When Aster emerged from the newly opened hole in the ground his first thoughts should of been along the lines of 'oh, what a nice day' and not 'bloody hell I'm about to freeze my bollocks off' which also happened to be the very words he muttered to himself upon jumping out of the tunnel. Yet here he was standing ankle deep in snow, arms firmly wrapped around himself, shivering and hoping that certain lower and more delicate parts of his anatomy would live through this cold to see tomorrow. It was bloody April in bloody Burgess and everything was certainly not meant to be covered in all this bloody snow.
"I'm gonna kill him" he growled, glaring around at the snow as if the idiot who made it could feel his wrath just from the deadly looks he was giving the frozen water. With his mind set on giving the irresponsible hooligan a good tongue lashing he took off through the streets of the town. Over and under buildings, mindful not to be spotted by children and not having to concern himself with adults. When he past the home of the Benetts he dropped down over the fence and found the two children busy building a snowman together, and luckily that retched dog was nowhere to be seen.
"Bunny! Bunny!" little Sophie shrieked with happiness, being the first one to notice him approaching.
The small child launched herself at the Pooka and squealed in delight when he picked her up and cuddled her. "Hey lil ankelbiter" After she had relinquished her mitten clad grip on his fur he set her down and turned to look at the older child who was smiling at him. "You two seen that trouble making iceblock anywhere?" he asked.
"Jack? No we were hoping he'd come by since he's obviously been here making all this snow. But it was already here when we woke up and Jack hasn't even said hi yet" Jamie replied, kicking at the snow with the toe of his shoe. "He always hangs out with us when he's here"
"Jack gone" Sophie concluded, patting the fur on Aster's arm.
"He ain't gone, he's probably hiding cause he knows he's done a bad thing" Aster replied, placing a paw ontop of her head and stroking at her blonde hair.
Her bright green eyes peered up at him, considering this new possibility "Jack bad?"
The Pooka sighed and huffed out "Yes he's been very bad an' I'm gonna be having some words with him about that"
"But what if he's in trouble? What if Pitch came back?" Jamie questioned, his unease clear on his features.
"Look mate, if Pitch was back I'd know about it" Aster said, holding up a paw to stop him before he got himself worked up, it was important that they should not be living in fear of Pitch returning, the Guardians had already interfered with these children enough, they shouldn't have to be afraid. And he was sure he was correct, Pitch would probably take decades, if not centuries to build up the strength to show his face again, that bastard was going to be hiding in his shadows underground for a long time.
"But Jack always comes to see us" the boy pouted, folding his arms across his chest.
"He's fine, no doubt the larrikin right now is doing somethin' stupid like icing raccoons to a tree" Aster grimaced, picturing that very idea of Jack using his powers the wrong way to mess with poor woodland critters.
"Ok" Jamie relented, the pout still firmly in place though "If you find him tell him to come play with us ok?"
"Sure thing kiddo" he nodded and after removing Sophie from his arm he was off over the fence in a leap and heading out of the town, towards Jack's lake.
On arrival he immediately noticed the lack of the Winter spirit, but he had obviously been here, the snow was thicker than it was in the town and the lake was frozen solid. The Pooka stood up tall and peered around, his long ears twitching this way and that in an attempt to hear if Jack was hiding in a tree ready to pounce on him. After a moment he concluded that Jack wasn't here but he wasn't far away, his scent was still fresh.
He took off running again as he followed his nose through the trees deeper into the forest. After a quick run he found where the scent seemed to be the strongest and peered around, easily spotting the blue of Jack's hoody high up on a thick branch of a tree.
"Oi! What do ya think yer playin' at?! It's April!" he called up angrily and without response he saw Jack shift further against the trunk of the tree and curling up into a tighter ball. "Oh no! You ain't ignoring me Jack! Do you even care about the mess ya've made? The Spring spirits are gonna be pissed with ya! Not to mention Mother Nature, ya can't just come in and wreck other peoples hard work just cause yer a selfish git that does whatever ya want!"
"Go away!" Jack yelled back.
"Nah mate, ain't happenin, yer gonna come down here and apologise to the spring spirits that have ta clear up this mess, then we're goin to ta pole and see if we can set ya ta work for North for a while seeing as ya got all this energy and time that needs somethin' ta occupy yourself with"
"I'm not going to North's and I'm not coming down!" the boy howled in anger, and so did the wind, blowing through the trees and carrying more snowflakes on it.
Aster growled under his breath as his claws sank into the wood of the tree trunk "Ya bloody are! It ain't my job to look after your childish arse but I will come up there and drag ya down myself if I have ta!
