Jack loved loved loved celebrations for one thing they were fun which was- come on kinda his thing. For another he was allowed to participate, huge masses of people all churning around each other and Jack didn't feel so ignored, Things were better for him now, belief had spread from a small group of children to other children and so on. The older siblings taught the younger ones and sometime Jack actually had to go out of his way not to be seen. Still, compared to the other guardians it was a drop in the ocean, mostly Jack was a flicker out of the corner of the eye.

Pleased in spite of himself Jack tucked his hands into his pockets and laughed openly as the performers at the end of the parade gamely kept going, even though many of them were panting and sweating in the harsh weather. The larger countdowns in cities were fun but Jack liked to enjoy the frantic joy children had in the smaller towns where they used all the energy in their small bodies to keep going long past their bedtimes the one night a year no adult would fault them for it.

Keeping to the rooftops Jack explored the madness. New year's was celebrated within the span of a few days by most of the world in today's society. Jack remembered when calendars were different all over the place and New years was split up between several mythos. Apparently the 12 gods of Chinese New Year had been quiet content to downsize and now it got split between the Zodiac and the Mytho of most New beginnings, Father Time. Jack hummed excitedly as the parade took a hard left up ahead and the crowd surged straight forward towards the square park.

Jack was somewhere in the upper bit of the U.S. and actually couldn't be sure he hadn't wandered into Canada what with the 10-20 foot high snow drifts built up casually along the roads. Because of the deal struck up ages ago with the sky when the moon first fell into orbit, The Man in the Moon couldn't be around all the time and tonight less than a sliver peeped down on the preceding. A few stray moonbeams were wandering around looking for what, Jack couldn't say.

"Where did you get those?" came a breathless whisper over the edge of the fence and Jack hopped up on a post and looked down to see five 8 or 9 year olds all excitedly huddled around . Jack's eyes curved upwards in a smile, he could spot mischief from 20 yards. One kid with shaggy blond hair and only a thin sweater pulled back to show the others what he'd found. One kid, whose fingers looked a bit stiff without gloves, reached eagerly into the pile.

Fireworks-

and not kid sparklers or small 3 foot fountains you could buy at the store. Jack saw immediately that these must have been swiped from the set that the adults planned to fire off on the stroke of midnight. "Whoa there!" Jack cautioned, "What are you going to do with those?" The only response he got was two of the boys tugging their jackets closer to ward off his chill.

Jack scowled, he bet if North popped up they'd see him and listen to him. Jack looked closer and grew alarmed, the blond ring leader was wearing a sweater and jeans and his only winter related items seemed to be his boots. Only 2 of the 5 children were outfitted for weather that was certainly below freezing. A boy and a girl who looked to be siblings wore full garb but the others only had the occasional scarf and gloves. "Hey now!" Jack snapped and was chagrined to see a cold chill sweep over the children who frustratingly rubbed their hands together but didn't seemed concerned about their blueing fingers.

Blond kid fumbled in his pockets, fingers stupid with cold and produced a small hotel packet of matches. "This is going to be so great!" One kid murmured, eyes dancing with childish delight and Jack was alarmed when his spark told him that this sense of fun felt corrupted. Each child now held a firework or two in their hands and Blondie's cold fingers grasped a match. Furious without being entirely sure why Jack swept up behind and blew out the match like a birthday candle.

The second attempt and the kid dropped the match to the ground, his fingers looking painful to move in the cold. Jack was not impressed, his powers were seeded in people being smart enough to care for themselves when Jack brought winter to tell the earth to sleep. "Don't even try it." Jack warned but the little moron had struck another match and lit a firework held in his friends small fist. Jack was pretty sure you needed to be like really really far away when these went off.

Panicked Jack focused hard as he could and was relieved to see the fuse give out. "Got it!" Jack whirled around to spy the girl, about 7, holding up her lit firework. Tiny chubby face lit up in excitement. She must have picked up the match the boy had dropped. Horrified Jacks panic swelled inside him, no Mythos wanted to bring anything but joy to children, that didn't include watching them blow off their faces.

