Here's another AU. I've had it for a while, but I only finally got around to editing the document. There should be a few more chapters, but I'm not sure how many. All I need to do is edit before posting, so updates shouldn't be that long, but I don't always have time, so if it seems like I've forgotten, feel free to remind me. :)

Quick Notes:

1. Jack was fourteen when he died in the pond.

2. I'm using the movieverse, not the books.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you think!

Smallville

October 16th, ?:? EDT

Dick knows he's going to die. He's trapped on an alien mothership with no way out and bombs set to explode at any time. They're being attacked on all side and Wally can only hold out for so long. He takes a deep calming breath, looks at Wally, who nods firmly, and ignites the explosives. He feels the flames lick at his flesh, but there's no pain, just a strange tingling sensation that he knows means he's in shock.

He wishes he would have told the truth about the weapons the aliens use. Lying to get them to help make him feel dirty, and even his skin being burned away doesn't make him feel any cleaner.

Then the heat finally starts to hit - the pain - and everything turns black.

So this is what death feels like. Surprisingly, it's not as painful as he expected. That makes him feel a little better about his friend's deaths. Not much, but a little. Though retaining a conscious isn't really what he'd expected. Maybe pearly gates?

The blackness starts to disappear. And he's aware of how sore his limbs are. Which just… he shouldn't still have limbs. By all accounts, the power of the explosion he was in should has incinerated his bones, never mind his arms and legs.

He groans, which is just. He still has vocal chords too. Huh. Curiouser and curiouser.

Dick opens his eyes slowly, looking through his lashes. Who knows what's going on? For all he does know, the aliens could have captured him or something, saving him from… well, death. A very painful death at that. But even if they saved him, they might just have done to experiment on him or something. No point in being too relaxed; these are the aliens that basically destroyed half of all life on the earth.

What he sees through his lashes definitely doesn't look like an alien ship. At all. Not even remotely similar. He opens his eyes all the way.

He's laying on the side of a frozen pond. There's snow covering every inch of the ground, but he's not cold, so that's strange. There are trees surrounding the frozen pond, so it's also a clearing. But the strangest thing, not the fact that he isn't cold, not the unfamiliar place, is the frost. It's everywhere. On the ground and the trees. It looks like someone just took a paintbrush and went at it for years to achieve the intricate details.

"Dude!" a voice exclaims.

Dick whirls around towards the noise. A boy - only a year or two older than him and not that much taller - crouching on top of a shepherd's staff that's standing straight up is looking at him curiously, head tilted. Dick can't help but wonder how the boy is doing that. It definitely goes against the laws of gravity, then again, Superman, so what does he know about gravity?

"Don't you get sick of wearing that mask all the time?"

If there's anything Dick expects out of the teen's mouth, it isn't that. Maybe a 'Who are you?', or possibly a 'What are you doing here?'. So he's caught off guard.

"What?"

"Don't you get sick of wearing that mask all the time?" the teen repeats, eyes dancing with amusement.

"Well, yeah. It's kinda important to protect my identity," Dick said quickly.

The teen shrugged and jumped off the staff, his feet hitting the ground in a deceptively light manner. He reached his hand out and the staff flew into his hand. Dick took a step back at the same time the teen took a step forward.

The teen is strange, and not just because of his amazing balance on a stick. Dick quickly categorize everything he can about the teen that stands out. White hair. Ice blue eyes. Blue hoodie covered in frost. Old and raggedy pants. No shoes. Pale skin with hints of blue, like, hypothermic-he-shouldn't-be-alive blue.

"Well, there's no point to it here," the teen says easily. "I already know who you are."

Dick feels a strange panic overcome him. How does this teen know who he is? What's Bruce going to say? There is no way this ends well for him. Then again, giant explosion, so maybe he's just dead.

Still, he'll keep the mask on for now.

"Who are you?" he asks. "And how do you know who I am?"

"I'm Jack Frost," the teen says easily, jabbing a thumb at himself. "You know, Spirit of Winter and Guardian of Fun. And you're Richard Grayson. Though you like to be called Dick."

Dick takes a step towards 'Jack Frost', still on guard. He doesn't fail to notice how Jack avoids the second question. He looks closer at the teen, then jerks back in surprise; Jack looks just like him. A year older, maybe. About an inch taller. But if Dick's coloring was the same, they could be twins.

It's not just basic looks though. Jack has the same crooked nose as Dick. He has the same mouth, always twisted in a smirk. And freckles. While Dick's are hard to find because of how tan his skin is, Jack's are easy to see, sprinkled all over his face in numerous constellations, like the stars at night.

Everything's the same.

"What the heck is going on?" Dick breaths. He staying calm, but only just. He has Bruce to thank for that. As the man is so fond of saying: 'Stay calm, and you'll stay in control.'

"Well, to start off, you're not dead," Jack says conversationally, turning away from Dick and circling the pond, staring intently at the ice.

Dick scrambles after him. It's slightly annoying; Jack's movements are so fluid and smooth, that it puts Dick, natural acrobat he is, to shame. Something about the way Jack moves is other-worldly. And Dick knows that it wouldn't matter how much he practises he'll never move like Jack does.

"And how do you know that?" Dick asks.

