24th December is one of the busiest days in Santoff Claussen considering that it was Christmas Eve. Everyone was laborious, the yetis gathered around the workshop wrapping their finished work, some doing last minute toy making. Elves baked fruit cake and cookies for North since they really don't help in presents the best they could do was cook or at least 'help' cook.
The normally empty hallways were bustling; slacking yetis were already rushing to finish their presents.
Phil stood outside North's worship, a plate of cookies rested on his hand. Since North didn't trust the elves bringing half eaten cookies to him anymore, it had become one of his new 'job'
Remembering the last incident where in the door smashed North's ice sculpted train, Phil has finally learned how to knock. He shuffled impatiently waiting for North to open the door.
It seemed like hours were passing Phil stood there waiting for North to answer the door. His attention span was cut short; he raised his fisted hand and gave one final knock on the door, hard literally knocking down the door itself.
North jolted awake by the sound of the door collapsing, turns out he was sleeping. Phil stood at the door way, staring at the door with guilt and held up the plate of cookies.
"At least you learned how to knock" North said sarcastically dismissing the yeti afterwards. "Oh and by the way, summon the guardians, I got to know what they are doing."
Jack fled to Burgess whirling his staff in the air, and together with his companion, the wind, they created a strong yet moderate blizzard.
He made finishing touches on the trees, adding more layers of frost on the rough brown bark.
He thickened the ice on the lake, slamming the butt of his staff hard on the surface several times to check if it was sturdy enough to hold weight, he didn't want history repeating itself.
And lastly he covered the ground with a thick layer of fluffy white snow.
He also stopped by Jamie's house and decorated his window.
The hellion hovered above town starring at his own work, it was truly a white Christmas, just as he promised the children.
He spread his arms out wide, the cold was welcoming after months long of harsh summer heat.
He saw something colorful light up from the corner of his eye; he looked up on the sky and saw the northern lights spread wide up the sky. He perched himself of a tree watching the lights dance up and down.
Jack being a new guardian didn't know what it meant. He wasn't really listening he first time North explained the rules to him, in fact he wasn't listening at all, he just considered it as endless ranting and just kept smiling and nodding.
After what seemed like hours the lights were still present on the night sky, it was hard to ignore and it was beginning to get annoying. Jack could keep his eyes off of it.
In instinct he decided to visit North, the lights must have something to do with him.
"Wind, take me to the-" he didn't even have to continue, the wind seemed to have read his mind, it instantly picked the winter spirit up in the air and impelled him.
North paced back and fourth in front of the globe. The Guardians' absence increased his worry somehow. What is Pitch came back and attacked them? What if Pitch captured them? What if he grew stronger? He kept repeating to himself over and over.
Until a hole formed beneath him and a pair of ears stack out first followed by the 6 foot tall Pooka "This better be good North" he said thick with his Australian accent.
"Ah Bunny, what a nice greeting" North mentally sighed in relief seeing one of the Guardians.
"What is it about this time" Bunny asked hastily "I have over 50,000 eggs to check"
North raised his eyebrow to reply but was cut off by Tooth barging in all of a sudden. "Did I bother anything?" she chirped as happy as ever.
North shook his head "No Tooth your just in time"
"Yeah, just in time" Bunny interjected "mind telling us why we're here North?"
"Let's just wait for the others shall we?" North urged, he just wanted to make sure that everyone of them was okay.
"Come on North, I have a lot of eggs to check" Bunny moaned.
"Wait a minute, you still check your eggs?" Tooth asked cutting off North's reply.
"Of course I do!" The Pooka crossed his arms to his chest clearly offended that no one knew how his work goes.
"Ah Bunny Easter is still far away, besides, it's Christmas, I am the one supposed to be working" North retorted.
"Preparing for Easter takes a long time mate, I don't just paint eggs y'know" the rabbit frowned at North's comment.
"But Christmas is more important" stated the Russian.
"What? Easter is important too" Bunny argued.
"But children love Christmas"
"So do they love Easter!"
Sandy loomed over the arguing guardians, a question mark formed above his head and he sent Tooth a questioning glance. Tooth can only give him a sheepish grin as they both sat on the side watching North argue with Bunny.
A strong breeze blew all the windows open, shooting cold air through out the room. Jack clumsily stumbled in the room. "Oh so the lights means meeting" Jack pointed out a rather obvious fact.
North's eye twitched "Jack, weren't you listening to a word I am saying"
Jack rubbed the back of his head awkwardly "Some of it" he looked over at Bunny who was hopping around muttering something to himself. "What's wrong with Bunny?" he jested with a smirk.
Bunny, having sharp hearing senses instantly heard him "What's wrong? What's wrong is that no one appreciates what I do"
"Come on Bunny no one said that, I'm just saying that Christmas is better than Easter" North clarified.
