Rise Of The Guardians - The Life Of A Spirit

Insomnia

Jack scooped up a handful of snow and rubbed it into his face, desperate to clear his eyes of their grittiness and wake himself up again. Unfortunately, one of the side-effects of being the Spirit of Winter was that he was immune to the cold, meaning that the use of snow to try to wake up was only partially successful.

He leaned back, blinking away the snow as he stifled another yawn. Every night his nightmares had returned, lurking just below the surface and waiting for the instant he closed his eyes to strike. They had gotten worse lately, filling him with a paralysing fear that stopped him from attempting to break free of their grip. And he had no idea what was causing them. He wasn't stressed about anything in particular, he didn't fear Jokul any more, and while the memories of him were still fresh, they no longer filled him with dread. And Pitch was still unaccounted for, having been nowhere near Jack in the past few weeks. So why was this happening?

Not for the first time he considered going to Sandy for help, but his pride, mixed with his anxiety about being a burden to the Guardians, stopped him. He knew they would do anything they could to help, but he didn't want to seem like he was helpless without them, especially after he had relied so heavily on their help against Jokul.

'What is wrong with me?' he muttered to himself, leaning his head back against the ice shelf as, without intending to, his eyes drifted shut again and before he could stop himself, he had dozed off.

He immediately found himself hovering over the ruins of Santoff Clausen, parts of it on fire, others encased in a tomb of ice. Scattered about were the bodies of the yeti, the snow beneath them stained with their blood. Staring up at him were the Guardians, horrified.

'What have you done?' North whispered in a voice that carried over the shrieking wind.

Jack gave a cackling laugh before he lifted his staff and sent a deadly hail of icy spears directly for them.

He sat up with a gasp, eyes flashing open in panic as he tried to remember where he was. Antarctica. He was safe, the Guardians were nowhere nearby. Everything was fine. Except it wasn't.

He growled in frustration and drew his legs up to his chest and buried his face into them.

'Stop it,' he mumbled, too exhausted to feel real anger any more.

He sat there for a moment longer before he felt a tug at his consciousness, alerting him to a cold snap that was brewing over southern Australia. For a moment he considered ignoring it, if only to ensure he stayed away from Bunny, but he knew that he couldn't neglect his duties and, with a sigh, he heaved himself to his feet, leaning heavily on his staff. His vision swam before him and he took a deep breath before the wind swept him up into the sky and towards Australia.

A number of winter spirits were waiting for him, most notably spirits of frost and wind, who revelled in his presence among them.

'Welcome, welcome,' they cooed and he grunted in reply. That seemed to be enough for them as they leapt to action, diving down towards the coast, a brisk chill spreading in their path. Jack quickly directed them to move inland and along the coast, ensuring they didn't travel too far north. Bunny would have his head if he found out that he let them move all the way up to the north coast. But he didn't get as involved as he used to. He simply didn't have it in him to exert any more energy; it was all he could do to keep the wind supporting him. The spirits didn't seem to notice however, enjoying their looser reign as they dove and spun and spread the cold. One such spirit, however, was holding back, watching him closely. This particular spirit wasn't a winter spirit, but rather an autumn one, a wind spirit spreading a mild chill in the warmer parts of the country. Its form remained indistinct as it held back, watching the display of winter power, as well as the greater spirit watching from above. And it could sense that something wasn't quite right about him. It quickly dissipated completely and shot away towards its own master.