A/N: I found time to write today! Yay! I can finish this arc at last and then return to one shots. As always, send ideas if you have any good ones. My imagination can only go so far!

Thank you Sniper at work for the follow!

Kiearrah Mai Rhone: Thanks! I try not to let things get too slow or not serious enough and I'm glad to see I've been successful so far.

I'm writing this while the finale song/final train battle song from the Lone Ranger goes through my head which doesn't really fit this chapter at all. Oh well. Also, sorry if the time is off, if it was sunset earlier and now it's still sunset or whatever.

Disclaimer: Not mine, never mine. Clear?

Previously…

As the portal closed, Jack exhaled the breath he didn't know he had been holding. He could feel all the tension leave his body as what could have been a disastrous fight had been averted. Now it was time to face his fellow Guardians.

Chapter 11: Familial ties

While the confrontation had been going on outside, the Guardians were still waiting for the fight of their lives. They knew how dangerous Winter Spirits could be, especially the Facets, and the fact that the Pole hadn't been buried beneath snow and ice yet was a bit surprising. Okay, a lot surprising.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Bunny snapped, feeling on edge from all this waiting. He just wanted to fight and get it over with!

"Something is blocking the snow wave," Tooth mumbled, trying to see what was happening through the window and the rapidly darkening sky.

"Blocking it? I thought our shield failed," the rabbit replied, hopping over to her, paws still gripping the boomerangs tightly.

"It did. Pole has no other shields I am aware of," North called over from where he was examining the fire shield cannon.

Sandy, who had more experience in seeing through the dark sky, suddenly flew up in front of them, snowflakes swirling over his head.

"Yeah, Sandy, there's a lot of snow. What's your point?" Bunny asked, trying to figure out what his fellow Guardian was saying. Sandy shook his head and made a familiar figure.

"Jack? Is he out there?" Tooth asked, peering at the group of dark figures down below on the ground. There seemed to be an extra one who was talking, when the shield of ice suddenly expanded outward and knocked the others down.

"Seeing as it's attacking their own side, I doubt that was any of those ridiculous Facets," Bunny muttered, part of him disappointed at the apparent lack of fighting he would be doing. None of the others replied as they watched the situation outside. The figures were talking for a while, two apart from the others. After a while, a third joined them and then a snow portal opened. The other figures went through, followed by two of the separate trio. By now, the Guardians could recognize the familiar staff that the lone figure held as he turned towards them and was carried up by the Wind.

"Quick! Open window," North ordered. Tooth, who was closest, hurriedly lifted it as Jack came flying through in a burst of snow and a cool chill. Bunny shivered and quickly closed it behind the winter spirit, protecting himself against the Arctic temperatures outside.

"Jack! You're okay!" Tooth exclaimed happily, throwing her arms around him and squeezing the air out of his lungs. He stood there awkwardly before she released him from her embrace.

"Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?" he muttered, not looking at any of them, hood covering his face.

Sandy flew closer and formed the other four Guardians and then a sad face, before showing them hugging Jack. His face was a mixture of apologetic and guilt.

"Sandy is right. We are sorry, Jack. We should not have blamed you," North told him gravely.

Jack just shrugged his shoulders. "It's fine. I would've done the same thing if I were you," he mumbled.

"No, mate, it's not fine. We were wrong, again," Bunny said, his ears lowering down to his head. "We blamed you for Easter and now for Christmas. We just can't seem to be right about anything," he admitted sorrowfully.

Jack sighed. "I just can't believe you guys thought I would do something like this. I do have a limit for pranks you know," he told them, finally looking up and shrugging his hood off, revealing sad blue eyes.

"We know, Jack, and we're really sorry. We thought all the facts pointed to you," Tooth said, eyes downcast. Jack just looked at her, before looking around at the others. They all had sad and guilty faces, eyes boring holes into the floor.

"Promise you guys won't do this again?" he asked quietly. They all lifted their heads quickly and nodded. North stepped forward and quickly embraced him. "We promise. We are family, and family makes mistakes, but we can learn from them and grow closer," he said quietly. Tooth fluttered closer and wrapped her arms around Jack too, followed by Sandy and a seemingly reluctant Bunny who actually had no reservations about this show of emotion.

Jack smiled softly, feeling the love of the others around him. He wasn't used to such guilt when he had been wronged and it was refreshing after his previous experiences.

"All right, well, before this gets any sappier, I have a season to deliver," Jack said quickly, ending the mood. They all stepped backwards and he grinned.

"For future reference, the Facets and I have managed to negotiate a sort of treaty I guess. You probably won't see them much for a while, but with Frio's bloodlust quelled, there shouldn't be any violence," he told them.

Bunny snorted at that. "You negotiated? You ain't diplomatic!" he scoffed.

"Proves how much you know Kangaroo," Jack retorted, sticking his tongue out at him.

"One more question before you leave, Jack. How come that Facet- Frio- looks so much like you?" North asked curiously, still trying to figure out why two spirits had such a resemblance to each other.

Jack thought about it a moment before answering. "With other Facets, they're usually good sides or bad sides of Winter. It doesn't mean the actual spirits are, of course, from what I understand. But Frio controls ice and ice can be good or bad. It causes injury and death, sure, but it lets people go skating and have fun. Just like Winter in itself is good and bad. I don't really know why he looks like me, maybe it's Mother Nature's sense of humor. But now you know to look twice to see if I'm really me, right?" he answered, grinning cheekily.

"I don't think we'll need to look, mate. It ain't hard to tell if you're you," Bunny replied.

"I'll take that as a compliment. Now I'll be off," Jack said happily, before turning to the window and prepared to leap out.

"Be careful, Jack," North warned as he pulled his staff out beside him. He turned back, smiled, and then he was gone, riding the Wind into the dawn of a new day.

A/N: Not sure I'm satisfied with that ending, but oh well. And yes, I know the night passed insanely fast, I don't really care. Now I am free to go to other ideas! I have a little list developing which should keep me going for a while. I have no driver's ed tomorrow so plan on an update. Don't forget to review!