"Ugh, why didn't I just kill Pitch when I had the chance. . ." North sighs as you once again complain about it, bumping your knees with a small huff, "Because you weren't Guardian yet."
"But I had the powers!" You stared at the sickle in your hand, gripping tightly on the vines that have wrapped themselves back properly already, "If I. . .I didn't. . .Tooth wouldn't have to be suffering right now," You shake your head, placing it back against your hip as you sat on the stone ledge, feet dangling as North looks up at you, "None of us would be."
"Stop that, you're doing that annoying thing again." Bunny hits your leg with his boomerang lightly, sighing, "You're always the one telling us to 'stay positive' and to be optimistic about things. Why aren't you following your own advice, mate?"
"Bunny is right," North smiles, the Christmas cheer evident even in such small moments of his, "No use regretting past now. We have another chance! And this time," He places a hand on your knee, nodding, "We will finish the job."
You go to nod, but attention goes to where Jack was walking on the water alongside Tooth, who had taken it upon herself to explain how and why they collect the teeth. "My memories?" He asks, confusion evident all over. She nods, hovering alongside, "From when you were young. Before you became Jack Frost."
You watch as he backs away, shaking his head, "But. . .I wasn't anyone before I was Jack Frost." Tooth smiles, inching closer, "But of course you were! We were all someone before we were chosen."
"You should've seen Bunny," North quietly snickers, using his sword to point at the flustered rabbit before wheezing, "I told you never to mention that!"
"You were so short. . !" You added fuel to the already growing fire, your legs dissipating into leaves when he tried to swipe at you. North wheezes even more, hunched over and barely keeping it together.
"Are you—are you saying that I had a life?" He stammers, backing away with a growing look of interest, "Before that! With. . .with a home? And a-and a family?!" Tooth looks at him sadly, head tilting sideways, "You really don't remember?"
He starts going off about his revelations, excitement all over while you only zoned out.
You've been doing that a lot actually, zoning out.
Ever since you found yourself alive again and seemingly immortal, that's how you managed to survive your days and go through life at a more carefree pace. Time worked differently when you had no accurate number of a life expectancy, breezing through decades like how you would travel the world as a bundle of leaves.
It was only by some miracle that you found yourself a Guardian, the Man in the Moon somehow choosing you as the sole protector of nature and all it's wonders. You didn't mind of course, you've been a bit protective of it even before you were given the abilities to control them.
No, what made you confused as to why you've been chosen was the fact that your hands weren't exactly the cleanest.
Maybe it's the immortality, but since the day you emerged from your rocky grave you've been haunted by memories of your short-lived life. And as time went on your memories only seemed to get clearer, remembering every little detail of every little action you've ever made with crystal clear clarity.
And you hated it.
Yes it helped you remember things you truly didn't wish to forget. . . but it also made you remember things you didn't want.
And one of those days being the devastation Jack Frost had made in 1963, five years before he pulled the same shit all over again on Easter Sunday.
You weren't that mad over the snow storm itself, no you could care less about that, growing trees back was a lot easier than anyone thought. No what really pissed you off was the fact that it caused such a kerfuffle in what was supposed to be an event that appreciated trees, the snow being treated as a bad omen enough for the people to somehow curse you out.
God, it got so bad that not only were you forgotten, you almost died.
And the fact that it happened not that long ago irked you even more, because not only was the wound still fresh—your cursed brain somehow remembered every single little detail, even down to the pain and weakness you felt in the years to come.
And all because Jack fucking Frost, couldn't spare a single day where he didn't act like such an ass—
"We!" You jumped when one of North's swords was aimed straight towards you, grinning and pointing it to everyone else in sweeping motions, "Will collect the teeth!"
Your brows raise in amusement, leaning back on your hands and completely putting aside your little crisis.
But as you did, however, you were so rudely reminded of it by the fact that Jack was somehow right beside you, holding his staff and crouching to also spectate. You probably wouldn't have cared, or even noticed if you were to be honest, but the fact that he was sitting right next to you made you more than a little ticked off. Seriously? You were just complaining about him and he had the gall to show up right beside you? What kind of sick joke was this?!
"And Jack, if you help us," North speaks, a determined look on his jolly ol' face, "We will get you your memories."
You turn to look at him, all in boredom and your face no doubt showing that. You were once again met with his side profile, a slow nod letting strands of his hair bounce softly, "I'm in."
