As the cold wind hits my cheeks, I enter Russia and my violet eyes dart around as I try to look for my friend with a hooked staff, Jack Frost.
My eyes also dot around, place to place, and I keep my eyes out for any lonely people, or any couples, friends or families that are fighting.
As I move along to St.Petersburg, I notice that a child has his tongue stuck to a frozen water fountain.
I stop in my tracks and see a streak of frost
across the street.
I gasp, as I realise that the white haired boy must be nearby.
I look around some more, and the more I spot, the more I feel like I'm just behind this winter spirit.
I fly past a little boy trying to feed his gold fish, but a layer of ice has formed along the water surface, preventing the fish from reaching its food.
I roll my eyes as I fly along the side of the building, I notice that clothes lines and power lines have been frozen.
I look up to the cathedral, only to spot the one and only, Jack Frost.
I gasp happily, and quickly fly towards him, but then see that the wind has carried him away to somewhere else.
"Ugh." I mutter, as I follow wherever he goes.
I follow, as the wind carries him into the air and through the clouds. Night turns to day as I fly from one horizon to the other.
I stop dead in my tracks as I realise so many things, all in the same time.
1. I should have known that Jack would go to his hometown. Burgess.
2. He's made the town completely white. Easter is literally around the corner.
I stand there with my mouth open, gobsmacked, before flying to the frozen lake to meet Jack.
I stand there and look around at all of the snow and ice, and think about what Bunny would be saying if he saw all of this.
Let me tell you now, he would not be happy.
I squint my eyes, as the wind picks up dramatically, trying to get my hair away from my face.
"FROST!" I exclaim angrily, knowing he's here.
"Cupid!" A deep voice exclaims, with pure happiness.
As the wind stops, I try and sort my hair back to how it was, Jack tried to hug me.
"Don't hug me, or touch me, look at this place! Easter is just around the corner, and Bunny won't be able to put his eggs anywhere, and the kids won't be able to find them-"
"Okay, you panic too much. You seem tense. What's up?" Jack asks, walking side by side with me.
"Nothing." I answer quickly.
You see, I've come to realise that I haven't told Jack that I'm a guardian. Mostly because I think he would be upset and because of the fact that he doesn't like the guardians all that much.
He thinks that we all bribe the kids.
I take in the boy's appearance, being as I haven't seen my friend in a while.
He still has white hair, striking blue eyes, and pale skin, with a tall stature. His clothing has changed and is now wearing a blue hooded sweater, frost collecting around the ring of the collar, and wears the same trousers from when I first saw him.
They're bound with lighter material starting from the knee down to the rather tattered and frayed bottom, and is barefoot.
The boy looks at me sceptically, before looking ahead of us.
There was a young boy, with a green jumper, and a blue, armless cost, with the colour red going across it.
The little boy carries a book with him, that he reads deeply.
Jack then makes the wind pick up again, knocking the book from his hands.
"Jack, that wasn't nice." I say, as smirks at me and flies over to the book, with me following after.
"Hmm, they're out there - mysteries, mythical creatures and the unexplained phenomena." I read out loud.
"Huh, that looks interesting, good book?" Jack asks the young boy, as he picks his book up and dusts it off. Ignoring Jack.
I look towards him with sympathy, since no one can see him because no one believes in him.
I've gained a few believers over the years, but not as many as I hoped. People tend to believe in the actual holiday, 'Valentine's Day', more than the actual spirit who makes the whole day successful.
Suddenly, two other boys come barreling past us, rough-housing and laughing as they push other.
"Waahoo! Snooow daaaay!!!" The exclaim.
"You're welcome!" Jack calls after them.
"Okay, Jack, there's something that I need tell you-" I was going to tell him everything. Right there and then, but he flies off after the three boys.
I follow Jack, and we end up on the young boy's garden fence, with the twins following behind him.
While I sit, with my legs dangling on the fence, Jack walks, unseen, along the top of the fence.
"Whoa, it says here that they found Big Foot hair samples and DNA, in Michigan! That's like, super close!" The boy tells I'm excitement, clinging onto his book, as his brown eyes widen.
"Here we go again." Replies one of the twins, shrugging his shoulders.
The young boy with the book puts it down, and replaces it with a sled instead, while (I'm guessing) his younger sister, with wild blonde hair, comes outside with fairy wings strung to her.
"You saw the video too Claude, he's out there!" States the boy, looking at one twin. I think his name was Claude?
"That's what you said about aliens." Replied the other twin.
"And the Easter Bunny." Smiled Claude.
In response to that, I smiled and looked at Jack who just rolled his eyes.
"Wow, the Easter Bunny is real!" Replied the boy with the teal sled.
"Oh he's real alright. Real annoying, real grumpy, and really full of himself." Jack responded, holding his staff across his shoulders.
