AN: Very sorry for the long gap between chapters. Here is for once a nice, light chapter. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians
Summary: North wants to have some fun.
There was something about Jack, some almost tangible colour that North couldn't place. The winter spirit had come into the toy maker's study earlier that day, shyly informing him that he was supposed to make a storm around the Pole. He asked if this would be okay, if he should try to take it easy. His eyes had been filled to the brim with unease, darting around and refusing to look at the older Guardians as he fidled awkwardly and fearfully with his staff. After North had assured it was okay, Jack went off and it wasn't until the wind was howling around the Pole that the Russian remembered the boy.
Looking out his window, North caught a glimpse of blue in the stark landscape of roiling white. There the frost teen was, directly at the centre of this storm, drifting closer to the Pole on the wind. He held his arms outstretched, occasionally throwing them out one way or another as if directing an imaginary choir. A few moments later, North's heart nearly stopped as the winter spirit dropped out of the sky, going into a dive. The man clasped a hand to his chest as Jack blasted upwards in an updraft, spinning dizzily as he literally floated on air. The boy played through the currents, dancing in and out of the storm.
Although his face wasn't visible, North could almost see the aura of happiness that he exuded. Unlike most snowstorms that were hauntingly beautiful against the consuming dark of the sky, this one was light against the already shining whiteness of the Arctic landscape. The snowflakes almost glowed and as the Russian squinted his eyes, he concentrated closely on the tiny spark of winter magic imbued in his core. The snowy sky came alive to him in hues of colours, bright blue, as light and cheerful as that of a fresh spring day, brimming with the hope of new life. It pulled to the Guardian, urging him to join in the revelry of snowfall, even behind the glass pane. He did just that, pulling open a window and receiving the instant shock of freezing temperatures and a whirl of snowfall.
North started grinning absurdly to himself as he shut the window, unable to suppress the sense of happiness and fun bubbling up within himself.
An hour later, the Guardian of Wonder went in search of the winter spirit, assuming him to be at the Pole. North was rewarded for his intuition with the sight of Jack sitting at his desk, painting in his sketchbook. There was only the flash of bright colours before the book was being shut as the teen whirled around, not even needing North to announce his presence.
"Hi Jack," the Russian greeted enthusiastically. The boy nodded in greeting. "I hope your painting not just smudge as you close." This time, Jack shook his head. "How it not smudge?"
"I covered it with a thin layer of ice," the teen answered quietly, staring down at the intricate cover of his sketchbook.
"That very smart. May I see?" North inquired politely.
Wordlessly, Jack flipped to the page on which he had been drawing, displaying an intricate colourful image. At first, it appeared to simply be a collection of colours, spiraling out from a central black circle. However, upon further inspection, many images of the spirit and natural worlds could be seen weaving themselves in and out through the colours as if part of a dream as insubstantial as smoke. There was Sandy's airplane, pulling its way out of the deep yellows, mixed in with buttercups, sunflowers and shafts of sunlight. The slight tinge of frost made Sandy's dreamsand glitter like it did in real life. The purples were dotted with tooth fairies, intermingling with the pinks as the feathers seemed to change shade in the light, glittering as well. The green was filled with elements that seemed to be sprouting out of the page, grass and stems of plants, leaves and lucky clovers. The red was woven through with Santa hats and candy canes, fading into the background. Finally, the outside of these spirals of intricate colours were completed with Easter eggs that seemed to be disappearing as one stared at them.
North could feel his eyes widening to almost impossible degrees, a burst of wonder exploding like all of these colours filled his chest to the bursting with their energy. "This is incredible!" he nearly shouted, then frowned guiltily at Jack's quick flinch.
"Thank you," the winter spirit mumbled, rubbing his index finger along the paintbrush that was still cradled in his hand.
The Russian gazed down at the boy, nearly bursting with excitement at this new revelation. He couldn't believe that the sketchbook had gotten so much use, judging by the number of page Jack flipped to find this specific picture. He wondered idly if the pictures reflected the improvement that could be seen so clearly in Jack. He held his head slightly higher now, did not flinch as often, was able to occasionally flicker his eyes upwards to meet those of the Guardians and he could even sometimes hold a conversation with them. He seemed most comfortable when they were not all together, but instead one on one, without all the eyes staring at him. There were rare glimpses of a twinkle to his eyes, a slight quirked smile, even the very slight sarcastic comment here and there. However, it would always be followed with a flinch or a look of fear.