"Exactly! My job is harder that what all of you do. I don't have any creatures to help me paint. Tooth has those tiny bugs to help her collect the teeth, she doesn't even need to lift a finger, and Frostbite, all he does is freeze the world"
"HEY!" Jack and Tooth said simultaneously springing up their seats.
"You don't know how hard my job is!" Tooth snapped
"Fine" North stood up a little straighter, eyes filled with mirth. He seemed to forgot what was the real reason why he summoned the guardians in the first place "We shall swich jobs, see how hard it is" he declared happily.
"And that would prove just how hard my job is" Tooth said angrily eyeing Bunny who rolled his eyes.
Sandy didn't agree with Tooth neither did he like North's seemingly strange idea on Christmas eve, a giant X appeared above his head followed by a rapid series of sand drawings that only North could understand.
"Sandy, it is for the best, so we don't get into arguments" North explained, but Sandy threw himself on the chair refusing to take part.
"Okay since Sandy doesn't want to be part of this, I take Bunny's job for one day and bunny gets to be the tooth fairy for one day, just to see how hard it is" Said North
"The Easter Bunny is the Tooth fairy, wait till Jamie sees this" Jack snorted and burst into sleek laughter nearly toppling over the stool he's been perched on.
"It's not that funny" Bunny rolled his emerald eyes.
"So, Tooth gets Jack's and Jack gets mine," North continued.
Tooth squealed flying in circles.
"What?" this time Jack really toppled over, he wasn't comfortable with someone doing his job, neither was he comfortable with doing North's job….on Christmas eve.
"Come on Jack" North took off without waiting for Jack's answer.
"But North, wait!" Jack trailed after him.
"North!" Jack called out but North could hear him with all the bustling noises the yetis were making.
The frosty spirit tried to keep up with North, he slid past all the giant abominable snowmen carrying treys of toys and watched his footing to avoid tripping over the small elves.
"But North, this is, this is weird" Jack protested "I think your all your jobs are hard, why am I even involved in this"
"You are involved because no one is left to take job" North fumbled through his coat "here, take this, you need it tonight" he handed Jack is magical snow globe.
"But, it's Christmas Eve, why are you even giving me your job?" Jack asked glassy eyes looking up at North.
The bearded man gently grasp his bony shoulders "Because I trust you" he said.
Jack was taken back, after the whole Easter fiasco he never thought anyone would trust him anymore. "But I know nothing about you guys, what if I mess up?"
"No you won't" North patted his back reassuringly then pulled out his two swords. "Here, you need sword for protection"
"Why? I have my staff" Jack gripped it with both hand.
"Ah, you give that to Tooth, just for the day"
"Um…" Jack was reluctant, he couldn't remember the last time he didn't have his staff with him, except for the time Pitch broke it. "Why?" he asked.
"Switching job means switching everything" North clarified.
Jack rocked on his heels "Tooth? Just for the day?"
"Yes"
"Okay…"
"Good" North handed him the two swords which Jack could barely lift at all.
"You know how to control the sleigh do you?"
"Sort of" Jack bit his lower lip, seeming uneasy as he remembered the last time he drove the sleigh.
"Good, now I'm off to being the Easter Bunny" North pulled a pair of bunny ears out of his drawer, Jack didn't even want to ask why he kept a pair of bunny ears with him.
"Oh and Jack, you might not want to the children see you, we don't want to let them think that Jack Frost is the new Santa clause"
"Bunny! Do you like ears?" North jived slapping the un amused Easter bunny hard on his back, nearly making him fall over from the hard impact.
Bunny grunted, he had just finished hearing Tooth's huge lecture.
A large question mark formed above Sandy's head upon seeing the winter spirit dragging North's heavy swords across the floor.
"Oh, I'm North now" Jack continued to trudge until he reached North and the others, Sandy huffed, he still thought the whole switching jobs thing was a stupid idea.
"So, I go down hole and paint eggs" North said.
"It's harder than ya think mate" Bunny stated angrily gripping his boomerangs.
"Ah come" North snatched his boomerangs out of Bunny's paw "tell me everything so we can get started"
"Fine, first you have inspect every egglets that hatch from their pod, make sure they don't have any single crack on them or your gonna have to put them back. Then you have to mix the paint well until it's vivid then you start painting the eggs, and cover up every single white spot, then-"
"That's all I need" North interrupted, Bunny rolled his eyes.
"Come on Jack, why don't you show Tooth what you do" North said.
Instantly, Tooth was already floating in front of Jack, excitement gleamed in her violet irises as she clasped her hand together and prepared to listen.
"Um…I don't do much, well I guess you can just add some more layers of snow, oh and take this" Jack handed her the staff.
