Chapter Text
A man stood to his full height, he looked to be around her age, maybe younger, or older. Clad in a blue hoodie and some tan jeans that had probably seen better days, he puffed his chest out slightly. A mischievous smirk plastered on his face, crinkling the corners of his crystal eyes.
She was speechless as the kids continued to play in the snow. One of the twins threw a cursory glance her way, grinning and waving his hands at Jack before getting back to the snowball fight. The sloppy introduction was brief, as if he was just another neighborhood kid. She squinted at him again, just to be sure that this was a mythical being she was seeing, and that she didn’t just have too much espresso that morning.
“Oh, can’t you see me?” His face dropped as he reached a hand out, tentatively making a snowflake dance in his palm.
“Jack…” She rubbed her eyes with her wind chilled hands, “Yes, yes I can.”
He sighed in relief and brought her scarf back with a flick of his fingers. Albeit it was on a cold wind that did kick up snow unto her.
“Good, that’s… interesting. I don’t think I can remember someone your age believing in us,” He squatted towards the ground, examining her with curious eyes.
“Yeah, me either,” She stood with purpose as she remembered her research, “About that!” She whipped out her phone only to observe nothing but a flurry on the screen. She clicked her tongue.
She reached down with shocking speed, expecting her hand to go right through him, only to end up ruffling his admittedly soft hair.
“Friendly, are we?” He winked up at her as he came to hover once more.
“Wait,” She called in a panic, only for him to expectedly look down at her.
“Who’s we?”
That single question was how she found herself in her current predicament. In a park, at midnight, meeting a mythical man on a sled.
She had asked him as many questions as he would take. Which was oddly a lot. Like, you’d think the guy would be busy and stuff bringing snow and cheer or whatever. But here he was, telling her he was going to throw this magic snowglobe and they were going to warp to the North Pole or something. She sweated in her thermals, scarf, boots, gloves, and beanie. For a frighteningly mundane moment, she wondered if she was going crazy.
“C’mon, it’ll be really easy, won’t even have to fly,” He grinned, taking a seat on the sled borrowed from her little cousins. It was small, shabby, and also old. Yet, there he was, excitedly sitting on the back of it and expectedly patting the little room left in the front.
She reluctantly sat down on the front like she had with her cousins many times before. He laughed giddily and grabbed a gigantic snowglobe from his small hoodie pocket. She tensed her shoulders, holding her breath for a moment as she realized he picked the biggest hill in the park.
She jumped as his hand descended onto her shoulder. “Hey, I’ve got you so you’re safe, alright?” His voice was softer than the cheeky banter he had given her earlier.
She swallowed nervously, “I’m not gonna fall off the sled,” refusing to look back at what she already knew would be a smirk.
“‘Course not,” He chuckled and brought an arm around her midsection, causing her to freeze for reasons other than the cold. She was pressed back against his chest, a whole bundle of nerves. “Let’s go,”
She nodded once, afraid she might squeak as he tightened his hold around her for a moment.
White on blue on dazzling crystal, she glimpsed what seemed to be towers of ice. Mountains stood on the other end of a portal that broke the reality of the park scenery. A scream ripped from her throat as they rocketed towards it from the top of the hill. Her eyes wrenched shut, flying open as she felt the sled fall away from her. She nearly clawed at the arm around her torso, uselessly holding her as the wind whipped up at her.
In pure terror, she gasped, blinding white scenery reflected the sun as she thought about how she left the microwave stovetop light on.
“Gotcha,” A cheery voice sounded through the whipping wind.
She felt her knees bend, back supported by a frosty hand as she blinked back the wind chap from her eyes. They were not tears, she told herself, even as she clung to his hoodie for dear life.
He pulled her to his chest when he felt a shiver wrack through her frame, only a split second after realizing that it was an empty gesture.
“You said we weren’t gonna have to fly,” She groaned into his hoodie, head tucked into the blue as she calmed her heart from a near death experience. A chuckle reverberated through his chest.
“I meant to the North Pole, darling,” She sniffed and looked up at him from her cradle. Her entire face frowned. He blinked at the pout, taken off guard as she squinted up at him. He bit back a grin and cleared his throat, pointing with his chin at the towering mountains they were approaching.
With wide eyes she soaked in the beauty of it all. Blue sky rumbled with passing storm clouds, and sloping mountains reached up as if to greet them. Now that her fear had died down she appreciated just how amazing it was that Jack was flying. At the North pole, and apparently Santa was real too because there was no way in Hell that these were man made. She wondered if they were demigods for a split second.
Icicles lined the cavern entrances, deftly dodged by Jack as he pulled her a fraction closer as he twisted and turned. She couldn’t help but tense every turn, and he laughed as he noticed this. A personal rollercoaster, or death trap, she thought to herself.
They flew out of a circular entrance to an enormous office space. A red railing blocked the loft from the hollowed off center of the building. What seemed to be many abominable snowmen worked on various gifts on innumerable levels. A gigantic globe with lights dotting it stood at the center of it all.
A deep breath ran through her as she watched the only still object in the building, the globe itself.
“Speciaaaal delivery!” Jack beamed as he floated to the ground. She flinched and looked up at him, to which he mouthed an apology.
“What is it? For the toys? Then put over there,” A large arm waved from on the other side of the globe, sleeve rimmed with fur and decked out in red.
Santa, she couldn’t believe it. Well she was seeing him, so she couldn’t believe it figuratively of course.
“North,” Jack huffed in annoyance, earning a whip around of his head. Furrowed brow and grimace fully prepared to rip Jack a new one for getting snappy with him. It all melted into shock as he locked eyes with her. His eyes went wide and eyebrows lifted as he turned to fully face them.
“What do we have here?”
“Um,” She began to speak before realizing she was being cradled still, hard to project her voice when she couldn’t even sit up. She gave his sleeve a tug, blushing lightly at how childish she must have looked. She was set on the floor immediately, at which Jack gave an impish smile and bowed.
“Are they, alright?” North gave her a once over, from her tousled hair to her worn eyes, and shaky legs.
“Yes, yes I am at the moment at least,” She sighed and a small smile broke over her lips. Years of feeling like a crazy person were being validated. All her research had culminated to this very moment. From what Jack had explained, North was the ringleader of the “guardians”. She was going to take advantage of it. “So, where to start? North, erm sir. Where are the other-”
She remembered someone catching her head as she flopped to the side. Golden dust blanketing her eyelids as she begrudgingly fought back sleep for a mere moment before succumbing.