Author's Note: Happy December seventh, you guys! =D Man, I wish it was Christmas break already...It seems so far away and yet so close at the same time...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy chapter seven of "That Time of Year!" =D


Chapter Seven: Gifts

December Seventh

Jack called on the Wind to propel him faster toward Santoff Claussen. The Guardian meeting had started over twenty minutes ago. The winter spirit pulled his hat onto his head and made a dive toward the window, only to find that it was shut. Jack banged his head into the glass and flew backward, rubbing his forehead and wincing.

"Ow…" he moaned. Jack flew up toward the window again and tapped against the glass. A yeti walked over and opened the window, and Jack dashed past the yeti without even saying thank you. The winter spirit was in a hurry to get to the meeting. He didn't want to miss anything important. Jack hated it when he was late, and he always tried his best to arrive on time. But since it was winter and Jack hadn't gotten used to his new schedule yet, the daily Guardian gathering often slipped his mind.

Jack weaved through the bustling Workshop and landed in the middle of the Globe Room. The winter teen looked around. The Guardians weren't there.

Is the meeting over? thought Jack. He shoved his hand in his pocket, swung his staff on his shoulder, and began to walk through the hallways, searching for the veteran Guardians. Jack bumped into Phil, who was carrying a large box with various Christmas decorations.

"Phil, where are the others?" asked Jack. The grey furred yeti pointed in the direction of the library and Jack gave the furry creature a quick thank you before flying to the library. Jack burst in and was glad to see that the Guardians were inside. They turned their heads and greeted Jack with friendly smiles.

"Hey, guys," said Jack. He rubbed the back of his neck as he walked over. "Sorry I'm late."

Bunny shrugged where he sat, a cup of what Jack guessed to be hot chocolate in his hands. "Eh, we're used ta it, mate."

Jack managed to crack a smile and he sat down next to North. "So, why are we in the library? Don't we usually have our meetings in the Globe Room?"

North nodded. "Da, but this is not Guardian meeting."

Jack cocked his head curiously. "It isn't?"

Tooth smiled and shook her head. "Nope! We're here because we're starting our little Christmas tradition."

"What tradition is that?" asked Jack curiously.

North laid a hand on Jack's slender shoulder and explained. "Every year, ve get gifts for each other and then, at next Guardian meeting, ve give them to each other."

"It's really fun!" Tooth said brightly. "We do it every year, and since you just became a Guardian, we thought it would be nice to introduce one of our little holiday traditions to you."

Jack smiled. The thought of there being more traditions among the Guardians made him feel even more like he was part of the group. The winter spirit then realized something.

"But North," said Jack. He pointed to his hat "You already gave me a gift."

North waved his hand dismissively. "Bah! There iz no such thing as too many gifts."

"Besides, mate," said Bunny. "If there's one thing that ya need ta know about North, it's that he loves ta spoil people. Especially kids like ya."

Jack rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to say this? I'm not a kid."

The Guardians shared silent laughter that went unnoticed by Jack. The winter spirit was too busy thinking about what to get for the veteran Guardians. He had several ideas that were flashing to his mind, and Jack wanted to give his friends the perfect presents. They had done a lot for him, and Jack even considered them as a family to him, so he felt compelled to give them the presents that they deserved.

"Anyway, that iz all," said North as he stood up. "I have lots to do today, and I suspect that you all do too. Ve vill see each other at next meeting, da?"

The other Guardians nodded and filed out of the library and each of them headed to their own places to begin the work that they had for the day. Jack only had to make a few snowfalls in a couple of places, meaning that once he was done, the winter spirit would have plenty of time to go hunting for presents for the Guardians.

Jack flew out the open window in the Globe Room, a huge smile on his face. He was looking forward to giving the Guardians gifts, and Jack knew that these gifts would have to be the best. Gifts. Ever.

The Wind dropped Jack in the middle of his lake in Burgess. The winter spirit entered his tree and began to pace back and forth. Jack had spent a lot of time with the Guardians already, plenty of time to know what each of them liked and what they didn't like, but Jack still had a little bit of trouble coming up with what to give each of them.

