Mary knelt at the side of the pond, carefully putting down her basket and settling her skirts around herself, the same pond that had claimed her brother a few short months ago.

"Hey, Jack," she said quietly, her hands settling into her lap. She took a deep breath, looking out over the pond's still waters. "Sorry it took so long to visit. It's...hard."

She looked down at her clasped hands, tightly clasped around each other until they went white. "They dragged the pond, looking for you, you know. Once the ice was all gone. But...they couldn't find you. To bury you properly. Kitty Jones – you remember her, she hasn't changed yet even though she's gonna be married in a month – she said you'd never get into heaven if we didn't bury you. But the minister says it's gonna be okay. He said since you were saving me, the Lord would overlook you not having a proper grave."

The first tears fell to dot her hands even as she tried to hold them back. "It's just not fair. You weren't supposed to die, Jack! Everything was supposed to be fine!"

The tears broke free, and she let them fall in the presence of the only one who wouldn't tell her to chin up and stop moping.

Well, her parents didn't, but her mother needed her to keep it together. She thought Mary didn't know she cried at night, after Mary was supposed to be asleep, but she was barely making it through each day right now.

As the last of the tears fell she felt lighter, though the grief still weighed on her. "I miss you every day, Jack. I keep turning to look for you and you're not there."

She took another deep breath, clutching at the folds of her dress. "The best I can do is come down here to talk to you. The minister says you're with God, but maybe He'll let you come down and hear me, sometimes?"

Digging into her basket, she pulled out a small piece of shortbread and a flower crown. She laid the shortbread on a flat rock by the side of the pond in the center of the flower crown, sitting back on her heels to look at the display.

"Mother's finally teaching me baking," she said in a voice that only wobbled a little. "I burned most of it, but I wanted you to have some, since it's your favorite. I promised, anyway. And your favorite patch of flowers started blooming, so I brought you some, since you can't help me make the crowns this year."

She stood, giving her eyes another vicious wipe. "I hope you don't mind if I come back and talk to you now and then. Mother says you'll always hear me, even if you can't say anything back."

The last tears she'd been holding back spilled over, face crumpling and hands twisting in her dress. "I...I love you, big brother. Good...goodbye." She snatched up the basket and fled, blinded by tears, back to her family's cabin.

Perched in a tree, Jack Frost watched her run, wondering just who she was and who this 'Jack' was she missed so much.

Three hundred years later, Jack Frost landed on the edge of a tiny, forgotten graveyard. The headstones were battered by the weather, the names nearly worn away, but he still knew exactly which one he wanted. Kneeling, he laid the small flower crown in front of the stone, fighting to smile as his fingers traced the worn letters of her name.

"Hey, little bit," he whispered. "Been a long time. Just wait until you hear the story I have to tell you..."

A/N: So...I have a jar of prompts I'm supposed to draw from and somehow fill on Tuesdays and Fridays. They haven't gotten filled in a long time. This is what happens when one does. Prompt was "Goodbye".

I don't usually write sad or angsty fic. Guess it was time to give it a try.