1.
The first one is Bunnymund.
Pitch had risen from whatever hole that he had been recuperating in and was wreaking havoc. However that was not what made the Guardians chase after him. No, he was actually kidnapping children from their beds and keeping them trapped in his lair. Jack had already gone down there to let them out and alerted the rest of the Guardians as soon as he learned of the plot. By himself he wasn't able to get Pitch to stop kidnapping the children, but hey, with the rest of the Guardians, that should work, right?
Yeah, there were some mixed results from that.
The Boogeyman had another child fast asleep in his arms and there's a dark swirl of sand over the little girl's head. Jack was quick to chase after him, the rest of the Guardians not far behind him, when a swarm of Nightmares appeared. They no longer took the form of just horses, but of monkeys, wolves, and eagles that swoop in and try to bite, rend, and tear.
Sandy is the one who deals the best against the new Nightmare forms, lashing out at them with his whips and flashes of golden sand creeping against the Nightmares' forms. North, Tooth, and Bunny do not do so well, striking out at the forms, only to watch a new one reappear from the sand left in the air. The numbers diminish, but not at the rate that the Guardians can handle. Jack does the worst, his ice being absorbed by the wolverine Nightmares and making them more vicious. He concentrates on the other Nightmare forms when he can, but the Nightmares must realize the power just waiting for them within Jack because they are relentless in attacking the winter sprite.
The other Guardians and Pitch are quick to realize this, Tooth flying to help him out while Pitch laughs over the girl's head. Some of the sand parts from above her head and there's suddenly another ape charging at the Guardians and joins in the fray.
"Jack!"
Tooth's voice calls out over the fighting and Sandy and North only glance over to see that Jack is under a black wolf before they have to pay attention to the Nightmares that surround them, separating them from the rest. Besides, there's already a boomerang flying at the wolf just out of the corner of their eyes. Luckily, Jack is ready and already on the ground when the boomerang flies over him and back to its owner and Tooth is slashing through Nightmares behind him with two swords that look like long feathers.
Bunny smirks when wood twirls its way into his hand and he sends it out again against some of the horses and eagles that start making their way towards him. The Nightmares are following Pitch and are actually growing stronger, flying after their master like its nothing . Normally Bunny would hop onto the roofs but the enemy is rising even higher than that. He finds himself leaping high and actually wishing they were on North's sleigh.
One jump turns into pain when a wolfish mouth closes around one leg and something slams into his chest. He's falling and then he feels himself being trapped in claws.
"Bunny!" A blast of gold and blue flies around him and he can feel the claws let go. He's falling, yelling in protest and fear, and there's nothing below him other than air and trees and black grime floating around.
North's roar can be heard somewhere to his left and he doesn't pay much attention to it. The wind is whistling in his ears even as invisible and impossibly tiny hands try to grab hold of him.
It doesn't do much, but at least he'll survive when he finally hits the ground.
Just like he expects, he hits trees and and then the ground in pain. The branches he had fallen through had snapped underneath him and at the same time had broken his fall (along with whoever hands there were trying to catch him) enough that the ground did not hurt as much as he expected. However, that also meant that he was scratched up and his back was ablaze with pain.
"Bunny!" Jack's voice called down and Bunny coughed, a harsh gasp that makes pain bloom around his chest.
"He—here!" Bunny gasps out when he can breathe again. It'll take ages for him to heal from his fall. There's likely a broken rib or two that's protesting right now and the numerous cuts and bruises he has are screaming when he moves. There are good points for being a spirit, especially one that's tied to the belief of children. "Get—get back ta the fight!"
"They don't need me the same way as you," Jack informs him. Bunny is about to protest but it dies in his throat at the hard but scared look in Jack's eye. "Besides, they got it under control. After Pitch saw you fall, he just seemed to lose steam. Fell back and left the girl and everything. North and the others are just dealing with the remnants."
"If you say so," Bunny weakly agrees. He can't figure out what is making Jack so strange at that moment, but it doesn't matter because the winter sprite lands without disturbing him.
"You're…pretty banged up," Jack observes. Something changes in him in that moment and he bites his lower lip, worrying it between his teeth. "I, uh, I can help with that. Get you better, I mean."
"Much appreciated," Bunny exhales out. It's the only way that he can talk and he waits for a minute, watching Jack shift from foot to foot. The boy doesn't move, still worrying his lip, when Bunny grunts. "I thought you were going to help."
That breaks Jack out of whatever he was thinking of. "I will! I just…promise not to freak out?"
Bunny tried to glare as best he could. Jack might not realize it but he can't really afford to "freak out" with his ribs in as much pain as they are.
The winter sprite doesn't notice the look or chooses to ignore it. He scoots closer before looking at the night sky with its full moon above them. His posture is stiff before he sighs out and squats down near Bunny's head, his staff resting in-between his legs and his shoulder.
"Jack? What's wrong?" Bunny manages to get out before two cold (but not freezing, surprisingly) hands are holding his head still and Jack is leaning over him. Their foreheads barely touching and Bunny tries to fight the blush that creeps up on him. It had been a very long time since anyone had touched him, much less a gesture that's so intimate.
