Ah, cliches :P But I couldn't resist w

So, for someone who's supposed to be busy, I seem to be doing a lot of non-work (I do this a lot :/)

Got a request? Let me know (but be aware it will take time since technically I am supposed to be doing uni work :P)

Disclaimer: IDOROTG

...

Vendetta of Elves

...

Jack stared at his fellow Guardians, an indecipherable look on his face. They had to be joking. Right?

"Well? What do you think?" North beamed, holding up the current source of Jack's stupor – a pair of blue high-top sneakers.

"Did I do something wrong?" Jack managed, finding his voice at last.

The others looked confused. Huh, I guess they know less about me than I thought.

"What? Of course not," Tooth reassured. "Why would you think that?"

"Those are shoes," Jack explained slowly, as if to a child.

"Your ability to point out the obvious astounds me," Bunny smirked.

Sandy tilted his head, a question mark appearing above him.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "In case you hadn't noticed, I don't wear shoes." He gestured to his bare feet.

"Yes, which is why we got you these," North smiled, holding the offending objects a little higher.

"Uh, thanks for the gesture and all, but no thanks. I haven't worn shoes for the last 300 years and I'm certainly not going to start now."

"What about that cut on your foot?" Tooth wrung her hands together.

"What about it? It's already been dealt with." The cut she was talking about was more of a scratch, really, that he'd received after falling out of a tree. He'd been quick to freeze it over and that should have been the end of it. Unfortunately, his new family would not let these things slide by without a fight.

"But if you'd have been wearing shoes, you wouldn't have cut your foot at all!" Tooth argued.

Jack sighed, rolling his eyes. They really weren't going to let this drop, were they? "What about the Kangaroo? I don't see you trying to make him wear shoes."

"Oi! I'm not a kangaroo, mate," Bunny snapped dangerously. "I'm a bunny, and bunnies don't wear shoes."

"Yeah? Well neither do I," Jack returned the glare, his tone holding the same venom as his colleague.

Sandy raised his brows, eyes widening in an 'okaaaay' kind of expression. He flashed a number of symbols above his head, a rabbit, shoes, a snowflake, and then back to shoes.

"No way, mate," Bunny shook his head. "I am not going to defile myself by wearing shoes."

"But it's okay for me to?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Okay, enough!" North interrupted, effectively ending the argument. "Jack, will you just try them?"

"No."

"What if Bunny wears shoes, too?"

"Hey!"

Jack brought a finger to his chin in contemplation. "Hmm…"

"I did not agree to this!"

"Well?" North ignored the Easter Bunny's complaints.

"…No. Not even the hilarity of Bunny wearing shoes is enough to convince me to put those things," the word was said as if it were poison on his lips. "On my feet. I. Do. Not. Wear. Shoes."

"Oh yeah?" Bunny half-smiled, but there was no joy in it. "We'll see about that."

...

...

The topic of the shoes remained unsaid for days, but Jack knew better than to think it had all blown over. No, Bunny had taken his defiance as a challenge. And there was no way the Pooka was going to back down without a fight.

So Jack had been on high alert.

The Guardian of fun sighed as he shifted into a more comfortable position on the branch he was sitting on. He had mostly avoided the Workshop, preferring the safety of high treetops – even if Bunny could probably jump up with ease. He glanced down at his bare feet. 300 years really was a long time. Even when he was human he hardly wore shoes; they were expensive and restrictive.

The wind nudged him comfortingly and a small smile graced his lips. "They're more likely to get you to wear shoes than me," he told it quietly.

As he gazed down at the frozen pond he couldn't help a passing thought for the ice skates he'd left on the ice. Had Emma taken them back to the village with her? He certainly hadn't seen them when he'd first awoken as Jack Frost. Perhaps he could make an exception for them… Although the whole ice-skating incident had nearly cost his sister her life, and had cost him his.

Jack settled back against the tree, watching as golden dream sand floated elegantly across the darkened sky.

...

...

Jack jerked awake as something touched his foot. In one quick, fluid movement, he drew his legs in closer to his body and struck out with his staff. There was a curse and a loud thud as something fell into the snow banks bellow.

Taking a moment to calm himself, Jack tilted his body to peer down at the ground, searching the darkness for his assailant.

He wasn't sure whether to be angry or laugh at what he saw.

"You should know better than to sneak up on me, Cottontail," he smirked, opting for humour.

"To be honest I wasn't expecting ya t'be such a light sleeper," Bunny grumbled.

Jack jumped down, landing lightly a short distance from the Guardian of Hope, his grip on his staff tight in case he needed to make a quick getaway.

