February 17th

    "Shh, Tooth, we don't want him to hear us!" 

    "Alright, alright..." 

    "Good...now, come on." 

    North led us after the footprint trail in the snow, tailing after the kid. Jack had been acting...odd, and well, cold for a few weeks now. Not like himself at all; no smiles, no pranks, and very little snow days were made worldwide. North, Tooth, and Sandy were all extremely worried, mostly because of how they found the kid and I last time he was acting strange. I however, knew what today was...

    I didn't really want to follow Jack. Today was a day he'd told me he wanted to keep to himself; a private "day-off", as he called it. Why? He didn't really need to say. I was able to figure out with just the help of today's date Today was February 17th. 

    Jack really wanted to be alone today. 

    But the others wouldn't listen to me.

    "Bunny, you've noticed how he's been acting!" Tooth told me, "Something is definitely up; Maybe he's sick or there's something bothering him! Maybe we could help!"

    "Yeah, somethin' is up but that doesn't mean we need tah go after the kid each time he wants to sulk." I replied, looking away to polish one of my boomerangs. Jack had told me not to tell them, not yet, about what he'd found in the records hall, or what he saw in his memories. I was to wait until he was ready, and I planned on doing so; I owed him that much.

    "Bunny," I heard North say before placing a hand on my shoulder, "We are all worried for Jack. There is s'mething troubling him, and we are worried it is s'mething bad. It cannot hurt to find teh boy; to follow him and try to figure out what is up." 

    "But that's just it, North. Jack does not want to be found, 'n so 'e won't be. It ain't easy to find Frostbite in 'is own element; trust me, I tried. I'm just lucky I stumbled 'cross the lake when I did." 

    I turned to face North, only to find Sandy floating right next to him, a worried and concerned expression on his face. I held back a sigh; Jack and Sandy were really close. Sandy had been the only one of us to acknowledge Jack in a positive way before he'd become a Guardian. He tried to make sure the boy was okay when he could, of course, within the few times he got to visit the boy on his nightly routes. We all knew that Jack would never miss the Sandman's nightly displays, and Sandy had shared with us the times he'd actually gone to visit the kid and found him missing. 

    None of us really knew what happened on those nights, but we could all guess it wasn't good. 

    Sandy made a few images above his head; an image of Jack, followed by myself, then a frowny-face, and ended with a question mark. 

    "Well of course I'm worried for 'im, I just think it's okay for the kid to get some time to 'imself. We all take some time to ourselves, don't we?" I defended, "What's so different about Jack?"

    North's face turned serious. "The lake, that night."

    "Jack is...a teenager." Tooth started, "He's...emotionally unstable. We've all known that, for centuries now. He...Well, I think he's tried to hurt himself. Because he's been alone so long. I don't know if he knows how to express himself without...force."

    "Well, we must find Jack, then!" North announced, startling everyone in the room, "We need to find him now, quickly."

    "But North, I don't think today is what you think it is-" I tried to tell him, ready to explain why Jack needed his space. The last thing Jack wanted would be the four of us interrupting.

    "Today is day we start helping Jack! Come on, into sleigh! We go to Burgess!" 

    And now here we were, etching closer and closer to the winter spirit. We were in the back woods of Burgess, going farther out than we had last time; past the lake and the place we had resurfaced from the Warren. The forest was deathly still and quiet, as if in recognition of what was going on.

   I had my ears pressed down against my head, ready for the sight I knew lay ahead. I had hiked through this area many times, hiding eggs , thought I hadn't hid any on this land in centuries. The village no longer stood here, the main part of town now existing away and cleared of trees. The longer we went, the higher and thicker the trees grew, the more worn the trail became, the dip actually becoming noticeable in the snow. Jack's footprints weren't easy to miss. 

    Finally, we arrived at the destination I'd been dreading.

    "A...cemetery?" I heard North whisper.

    "A...a mid-1700s cemetery." Tooth spoke softly, turning to give Sandy a confused look, who merely shrugged in response. 

    I sighed, and moved forward to take the lead. I turned towards them, crouching low to the ground. 

    "Keep yer traps shut 'n I'll show ya what 'e's really doin' 'ere...'n stay low, we don't wanna startle 'im." 

    After receiving three nods, I turned back to the back ahead and crept through the snow, motioning for them to follow. I led them to a close grouping of trees that had just enough room in between them to see through but kept us covered. And they gave the perfect view of a certain gravestone and depressed-looking winter spirit.