Tooth had taken North, Bunny and Sandy into confidence one day, explaining about Jack's memories. She told them of his flashes of his old personality, times it would leak through and the best thing was probably to act as if it were normal, hopefully allow Jack to see that the behaviour was fine with them, without calling him out on it and unintentionally causing fear.
"Jack, are you busy this afternoon," North burst out after a brief pause in conversation." There was a shake of the head in response. "How bout ve have some fun together."
Blue orbs flashed with terror as the teen automatically tense in response to that statement. Mentally, North chastised himself, it probably sounded as if he wanted to do something bad to Jack. He rushed to explain, "Vhy don't ve go out, have fun vith children. Maybe pull a prank. I am in mood for fun."
Slowly, the winter spirit looked back up, studying the Russian's face for a moment as if memorizing the expression it held. There was a flicker like a flame igniting behind those sky blue orbs, the merest hint of a smile on his face. Unfortunately, it vanished too quickly to become anything more than a puff of smoke. "Okay," Jack conceded.
The immortal teen sat quietly in the sleigh beside North, looking around him with curious blue eyes. The jolly man tried to keep his attention on where he was going, but couldn't help the subtle glances out of the corner of his eye. It was nice to see the winter spirit fiddling with his staff, reaching out a hand very slightly to catch at the wind. He was acting like a child, even if just to a small degree and it made all of the Guardians' hearts nearly burst with excitement whenever they noticed it.
"Vhat you vant to do?" North asked, grinning broadly.
Jack shrugged, eyes flickering upwards to take in the Russian's expression.
"I thought you vere prank master?"
"Not anymore," the teen whispered sadly, running a thumb over his staff as he stared down at it. The stare wasn't one of avoidance, hiding or fear. Instead, it was just a simple drop of the eyes due to sadness.
"Hm," North hummed, "Do you vant to get title back?"
Jack looked up, right at the older immortal, barely fighting the smile that seemed intent on stealing across his face. Ever so slightly, he nodded.
The Russian whooped, "Then let's get pranking." He took the sleigh in a loop de loop, shouting his amusement out to the air. At one point, he could have sworn he heard Jack's quiet laughter intermingling with his own loud cheers. This was going to be a fun day.
The first stop was Russia where the two of them set off through the streets, seeking children to play with. Once spotted, North encouraged the winter spirit to do his thing and start a snowball fight. It only took a few moments and a reassuring nod from the Russian to wipe the anxious look off Jack's face and get him to work his magic. Within moments, children were rushing around, laughing gaily and flinging balls of snow all around.
"Now, ve join," North announced. The teen looked over at him, fear still holding sway in his eyes as he hesitated back from joining the fray. "Come on," the jolly man insisted, dragging Jack physically along. The winter spirit flinched from the contact but it was almost instantly wiped away by the look of shock and joy as his name was shouted by several of the children.
The two immortals were swarmed by kids chattering and calling out to them. Jack's brow furrowed as he gazed at North, who was conversing easily with the children.
"You saved three of them from shadows, from Gloom I think they mean" the jolly man explained, suppressing a proud grin as he watched the teen hold back a beaming smile. The boy that Jack had saved from the shadows thanked the spirit in English before the snowball fight broke out once again. North couldn't help but notice the energy that was slowly leaking back into the winter spirit, giving him a vitality that he must have once had.
They left soon after but that glow still stayed, sustaining a small smile on the winter spirit's face. Although still shy and quiet when the two of them were alone together in the sleigh once more, Jack sat comfortably with his chin high.
This one was all North's fault. He was the one who insisted that they play a prank on the mortals. There the two of them sat after convincing Jack to make it snow on just a small section of a town, literally just a small city block. They were on top of a house, feet dangling over the side as the teen stretched out his arms, controlling the miniature snowfall hanging in front of them.
The Guardian of Wonder laughed heartily at the confusion of the town folk who looked up at the sky, scratching their heads. He snapped his head towards Jack as he saw him shaking, but to his own intense wonder, he saw it was from suppressed laughter, not from any kind of sadness. North beamed at his own success.
When they touched down near the edge of a forest in the middle of nowhere, Jack shot the older Guardian a confused look, one bordering on anxiety.
"Now time for us to pull prank on Bunny," North boomed.
If he thought that Jack's grin was going to reappear at this statement, he was sorely disappointed. Instead, the teen flinched, bowing his head back down. His lips curled down into a frown.