Tooth squealed "Don't worry Jack I won't let you down!" she made a beeline for the open window only to bash right in the wall beside it. She shook off her dizziness, this time; she carefully flew out the window.
"Well, that is settled" Said North "Better get going Jack,"
"Okay" the winter spirit trudged out the door.
"Well Bunny, I think it's time for me to go-" North was cut off by Bunny making a hole beneath North all of a sudden.
"He he" He laughed and made a hole of his own.
Jack dumped North's two heavy swords and his snow globe at the back seat of the sleigh along with a dozen sacks of presents the yetis loaded.
He could sense that one of the rain deer hated him. It was grinding his hove across the floor in disgust. "Sorry rain deer, your gonna be stuck with me today" he hoped in the sleigh and got ready to take off.
"The loop dee loops were better when North was driving" Jack commented, he was beginning to get dizzy.
North finally reached the end of Bunny's tunnel after what seemed like long hours of endless sliding. "That rabbit sure is surprising" he muttered pacing around the warren "How hard can zis be?" a dozen of pearly white eggs bumped into his feet, North chuckled "Ah, these eggs. Time to get painted" he scooped them up with one hand and headed to the lake of paint.
He seemingly forgot Bunny's reminder of checking the eggs one y one before painting them.
Bunny stared at the ivory pink wall of the Tooth palace. He couldn't stand pink, he didn't like the mixture of the color, but unfortunately the whole Tooth palace was pink and pretty much he was stuck there for the whole day. "That North, he thinks my job is so easy, fine, let's see him deal with ma egglets" Bunny kept muttering to himself.
A swarm of Tooth's Mini fairies gathered around the Pooka.
"What is it mates?" Bunny asked his ears twitching slightly.
The fairies began humming at the same time giving Bunny a huge headache for he couldn't understand a single chirp.
"Look mates, why don't ya guys do what ya do everyday?" said Bunny, the fairies shrugged and flew of in synchrony.
"See Tooth, look how easy ya job is mate" Bunny grinned
Apparently Bunnymund hadn't been listening either. Back in the pole Tooth specifically stated that Bunny was supposed to assign each group of Fairies to one continent.
Turns out only Jack was listening, the teenaged hellion who supposedly hates rules was actually listening. He seemed to be doing North's job perfectly, although he was a little less of a reckless driver than North, now he understands why Bunny was so afraid of the sleigh. "Now how do I work this thing?" Jack shook the snow globe a couple of times, and since he was thinking of Burgess, a portal opened in front of him leading to Burgess.
"So that's how it works" the winter spirit chuckled. This was the time he finally realized that he had no idea on how to land the sleigh properly. He revoked what North taught him but recalled nothing on how to land the vehicle.
He decided to pay Jamie a visit first, if he was gonna mess up, it would be okay with his best friend. he led the sleigh down the town of Burgess but carelessly crash landed on Jamie's back yard, it was a good thing there was a huge space.
A loud crash awoke Jamie from his slumber. He jolted upright turning his flashlight on "GOT YOU!" he yelled, but to his disappointment he saw nothing but his wooden dresser.
He looked out the window to see Santa Clause's sleigh parked right on his yard, he immediately jumped out of bed and threw the windows open.
To his surprise it wasn't North he saw, but it was Jack, who clumsily climbed out of the huge sleigh.
Jamie rubbed his eyes to check it was reality "Jack?"
Jack tumbled forward "Oh hey kiddo" he leaped in Jamie's window "Here this is from North and this is for your sister"
The boy couldn't help but giggle "What are you doing?" he asked out of amusement.
"Well, long story, a very very long story" he perched himself on the edge of Jamie's dresser. "You see Bunny and North kept arguing about whether which of their jobs are harder and they end up switching jobs which they had to drag me into" explained Jack.
"So your gonna be Santa Clause for the day" Jamie inquired.
"Yep"
"But isn't Santa Clause suppose to go down from the chimney"
"I only do windows…."
The two friends burst out laughing but Jack soon realized that time was running. "Sorry kiddo, I can't stay for too long" he stood up, Jamie moaned.
"I'll come back…er…tomorrow" he ruffled Jamie's hair and climbed back out of the window. Jamie waved him a farewell and watched the sleigh took off. "What are guardians doing normally?" he wondered.
Tooth flew around the forest of Burgess. It was a cold night even though she had feathers to keep her warmth. Clearly Jack's staff didn't work when she had it, it was just a plane piece of wood when it was out of his grasp.
But Tooth didn't want to let Jack down, the best she could do was shovel more snow onto the melted ones.
North snickered as he painted a load of Bunny's eggs red. He knew how much Bunny despised the color, because it was too "Christmas' but he liked it. At first everything seems to be going well. But after a while it turned into total chaos, the eggs were running around, cracking themselves on the egg golems.
