In the early days, Jack kept to his lands.

He could fly with the Wind, fast and free. It was the most exhilarating thing he'd ever done, he supposed, with decorating the world in frost being a close second. Yet he never strayed far from the woodlands and villages, going only as far as the ocean and retreating to the mountains when the warm seasons arrived. In all his time as a spirit, he had seen many peculiar creatures and ethereal beings. There were faeries and pixies, even gnomes and ghosts, though unless they were fellow tricksters or winter sprites they paid him little regard. Of course no human paid him any mind, either. Despite not being quite alone, Jack Frost was terribly lonely. It kept him searching curiously, though after a couple unsavory supernatural encounters he was often cautious of approaching unfamiliar spirits.

His life changed one morning, during the burning summer season.

He'd woken up to see the intricate patterns of his frosty cave home dripping to the ground. Sitting up from his perch in a tree, he immediately noticed the heat in the air. He felt sweat beading on his forehead, and he swiped at his drooping white hair. Gliding down from the tree offered a slight breeze from the Wind, but to his alarm even it seemed warmer than before. Clutching his staff in both hands, Jack stepped toward the front opening of the cave.

Now, Jack had seen the Spring many times. He'd appreciated the flowers and animals, just beginning to grow and gain color. But it had been a while since he'd awakened in the Summer. Usually he just dozed inside his cave until the Autumn chill made it viable to spread frost again. Standing here in the Summer, he found everything foreign, yet somewhat familiar. The scenery, however, wasn't nearly as confounding as the person standing a few feet away from him.

There weren't many things that made it clear, but Jack could tell that he was a spirit, not a human. The young man was tall and strong-framed, but in his face looked to be no older than Jack. He had dark skin, a deep dark earthy color. His hair was long, in a style the tiniest bit like plaits but…not, and Jack couldn't recall ever seeing anyone with their hair that way. His clothes were simple, only a cotton shirt and fitted pants, and he wore no shoes. Jack cautiously tiptoed closer, feeling the heat radiating off of this stranger.

The newcomer turned his head toward Jack sharply. He bristled for a moment, observing Jack critically, and only lowered his guard slightly when he determined Jack was a spirit, too. He looked over him curiously. Neither moved, neither blinked. It was Jack who spoke first.

"You…feel like the Summer."

"- - - - - -. - - - -?"

Jack blinked. The other spirit's mouth had moved, and sounds had come out, but Jack had not understood a word. He must have caught his blank look, because he frowned in thought and tried again.

"Ou…es…uh…" he paused, thinking again. "Vous etez…l'hiver?"

"Um?" Jack scratched his head. The other spirit sighed and hugged himself, shivering.

"Hiver! Le froid…uh…froid, le froid!"

"Frod? Or frost...? Do you mean…cold?" Jack stared closely at the spirit's actions.

"Col'…wi, col', le froid, l'hiver."

"Yes, that's me. Who are you?"

"'Ou es col', uh…désolé, mon pa kapab koz Angle byen…" Jack had to admire the spirit's attempts at speaking English when it clearly wasn't his native tongue. He paused again, then pointed to himself before continuing. "…es chaud." He repeated it again, pointing to himself and adding "es chaud."

"I'm sorry, I don't know…" Jack gave him a helpless look. Again the stranger gestured, this time to the world around them, before pointing back to himself. Jack's eyes lit up.

"So you are Summer! You're summer, I'm winter!" he exclaimed, pointing respectively. The spirit nodded, eyes wide.

"Summer…winter. Wi, I'm…summer, ou…are, winter!"

"You're Summer," Jack's voice fell to a hush. He stepped toward the other spirit, who stared at him with just as much curiosity. However, though Jack could not notice it, there was still a hint of wariness in the Summer spirit's eyes. He backed away as Jack approached.

"Es no winter. Non, c'est…summer," he frowned, looking over Jack again. "Pourquoi…you…?"

"Hm?" Jack tilted his head. He managed to gather that the summer spirit was pointing out that it was indeed the hot season with no need for the cold. That probably meant he was asking why Jack was out here talking to him. Jack deflated and moved away from him.

"Oh…"

"Ou dormi en…summer, wi?" he rested his head against his hands, and Jack understood. He nodded, still not sure whether the other seasonal was trying to coax him into leaving.

"Yeah, I sleep during the summer."

"Es trop froid…uh, col'," he continued. "Pa col' en summer."

"I know," Jack sighed. He gazed down dejectedly, unable to keep back the scowl on his face. "I'll go back, then."

"Ou winter i zoli-!"

"It's what?" Jack looked back up in surprise. The summer spirit smiled and nodded. He pointed to the mouth of Jack's cave, where a bit of frost was still visible on the rocky surface.

"C'est beau, i zoli…mais I…I'm, trop chaud…" he lowered his hand sheepishly.

"Oh…yeah, you thawed it!" Jack crossed his arms. "The mountains are supposed to stay cold around here."

"Ehehe…" A sheepish smile and embarrassed nod. Jack shrugged and unfolded his arms, giving up on acting upset.

"Hey, what's your name?" Jack asked. "My name is Jack Frost. Who are you?"