"Jack, your not helping yourself, he's only horrible to you because your horrid to him." I respond, as Jack hops off of the fence and walks amongst the kids, peering
over their shoulders as they play in the yard.
Soon, my eyes dart across to a loud thud, my eyes are met with the boy's younger sister on the floor, as she begins to cry.
I gasp quietly, grabbing a small bit of white dust from my field quiver, and blew it in her direction.
That dust will now make her pain numb down a bit.
"Mom! Sophie fell again!" Exclaimed the little girl's older brother, rolling his head back in frustration.
Soon after being called, the boy's mother comes outside, asking if Sophie was okay.
I smile, after seeing her mother give her child a loving kiss on her forehead, making the child smile.
Caleb, alongside his brother, stands at the front gate and calls out to the boy.
Before the young boy with the sled walks away, his mother stops him.
"Jamie, hat? We don't want Jack Frost nipping at your nose." Jamie's mother plunks the hat on his head and tweaks his nose.
"Who's Jack Frost?" Jamie asks, completely clueless, while Jack smirks at the mention of his name.
"No one, honey. It's just an expression." She says, walking away from her child.
Soon Jack's smile drops, and becomes offended.
"Hey!" He shouts after her.
"Well, it's better then being called 'old man winter'." I joke, making Jack smile.
"Don't ever, bring that memory up again." He smirks.
"Who else is there?" Jamie asks.
"Well, there's Cupid and Valentine's Day." Jamie's mother smiles, as Jamie rolls his eyes.
"Yeah, but that day's pointless. It's unnecessary." Jamie complains.
"It's just not needed anymore." His mother states, walking back inside with Sophie.
I roll my eyes as Jack jumps down from the fence as the boys head off.
I scoff. "Is that seriously it? Do people just think I put couples together? Idiots. I bring broken families together, I take away people's pain, I bring children together with love and friendship." I rant to Jack, not really noticing what he's doing.
I look across and see Jack reach down and grab a hand full of snow from off the ground.
"Jack, no." I warn him.
"Who's Jack Frost?" Jack mocks. With his palm open, the silver haired boy uses his magic to form the perfect snowball.
I fly down from the fence and watch what my friend does.
He then puckers his lips, and blows onto it with his icy breath.
He then looks at me, with a mischievous glint in his deep blue eyes, and smirks.
"No, Jack, don't." I tell him, as he stops and looks at me. I then watch as the snowball turns a light shade of blue.
"Jack, please-" WHOOSH! - the snowball goes flying through the air and -BOOF! - the snowball hits Jamie smack in the back of the
head.
I gasp, as I slowly look at Jack.
"I can't believe you just did-"
"Oh, come on." A cold hand grabs mine as Jack
flies in and lands amongst the group of kids.
A mischievous glint sparkles in the boys' eyes, and laughs.
"Okay, who threw that!"
"Well, wasn't bigfoot kiddo." Jack smirks.
Jamie scans the horizon for the culprit. His eyes land on a couple of kids making snow barricades.
A young boy with big glasses has his back turned, and suddenly gets a snowball to the back of the head, knocking him face first into the ground.
The girl that was with the boy has short, brunette hair, with a white and green hat, steps forward and - BOOF! A magical snowball from Jack hits her, knocking her back. Her face changes - as a mischievous sparkle appears in her eyes.
"Jamie Bennett! No fair!" She laughs, slamming her fist in the snow.
"You struck first!" Jamie laughs
Suddenly, one of Jack's snowballs struck one of the twins; Claude can't help but laugh.
I watch as the snow ball bursts into a snow explosion on children's faces, and watch how much joy enters their eyes, and smile.
"Free for all!" I hear Jack bellow, as my cheek is met with something cold.
I gasp at the impact the snowball has on my warm cheek, as I place my fingers on my cheek.
I look to my right and see Jack smile.
And just like that we find ourselves in a take-no-prisoners snowball fight, the kids pummeling each other mercilessly.
I chase the silver haired boy in a circle, as I grab as much snow as I can, whilst Jack supplies the kids with more snowballs, I notice that the kids are loving this.
I yank his blue hoodie towards me, so he gets pulled back towards me. I smile mischievously, as I put all of my snow in his hood, and quickly pull it over his head.
I quickly fly over to a tree and hide, as I watch Jack's reaction. As he pulls his hood off of his head, he laughs and looks around for me.
I watch as the mayhem continues as Jamie, using his sled as a shield, is knocked backward into a snowman, crushing it underneath him.
My eyes dart back to where Jack was, and I see that he wasn't where he was before.
"Oh hey." I hear a deep voice come from next to me. I gasp as I smile and laugh.
I fly off back into the battlefield, walking backwards, I see Jack sending a snowball towards me.
I dodge the snowball, noticing a snowball flies overhead, hitting an intimidating girl, with a brown hair cut past her ears, and brown eyes.