"You do no want to?" North asked, bewildered. They had pulled pranks all day, what would be the problem with pranking Bunny?
Jack slowly shook his head, anxiously glancing up at the older spirit as if expecting to see anger there. Instead, there was confusion written in North's blue eyes.
"Vhy not?"
"B-bunny wouldn't be happy," Jack stuttered out.
North felt a flash of understanding as he remembered Bunny's words from months ago. As they were dealing with a winter spirit turned puppy, the Pooka had confided to them that he thought Jack was the most scared of him. Was that still the case? He looked over at the once again fearful winter spirit and had to admit that this was true. He hated to push Jack, but he felt it necessary. He had to show him that Bunny wouldn't care, that none of the Guardians would care about something like this. Pranking and jokes used to be a part of his personality and they could help him recover it.
"Bunny won't mind at all," North assured, "Come on, it will be fun."
Jack shrugged, easily going along with the plan as if still used to following orders. It hurt the older Guardian's heart to do it, but he was sure it would be worth it.
"So what should we do to prank him?" the Russian asked.
The teen shrugged again but North saw his eyes light up as they looked towards the clear rabbit hole under one of the trees.
"You have idea?" Jack nodded. "Please, share." Hesitantly, the winter spirit gave him an anxious glance and then quietly shared what he had been thinking.
North was standing hidden behind a stone golem in the Warren, Jack beside him. He stared out, admiring their work and nearly laughed out loud. There were Christmas lights strung between trees and candy canes leaning up against flowers. There were even ribbons wrapping a few of the dried eggs. It wasn't as intense a prank as him and Bunny normally played on each other, but he was still smiling because Jack had thought it up. The boy had been so hesitant and fearful, quietly confiding that he thought they could play on the Christmas vs Easter rivalry the two of them had.
The teen had helped wherever instructed, flying up to hook Christmas lights into the trees but he kept giving the jolly man anxious looks when he wanted to do more in depth things such as repainting the eggs in Christmas colours. North refrained from doing so, not wanting to make Jack too nervous.
Just then, Bunny emerged from his burrow, eyes bulging as he stared at the Christmas decorations.
"Merry Christmas," North yelled, startling both the Pooka and the winter spirit.
"You larrikin," Bunny shouted, running towards the jolly man. North started running away, pulling a startled Jack with him. They had only made it to one of the tunnels when the Pooka put on a burst of speed, tackling the two of them to the ground with a smile on his face.
North's booming laughter rang out as soon as he hit the ground, unable to restrain his amusement. Bunny quickly joined in, chuckling as he pinned the Russian to the ground. Jack looked uncertain turning his face to look at the two of them.
"Your in trouble mate," Bunny declared, glancing down at North, but the serious tone was betrayed by the smirk stealing its way across his face. "Now to use your greatest weakness." He moved his paw to North's side and began tickling him mercilessly. North's chuckles got louder, leaving him guffawing in mighty bursts.
Bunny turned to a stunned Jack, running his paw up his side and eliciting a few bright, clear peals of laughter. Unknown to the giggling winter spirit, North and Bunny shared a bright smile before the Pooka turned back to the Russian, helping him up, then Jack.
"So what possessed you two to make my Warren look as if Chrissie had come?" Bunny asked, trying to scowl at them.
"Lighten up, it is beautiful," North returned.
"Beautiful? Are ya crazy?"
"Do you not see beauty in Christmas? You are crazy!"
"Do you not see how beautiful my Warren was before?"
Just then, Jack chuckled, clear and amused, a sound that would have belonged more to the teen before everything had happened to him. Before he could look anything other than surprise, North gestured to him, "Even Jack is laughing at you."
"Na, mate, I think he was laughing at you," Bunny declared sagely, then, "You two better help me clean up ma Warren."
"Fair is fair I guess," North agreed, moving to bundle up his Christmas lights. The three worked together, North and Bunny joking around and all three laughing together.
When they were done, Jack excused himself, claiming to have snow to deliver.
"So mate, ya roped Snowflake into some pranking?" Bunny asked.
"Ya," North admitted, staring at the tunnel Jack had disappeared through. "It nice to see him happy. I didn't think it vas possible for a while there."
"Never give up hope," the Pooka said, walking off humming something that sounded vaguely like a Christmas carol.
AN: The idea for decorating Bunny's Warren with Christmas decorations comes from blankies.