"You of all people should understand the necessities of being aware when you sleep outside," he pointed out. "You should thaw out in an hour or so, if you go back somewhere warm," he gestured to Bunny's hands, which were frozen to one of the shoes the other Guardians had been trying to get him to wear.

Bunny muttered something under his breath and struggled to his feet. "This isn't over, Frostbite," he glared.

Jack didn't doubt it, not letting himself relax until Bunny had disappeared down a rabbit-hole.

...

...

The next attack came about a week later, but after the tree-incident, he had been more alert than ever, having taken to sleeping in Jack-O's pumpkin patch where nobody would think to look for him. But then the lights had gone off.

Jack sighed as he watched them. It wasn't as likely to be an emergency as it would have been if this were before he'd become a Guardian; hardly a week went by without the Guardians seeing each other these days. But there was no way he could get away with ignoring it. So with an air of resignation, Jack allowed the wind to carry him north.

"So what's the emergency?" Jack asked as he landed lightly in the Globe Room of North's workshop. The words had barely left his mouth before two strong sets of hands gripped his arms, lifting him a good foot off the ground.

This feels familiar, Jack thought, kicking his legs wildly in an attempt to free himself. The yetis holding him growled, struggling to maintain their grip. "Let me go!"

"Not until you put on the shoes, mate," Bunny smirked, lifting the devil's craftwork menacingly.

North, Tooth and Sandy said nothing as they watched, but it was clear they were siding with the Easter Bunny. Traitors.

"Over my dead body!" Jack snapped his mouth shut, frowning at his choice of words as the other Guardians' eyes widened. "…Let me rephrase that."

"Nah, mate, I think you just gave me permission."

Jack tugged harder against his restraints as Bunny stepped forward. Twisting his hand, he managed to whack one of the yetis on the head with his staff. The grumbling yeti winced, releasing his grip only slightly. But it was enough. With more freedom to move, Jack froze the pair of them as he pulled himself free, flying up to perch on the rafters.

"That was dirty," Jack glared down at his make-shift family. His glare was returned only by Bunny.

"You're not leaving us with much of a choice, mate."

"Why does it even matter?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Bunny folded his arms.

Jack sighed – he seemed to be doing that a lot lately – and turned his attention to North. "Is there any real reason we were summoned here, apart from ganging up on me?"

North shifted uncomfortably. "Not really."

"Right then, I have things to do."

...

...

Jack groaned in exhaustion as he leant back against one of the larger pumpkins in Jack-O's graveyard. Honestly, it had been two weeks and they were still trying to trick him into wearing those damn shoes. They'd tried reverse psychology, getting him to choose the shoes, making all the elves wear shoes in some sort of mob-mentality, even going so far as to put a bucket-load of hazardous objects across the floors of the workshop. And, Jack was proud to say, all had failed miserably, particularly that last one; he could fly, after all.

He was really starting to reach the end of his tether. There was only so much antagonising one person could take. So he wasn't really in the best of moods when the next attack began.

"Ugh," Jack scrunched up his nose, lifting his foot off the sticky patch on the floor of the workshop. "Why is there honey on the floor?"

"If you were wearing shoes, it would not be problem," North said casually as he passed, careful to steer clear of the pool.

"Not you, too," Jack's shoulders sagged in exasperation.

"What is big deal? Why won't you just try them?"

"They're like coffins for your feet," Jack replied, wiping his foot against the polished boards.

"But they are protective."

"Yeah, well my feet are more than capable of protecting themselves."

North raised an eyebrow sceptically as he glanced down at the currently honey-contaminated topic of their conversation.

Jack rolled his eyes. "It's a bit harder when they become deliberate targets." He huffed, giving up on cleaning his foot. "What about you? What's the big deal with getting me to wear them?"

"Is matter of principle… and Bunny's pride," North shrugged.

"Of course," Jack sighed. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go wash this off."

Naturally, he couldn't get any peace even then.

"You know, that wouldn't have happened if you'd been wearing shoes," Tooth gestured to the foot Jack was currently cleaning.

"Gah! Would you guys just let it drop?!" He was really starting to border more on anger than exasperation now. "So what if I don't–"

Jack was cut off as his staff was snatched from his grip and he whirled to see Bunny leaning casually against the door frame.

"Give it back."

"I will as soon as you try on the shoes," Bunny replied.

"I swear to MiM I will shave you in your sleep," Jack threatened, his hand held out in waiting for his conduit. There was a hard edge to his eyes that was rarely seen, especially these days, but Bunny wasn't going to back down.

"Yeah, not likely."

"E. Aster Bunnymund, give me my staff right–"

He was cut off once again as something struck him, sending him instantly into a dream of dolphins and penguins.

...

