Once Upon a December

Jack Frost ducks behind a bush, straining his ears for the sound of footsteps; he realizes a moment later that he can hear them, but not in the direction he wants. A hand suddenly yanks him up by his cloak from his hiding spot and he stares at the dark woman holding him with huge blue eyes. The beetle-black eyes narrow stormily and with pursed apple-red lips she scowls, "You've been following me."

Jack fights back the urge to squirm, to flee, instead he stares right back and says, "You see me."

The woman rolls her eyes. "Why wouldn't I? I'm Mother Nature and you are obviously some nature sprite."

Jack cocks his head to the side. "You're not very old-looking, shouldn't a mother look older?" he inquires.

The woman glares at him. "I suggest you control that lip before I dispatch you whence you came."

Jerking his head in the direction of the lake, Jack remarks, "Go ahead, I came from that lake, but I don't think it'll do much; I'll just freeze it."

Mother Nature's eyes grow in alarm. "Came from the lake?" she asks.

"Um, yeah?" Jack agrees.

"It's nearly forty feet deep," the woman murmurs.

Jack tries to shrug, but fails from the woman's awkward hold on his clothes. "Whelp, all I know is I woke up right above it and that guy–" pointing to the moon, Jack says, "–told me my name was Jack Frost and left me to it."

Releasing her hold on the teenager, Mother Nature's face ripples with several emotions. "Nothing else? No explanation? No guidance?"

Jack shakes his head, feeling really confused and ecstatic that someone else feels the same way about the moon as he does. "Nope," he answers, popping his lips on the p.

Outrage overcomes the woman's countenance, but it's quickly erased with fury. "Oh, that simply won't do," she growls. "You shall come with me," she says, snagging his wrist. "I'll find you someone to stay with while I go talk to that capricious fool."

Trotting along side her, Jack struggles against her vice-like grip for a moment before giving up. "Who do I get to stay with? How are you going to talk to the Man in the Moon? Especially since you're Mother Nature, won't the earth, like, collapse without you?" Jack prattles with a mixture of giddiness and anxiety.

"Silence boy," Mother Nature snaps at him. Jack shrinks back. Mother Nature's eyes soften and she sighs. Reaching out she pats his cheeks once and says, "I'm not angry with you–annoyed, yes–but not angry, I promise."

Jack sucks in a calming breath and bobs his head. "Okay," he whispers.

Mother Nature pauses in her purposeful stride to gaze at him for a moment. "I'll be keeping you, though," she tells him, her eyes almost turn fond as she toys with a lock of his white hair. "A nature sprite like yourself needs guidance, I can teach you what you need to know."

Jack grins hopefully. "Really?" he asks almost shyly.

Mother Nature's eyes seem to lighten to a shade not so detestable and her marble cheeks flush with a lively pink. "Yes, you'll be mine."

Jack worms his wrist away and makes it so they are holding hands. Pulling lightly at her hand, he asks, "Who am I going to stay with?"

Her eyes distance themselves from him as she replies, "With a man by the name of Pitch Black, he owes me one."

Almost skipping (but not, because that's for girls), Jack goes on to ask, "Is he like us?"

Her eyes seem to take on a sharp–almost sad–glint to them. "Oh yes, he is fear personified."

"Fear, huh?" Jack repeats absently. It's not like it matters all that much to him, if Mother Nature thinks he safe enough to leave him with, he can't be that scary, right?

Mother Nature's eyes flicker to him, but she doesn't say a word. She leads him further, takes him deeper into the woods than he's ever cared to explore. She brings him to a clearing the moon's light doesn't reach and has Jack trail behind her to the middle. She stops suddenly, kicking a pebble, it falls into the gigantic hole in front of them and a belated minute later, a tall figure made of shadows and age-tarnished gold eyes appears. Smiling a shark-sharp smile at Mother Nature, the man inquires, "What's brought you here, dear?"

Mother Nature tenses, Jack wonders, but doesn't think about it. "I have business, but I need a place to keep him," she explains pulling Jack forth for Pitch to inspect.

Eyes raking up and down his skinny, pale form, Pitch sneers and rumbles, "Why ever would I keep him for you?"

Mother Nature glowers at the older spirit. "You owe me," she says.

Pitch sighs dramatically. "If I must."