    "Why is-" Tooth started to say until Sandy gently placed a hand over her lips, and she fell silent as all of our attention focused on Jack.

    He was sitting in the snow with his legs huddled up against his chest and arms crossed, propped up on top of his legs.. His staff was laid to the side, within reach of course. His blue hoodie however was no longer on his body; in its place was a white, or, probably used to be white, tattered and torn blouse covered by a brown torn waistcoat and cloak. It was hard not to compare him to something of the past, nothing more than a ghost from the way he was sitting and how he looked. 

    Jack sat like that for a while, staring quietly at the grave with his chin in his arms. From where we watched, the name of the grave was out of sight, the others had no idea who it belonged to. 

    But I did.

    And my thoughts were confirmed when Jack started to speak.

    "Hey Elizabeth..." he coughed, starting nervously, "It's...it's been a while, yeah...it's been a while. Things...things have changed a lot since I last saw you. But, not all in a bad way...I mean, yeah, dying was a bad change." I heard the others gasp collectively, and I merely raised a paw to silence them once more. "

    "I'm...I'm sorry you had to see me fall. I...I hope you got off the ice after that, I mean, I know you did, seeing as you lived to have children and what not. I...I just hope you, you didn't blame yourself for it, you know?" Jack paused, finding his feet very interesting.

    "Well, I really hope you didn't. It was my fault for not checking if the ice was thick enough, I made a bad decision. At...at least you didn't get hurt, right? I mean, I'm sure you missed me, and mum. I hope you both were able to be well off on your own. I'm sorry for leaving you, especially so soon after Da..."

    Jack cleared his throat, looking back to the gravestone. "So...I read through these things called public records, and I found that you eventually grew up and got married. I hope he was a nice guy, I mean, I'm assuming he was since you married him and had a family...I wish I could've been there- well, I probably was, but, I wish I'd of known who you were, and who I was. I would've made sure your kids had just as much fun in the snow as we did. I hope I kept the pond safe for them; I always make sure to freeze it over nice and solid now all throughout winter. No one should be drowning in it again...not as long as I'm around."

    Silence again. Jack turned to face his staff and a look of hatred and self-loathing suddenly appeared on his face.

    "I'm sorry about the blizzard...It's my fault. I wish I'd of known...I wish I'd had more control over myself then," he muttered, and I could see him tightening his grip on his arms.

    "It's my fault you're gone..." he whispered, just barely loud enough for the four of us to hear.

    "I'm so...so sorry..." Jack choked out, tears starting to form in his eyes. "I'm sorry I took you away from your children and your husband, I'm sorry you went out into that blizzard crying out my name...I-It's all my fault!" 

    At some point one of Tooth's hands had made its way onto my shoulder, and I nearly yelped in surprise when I felt her grip suddenly tighten. I looked back at her, and I could tell she wanted desperately to fly out of our hiding spot and hug the boy. I shook my head silently, as if to say No, he needs to do this, he needs to get it out.

    "I-I'm so sorry, Lizzy...I-I'm so, so sorry..." Jack whispered once more, burying his face in his arms as he started to sob. A light snow started to fall, quickly covering both the kid and the gravestone in front of him in a pure-white blanket. 

    It continued on like that, the snow and Jack's crying, for what felt like hours. Finally, the winter child began to calm down, his sobs fading away into much quieter whimpers and hiccups. I hadn't noticed my own eyes grow wet, or the soft sniffles coming from the others, the shivers around me. It appeared that even Jack was shivering, or merely shaking from his outburst. 

    The sky had darkened now. Had we'd really been out here that long? Or had we decided to track the boy down that late in the day? 

    Then, slowly, Jack scooted forward in the snow, dragging his staff behind him until he sat right in front of the gravestone. I saw Sandy tilt his head next to me, and Tooth leaned forward, trying to see what exactly he was doing. 

    He had gotten up onto his knees now, and his head was laid on top of the gravestone. He was whispering again, but I couldn't make out the words anymore.

    I turned towards the others, pressing my ears back against my head and whispered, "I think it's time we go now, mates, ya'll've seen 'nough, right?"

    "Y-Yes..." North responded quietly, "We can...we can discuss at pole. Come on, then."

~*~*~*~*~*~

    I really didn't want to tell the others without Frostbite's permission first, but they would not leave me alone about. 

