Not long ago had the Guardians had been called to the North Pole to protect the children of the world. The famous four were more than stunned to find out that Jack Frost had been chosen by MiM. He had only begun to warm up to the idea of being a Guardian, so what he was about to find out probably wouldn't go down to well.
Sandy had returned from filling the children's dreams with sweet, golden spindles of joy and wonder weaving together, and was now making his way back to the North Pole to find the others. The Sandman hovered in through the window to the main room of North's workshop. Searching for the other Guardians, he floated by the large globe that showed the lights of the children all over the world. Sandy gazed over it, smiling faintly at the lights that scattered the orb; as he passed it a flicker of blue in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He paused for a moment, then immediately flew to the blue light that flashed on the map. A large, golden exclamation mark formed above the Guardian's head, and his amber eyes widened. He was gone in seconds, racing to find North and the others.
North was carefully putting the finishing touches on the ice sculpture that he had spent days making; a life-size Christmas tree, to scale and incredibly accurate to the last pine needle. "Easy…..Easy does it" North stared the last part of his sculpture, eyebrows furrowed together in concentration as he tapped at the last tip of the star that finished the tree. "Carefully…" Just as his chisel touched the star's point, the door swung open and a distressed Sandman came flying into the room.
"GAH!" North was thumped in the back by the Guardian, making his tools dig into the ice and with a crack, a large chunk of the sculpture fell to the ground with an audible crash. North frowned and sighed, "Sandy!" The Sandman knew he wasn't really mad; the man wasn't capable of anger in the slightest, only when his friends were in danger had he ever seen him angry. And that wasn't something you'd want to see.
He remembered the light and immediately, and a series of golden symbols and images flashed above his head as he waved his arms frantically at North. "Whoa! Calm down Sandy, what's wrong?" The Sandman simply tugged at North's sleeve in order to get him to follow, then flew out of the room, North only seconds behind. "Get the others to the Workshop. Now" He commanded a nearby yeti, who saluted the Guardian, then ran hurriedly to find the others.
When North caught up with The Sandman who was waving his arms desperately trying to catch the Guardian's attention, with an alarmed look grew on his face.
"Sandy, what is it?" Just as North had asked, his eyes caught sight of a bright, blue flicker coming from the globe, and he had his answer. "O Bozhe..." He paced up to and placed his hands on the control panel. "Why didn't you tell me, Sandy?" With the Sandman pouted, and a flurry of golden dust puffed out of his ears in annoyance. He knew what the light meant, it just seemed… too early…
No longer than two minutes passed when three other Guardians charged into the workshop and stopped to see what was happening. "North! We were told to come meet you here, what's wrong? Has something happened? Has something happened with Pitch? Oh my GOSH, he's back isn't he?!" Tooth went into a panic frenzy, and was firing questions so fast that Bunnymund covered her mouth with his paw to keep her quiet.
"Go ahead mate, what's wrong?" The Pooka asked North; a slight troubled look appearing on his face. North half sighed, "Not exactly" he retorted; directing their attention to the flickering light on the globe. "It seems that MiM has chosen another…" His eyes searched the room until they found Jack's own blue orbs, as the other Guardians did.
Jack's eyebrow lifted and his mouth formed a small 'o' shape, "uh, why is everyone staring at me?" He shifted, not liking the attention for once, "seriously guys stop it. I swear I didn't do anything!...You know, recently…" Jack shuffled his feet slightly, uneasy and unsure of what was happening when Sandy flew over and flashed a bunch of golden symbols above his head. Snowflakes, the globe, children, Jack with a 'X2' sign next to it; all of which were repeating over and over again too fast for the boy to make anything out of it.
"Sandy, I don't think that's helping" Tooth intervened with a small giggle. North walked over to Jack and put a hand on his shoulder, which Jack eyed suspiciously. "You see Jack, the light on this globe it means…Well, I think there are going to be two of you, in simplest of terms…" He could tell Jack was confused about the news, his face features changing so that his eyebrows had knitted together, eyes had narrowed and his mouth was slightly agape.
Bunnymund groaned, "bloody hell, there's two of 'em?!" He pinched the bridge of his nose slightly and closed his eyes. Jack just looked back at North and let out a short breath in disbelief, "um…what now?"
North's features remained the same, "the blue light means that MiM has chosen someone who he deems fit enough to be like you, hey presto! There's going to be two of you Jack. Tooth flitted over to the two to intervene.
"But North, don't you think the timing is a little strange? I mean he's only just become an official Guardian and now this? I wasn't expecting it for a few years…" The fairy gave a rather puzzled look to North, who tooth a large breath and exhaled.
