A/N: Leave me reviews. Please.

Winter went by thankfully slow. Jack made sure snow and ice stuck around long into the beginning of March and as a result she tried to live a somewhat normal life around Jack Frost. Normal unfortunately meant class for Poppy during the weekday mornings, and reading homework in the evenings. She still made time to sit on the porch or in the clearing with her snow spirit, and even if she had homework, he would be there with her asking quiet questions or humming quietly at her side.

One particularly frigid Wednesday afternoon, Poppy was wrapped up in a thick scarf, a hat, her warmest coat and gloves to try and keep the cold wind out as she made the trek from her warm creative writing classroom to her car in the parking lot across campus. A freezing wind kicked up some ice from the partially frozen asphalt under her boots. She shivered and pulled her coat in tighter around her slim waste. Her shaking hands caused her keys to sleep between her gloved fingers as she brought them up to unlock her door.

"Come on." Poppy muttered.

Before her keys could hit the ground, an inky tentacle of black sand looped itself through the key ring and pulled them under her car. Poppy jumped and slipped on the ice and onto her back. She shifted her scarf out of her eyes to watch her keys be pulled out along the asphalt of the parking lot and into the frosted trees.

"Nightmare sand?" She pushed herself onto her hands and knees then slipped around the tail end of her car where she sat back on her heels and leaned up against her bumper with narrowed eyes. The black tentacle of sand disappeared into the shadows of the trees at the edge of the parking lot.

"No wait, I need those." She set her backpack against the wheel of her car and slipped across the parking lot, past a group of people and into the thick redwood trees. Poppy lost the shadowy sand against the dark earth and frost bitten leaves. "What do you want with those anyway? Are you driving a car somewhere? Bring those back." She let out an exasperated huff as she skidded to a stop in a clearing. "Hello?" She shouted into the trees.

"Who are you?" A voice whispered from the shadows. "You're interfering, child. I want to know why?"

Poppy jumped and narrowed her gaze into the shadows. "Interfering? With what exactly?"

A tall skeletal man stepped from the shadows. A scarlet ribbon was tied in front of his eyes and a long black cloak was draped over his shoulders. In one thin hand, he held a small golden scale. "How old are you girl? You're not what I was expecting to find here."

"Twenty three.." She stuttered as she took a hesitant step backwards. "Who are you and what do you want?"

He sighed and took another few steps towards her. "The Guardians won't ignore you for much longer. I am Justice, of the High Council. We are collecting those who would upset the balance." She took a few steps back as the back sand wrapped around his shoulders and dropped her keys into his scale. "How did you come to meet Jack Frost girl." He picked up the car keys in a pair of emaciated fingers. "The boy has been causing trouble with the mortal world as of late. Upsetting the natural order."

"I don't know if I should tell you." She set her jaw and clenched her gloved hands.

His face twisted into a snarl. "Bold human. Too bold of you. You'll regret standing up to me."

Poppy watched the black sand shift around Justice with a wide shivering gaze. She couldn't outrun the menacing sand, and there was no way she could fight back. She took a half step backwards. The only option was to try and run. As the sand curled around Justice and she tensed up to flee, a gust of wind made her close her eyes as a few snowflakes wrapped around her shoulders and Justice growled.

"Hands off." Jacks voice came along with the freezing wind that always marked his arrival. With a flick of his staff, ice froze the sand around the menacing spirit before them. "Who are you and why are you threatening my friend? You have no right at all." He held out an arm to keep Poppy safely behind him. "He didn't touch you right? Everything alright?"

"No I'm fine." She whispered breathlessly. "Fashionably late as always."

"Jack Frost." Justice grinned through sharp teeth. "Just the man we've been looking for. Care to chat?"

The winter spirit held out his staff and narrowed his gaze at the strange man. "Stay behind me Poppy. Who are you? I won't ask again."

"You may call me Justice of the High Council. Your Guardians will know who I am. I must ask, since when is it acceptable to reveal yourself to an adult human." He stepped forward and Jack stepped back. "In my experience, there has never been a time when something like this is within the norm. It is outside the natural order. Against the rules and therefore is forbidden."

"You think he did this on purpose?" Poppy grabbed onto the back of Jack's sweatshirt, which caused him to flinch. "I saw him on accident when I saw that sand the first time." She pointed at the shifting black behind him. "I'm not going to stop seeing my friend because you say it's against some old rules-"

"Hold your tongue or I will hold it for you. Mortality has no place here." The strange spirit hissed dangerously. "Jack Frost. I am bringing you before the High Council under the crime of upsetting the balances. You will be sentenced and imprisoned where you will face punishment for you crimes-"

"Time to go." Jack whipped ice into the air with a quick twirl of his staff. He turned to her and took hold of her elbows with a huge grin. "Hold on tight to me and don't let go no matter what."

"Tight to what-" Her arms wound themselves around his waist hesitantly. She had never held him before and his chilled skin took her breath away. Not because of the ice but because it was like the electric buzz that happened the first time their skin had touched. Before she could say anything else to him, the North Wind whipped them into the sky.