Jack's eyes are closed and his brows furrowed as he takes a few deep breathes. When he opens his mouth, Bunny just becomes confused. The winter sprite is singing.
"Sunlight, Moonlight,
Drop of Winter Ice,
Heed my call tonight
Bring back what has been lost.
Reverse the clock's hand,
Mend the tears that stand,
Make all wrongs right,
And bring back what has been lost."
Bunny can't tear his eyes away from Jack. He likely doesn't know it but his skin starts glowing a soft silver light and his hair looks like someone turned a flashlight on underneath an ice sculpture. That's not to say that his voice is unpleasant, but not what Bunny was expecting. However, he does feel something shift inside of him and Bunny grunts when something moves that he thinks really shouldn't have. The power that does that alerts itself to Bunny in that one action and he can feel a gentle current of power flowing into him.
Jack doesn't notice the grunt at all. He hums a bit before frowning. His slips from humming into singing nonsense into the tune of his little song. Bunnymund can feel a stronger current of power flow into him now that he knows what to look for, an edge of determination in it. It matches Jack's voice as it rises in volume.
Bunny tries not to breathe with wide eyes as Jack repeats his little tune. He missed it before but there is a flow of power that slips into him. If whatever had moved in him hadn't, he wouldn't have noticed it happen in the first place.
This is not what he expected Jack to do though.
The winter sprite doesn't move and hums again. Whatever he finds, he finds lacking because Bunny hears the words of the song again before Jack leans back, blinking wide eyes like he stepped into a bright day from a dark house.
"How—what—that!" Bunny scrambles in his bed of broken branches and plant matter. Now that Jack let him go, he can feel a rush of emotions. Confusion is the strongest one along with a little voice that says, "He's a winter sprite, how can he heal?"
"Please don't freak out," Jack cried out, cringing and shrinking against his staff. Bunny immediately stilled, gapping as Jack seemed to hide behind a single, thin piece of wood.
For a second, Bunny doesn't know how to respond. But Jack looks like he might panic if Bunny does the same. So Bunny does what most adults do when presented a scared child and forcibly takes in a deep breath. He's ready for pain and is pleasantly surprised when he doesn't feel pain of any kind in his ribs.
"Nah mate," Bunny says, trying to be nonchalant. "It's just every day that a winter sprite can heal others. No big deal."
It must have been the right thing to say because Jack perks up a little. "Really? How come I never met them?"
Oh. Crap. The kid wasn't supposed to actually believe that. Bunnymund winces. "Because there aren't any, Frostbite. Healing, at least for a spirit, are usually reserved for those connected to life."
Jack shrinks back onto himself.
"Not to mean that you can't!" Bunny is quick to cut in. "I mean, it's great that you can do that!"
"You think so?" Jack's blue eyes are peeking out through his fringe and Bunny almost winces again. He's seen that look before, on that same face before, when North offered Jack a room to stay in at his place. Heck, he can practically feel the Hope rolling off him, tentative and fragile.
"No doubt about it Jack-o," Bunny easily replies. "How you do that anyway?"
Jack is slowly uncurling from his spot. "I just do. There was a little boy and he was crying because he was hurt. The words just popped into my head and when I touched him, he got better."
Bunny made note of it and nodded. "Come on, the others are probably wondering where we are."
Much like a kid, it's easy to distract Jack. He's immediately floating and talking, leading the way towards the others. Bunny listens with only half an ear as Jack rambles how the others are likely waiting and worrying about Bunny. His mind is on Jack's new found ability.
It's half-way to the other Guardians that he realizes that he doesn't hurt at all and a glace down reveals that the bite mark he should have is not there at all.
He does not tell the others about Jack's healing when they're alone later. He figures that it's something Jack should tell them.
2.
North finds out about Jack's ability to heal when there's an accident in the workshop.
Usually there are crashes and loud noises from the workshop; sounds that cannot be avoided with toys being made and what the yeti made so that they can get the supplies. It is rare that an accident happens and even more so for silence to cover the workshop. The last time that it happened had been in the Globe Room, when Jack had refused the offer to become a Guardian.
This time there's a loud baa-thump! that North takes to mean, "not good."
It falls into "really not good" when he hears silence before a frantic voice is calling out.
Jack is in the workshop.
Since he took North's offer of a room in the older Guardian's complex, Jack sometimes tries to help in the workshop. Sometimes "help" was the key word as Jack would test new toys and summon ice for North to carve. Other times he kept the elves busy or tried his hand at painting base coats so that the yeti at least didn't have a few (hundred usually by the time Jack would finally stop) they had to do. His voice was a welcome addition to the workshop, laughing and joking with the yeti if he wasn't with North.
This was one of the first times that North heard him so frantic, almost on the edge of being scared.
It doesn't take him long before he has a sword strapped to his waist and another in hand when he charges towards his office door. If there's a threat, he'll take care of it!
What his doors open to is not to a threat, like he thinks. Instead, there's a yeti trying very hard to breathe on the floor, Jack floating above him while Phil and his mate Anna are trying to get the first yeti to the medical ward. Jack's voice cannot be fully understood as he rambles, but North gets the feeling that the elf in another yeti's hands might be in trouble.
