I LIVE!

I'm not going to lie... I kind of forgot I started writing this story. I wrote the first chapter and an outline and then other things came along and stole my attention... For a year and a half.

Sorry...

So, this chapter is dedicated to DConan010, who followed this story so I got an e-mail alert reminding me that this still existed.

Thank you!

Oh, and uh... I obviously still don't own Rise of the Guardians, I'm just borrowing them for a bit.


"What do you mean, steal?" Toothiana spluttered, her feathers ruffling a bit both from surprise and indignation at the mere idea. "Can… can spirits even do that?"

"Pitch took belief away from us and used it for his own gain." Bunnymund pointed out.

North shook his head. "Is not the same. Pitch spread fear, original belief he created, not transferring ours to him. Putting one's power into another should be impossible."

Jack rolled his eyes as he looked to his new companion. "They're just not getting it."

"Not at all" Ash agreed with an exasperated shake of her head. "You're all missing one very important fact."

"We're seasonal spirits."

The other Guardians all slowly turned their heads towards the youngest two spirits in the room as comprehension dawned on their features. North smacked his head in realization while muttering a quiet 'Of course!'

"We're a bit different than you… gift giving, tooth stealing, and dream weaving types." Ash explained vaguely, her crimson eyes sparkling in amusement.

"Seasonal spirits can kind of… loan our powers to each other." Jack continued. "It's meant for those parts of the year where one season turns into the other, when you can't quite tell where one season begins and the other ends."

"Or for when we have duties elsewhere, but it really needs to snow in a specific part of the world." Ash added. "But it's an ability we rarely ever use."

Jack nodded. "But it means that one seasonal spirit can take the abilities of another."

The others were still in a state of dumfounded shock, trying to absorb all of the information that had just been dropped onto them.

"So…" Tooth was the first to break the silence. "Summer and Spring are coming after you? I… wasn't aware there was more than one seasonal spirit. No offense." She immediately turned to Ash, eyes wide as she realized her blunder.

The redhead merely shrugged. "None taken. The only reason Bunnymund knows I exist is because I accidentally dropped into his burrow once… Okay, more than once… Over a dozen times, but it's his fault for making holes everywhere!"

Jack prodded her on the shoulder with his staff. "Ash, focus."

She shook her head. "Sorry, sorry, erm… Anyway, us three other seasons don't really… well, do anything to warrant anyone making legends about us. Dawn and Primavera weren't really… free to roam that long before they were locked away."

"They were always a bit… protective of their seasons. And then they both went cuckoo" Jack said solemnly.

"Extremely cuckoo" Ash corrected. "Dawn tried to burn you alive, Jack."

"Primavera tried to bury you underground."

"It didn't work."

"Children!" North interrupted, his booming voice breaking the argument before it began and bringing their attention back to the others present in the room. "We get picture, Summer and Spring dangerous. Now we must go to stop them, yes?"

Ash blinked a couple of times in surprise. "We?" She laughed a bit. "Sorry, you must have misunderstood this whole… exchange. I'm just here to pick up Jack."

"If they're as dangerous as you say they are, it's our duty to help." Toothiana frowned. "Abilities like theirs… and yours… could potentially be a threat to the children of the world."

"Which is why we're going to stop them now" Ash said. "Like, right now. Before things get out of hand. Jack and I can handle them on their own. They're still weak from imprisonment and I know where their first stop is going to be."

"Great! You will tell us location and we will take sleigh!" North boomed, already sweeping out of the room.

"Wait, no!" Ash called out after him. "WE DID NOT AGREE TO THIS!"

"I CANNOT HEAR YOU!" North yelled back as Bunnymund, Sandy, and Tooth all followed.

Ash groaned and leaned over, hitting her forehead on Jack's bony shoulder over and over again in an act of complete exasperation. "Your new friends are just…"

"I agree." Jack patted the top of her head consolingly. "We should have snuck out when we had the chance."

"I should have just kidnapped you." Ash mumbled in response. "Wait, no, that wouldn't have worked. Then they would have come after me thinking I was the villain and then there would be this whole misunderstanding about who was really evil when we were just trying to stop the real bad guys the whole time."

Jack just waited patiently for her to finish ranting. "Well, we're lucky that didn't happen. Now we just have back up. Such a terrifying thought."

"Don't sass me, Frost, I'll mess you up." Straightening again, she sighed as she started following North's path. "We'd better hurry or they'll really think I kidnapped you."

{}

He had been fifty years old when he discovered he wasn't alone.

Okay, well, he knew that he wasn't the only spirit. He'd seen the tooth fairies out collecting teeth, he'd seen leprechauns at the end of rainbows, he'd seen Santa delivering presents, and a slew of others.

He was fifty when he discovered he wasn't the only seasonal spirit out there.

She was sitting alone in the middle of a meadow that had recently defrosted, green dress made of different leaves and lashed together with vines draped over her form, and hair of a grayish brown that reminded him sharply of tree bark. Jack thought she was just an eccentric mortal girl until she waved her hands and a field of dandelions burst out of the ground where once there had only been grass.

Eager to meet someone new, he stepped out to introduce himself. "Hey!"

He'd barely made it a step before his ice cold tracks started to freeze the ground and the weeds started to die.

The girl jumped up to her feet in an instant, her pale green eyes burning with an anger he'd rarely seen. "What have you done?!" she screeched. If she hadn't been screeching and spitting at him, he was sure her voice would probably sound quite pleasant.

Jack immediately took a step back, hands raising in apology. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! I'm… I'm Jack Frost… Spirit of Winter?"

She huffed, crossing her tanned arms. "Primavera, Spirit of Spring"

"It's… nice to meet you? I've never met anyone like me before. Well, seasonal spirit anyway"

She merely frowned deeper, her eyes narrowing further. "Hmph. Of course you're new. Only a newborn wouldn't be able to control himself long enough to keep his powers in check."

"Hey now, there's no need to-"

"You should leave now." Primavera dismissed him. "I'm extremely busy, unlike you. Go bother Summer or Fall."

"There are… more of us?"

"Two more. I just said that. Now leave."

Primavera turned her back, her attention changing to the hibernating trees around her as she started to pour her power into their roots. Jack stayed only long enough to see buds forming on the ends of the branches before he decided to leave before she yelled at him again.

And he thought Spring was supposed to be about hope, rebirth, and happiness.

It turned out Spring was a bit of a grouch.

Who knew?


Yes, Jack, who knew? When I first started planning this story, I just liked the whole idea of an antithesis with the usual portrayals of summer and spring entities. Next time, we can expect more exposition, both in the 'present' and in Jack's past. Yippee.