Secret of Frost and Moon

Getting Noticed by a Girl

Alaia Skyhawk:

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

~(-)~

Chapter 46: Getting Noticed by a Girl

The winds whistled around the edge of the pond, stirring up the inch or two of snow that lay upon the ground. Distant laughter of children could be heard from the other end of the park, but today wasn't a 'stories and games' day. That was something he'd started doing back in 1977, when he'd found it just a little too much to have the children of Burgess tracking him down every single day he happened to be hanging around the town.

So now he only told stories played games with them on weekends, and on Snow Days and Festival Days, although there were occasional exceptions. The rule being that if he joined it on a weekday, that was fine, but if they saw him on a weekday and he didn't join in, they weren't to pester him.

He loved playing with the children, but he'd learnt to value some time around Burgess to keep to himself and for family. With the pace of life among the mortals seeming to get faster with every year, to get busier, he needed that quiet. The world was a very different place now, than the much quieter world it had been back when he had been mortal.

Jack sighed to himself, sat in his usual tree beside the pond. His gaze idly noting the occasional car passing by on the nearby road. It was 1993 now, and a part of him found it startling to think that three-hundred years ago he'd been a nine-month-old babe-in-arms.

He frowned a little and sighed again, thinking about his mother and father. About how they'd died never knowing that their son had lived on, even after his death. That he'd protected them all those years, without them being aware of who the Spirit of Winter really was... The world had changed so much, and he had changed so little by comparison.

"Jack! Jack, are you up there?!"

Jack glanced down through the branches below him, shifting on his perch until he could see who was down there. And then he smiled, because some things hadn't changed. Like the support of his family, and the joy he felt at being a part of it.

He dropped down to the ground, grinning at the young man who was physically just two years younger than himself. Ian had moved away to Chicago, and forgotten he was real, but David had inherited the family legacy and the house near the pond. Living there and raising the next young man who would inherit. His son, Craig Bennett.

Craig gave Jack a long look once he'd landed, and folded his arms across his chest.

"Mom invited you to dinner, or did you forget? You're late."

Jack glanced up at the sky, as if looking at the cloud-obscured sun, and feigned surprise.

"Is it really that time already?"

Craig raised his eyebrows, not fooled in the slightest, as he reached out to tug on the sleeve of the blue turtle-necked sweater that his grandmother had made Jack for Christmas two years previous. The Spirit of Winter had finally hung up his cloak, shirt, and waistcoat. All three were now on a stand in the Ice Palace, preserved there along with a great many memories.

The teenager tugged again, when Jack didn't move.

"You know my mom doesn't like you sitting out here and brooding. You do it far too often, especially since the Blizzard of '68. I mean seriously, Dig had practically forgotten all about that Blackout within a few months. He was back to his usual self so quickly, but you keep acting all depressed when you think no-one can see you do it."