"Don't look down Poppy." He muttered into her hair and wrapped one of his long arms around her shoulders, as all the sudden they were upside down and she was laying on his chest. Wind whipped around her, roaring in her ears. She could barely hear his laughter over the roar in her ears. "You just hold on as tight as you can to me and don't focus on anything else."

"Oh I won't let go. I can promise you that." Her fingers were white, knotted against his icy sweatshirt, as his bubbling laughter rang out through the clouds. It was a solid twenty seconds before she peeked up at him. His head was tilted back so he could see where he was going and nothing but clouds and snowflakes surrounded them on either side. His pale skin was ghostly and haunting in the filtered sunlight. He was all delicate lines and fragile skin. It took a while of her staring at the skin stretched over his neck for her to remember he was the only thing keeping them in the air. "Holy shit, we're flying. I hope you know where you're doing Jack."

"Hey, 'bout time you noticed! You better watch that mouth of yours." He laughed out loud again and peeked down at her. "We're going somewhere where he can't follow us and we can get you some help, but you can't be talking like that you get me?"

"Which is where exactly?"

"Just keep holding on tight!" In a rush, his hand wrapped around her back. They dove downwards and through the clouds and in through a skylight in a rush. The ground was a solid relief when they touched down in a huge shadowy room. Jack made sure she was steady on her knees before he let her go and she fell to her knees.

"Oh my god, oh my god." She held a hand over her thundering heart and let herself collapse onto the tiled floor beneath her. Her head was spinning, but she could hear something moving behind her. She tried to focus on Jack, who skipped to the edge of the space they had landed in where there was a thick wood railing and hopped up on top of it. "Jack where are we? Don't leave me alone."

"Just stay put. Hey North!" Jack called into the dark space. His clear voice echoed into the shadowy room.

Poppy blinked up at him, practically glowing in the darkened room. She turned and looked back over her shoulder as the shuffling sound got louder and closer to her. Out of the shadows a giant form appeared and then a second and a third. " Um, Jack.."

"Yeah in a sec. North are you here?" He floated above the banister with a whirlwind of snowflakes. "Come on man we need help!"

The giant creatures lurked towards Poppy and she struggled to stand. "Jack what are they?"

"What are what?" He still was floating up towards the top of the cavernous room with his eyes on a giant globe covered in twinkling lights. He turned back over his shoulder and rushed back to her side. "No, no, no guys. This is a friend! Don't you take her anywhere, understand?"

She scrambled to his bare feet and wrapped her fingers around his leg. "Don't let them take me. What are they?"

"Relax, they just make the toys." He knelt beside her with a laugh and set his hand lightly on her neck. "Well and sorta guard the area. But they won't hurt you."

"What do you mean?" Poppy turned to him and their noses bumped together. She started to stutter out something, but his eyes dazzled her into silence so all that came out was half of his name.

He gave her a breathy laugh. "Just chill out-"

"Jack! What on earth do you have with you? This is not allowed! You are knowing better than this-"

He stood in a flourish and pulled her up with him. "North listen I know, I don't need the speech right now. We needed somewhere safe. Someone threatened us." Jack straightened out Poppy's jacket for her before touching her cheek with his long fingers and smiled softly. "You need to try and calm down, North is going to help us. Say hello or something."

"Threatened?" The bearded man turned his bright gaze on the brunette clinging to Jack. "Who was it? Describe this man to me."

"Relax will you?" Jack said quietly to Poppy again before turning his crystal blue eyes on North. "Someone who called himself Justice of some High Council."

"Those relics?" North rolled his wide eyes. "Girl, is this truly what you saw?"

"Are you Santa Clause?" She whispered from under Jack's arm instead of answering his question. "You're different then I always pictured. You're tattoos are cool." She pointed out stupidly before kicking herself for the words that had tumbled from her mouth.

The giant bearded man chuckled. "Thank you."

"Her name's Poppy." The winter spirit rolled his bright eyes and pulled her from behind his back and gave her a gentle push towards North. "Tell him now what happened. Tell him about the guy who threatened you."

She cleared her throat and looked up at the huge man Jack had been calling North. "He was tall and thin, with this weird ribbon over his eyes. Oh and a golden scale in his hand." She held up one of her own hands to illustrate her point. "Do you know him?"

"Yes I know this man. What did he say to you?" North ran his huge hands through his beard. "How exactly did he threaten you?"

"He told me I've upset a balance, mortality held no place and something else about calling Jack before some kind of High Council, wasn't that it?" She looked up at him and he nodded while he leaned against his staff lazily. "Something about punishment for interacting with the mortal world or something, that's all I can remember, is it enough?"

The giant man grumbled something under his breath. "Jack you've broken rules by bringing her here but I will reprimand you myself for this later. I see how it was the best thing for you both at the time and a smart decision. Now come with me. I'll tell you about this High Council."