Chapter 11

If there was one thing Ember could despise more than Jack, it was fucking Antarctica. Just flying towards the continent was driving a frozen spike into her bones. She wasn't entirely sure what the Guardians were doing in such desolate place, but she had an inkling it had to do with her. It was an honor really to put them on the run, Ember mused.

She stayed low on the warm currents and kept an eye out for any movement. Her teeth clattered as she felt the temperature drop another few degrees. At the rate this was going, it would take most of her energy to create the warm breeze needed for her to fly. Just as this thought crossed her mind, a giant snowball crashed down on her from above. She barely got out a surprised yip before landing in a snow bank.

"Oh sweet Jesus," she hissed immediately climbing from it and moving to retrieve her bow that had been thrown on impact.

"Frozen there Firefly?" she heard Jack ask from above; she looked up at him to see him glaring down at her.

"I'm sure I can warm myself up," she said with a shrug glancing over at her bow. It would be a bit of a lunge, but she figured it was worth the jump. "You too, if you want to bring yourself down here." With that, she smiled and moved to grab her bow only to have to fall onto her back from North swinging his blades right at her head.

"You're not leaving here Ember!" Bunny growled helping to surround the fire spirit.

She couldn't help but start to laugh. "How's it going there rabbit? Can you still feel your feet?" She expected an ambush, but she hadn't expected them all to be here even Tooth. "Hello again peacock, how are your feathers doing?"

Ember had to jump to her feet to avoid getting an icicle to the face. None of the Guardians looked happy with her, not like she could blame them. Still, she had a job to do, and while fighting in the cold was by far her least favorite thing, she wasn't just about to fall to her knees and surrender. Raising her fists, she smiled at North.

"Well unless you're going to wait for me to freeze death, come on then," she said. All her years alive had taught her one thing well- how to survive. She wasn't about to forget that even when she couldn't exactly feel her toes anymore.

North came at her with his blades, and she fell into a roll ignoring the snow that was sticking to her skin. She just needed to get her hands on her bow, but she fell just shy of grabbing it. The next thing she knew, Bunny had kicked her farther from her weapon. She glared at the rabbit, but he only grinned in return.

"You're enjoying this too much," Ember growled.

"Oh just a bit Sheila," Bunny replied, his smile growing.

Ember watched as Tooth fluttered down to grab her bow, and there was no way the fire spirit was going to let that happen. Deciding there wasn't much else of a choice, she brought her elbow straight up into Bunny's chin hearing a resounding crack from his jaw slamming together. From there, she broke into a sprint even though Jack had coated the snow with more ice.

Thankfully, she slipped and it gave her the advantage. She slid right into her bow which she snatched up then turned and put an arrow into Toothiana. Coming to a rest, Ember got to her feet trying to pull the bow back again, but her fingers were numb and she was shaking so bad.

"Cold?" Jack said. It would have been humorous had his voice not been so bitter. He was taking Sandy's predicament hard. The winter spirit landed a few feet away from Ember while the rest of the Guardians assembled behind him. It looked like they had Ember. With Jack's added power, the temperature was far below freezing, colder than Ember had ever thought possible.

"Stop, stop!" she cried falling to her knees and hugging her arms trying to put feeling back into them. Her bow fell to the side useless. "I can barely feel my face."

"That's Jack Frost nipping at your nose," he joked, and even Bunny snorted in amusement. He walked towards the shivering Ember; her eyes were plastered close as she tried to use her powers to warm at least something. The snow didn't even melt.

"Hilarious," Ember said dryly.

Jack stood in front of the freezing fire spirit; it almost seemed too easy. He almost felt bad as he could see her bright usually flushed skin was going pale from all the blood rushing back to try and heat her core. He almost allowed the temperature to go back up, but he wasn't about to let her get the drop on him again.

"How should we restrain her?" Tooth asked fluttering closer.

"I could freeze her hands and feet?" Jack suggested bending down to pick up her bow, and that was when Ember moved. She snatched her bow back up and slid Jack's head between the wood and the string. She ended up kneeling on his back.

"You should have done that first," she said with a grin knowing she had to move quickly or get stabbed in the back. Ember loved how easily the Guardians could be duped into believing the 'I'm injured and weak angle. The entire time when she had been kneeling, she had been warming her hands back up by placing them between her body and arms. She just needed a bit more blood flow back, and she would be able to do, well, this.

Catching the bow on fire, Ember basically threw herself over Jack's shoulder. The momentum caused the winter spirit to flip then get thrown across the snow. He held his burnt neck, and the fire spirit smiled before adjusting her stance and falling to a knee. She got off three fast consecutive shots using her yellow fire arrows. She'd prefer to make them hotter but she was working against the environment.

It forced the other Guardians to step back or risk a second degree burn. North glared at the fire spirit while Bunny chucked his boomerang. Ember grinned and used her bow as a shield. She easily deflected the incoming boomerang before letting the warm breeze she conjured to pick her up.

"Gotta do better rabbit," she laughed.

"How's this?" Tooth whispered into her ear before seizing her and pulling her away from the warm breeze and back into the cold air. Before Ember had a chance to set her own body ablaze, Tooth let go. The fire spirit had to work fast to summon the warm air to catch her, but she didn't get the chance when Jack met her mid air and slammed his staff into her abdomen. A frozen sensation exploded across her entire body; it was far worse than being outside at even a hundred below freezing.

