Talking to the Moon (Jack Frost/Rise of the Guardians fanfic)

Settling Down

I turned my face away and sighed. This was no time for flirtations. "Why did you bring me here?"

"To keep you safe. I'm pretty sure we established that when everyone was freaking out." he sounded a bit irritated.

"Yeah, I know. But from who? And why does he want to kill me?" I tried to sound as calm and nice as possible as to avoid angering him. Who knows what he would do when he got mad?

"Can we talk about this later? It'd be better if North and the others were here when we do."

"Fine." As long as he told me. "Promise?" I continued staring ahead.

"I promise." Jack replied and I mentally exhaled.

"So how exactly does this-" I waved my hands around randomly, "-guardian initiation thing work?"

Jack's face clearly showed that he was amused.

"What?" I sat down abruptly and stared up at him, slightly suspicious.

Jack raised an eyebrow and immediately sat down in front of me, stretching his legs out. I noticed that his amused expression was gone now. He motioned for me to lean forward so he could whisper quietly in my ear. Jack seemed to pause before breathing into my ear.

"You have to die first."

I leaned back and stared at him with wide, questioning eyes. My voice was incredulous as I spoke. "Are..you..serious?"

If becoming a guardian meant that I had to go through death so early in my life, I wasn't so sure about this. Jack's serious expression intensified and I stopped breathing. He blinked once before answering.

"Nope." he burst out laughing and toppled onto his side, clutching his stomach. Furious, I jumped to my feet and started walking away towards the massive moss-covered Easter eggs. I can't believe he would lie to me like that! I almost died back at North's workshop and he's joking about death? Boys, typical. I should've known he would be just like the rest of them. He was calling me now, I could feel his voice vibrating through the ground. I couldn't hear him though, I was blocking him out of my mind with all of my clouded thoughts. I continued to ignore him and proceeded to climb the giant Easter egg. My fingers searched for the right crevices to hoist myself up and I was nearly halfway up the stone structure when I felt cool hands slip around my waist.

"What are you doing?!" I surprised myself with the amount of venom in my voice. Craning my head to turn at him, I noticed the familiar crooked grin on his face.

"I wanted to apologize for my unacceptable behavior." he was still grinning and I blew a stray hair out of my face. Yeah, sure.

"Really?" I asked him and he nodded eagerly. "Or are you lying?" It sounded more like a statement than a question. He frowned.

"Come on, Nat, I was joking!" he loosened his grip on me and I took this chance to continue climbing.

"Don't call me that." The nickname seemed to trigger some memory in the back of my mind and I saw snow falling behind my eyelids when I blinked. It lasted only for a second or two and Jack sensed my falter.

"Need a lift?" Jack called up and before I could answer, he had grabbed my arm and flew me up to the top of the giant Easter egg.

"I was fine." I grumbled and turned away.

"You're welcome." his tone was genuine and I could feel his eyes on my back. Adjusting myself, I swung my legs over the edge of the Easter egg and inhaled. I stared out over Bunnymund's Warren, taking it all in, storing it in my memory. Jack was silent behind me, and when he didn't speak after a couple minutes, I could've sworn I thought he left.

"Jack?" I stared at my hands.

"Yeah?" he answered, but he was sitting beside me now.

"Please don't joke about death with me."

I could practically see the unspoken question floating in the air: Why?

"My parents both died when I was just a baby."

I finally decided to look at Jack. His eyes were wide and I could see the pain in them. Pity. No, it was sadness. I punched him in the arm to get him to snap out of it.

"Relax, I barely remember them. But that doesn't mean that I don't miss them. Sometimes I wish they were here. Then I wouldn't be passed along from household to household like some kind of disease. Thing is, I never found out how they died."

"I'm sorry." Jack looked like he was about to reach for me, but the sound of bells and metal echoing through the Warren stopped him.

"North!" Jack exclaimed and jumped to his feet.

I turned around.

This was not North.