Jack would never understand how two very different girls could be sisters.

Where Rocky was bright smiles and laughter and blonde curls, Kim was neutral frowns and silence and straight black locks, and the stark contrast was startling.

The only similarity they shared were their blue eyes, and even then Rocky had a lighter shade than her sister.

Watching the preteen run around the Workshop, Patamon close on her heels like an excited puppy, Jack wondered why.

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Glass cool against her shoulder, Kim glanced out the window for a moment before returning to her sketchbook, the tip of her pencil recreating the wonderland outside with soft strokes.

Gabumon, perched on the window seat and leaning against her raised shins, smiled as Rocky and Patamon ran by in pursuit of a strange flying toy shaped like a dragon.

Kim was relaxed, warmed by her Digimon’s pelt and expression soft as her sister’s giggles echoed off the walls.

Turning to a fresh page, she let her pencil move as if under it’s own power. Intricate snowflakes bloomed across the paper, creating shapes without conscious effort.

“Whoa…”

Blinking away the trance she had fallen into, Kim tilted her head up to see Jack literally hovering over her shoulder, looking rather impressed as a smirk grew on his face.

“Never thought anyone could capture me so well on paper.”

Expression carefully blank, the black-haired teen looked back down and realized that the snowflakes she had been creating formed a rather detailed picture of Jack Frost mid-flight.

If she had less self-control, she would have blushed.

“I’ve had a lot of practice.” Kim replied neutrally.

Interested, the winter spirit leaned on his staff, still held aloft by a soft gust of wind.

“What sort of things do you normally draw?”

Dark blue eyes narrowed, assessing Jack for some sort of ulterior motive.

Jack felt like she could see into his very soul at that moment.

“…Whatever catches my attention, I suppose.” She finally said, the intensity of her stare dying down.

Honestly, the sentiment-indirect as it was-made Jack feel rather honored.

Out of all the Guardians, all the amazing things she had seen in the last few hours, Kim had drawn him.

“Jack!”

The rather sentimental moment was broken by Rocky’s sudden shout, latching on to the winter spirit’s waist in a hug.

“You said we could go out and make snowmen!”

“So I did.” Jack agreed, a mischievous spark in his eyes. “But wouldn’t it be more fun if Kim came with us?”

Her face lit up at the idea, and she turned to Kim with the most pleading expression imaginable.

“Do you want to come play with us?”

Jack was surprised when the older girl only took a moment to reply.

“You’ll need a jacket and snow pants.”

Rocky practically squealed with joy, jumping to hug her sister before running to find North, shouting her thanks gleefully as Patamon struggled to keep up.

Smiling at her enthusiasm, the winter spirit turned back just in time to see the soft, almost wistful expression on Kim’s face before it was hidden away.

Her eyes narrowed at the awestruck, subdued look on Jack’s face that followed.

“What?”

Shaking himself back into the present, he just grinned.

“Nothing.”

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Jack soon found that, where Kim did not give away much of anything, Gabumon was much more expressive.

The winter spirit imagined that the Digimon was channeling the emotions his partner did not show, making him a good key to what Kim actually thought about things.

As Gabumon rolled a large sphere of snow after Patamon and Rocky like an out-of-control boulder, laughing along with them as Kim sat on the sidelines with their half-finished snowman, Jack knew that she was having fun.

When the three were finally exhausted, and Kim began to herd them back into Santoff Claussen, the boy floated up to her side with a smirk.

“How do you feel about snowball fights?”

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Well, that could have gone better…

While the whole snowball/elf war had been pretty epic, and had even got Kim to show some amusement, being lectured by Ma had been less than ideal.

Three hundred years old, and she had managed to make him feel like a naughty child in only a few minutes.

The worst part though?

Having to clean up the mess.

Looking up from mopping the soaked floorboards, Jack was surprised to see Kim pick up a second mop, silently joining him in drying the wooden floor.

Once the gesture sunk in, the winter spirit smiled, turning back to the work with a tune humming under his breath.

The slightest of smiles was hidden in the corner of her mouth as she softly followed along.

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Life before had been lonely, Gabumon could admit that.

Sometimes, pressed against Kim’s side and dozing, he could almost imagine it was all a dream, that the strong pulse of his partner had always been there and he had never felt the sharp bite of loneliness in his soul.

