Ice Cubes

Summary: Jack will protect them no doubt. But who will protect him in return?

Krampus 2

The snow wasn't falling as hard as Jamie wanted it to.

He had been excited the moment he woke up, eagerly rushing to the window to see how much snow Jack left for today and wondering how long their classes were going to be suspended because of it. However, instead of blankets of white snow covering every layer the young Bennett could see, he woke up instead to a light snowfall, not strong enough to cancel classes and not fast enough to bury their backyard in at least a feet of snow.

It was strange.

Burgess was known for having out of season snowfalls and for having the most snow days. The fact that it was two weeks before Christmas and a snow day has yet to come was more than a little worrying, especially for Jamie who knew of a certain winter guardian that promised them a very white Christmas.

"Jamie? Honey, are you up yet?" His mom called from downstairs, the young boy immediately clambered down from the window ledge.

"Yeah mom!"

"Oh good, come down and eat your breakfast! And can you take Abby out for a walk afterwards? I have to go out for a quick errand." Mrs. Bennett said as Jamie rushed down the stairs in his pyjamas.

"Right now?" He asked when he hopped off the last few steps and ran to the kitchen where his mother was sliding him a plate of waffles. "Can't it wait until later?"

"It could, but Abby's been really jumpy lately." She said gesturing to the dog who was pawing the backdoor whimpering. "She wants to get out as soon as possible."

Looking at their greyhound, Jamie did notice that the dog seemed more anxious and in hopes to pacify her sooner, he dug into his waffles quickly before he took a shower and got changed.

Twenty minutes later, the oldest Bennett child was opening the door, a leash on his hand as Abby nearly stumbled on herself to rush outside.

"Whoah! Easy there Abby!" Jamie laughed as he ran after their pet. The mighty animal took three leaps, easily crossing the three feet distance in the Bennett yard before she abruptly stopped. Jamie jogged after her, curious as to why she suddenly settled down.

"Abby?" The last light called out as the dog sniffed the snow and pawed on it anxiously. Jamie looked down at the snow as well and sighed.

"Yeah, Jack hasn't come to see us yet I guess. I mean its two weeks before Christmas! The whole place should be filled with two feet of snow or something!" And Jamie bent down as he scooped some of the white stuff scattered on the yard. "I mean look at this? It's a mixture of brown and white and it's not even a decent snowball!"

Abby ignored Jamie's rantings as she pawed on the ground again and sniffed it. She carefully walked around, her nose pressed up against the barely snow covered yard.

"Abby, are you listening?" Jamie said as he turned around but he raised an eyebrow when he saw the dog sniffing about and sighed. "Did you lose some sort of buried bone or something?" He asked.

Just as he said that, Abby sneezed and looked up barking. Jamie walked up to her. It looked like she found whatever bone she's buried.

The dog herself began to paw out whatever she's found, and because the snow was too thin to cover the ground it wasn't long before whatever she found finally surfaced. Jamie reached out a hand as the head of something familiar came to view.

"What do we have here?" He murmured as he pulled the object out with one, great, pull!

"Ugh!" Jamie landed on his back roughly as he finally got the object out. Sighing he sat up and rubbed his head before he looked down to see what it was.

The young Bennett's hold on the staff nearly slackened when he realized what it was he had on his hand.

It wasn't just any random old stick stuck on the snow, oh no… It was a familiar item carried only by one person he knew, the same person that has yet to bring them the promised snow days, said person had also admitted to being nearly powerless without the item and said person could only be in trouble if the conduit of his power was here.

"J-J-Ja-Jack's…" Jamie's lips began to tremble as Abby growled, sensing how dangerous it is that that stick was here of all places.

Jack's staff. Gulping, Jamie looked around waving it around. "Jack? Jack are you here? Jack this isn't funny!"

Jack please be alright! Jamie silently prayed as he looked around hoping to spot the winter spirit and hoping even more that he only dropped his staff accidentally.

Tears began to gather in Jamie's eyes as he remembered that the staff was buried under the blanket of snow and Jack would've gone taken by now if he only dropped it. Shaking in fear and worry, Jamie plomped down the middle of their yard in defeat, Abby whimpered as she approached the boy and licked him on the face.