    "Bunny, why didn't you share this with us earlier?" Tooth asked for the hundredth time, fluttering wildly about, "How long have you known? I mean, I'm happy he opened up to someone of course but, he...he had a sister? And he found out she died in a blizzard? It's no wonder he's been so depressed! He blames himself! Oh Jack...does he see that it's not his fault? Maybe we should-"

    "No." I cut her off crossly. 

    She blinked at me. "No? But we should help him, talk it over-"

    "He doesn't want to, Tooth," I said, interrupting her again. 

    "Bunny," North finally stepped in; he and Sandy had been quietly listening to Tooth go on and on, asking ten questions per second. "Did Jack tell you not to tell us?"

    I nodded, uncrossing my arms. "Jack said 'e wanted ta share 'is memories with us all on 'is own time, but when I found 'im at the lake, he just spilled everythin'."

    "...Everything?" Tooth asked quietly, letting her wings drop as she landed on her feet.

    "Everything; what 'e saw in 'is memories, what 'e does and doesn't remember without the box, and what 'e discovered in the public records of Burgess." I replied, my voice growing softer; sharing all of this felt, well, wrong. I really didn't enjoy breaking my promise to the kid.

    Silence fell in between all of us for a few minutes, no one quite sure what to say. 

    "You're not going to tell us, are you?" Tooth finally questioned, looking up towards the skylight. I bit my lip, but nodded my head.

    "It's not mah place ta tell...Jack will tell everyone in 'is own time, ya can't rush these things-"

    "Or, you could just ask instead of spying on me."

    

    The four of us spun on our heels just in time to see Jack emerge from the hall, staff slung over his shoulder and blue hoodie back in place. He watched us with a look of amusement and slight annoyance, with his head tilted to one side and a small smirk on his face. 

    "I'm not deaf, you know. And you four, no matter how much you think so, really can't sneak through a forest very well," he chuckled softly, "You guys didn't learn that when we first met?"

    North stood gaping at him, and Tooth lifted off the ground to fly over to him, "Jack-"

    "Save it," he cut her off before walking around her and jumping onto the railing. He turned his back to us and crouched down, balancing effortlessly. He sighed and looked up towards the skylight just as Tooth had done. 

     "Look, I appreciate you guys worrying about me, I do," Jack started, "But it's...it's still a little new to me. It's, weird. A good weird, don't get me wrong...but, it, it takes some time to get used to, being cared about.

    "If you want the truth about why I didn't want to tell you guys about everything I've figured out, it's because...I was still trying to believe it all myself. Over three hundred years with nothing but a name to sit in my mind as I tried to figure out who I was and why no one seemed to care about me or even see me....to suddenly learn all of this information and make sense of it? It's hard, really hard. It's a lot to think about, and to just accept it...takes a lot of time. 

    "If you guys really want to know, right now, I can tell you. I hadn't planned on telling you all today," he turned to face us, trying to smile, "I wasn't sure when I would, actually but...since you're all here, might as well, right?"

    Sandy shook his head, as well as North and Tooth. 

    "No, Jack, you can tell us when you're ready, it's alright," Tooth said softly, flying over to him and laying a hand on his shoulder. "We're sorry we pried."

    He shrugged her hand off and gave her a small smile, a true one. "Nah, it's okay. I would've too if I were you guys."

    "Still, it was wrong of us." North stepped forward, "Bunny tried to warn us, saying you wanted time alone. We ignored 'tat.

    Jack simply shrugged again, his smile faltering a little. "Sure, yeah, it was wrong. But you can't go back and change it, so there's no reason to dwell on it. And yeah, I might be a bit annoyed, but I'll get over it.

    "Now," Jack paused to jump off the railing and walked over towards the lit fireplace. Dropping to the floor, he turned to face us, the smile now completely gone and replaced with a badly-hidden grimace. 

    "Let's get on with it. Take a seat and I'll just say it all in one shot." 

    I saw the others all share a glance, hesitating. I shot them one glare, hopped over to where Jack motioned, and sat down next to him. 

    "Come on, ya goons. 'E's gonna share whether er not ya like it, all of ya wanted to know anyways. Come on."

    Slowly, a small, sad smile made its way onto Tooth's face, and she nodded before flying over to sit on the other side of Jack. Sandy and North soon joined us, and all attention turned on Jack.

    He looked a bit nervous now, and he glanced at me. I flashed a tiny smile and nudged him, and the worry faded.

    "Well, it...it all started back on the day my little sister Elizabeth asked me if we could go ice skating..."