"Just leave me alone you overgrown fluffball!" the younger Guardian shouted back down, still showing no signs of planning to come down any time soon.
"Why so ya can keep being an arse and freezing everythin, ya bloody Winter spirits are all the same! Selfish payin no mind to the hard work of others ya ruin and everythin yer bloody snow kills, the flowers alone will be set back weeks by this" the elder snarled back, and it was true, it would take a lot of work and effort to just get the forest just as it was before Jack decided it needed a good out of season covering of snow.
He could just make out the blue of his hood as Jack peered over the branch down at him "Well maybe we are the same! Why do you even care!?" the boy questioned harshly, the wind lashing at the trees in anger.
"I care when some icebrained bastard thinks he knows better than everyone else what the weather should be!" if he was going to be honest, Aster knew that engaging in a shout match with the younger Guardian was not actually going to solve anything, but really he didn't care about that right now. He was cold and wet and wanted to go home.
"Piss off Bunny I know you'd all be so much happier if I just melted!" Jack screamed back, ice cracking down along the bark of the tree towards the ground.
Aster resisted the urge to roll his eyes "Now you don't have to be such a dramatic little shit"
"Just go away!"
"No" he huffed, if Jack wanted to be a child and throw a major wobbly of a tantrum, he'd simply wait him out, the little brat would tire himself out eventually.
"Please!"
"Frostbite get yer arse down here right now!"
"I said leave me alone!" Jack howled, swinging his staff over the edge of the branch and throwing down a surge of blue light, Aster leaped out of the way as it hit and instantly covered the place he'd been standing in thick ice.
He'd had enough and with one leap he was on one of the lower limbs of the tree a few more he had shot up the tree so fast Jack didn't have chance to flee and he wrapped his paws around the kid. He held fast to the boy's hoody and launched both of them out of the tree back toward the ground, snatching away the staff and tossing it as they fell.
When they landed in the snow Jack let out a shrill cry and with a roll of his eyes Aster dropped him into a slumped seated position.
"Now that weren't so hard, was it?" the older Guardian sneered, ignoring the pathetic whimper the boy gave as he brushed ice out of his fur. His face fell at the sight of the red smears on the white of his ruff. Bright emerald eyes widening in shock as he looked from the red dashes to the boy. Dark rusty brown patches stained his hoody, his hands covered in equal amounts of blood and ice and Aster could just make out rivulets of frosted blood down his chin and neck from what he could see under the hood.
"Crikey Jack! What happened?!" he demanded, his paws suddenly becoming gentle and wary with their motions. Hovering over the boys form but not touching, worried that if he did he would only make things worse.
Bloodshot eyes glared up at him from under white hair and the hood, the icy blue contrasting staggeringly against his reddened and hurt looking eyes. Trails of frozen blood marked a path from his eyes down to his throat, the skin around the sockets dark and bruised.
"It doesn't matter" was all Jack hissed in reply, stumbling up a few paces away from the Pooka as he unsteadily climbed to his feet and his stained hands clenching in his front pocket without his staff to clutch at.
"What do ya mean it don't matter? Jack you're hurt! We need ta get ya taken care of!" Aster tried to reason.
"No what I need is you to leave me alone" Jack growled out, anger and hurt playing on his features.
"I ain't leavin' ya here on yer own" the Pooka spoke softer now, all anger suddenly gone from his voice.
"Why not? You did it for three hundred years, should be easy for you" the boy sneered.
Aster sucked in a harsh breath, that hurt. Yet it was completely true he and the other Guardians had left the boy alone in the world for such a long time, too long a time. Maybe it was impossible to fix Jack from the years of isolation and maybe there wasn't anything they could do to make things better, after all just saying sorry was never going to wipe away three hundred years.
"I know... I know we did Frostbite an' that was so wrong of us an' we're gonna be sorry forever about that, but right here and right now you need help, so please, let me help you"
Jack's eyes filled with tears, leaking over and mixing with the blood around his eyes smearing more red around his face. His tears trickling down to his cheeks where they turned to ice. "I don't care if you're sorry! That doesn't change anything!" he snarled twisting his body around and limping harshly towards where his staff lay in the snow. However Aster leaped over him and snatched up the weapon keeping a firm paw on it as he placed the other on Jack's shoulder, careful of the risk of hurting him.
"No Jack, ya ain't flying off this time" he spoke with authority in his voice, standing at his full height of 6'1. "Who did this ta ya? Its ok, just tell me an' we'll get it sorted"
The boy pushed away from him, glaring at his only real means of escape in the Pooka's grasp. "Why do you even care? A moment ago I was nothing but a waste of space Winter Spirit who messes everything up!"