She wears a black t-shirt, a pink tutu, brown boots, pink striped tights, and a pink jacket.
Dread sets in amongst the other kids, as the scary girl squints her eyes.
I look at Jack, who smirks.
"Crud, I hit Cupcake." The girl with the teal hat mutters, as she places her hands over her mouth.
"She hit Cupcake." A boy with red glasses points.
"You hit Cupcake?" Claude replies, his voice getting higher as he gets scared.
Jamie is flat on his back, terrified. He looks up to see the girl standing over him.
My eyes dart to Jack, as he smirks at me with a snowball in his hand, and as soon as I know it, he has lobbed the snowball towards me.
I duck, not remembering that someone was behind me.
Then, BOOF a magical snowball hits the girl, who holds the head of a snowball.
The kids gasp in horror.
"Did you throw that?"
"No."
"Wasn't me."
I look behind me, when Cupcake starts laughing as Jack's magic takes hold.
Suddenly, Cupcake chases the kids down the hill, holding the head of her snowman in her hands. Jack, all the while, runs along
side taking pleasure in the excitement, as I fly beside him.
Suddenly, Jack nudges me.
"Ooh, little slippery!" The boy flies ahead, blasting a sheet of ice behind him, making the kids fall to the ground, except for Jamie, who lands on his sled, and slides head first down the sheet of ice into town.
My protective side takes over me, as worry and dread sets in.
"Jack what are you doing! That's the street!" I shout after him, watching Jamie shoot out between the trees and careens past a set of parked cars.
I roll my eyes in frustration, as I quickly try and catch up with the winter spirit.
I follow Jack's path of ice, which covers the street.
My eyes catch Jamie turning, his speed escalating, sending him directly into traffic.
Jamie barely misses a moving truck, spinning it out of control, sending furniture out the back, and causing a four car pile up.
I fly on the same spot, as my mouth gapes open, not knowing what to do.
I quickly notice that Jack and Jamie are getting out of reach, and quickly fly after them.
My eyes watch as Jamie flies off the sidewalk and into the middle of the street, almost knocking over a postman.
"Jack, stop it!" I shout after him, watching how he flies by Jamie's side he sees the look of Jamie's face. Jack smiles, knowing he's responsible.
"Watch it, Jack!" I warn him, noticing an oncoming snowplow, and he quickly jumps ahead, carried by the wind, to divert the ice trail.
Jamie's sled suddenly turns, narrowly missing the oncoming truck and barrels toward Jack's newly formed ice ramp
I freeze in my place as Jamie closes his eyes as the ramp launches Jamie over the street, high into the air, and toward the statue of Thaddeus Burgess, colonial settler - 1680. Jamie's friends stand in awe, mouths wide open, as he sails through the air.
The young lad opens his eyes and the look of fear suddenly turns to joy, as he lands safely in a large mound of snow. Jack jumps onto the Statue.
I fly next to him, and punch his arm.
"Ow, what the-"
"Are you insane?! You could have killed him Jack! What if those trucks didn't stop!" I shouted aggressively.
"Look, Cupid, he's fine! Look at him! He's right as rain!" He jokes, gesturing to Jamie, making me look at the child.
"Whoaaa! Did you guys see that?" A smile grows on my face.
"It was amazing! I slid - I did a jump and I slid under this-"
A sofa from the moving van suddenly knocks Jamie down.
My hands shoot to my mouth in shock.
"Whoops." The winter spirit mutters, as he smirks.
"Are you kidding me Jack?" I muttered, in disbelief.
There's a moment of silence as we all wait to see if Jamie is okay.
"Jack, I swear to god-"
Then, Jamie rises up from behind the sofa grinning, a new gap in his smile, as the boy holds up a tooth.
"Cool! A Tooth!" He exclaims, holding and examining his tooth.
I release a sigh of relief, and place a hand to my chest.
"Thank the lord he's alright, honestly Jack, if he wasn't-"
"Oh, no..." I hear my closest friend mutter beside me.
"What?" I ask, as I look at what he's looking at.
I see that all of the children have gathered around Jamie's tooth, and have began to walk away from us.
"No!" Jack exclaims.
"I gotta put this under my pillow!" Jamie shouts, excitement flooding his body.
I smile, watching the scene unfold.
I look towards Jack, who looks down from the statue, and soon I notice that his frustration grows.
"Ah, wait a minute! Come on, hold on, hold on! What about all that fun we just had? That wasn't the Tooth Fairy, that was me!" Storm clouds overhead rumble and darken. Flurries of snow begin to intensify.
"Jack..." I call to him, holding his arm. He shakes my arm off as he jumps down from the statue, trying to engage the kids.
But it's too late, the kids take off. Jack blocks Jamie's way as the boy comes running at him.
