Here we go; another chapter. No, this isn't the next installment. Oops. Busy, busy, remember? Eek, though, seriously! I had my first maths exam last Friday (nearly hyperventilated, let me tell you) and my other, more nerve racking, exams are coming up on Wednesday . . . and Thursday. Friday off, though! Yay! Unless, of course, I bomb an exam. In which case, I will bawl and cry and snot and rock in the corner and never be able to bear daylight ever again . . . no joke. However - I am procrastinating yet again. Goody for you! It's all good, though, since I managed to incorporate a shred of Socials into this chapter . . . sorta. Eh, it was my attempt at not feeling so guilty. Didn't work.

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable. I do own Kali, though!

Warning: OC in this chapter (sorry, she won't play an important part in this series . . . I think). She's a family legend made up by my . . . mother? Grandmother? Eh, either or. Rather dark themes, too, but really only in passing.

It wasn't until the Guardians met the other three seasonals that they knew Jack had friends other than them. It wasn't until they experienced his yearly – nightly – job that they realized how difficult it was. It wasn't until they saw her with their very own eyes that they knew he had a girlfriend. It wasn't until they saw them that they realized he had wings. It wasn't until they saw a few that they knew he had fairy helpers.

Needless to say, if Jack didn't openly declare something that he wanted to them to know, they didn't know it. Turns out, Jack had one other surprise – at least – up his sleeve. In fact, they discovered this new secret utterly by chance, due to the poor timing on Jack's part during a Guardian meeting.

To be fair, he wasn't late. However, Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy were all unusually early, meaning they were all there waiting by the time designated for their arrival rolled about. Clearly not expecting them to be there, and probably thinking he had a minute or two to scuttle to his room with his visitor before they arrived, Jack slipped through the window of the lounge-room they were all clustered in, turning around to assist another form in after him.

None of the Guardians recognized this new visitor – not through Jack, or from their short, far between visits to the elemental spirit world – but their youngest member obviously knew her, for he was friendly towards her as he helped her climb through the window and lightly grasped her arm in an attempt to lead her into a different part of the Workshop.

He, however, froze when he caught sight of them, and his companion flushed in embarrassment and gave an awkward wave. She was a smidge taller than Jack, but that could have been caused by her knee-length boots, and had shoulder length dark hair. Though not exactly pale or dark, something about her radiated dark distant proceed with caution. It couldn't be her clothes, since those were basically entirely unremarkable, and she herself appeared amiable enough, so the Guardians couldn't quite put their fingers on it.

"Oh," Jack said, sagging in disappointment. "Hey, guys. Am I late?"

"No," Tooth assured, giving him a smile. "We decided to come early. We didn't know you were expecting company . . .?"

Jack scuffed his foot, looking abashed. Apparently deeming him incapable of speech for the moment, his unfamiliar companion stepped forward.

"I'm Kali," she said with a shy smile and another awkward wave. Tooth squinted at her, as if trying to decipher something. Noticing this, the girl cleared her throat and blushed. "It, uh, it means 'dark one'. I'm also known as 'Raven', if that helps any."

Tooth hastily looked away upon realizing she had been caught, but curiously glanced up again. "Are you a season spirit?" she asked, genuinely wanting to know. "I think I've heard of you before."

Kali bit her lip and looked at Jack nervously, which seemed to get through to him, because he sighed and led her over to a couch opposite the others. "It's a long story," he warned, "and you might not like it – at first. But try to wait until we've told you everything, okay?"

They nodded dutifully, North mentally pushing the schedule for the meeting aside.

"Okay . . . so Kali was made a spirit almost two centuries ago, and I decided to help her out and show her the ropes," Jack started with a grin, getting a hesitant jab to the ribs for his troubles. "At first, neither of us understood what her job was – what she was supposed to do. It was clear she wasn't a season spirit, because she didn't show an affinity for either, nor did she show the signs of any other type of spirit we knew. I got the others to help too, but they were as lost as us, and they knew more spirits than we did. It took several years until we finally got it, and Kali realized she wasn't actually insane."

