Chapter Twenty-Eight

Some People Like Snow

"What?!" Jack asked, while Sammy chuckled at her answer.

"That's quite a fight you're picking...can I ask why?"

"...Personal matters?"

"Well...I usually don't give them out but...maybe we could make a deal?"

That sounded like a terrible idea to Jack. She didn't seem to share the same thought though.

"What's the deal?"

"Well...I know I'm sort of...fall associated but I do like snow. Think I could get some for the pumpkin patch?"

"...Uhhh." She glanced at Jack, who looked completely...bewildered. "Kid?"

"You want snow?" Jack asked. "I usually get told to get rid of it. Well, get rid of myself and the snow but you know, same thing."

"Yeah kid! Snow me up!"

"Okay but um...I sort of, can't, right now."

"Ah! Why not?"

"Oh you're fuc- you're stick!" She shouted, catching herself barely in time. "Of course!"

"I'm almost definitely missing something but, you know what? You seem like a nice kid, so I'll give up some pumpkin seeds. I'll keep my hopes up for some snow though."

Sammy pulled a handful of little white, almost a pale orange, seeds from...somewhere on his person and held them out. She grinned as Sammy tipped the seeds into her open hand and closed her hand tightly around them.

"You know, she's going to suspect you immediately." Sammy told her.

"Well, yeah. I'm not an idiot."

"I'm tempted to argue but I have a sneaky feeling she deserves it."

"Well, you're right. Let's get you back home kid."

"...Before you go, what did you take from Bunnymund?"

She grabbed at Jack's arm, throwing a little candy heart at the scarecrow as she moved her arm; once her handy was empty she grabbed onto Jack and they disappeared, Sammy's hearty chuckle fading away as they did.

"Safe and sound!" She said cheerfully; they were back in the graveyard. "There, just like I promised."

"Was that a non verbal promise?" Jack asked, quirking an eyebrow. "There wasn't much discussion."

"Kid I will leave you in the pumpkin patch next time." She said, breaking into a grin and with a small wave and a "Bye!" Jack had blinked, and she was gone.

"I have such a bad feeling about what just happened." Jack said to nobody, and let out a sigh. He was so, so right.

A week later, while the other Guardians were in the Pole, discussing plans for upcoming holidays, Dawn stormed into the room.

"Where is he?!" She screeched at the group.

"Where is who?" North asked, genuinely confused.

"Don't play stupid North!"

"Am not playing!" North said, then frowned. "Wait-"

"Dawn, what's happened?" Tooth asked.

"That brat of yours!"

"Who are you talking about?" Bunny asked, ears standing on end.

"That stupid winter child!"

"We haven't seen 'im for weeks Dawn, not since you drove him off."

"Then how did the pumpkins get into my field?!"

Silence was the only answer, for a short time anyway; Bunnymund was the first one to laugh but was quickly followed by the others.

"What's a snow kid gonna do with pumpkins?" Bunny asked, smiling wide at Dawn. "Pumpkins? Huh..."

"What pumpkins look like?" North asked.

"Like pumpkins! What else?!"

"Any faces on pumpkins?" North asked; he'd had the same thought as Bunny.

"Faces? What are you- Like, Jack o' Lanterns? Sammy knows better than to-"

"Yeah but...I'm just thinking." Bunny said. "Someone tried to break into the warren the other week, into the vault."

"Bunny! You never said-" Tooth was cut off by Bunny laughing.

"Well, they got caught by the security system anyway. You know, the dye? I don't think it was the kid and the only other person who has tried to get in is...you know, the other kid. She tries to steal candy to show Sammy, so he'll make it for her since he makes way bigger batches than I do."

"And?!" Dawn shouted.

"Ah! She must have gone to see Sammy!" Tooth said, understanding bunny's train of thought. "...Do you think...would he give her seeds though? They're pretty important to him, it'd be like North giving someone a yeti."

"Never!" North interjected. "Perhaps we visit Sammy! Always likes visitors!"

"North you know he hates-" Tooth cut Bunnymund off with an elbow to his side. North grinned at the others, having decided they'd visit the scarecrow man. The team and Dawn travelled to the world of Halloween, pumpkins and crows using a snow globe.

"Sammy!" Bunnymund called out while Dawn glared around at the mostly dead field.

"Bunnymund! North! Tooth! Even Sandy is here!" Sammy called out with a grin as he climbed down from his wooden stand. "So many visitors at once! Ah! Even Dawn is here."

"We didn't come to chat, Sam. Did you give seeds to someone?"

"...My pumpkin seeds? Why on earth would I give them out?! Do you know how much work they take?!" He asked, his fake shock clear with his elaborate hand gestures.

"Like candy hearts?" Bunny asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly like candy hearts, she loves em. Nasty chalky things."

"I know, right? Oh sorry, we are here on business, I guess."

