so the last chapter ended on a happy note so I figured why not do what I'm known for and give the most angst, saddest chapter to follow it? This idea came from Meggiechan2000 , let's see how Jack would react to one of America's greatest tragedies. get ready for some tears :)
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Jack Frost had seen many things in his life.
He had seen so many good things and so many bad things.
But nothing he had ever seen could've prepared him for seeing the death of children, ever.
He had seen it happen more than he wanted it too. Ever since becoming a Guardian, everything that had to do with a child's death came forward ten-fold. He couldn't concept the idea of a child's death only because that's all they were. Children.
Children don't deserve to die before they get to live.
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TW: School Shootings
There's only few fears the older Guardians have as a group. Only a few things could collectively bring them to their knees in fear and hope to whatever God is out there to help them.
They had all seen horrors the world brought as time moved, the wars, the plagues & death, etc. Everything they had seen and lived through it. There wasn't much that really got them all to fall.
There were a lot of things that were burned into their brains. For North, it was seeing Natasha fall ill and leave before his eyes. For Tooth, it was watching Callahan die. For Sandy, it was seeing everything around him change with no control in his hands. For Pitch, it was the sight of seeing himself being taken over by the nightmares.
For Manny? It was seeing everything.
His life and being revolved around watching the world move with different lifetimes surrounding it. He had seen everything that could happen, happen. Nothing had ever gotten the Man in the Moon to cry. Not even all the times he had seen Jack get so close to death did he cry.
But the sight of Jack trying to save children in a school shooting had a single tear going down his face. Nothing had ever prepared him for that.
Because the kids couldn't believe in anything else other than fear as they ran.
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That Morning
(I chose violence today...)
"Daddy always says you used to follow him to school too!" Jack laughed as Jackie Bennett jumped up and down beside him. He had decided to finally visit the little 10 year old, what better place than at school. He had went to see Jamie just in time for his old friend to tell him bullies had gotten a hold of Jackie and her friends.
"I did. I always made the mean ones slip on thin ice in the halls." Jackie giggled but slapped a hand over her mouth as someone in class looked at her. No one could know she was talking to Jack, they would think she's crazy. Most people already did but she didn't need more words thrown at her.
Jack watched with humor as Jackie tried to contain herself as the class filled with people. He looked up to find Milo and TJ staring at him. Jackie's friends believed in him which made him feel so much like the old Jack. The one who had just met Jamie Bennett and was feeling the rush of a young believer.
"Hey Jack, can we go sledding today?" He looked to the quiet girl Jackie was friends with, Marylee.
"Of course we can. Just after everyone does their homework." He laughed as all of them groaned but he leaned against the window pane as the teacher started her lesson. He kept himself busy by actually listening to her math class, he was always willing to listen to new information. He wasn't used to upperclassman as old as 16 being in the room but the school they went to merged to make an extra large building.
The grades with ages 10 to 18 all went into one large building. There were so many people in this school that even he felt overwhelmed flying in the halls. He went through the class with ease, helping Milo concentrate when he went into his own head. Jackie was so concentrated all the time he wondered if she was really Jamie's kid.
He flew the top of the halls as he followed the kids to their next class. He really liked being in the Science class. It was really cool to learn all the new stuff about the subject. He hopped up on the counter beside their 4-desk work table as they all got settled. This class would last about an hour an half considering it joined up with a lab assessment (it was more fun that it sounded).
1:00 pm
Jack felt a chill down his neck. He turned from the lesson to see a quick glimpse of someone going through the back door of the hall outside the windows. He frowned, no one should be going through that door. He had noticed it was always closed from the outside. He turned back around to say something but decided against it.
It was probably just a teacher.
1:35 pm
A noise made them all jump. He froze as his brain tried to recognize the sound but all he heard were screams. The classroom exploded with fear as he nearly choked on the feeling in the air. He watched in shock as the teacher jumped up, shutting off the lights.
"Get under the back tables! Go!" Her whispered voice made everyone run. He turned to find Marylee holding his hand as she pulled him with them. He put Jackie, Milo, TJ, and Marylee behind him as he kneeled with them in the corner.
2:35 pm
The shots rang in the halls for a long time. Screams burned Jack's ears. He had his arms around the four kids as they got as close as they could to him. All he wanted to do was get everyone out. Why wasn't there any help? It had been an hour already.
"Jack, I'm scared." Jack turned his head to meet the youngest Bennett's eyes, remembering those exact words from her father, but this time he couldn't respond.
A bang sounded again followed by two more. He clenched his jaw at the sounds of the kids trying to hide their sobs as screams went through the halls. He had to find a way to get them all out. There had to be some way.
Everyone's breath held as the foot steps stopped infront of their door. Jack felt more than watched as all the hope drained from the teacher. He felt his insides burn in and out at the woman's words to the kids around her.
"I won't be finishing the semester with you. Be nice to Ms. Joseph."
Jack watched as the door started to open, the light cracking into the dark room. He couldn't move as the teacher ran forward to throw herself at the shooter with a pair of scissors. She was able to stab him. He watched as he fell but yelled out just like the rest of the class as the boy still raised his gun.