Jack would almost swear to Mother Earth that time slowed down as the fuze burned up to the gunpowder. Angry, Jacks wind only had time to sweep violently from behind Jack, bellowing over the children and prying the firework from grasping fingers. It didn't put out the firework though, magic was always weaker when it came to man made things.

The firework whirled a few feet away and Jack's spark called for snow as more of a instinct than a plan. The whirl of snow that knocked the children backwards did nothing to diminish the full force of the firework which shot off across the street. Jack heard the loud 'BOOM' moments after brightly colored flame shot across the road and into the city storage shed. Yells from the confused crowd behind him filled the brief moment of pause before flames opened like a mouth to engulf the small wooden structure

"Whoa, whoa" Shocked Jack stared at the structure that was starting to give off smoke. That was-

"Amazing!" One of the kids had struggled to his feet and was looking at the fire with awe.

"Holy cow," Another agreed, totally unrepentant. Jack's head whipped between them and the damage their actions had brought. Looking back and forth to make sure he was seeing a growing fire because the kids were beaming like it was a visit from North instead. "What on earth are you doing?!" Jack snapped at the kids who had all gotten to their feet. Frustrated he made as if to grab and shake one but stopped when he heard the youngest one laugh.

Jack looked at their faces and didn't see anything dark, just child like delight. Adults had made way for the Firemen who are always on scene for fireworks and who looked frazzled and confused as they got to work.

"Zach!"

A horrified woman was doing her best to hurry over while hauling a confused teenage girl along with her. "Mom!" The blond kid waved absently to his mother. "What happened!? Where are your gloves?" Jack winced, his gust hadn't helped, the kids fingers might even have been a bit blue although if the fire kept growing that wouldn't be a problem.

"Hi Mrs. Kennedy" One of the others greeted and the bewildered shock plastered on the woman's face was fair in Jack's opinion. Not 15 feet away a large group had gathered to watch the storage shed burn and this small group of eight year olds was looking like all was right with the world. "Where on earth did you get those?" The deeper 'Mom' tone that promised seriousness didn't seem to faze anyone but her teenager.

"We saw these in the back of Mr. Dunhulls truck, aren't they great!?" A very important part of childhood is feeling like you have a secret to keep and Jack wondered if maybe admitting to the small pile of stolen fireworks on the ground while the fire behind them billowed smoke was maybe not their best choice, pleading for mercy seemed a bit more fitting.

Apparently not sure what line of questioning to pursue the frazzled woman settled for scooping the explosives into her arms herding the small group plus her teen across the parking lot, now cheerily lit by the fire. A small part of Jack's spark was lit up and buzzing with the sheer delight the children had experienced and Jack reminded himself he needed to keep himself in check. Mostly he was just bewildered.

Jack liked to think that one of the best things about kids was that they always had a reason, not always a good reason but they always seemed perfectly content with whatever havoc they were inflicting as long as they knew the whys. This was nothing like that, there hadn't been a motive they had done it just to do it which is fine but kids aren't as dumb as people think. Those kid should have known full well that the fireworks were dangerous. Jack usually preached rule breaking, doing things in spite of the danger is an important part of growing up, but this was….different. It was like they just didn't care.

Puzzled and a bit frazzled Jacks winds were under his feet before he fully made the decision to sweep up over the fence and into a small shop roof across the street. He could just make out a small panicked gathering of the kids and who he assumed must be their adults. The mother from before was pointing to the fire while she juggled the explosives she had picked up from the children's stash. Jack wondered if they were deciding to tell the truth about who started the fire. The kids were playing tags around the adults legs and didn't seem worried at all. Not even when a police officer who seemed to pop out of the shadows headed straight for the group.

Shaking his head Jack turned away, he would come find the children later but this was parents territory, something no Guardian infringed upon. It looked like the countdown to the New Year would pass unmarked in this town Jack thought as he watched the town's focus on their celebration wane.

"I still haven't gotten bored with a good round of fireworks after all this time, but this is not what I usually see." A raspy voice spoke up behind Jack. "Whoa!" Whipping around Jack almost tripped himself over his staff and then had to pinwheel his arms to stay on the roof. "What the- whoa!" Blinking a couple times he found a rather unmoved Father Time holding a hotdog wearing a jogging suit and standing peaceably on the rooftop next to him.