The winter spirit knew that he just couldn't give them things that he had pulled out from his storage, so Jack decided to make something for each of the Guardians. Jack smiled to himself. That seemed like a perfect idea. Now, he just had to come up with what to make for each of the Guardians.

Jack decided to start with the easiest one of the Big Four. North. Jack knew that North liked a lot of things. Sword fighting, Christmas cookies, and people who knocked on his study door before entering, and ice sculpting. Suddenly, the idea hit Jack like a snowball. An ice sculpture! He would make North an ice sculpture. But of what?

"I could do one of himself…?" thought Jack out loud, but he knew that was far beyond his level of ice sculpting and that it would take him forever to make a sculpture as advanced as that. Jack decided to go with something smaller. Something a little easier to create.

Well, North does have a dozen reindeer. I'm pretty sure I could manage to sculpt a small one out of ice, thought Jack with a small smile. It was small, yes, but he knew North would love it, nonetheless.

Next up was Bunny, who was actually a little easier to come up with a gift for than Jack thought. Bunny liked eggs, spring, and plants, so Jack decided to paint something springy for the Pooka, and maybe even throw in something egg related too.

Tooth was a vivacious, motherly fairy who reminded Jack a lot of his own mother back when he was still human. Tooth's feathers were the most noticeable feature about her, and Jack decided to make a scarf for the Tooth Fairy; Jack knew that she would look amazing in it. A pink scarf would look nice against her feathers.

And last but not least there was Sandy, and Jack knew just what to give him. Jack had no idea how Sandy was able to fall asleep in any place at any moment, so the winter spirit thought that it would be nice if Sandy had a blanket to keep him comfortable. Jack knew that he probably wouldn't carry it around everywhere with him, but he knew that the Sandman would use it from time to time.

Jack smiled and turned to his shelves, scanning the large array of collectibles, items, souvenirs, and materials that he had collected over 300 years. After rummaging around for a while, Jack managed to find some light pink cloth, a sewing needle, and white thread for Tooth's scarf; a canvas, some paint, and paintbrushes that he had borrowed from Bunny during his last visit to the Warren; and the perfect golden colored yarn that Jack could use to knit up a blanket for Sandy.

Jack brought all of his materials and set them on top of his table and got to work, starting with Tooth's scarf, which was the easiest to make out of the gifts. In his 300 years of desolation, Jack had watched several people do sewing with cloth and thread, and often tried to make his own clothes using the techniques he watched, but they never came out right, so Jack mostly just wore his usual hoodie and pants, and when he needed new clothes, he could ask one of the yetis at the North Pole to make him something or ask on of the mice that lived near his tree to sew something up for him.

It had taken a while to create the scarf, and it had been an even longer while since Jack last tried to sew. The winter spirit constantly poked his fingers every time he pushed the sewing needle through the cloth, but he continued anyway. Jack even did his best to sew feather-like patterns using some white cloth that he had found. Jack held up the newly crafted scarf and smiled, proud of his work. The winter spirit then moved on to Bunny's gift.

Jack set up an easel that he found hiding behind one of the shelves in his tree and set it up, placing the blank canvas in front of him. Jack pulled out the paints that he had borrowed from Bunny (and made a mental note to return them later) and whipped out a paintbrush. Jack stared at the white canvas, and the canvas stared back. Jack realized that he had no idea what to paint.

"Okay, what does Bunny like?" Jack asked himself. Well, Bunny liked eggs. He had an entire area in his Warren where everything down to the doorknobs was egg shaped. The Pooka also liked chocolate, which was rather strange since he couldn't eat it. And then there was the season of spring, painting, and—most of all—Easter.

Jack tapped the paintbrush against his chin in thought. The winter spirit decided to paint a simple painting of an egg sitting in a field of flowers. It felt a little odd painting something so warm in the middle of the winter season, but Jack found that he enjoyed the long painting session. The winter teen finally understood why Bunny liked painting so much. It was relaxing. Calming. All of Jack's other thoughts melted away as he continued adding brushstrokes to the canvas. The only thing on his mind was the painting, and the soft, cool sounds of the Wind whistling outside.