Right as North makes his way down, Phil and Jack are yelling at each other. Anna pays no attention to them, helping the injured yeti get a long piece of metal out of it. It looks worse than it is and North knows this from experience. Yeti fur and their own muscular mass makes them durable and hardy folk. From the looks of things, the yeti in question is young and just shocked that he's hurt, not bleeding too badly.
"I can help if you just let me!" Jack's voice rings out and draws everyone's attention to him. It's all he needs. Before anyone can protest, he's kneeling next to the injured yeti and placing his hands on the piece of metal. Anna had gotten most of it out but one end is still in the yeti's torso.
The yeti in question must sense something that North and Phil miss because he just nods at Jack. Anna doesn't say anything before she's helping Jack pull the metal out carefully.
She doesn't even get a chance to set it down before Jack is kneeling down. His hands fly into the yeti's fur and North can tell that he had found the wound when Jack's sweatshirt sleeves darken with blood.
There's a frantic light to Jack's eyes. North can see it when he finally gets to the right level and slides up to Phil. Phil barely rubbles a greeting, a heavy huff of annoyance in his voice. With his arrival, most of the other yeti and elves fall back, allowing the winter sprite to do as he wished. Jack doesn't notice, his voice singing, though North can sense it's more of a quick recitation than an actual song.
"Sunlight, Moonlight
Drop of Winter Ice
Heed my call tonight
Bring back what has been lost.
Reverse the clock's hand,
Mend the tears that stand,
Make all wrongs right,
And bring back what has been lost."
Everyone's eyes are already on him. It doesn't much for them to notice that Jack is seems to be throwing off his own light in the bright workshop and his hair glows a vibrant, pure white that reminds North of the snow that covers the rest of the North Pole. The glow itself is only there for a few heartbeats before it seems to slip and slide into the yeti who is under Jack's hands. A few more heartbeats and there's no more blood on the yeti.
Jack leaned back, sitting on his heels with his eyes shaded by one hand.
The yeti shot upright at that, patting itself down. When nothing happened, its left hand fell heavily on its own side. Nothing happened except for Jack's head to snap up with a glare.
Anna was instantly there, smacking him upside the head with a dangerous growl. Whatever she said (North always had trouble understanding her with her heavy accent) got the yeti on the floor to stop and follow her away.
"Jack?" North softly called to him. "What just happened?"
That made Jack jump and he shot up so that he was hovering in the air again. Many of the yeti and the elves took that as their cue to continue what they were doing before the accident had happened. However, it was quieter than before, like they were trying to listen in on the conversation without being obvious about it.
The flow of word that fell out of Jack's mouth had a frantic, scared tone to it. Very few words of what he was saying was understandable.
North hid it but the fact that Jack was scared of him (of his response) made him slightly disappointed. Disappointed in himself for failing the boy (he will never be a man, forever trapped somewhere between boyhood and manhood) and by leaving him alone for three hundred years. Disappointed in not checking that he was okay, that he was like many other winter spirits before he dismissed him. Disappointed in himself for not being there for Jack.
Somewhere in the dark of the night, when his demons cried out and a certain dead face stared back at him, North wondered if it would have been better or worse if he had found him all those years ago. He never looked for the answers to his question by any means (especially since he wanted to avoid the question itself).
"Come," North bids the winter sprite. "We talk in office."
His hand is heavy on Jack's shoulders. He knows. It is something that he has to remember with Jack. The boy has such a big personality (nowhere as big as his own, he is proud to say) that North has to remember to pull his affectionate gestures around him lest he bowl him over.
Jack tensed when North called for him but relaxes when his hand rests on his shoulder.
Once inside, North hands him a cup of a milk and chocolate mixture that can't be called hot chocolate or milk chocolate. It is something that North and Bunny made up special for Jack when they realized how sensitive he was to heat. After the incident when Jack burned his tongue, both of the older spirits keep a batch at the ready for him.
Jack's hands close around the cup on reflex. His eyes don't stray from the floor though.
"Phil and Anna were talking and I came up behind Phil," Jack started. "I was going to show him what Johnny made, only Phil didn't realize that I was there. He jumped. There must have been a chain reaction because I think the Easter Elf flew through the air and onto one of the spinning-top things. The final thing to go was a big hunk of metal that Donny was working with. It spun and then…"
Jack's face blanched and North patted his back. It was always a bit of a shock when something big happened in the workshop and more so when one of their own were hurt. For someone who hadn't been seen for ages and then suddenly welcomed, being part of a disaster (especially one that hurt someone) must have been horrifying to him. That's not to say that it didn't happen—the yeti and elves were always getting hurt. Toy-making was not always a safe process, after all. It was just that this time it was a much bigger thing sticking out of them and both Jack and the yeti who had been hit were so young.
"Yeti will heal," North stated without thinking about it. His brain caught up with his mouth and he frowned. "Or at least, will heal more. What happened? One minute, injured yeti. Next, yeti fine."
Jack shrugged. He still looked a little bit wide around the eyes, so North nudged him, pointedly taking a long draw out of his own hot chocolate. The winter sprite took the hint and took a sip. It wasn't much, but it was something. He looked a little bit more human (or at least as human as a dead person can be) afterwards.