Mother Nature bites back a smirk and presses Jack a bit closer to her. "You must," she parrots. Then turning away from the two males, she says to Pitch, "I'll be back in a couple days." She tilts her head in thought then. "By the end of the week, at latest."

One taloned hand coming to grip Jack Frost's shoulder, Pitch acknowledges the contract with a dip of his chin. "I'll eat him for dinner if you aren't back in time."

Mother Nature's head swerves, a funny smirk upon her face. "Well, I'll just have to keep to my promise, won't I?" Fog materializes around the woman and then, she's gone.

Turning his innocent face up to the Nightmare King, Jack questions fearfully, "You won't eat me, will you?"

Pitch chuckles darkly. "If you behave, no, I don't think so."

Jack exhales his relief, one hand over his spastic heart. "Good."

Curiously, Pitch takes in the boy's face and inquires, "What's your name boy?"

"Jack Frost!" he chirps, a smile blooming on his face.

Pitch snorts a laugh and shakes his head. "Always the winter spirits, with you isn't it Mother Nature?" he remarks to the sky.

Jack, well, he decides he'd rather not ask what Pitch is talking about.

Bouncing along beside the imposing figure, Jack asks, "So, what are we doing Pitch?"

Gliding along the shadow's edge, Pitch doesn't say anything at first; next, he ducks into a little settlement and creeps up beside a window to look in. "Black will do," he rebuffs, then sinking his talons into a sill he smirks at the tiny flushed faces lining a mattress on the home's floor. "And to what I'm doing, I'm going to give these children nightmares."

Jack frowns, squishing his face against the pane of glass. "Why?" He frowns. "That doesn't sound fun."

Pitch sends him a glare that lets Jack know he's an idiot. "Fun?" he scoffs, "not everything in life is about fun, boy." Flicking a finger, some black sand seeps underneath the glass and slithers across the floor to the little girl on the edge of the bed. It attacks with surprising accuracy, taking the shape of a child lost in a woods, which then turns to a child being chased by a pack of starving wolves. Pointing to the nightmare, Pitch makes Jack watch. "See that? It's a reminder–a warning–it reinforces lessons a child needs to know to survive."

Jack blinks, slowly taking in the sight as the girl fusses and abruptly jumps from her bed with a shriek. Her mother comes running, snatching the tearful child in her arms (Jack wonders if Mother Nature will comfort him when he's scared).

"Okay," Jack says, "I get it, I think."

Pitch glances at him in astonishment. "Do you?" he asks. "Do you truly understand that I don't scare the children out of malicious intent? That I do it for their own good?" He glowers doubtfully.

Jack frowns. "Why would you lie?"

Pitch turns his eyes skyward and smothers a smile. "Heaven's stars help this boy, how naive he is."

"What's that mean?" Jack whines.

Pitch looks to him, his eyes appear for fraction of a second to be worn and defeated. "Some aren't in the business in believing fear is beneficial."

Jack doesn't know who these people are, but he decides he doesn't like them already. "Well they're stupid." He scowls.

Pitch blinks once and then barks rusty sounding laughter. "Aren't you just a treat?" He smirks. "Come, let's do something fun, as you say."

Jack whoops and races ahead waving for the formable spirit to hurry. "C'mon Pitch! At this rate it's gonna take us all night to get somewhere with snow!" Pitch shakes his head and strolls after the boy.

Running a hand through the white hair, Mother Nature asks, "Did he behave?"

Pitch smirks. "As well as expected, he doesn't seem to know when to stop prattling, I've noticed."

Mother Nature frowns a little. "The Man in the Moon let him wonder around without guidance for almost a hundred years."

Pitch taps his chin thoughtfully. "That is unfortunate, I assume he doesn't have any believers?"

"No, I don't think he does," Mother Nature says with thinned lips.

Coming over, Pitch combs back the boy's white fringe; Jack leans in, a smile on his face. "You're welcome to bring him here anytime."

Mother Nature turns wondrous eyes on him. "Really?" she questions.

"He's not so bad," Pitch remarks, then glancing away he huffs, "I guess."

Gathering the winter sprite in her arms, Mother Nature nods. "I will." Timidly, she whispers, "We'll see you soon."

Pitch nods and disappears into the shadows of his lair, leaving Mother Nature to find her own way from the labyrinth.

I'm thinking I'll make this a two-shot, what do you all think?

Thank you all for reading and I hope you'll choose to review! :)

EDITED: 1/31/16