Jack added one last stroke of blue for the flower in the corner and let out a sigh. He liked how the painting turned out, and he put the finished painting outside for the Wind to dry while he worked on Sandy's blanket. Jack didn't have much experience with knitting, but he did his best effort as he fiddled with the knitting needles and eventually created a nice, yellow yarn blanket for Sandy. Now all Jack had to do was make North's ice sculpture.

Jack walked out of his tree and waved his staff over his head, calling on the Wind to take him to Santoff Clauseen. The Wind complied and carried Jack all the way to the North Pole. Jack flew through the open window and landed lightly on his feet, swinging his staff on his shoulder as he walked through the Globe Room and to North's study. The winter spirit creaked the door open and looked around. North was nowhere in sight.

Jack walked in and looked around for an ice pick. North let Jack borrow his things all the time, so Jack knew that it was okay for him to borrow an ice pick from the ex-Cossack. Jack soon found what he was looking for and grabbed the tool in his hand and swiftly made his way out the door before North found him. Jack wanted his gifts to be a surprise

Jack flew back to his tree, conjured up a block of ice, and got to work on North's ice sculpture. The winter spirit made sure to recall all of the techniques and tricks that North had taught him during their ice sculpting sessions together and found that making this reindeer didn't take him as long as he thought it would. Jack held up the finished ice piece in the sunlight that was coming through his window and smiled. It was the same size as an average toy train, but Jack knew that North would love it. The detailing had come out just the way he wanted, and the winter spirit spent a lot of time on the shaping.

Since Jack was a winter spirit, he could create ice of any kind, so Jack made sure that the ice that he used to create this sculpture was ice that would never melt. The winter spirit placed the reindeer in the center of his coffee table and folded Tooth's scarf and Sandy's blanket. Jack went outside and retrieved his painting for Bunny, thanking the Wind for drying it so quickly. The Wind cheerfully ruffled Jack's hair, making the winter spirit laugh.

Jack had managed to snag some wrapping paper when he stopped by Santoff Claussen, so he wrapped each and every gift as neatly as he could, topping each of them off with a brightly covered bow. Jack placed the gifts next to his bed and flew outside to sit on his favorite branch. The Moon was hanging in the air, glowing brightly. Jack leaned against the trunk of his tree and let out a weary, but blissful sigh.

"What do you think, Wind? Do you think the others will like the presents I made?" asked Jack to his longest friend. The Wind swirled around the winter teen, which Jack took as a "Yes." Jack smiled softly, and it wasn't long until his spot on the tree branch got comfortable, and Jack's cerulean eyes slipped shut.

The next Guardian meeting came in a flash, and this time, Jack didn't forget that the meeting was that day. The Guardians were due to meet at the end of the day, so Jack spent his time spreading his winter and had a snowball fight with Jamie and his friends. It wasn't long until the Northern Lights began to weave across the sky, and Jack flew off to his lake to grab the gifts that he had made for the Guardians.

Jack's smile on his face soon faded when he felt that something was wrong. The winter spirit's lake was his home, so he knew when something was off or out of place. Jack felt as if someone else was there, someone that he didn't want to deal with. The Wind placed the winter spirit in the center of his lake, and Jack held out his staff defensively.

"Hello, Jack," came an overly perky voice from above. Jack looked up to one of the many trees that surrounded his home and saw the bright, difficult to miss red hair of an Autumn sprite. Jack frowned. He had encountered other seasonal spirits many times in his immortal life, many of whom weren't fond of the winter spirit at all. Jack never liked it when they showed up by his lake, but he realized that since he had become a Guardian, no spirits and immortals had shown up at his home at all. Jack wondered if they knew that he was the Guardian of Fun and decided to stay clear of him, knowing that the Guardians wouldn't be happy to find out that they had messed with their youngest member. Jack let his grip on his staff loosen, but he still kept his icy glare on the autumn sprite.

"What do you want?" asked Jack. He had several encounters with autumn sprites before, and their main reason that they liked to annoy Jack so much was because the winter spirit was somewhat connected to their season. Jack was a winter spirit, but he could also make the leaves change color in the fall. Jack liked that he could change the color of the leaves, and Mother Nature hadn't scolded him at all about it, but the autumn spirits did not like this at all and declared that Jack should stick to his own destructive season and not mess with theirs.

