The Razor's Edge: A Jack Frost Fanfiction

Chapter 1

The sky was a soothing mess of pink, purple, and blue as the sun set. Before I had enough time to fully gape at its beauty, my gaze was interrupted by a snowball to the face.

I let out an,"oof," as it nearly knocked me off my feet.

The culprit of said attack, Jamie, was laughing so hard he couldn't stay upright.

"Oh, you better be careful. I'm close personal friends with Santa Clause, I can get you on the naughty list," I teased as I prepared my counter attack.

Through all the jokes and the smiles I almost couldn't feel the loneliness always heavy in my chest. The dark thought made me stumble, the consequence of which, was another snowball hurled at my head. Snapping out of it just in time to dodge, I came back with a vengeance and tackled Jamie into the snow.

After it got dark I disappointedly announced,"I have to go, Jamie, there's a guardian meeting tonight," and pat Jamie's head.

"Aw, okay, just promise to come back soon!"

Even though we'd had hours to mess around in the snow I made for us, I still didn't want to leave. Spending time with Jamie was the perfect distraction from all the things I didn't want to think about.

"Sure thing. I'll see you later, kid." I waved goodbye, and called the wind to take me to the North Pole.

The sky took me into its cloudy embrace as a wildly waving Jamie exclaimed, "bye Jack!"

When I looked back at him still waving goodbye, my heart sank. I understood that my duties we're important, but I had been so out of sorts lately that I've been messing everything up.

The flight to North's place was unpleasant as it rained. The chilly droplets whipping at my cheeks soon turned to hail as my thoughts ran away from me. I didn't know why my mind was this way. The guardians and I had defeated Pitch a week ago, and I wasn't alone anymore. I guess having no one to talk to for centuries had its effect on me; or maybe it was because I was missing the family I didn't know I had. I hadn't told any of the others this, but there were still holes in my memory. Important details of my life were missing. Most devastating, was the fact that I couldn't remember the names of anyone I loved, including my family.

I couldn't feel the pellets pounding my body, all I felt was the longing for something I was missing. Trying to shove the thoughts from my head, I flew into the globe room through an open window. One of the yetis must have left it open for me. I forced a smile at their thoughtfulness, but my head was still swarming with painful thoughts. There's no way I could ever tell anyone about my darker side. Jamie wouldn't understand and the other guardians wouldn't treat me the same. I am the guardian of fun, I have to be happy. As much as I told myself that, the hail beating down outside still wouldn't let up. The weather always betrayed my feelings, and I could only pray that the others didn't catch on.

"Jack, you're soaking wet." Tooth said as she fluttered up to me with bunny behind her.

Before I could come up with a response, Bunny chimed in. "You're late... and what's up with the hail mate?"

"Yeah, I noticed it too, are you feeling all right?" Tooth expressed concern as she hovered over me.

So much for hoping they didn't catch on.

I fought to come up with a response, when finally, I blurted out the only thing that came to mind. "I was a little stressed about being late, that's all."

"Then maybe you should try being on time for once," Bunny laughed.

I felt bad for lying, but I didn't want them to look at me differently. There wouldn't be anymore harmless teasing like bunny always does. I would never tell him this, but I think our arguments and meaningless insults are fun. If I told them how I really felt, everything that made our bond unique, would change.

"Well anyway, come on. North and Sandy are in here." Tooth said shoving me into the meeting room.

As soon as I walked in, I saw everyone there waiting for me. I silently prayed that I hadn't caused them to wait for too long.

"Right, now that Jack's here, I'll give my weekly report." North voiced as I took a seat next to Sandy. "In the week since we defeated Pitch we don't have as many believers, but some new lights have popped up on the globe. More good news is we haven't lost any since then.  Anyone want to go next?" As he finished, Tooth's hand shot up.

"Okay, so exciting news you guys, I've gotten back twenty believers from collecting teeth. Sadly, some children think it's their parents still, but I'm figuring out a way to get them to believe too." Tooth was so excited she was fluttering above her seat without even realizing it. When she calmed down, she softly landed back in her chair.

"I'll go next" Bunny said as he sat up straighter in his chair. "I gained three believers, it'll probably be rough until next Easter but I've still-" I zoned out staring at nothing in particular, and before I knew it, it was my turn.

As I opened my mouth to speak, I realized I had nothing good to say.

"I-I don't have any new believers..." I'd been so busy with Jamie and his friends that I completely forgot to think of getting new people to believe in me. For centuries I was alone and was used to no one being able to see me, so when someone finally could-

North interrupted my thoughts with words of encouragement  "Well that's all right Jack, I mean, you're the reason we have any believers left at all. That said, I think it would be wise to come up with one of those crazy schemes of yours to get more believers."

Crazy schemes were the old Jack's thing. I hadn't felt like myself since before I got some of my memories back, so how could I possibly do something so very Jack Frost?

"Yeah, a crazy scheme. Thanks North. I'm actually gonna go get on that right now." I didn't wait for a response before I strutted across the cool marble floor, and over to an intricately designed stain glass window. I opened it and saluted to my fellow guardians before the wind sucked me up and away.

I could hear the guardians laughing behind me. Laughing because I was the guardian of fun; I was spontaneous. This was a very Jack-like thing to do.

I don't know how long I flew, or where I was going until I got there. My feet landed on the tree branch of an oak near the lake I died in.

A sudden wave of rage surged through my veins.

There was the anger directed at myself for not being happy, and the anger I held for everyone else for expecting me to be. Deep down I knew it wasn't anyone's fault, but my rage longed for someone to blame.

After mindlessly creating an icicle with a sharp point, I threw it as hard as I could at a tree across from the one I was standing on. To my surprise, it didn't shatter against the rough bark, but stuck in it like a dart. I threw one after another, each one sticking in like the first. I took extra care to create the last one, making it the sharpest of them all. I was preparing to assault the poor tree for the last time when the dagger of ice slipped from my grip. In my attempt to catch the slippery thing, it cut my hand.

"Ah!" I yelped at the sudden pain as my creation shattered on the ground.

With my breath ragged from the rush of adrenaline, I sank against the bark of the oak. My anger started to slowly melt away. I didn't understand why until I saw the blood dripping from my hand. It...was calming.

Before I could think about what I was doing, I made another icicle with my uninjured hand. It seemed to look at me, and I looked right back. I looked at it long and hard, as if it would tell me what I should do. Finally, I tossed the icicle on the ground, deciding that it would be crazy to cut my own skin on purpose.

"I need to go see how Jamie's doing anyway," I stated to myself, hoping it would give me something else to focus on. Try as I might, it didn't stop me from thinking about it the whole flight back to Jamie's.