"Jack!" I shout to him, knowing what's about to happen.
"What's a guy gotta do to get a little attention around here!"
Whoosh. Jamie runs through Jack, as if he where a ghost.
My friend is left momentarily shaken.
I fly down beside him and softly rub his arm in comfort.
"Jack...I um...I have something serious to tell you...I'm-"
He whips up a little wind and flies away.
"A guardian...and we need your help." I mutter, as I realise that I'm now alone.
I sigh and go house to house, to see if anyone needs any love.
It eventually gets to nighttime, as I fly on one spot and admire a loving family.
That's all I've wanted.
A family.
My fingers touch the cold glass of the window, as I watch a couple play with their child, who sits there and giggles in admiration.
I sigh deeply, as I fly to the roof, and rest my elbows on my knees, holding my cheeks in my hands.
I start do go deep into thought, until a stream of Dreamsand suddenly zips by behind me, then another, which swoops around in front of me.
Until I remember what just happened, and what I've just seen. And soon, I find myself in deep thought.
Suddenly, a dolphin made of sand, zips in front of me, before continuing on its way to a waiting child.
"Hey." I hear a voice come from behind me, but I don't turn to look because I know who it is.
"You okay?" He asks, his silver hair coming into the corners of my eyesight.
"Mmm-hm." I say, still in thought.
"Look." The boy sits down next to me. "I've known you for about, I don't know, let's say...okay, I've known you for about 230 years. I think I know when somethings wrong with you." Jack smiles.
I say nothing, and look away.
"Being someone like Cupid comes with it's perks. I get to see couple's grow, I get to see a relationship start. I mend broken ones, I see arguments happen. I see family's start, and...it just upsets me because I can't have that. I can't have a relationship." I explain.
"I know it sounds stupid...but I just want someone to love me, I want to be apart of a family, you know?" I turn my gaze to look at Jack's, who was listening intently.
"Hey, to get your mind off of things, look." Jack nudges my arm, to grab my attention, and pokes one of the streaks of dreamsand.
I smile as it turns into a cute baby bear, as it runs around us.
"Come on Cupid, let's go." A hand is offered to me, as I see that Jack's now standing up.
My warm hand holds Jack's cold ones and he pulls me up.
Jack leaps off the roof, dragging me beside him, and lands onto a telephone pole, and we begin walking across some telephone wires, still holding hands.
Until a stream of Dreamsand suddenly zips by behind him, then another, which swoops around in front of us. We both turn and looks up, a smile now on our lips.
The Dreamsand descends from the sky, and drifts into windows around the town. I run along the telephone wire until I can reach out and intercept one of the passing streams. An
adjacent stream takes the shape of a small bird which turns toward Jack, before continuing on its way to a child.
Meanwhile, in Cupcake's bedroom, a Dreamsand floats into a window, where the child is in bed, hugging a stuffed unicorn in her sleep. The Dreamsand swirls over her head, and morphs into a little girl riding a unicorn. Cupcake smiles at the lovely dream as it flies around the room.
Then, suddenly the room darkens as a wispy, shadowy figure with a familiar laugh crawls out from under the bed, and rises up.
This is Pitch Black.
The boogeyman is tall, lithe and dark in appearance. He has silver-golden yellow eyes resembling an eclipse, with dull pale-gray skin and glossy black hair that is styled to come out as slick, sharp spikes from the back of his head.
He wears a long, black robe with a v-neck line and shadows running down his arms, obscuring his body like a shadow. Underneath the robe, he wears black trousers and black footwear.
He notices Cupcake's dream.
"Ohhhh, I thought I heard the clippity-clop of a unicorn. What an adorable dream!" He mocks, as he leans down to Cupcake.
"And look. At. Her. Precious child. So sweet, so full of hope and wonder. Why, there's only one thing missing...a touch of fear." Pitch reaches into Cupcake's dream, and touches a bony finger to the unicorn.
It turns ashen and black, and disintegrates.
Cupcake flinches in her sleep, and Pitch snickers, delighted.
"That never gets old." Pitch swirls the Dreamsand around and it all turns into black, as the golden sand gets corrupted with Nightmare sand.
"Feel your fear. Come on. Come on, that's right." The black sand morphs into a horrific, shadowy bucking horse -
a Nightmare.
"Yesss. What a pretty little Nightmare."Gleefully, he grabs the Nightmare's mane.
"Now, I want you to go tell the others the wait is over." The slender man releases the nightmare and sends it out the window, where it joins a posse of other Nightmares coursing through the streets.
They take off and fly into the night sky.
Pitch steps out into the street from an adjacent alley, avoiding the rays of moonlight.
He then looks up to the sky and stares at the moon.
"Don't look at me like that, old friend. You must have known this day would come. My Nightmares are finally ready...
Are your Guardians?"