The autumn sprite that Jack knew whose name was, ironically, Autumn, jumped down from her branch and placed a hand on her hip. "Aw, come on, Jack. I just wanted to see you."

"Oh, really? Well, you saw me. Now, go away," said Jack. He knew that Autumn was up to no trouble like she usually was, and he wanted her gone before he left for the Guardian meeting. Autumn didn't back down though.

"So, I heard from a few other immortals that you were invited to the Christmas party North is having," she said. Jack stiffened slightly, but he still kept his staff aimed at the autumn sprite. The autumn sprite began to circle the winter spirit. "What did you do to finally get him to notice that you exist?" she spat.

A part of Jack was glad that Autumn didn't know that he was a Guardian just yet, knowing that would make her even more upset than she already was. Jack returned Autumn's upset gaze and said, "I don't know, maybe he saw me at the top of the Naughty List again and decided to invite me." Jack pointed his staff at Autumn. "Now leave."

Autumn raised an eyebrow and snapped her fingers. Four other autumn sprites appeared, and Jack's eyes widened when he saw that they were holding the gifts that he had wrapped for each of the Guardians. Autumn smiled evilly at Jack's reaction.

"I think there's something that you're not telling us, Jack," Autumn said. "Besides, why else would you have these hidden in your tree? And where did you get that hat?"

"I just made those to give to the others at the Christmas party, that's all," lied Jack, as he regained his composure, answering the first question and ignoring the second.

"Are you sure? It would be a shame if these got broken," said Autumn. She ordered the other autumn sprites to pull out their weapons and aim them for the wrapped presents.

"No!" shouted Jack. He aimed his staff at Autumn and his staff crackled with blue energy. "Leave those alone!"

"Then tell me what you're hiding, Frost," Autumn ordered, completely unfazed by the fact that Jack could blast her with a shard of ice at any moment. "Because there is no way that North would just invite someone as unimportant as you to a party this big."

Jack winced slightly at the insult, but he managed to hide it behind a glare. "I'm not hiding anything," Jack replied seriously. He held his hand out. "Now give me my stuff."

Autumn tapped her chin. "Hm…no."

Before Jack could even perceive what was about to happen, the autumn sprites suddenly destroyed each and every gift. The gifts that Jack had spent so much time creating. The gifts that Jack poured his heart into making. The gifts that were for the Guardians—his family.

Jack faltered as he scrambled to grab what was left of gifts when Autumn suddenly blocked him out of the way. The autumn sprite's glare was as cold as ice, and nothing but pure hate dripped from her voice as she spoke to the winter spirit.

"Don't go to that party if you know what's good for you," Autumn said. Her threat shook almost every bone in Jack's body. "If you do show up, you'll regret that North ever even invited you."

Autumn snapped her fingers and in a gust of wind, the sprites disappeared. Jack sat there, on his knees as he fingered the remains of the presents that he had made. The winter spirit wanted to grab his staff and hunt down the autumn sprite, blast each of them with ice and be done with them, but he knew that he had to go to the Guardian meeting. He was late once again due to Autumn's unexpected arrival. And the worst thing was that Jack didn't have a gift for the Guardians. He had nothing to give them, but Jack didn't have time to sit down and make a new scarf, blanket, ice sculpture, and painting. He was already late enough.

Jack sighed and he stood up. "Wind…take me to Santoff Claussen…" he said. The Wind obeyed and scooped up the winter spirit, carrying him all the way to the North Pole.

"Where is he?" asked Bunny as he tapped his foot impatiently. "He should've been here an hour ago!"

"He's probably just busy," said Tooth as she stretched her wings once again. The Tooth Fairy sat back down in her chair. "I'm sure Jack will be here soon."

"But couldn't he at least try to be on time for once?" asked Bunny.

"Bunny, he is still getting used to being Guardian," said North. "Iz best if we let him take as much time as he needs to arrive."

Sandy nodded and his dreamsand swirled over his head, creating the image of Jack flying through a window and joining the Guardians in a meeting. "Jack always comes eventually."