"I can heal," Jack stated without much emotion. "Always have. So I just…healed him too."
"But you are winter spirit," North exclaims, surprise coloring his tone and his face. "Winter is not about healing."
Jack hunched in on himself. "I know. I don't know why I can heal like that. I just do."
North hums and then nods to himself. "Well, is good to know! Reason not important!"
Jack smiles and North drops the topic in favor of drawing his attention to what he had been carving before the workshop's silence had startled him out of his office.
3.
Baby Tooth is whining from a pillow near Tooth when Jack comes to visit. Sandy is already there, a frown on his face as his sandy symbols shift through the air. Tooth tries to comfort the little fairy while responding to Sandy who is upset about something.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Jack's voice cuts in unexpectedly and he jumps back when he sees the look that Sandy gives him. "Okay, that's okay, I'll be leaving then."
"Wait Jack!" Tooth calls out after him. She spares Sandy a look that makes Sandy realize what he had just done. The golden man shrinks down on himself but she doesn't notice, flying up to where Jack hovers.
Baby Tooth lets out a pitiful note that immediately has Jack's attention on her.
Tooth takes advantage of that. She sets the little pillow in Jack's hands, making sure that he won't accidently drop it. "Baby Tooth got hurt getting some teeth from Japan last night. She'll be fine in a day or so but she's not feeling so hot right now. Do you mind watching over her while I talk with Sandy? Something came up and he's upset."
Jack instantly smiled, a finger carefully stroking Baby Tooth's head. She cooed in response, snuggling into her fluffy perch. Tooth smiled widely before flying back down to Sandy.
Sandy's anger seems to have died down with Jack being in the same room, even if it's just an open network holding the roof up and Jack is carefully on the other side, too far away to understand their conversation even if he could hear Tooth's voice.
Tooth is just starting to get Sandy to open up about what has upset him when Jack's voice carries over to them, sweet and low. The two look over in surprise, Sandy's little hand stopping Tooth from flying over to them again.
"Bring back what has been lost," echoes in the air just for a few seconds, Jack's skin glowing in a way that neither Guardian had ever seen before. Once he was done, he picked up Baby Tooth with a large smile on his face. "How's that Baby Tooth?"
Both Sandy and Tooth watched with some amazement as Baby Tooth chirped cheerfully and flew up to snuggle Jack's nose. The reason why she had been on the pillow in the first place had been because she had hurt her wings and one arm trying to get a tooth out from underneath a thick and heavy pillow.
Jack laughed from his side of the room, bright and cheerful. "Well then! How about you show me how to collect teeth without flying around the world?"
It barely takes Baby Tooth and Jack a minute to fly back out into another room, a swarm of fairies quickly following them.
Tooth and Sandy were left in the room, nearly alone and stunned.
"Did you know that he could do that?" Tooth asks Sandy with wide eyes.
Sandy could only shake his head.
4.
Jamie is up in a tree when Jack comes to visit during the winter. Since frost started appearing in neighbor's yards, Jamie and his friends had taken to climbing trees to see if they can see Jack flying into town and the start of winter.
Jack finally comes, quietly and on the ground instead on in the air like they expect.
He strolls up to them leisurely, his staff on his shoulder, Sophie dancing around. One hand, the one not holding his staff, shields his eyes from the sun while watching Sophie's brother and his friends watch the skies.
"What are you guys doing up there?"
Jack's voice cuts into the silence of the children staring into the sky and they all jump and turn to him. Normally this would be a good thing. However, Jamie was standing on his branch and his jump propelled him forward and into thin air. It's too fast for any of them and it's only by Jamie's instincts that he doesn't land on his head on the unforgiving earth.
"Jamie!"
Jamie just groaned before inhaling sharply. He hurts in a way that he had never experienced before, especially in one arm. It's doesn't take long for him to be in the air again, only this time he feels cold hands (they always feel like someone's hands when they don't wear gloves on a cold morning) holding him and lifting him up. Jack had lifted him up and then set him carefully onto his feet, waiting and so carefully there for him if he wasn't steady on his own two feet.
"Jamie, are you okay?" Pippa voice calls down from her tree. She was never very good about climbing trees and she doesn't look like she wants to jump down now. The others, Cupcake and Monty included, had already jumped down from their trees.
"My arm really hurts," Jamie replied. His good hand held onto his shoulder and he can feel blood dripping down one cheek. "Oh man, Mom is going to freak out."
"Ah man," one of the twins winces. "That's gotta hurt."
"Jamie fall! Boo-boo!" Sophie seemed to agree.
It's Jack who Jamie keeps an eye on though. His eyes are wide and reminds him of a wild animal that his mother warned him not to touch. White hands are also tightly grasping his staff until his knuckles look like they might pop out of his skin.
"Jack?" Jamie looks at Jack, his voice quiet and scared as Jack just continues to stare at him.
Without a word, Jack floats up to Pippa and lifts her down onto the ground. She doesn't say anything, picking up on something that Jamie can feel under Jack's skin. After that the winter sprite checks all of them for injuries before kneeling before Jamie.
"I can take care of your shoulder and arm if you trust me," Jack says matter-of-factly but he also has a hint of fear in his eyes. "It'll be uncomfortable for a bit but it's better than getting in trouble."