North has learned something very important this day, eggs do not like his booming voice; neither do they like loud stomping for they go haywire when they do.
A hole suddenly formed above the warren and Bunny dove out of it panting like a tired dog. "Okay where is Tooth? I ADMIT IT, THAT JOB IS AS HARD AS MINE!" he smirked upon seeing North and a bunch of cracked eggs scattered on the floor "So, hows it goin' North"
"Yes your job is hard" North said giving Bunny's boomerangs back "what happened to you'
"Those over sized bugs began chasing me for no bloody reason!" Bunny stated angrily.
"Hey! Who are you calling over sized bugs?" they heard the sound of Tooth's voice coming from the opening of Bunny's tunnel.
"Tooth? Aren't you suppose to be in Burgess" North implored.
"Yes, but I came to check on the Tooth palace and found this hole leading here"
"FINE TOOTH, I ADMIT IT, YOUR JOB IS VERY HARD!" Bunny said in defeat, he really hated to admit it, but there was no way he was going back to those oversized bugs.
"Thank you" Tooth said in satisfaction.
"Okay, now we go back to pole" North declared. "To the sleigh!"
"The sleigh is with Jack, Remember?" Bunny elongated the last word.
"Oh, that is right-" he was cut of yet again by Bunny forming a tunnel beneath them leading to the North Pole.
They all tumble back to the center of the globe room. "Bunny could you stop it with the sudden holes" North said picking himself off the floor.
Sandy was still sitting where he was when they left, he made a picture of a clock above his head.
"Yes, we know, it's only been a few hours and we already quit job," North stated happily "Well Bunny, your job is very hard,"
"I'm glad mate" Bunny said mirthfully.
"So what now?" Tooth interrupted.
"We wait, for Jack" North settled beside Sandy, his limbs sore from chasing Bunny's eggs.
"What could be taking that show pony so long anyway? I thought he would have given up by now" Bunny said.
Turns out Bunny was wrong, for the first time Jack actually took something seriously, he did North's job seriously. He didn't want to prove anything to anyone since he agreed that all of their jobs are equally as hard as the other. It wasn't a competition with Bunny either, but it was for North, he wanted North to keep his trust in him. For 300 years of his life he was never trusted considering that no one could see him, he didn't trust anyone either, the only thing he trusted with his life was the wind. But now he trusted North like a father and he wanted North to feel the same way.
Jack arrived at dawn, tired and weary. He pushed open the doors of North's workshop and stumbled in not watching his footing "I'm done North." He declared happily disregarding how tired he was.
Tooth handed him the staff, which immediately became support for Jack to stand properly, he looked over at North to see an amazed yet wide grin on his face.
"I never really thought ya would actually take this seriously Frostbite" Bunny jested.
"Well I did, and it feels…weird" Jack joked leaning on his staff.
North booming laughter echoed the room, "great job Jack, very nice job!" he attempted to pat his back but realized how tired he was. "You need to sleep." He stated
"Then, I'll just go back to Burgess" Jack said and prepared to leave but was quickly snatched back by North "You are welcome here Jack."
Jack settled comfortably on the bed North offered. He was too tired to protest, and it seemed that his body refused to move once it settled on the soft surface.
"By the way Jack, I have something for you," North fumbled his coat and fished out a bauble, it was transparent blue patterned with Silvery snowflakes.
"Wow, thanks North," Jack said wearily.
"But it's not just an ordinary bauble," North tossed it on the ground creating a huge circular vortex suspended in the air. "With this, you can go wherever you wish, like snowglobe, so you don't have to ride wind when it's moderate." he placed it on Jack's hand, "You did well today."
Jack was beaming, but his eyelids threatened to close.
"Get some rest" North cooed and stopped at the doorway "Oh by the way; you are off naughty list, for what you did today"
"But I like being on the naughty list" Jack fake groaned.
North shut the door with a grin "I'm proud of you Jack" he said silently.
Just a random note, honestly when I first saw Rise of the Guardians I thought it was a children's movie. Though I've watched all kinds of children movies with my little sister, but this one was very far from children movies and it soon became obsessive enough for me to get tired of my old fandom and move to this new one.
So, anyway, I just dreamt of seeing North painting Easter eggs and when I woke up I just sort of had this idea of switching their jobs disregarding how hard I was laughing. It was longer than I thought, though I did try my best to make it 'funny' since that was what I always do but it seems like I can't do it here XD
So, if you did like it, leave a review, tell me what you think, feel free to inform me if I wrote something wrong! Sorry for any typos cause I'm doing finishing touches on my iPad and you know how bad auto correct could get XD
Anyway, reviews happily accepted, I love to hear what you guys think about this random story :/