Though Kim did not show her emotions, she felt them so deeply he could feel them through the Bond as if they were his own.

Surges of concern, of happiness, of uncertainty, of suspicion; they flared up from the jumbled core of feelings she held deep inside, so wild that Gabumon wondered how she coped.

So much of that tangle was built of sadness and guilt and regret, a constant hum of pain beneath the momentary flashes of happiness and contentment and warmth.

Shaking the water out of his fur, Gabumon watched as the winter spirit chatted away amicably, not seeming to mind that Kim did not say anything.

But Gabumon could feel that warmth through the Bond, though there was a strange sadness tainting it that he could not understand.

For some reason, Jack made her both happy and sad…

And Gabumon could not figure out why.

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The dark had never frightened Kim, even as a child.

She took comfort in the quiet it brought, taking the extra time to mull over the day’s events and catalogue any useful information.

Lounging in an armchair, Gabumon curled into her side, she closed her eyes with a soundless sigh.

Rocky’s soft, even breaths helped lull her into a state of calm, where she could better organize everything that had happened.

Gabumon relaxed with a purr, nudging her shoulder until Kim started running her fingers over the intricate runes on his horn.

A secret smile hid in the corner of her mouth as he settled, content.

Everything was as it should be.

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Orias is such a strange blend of suburban calm and big city bustle that Kim often wondered if the architect was slightly bipolar.

Living in one of the transition areas, an apartment building just on the edges of suburbia and urban traffic, she felt the contrast keenly.

The building itself was rather modern, all sleek metal and glass, with no gardens or trees to block the view of it.

Only the best, Kim thought with some bitterness.

The apartment was spacious and open, a large living room with a door leading to a full kitchen and a hallway that likely held the bedrooms, closets and bathroom.

Jack found the entire place rather…sterile, like everything had come out of a magazine and no one was allowed to touch.

“So, you live here, huh?” He wondered, floating over to a large flat screen TV as Kim set her Digimon down. “Where are your parents? At work or something?”

“…Yes. At work.” The black-haired teenager answered, a subdued tone to her voice catching Jack’s attention immediately.

Gabumon looked up at her, extremely worried, but her face was like a mask as she turned to go down the hallway.

The two boys shared a glance, and Jack saw what he had missed in Kim’s eyes reflected in her Digimon’s orange pair; a deep, unrelenting guilt.

What did she have to be guilty for?

Following her down the dark hallway, the winter spirit paused on the threshold, taking in what must be Rocky’s room with wide eyes.

Everything was yellow and white; ruffled bed skirts and ballet slippers hanging from hooks near the closet, stuffed animals piled on the pillows and dolls shoved in a corner with a detailed little house.

There were racks full of shoes in the closet, little purses with brand names hanging just over them, and Jack knew instinctively that Rocky had not asked for any of it.

She was such a sweet, thoughtful child that asking for such expensive things was not in her nature.

Kim grabbed a duffel bag from under the bed, and systematically began going through the drawers and closet for whatever clothes her sister actually wore.

Jack floated around, taking in the room, as Gabumon helped his partner carefully fold everything away for maximum space.

Neither male said anything to break the silence, sensing that Kim was not in the mood to talk, though they worried.

Carefully pretending not to notice, Kim closed the duffel and stood, dragging it into the hallway.

She could not even begin to explain the complicated mess that was her paternal relationship, let alone about her mother, and so she stayed quiet.

As the black-haired girl went into her own room, Jack floated up to the last closed door in the hall, peeking inside.

It was a bedroom, like he expected a parent to have; a double-bed, a nightstand, an attached bathroom…

He got the unnerving feeling that no one had ever used it.

“Jack.”

Whipping around, the winter spirit smiled sheepishly at the slightly suspicious look Kim was leveling him with.

“Sorry.”

Kim just shook her head, but there was a spark of affection in her eyes as she turned away that made Jack feel warm all over.

Her bedroom was dark, but not in a threatening way; the walls and ceiling were painted like a clear night’s sky, and someone had lovingly recreated the stars and a large, shining moon overhead that reminded Jack of his first moments of immortality.