Jamie doesn't even have to think about it. He nods.
Jack grimly doesn't say anything and gently probes Jamie's arm. He hums and winces himself when Jamie hisses in pain. Finally, he sets his hands on Jamie's shoulder and the other gently grasps his wrist. Around the two are all of the others, watching with wide eyes.
None of them expect Jack to close his eyes and take a deep breathe. Nor do they expect him to start singing.
"Sunlight, Moonlight
Drop of Winter Ice
Heed my call tonight
Bring back what has been lost.
Reverse the clock's hand,
Mend the tears that stand,
Make all wrongs right,
And bring back what has been lost."
Jamie gasped, a startled one more than of pain. He feels something move in his arm. However, his attention doesn't waver from Jack, with his ice-bright glowing hair and pale skin glowing like the moon when its full.
He can't tell but he thinks that the others agree with him. All he hears are sharp inhales as Jack starts to glow. After Jack is done, his hands don't linger and he pulls back like he expects to be rejected for some reason.
Jamie immediately grabs his sleeve, preventing him from getting too far away. It's only after he's done so that he realizes that he grabbed Jack with the arm that had hurt before Jack had done whatever it was. The others quickly realize that too.
"Wait! Jack, where are you going?"
"Oh you know, snow days and all that," Jack smiled, but Jamie has seen the looks that his father had when he came home one time from service. He had demons in his eyes that his mother had mourned about and a wide-eyed look when Jamie had asked questions he couldn't answer. Like he had wanted to run and never come back. Like he was afraid of hurting him or Sophie. It had only been recently that his father's eyes stopped showing fear.
"You can't stay?"
Instantly, the others started trying to get Jack to stay. Even Sophie jumped in, clamoring for a piggy-back ride. Cupcake and the twins wanted a snow day so that they could get out of school and have a snowball fight. Monty and Pippa were quick to agree with them, just interested in hanging out and having fun more than what they actually did.
Jack laughed and just like Jamie's father, the shadow of fear disappeared in another kind of look, one of fun and enjoyment.
"Okay, okay, guys," Jack smiled. "You'll get your snow day tomorrow. But for now, what do you guys say to a sled race?"
Everyone was off to get their sleds, even Jamie, forgetting about his arm and how it had hurt just a few minutes ago. He didn't forget about the look in Jack's eyes.
That night, Jamie wrote a letter to Santa Claus.
5.
Jack is humming to himself while swinging a leg out over a branch when he's disturbed. It wouldn't be cause for much alarm if it wasn't for a woman kicking at his tree while screaming at him.
"If you're going to be humming nonsense then help my father!"
After catching himself and trying not to fall out of his tree (the wind was helpful in that regards, giving him a helpful push), Jack looked down in bewilderment. What he finds almost makes him want to fly away. Not that he can. After all, how often was it that Mother Nature called on him?
(The answer is only once and it's to tell him what to do and to stop screwing around. He can't help but get the feeling that she really doesn't like him.)
"Can I help you?" Jack tries to politely ask. He doesn't want to come down but she kicks the tree and he takes that as a request to get down.
"Heal my father!"
"Who?" It falls out of his mouth faster than he can realize who he's talking to. Between his single encounter with her and the other Guardians, he figures that it'll be better to do as she wishes. As soon as he realizes what has escaped his mouth, he is quick to try and cover it up. "Not that I won't help you, I just need to know who!"
Mother Nature's hair is rising out and little bits of electric sparks crackle. Jack is careful to stay out of her arm's reach—the last time he got hit with lighting, he had been out for a week and the rest of the year was a little bit hazy.
Obviously it was the wrong thing to say to her.
"You made him like this! The least you can do is clean up after yourselves!" She stalks closer and stabs him in the chest with one long finger.
Jack yelped and jumped away, rubbing at his chest. When he looks back to Mother Nature, she doesn't look remorseful at all. "Can't you just take me to him?"
It likely comes out a bit whiny but he doesn't care. Not when Mother Nature is raging above him and quite ready to shoot him full of lighting.
But she also seems a bit thoughtful after his question. She seems to think about it before grabbing him around the waist.
Jack can only yelp again, feeling a little bit shocked and spasms shooting up and down him as Mother Nature whisks them away.
When she finally lets go, Jack finds himself kneeling in front of Pitch, who is laying on a bed of pillows and furs himself. Mother Nature is an unyielding wall of electricity behind him. Pitch just groans but Jack can feel Mother Nature's hard stare on him.
He must not be fast enough because she kicks him. Another jolt shoots through him and he yelps again.
"Sing!" She commands him.
Jack doesn't fight her. He always has hated electricity. If it keeps her from grabbing or kicking him again, he'll do what she wants. One hand plants itself onto Pitch's chest where his robe doesn't cover his chest. It's the best that he can do. Pitch takes no notice.
If the words are thick on his tongue, Jack cannot tell. Nor can he tell if he actually sings or if he chants it out. He feels the core of his power that always react when he sings reach out and then flow into Pitch before becoming confused. For once, since he first realized that he had this ability, it actually hurts as it bounces around inside of him.
