This early winter day was going downhill fast.
Not minutes before, Jack Frost had been frolicking about with Jamie and the other children of Burgess. Now that they could see him, they had twice as much fun together. It was nice to actually take part in their games instead of merely watching from the sidelines. Snowballs which were once reserved for each other were now aimed at him as well. Not that he minded. The cold hardly bothered the winter spirit. If anything, he enjoyed being pelted with many a snowball, hearing the triumphant laughs of the children being the main reason he allowed himself to get hit in the first place.
He was just in the middle of aiming a snowball at Cupcake when it started to rain.
"What? No!" was Jack's immediate protest. As it turned out, cold and wet didn't go well together, so the children were forced to go indoors as a torrent of rain came pouring down. He could only watch helplessly as they retreated indoors. Looking back at what was once their playground, he saw that the snow underfoot was being pelted with rain, the water making the snow sloshy and, honestly, quite gross. The winter spirit made a face. Now this simply wouldn't do.
Shooting off into the sky, he made it his mission to find who was responsible for this pouring rain. He already knew who it was, it was just a matter of finding him.
There! Sitting on the rooftop of one of the many houses of Burgess sat the spirit responsible. With narrowed eyes, Jack didn't hesitate a moment in flying up to him, perching himself on the chimney as he gazed down at the other spirit.
"Rain!" Jack exclaimed with a decidedly fake smile on his face. "What brings you here?"
The spirit, who looked like a young man, looked up at him with eyes as grey as the clouds overhead. "The Wind," was his simple reply.
Traitor, Jack could not help but think at the Wind, who blew a cold gust at him as if in reply.
To the rain bringer, he simply asked, "The Wind couldn't have taken you somewhere where it's, oh, I don't know, spring?"
"I'm not happy about being here either," Rain told him.
"Yet here you are," said the winter spirit, gesturing to the town around them.
"Yes."
Rain wasn't much of a conversationalist. That was fine. Jack didn't really want to talk to him anyways. He just wanted him gone.
"Well look, Rain, here's the deal," started Frost. Pointing to him, he said, "You are going to have to leave."
The rain bringer didn't look impressed. "Oh? And why is that, pray tell? Am I interrupting one of your playdates?"
Yes! Jack would have replied, if it wouldn't have made him look childish. Instead, he merely pointed out, "It's winter here. It's time for you to shoo to the south."
"It's thirty-four degrees Fahrenheit."
"And?"
"And that means it's two degrees Fahrenheit above freezing, which means the precipitation here must be rain, not snow."
"A two degree difference is close enough!" Jack shouted, losing his temper with the other spirit, who continued to sit nonchalantly on the roof as if he weren't in the presence of an enemy.
And yes, this was an enemy. Though they haven't gotten into a physical fight - yet - they were definitely not on good terms, similar to how he and Bunnymund had been on bad terms for that one wintery Easter. Only he and Rain had yet to make up over such a thing. Frost snorted. He didn't think they'd ever make up for the numerous times Rain has turned his snow to a slushy mess.
"Look," said Jack. "The kids and I? We have a good thing going on here. So why don't you take your little twig and go rain on someone else's parade?"
"It's a dousing rod," Rain corrected with a stern look.
"Really? Because I couldn't tell. It looks more like a little-"
"Stop." Rain was not about to get into another one of those "my staff is bigger than your little stick" arguments. Not that there was much to argue about. His dowsing rodwas a little twig compared to Jack's staff, but he wasn't about to get into a discussion about that.
"Oh, I'm not upsetting you, am I?" Jack goaded. "I'm just saying your dowsing rod is ateensy-weensy little thing-"
"Very mature, Jackson."
"It's Jack. And what do I look like? I'm the Guardian of Fun. You don't honestly expect me to act like an old man, now do you?"
"Ah, yes. You're a... guardian now."
"Jealous?" Jack asked with a smirk, leaning on his staff.
Rain snorted. "Hardly. A few children stop believing in you, you won't even exist."
Jack laughed at the notion. "Jamie? He'll never stop believing. And neither will any of the kids here in Burgess."
"Maybe not aschildren, but what happens when they grow older? They all stop believing, trust me."
Jack narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Jamie will never forget." A smirk replacing his earlier frown, he went on, "And why would he? He likes what I do." Slipping down from the chimney, he took flight, heading to Jamie's house. Tapping on the window to the boy's bedroom with his staff, the boy inside visibly brightened at his appearance.
Opening the window, Jamie said, "I thought you might have left!"
"Naw. It takes more than a little rain to scare me off, kiddo," he said with a smirk. "Speaking of," he turned and gestured to rain bringer, who was now hovering a few meters away, "what do we say to Rain?"
Jamie giggled, calling out to the other spirit, "Rain, Rain, go away! Come again some other day!"
With a grin, Jack ruffled the child's hair, saying, "Atta-boy!"
Ungrateful whelp, Rain thought, but didn't dare say in front of Frost. Instead, he shook his head, returning to his roof to watch the rainwater continue to pour down.
Turning to Jamie, Jack promised, "I'll get rid of him. We'll be back to building snowmen in no time." With that, he jumped off, flying into the air towards the rain bringer, who was sitting back on the rooftop.
"What, you're not leaving so soon, are you?"
"No. I'm staying right here," said Rain.
"And why is that?"
To spite you, he didn't say, but certainly thought it.
"You know, it's such a shame," said Jack, though he didn't sound like it was such a shame at all. "The kids believe in you, but they don'tlike you. Heh. Sorta like how they believe in Pitch, but they're not afraid of him. Doesn't that hurt?"
Lightning flashed in the sky and thunder rumbled not a second later. The rain came down even harder, if that was even possible.
Rain was not in a good mood.
"You're not making me leave, Frost," said the rain bringer.
"And why won't you leave?" Jack challenged. "Do you have nothing better to do than make other people as miserable as you are? Can't stand to see to kids playing in the snow, so you turn it to rain?"
There was truth in Jack's words. The children didn't like Rain, and for that, he despised them. If the children wouldn't like him, then he wouldn't like them right back, instead ruining their days of wintery fun with pounding rain that would not let up.
Rain's silence obviously spoke volumes, for Jack shook his head in disgust. "Just get out of here, before I make you."
That got a response out of the rain bringer. "What are you going to do? Attack me?"
Pointing his staff at the other spirit, he said, "Don't tempt me."
Rain considered his options. If Jack Frost was strong enough to knock Pitch Black out of the sky, he didn't think he stood much of a chance. Rising to a stand, he brushed an imaginary speck of dust off his trousers, saying, "This will not be the last time we meet, Frost."
"Just get out of here."
The rain bringer did.
Author's Note: I wanted to write a Rise of the Guardians fanfiction, but I didn't have the slightest idea what to write. So I decided to write a little snippet with my OC, Rain. I hope it isn't too terrible. If anyone's interested, I might write more stories with Rain. We'll see. :3