Bunny crossed his arms and huffed. "Still, I think Frostbite should at least try harder to make it on time ta these things. What if Pitch comes back and he's late?"

"That's an entirely different topic," said Tooth. "And Pitch won't come back for a while."

"I'm just sayin'," said Bunny. "He needs ta start comin' on time."

At that moment, Jack opened the doors to the library and walked in. The winter spirit seemed a little more down that usual, and his mind seemed elsewhere. It was Bunny's loud voice that made Jack look up.

"Finally! Ya made it!" Bunny said. "It's about time!"

Tooth shook her head and flashed Jack a small smile. "Bunny's just impatient."

"I'm not impatient," said Bunny as he frowned at Tooth.

Tooth shrugged at let Bunny have the last word. Jack silently sat down in a chair that was a little distanced from the rest of the Guardians. This didn't go unnoticed by the others.

"Jack, are you okay?" asked Tooth, the slightest hint of worry in her voice. Jack looked up and gave her a feigned smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Jack. "Just tired. Gotta keep those blizzards and check, spread all the snow—"

"Okay, okay, whatever, can we just get on with the meetin' already?" asked Bunny. The Guardians then began he regular part of the meeting, talking about how things were going with their jobs and if there was any sign of Pitch. Even though the Guardians had defeated the Boogeyman all that time ago, they still had their guards up in case if the Nightmare King decided to try anything.

Once the discussing part was done, the Guardians moved on to the gift giving. Jack watched as each of the Guardians handed each other gifts and took the gifts that were passed to him. Bunny was the last to hand Jack his present, and asked, "So, mate. Where are ya presents?"

Jack blinked and he fiddled with his hoodie strings. "Um…well. I did have presents for you guys, but…"

"Jack, if you weren't able to get us gifts now, it's okay," said Tooth. "There's always the next meeting."

"I did have gifts for you. I spent all day yesterday making them!" Jack cried. "And then she had to come and ruin everything—"

"Wait, who's she?" asked Bunny.

Jack's eyes widened and he quickly said, "No one."

"Jack if something happened—" North started but the winter spirit cut him off.

"Nothing happened," said Jack. The winter spirit almost flipped his hoodie on, but he realized that he was still wearing the hat North had gifted him. Jack gripped his staff and looked down at his feet. "I just…I lost them…"

Tooth fluttered up to the winter spirit and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Jack, it's okay. You made gifts for us and that's what matters, even if you did lose them."

"But I really wanted to give something to you guys," said Jack. "To..to say thank you for everything you've done for me these past few months…"

North laid a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Iz okay, Jack. You don't need presents to say thank you."

Bunny gave Jack an affectionate pat on the head. "Besides, ya bein' here is good enough of a gift already."

Sandy nodded and created the image of a gift and then Jack popping out of it. The winter spirit laughed lightly.

"I…I guess I freaked out over nothing, then," said Jack. The winter spirit still felt slightly guilty that he wasn't telling the Guardians the entire truth, but he didn't want to downgrade their excitement for the party, and he didn't need them worrying about him just because of an encounter with some autumn sprites. Jack looked up at the Guardians and smiled. "Thanks, you guys."

North ruffled Jack's hair. "Iz no problem, moy mal'chik," he said. "Now, open my gift first. Iz best one out of them all."

Bunny snapped his head in North's direction. "No mate, my gift is the best one of them all."

"Really guys?" said Tooth as she placed her hands on her hips. The other Guardians turned to face her, but then, the Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies said, "Clearly, my gift is the best one!"

Sandy shook his head vehemently and conjured up the image of his gift and a trophy. "Mine is the best of them all."

Jack watched as his new family argued over who's gift he should open first, and Jack found that the encounter with Autumn and the autumn sprites, slipped his mind. Jack laughed as the four veteran Guardians began to explain how long it took them to create their gifts and compared how much work they each put into theirs. Jack smiled and leaned back in his chair, watching the little quarrel in amusement.

It was good to have a family who cared and loved you, and Jack wanted to spend as much time as he could with the veteran Guardians. But in the very back of his mind was Autumn's threat, and Jack couldn't help but wonder if he should even go to the upcoming Christmas party on Christmas Eve.