"Jack… Where could Jack be…?" Jamie whispered to himself, confused, stunned and worried. "Do the others know? Is Jack sick? He can't be apart from his staff for long right? I mean- What do we do Abby?" He buried his face in his hands.

The Bennett pet let out a bark as she prodded the child with her nose. The last light gave her an incredulous look before he got what she was saying. Jumping up in excitement, the youngest Bennett turned to his pet, grinning.

"You think the mini tooth fairies will come here even if it isn't night?" The greyhound barked again as Jamie turned and rushed inside the house.

Time to see if that string-tied-to-the-doorknob-trick works.

"In… danger…" Bunnymund repeated before he abruptly turned to North who was looking down. "Whaddya mean in danger? We're talking about the kids and suddenly ya'-!" Bunny took a deep breath as he ran a paw through his long ears. "-Yer talkin' about Jack being in danger! Are ya' tryin' to give us a heart attack or somethin'?"

"North what do you mean by Jack being in danger? I mean, if I got it right… Krampus is the one who's been kidnapping the children right?" Tooth asked nervously and North nodded. "So what's this got to do with Jack?"

Sandy floated around the room, thinking, before suddenly a light bulb formed on his head. Bunny and Tooth looked at the guardian of dreams as he formed a scroll with his sand and a snowflake. Afterwards the word naughty appeared, a plus sign, and then a snowflake again. The three images disappeared and was replaced by an image of North talking…

"Ha! On naughty list? You hold record!" Bunny and Tooth jumped as North's actual voice came through but it sounded wrong. They turned and saw that North actually spoke, a reminiscing tone in his voice.

"Jack is on top of the naughty list. Jack has been missing for a few weeks. All children who have been kidnapped are from naughty list." North said as he placed a hand on his forehead. "It is not hard to put two and two together."

"Krampus, Krampus… Are ya' talkin' about the crazy bloke who whipped naughty children and wanted to stuff them in sacks and take them away?" Bunny asked, and North nodded. Tooth let out a startled gasp and the guardian of hope and wonder turned just in time to see Sandy make a sand illustration of Jack being stuffed into a sack held by an ugly creature with horns.

"Are you- Are you saying that Krampus took Jack? That he took our sweet tooth?" Toothiana asked fluttering about her feather ruffled in absolute worry and fear. "We have to go! We have to go and rescue those poor children and Jack! Oh Jack! We should've paid more attention to Jack and-!"

"Crikey, calm down sheila!" Bunny said as he hopped towards the tooth fairy. "We're still not sure if Jack's been taken by tha' loony! I'll track our snowflake in a jiff, he could still be spreadin' some snow somewhere in Burgess for all we know. We can't jump into conclusions."

"Bunny…" Tooth said as she finally calmed down enough to land on the ground. She swallowed back her worry and nodded as Bunny patted her on the shoulder.

Sandy made a tough face as he made a war helmet out of sand and put it on his head. He gestures with his hands that they should split up.

"Yes, Sandy is right!" North said as he stood up, regaining himself although still looking a bit tired. "We must split up. Bunny you go and look for Jack while Tooth, Sandy, and I-"

"Oh no, not on yer nelly, mate." Bunnymund said as he turned to the old Cossack. The old Santa raised an eyebrow but stepped back when the Easter rabbit poked him on the stomach as he talked. "Ya' are gonna stay here and finish all Christmas preparations for them kids. The little ankle biters need Christmas more than ever and I won't allow you to skip on yer holiday! Let us handle everythin'."

North's eyes widened. "Bunny."

Tooth smiled and nodded as she flew over to North's side and placed a delicate hand on his shoulder. "Bunny's right North. You have to stay here and do your job. We can handle the rest."

Sandy nodded eagerly as he made a punching motion with his small fists.

The old man Christmas smiled before he let out a jolly laugh. "Ah, yes! I will leave it to you my friends! I will handle the job of bringing wonder to children so they have an easier time, no?"

Satisfied, Bunny began to back up. He was about to turn around and say goodbye to the others before leaving to track down their Frostbite when all of a sudden…

WHAM!