A hand with the strength of hard wood wrapped itself around his mouth. There was no other warning.
Jack finds himself flying into something hard and unforgiving. Mother Nature doesn't pay any attention to him as all of her attention is on her father (her father is Pitch? What is going on?).
It's the last thing Jack sees.
+1
No one can find Jack in time for the monthly meeting that the Guardians have. Just like not one mentions that they didn't use to have them before Jack joined, they also don't tell him that all of them keep an eye out for him for a day or two before a meeting. They learn that Jack has no sense notion of hours or how one day differs from one another. For that reason, they fetch, drag, or chase him to where they're having the meeting that month.
It becomes alarming when they realize that no one has seen Jack for the last three days.
North summons the Northern Lights in hopes that Jack is just busy. Bunny tries to hunt for him while Tooth and Sandy send out fairies or sand streams to find him.
Sandy is the one to find him and the one who lead them down to Pitch's lair.
North comes armed with swords and Bunny with extra egg-grenades and spare boomerangs. Tooth has her own feather-like swords in her hands. They all barge into the lair as soon as they can and they follow Sandy when he leads them deeper into the shifting shadows and Pitch's maze.
They expect to see Jack being restrained against his will and Pitch looming over him. What they saw instead was Jack crumpled in a corner of a large bedroom and Pitch in bed with a woman standing over him.
She glared at them all. "What are you doing here?"
"What have you done to Jack?" North returned. One sword pointed at her. All of the Guardians knew who she is and at the moment, didn't care.
"Oh nothing," Mother Nature replied. "I needed some help. He gave it. Since then, he's been over there. Don't worry, he's still alive."
Sandy immediately floated over to where Jack laid. The other Guardians didn't lower their weapons but did scoot their way closer so that they were guarding Sandy's back.
"Oh please," Mother Nature scoffed. "I'm nature itself. You can't hurt me."
North opens his mouth to say something. However, he never gets to say it because Sandy is suddenly in front of Mother Nature, the sand over his head forming a lightning bolt. There are other symbols, including a sapling growing, snowflakes, and others too fast to understand.
For the first time in a very long time, Mother Nature shrinks where she stands. Her eyes widen and her mouth drops. She obviously understand what is going on because she only shrinks more and more onto herself as Sandy looms over her.
Behind her Pitch groans. Sandy doesn't stop at all, Mother Nature cowering underneath him as he silently says something that must be devastating to her.
Bunny and Tooth check on Jack for themselves and find golden sand on his eyelids. North does not lower his guard at all.
"What is going on here?" Pitch is suddenly awake and sitting up in the middle of his bed in alarm. "What are the almighty Guardians doing here?"
"Jack is hurt and Mother Nature is the cause," Bunny reported with some heat in his voice. The look on Pitch's face says that whatever is going on is news to him, his mouth slack in surprise. Bunny continued, not really paying attention to Pitch, Sandy, or Mother Nature. "He's hurt and we're taking him back."
North is the only one to see Pitch nod, agreeing to Bunny's statement. He takes that permission to turn and whisk Jack up into his arms. Without much further delay, North summons a snow globe and throws it onto the floor. Bunny go first, followed closely by North.
Tooth pauses to take in Mother Nature quivering underneath Sandy and Pitch sitting on the bed, confused with no explanation.
"Sandy! We're going now!" She calls out to Sandy and he nods. With a final glare, he follows Tooth and the rest in through the portal.
Pitch is left in confusion of what just happened and why Mother Nature is next to his bed. Mother Nature just cowers and tries to stop her sobs.
North walks into his workshop with a grim face and a steady pace that is heavy of foot but light of hand. The yeti at first wonder why, but spread the word when they see why. He carries Jack like he is made out of ice and carefully keeps the grains of sand balanced on his eyelids. Even the elves part for him when he comes their way.
The rest of the Guardians are on his heels and they get the same reception.
Phil looks up when he hears a knock on one of the ill-used doors of the workshop. When he opens it, he is surprised to see a woman with long blond hair and a man in a bright vest. A horse awaits further away and a small green lizard-like being is perched on the woman's shoulder.
"We're needed," the man says without preamble. "Or at least, Rapunzel is needed."
The yeti only bows them in and leads him the way that North had taken.
The strange group (omitting the horse. Another yeti leads him to the stables, where he'll be warm) are lead into a room that's a little bit cold with a carved wooden bed and all the Guardians inside.
All of them looked up when Phil opens the door. Before any words can be spoken, the woman is inside the room and kneeling next to Jack on the bed.
"Oh Jack," she coos. "There's a reason why we avoid Mother Nature. No matter what we have and have not done, we are always the one to pay the price."
"What do you mean?" Tooth cut in. She hovered closer but allowed the woman her distance.
Bunny hissed with wide eyes. When the other North and Tooth looked at him, he nodded his head towards the woman near the bed. "Guys, meet Rapunzel, the Spirit of Spring. Her helpers, Eugene and Pascal. Max is probably outside."
"Don't worry, Bunny," Eugene stated with a small smile. "We're not here for anything other than helping Jack. Can't have my partner in crime out for a year again, can we?"
