Death. It's something we can't escape.

It's like an expectation. You know it's going to happen, yet you try to stay away from it as much as possible. Some people, can even cheat death. But you can never really avert yourself from the ongoing tragedy that's bound to happen.

But sometimes, death might not be a bad thing. In Jack Frosts' case, death was both good and bad.

At least her suffering was over.

He tried to save her. He really did; but the manipulations and lies caused his girlfriend to hang herself with a string by the front porch, knowing that death was the only escape from her miserable life.

Chugging bleach. Blood. The scars on her wrists. She did it all, in an attempt to stop the madness that was evolving in her recent days of humanity.

Colette Washford was dead. It was announced when she was on a gurney, being carted off to hospital. It was visible in the loss of her heartbeat, the weak pulse that didn't seem to appear at all. There was a rope burn on her neck; red and deep like the marrow of her unlively bone.

The news was like a bullet to everyone. The first person that discovered her lifeless body hanging on the middle of the front porch, was David the mailman. He called Mister and Miss Washford straight away, cutting the rope and laying Colette down safely on the wicker chairs positioned outside. It was winter. And, after seeing Colette's lifeless body resting on those very wicker chairs, a blizzard started to form. An angry, hateful snowstorm that sent cars the wrong way and crashed vans into big white snowbanks. And, there was only one immortal in the whole world who could've done that.

Jack Frost.

"What do you mean she's dead?!"
"Colette, I'm afraid, has passed away."
"This is no fucking time to be kidding, North. Where's Colette?!"
"Now, if we all just calm down -"
"God dammit!"

He flew into the ambulance with her. Kept trying to reminisce CPR whilst pumping her chest lightly with one hand. He held her hand throughout the whole ride. Held her hand whilst she was getting carted off into a ward. And, even when the doctors were trying their hardest to bring her back to life, Jack Frost still didn't let go.

But to him, the most important question was; "Could I really have saved her?"

Colette Washford had given up on herself years ago, when her parents sent her into an outright lunatic household when they thought she was just too much to handle. Unwillingly, they took her back in as their daughter two years after they dumped her there. She learned to fend for herself whilst living on her own with a few other crazy people, not once needing any help from anyone. Independent. Fierce. The type of girl to be walking down the streets with a knife in hand. Damn right.

She was past her curfew when she met Jack Frost. Colette was roaming the streets, trying to ignore the buzzing sound of her mobile in the corner of her pocket. And, even under the streetlights and full moon, she was left a mere shadow that lurked behind the walls of buildings.

Jack Frost had a meeting to go to, but it wasn't like he was going to show up on time. Besides, North didn't say it was anything important.

He could remember the first words he said to her, hoping that she wouldn't hear. Because c'mon, it wasn't like she believed in him or anything.

But Jack Frost was wrong. She did believe. She did hear him. And, she did have a proper conversation with him.

"Wha' you so happy about, ice cube?"
"Shut up Kanga."
"Oi, all I'm askin' is why you're so happy."
"Is it any of your business?"
"Is it any of your business that it's any of my business?"
"What?"
"Urgh, forget it then."

They soon learnt how to get along with each other. Colette never felt this open to anyone before. The odd interaction with a few of the sulken teenagers in the Youth Centre where she spent most of her days working, sure, but that was all. The bond she shared with Jack Frost wasn't one to be easily broken.

They sat in the frosted park that day, but the young girl couldn't find the nerve to care. Winter, to her, was more special then it had ever been.

Colette looked up at him, being shorter by a few feet. "Tell me about yourself,"

So he did. Explained how he couldn't remember anything from his previous life. Told her how he missed his sister, Amelia, dearly. How when he was little, he'd ask his father if the maker of Winter was human or not. Then came the heroic event of saving Amelia from the ice crack that swallowed Jack whole, giving him the title of a white haired hellion. If Colette was being honest, she'd say that Jack had a more fucked up life then she did.

"That's all you need to know, really. What about you?"

Colette started her life story then. And, up until hearing it come out of her own lips, the fear and mourn she was holding in all those years started to escape.