"You're Father Time." Jack blurted, the man took a bite from the hot dog "Is that so?" Jack blinked "...Yes." The man walked over to the edge of the roof and sat himself down to keep eating. He had a short trimmed white beard and eyebrows so thick Jack could barely see his eyes but he moved with ease. The younger boy had a hard time looking straight at him, Time himself could be a little jarring to look at. Jack had only spoken with him once before a few centuries earlier on a February 29th when he had passed the man by accident. Jack had been asked what he was doing and when he shrugged, flustered, and said "Killing Time." Father Time had been so offended he left at once.

Now 3 years in a row Father Time kept February 29th stored away as unused time and only let one slip by every 4 years. Jack had heard a lot of speculation about what he did with the saved days but no one really knew for sure. Everyone knew Jack had been at fault and he had taken a lot of snark for it for a few decades.

"Bidding farewell to time that's already been used is good for New Beginnings. When people don't say farewell to used time it tends to linger- sometimes even fester." At Jack's alarmed look the man grinned "Oh don't worry it takes more than one missed round of fireworks to really clog up the gears but this town might find grudges and change are a bit harder to move past this year." The man looked interestedly at the billowing smoke that poured out from where fire hoses were beating the down the flames.

Jack sat next to the man and mimicked the way he was swinging his legs off the edge of the roof. "Did you see what happened with those kids? What were they thinking!" Jack jammed his staff in the direction of the small group. The roof under him curled with frost in mimic of his agitation. "It was fun though wasn't it? Never known Jack Frost to shy away from a good time and a little trouble making."

"They blew up a shed!" The white haired boy tried to sound stern but he'd been causing trouble for too long to be a voice of reason.

"In the scheme of things one shed is nothing."

There was no accusation in Time's voice but Jack blew a breath at him anyway. "What are you even doing here?" Jack demanded. Time smiled and finished his hot dog, "It was the time for it, besides I never congratulated you- on becoming a Guardian, St Patrick was so disappointed."

"Why do I feel like people only want to talk to me now that i'm a Guardian, they never did before!" Time laughed and for a moment time slowed down before picking up again. "They never talked to you or you never talked to them? That's in the past, a place I like to wander in, but for you this is New Beginning, Don't waste it." For a moment Jack felt like something heavy had been put on his shoulders.

"Be a good Guardian- got it. Wait- that's why you're here! Something to do with me and the kids!"

"Perhaps." Time allowed. "Time's are- different now and I have to keep things moving no matter what but Time has a habit of getting away, even from me. And if things keep going like they're going there may be no children left for you to guard, Guardian."

"Whoa! Whoa whoa- what is that supposed to mean?" Jack asked. His hair ruffling with a bit of wind. "I don't know."

Jack frowned at Time "Don't you know what happens next?" Time held out his hands as if to say "who me?" but Jack got the feeling there wasn't a real answer. "Here" Time held out a hand and Jack received-

"Firecrackers!"

"I hate to be a bad role model considering-" Time pointed towards the almost done fire, "-but if you do have to do something dramatic, do it with a bang. It's a gift for becoming a Guardian, everyone should have a few spare days in their pockets." Jack looked down at the firecrackers, there were three, and they looked all the world like normal firecrackers but if Time hated one thing it was wasting time so Jack doubted this was anything normal.

"Man I can see why those kids couldn't help themselves, these things are fun." Jacks spark gave a little wiggle in excitement inside him. "So why don't you?" Time almost sounded like he was goading Jack.

"Well i'm almost afraid to think what a second explosion would do, they'd never let any kids out at New Year again"

"Exactly" Time said pointedly, and Jack sort of understood the Kid were the ones believing in Father Time after all. "It's like they weren't even afraid of getting in trouble." Jack muttered to himself, turning the Firecrackers over in his hands. "What do you-" but nobody was there, Times time was up and he had left. Not sure what he was supposed to do now Jack sat on the rooftop and watched the New Year come and go without affair