn't the new guardian-to-be—it's Jamie Bennett.

Foreword

It's been years since Jack last came to Earth—he hadn't planned on being cooped up in some sort of a castle once he had become a guardian, but once the initial exhilaration of fully becoming one had settled down, the others told him that he needed to make his own domain. So he had hid away in an ice castle somewhere in the woods (because the woods reminded him of the pond he had come from), waiting for a call—a call to tell him that he was needed on Earth to help the children again. He found his family, the family he had before the moon had turned him into Jack Frost. His sister, his mother, his father. He found their graves and cried over them, but it gave him a sense of finality, a sense of calm and peace, because he learned to let go of his past and move on.

And now the call has come again and Jack finds himself standing in an extremely familiar street, trembling (but he doesn't get cold, ever)—this is Jamie's street. Jamie's street. He hasn't seen Jamie for years and maybe, he's trembling because he hasn't realized how much just how much he's missed the sweet little boy who was the first to believe in him. People like that tend to leave impressions on him over time.

He finds himself standing in front of that familiar door, wondering if he should knock—but what's the point of knocking if no one but Jamie can see him? He laughs quietly to himself and is about to fly up to the window when the door suddenly opens and a tall, gangly teenager stumbles out, shouting "I'll be home in a while, Mom!" as he trips down the stairs, laughing, passing right through Jack—

The words die on Jack's lips and a chill passes through him—it's been so long since he last felt cold, and the shock is almost too much.

"Jamie?" Jamie can't see him anymore. Jamie doesn't notice him. Jamie...Jamie is gone.

Overhead, in the sky, the Man in the Moon shines down quietly, giving no indication of the shattering truth that has just pierced Jack's heart.