"Im sorry I said that stuff, I'm a real gumby when it comes ta most things-" Aster tried to calm him, trying to think of something that would clear the air between them.
"But you're right! All we do is kill and ruin everything!" the boy sobbed, looking away from the other Guardian and huddling in on himself which only made him look even smaller. "I'm just like her"
Aster's eyes narrowed slightly, his long ears folded back in distress "Her? Mate are ya talkin' about who did this ta ya?" he pressed, lowering himself to sit on his haunches, trying to calm the Winter Spirit by making himself smaller. Jack peered at him with teary eyes and a wobbly bottom lip and gave a jerky nod. "Can ya tell me who she is?"
The boy shook his head and whimpered out "No"
The older Guardian shuffled forward a few steps, whiskers twitching "Come on mate, ya can tell me anythin', ya know that, right?" the boy continued to quietly sob but didn't give a reply. "Ya can trust me with whatever it is"
Jack shook his head, his thin arms wrapped around his torso and refused to look at the other Guardian. Aster's face fell, Jack didn't trust him, not enough to tell him his problems, enough to let the Pooka in to help and that was painful to know. but he could hardly blame the Winter child really, what had he done to ever make Jack want to trust him? He'd either completely ignore or look at him with only disdain for centuries, accuse him of never being helpful, to even think that Jack would betray them to Pitch Black. He had never done anything at all for him, it would be wrong now to feel wronged that there wasn't the trust he wanted between them, even so it still hurt, deeply.
"Please just leave" Jack uttered, sounding so completely and utterly broken that Aster couldn't take it anymore and with one swift movement he had dropped the staff to the snow and wrapped his furry arms firmly around the boy, paying no mind to the ice or blood that covered him.
"I'm sorry for everythin' Frostbite, I'm sorry we ignored ya, I'm sorry we only wanted to know ya when we needed ya, I'm sorry fer every last horrible thin' I've ever said to you an' I'm sorry this happened ta ya" Aster spoke softly, one paw on the back of the boy's hooded head and the other wrapped around his back, holding him while he sobbed into his fluffy ruff. "Hows about we head home to the Warren and get yer cleaned up an taken care of? Then get some good food into ya, I make a good soup that does wonders for when ya feel shite"
"I-I don't understand... why you want to help me" Jack hiccuped, trying to rein in his tears. "I'm not good like you or Tooth or North or Sandy"
The Pooka's ears jerked upwards at that "Who told ya that?"
"She did, the Snow Queen, she said that all Winter Spirits are bad... I don't try to hurt people I really don't but... but sometimes things just happen and I don't know how to make it better" the youngest Guardian's words dissolved back into sobs, loud and ugly heart wrenching crying.
Aster gently moved the paw from the lad's head to rest under his chin, careful of the cuts and scraps that marred his pale skin as he lifted his head up to look into the crystal blue eyes. "Did the Snow Queen do this ta ya?" the way Jack's face crumpled was explanation enough.
"She- she tried to make me like her, she said we should be together and she was going to make me stay in her castle with her but I didn't want to, I had to fight her off... I can't stand the idea of hurting people" he shuddered at the idea.
Aster tried to ignore the sickness that grew in his stomach at the thought. The Snow Queen was, well, if he had to choose one word to describe her he would probably go with creepy, but deranged, immoral, spiteful and scheming were all good words too. She was a Winter Spirit that simply showed up from nowhere a few centuries ago and proclaimed herself the Queen of Winter, uncaring of what Mother Nature or any other Winter being said about that matter. She had a penchant for reanimating things she found frozen to death and attempting to whisk away children that wandered away from home during snow storms.
She was simply everything Jack was not, he was snowballs and fun times... she was ice and deadly storms.
"Jack you will never be like her, you are good an' brave an' strong an' so wonderful I'm sorry it took us so long to realise how amazing you really are"
"But" the boy tried to argue, his bottom lip trembling.
"Nope, no buts okay, you are a great Guardian an' even if it takes another three hundred years for you to see that, I will be right here with ya, I aint gonna give up hope on ya" Aster told him, moving his paw to gently wipe at the blood and ice on the boy's face.
"You mean it?" Jack whispered, the new hope so bright and alive in his eyes.
"I promise ya Frosty" Aster smiled, nuzzling his nose against the younger's forehead.
A wonderful smile lit up Jack's face and he threw his arms around Aster's neck, hugging him back. But the motion caused him to put pressure on his wounds and he let out a hiss of pain.
"Right, come on Snowflake, we're off home" Aster spoke, leaving no room for any more arguments as he carefully scooped the boy up and held him close, tapping his foot to the ice covered ground and jumping down the tunnel to give this wonderful boy some much needed care and love.