Jack told her it was okay to cry. In return, she replied that it wasn't okay to lie. But he still held on to her. And, very slowly, Jack restored some faith in the young girls' heart that proved her the will to go on.

They were getting along so perfectly. It was unique to see them part.

"Ooo, ask her out, Jack!"
"But -"
"What?"
"I can't do that..."
"Why the milk teeth not?!"
"Because, she doesn't like me like that!"
"Oh dear! How silly of you to think that! Why wouldn't that beautiful young woman like you?!"
"Because... she's... different."
"And you're not?"
"Fair point."
"Please Jack -"
"No! I don't know how!"
"Hmmm... Okay, okay, so here's the plan..."

A few white roses. Two glasses filled to the brim with non-alcoholic champagne The romantic dinner table set up in Bunnymunds Warren (much to the easter bunny's dismay). The elves had volunteered to cater Jack and his date, making everyone roll their eyes in pure disgust. The poor little elves were shoved in a sack and tossed through a portal leading them to who-knows-where, just so the young guardian would have a fun time on his date.

They all watched. Maybe not so closely, but intently enough. The whole scene was evident on one of North's big snowglobes, giving them the perfect image of Jack Frost and Colette Washford. Heck, most of them had buckets and buckets of popcorn piled high next to them.

But if you thought that they were going to have a normal date, then you were wrong. The Yeti's made sure of it.

Three of them were servers, and two of them had to wear hats that contained mini cameras to capture the scene for the impatient Guardians. And, after finding this out, Jack went mental and had to host his date in a frozen forest with sandwiches, blue grapes and chocolate covered strawberries. Needless to say, Colette had a fun time anyway.

She went into school that morning with a bright smile on her face. In fact, it was so happy and full of life that people thought she was slowly going crazy, more so then before. She had a reason to be happy. She had a reason to walk into a room with no fear standing in her way, because Jack Frost will be there to catch her if she falls.

But there was always one thing to stand in the way. Bullies.

"Next time I fucking see his face -"
"..., ...,"
"What? I can't beat them up?"
"..., ..., ..."
"Okay, okay, I get you. I'm a Winter Sprite. But they're being complete bastards to -"
"..., ..., ...!"
"Alright, alright, language, I know!"
"..., ..., ...!"
"I think it's better if I kill them all."
"..., ...!"
"What?! How is that illegal?! They're horrible to Colette! And I can't be there all the time, so what if one of those bullies get to her?! What will happen?!"
"..., ..., !?...,"
"Okay, good answer, but still..."

Colette clutched her books protectively, trying to avoid any unnecessary attention that seeped it's way towards her insanity. Jack had gone to the North Pole for some meeting that he couldn't miss, and even though she wanted him next to her more then ever, she knew he had a job to do.

"Heard you still believe in that stupid Frost guy," said Ciara, one of the meanest girls in the whole of Carson City High. "Are you stupid, or something?"

"I'll stop believing once someone cuts your throat open with a mascara wand," Colette snapped, bracing herself for a fight she knew was going to happen.

And, just as she expected, Ciara and her group of clones gave Colette more then just one black eye.

Colette limped all the way to the school nurses office, where she was sure of safety. Juliette, the old woman who took care of beaten up and bloody pupils, tended to Colette almost instantly. She had been there numerous times; sometimes a bloody lip, most times a few broken bones. But the only things visible were several bruises and a bloody cheek.

"You need to be more careful," Juliette would would always say. "Steer right away from those types of people."

Colette tried, she really did, but it was no use. People just somehow liked making her feel bad. It didn't help that her self-esteem was at a dangerously low point.

She sat in her bedroom that night, wondering how her life could've come to this; a blizzard of hateful nothingness. She still had Jack, sure, but she was only fifteen. Jack Frost was way older; around 319, trapped in a 19 year olds' body. Colette knew that she would lose him someday.

The young girl waited patiently for Jack every night, debating whether to fall asleep and wake up to her head on his chest, or to stay up all night with him until she fell asleep on his frosted lap. She was happy with either choice; but this particular one was different.

