Always You

xlii. Jack

Leaving Elsa had been harder than anything I had done in my long life, but I had done it. I had admitted defeat and returned to the Guardians where life had returned to normal. She had given up her official Guardianship, and no one seemed to protest it. We all knew she ahdn't fit in, the Moon had not chosen her; I had. And that was why she didn't fit in, she had not wanted to. 

Still, I wished things with Elsa and myself would have worked out. I loved her, I really did.

As for my promise to Anna, it was that which had lead to my defeat. I spent all my time looking for Eleanor, enlisting any help I could get and driving myself insane with the need to help her. To me, she was family and even if she was no longer a part of my life I had to fulfill that promise that I had made so long ago. I needed to find Eleanor and I needed to know she was alright. IT was shaping up to be quite the impossible task. 

I had woken up on a day as normal as any other, and looked in the mirror to see something I was not. No longer my usual, snowy complexioned self, I was human again. I could feel it in the warm blood in my veins, see it in the shining brown of my irises. There was no other explanation beyond a note, placed simply on my bedside.

You were injured. We could do no more. I'm so sorry.

I didn't recognize the handwriting, but I recognized the meaning behind the words. I had died as an immortal, only being brought back to life as the seventeen year old version of myself who had perished centuries ago. I had begun to age again, started to be nothing more than an ordinary human. My staff was gone, my powers nonexistent. Who would control the winter now? Who would bring forth fun for the world's children, procuring snow days and making sleds go super fast? I wanted answers, but I was not capable of getting them anymore. 

Forced to live on as a mere mortal, I had nothing left in my life but doing the human thing. Here I was, twenty years old with a job and a girlfriend who was not Elsa in any way, and I was happy. For the first time it was seemed like forever, I was actually happy and I was doing things that I had given up on long ago. Every person I passed could see me and every question I asked was answered. I was living and that was the important thing.

As for my fiancee, her name was Hanna. She was a brunette with glimmering green eyes, the secretary at the office in which I had been employed. She was beautiful and funny and smart, my best friend and the woman I loved rolled into one. She was perfect, but I knew she wasn't Elsa. I ached to see her, hold her, kiss her again, but I knew that would never happen. People went through bad breakups all the time, and I knew you never fully got over your first love. I just wished I didn't need to get over her, I wished she was waking up in the bed next to me in the mornings and looking at me with her shiny blue eyes. No matter how hard I tried to forget, I knew I would love her until I died.

My mind liked to wander to Arendelle, specifically the castle. I wondered how Anna and Kristoff had moved on. Had they had more children? Was Anna queen now? Had they ever reached a trade agreement with the Southern Isles? How was Rapunzel? There were limitless questions from my small period of time in Arendelle, but I would never have answers to them . 

***

It happened one day when I was walking to work, shivering against the chilly winter air and looking longingly at the snow falling. I almost didn't notice him as he stood there, everyone around him walking through his form as he stared at them. He was as familiar as ever, though his dark hair and hazel eyes were now as pale as mine had once been. He was older now, maybe eighteen, but I knew He would not age anymore. The irony in it was that he had once been the only child who had believed in me and the other Guardians and now he was one.

"Jamie," I breathed, and his eyes met mine.

"Jack?" He asked, fear on his face for a moment before he flew away. I knew then that he was brand new at this. HE had no idea what had made me human again and he had no idea how to handle being a Guardian. He was completely like me when I had first begun. the confusion and wonder all wrapped up and tied with a bow of fear. I wished again that I was still a Guardian so that I could help him. I wanted to guide him and show him how to be the best Jamie Frost he could be, but I knew I couldn't.

I don't know how long I stood alone on the sidewalk staring as if I had seen a ghost, but it made me late for work and when I walked in I closed the door to my office and cancelled all my day's meetings. I couldn't wrap my mind around what I had just seen. Jamie Bennet was the new me. He was the Guardian of Fun, bringing joy to children like his own baby sister. And what about Sophie? What had happened to her when Jamie died? How had she reacted? Did she believe in him? If only Jamie had not run away... Needless to say, I didn't get much work done that day. Or the day after. OR any day until Tooth showed up at my window.

"Jack, we need you," She said.