A shelf sat to one side, holding a wide array of ribbons and trophies for various martial arts tournaments and, just below, a few framed pictures from her childhood years.

It was as if nothing mattered after she was five.

Jack paused, confused, at a picture that was of Kim, Casey and Ma sometime in kindergarten.

Since when had Casey’s eyes been blue?

Kim was going through her sketches and paintings, carefully putting them into folders, as Gabumon tugged another bag out of the closet.

Jack picked up the packs of special markers, pens, and pencils from the desk, placing them gingerly in the backpack Kim had produced for her artwork, before going back to studying her space.

She hardly seemed to mind, if Gabumon’s disinterest was any indication, so the winter spirit floated up to the desk once more.

The surface was scratched and inked from long hours of work, and Jack smiled at a little snowflake etched into the upper right corner, as intricate as his own creations.

“Jack.”

Blinking innocently at the call of his name-a natural reflex-, he fumbled with the bag thrown into his arms, startled.

“I’ve packed everything.” Kim said in way of explanation. “We can go.”

“Jeez, relax.” The winter spirit replied breezily, pulling a Snow Globe from his hoodie pocket. “We can just send the stuff through a portal and have some fun! There’s a pond near here, right? We can hang out there for a little while.”

Those dark blue eyes studied him intently again, suspicion narrowing them into slits, and he wondered what had brought that sort of reaction on.

“…It’s dangerous to stay out in the open for too long.” She warned, shoulders squared and tense.

Gabumon bristled uncertainly beside her, looking between the two in honest confusion.

“I’ll protect you.” Jack promised sincerely.

Startled by the unexpected sentiment, Kim studied him, wanting so desperately to believe him and yet…

She wasn’t sure she deserved it.

“…Alright.” Kim relented, averting her gaze. “Half an hour, and not a minute longer.”

Excited, Jack wasted no time opening a portal, throwing the bags through, and dragging Kim out of the apartment.

They only had half an hour, after all.

Opening one of the larger windows, he hopped onto the sill, turning to Kim and her ruffled Digimon with a grin.

“Ready?”

She hesitated for a few moments before picking Gabumon up and settling him on her back, hiding the old memory behind a mask of annoyance as she nodded.

Taking the girl’s hands in his own, Jack called the Wind, which gladly lifted the trio up and out of the building.

Muscles contracting in a natural response to suddenly hovering in midair, Kim pulled herself closer to Jack instinctively, relaxing minutely when he wrapped an anchoring arm around her hips.

The winter spirit paused at the nagging feeling that someone else had once done the same, but shook it away, telling the Wind their destination.

As they were whisked away, high enough not to be accidentally seen, Gabumon pressed against his partner’s back nervously, not at all made for flying.

The Digimon was relieved once they landed, dropping onto the snow-covered bank with a sigh before looking around curiously.

The lake was rather small, more like an oversized pond than anything, covered with a thin layer of ice, surrounded by frosted grass and shielding trees.

It was rather pretty, actually.

Kim sighed, taking in the scenery with a wary sense of familiarity.

White mists of laughter, numbed fingers, bright bright blue eyes-

She shoved the memories down with quite a bit of difficulty.

A snowball struck her cheek, causing Kim to stumble a step as she blinked the icy flakes from her lashes in surprise.

Jack laughed, creating another as the blue sparkle of his magic settled around her face.

“Is that the best you’ve got?”

Calmly, the mortal teenager bent down to scoop up some snow, sculpting a sphere.

Jack yelped as it struck him in the face and sent him falling backwards.

Gabumon chuckled at the dumbfounded look on the boy’s face, showing his partner’s amusement.

“Five years of Little League Baseball.” She explained simply, smug.

A smirk crossed Jack’s face as he stood, picking up his fallen ammunition.

Challenge accepted.

The two exchanged fire quickly after that, Gabumon jumping to his partner’s aid with a well-aimed “Blue Blaster!” that evened the playing field against the flying, snow-creating winter spirit.

Eventually, the joy-inducing magic of Jack’s snowballs wore at Kim’s steely self-control, and she started to laugh.

The sound was deep and genuine, slightly roughened from disuse, and it went right to Jack’s heart, a fogged memory taking shape in his mind’s eye.