The scream that came from Jackie would stay in his head forever. Because at some point he had lost the hold he had on Marylee and TJ and they had decided their favorite teacher didn't need to die.
He watched the little girl, the one who just asked him to go sledding, fell to the ground. He watched the boy who always wore the red beanie fall. Red surrounded them as he swallowed down his own scream.
He watched as the gun man pointed up towards everyone else but he could do nothing. The only thing he could do was turn to make ice over the three behind him. He created a dome like shape that covered them, trying to spread it to the other children. It could only cover those who believed and he hoped to whatever god there was listening that they had at least a pinch of it. Because that's all it would take for his protective ice to cover them.
His little Jackie would never be the same. And there was nothing he could do.
3:00 pm
There were 32 kids and 1 teacher when the shooter entered.
There was only 10 kids left when the shooter left.
They were only left alive because he ran out of bullets.
Jack stared down at his hands as he tried to press life back into one of the kids, he didn't even know her name. He didn't know as much about CPR as Bunny did but he knew the basics. Everyone left in the room could see him now as Milo's one priority after the shooter had left had been to get everyone to see him.
Because Milo believed he was their only savior since no one else came in the room. Jack had ended up spreading the ice over the other children as quickly as he could before anymore shots could be taken after the teacher, Marylee, and TJ. But he could only cover the other 8 of them. The ones who had slight belief inside of them.
It was in the rare time, he hated being a Guardian because even though they were protectors over children, they could do nothing to change fate. No matter how hard he tried.
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8:00 pm
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" Evidence finds that the 16 year old shooter had left a suicide note with the names of people who had picked on him for years. Sources say he had become violent towards everyone the past few weeks. It seems this was an act of "revenge" to his bullies.
All of the names on his list have either been found severely injured or dead.
More will come on the 11:00 news."
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9:00 pm
Jack stared at his hoodie that laid on the counter in front of him. It was covered in children's blood. He had already thrown up everything he had eaten in the past 24 hours. He felt the screams echo in his ears still along with the bangs of doors and guns. He shook as he bowed his head.
He was hiding in the laundry room of the Bennett house. Jackie and Milo were slipped a sleeping pill in their soup to get them to finally lay down. He put emergency dream sand over them to get dreams but felt himself choke at the sight of Marylee and TJ in the golden sand above their heads.
Jackie and Milo had begged him not to leave. So he wasn't going to.
A hand landed on his shoulder as he turned to look. Jamie Bennett stood taller than him now, looked older than him, and was nearly as wise as him. His eyes were red from his own tears and the father in front of him slightly shook.
The fear he was in for nearly 3 hours not knowing if his child was one of the fallen would haunt him forever.
"Jack...what the hell." The cracks in Jamie's voice is what had Jack pulling him into a hug. The older male fell into him as he held Jamie Bennett. He had a feeling it's been a long time since the boy had cried. That's all he'd ever be to Jack. A boy who held in to much. A lot like himself.
"Sh-she'll never be the s-same. Neither of th-them will." He just held Jamie tighter because he didn't have the right to say shh, to try to calm him. Because Jack had been there. He had seen what happened in that room.
"The th-three of you will n-never be-" Jack just shook his head as he squeezed Jamie to almost no air. He didn't care about himself. He had seen the horrors the world had to offer. This was just another one.
A flash of the little girl he was trying to give CPR to went through his eyes. He squeezed them shut tighter as he tried to ignore the screams echoing in his head.
He pulled Jamie back as he put a hand on the back of his neck.
"Look at me, Bennett." Jamie met Jack's eyes as he met foreheads with him.
"She'll need you. More than she's ever needed you before but however she needs you. Do not force your help on to her. Understand?" Jamie nodded as both of them cried. Jack took a few deep breaths before leaning back to clear his face. He reached forward wiping Jamie's tears too.
Before he could lead them out of the room so they could both go check on Jackie, Jamie grabbed his arm.
"Are you going to tell anyone?"
Jack blinked at the wall before looking at the boy beside him. He was about to say no. That no one could understand what he needed to tell him. Because he had asked North a long time ago why they never rushed to help school shootings and the man had looked at him with a lost look and said,
"We cannot mess with fate when it comes to non-believers."
Jack had lost a little faith in North that day. He felt it now after being there. He went to say no but the light of the moon shinned down on him through the window. He could feel the sadness in the beams. He looked at the light before turning back to Jamie.
"Manny can tell them." He watched a fire light behind Jamie's eyes before a tone of cruel come from him.
"Manny and the other Guardian's can kiss my ass. They talk about protection to children yet the only protection I've seen is to children on the good side of the Christmas list." Jack took in a deep breath before grabbing on to Jamie's face with both hands.
"I know, J. I know. But right now the Guardian's don't matter. Not right now. The moment is over. The grief is next. Focus on that."
Jamie nodded.
They moved together as both of them teamed up to fight the main enemy:
fear.
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so this is kinda like a part 1. I felt that the emotions in this subject couldn't be put into one chapter fully. You'll see why in the next part.
This was the beginning, there's middle, and then an ending.
Just some tears before a happy filler then the next part.
Keep the requests coming!