She received a number of puzzled looks for that, and seemingly decided to take over.

"I was . . . hearing things," she said nervously, playing with her hair. "Voices. Crying. Cruel things. I didn't understand – for the longest time, I thought they were my own thoughts . . . that they were coming from me. But eventually, I realized . . . they were coming from kids – children, teenagers, young adults . . . I could hear them all; every time someone between the ages of nine and twenty verbally or physically abused themselves, I heard them. That's when I knew – my job was to try and help them. I'm not always successful – sometimes people can't be helped. But I try. I basically do what you do," she said, nodding to Tooth, "I attempt to remind them of every positive to temper out the negative. Instead of memories, however, I leave . . . mementos. Things to remind them of lost loved ones, lost loves, lost hope . . . anything that may help, really. That's not quite all I do, though. On the occasions I'm not able to get through to people, which happens far too often, unfortunately, I help them move on to the next world, or wherever it is they go, when they die. I don't know where they go, I've never been and probably never will, but when one of them dies by their own hand, I guide them onto the right path."

Widened eyes took her appearance in again, seeing the formidable aura about her in a different light, and she shifted in discomfort at the attention.

After a minute of silence, Bunny cleared his throat and took pity on her. "So, what was yer story before ya become a . . . well, are ya a spirit or what?"

Kali beamed at him in gratitude, looking relieved. "I'm a spirit," she confirmed. "At least, that's what I say I am. Far too confusing otherwise, don't you think? Anyway, like Jackie here said," – Jack frowned and shot a sulking look at her for that particular nickname, and Bunny wasn't the only one who had to suppress a snort – "I've been a spirit for about two hundred years, give or take. I was born in 1807, in Great Britain, and my father was one of the wealthier farmers, able to afford the new equipment and animal breeds of the time. In the autumn of 1821, just after my fourteenth birthday, there was a terrible fire at my home, and . . ." Kali shrugged, her tale needing no further explanation.

"I found Jack shortly afterwards, and he explained everything he could. Which, to be honest, wasn't a whole lot – he was almost as uninformed as I was at the time. Oi!" she cried at the end, once Jack tossed a pillow at her. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I take it back. Jack was the all-knowing oracle, answering my every question, and I'm so grateful that he was willing to bestow his help onto me! There, happy?"

Apparently, he was, because he ceased his fire and sank back into his seat in satisfaction. "We thought she might be an autumn spirit, for a little while," he added out of the blue. "I mean, we didn't know how that sort of thing was decided – we figured maybe it was decided by when you died, since it made sense; I drowned in winter, and became a winter spirit, so we thought since she technically died in autumn, it would make sense for her to become a spirit of the season. We talked to Hiccup and everything, but, obviously, it didn't work out."

"Just as well," Kali sighed, evidently having lost some of her shyness from earlier. "Autumn is good and all, but it isn't my favourite season."

"Oh?" North asked, seeing Jack's smug expression. "What is your favourite season, then?"

Kali shrugged, shooting a sidelong glance at Jack and rolling her eyes. "Hmm," she said, considering. "I'm not too sure. Summer's okay, I suppose . . . but I don't like the heat or the bugs; plus, most of the summer spirits are nasty to others – except for Merida, of course, though she can have her moments. Spring's alright . . . I do love rain . . ."

Jack, finally getting impatient, shot up in his seat and glared at her. "Come on, already! Admit it! You like winter the best, right? I know you do!"

"Hmm, I don't know . . . awfully cold, isn't it? All that slippery ice and constant snow fall . . . though I suppose the games aren't too bad, and the trees are usually so very pretty . . ."

"Kali! Come on!"

"Fine! Fine!" she laughed, kicking his leg. "I like winter the best. Speaking of which, I better be off. See you, Jack! Nice to meet you all," Kali bid, giving a small smile to all gathered before slipping out of the room.

"Wait, I thought you wanted to see – well alright then. Bye," Jack muttered, slinging out of his seat and doing a flip back to the floor. "So, we have a meeting now, right? Or has that been cancelled? Can I go now? Yes? Thanks!"