"Why on earth would you give out seeds?!" Dawn asked.

Sammy shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

"Made a deal, she's good at them, you know? Oh, I met that ice kid. I think she dragged him along."

"...She brought him here?" Tooth asked, wings fluttering. "That means-"

"She knows where he is!" Bunny shouted. "That lying little-"

"Of course I know where he is." She answered bluntly from where she was curled up on Eros' couch, reading a book. "I never said I didn't."

"You should have told us!" Tooth said; she was concerned about Jack. They all were.

"...Why?" She asked, still unmoving from her spot on the couch. Dawn was standing besides Tooth, glaring at the girl and Eros, who was sitting on the windowsill further back behind the couch, pipe hanging out of his mouth. "Why'd you bring her along?"

"Because-"

"I don't know how you tricked Sam into giving you pumpkin seeds but-"

The grin on the girl's face was sudden and bright and mischievous; it was very obviously one of amusement.

"Oh, that?"

"Yes, that." Dawn all but hissed at the girl. Eros sat up a little straighter; just in case.

"Just some pumpkins, I don't see the harm in it." She said, shrugging.

"Just some pumpkins?! Do you have any idea of what you've done?! The damage-"

"I'd argue that damaging the Guardians is a little more disastrous but sure, we can focus on the pumpkins. At least when Pitch Black manages to win this…battle you're all having, he could probably get rid of the pumpkins for you."

"...You got seeds from Sam because..."

"Because you were horrid to Jack Frost." She said from her cozy spot on the couch. "You're lucky it was only pumpkins."

"Why, what else could you have done?" Dawn sneered. "You couldn't even get into the warren without being found, going by your hair."

The pink was still there, though faded.

"I like it." Eros quipped from his seat on the window sill. "So did Sammy, and I bet the kid did as well. You could colour his hair too, then you'd properly match."

"Eros!" Dawn snapped.

"Well...I know how your...belief mumbo jumbo works. Vaguely, anyway." She said, slowly sitting up from her place in the couch. Eros had draped a blanket over her hours ago and she pulled it with her.

"Yes, and?"

"Well, say people started having...really, really good memories about Winter, about Christmas and ice skating and snowball fights with their friends and...maybe the memories of spring would sort of...dwindle."

"You can't control dreams or memories, stupid girl-"

"I can control if people remember other people. Maybe they remember an old friend they went ice skating with, or remember how they always opened a gift early because their Dad let them."

"You stupid-"

"It...might work." Tooth said, her eye growing wide as she thought about it. "It wouldn't...it's not like us; you'd still exist but you'd definitely get weaker..."

"And Jack Frost would get stronger which frankly, is terrifying to imagine."

"I agree." Eros said, joining in again. "What? You all saw him with the horses."

"I can't believe you didn't tell us!" Tooth cried.

"The kid's upset." She said with a shrug. "I don't know what you think will happen even if you found him, he'd just run again, with or without his staff."

"Wait...you took him to see Sammy, without his staff?!" Tooth shouted, suddenly thinking of it. "What if Sammy hadn't seen who he was? What if Sammy had attacked?! Sammy doesn't like-"

"Guests? I'm aware."

"He hasn't got his staff? Where is it?" Dawn asked, eyes widening.

"You can't have it Dawn." She said, rolling her dark eyes. They still hadn't gone back to normal; it was worrying Eros. "It doesn't really...want anyone else to have it. I had to force it earlier."

She pulled one of her hands out from under the blanket and held it up; the wrist was the worst part. A black ring, a jagged line, wrapped around the main part of wrist. Small black lines, like veins, came out from it before fading into the colour of her skin, creating a network of nasty little black lines.

"That looks...pretty nasty." Bunny said, grimacing at the sight of the injured hand. "What did that...the nightmares?" He asked, hoping it hadn't been-

"The staff."

Damn.

"Well...that's..."

"Why did you try to grab it, anyway?" Dawn asked.

"Who else was gonna give it to him in that swarm? They couldn't get closer and any time they tried the horses-" She shot a glare at Eros "- became angrier. Had to be someone they wouldn't see."

"...He lost the staff?" Tooth asked. "He...never mentioned..."

Again, she shrugged; it was starting to annoy Bunnymund.

"I don't know what you want me to say. I gave it to him, it didn't want me to touch but oh well, can't do anything about it now."

"Then we will go speak to Sam again." Dawn said. "His crows should make quick work of finding the boy."

"...You know Halloween prep has just started, right? I caught him juuust in time." She said, grinning again. "Funny that, isn't it?"

It was indeed very funny, or at least Sammy thought so when he was told by his crows what had happened in the fields that Dawn looked after; dozens upon dozens of pumpkins, everywhere the eye could see. He hoped he'd see the white haired boy again, he seemed like he'd be a lot of fun.