Distracted by the strange epiphany, he was caught off-guard by a full-body tackle that sent the two tumbling through the snow.

Twisting, the winter spirit pinned her down, letting out a startled breath at the relaxed, smiling expression that softened her face.

Looking into her dark blue eyes, warm with affection and laughter, the pieces clicked into place.

“Kay?”

Recognition flashed in the ocean-like depths before Gabumon’s growl snapped both of them back to reality.

“Well, isn’t this sweet?”

Jack leapt to his feet, staff at the ready, and Kim lifted herself smoothly into a battle-ready crouch with Gabumon at her side.

Pitch watched them from the darkness, smirking.

“A happy reunion, I assume.”

“What do you want, Pitch?” Jack demanded, icy magic glowing in the crook of his staff.

“I need a reason?” The shade wonder, mock-innocent. “It’s been so long, I was only wondering how little Kimi was doing.”

Suspicions taking shape, Kim’s careful mask settled into place like a second skin as Gabumon bared his fangs.

“We’ve never met.”

“Not personally.” He agreed. “But I knew your mother very well.”

Anger seeped through the cracks, and Gabumon snarled blue sparks.

Pitch seemed oblivious to the reaction he had caused, though Jack was not.

“Such a weak will…It was all too easy to convince her that this world would be better off without her. Oh, but she fought, kept saying she loved her little girls…”

Kim’s gaze was razor-sharp, knuckles bone-white as she zeroed in on the vulnerable points of the dark spirit’s body.

Eyes, throat-

“She was soon convinced you would be better off without her. And you are, aren’t you? Such a bright child shouldn’t be hampered by such a worthless mother.”

Diaphragm, kidneys-

“Though she was rather theatric about it. Wallowing in misery for weeks before finally going through with it.”

Knees, groin-

“Oh, how she cried…”

Pitch disappeared into the shadows before the heel of Kim’s palm slammed into his nose, cracking the tree bark instead.

The cold fury in her eyes was enough to silence him.

“No one speaks about my mother that way.” She rasped out, reining in her temper and deep-seated pain with Herculean effort.

If Pitch had thought Casey’s rage only an hour before had been intimidating, he found Kim’s almost menacing.

Her wrath was not wild and unpredictable, but honed like a blade, wielded with a logical precision that promised agonizing pain.

“You should be thanking me.” He claimed, forcefully at ease. “You wouldn’t be the person you are today if I hadn’t interfered.”

“And that’s a good deed in your eyes?” Kim shot back, insulted. “To make a little girl bitter and empty by taking her mother away? Like you did to Casey? Were you disappointed when she refused to break, so you decided to try again?”

Her voice was eerily calm despite the anger growing inside, and it sent a foreign chill down Jack’s spine.

The little girl he had known, so very happy and bright…

Pitch had done this to her?

Caused her to shut down and shut out the world?

Jack would never forgive him for that.

Pitch frowned, freshly reminded of his earlier failure to convert his original target.

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“No.” Kim responded firmly. “It didn’t.”

Gabumon leapt forward, reacting to his partner’s upset.

“Blue Blaster!”

The shade dodged the tinted flames quickly, melding into the shadows before a well-aimed kick could land on his face.

Nightmares rose up around the trees, galloping towards her in a reckless charge Kim had not been expecting.

“Blue Blaster! Blue Blaster!”

Kim jerked back, arms raised to block the brunt of any impact-

The Nightmares shrieked as they were disintegrated under a wave of icy magic, leaving Kim to stare in surprise.

“Jack…”

The winter spirit turned to her, serious and implacable as a blizzard.

“I won’t let him hurt you again.”

This declaration stunned her.

Why?

Why, when he knew how damaged and scarred she was, would he still care?

Why?

Sizing up the opposition, Pitch decided to pull in the big guns early.

“Seadramon!”

A massive sea dragon-like Digimon burst through the lake’s ice, roaring to the sky before turning to the trio with bared fangs.

Gabumon bristled, stepping between his partner and the new threat with a growl as they were boxed in by Nightmares.

“I’ll take the creepy horses, and you take the giant sea lizard?” Jack voiced, slightly nervous.

Kim frowned, sizing up her opponent with a critical eye.

“Do I have a choice?”

“Not really.”