...

When he came to, Jack found himself lying on a couch in the Globe Room. And instantly he could feel something was wrong.

"Sandy, you traitor!" he cried, springing upright and glaring at both the Sandman and the despicable sneakers that had been forced onto his feet while he'd been knocked out.

Sandy looked apologetic, but not guilty.

"You left us with no other choice, mate," Bunny said darkly, still holding onto Jack's staff.

"I will get you back for this, Bunnymund."

"Well, they are on now, why not give them a try?" North shrugged. "Go for walk around room?"

Jack turned his glare on the Cossack, pulling a foot close and tugging uselessly at the laces. "What the heck?! What kind of knot did you use?!"

"Is secret wrapping knot," North said proudly, his triumph clear in his expression.

"Just go for a little walk, Sweet Tooth," Tooth suggested. "If you don't like them then, we won't make you wear them again, okay?"

Jack lowered his head in a mixture of exasperation and resignation. To say he was tired of dealing with this was an understatement. "You promise?"

"Promise," Bunny nodded.

"Fine," Jack swung his legs to the side, pushing himself up off the couch. It felt so… wrong.

For a start, they were incredibly uncomfortable, and squashed his toes together almost painfully. They greatly restricted the movement of his ankles and didn't contour with the shape of his feet. But all he had to do was take a few steps then this nightmare would be over.

To be fair, the others did try to contain their laughter. But it was hard when Jack walked like a dog wearing booties – lifting his legs higher than necessary and not bending his feet.

"Oh, shut up!" Jack snapped, crossing his arms in a huff.

"Just walk normally, Jack," North instructed, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Fine, take these things off me and I will."

"Walk normally with them on," Bunny sighed.

Jack ran an exhausted hand down his face and rolled his eyes. Taking deliberate steps, he concentrated on trying to walk normally, grimacing at the restriction and the way they dug into his feet when they stretched. He knew they couldn't be good for his ankles.

"There. I walked. I hate them. Get them off."

Sandy shook his head and came forward, bending down and tugging one end of the laces. Jack's horror dawned as Sandy's expression became slightly panicked; the knot growing tighter, not looser. Refusing to meet his eye, the Sandman turned slowly to his accomplices and gestured somewhat weakly to the shoes.

"Don't you dare tell me you can't get them off," Jack said quietly.

Sandy cringed, looking hesitantly back over his shoulder at the winter spirit.

The corner of Jack's eye twitched.

"Calm down, Jack," North raised his hands defensively, stepping forward. "I will get them off."

But it seemed Sandy's attempt had made it impossible even for him. "Sandy," North said in a near whisper. "What did you do?"

Jack held out his hand toward Bunny. "Give me my staff."

"…What for?" Bunny asked suspiciously.

"I'll cut them off."

Bunny didn't seem convinced.

Jack narrowed his eyes and the shoes on his feet frosted over until they looked as though they were made of ice. "Then you will be held responsible for the consequences," was all he said before slamming his foot against the base of the Globe.

The shoe shattered, bits of ice and material splintering in all directions, creating several small cuts on Jack's now freed foot as they went. But Jack hardly noticed, repeating the process with the remaining shoe.

Tooth held out her hand towards him at the sight of the scratches, her mouth open as if she wanted to say something but no words escaped her. The others were equally speechless.

There was a sudden blur of movement and all at once a group of small, elf-like creatures were standing around Jack, hands on their hips and prominent frowns of anger and disapproval on their faces.

Jack's eyes widened, seeming more scared than shocked. "It was him!" she shouted, pointing accusingly at Bunny. "I didn't want to wear them but they made me and then we couldn't get them off and he wouldn't give me my staff – I was just going to cut the laces but they left me with no choice!" He said all of this rather quickly, but the elves seemed to understand, turning their anger onto the nervous Pooka.

"Ah, look, fellas," Bunny took a small step backwards. "Can't we talk about this?"

The elves charged as Bunny bolted, chasing him out of the room.

North, Sandy and Tooth watched him go, then looked in confusion at Jack.

"Those would be shoe elves," Jack replied to Sandy's question mark. "They're nice if you keep on their good side, but harm shoes and they will come at you with a vendetta." He casually strolled forward, picking up his staff from where it had fallen in Bunny's escape.

"Sweet Tooth, your feet!" Tooth gasped, eyeing the scratches; some deeper than others.

Jack shrugged, bumping them with the end of his staff and watching in satisfaction as they frosted over. "To think wearing shoes would cause more harm than not," he mused, jumping up onto the window frame and disappearing into the white beyond.

Guest Review Responses:

SaiyanPrincess: Naw thank you ^w^ Glad you liked it!