Instead of getting a visit from Jack Frost every night, he never showed up.

Colette waited every night. Five months into her wait, and there was still no sign of the young Guardian.

"North, I'm done with all the snow requests, can I go back to Colette now?"
"Why yes, my boy. But please, be careful. The temperature there is... well, not suited for the likes of you."
"...What? How can the temperature change that quick?!"
"What do you mean, Frost?"
"I've only been gone for a day!"
"...Is that really what you think?"
"It's what I know!"
"Your logic... is highly incorrect, my boy."
"Well, how long have I been gone then?"
"Eight months, Jack. Eight months."

Colette felt like she had to give up.

Jack never came. It was now the eighth month of her wait for the cold Guardian, but she had yet to cease her search. In her hands, she held a rather long piece of rough material.

A rope.

She sat on the patio swing, slowly making different types of knots with the thick string, and undoing them in rapid motions. Every knot was followed by a handwritten font of Jack's name on top of her cuts. Her slouch was indifferent. The rosey red that used to glow on her cheeks was no more. The life and love she held was gone.

The worst part? The scars on her arms.

But it wasn't Colette who did it. It was Ciara Paisley, with the help of some football jocks and track team runners. It was to prove just how much their hatred towards Colette was.

There were fresh scars, and some scabbed, but neither of them hurt the young girl just as much as Jack Frost's dissappearance.

She knew that there was only one escape from this terrible reason of a life. Only one loophole from living. And maybe, just maybe, death was the best way to go.

But how could she do it? Miss Washford had hid the knives and pills in a broken down cabinet, sealed with a rusty lock that must have been ten decades old.

The rope in her hand itched. Her curiosity got worse. The little roof above the front door just begged to be messed with.

Hurriedly, Colette made a quick yet strong knot with the end of the rope and threw it across the roof, making it land on top of the little metal hang that was attatched to the roof itself. Then she tied another knot on the bottom of the string, praying to God that her idea would work.

She took a stool and stood on top of it, staring at the rope that would end her life in milliseconds if she was careful to follow through.

Colette swung on her tiptoes for a bit, a small smile gracing her lips. She wasn't mad at all at Jack Frost. He gave her the oppurtunity to run away from the biggest fear she had been chosen to be a victim in; life. And only now was she realizing how bad it truly was.

So, without hesitation, Colette took the rope in her right hand and wrapped the loop around her neck, slowly. She gulped and took a deep breath, knowing that it would be her last and only.

Her right leg left the stool.

Her left leg followed suit, and within seconds her entire body was in the air, free of both her soul and mind.

The local mailman, David Burrows, held a parcel and a few letters in both his hands when he stumbled upon the nerve-wrecking scene. He dropped the objects and ran up to help the young girl, laying her down gently and frantically knocking on the front door for her parents.

"So...this is it."
"Oi, mate, don't worry. She's in a better place now."
"Yes, my boy, Colette's in a wonderful world where she can look down at us and smile."
"Ooo, I really do hope she's okay. That young woman had beautiful teeth."
"...,"
"Thanks, Sandy. It means alot. And thanks to all of you, too. But... I just can't believe she's gone that quick."

Sometimes, even the coldest of people can get broken-hearted. Even the sharpest of tongues can cease. But there's no faith in going back to what you started, when you know you've already given up.

Thus came to Jack Frost's decision. Did he really want to spend his entire immortal life without Colette, when he knew that she'd want him to? She was a giving, generous girl. She wouldn't want him to waste his life just for her.

So, he did the only thing he could do.

Jack walked up to the coffin that held Colette. She had a ring of red around her neck, but that clearly evident smile was still plastered willingly on her beautiful face. She looked like an angel, if she wasn't one already. Jack took the single red rose in his hand, and rubbed his eyes to conceal the tears that were raining down. He laid the rose down carefully on top of her coffin, and blew some frost on the glass pane, writing three small yet clear words;

I Love You.

Maybe this was a little too sad... Hopefully, not. But either way, I hope you enjoyed it :)