"Jack…Frost…" the other spirit tried the name out slowly. "Jack Frost. Hm! Plezir, Jack Frost! Mon appel Jules de St. Ange."

"Ju-liez?" Jack sounded. "Juli…us? Julius?"

Julius smiled. He nodded and made a wide arm gesture to Jack.

"Plezir, Jack Frost. Mon appel…my…name…is Julius de St. Ange."

"Uh, plezir, Julius de St. Ange."

Julius cracked a smile and tapped at the ground. The earth began to shift there, and suddenly a green shoot sprouted from the dirt. It grew and grew until it bloomed a tall, brown-centered flower with bright yellow petals. Julius plucked it from the soil and held it out. Jack took it hesitantly.

"Thank you…"

"Zher voo zon pree. Ou dormi en summer. Is summer pour you." Julius nodded, pushing the flower closer to Jack.

"…I…" Jack stared down at the sunflower. "I can keep it…?"

"Wi! Pour you!" Julius began to walk backwards, to the edge of the mountain's cliff. Jack's smile faltered as he looked up.

"Wait, are you leaving?"

"Is summer. Zher pa vyen der, uh…" Julius paused, then pointed at the ground and himself, making an X with his arms. Zher vyen der l'isle!" he pointed away from the mountain.

"You're not…from here, you're from…sorry, what was the last word?"

"Isle…isle?" Julius moved his hands in a circle.

"An island?" Jack asked. Julius nodded at this.

"I'm…leav-ing."

"Oh…" Jack sighed. "That makes sense. Hm…"

"You...leav-ing en winter, wi?"

"Huh?"

Julius stepped closer to him. His deep brown eyes were just as warm as the season he represented.

"I'm leav-ing en summer, you leaving in winter!"

"L-leaving? No, I've..." Jack's breath hitched in his throat, uncertainty crinkling his brow. "I've never…"

"You're winter, I'm summer. I leaving, you never leaving?"

"I mean…I never thought about it," Jack's eyes grew wide. "I've seen boats a-and travelers, but I wasn't sure…"

"You leaving en winter! En winter! You sure, you leaving."

"Leave where, though? You want me to come visit you?"

"Eh, wi, visit!" Julius grinned a dazzling white smile. It faded into a wry smirk. "Mais no winter, is trop col'."

"Wait, what?"

"You visit, no winter! Leave when you sure."

"Wh-that doesn't make any sense!" Jack frowned. Julius laughed and backpedaled to the edge of the mountain. He jumped back into the sky, and Jack felt a warm breeze whip his cloak as it rushed to catch Julius. The summer spirit spun in the air before waving and speeding away from the mountain.

Jack stood their blinking in the bright summer sun. He wiped his brow and looked back at the sunflower in his hand.

"That was…weird."

He trudged back to the cave. Once in the shade, he tapped his staff against the walls, once again covering everything in a chilly layer of intricate frost. He sighed in relief from the heat. Then he sighed in exasperation from his new encounter.

What was he supposed to do with this? He'd never met another seasonal spirit before. The elemental sprites and fairies didn't really count, he thought, since they were small and only ever danced around the water, plants, storms, and fires. He'd never met the Spring or the Autumn spirits. Now the Summer, of all seasons, had visited him up on his mountain. He couldn't have known he lived there in the hot months, but why was he up there anyway? And then he just invited him – more like insisted, really – to visit him on his island, wherever that was. But he said not to bring winter when he did? That wasn't possible! He pouted. The more he thought about it, the more confused and irritated it made him.

Jack twirled the sunflower stem in his hand. He thought back on everything Julius said. It was like a social puzzle, and his lack of interaction skills wasn't helping one bit.

"You sure, you leaving."

If he was sure? So he wasn't being rushed. Even so, he wasn't at all certain how to handle this attention. He wasn't sure he liked it either. Well…

A layer of frost stiffened the sunflower up. Jack pressed it gently to the wall and pinned it there with another layer of frost. It stayed, almost like a picture with no frame.

He could think about it when he got back up in autumn. Winter was far off from now, anyway.


That's the end of that! I hope everyone enjoyed. Now for a little explanation:

As we established, Julius is from Seychelles. I won't give away all of his story just yet, but I will say that I am trying my absolute BEST to make him and their interactions historically and logically accurate. I've been looking up as many facts as I can, which will be used later on as we shape this story.

That being said, I wanted to show the initial language difficulties in a realistic way. We saw in the movie that characters could speak in different languages (North and Tooth), and I'm not certain the others understood them, but the audience couldn't and I decided the same for the characters. So in this story, Julius started out speaking Seselwa, or Seychelles Creole, and Jack sort of blanked out because he didn't understand and wasn't expecting it. After that, he tried harder to listen and decipher what Julius was saying, while Julius himself tried speaking more simply and mixing the more common French words in along with body language and repeating words that Jack was saying to him. Messy, but realistic to someone trying to speak to you in your native tongue. However, I want to apologize for the possible butchering that I may have done due to inconsistencies in spellings when I looked up Seselwa. I only learned French in school, not any dialects.