"Whoa, hang on there a minute, Frosty," Bunny said, darting over and catching him before Jack reached the window. "You ain't getting out of it that easy."

As he dragged him back over to the others, Jack half-heartedly tried to struggle away. "You shouldn't call me that, you know," he said, crossing his arms and going boneless, just to make it that much harder for the rabbit. "The real Frosty will be offended."

At Bunny's odd look, Jack sighed heavily. "Seriously? Do you guys know nothing? You know . . . Frosty? As in, Frosty the Snowman? Like, Fro-osty the Sno-owman, was a jolly happy soul / With a corncob pipe and a button nose, and two eyes made out of co-oal! . . . Anything? Really? Wow. Sad."

Bunny shook his head and shoved him back into his vacated seat. "Can we get on with the bloody meetin' now, please?" he grumbled, ignoring Jack's sniggers and gasps of "And you call yourselves Guardians of Childhood! Ha!"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," North said, silencing the pooka with a finger raised in his direction. "Jack, please, tell us more of this 'Frosty'."

Jack instantly shot up, a manic grin on his face. "Oh, he's great! I've never seen him – I don't know if he's even a spirit, though I always think he is, no way could people have made that song without a basis – but he sounds like loads of fun, so I always ask Jamie about any new songs he and his friends know about Frosty – unfortunately, there hasn't been very many new ones recently." He pouted. "I guess people just lost interest in him. Not much of a fanbase for fictional winter characters."

He sunk down in his seat, worrying his lip. "Except for me, of course," he said suddenly, perking up. "Ever since Jamie's been spreading the word about me at school, and Pippa's been drawing pictures of me, Jamie says all the girls, but also some of the boys, love me!"

"Nah," Bunny snorted. "Must be another annoying bugger they're talkin' about. Ya got it all wrong, mate. No one's in love with ya."

Jack stuck out his tongue at him, crossing his arms huffily. "Yeah, well, I don't see you having a global fanbase, Cottontail."

"Please," Bunny chuckled. "If you, of all people, have a . . . a fanbase – is that whatcha call it? – then I certainly have one. Much bigger than yours, I'm sure. In fact, tomorrow I think I'll go an' ask Jamie 'bout it – he'll tell me what I need ta know."

Jack made a noise of disbelief. "Pssf, yeah right! No one can resist me. Besides, I'm of the same species as my fans, so I have the upper hand."

"Least I'm alive," Bunny shot back.

"Boys!" Tooth cried, seeing Jack's look of utter shock and Bunny's grumpy-but-growing-steadily-regretful expression. "That is enough. North," she said sharply, causing the large man to cower. "Please. Get on with the meeting."

Sandy sniggered before hastily shaking his head in disapproval at Bunny and Jack when Tooth turned her glowering look on him. Jack sulkily – still looking a bit shocked, though – scooted along his sofa, closer to Sandy's chair, and draped himself over the end, bending so low that his hair brushed the floor. It didn't look remotely comfortable, but the boy simply stretched out and settled with a sigh, appearing content to remain in the odd position. Bunny found he couldn't look at the winter spirit – something about his rolling, upside down eyes almost freaked him out. Almost.

After shooting an odd look at Jack himself, North cleared his throat. "Ah, yes, Toothy is right; as usual. So. Let us begin! Elves have been bigger nuisance than usual, what with the nail guns and matches – yes, thank you, Jack, very funny – but Yetis found way to lock them in Jack's room – hush, Jack! – and we have not had any further problems! However, Phil has been complaining about the ice rink in the kitchen, and the Yetis quarters, and the toilets, and the factory, and the storage facility . . ."

Bit of light-heartedness at the end, to make up for the references near the beginning. Like I said, Kali is a family legend, and she's been on my mind a lot recently, and I've been telling one of my friends about her in hopes of helping her (and myself) with some issues.

Hmm . . . maybe I'll (eventually) do a follow up chapter of this explaining how Jack and Kali met . . .or maybe one of the Guardians will ask? What do you think?

Love you guys, really! Such wonderful reviews!