"In fact, yes I do find it a bit strange, something that has been bothering me is that something must be wrong for MiM to have done this so early…You don't think Pitch is up to something do you?"
Jack tightened the grip on his staff, as if by reflex to that name. "That's impossible right? We defeated Pitch and sealed him in the Nightmare realm…" He looked down, having no trouble recalling the recent battle that had taken place between the Guardians and Pitch.
North shook his head, "yes, but you see, fear and darkness has and always will find its way back into the world, it can't be shut out forever. We don't know what he's been planning down there…But that is why we're here and as long as we stay true, we can put a stop to whatever it may be that he's conjuring up in the shadows." He looked down at Jack's blue eyes with a smile, "that was why you were chosen to be a Guardian, and it must be why there has been someone else chosen to become a Winter Spirit."
Jack nodded and then paused, "but wait, what does that have to do with me?" his head turning to the side as he heard Bunnymund give a short laugh.
Bunnymund turned to Jack, "What? You thought you'd be the only one?" The Pooka crossed his arms and leaned against a nearby pillar "I gotta say, you're pretty clueless mate" Jack's grip on his staff tightened as he glared at him, waiting for an answer. "Whoa mate, calm down. See, you're a sprite, more importantly a Winter Sprite."
"Where are you going with this?" Jack's eye narrowed at the Easter Bunny, wanting his answer.
"Well if you'd shut it and calm down, I'd tell ya!" Bunnymund barked back at the boy, the sprite had a certain attribute that made it so easy for Bunny to be annoyed by.
"Bunny shh" Tooth flitted over to Jack, "You see Jack, you get different kinds of sprites. Some control nature, others help animals, I'm a sprite to ya' know. But you, you're a Winter Sprite, a creature of the four seasons and once every sprite of the season has been alive for normally 500 years, a second one will be born."
"So I'm being…REPLACED!?" Jack's eye grew large for a moment, "Are you telling me I'm gonna die or something!?"
"Oh, GOD NO! Nothing like that! It just means that there will be two of you. It's happened to the sprites who control Spring, Summer and Autumn too; nobody really knows why MiMdoes it after 500 years has passed, enough time to learn enough to teach your new partner I suppose; if you could call them a partner?" "Whatever you call it, you're the last for it to happen to, so don't worry about it. As far as I know, the other seasons get along just fine with their partners."
"I…I can't believe this. It's not fair." Jack pouted, why should he have to share winter with someone he hasn't met yet. They could be a total douche to Jack and it wouldn't matter because he'd have to spend the rest of freaking eternity with them! "Well do you know anything about him yet?" Jack prompted.
Tooth shook her head, "sorry no, but it should happen soon by the looks of that light."
He raised an eyebrow, "O-k-ay, helpful. So I have no idea of who he is. I don't know how much of a jerk he'll be or what he looks like, when he's going to become a sprite, and not even any idea where to find him?. And to top it off I have to stop helping you guys out if Pitch is up to something, just to tell him how to be a copy of me? Great, this is just greeaaat" He said with a long, drawn out sigh.
"Wellll, you do know where you can find them…They'll be in your hometown, well more specifically, the place that you changed into a sprite."
"Oh, well in that case it makes finding him soooo much easier…Anything else I should know?"
Bunnymund shifted and walked closer to Jack, "Actually yeah, two things; one, you 'ave to go find them on your own, no help from any of us guardians, which brings me to the most important thing." He grinned at the boy and drew nearer to Jack, like he was going to tell him a secret.
Jack's eyebrows wove together and looked uneasily at the Easter Bunny. "What?" He asked slowly.
Bunnymund holding the same grin on his face looked at Jack's eyes, eager for the boy's reaction. "Ya see mate, seeing as unlike the rest of the Seasonal Sprites, you've been chosen to be a Guardian for…whatever reason. Which means the moment your partner becomes a sprite, they also become a guardian. Whether you like it, or not." He wished he had a camera to record Jack's face, as soon as he'd realised the news his features fell apart, wise-eyed and mouth agape. Priceless.
After a few moments Jack composed himself and cleared his throat. "Bloody. Fantastic. A few days to find him and I'm stuck with him forever." He let out a huge sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Guess I'd better be on my way then huh?" With a gloomy expression he dragged his feet over to the door to make his way to Burgess. He stopped and mumbled to himself, "fine, if I have to then I'm sure in no hurry to find him." And with that he left the four behind, three of them eager to meet the new addition to their team.
Tooth's eyes widened, remembering something, "oh shoot! He thought it'll be another boy. Bunny, why didn't you tell him that it's always the opposite gender?"
Bunny simply snickered at that. "Heh…he didn't ask now, did he." A grin crept up onto his face.
With a small sigh, a smile played on Tooth's face, "Bunny…"