• • • • • • • Chapter One ○ ○ Jack's Secret • • • • • • •

It had been almost 40 years since Jack first joined the Guardians and so far things had gone well enough. Jack had managed to hide his past before he was reborn the first time and as far as the Guardians knew jack really was only 358 years old. No one suspected he was really over 275,000 years old. But soon that would change and Jack could feel it in the way the wind remained quiet and unresponsive. He could feel it and he knew. The time for his end was coming and nothing would prevent it.

Jack had worked so hard to keep his first life under wraps. None of the other spirits knew who he had been before. As far as anyone knew he was just a human who Manny had brought back to life as a winter spirit. None of them knew he had been born Jokul Frosti, Bringer of Endless Winter. Before he became Jackson Overland Frost, a normal human boy, he was the fearsome Jokul Frosti. None stood against his power without paying dearly for it. Man in the Moon saw past all of Jokuls anger and resentment and gave him a second chance at life.

At first, Jokul laughed at the offer and cursed Man in the Moon for his weakness but when Jokul Frosti was killed saving the life of a younger spirit and fighting against a small army of dark creatures that had roamed the planet at the time, Manny gave him a second life despite what Jokul had done.

Jack learned to laugh and play as he slowly grew into a young man. He learned that winter was more than just harsh cold winds and deadly ice but also snowball fights and laughter. He was happy for the first time in his long life, that is, until the day he took his sister ice skating for the last time. The ice broke and he pushed her out of the way. He gave his life for hers and for the second time he died for another.

When Manny brought him back, Jack had no memories at all. Manny told him his name was Jack Frost and he never questioned it. Then Tooth returned his mortal memories and almost 12 years later Manny returned his memories of his first life. That had been the worst thing he had ever done to Jack. It hurt Jack to have these memories and no one to talk them over with. He knew he could never tell the Guardians about his first life and his true name but the thought of lying to them was worse so he just stayed away.

He met them for the meetings but nothing more. Yet they never questioned his actions and never seemed to worry about his distant behavior. That hurt more than anything Pitch Black had ever done to him.

After almost 28 years of hiding it and holding in his feelings, Jokul began to cry. After finally getting everything he had worked so long to get. After suffering all those years alone with no answers and all the pain and hurt he had to go through, after finally getting a home, family and friends. He was going to lose it all.
He was going to die.