I apologize for not posting on the 18th. I was busy with Halloween, birthdays and now gearing up for Christmas. I had some things happen with work that took me out of the writing mood as well.
Please note, I haven't read the books, but I plan to. I could buy them on Kobo, but I love hardcopies of books and I am more concerned with Christmas gifts for family and friends.
I do not own RISE OF THE GUARDIANS.
The idea came to me after reading many fanfics about Jack being parented by the other Guardians. This is mostly a drabble that I wrote in two hours. Sandy is not in this fic.
~~!~~
"Give it back!" Jack said.
"Jack, you know I ca-"
"Give it back, North!" Jack ground out, holding his hand open.
"Jack."
"North. Give it, now."
The North Pole had transformed from a factory of wonder into a battle of wills in a matter of minutes.
"Jack, why you create storm?"
"Because…well, it was only a little storm."
"But Jack, your 'little storm' killed dozens of people." The Easter Bunny loomed over the winter child.
"Yes, Bunnymund, I realize this. Do you think I don't? I can tell you the exact numbers each and every storm I created caused. That's my punishment and my burden alone," he snapped.
Bunny stopped. That was the first time Jack had ever called him Bunnymund in such a tone. This wasn't the Guardian of Fun, this was a pissed off spirit.
"Jack, this is too much for you. You have never had adult to tell you what to do and not do. It time for time-off. Creating storms is not good. We are good guys." North planted his hands on his hips.
Jack looked at his hands sadly.
"North, I don't think you understand what it is I do," Jack said, paraphrasing something Tooth had said when they had first met.
"Yes, I am the Guardian of Fun, but what do you think I was before that, which I never stopped being, by the way." Jack looked at them. "Think about it, when you started to lose believers, you lost power. I never had believers, not until recently, so…where did I draw my power from? As much as I love children, it wasn't them."
That had never occurred to the other Guardians. They remembered Easter, while they had been weak and next to useless, Jack had been fighting alone.
"Jack…"
"No, Tooth, don't start. Don't treat me like a child right now. I might be eternally immature, but that doesn't mean I don't understand." He clenched his hands into fists.
"No Sweet Tooth, that's not what I was going to ask. Where do you draw your power from?"
"I shouldn't be saying this, but the earth itself. As long as the earth turns, I have power. Belief is powerful, I can feel it in my body, but these two powers are so different. Belief is so strong, but it's fleeting. You never noticed since you've always had it, it's always been there, in your body. You gain and lose believers as easy as breathing. You've never noticed when you lose seven, because what is seven in the scheme of millions? I've never had this." Jack turned from them, showing his back.
"Jack…you're…a seasonal?" Bunny asked.
A slow nod was the answer.
"Mate…why did you never tell us?" Bunny took a step forward, but stopped.
"Why would it matter? It changes nothing." Jack sighed. "Your powers have zero to no consequences. You just have to keep doing the same things and all is all pretty and wonderful."
Jack made little motions with his hands. Small frost sparks danced and made miniature explosions, as if they were tiny fireworks.
"North, you build toys for children and guard wonder. What is the opposite?"
"Jack, v'at are you-"
"The opposite of wonder is basically not caring. If children stop wondering, they stop exploring, they stop thinking. It's the same for all of you! The opposite of hope? It's distrust, the same you showed to me, Bunny. Dreams is nightmares, which we all saw. The opposite of memories is forgetting, is ignorance. You never have to deal with your opposite considering it's an actually entity. Pitch is the opposite for all of you, which is why you all inherently hate him."
Tooth went to interrupt, but Jack continued.
"I don't know your history with him, nor do I care. I was brought into this because I'm a fresh body, a new point of view. You think fear must be erased, I think fear is better accepted. 'Yes, I am scared, but I can do it.' It's not a choice you've ever thought about since most of you are older than the earth itself. You are so set in your ways. Children are evolving and you haven't kept up. Pitch isn't someone who should disappear. The world will die without fear."
"How could you say that?" Tooth asked, zipping around, proving Jack's point of being so focused on one task.
"Because fear is necessary! Think about it! Fear keeps people from doing stupid things. I understand fear can be bad, but think and shut up for once and listen! If you hadn't had fear for the children, you wouldn't be here. It was your fear that drove you. It wasn't hope or wonder or dreams or memories. It was fear, plain and simple."
"Jack-"
"No! Shut up! I am not siding with Pitch! I'm just saying that man is going about delivering it the wrong way. Fear in doses is healthy for everyone, but that's his problem. He's not thinking straight. We could even work with him. That would make all of us stronger. There cannot be light without dark, but dark is created from light too."
Jack turned back to North.
"But my point is that you don't have to deal with your consequences because Pitch is your polar. Each spirit has one. I have three polars, which is dangerous."
"Polars?" Tooth asked.
"Polars are opposites. Hot and cold, sad and happy, memories and forgetting. I am snowballs and fun times, right? I am also cold and ice. I am the winter seasonal, so my polar is the summer seasonal. I am the Guardian of Fun, but I am also tied to the earth which commands me, this moment, to create a horrible ice storm somewhere in the world to create balance. If I don't, someone else will who might not be as merciful in their restraint or location."
Without looking, he held his hand out again.
"Now, give me my staff back, North. I'm not asking politely again."
Bunny snatched it from North's hand, watched as the teenager clutched it close and bolted out the window, the winds instantly stirring and he knew that the North Pole was in for a horrific storm. There was no way Jack was making it to the South Pole.
"Bunny, v'at is a seasonal?" North asked.
"North, how could you not know about them? Tooth?" Bunny turned to her.
"I know a little."
"V'at?"
"Seasonals are incredibly powerful spirits whom have entered into contracts with the very earth itself. As long as the earth needs them, it will provide them with power. I heard that Old Man Winter hasn't been seen in nearly four hundred years…which means that he was replaced. I just thought that he wanted privacy."
"And Jack?" North asked.
"He is far more powerful than we give him credit for." Tooth hugged herself.
"Which means?"
"That we made a horrible mistake and owe Jack an apology. Seasonals are secretive and emotional creatures, Sweet Tooth is no different. So we are going to apologize. Agreed?"
Two nods.
"And Sandy does not find out about this."
Too bad the other Guardians didn't know that Sandy knew it all and was preparing a dream orchestrated just for Jack to put him at ease when his storm ended.
