You guuuuys 3 You're all so lovely :3 =^w^= I have received so many cookies I'm gonna get fat XD

Due to popular demand, here is a sequel of sorts to Alone Together. But the other seasonals will no doubt show up again from time to time.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians

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What Family's For


...

Jack shifted into a more comfortable position under the tree he was leaning against, smiling to himself as he looked out at his pond. It was mid-transition between autumn and winter, but no snow or ice had yet to form.

True to his word, Jack had heard from a woodland sprite that Ceres would be spending the rest of her season up in Europe, and opted to stay away. He couldn't help but wonder if she had deliberately left his home available to him. If so, he was grateful. Burgess, and more specifically the pond, was the one place he always returned to; the closest thing he could call a home. Sure he spent the off-season down in Antarctica and he had somehow gone from being alone to being part of three different families (plus one potential – he still wasn't really sure where he stood with the other seasonals), but this was different.

So relaxed was he that he didn't even realise he wasn't alone until he was sent flying half-way across the clearing to land face-first into the water. Jack gasped, breaking the surface, infinitely grateful for Bunny's help the previous year. He still wasn't comfortable in deep water, but at least he could get himself back to shore without going under.

As it turned out, he didn't need to. Something grabbed him by the hood of his jumper, lifting him out of the chilled pond between forefinger and thumb. Jack forced himself to look up, coming face-to-face with his assailant.

"Oh this isn't good," he muttered.

The Cyclops glared at him with its one great eye, looking every bit like it was restraining itself from smashing every bone in his body with a single hit.

"Um… can I help you?" Jack asked nervously.

The Cyclops growled; a deep, throaty sound that vibrated through him. "Little whelp," it boomed. "You will pay for what you did to Grok!"

"…Who?"

This was clearly the wrong thing to say, as Jack suddenly found himself struck with a club (This feels familiar) into a tree. He cried out, feeling something (or several somethings) snap, as he slumped to the ground.

"My brother!" the Cyclops roared, stomping towards him. "He is blinded because of you and your siblings!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" The only Cyclops he'd ever met was… oh. Well, that explained what Mother Nature had said. But hey, at least she hadn't killed him. "I had nothing to do with that!" he protested. "If 'Grok' hadn't kidnapped us in the first place Mother never would have done what she did."

Bad word choice again. Man, he was on a role today. One huge, meaty hand wrapped around his neck (and most of his chest), squeezing painfully as it lifted him until his feet were dangling a good few metres off the ground.

Jack struggled to gain any air, his lungs aching from both the lack of oxygen and the physical abuse they were receiving. His chest was constricting, threatening to crumple like a paper bag in the Cyclops' grip.

"Hey!" he heard someone shout through the haze that had overcome his mind. "Nobody picks on him but me!"

Suddenly the pressure was gone and he was tumbling, landing heavily with a loud 'oomph' in the dirt. He forced himself to look up at the newcomers when he heard a second voice say, "You mean 'us', right?"

Jack blinked, half expecting the image before him to vanish, surprised when it didn't. But he had to be hallucinating, because there was no way the other three seasonals were standing across from him and the Cyclops. He blinked again, starting when May was suddenly crouched in front of him.

"Are you okay, Jack?" she asked quietly. He was vaguely aware of the sounds of a fight happening behind her ("Good! I can deal with you all at once!" "You can try." "How dare you make such a mess in my season!").

'I'm fine' would have been the biggest lie in the century, so he settled for, "Been better."

"I can imagine. Come on, let's go find you a nice snowdrift to lie down in." This was weird, very un-May-like behaviour. He was starting to wonder if she wasn't actually Tooth and he was simply hallucinating. "Can't have you incapacitated with winter so close." Nope. That was definitely May.

Very carefully, she started to lift him up into a more easily moveable position, but no amount of caution could keep it from hurting entirely. Jack hissed through his teeth, struggling not to cry out. A snowdrift really did sound good right then. With a firm grip on him, May directed the slightly warm, petal-ridden wind to lift them off the ground. The pain of being jostled like that must have overcome him, for the next thing he knew he was being deposited gently into a pile of snow.

"Where are we?" he asked groggily. Because it wasn't even fully winter yet; there shouldn't have even been any piles of snow around.

"The edge of the A-Arctic," a small voice told him, shaking. "It's the f-furthest I c-can take you."