North and Tooth loudly cheer, Sandman doing a small victory dance while pictures played on top of his head. Bunny. . .was being Bunny, with his arms crossed and everything.
Jack catches your gaze, turning his full attention towards you with a cocky smirk. Ah yes, he thinks he's suddenly gained some sort of upper hand just because he caught you zoning out while accidentally staring at his face.
"Alright well as much as I don't doubt your abilities," You break contact, gripping your knees before standing. The air that your feet were previously in changed into flowers, once again making steps for you as you joined everyone else's level with a few stretches, "I still think we're going to need some help."
You look around, the tree growing in the little grotto making you nod as you extended a hand. "Should be good enough." You clenched your fist, and almost instantly the bark of the tree caves in to form a doorway, Jack jumping slightly as he chuckles, "Didn't know you could do that."
"Well there's a lot of things you don't know about me," You hummed, an excited Tooth and Sandy already making their way inside as your flower-steps make themselves known once again. "And things I wouldn't want you to know."
"Ouch," He walks beside you, carefully balancing on the edge of the rock while you practically walked on thin air, "And I thought I was the cold one here."
You ignored him, instead hopping right inside and turning to Bunny and North, who were approaching the dark entrance quite nervously. They've heard of this little trick of yours, even seen you do it a bunch of times—but this was their first time using it. You were quite picky with this little quote unquote 'secret' of yours, and so finally being introduced to it felt like a downright honor.
You were still standing on your selection of flowers, leaning on your hip and realizing something once North and Bunny both put a foot inside the entrance, "Oh yeah, there's no floor."
But of course it was a little too late, as the two were already several feet below you screaming in a panic. You laughed loudly, slowly letting the flowers lower you like some sort of elevator while a chuckle follows from above.
"Wasn't that a little mean?" You scoffed loudly, turning to him incredulously as he raises a brow, "What? It was!" He dares laugh louder, using his stick to balance himself and adjust his slow-fall alongside you. If he hadn't offended you, you probably would be laughing right now—the way the wind whipped his hair and how he would fall further below, before reappearing at your side in a blast of air.
"Yeah, guess I was." You grumble, one of the flowers beneath your feet reaching over and roughly yanking his ankle. He screams of course, his whole balance being thrown off while you descended peacefully to join the others.
"Y/N this is beautiful!!" Tooth's laughter reached you even before you stepped into the clearing, the chittering sounds of little rodents and bugs that helped this place making you smile. Yellow lights from glowing berries hung on the ceiling, fresh greenery surrounding it's entirety and making the whole place look overgrown. There was a path made for those human-sized, tightly woven vines making sure to keep them from stepping into the grassy areas. On the other side of the self-made ropes were the areas reserved for the little critters, where they ran around and helped keep this place going.
"Over here," You took the lead after slipping past North and Bunny, small plants sprouting from where your feet touched the dirt clearing. Which honestly made it hard for everyone else to walk after, because they felt that stepping on plants while Mother Nature walked literally right in front of them was on an entirely different level of wrong.
Jack was bringing up the rear of the group, side-whistling at every little thing that caught his attention. Which was quite literally everything, because who wouldn't? You had squirrels working—what looked to be a miniature train station, he thought—for you. Squirrels!
"Here we are," You knocked on the wooden surface, a hollowed echo as you gestured to the seats, "Try not to puke, carrots don't look good on them."
Bunny scoffs, North laughs out loud.
They got to partnering up, Tooth with North as Bunny sat with Sandy. Your biggest regret was probably leaving yourself last, incidentally getting yourself stuck with Jack as you inwardly groan. He either doesn't notice or doesn't care, taking his seat and patting the empty space.
. . .
Do you, a, suck up your pride and just sit down or b, which stands for 'Be Petty', get yourself another cart.
. . .much to your surprise you ended up with a, grumbling as you got yourself settled.
The seats were a little cramped—that much was expected, you rarely used this place with other humans. . . humanoids—so you were practically pressing thighs and shoulders and that made you feel weird. Good weird or bad weird, you weren't sure, but definitely weird.
Eventually the cart started rolling, moving forward in small creaks before it got momentum and went on smoothly. Even from behind you could hear Tooth's excited laughs, pointing and joking around with an equally amused North. You sigh, not even being able to lean back and wallow seeing as a certain 'Guardian' prevented that.
