Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians nor the story idea. The story came from rin0rourke on AO3. They have given me permission to write this stories as well as others.

This is a major problem. Jack thinks to himself as he wakes up to find himself different than usual. Something that shouldn't have happened yet it did. Curse me and my trickster personality. He continues talking to himself mentally. I really shouldn't have messed around with that woman, but of course I couldn't help myself. Of course I get myself in a pickle. Of course I get cursed. A curse that I'm going to have to deal with since I have no clue how to break it. Though I wonder if a kiss would fix it. Highly doubtful. God, why am I such an idiot? He berates himself as he remembers pranking a witch like woman who did happen to mutter something of a curse before he left. It was all fun and games for him, but it seems the woman thought otherwise.

The predicament that Jack has found himself in is that he is no longer a human frost spirit. He is now a white bobcat whose fur glistens with silver flecks if the moon beams hit them just right. Like frosty ice over the snow during wintery nights. He sighs out his nose, staring at his hands turned paws, turning them over to see his pale pink pads. He flexes his paw, curling each toe in to test them out before placing them against the ground again.

I hope I won't be stuck in this form for too long, he thinks as he tries to stand up. His front legs are a little wobbly since he's not used to standing with them but he soon gains his balance. Just my luck this had to happen, huh? He takes a look at himself in his pond, his reflection showing his familiar blue eyes with the straight pupils of a cat. A sudden thought comes to him. Then again, I can probably use this form to it's advantage. No one would know it's me. He grins with his muzzle, deciding to prank some people nearby, or even sprites and spirits that don't know him well enough.

He gets up and walks on all fours, still not used to this but finding it easy all the same. As he treks on through the woods near his pond, he hears a few voices mumbling behind some trees. He grins as he locks onto his target, watching them from behind a bush.

"Are you sure that you spotted a bear around here? We would have been notified about it before."

"I'm sure! There aren't a lot of fuzzy animals that big that just mosey through woods."

"True, but still. This close to a village?"

"You'd be surprised. Bears have been known to walk through town roads and villages at times. I heard someone even drove into one before! Got a huge chunk of fur right in the grill."

"Geez."

Jack's interest in the conversation distracts him from his prank. A bear? He would remember seeing one before in his woods. If he found one, he would make sure it stayed away from the village. He hopes none of the kids will get hurt from it if it dares wander into the village.

"Are you done yet?"

"Yeah, just need to set the bar down like so…" a small click can be heard. "Ah-ha! Done. Hopefully this will catch that bear."

The people cover whatever they were working on and start to leave. Jack takes this chance to hunch down and prepare himself. Before they leave his sight, he pounces on out and growls as a bobcat would. When he lands on the ground, he finds one of his paws instantly zapping with pain. He yowls, looking back to see his hind right paw is caught in the contraption the humans were messing with.

"Holy shit!"

"What's a bobcat doing here?"

"I have no clue, but do you see the pelt on that one? Pure white. That's not a thing, is it? Could it be rare?"

Jack panics as he sees the humans coming back. He was able to scare them, which was a score to his card, but being stuck in this seemingly bear trap and unable to run isn't helping his anxiety. He stands and tries to book it only for the trap to pierce further into his right hind paw. He hisses in pain, glaring at the trap as he struggles in its grasp.

"What do you think we should do?"

"It's obvious. We can't let that thing be wandering around town."

"You mean we should-?!"

"Of course. Or at least something thereof."

This is where Jack's patience, anxiety, nerves, and sanity shoot through the roof and or plummet. He growls as the humans step closer to him, fur standing on end as he's ready to swipe them if they come any closer. Before he can do so, he notices one of them carrying something he should've seen before. The sound of one of the human's cocking their shot gun, his eyes widen as his ears go flat against his head.

"I don't really think we should-."

"Now or never, this bobcat isn't going to get any closer to the village."

Jack moves as soon as the human pulls the trigger. He feels all the fragments from the shotgun blast against his fur and burrow into his skin. He yowls in pain, hissing as he tries to run again, causing the trap to gouge out more of his hind skin. He feels his blood oozing out of the openings and panics about possibly dying again.

First of all, it's a surprise that he's visible to humans when he usually isn't. Then again, if the witch's curse causes him to be visible to anyone and everyone, it makes sense. He just didn't think it would actually be a thing, even if he was planning to scare these humans out of their skin with a random, nonlethal pounce in their direction. How was he supposed to know about being physical again and not just a spirit?

"I think you should stop now. It's hurt enough."

"Would you rather let it bleed out and suffer?"

At the second cock of the gun, Jack finds himself praying to whoever is listening. Praying that he'll get out of this alive, or at least the bullet will jam inside the gun. He keeps moving around, howling and growling, fur turning red from his blood. When the human squeezes the trigger and lets out the second round, he freezes and squeezes his eyes shut.

Nothing. No second round of pain.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"You've hurt it enough! Let's just leave it and go. Besides, you don't have anymore bullets and I know the cops will be out here soon to investigate the shots."

The gunman tsks in displeasure. "Fine. Let's go. I can get my trap back once it's officially dead."

The winter spirit watches them leave, panting as his panic slowly subsides. He groans out a growl as the pain from the buckshot's and the trap surge up his body. At least a dozen or more of the projectiles lodged themselves into his side and back. Thank God none of them hit his head or vital organs. Now how to get out of this mess?

Jack paces with a limp as much as he can before laying on the ground, panting for air as he stares off into the distance. The blood loss is getting to him now. Spots in his vision make it hard for him to see in the dark even if he's able to see clear as day as a cat. He closes his eyes, hoping that someone would find him soon. Hoping that some spirit could come across him.

His hope lights up as a dull beacon asking for help, and only one being can sense it.

In the distance Jack can hear something akin to a snap and sucking sound from the ground. He doesn't bother opening his eyes, just letting his ears paint a picture for him. He hears something hop up from whatever place the sound came from. It's heavy and hard, making it's way around before halting. He hears whatever it is sniffing the air before slowly heading towards him. He doesn't panic. If anything can help him right now, he'll be grateful. So very grateful.

When the creature is close enough to him, he feels paws lightly glide against his side. A quite mumble from it's lips lets him know they're intelligent enough to speak, not just some random animal. Maybe another human is there? But then the hand or whatever on his side wouldn't feel like it does. It feels like a paw. Could it be an animal? But how many talking animals are there on Earth? He could only think of one-.

No. It couldn't be.

Before he could fully protest about the possibility of who found him, Jack finds himself growing unconscious. The blood loss has sapped a lot of his energy so it only makes sense for him to black out. He just wishes that he could have put up more of a fight and complain before his uninvited savior does whatever he's planning to do to him. Oh well. He'll just have to go with it until he wakes back up. If he wakes back up. God, why did he have to follow his prankster urges?

Notes: This is my second hand at a RotG story. I'm having a lot of fun writing this one. I'll be posting up the first 6 chapters and then will post the next ones along with the AO3 version once I feel it should be updated. Again, this story was originally thought up by rin0rourke on AO3. I was given permission to write it out with my own quirks. There's a possible one-shot sequel I will make of this story once it's finished.

This is not beta-ed so there might be mistakes.

Ciao: I hope you enjoyed the new story, dearies! Thank you for reading! R&R.