Already the soothing cold was hastening his body's natural healing process, and he turned his head to face the spring spirit. She was several shades paler than normal, with a hint of blue on her lips as she hugged herself in a futile attempt to preserve body heat.

"The Arctic?!" Jack sprung upright, instantly regretting it as broken ribs were jostled. With a pained grunt he fell backwards into the snow. "You'll freeze out here!"

There was no reply save the near-silent clacking of May's teeth.

"Here," he said, pulling himself back up – slowly, this time. With a great amount of effort, he managed to pull off his hoodie (the ice lining it instantly thawing) and handed it to her. "It's not much but it's better than just a dress."

May stared at him wordlessly before hesitantly taking the offered garment with shaking hands, pulling it on over her head. She was practically swimming in it, able to pull her knees into it as well.

"You should go. Before you freeze."

"Not until I'm certain you'll be okay."

"I've had worse." That earned him a grimace.

"Did somebody order a heater?" a familiar voice called.

Jack looked up to see Lleu arriving with Ceres in tow, both looking a little more chilled than they'd prefer. Lleu took one glance at the still-shivering May and pulled her close to him, allowing his natural heat to help warm her up. It wouldn't do much – while in a regular winter his powers would melt the snow, in a place such as this even he could feel the cold – but it was better than nothing.

"The Cyclops?" May murmured.

"Dealt with," Ceres said tersely. "I doubt he'll be a problem anymore."

"You know, Mother said something similar…" Jack trailed off, burying deeper into the snow.

"And she was right. It wasn't the one who captured us that was the problem this time."

"Revenge-ridden angry brother," Lleu smirked. "And I can happily confirm that this time we won't be seeing either of the brothers again."

"Do I really want to know?" Jack frowned.

"No. Probably not," Lleu snorted. "How're you feeling, Frosty? Cause I'd really like to go somewhere I'm less likely to get frostbite."

"I'm fine," and this time it wasn't a lie. Well, not completely. Jack was able to sit upright with only mild pain. It was a far cry from 'better', but it was something – he could probably manange return to Burgess and be back to normal in about a week if he came back here every couple of days or so.

It still took Ceres' help to get to his feet, though.

"What were you guys doing there?" he asked, his mind finally catching up with him.

"What do you mean 'what'?" Lleu gaped. "Couple of woodland sprites told me you were in trouble so I found May and we came to help."

Woodland sprites? But they worked under… "Ceres?"

The spirit in question looked haughtily away. "Some of the sprites saw what was happening and like hell I was going to sit by and let some crazed giant ruin what's left of autumn."

"What she means is that's what family's for," Lleu rolled his eyes. "You're not a bad kid, Jack. And I'm sorry it took us so long to see that. It's like May said back in our adventure in the dark; we may not get along all the time, but in a sense we are siblings, so I figure it's about time we started acting like it."

Jack gaped at them, lost for words, as a pang built in his heart. He felt… touched. Honest to goodness touched.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this heart-warming conversation, but the rest of me would like some warming, too. I can't feel my legs anymore," May cut across.

Lleu laughed, tugging her beside him as all four of them allowed the wind to sweep them up in its welcome embrace, supporting each other as they began the slow journey back to Burgess.


Guest Review Responses:

Guest: Glad you liked it XD Your wish is my command :P Thank you for the cookie :3

Alliprince: XD Thank you! You shall have more!

Chrys: I'm glad to hear you like them XD I get a bit iffy when they strike my muse, cause it's a little weird. But it's good to know that I'm not the only one who likes them :P

Rainfire: No judgement! I binge read too ;) I'm grinning like an idiot XD You have no idea how happy it makes me to know you guys like my OCs (I usually don't like OCs and try to stick with canon, but with a universe like RoTG, there's so many possibilities!) Yeah, it makes sense to have them as enemies, but I feel like a personification of summer would be kinda lax and easy going, which is similar to Jack. (Therefore, why wouldn't they get along?) Thank you so much! *nom nom nom*

Cag: Hahaha And thank you for pointing that out! (I threw it in this chapter XD) It's not so much 'I don't like the penguins' but more 'what the heck did I just read'. Which could possibly translate to 'I don't like' but who knows. I'm glad you like them though XD

Goodness! Look at all these reviews :P Thank you so much, guys!