Yeah I'm Smiling, But On The Inside I'm Dying (Jack Frost, Rise Of The Guardians FanFic)

The Workshop

*+*Omniscient's PoV*+*

The boy's feet touched the wooden floorboards silently as he landed at the entrance to the wondrous workshop on the side of the snowy mountain. The rug-like yetis opened the big double doors as he ran inside while trying to ease out his movements so the small teenager in his arms would not feel discomfort. With one arm cradling her to his cold chest and the other holding a frozen wooden staff, he kept an old and tattered pillow under his upper right arm. He didn't know exactly why the girl had kept it with her as she fled from her abusive father, but he was sure it meant something important to her, so he made sure it was well kept on the way to the workshop. Just thinking about what the girl's reaction would be when she learnt their location made his stomach uneasy. How would she take it? Would she yell and scream at him for bringing her to such a ridiculous place as the North Pole?

Shaking his head, the boy continued down the halls of the workshop until he reached a magnificent room filled with hundreds of yetis making marvellous toys, and small elves that scurried everywhere trying not to get squished under someone's shoe. The whole room looked like it was made in another era since the interior was classic wood and all the paintings had that faded look about them. In the centre of the room was a giant hole that went through the lower floors of the workshop and continued up to the highest. In fact, the room looked more like it was surrounding the hole, rather than the vice versa - as if they were balconies. The most prominent feature of this 'room', was the giant globe that stood through most of the levels. It was speckled with golden lights and had an unfamiliar language scrawled everywhere, symbolising oceans, continents, and whatnot.

The boy flew gracefully up to one of the highest levels of the huge room and continued hastily down a grand hallway. He only stopped when he reached the large doors at the very end and banged the crook of his staff on the wooden surface three times, trying not to disturb the sleeping beauty that lay in his arms.

On the other side of the door, shuffling was heard before a loud accented voice boomed through the wood of the double doors. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"It's me, Jack, and I need to speak with you, like, right now! And I need somewhere to rest as well." The boy called through the door while shifting the girl's weight in his arms. He prayed that she wasn't cold from his freezing body temperature. In the meantime, while he was on the ground, he focused all his powers onto keeping his body temperature up as high as it could go. It took a lot of effort, but in his eyes it was a small price to pay to ensure the girl's safety from the cold.

"Arck, Jack I cannot talk now, I will visit you in the morning with the others. Rest in your room for now. I am tending to Sarah." The Russian man ordered. Jack was furious that North would not listen to him, but he understood that whenever it came to Sarah, her and North were to be left alone.

It was hard for North to deal with his wife's depression, but he helped her pull through it every time it struck - but coming up to Christmas, it was harder for both of them. Not only was it North's holiday, but that was the day his daughter was born. That was the only reason the pair could've hated Christmas, if it were possible. It was not because they hated her - they could never treat her like that. The reason was because their daughter was ripped away from them by the one and only Pitch Black, or as children more commonly know him, the Boogieman. That was the real reason why he was despised by the Guardians, being protectors of children and all, it's also why jolly ol' Saint Nick felt like he had failed. He kept questioning how could he be a guardian of children, when he couldn't even protect one child - his own sweet daughter, who was taken on her first birthday.

Jack quietly flew back through the hallway and down to another level where he spotted the door he was looking for. He came to a stop before realising he couldn't possibly open the door without disturbing the precious girl he held. A yeti was walking nearby and after Jack got it's attention, it begrudgingly open the door for him.

"Thanks Phil." Jack whispered to the yeti and shut his door with a bump from his hip. He turned and sighed deeply when seeing the familiar surroundings of his room.

The whole area was covered with ice and in the corners were piles of fresh snow. The walls were painted an ice blue that was a shade lighter than the ice-covered floor. A widescreen plasma tv was built into the wall on the left with a panel of glass shielding it from the snow and cold atmosphere of the room. A white couch that reminded the boy of a cloud, was pushed in line with it and a coffee table made of ice was in front of that. A white apple laptop was sitting on a crème coloured desk with a matching leather swivel chair rolled underneath. Finally, a beautiful four poster bed lay in the middle of the room. The sheets were all different whites and light blues, the canopy was a snow-white fabric that was transparent, but the most magical and fascinating thing about the piece of furniture, was the snow falling softly onto the bed from the inside. As soon as each fleck of snow touched the bed's surface, it magically disappeared, and they weren't cold at all.

Jack gently kicked his staff under his bed before using his free hand to drop the pillow he was holding on top of the others. Thinking that the girl would let go of his neck to be sheltered in the warm sheets, he carefully placed her on the surface of the bed, but she didn't move her arms at all. He tried to gently pry her hands open, but to no avail. Instead, she unconsciously pulled him closer, resulting in him falling helplessly on top of her. The warm touch of her skin even through her clothes felt uncommon to Jack, yet so lovely. After a few seconds of blushing a deep purple, he rolled off of her and laid next to her on the bed. He tried yet again to remove her arms but this time he had a different strategy.

While holding her clasped hands high enough, Jack ducked his head into the crook of her neck and quickly pulled back out of her hold. Before her hands even fell to the sheets below, Jack's nose was overcome with the smell of freshly blossomed roses - the kind he never got to sample the essence of because they would only flower in the spring, and Jack would've moved on by then. He was so stunned from the tingling sensation his nose went through, that he failed to realise the girl wriggling closer to him.

She gripped two handfuls of his hoodie and snuggled into him. The purple blush that cast over his face only deepened when the girl sighed in contentment, with a matching smile adorning her tinted red lips. Jack stared at her beautiful sleeping face in wonder. It wasn't until a few minutes later that he realised she must've been so cold cuddled up to the coldest man alive...or dead, whatever he was. He pulled the cosy sheets over them and hesitantly wrapped his arms around her. The warmth surrounding her was enough to make Jack feel uneasy, but he loved the feeling. He'd never experienced warmth like this before, so naturally it was quite a surprise. Even when he was holding her previously, she still never had that warm aura.

While he was indulging in her warmth, Jack's eyes were becoming heavier by the second, especially as he tried to keep his temperature as high as possible for the girl.

The last thing he remembered before his eyelids fully closed and allowing sleep to consume him, was speaking what naturally flowed from his lips. "Goodnight Delilah. Sweet dreams, my snow angel." Although he thought nothing of it, Delilah nuzzled into his neck as a half-unconscious response.

Neither of them had realised what Jack had said, unlike the ball of light peering through the frosted window. Manny couldn't decide if he was to be happy, or protective over his best friend. None the less, he still glowed at the pair asleep in the winter themed bed.

He couldn't wait for the morning to come. 'This time, Pitch will not interfere. She will finally return to the family she deserves.' He kept thinking.