The four guardians jumped as the door to the globe room opened again. Phil who was still in the room with them, turned as well to see another yeti rushing in, waving his arms in the air in more panic than Phil.

"What is the matter now?" North asked in a booming voice but then Tooth looked up when she heard high-pitched chirping sounds.

"Baby Tooth?" She called out as she flew forward and sure enough she saw the small fairy but she wasn't looking at her queen, instead she seemed to be directing other mini fairies who were carrying-

"Oh!" Tooth let out a horrified gasp as she rushed to her fairies immediately. Bunny, who was in the action of thumping his feet on the ground, felt his blood run cold as he saw what they were carrying and Sandy began to panic, waving a large sand flag around.

"That is-! It can't be-!" North let out in a choked tone as he approached the mini fairies as well. He held out his large hands and the small versions of Tooth eagerly let go of their package.

Jack's staff landed on North's hands looking so dull and fragile as it rolled on his palms.

"That's Jack's-!" Tooth let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Oh Jack!" And Tooth landed onto the floor in a self-defeated kneel as she covered her face, shoulders heaving in worry.

"Frostbite…" Bunny's ears fell back and all hopes that the youngest guardian was only causing more mischief in some part of the world was gone as he saw the lifeless shepherd crook on North's barely shaking hands.

"He has been taken." North said as he closed his eyes and his mouth was set in an angry frown as he put down Jack's staff. "We have no choice now but to go together to find Krampus. That ublyudok will not see what is coming!"

Phil made a frantic noise, probably something about the preparations but Santa waved a beefy hand.

"Bah! It can wait! For now we go rescue children!" He said in a tone that left no arguments. He passed by Tooth and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Tooth, we need you to save Jack and children, you must stay strong."

Hard amethyst eyes looked back up at North as the queen warrior nodded and rose up. "You can count on me North. We're getting the children and our Jack back."

Sandy nodded vigorously a warrior's expression on his face as he floated after the two.

"Phil, Ed! Prepare the sleigh!" North said and the two yetis rushed out to do as ordered. The Cossack was about to exit out of the door to grab his coat when he noticed one guardian not following. "Bunny, what are you waiting for? Christmas? Let us go!"

Bunny looked up and nodded as he hopped towards North and the others but then he paused when he reached Jack's staff. He took the fragile stick in his hand, turning it over.

If- If anything happened to me… Would you-?

No. Bunny closed his green eyes as he remembered a conversation not so long ago. Nothing, is goin' to happen to ya'. We won't let anythin' happen to ya' mate.

We'll protect ya', I swear on the Moon we will.

"I swear on the moon…" Bunny whispered as he hopped towards the direction North and the others went, face set into a determined expression. "We'll get ya' back snowflake."

Wait for us.

Meanwhile, in a dark cave far from human ears and eyes, a boy with hair as white as snow and skin as pale as the moon on a dark night let out a shaky breath as he stood up again, while a dark shadowed loomed over him and the crying children he protected.

Bleeding lips formed a word as the young teen coughed and his body spasmed in pain.

"Hurry."

Notes: Okay, so a few reviewers asked why Jack was still on the naughty list, that'll hopefully be explained in the next chapter.

So I have to get to class again and I just rushed this, didn't even check if everything's alright or understandable but I hope it is and yeah, I owe you guys.

When will be my next update? I am still not sure because I have a research paper due on Easter Sunday and yeah the exams that will determine my life! This was supposed to be only two chapters long but from how things are going it looks like it'll be at least four chapters long and I hope hisokauzumaki doesn't mind it!

So yes, review replies, I don't know when I can finally get to that! I always seem to be rushing!

While I was writing this I began thinking if Jamie's mom can see the staff? And I wonder if Jack would take off his clothes will anyone see it? And if they will, then how does that explain no one seeing a floating staff and clothes running about with the children? Just my random thought.

Hope you guys like this!

I hope I'll be able to update soon but you know, exam (again)!

Thanks and love lots!

Please review because reviews tempt me to update!

P.S. I wish I was more creative with the titles XD