"Eugene, Bunny, now is not the time," Rapunzel cut in. She was looking at the two with a glare that made them quiet. "Mother Nature is not exactly gentle when she's angry and she was angry enough to not care about what was going on at all. She shocked him. Badly."
Sandy nodded, a lightning bolt over his head again. He shook his head before a drop of water appeared next. When the two symbols touched, the water drop fizzled out and the bolt stayed.
"Yup, you said it sandman," Eugene agreed. "We're here to try and help Jack get better. The last time something like this happened, he was out for a week. And the year after…you don't want to know."
"But why did Mother Nature take Jack?" North cut in, his voice surprisingly soft compared to how he normally talked.
"She couldn't come to me," Rapunzel sheepishly replied. "Jack and I got our healing abilities from some very special drops that fell from the sun and the moon a long time ago. His from that lake he likes and me from a flower. There are certain…dualities that we have to follow. I channel the sun when I heal; Jack the moon. And I can't heal Pitch because of that."
"So Mother Nature got Jack instead," Tooth breathed out in understanding. She hovered for a second before fluttering closer so that she could brush Jack's hair away from his face. "Can you heal him?"
"It'll take longer," Rapunzel smiled, hesitant and a little bit worried. Eugene shifted where he stood, like he was ready to grab her and run. "All of you come back in an hour and Jack should be better if not well. It's always a little bit more tricky trying to heal someone with a rouge ability."
The Guardians didn't get a chance to think on her words because Eugene was ushering them all out of the room. Once the door was closed, he turned to the other spirits with a wide grin, Pascal on his shoulder. "So, who's hungry? Because I tell you what, I am starving!"
North immediately whisked them all off to the kitchens for cookies while Bunny argued with him that not all of them could survive on cookies. Tooth cut in that the cookies would ruin their teeth while Sandy sighed. He glanced at Eugene with a small frown on his round face.
"Hey, I had to get them away somehow," Eugene protested. "It's delicate enough without them worrying just outside the door."
An hour later, on the dot actually, North and Tooth were both nervously waiting outside the door that Eugene had escorted them out of earlier. Bunny wasn't much further away, juggling one foot to keep from tapping it.
"Guys," Eugene called out with a grin plastered onto his face. "While it's great that the kid finally has someone looking out for him, Rapunzel can't exactly be rushed. She'll come get you guys when she's ready."
There was a bright light from underneath the door and Eugene winced. As soon as it died down, he grumbled under his breathe and opened the door blocking the other spirits from entering.
"Never mind."
North was the first one in through the doors with the others not far behind him. "Jack! Jack! Are you okay?"
Jack was sitting up on the bed, coughing weakly and a gob-smacked expression on his face. It immediately brightened when he saw North. "Hey guys! Have you met Rapunzel yet?"
If Bunny's jaw is slack and open, no one calls him on it.
"Oh wait, if you're here, that means Eugene and Max are here!" Jack looked excited, eyes bright and cheery.
Rapunzel laughed. "They can wait. You need bed-rest until everything settles down a bit. Magic has a way of…storming if you don't give it time."
The spring spirit pushed Jack back down and that is when the Guardians who had never met her before realize that Rapunzel is just a little shorter and roughly the same age as Jack. However, her shoulders are just as wide as his and she's filled out in a way that North could never get Jack to be, no matter how much food he feeds him. Somehow, that makes North hopeful and disappointed at the same time.
"What happened?" Tooth began hovering again, this time buzzing between Jack and Rapunzel.
Jack looked at Rapunzel while biting his lip. She shared the same look as him.
Eugene strolled into the room without much care but Bunny noticed that he placed himself in such a way that he could make off with Rapunzel without much trouble. Pascal was still on his shoulder. "I'm going to guess that you haven't quite told them everything that you can do," he inquired of Jack.
"Not exactly?" Jack replied. He winced and sighed. "I told Bunny at least."
"Well then, it's story time!" Rapunzel cheered, clapping her hands. For a second, it looks like Jack will grumble and try to escape both his bed and the room, only to settle back down when Rapunzel looked at him. Her hand even strayed to her waist where she kept a cast-iron frying pan tucked into her belt.
When Jack and the other Guardians settled down around the room, Rapunzel made herself comfortable. Eugene politely refused the chair offered to him while Bunny squatted on the floor. Sand shot looks at Jack for a long second before shaking his head and settling himself down too, a cup of eggnog in his hands.
"It starts with a drop of sunlight," Rapunzel begins. "This little drop of sunlight landed on a cliff ages and ages ago. There, a wonderful and beautiful flower grew. However, the universe needs chaos and order. So a balance had to be found for this little sun flower. The answer was a drop of moonlight that landed in a lake, far far away from the flower.
"Then a woman named Gothel found the sun flower and kept the flower to herself, using it to keep herself young and beautiful by singing to it. For centuries, she did this and lived until a kingdom grew just over the river. When the queen of that kingdom sickened, they found and gave the queen the flower to save her and the baby within her. And when the little princess was born, she has the same healing powers as the sun flower.
"But the woman who had kept the flower still wanted keep it to herself. After the princess was born, she tried to use her like the flower. She failed and woke the baby. However, she found out that the baby girl was her new flower. Determined to keep her new flower to herself, Gothel stole the baby and hid her away for years. Until one day, long story short, a man helped her escape and they reunited her with her parents.