Jack stops walking and turns towards him, mouth quirking in a crooked grin that looks so much like Dick's own it gives him vertigo.

"M'gann accidentally took control of a no-win simulation after Artemis died. Instead of waking up when you died, what was supposed to happen, everyone who's died is in a coma because they're convinced they're really dead," Jack says matter-of-factly. "Until she's jolted out of it, you guys are all stuck."

Dick processes that information. And okay, it makes sense. He can actually see Bruce doing that, and M'gann accidentally messing with their minds. It happened in Bialya. So yeah, that's probably what's going on. It can even explain why Jack is here. Then again…

"So why am I aware and talking to you if my mind thinks I'm dead?" Dick asks. "Shouldn't my mind think I'm dead since, you know, M'gann thinks I'm dead?"

Jack smiles sheepishly. "See, that's the thing. M'gann thinks you're dead, so you should too, but it's not that simple."

"Why isn't it that simple? Why am I here?"

"So, I'm you? It's complicated, and to be honest, I don't even know the full story." Jack runs a hand through his snow-white hair. "I guess it starts a little over thirteen years ago. See, I was helping the Guardians, and Bunny was about to die, so I kinda, sorta jumped in front of him and saved him. Turns out immortality can be ended with sharp weapons, just so you know," Jack says wryly.

Dikc opens his mouth to deny what Jack's telling him, but something stops him. He's not sure what it is. For some reason though, he can't argue with Jack. Something about what the teen says makes sense, and that scares him.

Jack continues on as if he doesn't notice Dick: "Anyway, The Man in the Moon decided that I couldn't just die, because apparently I'm important, so he took my life force and memories and put them in a baby. Then it was decided that you couldn't remember our past life until you could handle it, so fourteen, the age I was when I became Jack Frost."

"Then why am I learning about it now? And why learning not remembering?" Dick asks. He doesn't argue, because something about what Jack's telling him feels real. It makes sense, in the smallest way. Which okay, he can deal with that later.

"I think it's because your head thinks you're dead, and since I've kinda been waiting in the back of your mind to remerge with you, it sent me to merge early to save you. So yeah, sorry about what's coming when you wake up," Jack says sheepishly. "It'll suck for sure."

"So, you're saying that when I wake up I'll remember being you? And that a man in the moon created me?" Dick's sure he looks disbelieving, but really, there's only so far a gut feeling and some belief can take him.

Jack snorts. "Yeah, it sounds crazy. But just wait. Besides, once you remember, North, Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy will be so excited to see you! That's not even mentioning Jamie and Baby Tooth."

"Tooth? Like the Tooth Fairy?" Dick asks incredulously. "Stuff like that isn't real."

Jack winces good-naturedly, placing a hand over his heart. "Ouch. So does that mean you don't believe in any of them? Tooth'll be so hurt."

Dick groans in frustration and runs a hand through his hair. Belatedly, he realizes it's the same motion Jack had used just a few moments ago. Great.

"Okay, so if I used to be you - big if - then shouldn't I know something? Have some sort of residual memories? And by the way, that 'if' is basically a no. I'm pretty sure this is just my brain messing with me. Who knows how a messed up mind simulation goes?"

Jack smirks and takes a step closer to Dick, swinging an arm around his shoulders. "No, no you shouldn't. Well, I mean besides the weird things, like the scary accurate knowledge of American life in the late 1600s and early 1700s. Apparently, if you'd been born remembering everything it would have been bad."

"So what you're telling me is that I'm going to wake up and remember being Jack Frost," Dick deadpans.

"Yup, pretty much," Jack agrees. "But hey, at least I'm not someone boring, like Bunny. Can you imagine?" Jack snickers. "Anywho, it's not like you'll remember being Jack Frost, we'll just stop being separated."

Dick truly and honestly isn't sure what to think. If this is all real, he really is the reincarnation of Jack Frost, does that mean that the moon or whatever just put Jack's soul into an innocent body that happened to be his? Or was he literally created, not by his parents, but the moon? Were his parents even his parents?

"You know what, you're crazy. I'm just going to wait to wake up and ignore you," Dick says firmly.

"You're going to ignore yourself? Good luck with that. I've been told I'm very persistent." Jack sits down beside Dick, setting his staff in the fluffy snow. "Listen, Dick: I know this is weird, but you need to trust me. Do you remember when you were six and started speaking Norwegian out of nowhere?"

"I picked it up," Dick insists, but in the back of his mind, even now, he wonders. The circus had certainly never visited Norway at that point. Plus, he never knew anyone who spoke the language.

"Or that time you knew all about the spring of '68?" Jack continues.

"Probably read it somewhere."

"And the times you just feel not young. Not old, but not young. That happens a lot."

"No, no it doesn't." Dick is Batman's protege for a reason. He good at lying. Great, even. Jack sees right through him.

"Whatever." Jack shrugs, stretches, and stands up, calling his staff to his hands. He turns towards the trees and starts to walk away. Before he's completely out of view he shouts: "Don't say I didn't warn you! And be ready to wake up!"

Dick shakes his head. He's not sure what to make of this weird vision, but he's sure that once he wakes up, he'll be able to put it out of his mind. So whatever.

Suddenly the world goes black and cold. He feels heavy, like he's sinking. And his lungs are wet. And then he's awake. And he remembers.