"So do all of you have these little places of your own?" Your face wrinkles, knowing damn well that your warren was anything but little. "Yeah."
"Cool," He smiles, leaning over the side of the cart and trying to see the railings, "Am I getting one of my own?"
You open your mouth to make some snappy retort, but the truth was you didn't really know. You got your 'domain' a few years after you were chosen as a Guardian, which was where you distributed seeds and rounded up critters. It was like a trading center for vegetables and various plants, and you probably never would've gotten it had you not been given a purpose.
You don't know everyone else's stories of how they got their own, but it was pretty clear that you all got it to further spread your help to the rest of the world. North a workshop, Bunny his Egg Factory, Tooth her collection in the Palace, and you with your. . .library, train station thing.
Yeah you weren't sure what it was either.
The only one without one, or at least one you didn't know of was Sandy. It struck you as odd, seeing as he practically worked every hour of everyday and yet he wasn't given a place to help him with that. You wouldn't be surprised if Jack wouldn't be given one of his own, because from your personal experiences with his abilities, giving him a place of his own to further help him just spelled trouble for everyone.
"Not sure, no one really remembers how they got their places," You shrug, scooting further away—or at least, the best that you could—and putting an arm outside the cart, "Myself included."
"So what, you just became a Guardian and one day you woke up with an entire railway station of your own?" He asks with a soft laugh, fiddling with the staff that he held between his thighs. You nod, "Pretty much, yeah."
"Wow, didn't think this line of work could ever be interesting."
. . .
You clicked your tongue, turning your head the best you could away from him. Was he really that self-centered? You were starting to think more than ever that choosing him was a mistake, and that Man on the Moon had finally lost his damn mind if he ever thought Jack Frost was ever capable of being a Guardian. "Yeah well poor you for being forced into it, huh?"
He opens his mouth to say something, but a sudden shriek from up-front made him turn to Tooth in worry. "Y/N, what's happening?! Is this supposed to happen—is it forming a roof?!" From beside her North was absolutely having the time of his life, cackling with his head thrown back and hand trying—and failing—to stop it.
You would've messed with her more, but soon enough her cart was lifted up and out of sight.
"So I take it that was supposed to happen?" Jack asks, trying to stand up and see where they might've possibly went. You know, other than the fact that you all literally saw them get lifted up.
In doing so he tries to push himself up, using his staff and the edges of the cart before it rumbled when he moved. In a panic and a 'woah!' he throws his hand out to balance himself, almost screaming when his cold-ass hands landed on your leg. "Hey hands off, snowman! Not all of us are immune to the cold!" He pulls it back, mumbling some sort of half-assed apology before trying to stand up again.
But of course when he finally does his head hits the newly formed roof, made of wood and absolutely covered in plants and various vines. It was connected to the corners of the cart, lifted up and feeling like the booths you'd find on a Ferris Wheel. "Ow," He chuckles, hand going to grip the outside and sticking his head out and up.
You decided that you might as well follow, the bottom platform of where Bunny and Sandy were sitting meeting your gaze. It was wooden, like everything else in the cart, and there wasn't much to note. But apparently it amazed Jack so much that he kept staring, even as your own cart started its way up.
It took a few seconds, but you soon emerged at the top with bright yellow lights meeting you from the huge, open area.
The sounds of chattering and life hit almost immediately, pushing open the small gate of the cart with a hip and getting to the vine roping the same as earlier. There weren't any sectioned off walkways anymore, the large circular room closed-off but looking quite open with the bright lights and various open, doorways that lead to various other places.
In the middle was. . . a vending machine was how Jack would describe it, little open slots where he saw many of your 'workers' adding little bags, that got sucked upwards and towards an open roof.
Below it were larger slots, where he saw a squirrel pick up a pot, balance itself, and then run past him all with the hurry of a late minimum wage worker. He barely missed stepping on the little bugger, lifting up a foot and bouncing to the side as he watched it run off to one of the sectioned off areas. "Are these seeds?" Tooth asks from somewhere behind him, watching as you nod and take one of the bags from one of the critters with a small smile.
You placed it in the slot the same as earlier, the fairy gasping when it suddenly shoots up the same way it had earlier. "We make the seeds here, then distribute them to the rest of the world. I used to do these manually, but y'know, times changed I guess," You laughed, bending down to pick up the pot that got pushed out and watching the little sprout intently.