Seadramon lunged with bared fangs, intent on devouring his prey, and Gabumon jumped into action.

“Blue Blaster!”

The little flames scorched the sea serpent’s face, causing him to pull back with an annoyed glare, tail coming around in a powerful swing.

Gabumon cried out as he was struck, tumbling head-over-claws through the slushy sand and snow into a disoriented heap quite a few yards away.

The pain echoed through the Bond like a physical ache, and Kim winced as it shuddered through her entire body.

“Gabumon!”

Blasting a Nightmare that threatened to smash his face in, Jack turned sharply at the rush of displaced air beside him.

“KAY!”

The black-haired teenager cried out as she was tackled to the ground and pinned down by a cold body, eyes snapping open at his grunt of pain.

Holding himself up with great difficulty, Jack opened one eye as the Nightmare ground into his back with both forelegs, trying to make him buckle.

“A-Are you okay?”

“Jack…” She muttered, so very confused.

Why was he trying so hard to protect her?

“I told you once that we were friends.” He insisted, firm. “Let me prove it to you.”

Kim had not felt such a swell of emotion since she was a child, overwhelmed and lost, and she had no idea where to turn.

Then a presence touched her through the Bond, sturdy and warm, and she realized it was Gabumon.

It felt like worry and protectiveness and it’s alright, I’m here, I’ll always be here for you…

That was all she needed.

Light flooded from the Digivice at her hip, and both girl and Digimon were lost from sight as the glow enveloped them.

“Gabumon, Digivolve to…Garurumon!”

The massive blue wolf pounced on Seadramon’s head as the serpent went in to finish the teenager’s off, sinking his fangs into it’s neck as his opponent thrashed.

With a shriek, the Nightmare tormenting Jack was blasted to pieces by a high-pressure blast of water, and the winter spirit toppled over in surprise.

Blinking his vision clear, he looked up at Kim, awed by the flash of liquid-blue in her eyes and the water swirling around her body like bladed rings.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”

The liquid rippled as she raised a hand, and came down like a tsunami on the surrounding Nightmares.

Garurumon snarled as he lost his grip, landing behind his partner gracefully and baring his blood-spattered fangs at Seadramon in warning.

Pitch cursed under his breath, calling nightmare-sand up from the ground like tentacles as Seadramon hissed in outrage.

“Ice Blast!”

Kim brought both hands around, the snow melting and forming a dome over the trio before the attack struck, freezing it to solid ice.

Dark shadows struck from all sides, trying to break through, but the dome held strong under Kim’s focus.

“Garurumon.”

The large wolf nodded, crouching down and ready to move.

“Cover your head.” Kim warned, eyes narrowing on a minute crack in her shield as Jack took her advice.

The moment her hands fell, Garurumon busted through the suddenly-weakened ice with a snarl.

“Howling Blaster!”

Seadramon shrieked, jerking back as his face and upper body were badly burned by the powerful blue flames.

With a clenched fist, Kim caught the shattered ice of her dome and threw them like daggers.

Dodging the sharp projectiles, Pitch scowled to hide his alarm as they cut through the surrounding trees.

Enraged, Seadramon opened his maw with a hiss.

“Ice Blast!”

“Howling Blaster!”

The attacks met in midair, but Garurumon’s proved to be the stronger of the two as it enveloped the stream of icicles and struck Seadramon full in the face.

With one last screech, the sea serpent disintegrated, the only sign of his existence the cracked ice and disheveled snow.

Seeing this, Pitch knew it was time to go.

“Well, this was fun, but I do need to be going.”

Eyes narrowed into a glare, Kim shot a high-pressure sphere of water at the shade’s face as he melted into the shadows.

“Coward.”

When nothing else came out to attack them, she slowly relaxed, light flashing around the pair as they returned to normal.

Blinking the exhaustion away as Jack took hold of her arm, the girl allowed him to support her weight.

“Tired?” The winter spirit teased, hiding his concern with humor.

“Extremely.” She admitted, patting Gabumon’s head as he leaned into her hip with a sigh. “Can we go now?”

Jack nodded, patting her braid down in a comforting manner.

“Yeah…Yeah, we can go back.”

Both knew he was talking about something deeper than going back to Santoff Claussen.

Kim just hoped it was possible.