"The drop of moonlight does not have anyone to take care of it or anything of the sort. It waited instead, for the moon to reach out and find it a bearer. As time passed, it became known as the Fountain of Youth because it could heal much like the sun flower could. It takes much more work for it to do so and it is for this reason that when people go searching for it, it falls under their scope. That is, until a village settles just a few miles away from it.
"A boy loved to go out to the lake when he could. It is there that he taught himself the skills he needed to be a man and how to have fun away from prying eyes. All of it goes drastically wrong when he takes his sister ice skating one warm winter day. The ice was not thick enough and his sister almost fell in. Instead of her, it is he who goes down instead.
"It is this boy is who the moon chooses to bear the moon droplet. After finding out about this special trait, he has wandered the earth, keeping his healing ability to himself."
"You're not telling everything," Eugene cut in, though he didn't seem bothered about it. "For one thing, the boy died. I died too, only you saved me. And the drop of the moon takes much longer than the sun drop."
"Why should I tell them when you just did?" Rapunzel asks with a large grin and Jack sniggered behind her. Eugene can only groan.
"Wait, you're the drop of sun?" Bunny frowned. He knew of Rapunzel and what she did, but no further than that. Sandy agreed with him by three symbols appearing over his head. One was a snowflake, another a crescent moon. In the middle of them was a tear drop.
The blond woman is quick to smile and nod. "Yup!"
Jack nodded with a frosty blush at Sandy.
"Explains much," North rumbles from one of the few chairs in the room. "But Jack is always nervous when he heals. Why?"
The man's face is open and nonjudgmental, something that reminds the others of the wonder that he is meant to embody. One cannot find the wonder in something if one is being judgmental, after all.
Eugene moves a little closer to the two main seasonal spirits with a small frown on his face. The Guardians didn't notice. Their sight was instead on Rapunzel and Jack who both winced and flinched.
"There's a reason why Mother Gothel kidnapped Rapunzel. The fairy tale of Rapunzel? Parts of it is true," Eugene explains with a hard look. "There are humans and spirits who would use those gifts for their own gain."
"That's how I met them," Jack cut in with a dark look in his eyes. "They heard some rumors and decided to investigate. After that, I learned to keep it under wraps. It was just easier that way."
The look that Pascal and Rapunzel gives the Guardians promise pain if anything happens because they learned of Jack's healing ability.
For a second, the older Guardians share a look between themselves. It is one of old communications, sharing words with a single look faster than anyone else can speak and something that arose from spending enough time with each other. Luckily, it doesn't take long.
Tooth smiles where she hovers in the air. "Well that explains a lot. Baby Tooth will be so disappointed to learn that she won't become a super-fairy now."
"As will baby yeti," North laughed. "Justin was hoping for thicker coat. He will just have to be patient, like all others."
Sandy silently laughed and agreed.
"You guys seriously thought that you'd get super powers from being healed by Jack?" Bunny gapped at his fellow Guardians, keeping Jack in the corner of his eye so that he could see his reaction. "You're all bonkers."
"I can see why you like hanging out with them," Eugene stage-whispered to Jack. The winter sprite was watching with wide eyes and silently nodded. "They either need a reality-check or a good dose of fun."
Rapunzel only giggled.
(Line break!)
Some notes about the story:
And that is the end. One thing that didn't get in was the idea that Jack is the Winter Element of Fun and Provisions in Hard Times (would Endurance or Rejuvenation be another way to say this?). If anyone has read Mercedes Lackey and her New Collegium books, you may have an idea what I'm talking about. If you haven't, the main character, Mags, attends a Midwinter party where dinner is made up of food found when times were tough and there was little to no food because it was too cold or people started to become sick from lack of greens (or both). This includes barely sprouted plants and thin soups. I get the feeling that he would be the perfect spirit for that kind of thing—surviving the hard times he has endured (the likelihood of the lack of resources when he was human, loneliness as a spirit) and come out semi-whole in the end. As such, he needs a bit of a green thumb and the lake with the moon drop gave that to him. This is just something that never made its way into the story.
I figured that if Jack was the above, what would the other Guardians be?
Sandy I think would be Dreams and Wishes. Bunny practically says that he's Hope and Renewal. What I imagine for North would be Wonder and Family. Tooth…I'm working on. Memories and Experience? I don't know.
By the way? Rapunzel is Spring and all her companions are aspects of it. Max is the spring spirit of determination. Eugene represents the trickery that can happen during spring like Jack is for winter. Pascal seems to be the jaded part of spring, where things sometimes need to die in order for new growth and the advisor when people need it.
And yes, in this canon, Merida and Hiccup are Summer and Fall.
Also, it's alluded to, but Jack got taken advantage of when he was a new spirit, very much like Rapunzel was with Mother Gothel. The only problem was that he wasn't a baby when he was kidnapped and protested against being held against his will. It didn't go so well. It's also why Jack is so nervous about revealing his gift to the others.
This was a kink meme prompt, but I can no longer find the entry. So if anyone finds this and links it, I would be very grateful!