Ember hit another snow bank and this time she stayed laying in it screaming at her limbs in her head. Before her fingers had only been slightly numb and tingling, now her entire body was stinging from the blow. She hissed in frustration at how easy they seemed to be overcoming her; she hated teamwork.

Forcing her hand to wrap around her bow, she brought it up while struggling to sit and pulled back on the string. The bow thankfully caught on fire which warmed her fingers, her arms, and her face. The Guardians were coming at her again, and she fired off another arrow aiming this time for the Bunny specifically. She just had to hit one to throw their concentration off of her.

Ember's aim was almost true, and she nicked the rabbit in the shoulder. He cried out as he received another burn. Focusing, Ember called back the warm breeze and took to the air while the Guardians checked on Bunny. She shot herself at Jack and clipped him as she flew by with her bow.

"Tag," she hissed as she passed.

"I'm it huh?" Jack responded more to himself as Ember had already put distance between the two of them. He moved to chase, but North was calling after him,

"Jack don't!"

Over the increasing winds, the winter spirit didn't hear him and followed her through the blizzard. Born for this, Jack was easily gaining on the tiring fire spirit. After a few minutes through the snowstorm, he was basically next to her, and they exchanged a glance before fire was being thrown in his face.

Jack let himself drop from the air a bit to avoid the hit before turning more ice on Ember. She barreled out of the way, the ice barely touching her shoulder, but he could hear her cursing him for it. He tried not to smile at that, and he didn't get much of a chance when she tackled him mid air.

Ember latched onto his hoodie as they tumbled through the air. Jack could only watch in a strange mix of fascination and horror as the combination of his cold air and her warm air caused a funnel cloud to form and a tornado to drop beneath them. Jack was pretty sure no one had ever seen a tornado in Antarctica; he felt oddly proud that he caused the first one… especially since there was no one to get hurt by it.

When the two spirits stopped spinning, Ember had her hands clutched into his sweatshirt, and he had his staff pressed against her abdomen. It was a stand still. Both of them were trying to avoid direct contact as neither wanted to experience the other end of the spectrum of temperature.

"You're coming with us Ember," Jack said as the two of them floated between the cold and warm air mixing.

"I didn't think you cared," she snarled tightening her grip. "And no I'm not. You're going to come with me like a good little winter spirit."

Jack laughed, "Now why would I come with you? Better yet, don't you know I'm not very good at being good?" He couldn't help but think about when he just recently flooded the Warren with snow; it already felt like weeks ago when it had only been days.

"Even if your precious Jamie's life is on the line?"Ember grinned knowing she now had Jack Frost where she wanted.

Except what she said seemingly only upset the winter spirit; he moved one of his hands from his staff to her forearm. They both immediately felt it- the ice like feeling in the veins for Ember, and Jack felt his blood boil. They both cried out and fell from the sky. The fire spirit skidded before coming to rest on her back, and she just closed her eyes and growled.

Ember was getting tired of falling out of the sky. She couldn't help but wonder where Jack had landed after his stupidity. She had expected a lot of things, but him purposely creating contact was not one of them. At least with the two of them back on ground level, the twister they had created simply dissipated without the warm front to help push it.

She moved to get up when suddenly Jack was basically straddling her. Ember just stared up at the winter spirit wide-eyed. This day was just becoming more and more unpredictable. She listened as he growled at her, asking questions about his precious human.

"He's safe," she said licking her lips. "But for how long depends on you." Wanting a bit of revenge for shocking her in the air, Ember slid her hand up underneath his hoodie; surprisingly, Jack didn't move to stop her. He just hung his head in defeat.

"Whatever you want," he whispered. "Just, just don't hurt him."

She placed her palm flat against his stomach and pushed fire against his skin; he threw his head back and bit his lip trying not to cry out. Instead, he collapsed off of her, and she reversed the situation. The Guardian of Fun didn't fight; he wasn't going to risk Jamie's life. He had gotten Jamie into this; he wasn't going to be the reason Ember decided to hurt him.

"Me and you are going to leave this god forsaken place," Ember started when Jack laughed.

"You hate on this place because you hate the snow, bug," he muttered, but it was more of forced sarcasm. He wanted to be himself, but then again, he just felt defeated.

"I hate the snow and I hate you," she whispered in his ear.

"Think there's a correlation?" he asked once Ember moved away to grab her bow. He got up on elbows and watched her intently.

"Let's find out," she smiled sickly at him before motioning for him to follow her. He nodded and stood.

"Just promise you'll let him go," he said.

"I'll do one better," Ember retaliated. "Make no fuss, don't fight, and don't touch me ever again," this she growled, "and I'll make sure Pitch doesn't even go near him."

With that, Ember took to the sky and looked down at Jack expectantly. As he rose to meet her, she continued, "If you go against me at any point, I'll make sure he suffers for it, and I'll make sure he knows it's because of you that he will be hurting."

Chapter 12: Pitch and Ember have Jack… He wonders what his fate will be, but he's happy that at least Jamie will be safe. He could never hurt him or any other teen purposely… and yet he finds out how wrong he could be when Ember finally reveals what's driving her.

OOC: So yeah the next chapter is the high T as will be the subsequent chapter. I'm sure you guys are dying to know what Ember's deal is… well you'll just have to wait until tomorrow. Read and Review. Let me know what you think as we are more than halfway through this adventure.