With a tap of your finger it soon grew, a small tree popping out, thin and vertical with the growing signs of fruits. "Apple." You hum, handing it to one of the squirrels and watching as they run away, all with the same urgency as the last one. "I'm impressed," Bunny laughs, tapping the counter of the circular. . . distribution thing. Nobody knew what to call it, it just looked like a circular shaped vending machine that sends off bags of seed and gives you pots of various plants. "I never see you working with these buggers." He pauses, snorting, "Or even just work."
"Ouch, two centuries of friendship and you don't even know my responsibilities." You sigh dramatically, yelping immediately when you felt an arm swing itself around you. There was an unsettlingly cold feeling on your nape and shoulders, glaring at the grinning Jack, "Off, you're giving me hypothermia."
"With a heart as cold as yours I wouldn't doubt."
. . .
Oh this bitch wants to play that game—
"So!" North intervenes shortly, landing heavy hands on both you and the walking refrigerator's shoulders with a loud and jolly guffaw, "Where is help that you mentioned?"
"Oh, right," Forgetting the comeback that was bubbling deep inside your throat, you pushed the two away and gestured upwards.
They raise a brow, squinting at the bright artificial lights above, and even more so at the seemingly heaven-like source that came from the middle, circle-shaped cut out in the roof. There were five in total, the aforementioned one in the middle and four others where the corners of the place might've been. There was a tube that came from the top of the vending machine—you were just going to call it that now—where the bags of seed flew up, running through the centermost circle in the tall roof and disappearing out of sight.
"The bees that work with me are pretty great at collecting," You snicker, all of them watching in confusion as you stopped in a certain part of the floor. Unknowingly they all huddled near you, making sure to keep themselves inside the red circle with you in the middle. With a simple tap of your foot almost everyone except you lost balance, the large flower that emerged from below acting as a lift.
It didn't take long for Jack to notice that the other cut-out circles in the 'corners' of the room were for this purpose, similarly sized flowers floating upwards the same pace as theirs in the three others.
Tooth wasn't really standing on the flower, floating upwards with it, a large grin displayed on her face and hands shaking excitedly. "This is so cool! It's kind of unfair that you've never showed this to us before." She says, not a single hint of malice as you rolled your eyes, "Well no one really asked."
Sandy jingled by your feet, and you laughed at the expression on his face and alternating pictures on his head, "Okay, so maybe you asked. But I just assumed you knew."
That seemed to get him even more annoyed, cackling loudly as you all arrived at the top.
Stepping off first you led them through the maze-like structures of various beehives, not missing the gasps and 'woah's as though it was their first time ever seeing one. The roof above you was made of leaves, light shining through gaps and landing dancing spotlights on the wooden floor.
Where the tube sent the bags of seeds was a conveyor belt of sorts, various birds swooping in and flying off to an opening with them. On a different opening—seeing the absolutely lush, large forest outside that surrounded your wooden fortress—there was a sort-of runway, where many bees flew in and moved in almost perfect sync.
"Hey girls!" You called out, leaving the rest behind to their own devices as you go and ask for their services in an entirely different manner.
"Say, mate," Bunny mumbles as Jack taps one of the hives with his staff, only quietly chuckling when he heard the annoyed buzzing from the bees, "What's your deal with Y/N?"
"What?" He almost laughs, his hands that were previously held up in surrender to the little black-and-yellow terrors lowering to look at him, "What do you mean?"
"I mean you've been making goo-goo eyes at her since earlier, you're kinda making it easy for everyone else to bloody notice it." Jack scoffs, shaking his head and disappearing behind a line of hives, "Maybe all your time spent around eggs has finally made your brain into one."
There was a humorless chuckle—taking a gander at where that habit came from—and Bunny appears from behind him with furrowed brows, "I'm serious. You do anything that makes me doubt your intentions," His hand was gripping onto his boomerang, drawing all of the young guardian's attention to it, "You're answering to me."
He purses his lip, a tight line formed as one hand loosely held the staff. But it seems the conversation had ended there, the rabbit walking away when your voice calls for them to gather once again.
"Alright!" You hum, a small straight line of buzzing bees behind you. Tooth looked even happier, the little baby tooth squeaking each time a bee even so much just looked at her direction, but she seemed ecstatic nonetheless, "Let's go collect some teeth!!"