And here's part two! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: IDORotG or Jack Frost (1979)
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At War Part II
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"Bunny!"
Bunny winced at North's harsh tone, watching as the man in question stepped out of a portal and into his Warren.
"He got you, didn't he?" Bunny asked in resignation.
"Well, I would be lying if I said I hadn't been expecting it," North sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"What did he do?"
"He wrapped up all the yetis in Christmas paper and ribbon. Was very funny."
Bunny blinked. How had the little blighter managed that? Surely the yetis would have protested at the very least.
"I promised myself not to get involved in your 'war' so long as I was not targeted."
"I know," Bunny nodded. "That's why you helped me earlier."
"Ya; elves playing with air horns have made us all agitated and ruined more than one toy. But this thing with yetis demands proper payback," the glint in the man's eye was both encouraging and worrying.
"What did you have in mind?" Bunny smirked. Jack had better watch himself if North was truly getting involved.
"Here is what we do…"
...
...
"C'mon, May, you know you want to," Jack said enticingly.
"No, I really don't. Don't all of you have more important things to be doing than childishly playing tricks on each other?" May frowned, arms crossed.
Jack and Lleu had retired to the lake in Burgess, knowing May would turn up there sooner or later. It had been incredibly easy to recruit the summer spirit – Jack had barely got out the full explanation before he was grinning impishly and holding back insane laughter. They both knew that after their stunt in the Warren Bunny was going to get the both of them back and so they needed to get a retaliating prank ready as soon as possible. May's cooperation would be needed for what they had in mind but she was proving rather difficult to convince.
"Nah," Lleu shrugged. "It's our off-season and it's not Easter yet."
"I would think Bunnymund would be more concerned about Easter preparations than this."
"She has a point," Jack conceded.
"Whose side are you on?" Lleu raised a brow.
"Well, he hasn't called for a truce yet," Jack told their spring counterpart. "If we promise not to hinder preparations for Easter will you help?"
May opened her mouth to respond (probably a 'no' – the fifth so far) but she cut herself off, turning an inspecting gaze on the gently rippling water of the pond.
"What?" Jack frowned, following her gaze. Large bubbles were forming in the centre, popping and disturbing the flatness of the surface. "What is that?"
"Probably a fish," Lleu said.
"Those bubbles are too big to belong to any fish I've known to be in there."
The trio stepped closer to the bank, trying to get a better look. Jack cast a blank glance in the direction of May and Lleu before stepping slowly across the water, ice forming a platform under his feet. Once he reached the place where the bubbles were he strained his eyes to peer through the dark water, but he couldn't make anything out. After a moment's hesitation he poked the end of his staff down below the surface. Nothing; no resistance at all.
"I don't–" Jack cut himself off as he tried and failed to lift the butt of his staff out of the water.
"Everything okay over there, Snow Cone?" Lleu called.
"My staff… it's stuck!" No matter how hard he tugged it refused to budge. "I think it's caught on something!"
Whatever it was that was holding his staff in place suddenly lurched downwards and he fell forward with a cry, slipping from his platform and into the lake. He resurfaced not a moment later, staff in hand, and shot up into the air above the pond.
"Are you okay?" May asked when he touched down beside her.
"Something grabbed me," Jack said, eyes narrowed at the spot as he brushed off the extra ice that had formed on him.
A deep rumble reverberated from the lake and they all froze as they stared, wide eyed.
"What are the chances this is payback?" Lleu whispered.
"I'm thinking about 90%."
There was a loud splash as something broke through the surface, spraying water and mud everywhere. For a moment Jack almost suspected it to be Nessie, but the Loch Ness Monster was not only in Scotland, but she also wouldn't have a hope of fitting into his pond. The monster they found themselves facing – monster was probably the best description – wasn't as big as Nessie and was covered in a thick layer of algae and mud. Twin red glowing eyes watched them unblinking from where they were set in a wedge-shaped head on a long, thick neck. Its body, if it had one at all, was still submerged in the depths. The creature opened its mouth, a black abyss, and moaned long and low.
"What in the name of Mother Nature is that?" May gaped.
"I'm going to go with either North has really outdone himself or Nessie's cousin," Jack replied without taking his eyes off the creature that was making its way through the water towards them.
The monster cried out again, rearing back its head.
And then promptly ate Jack.
"Wait, what?" Lleu sputtered. He and May looked where Jack had been standing then back to the monster still looming over them. The summer spirit really didn't like the look it was giving him.
"Did it just… eat Jack?" May seemed equally baffled.
"I think so."
"…What do we do?"
"Honestly? I don't know. How do you get a lake monster to barf someone up?"
"Pepper?"
"Where are we going to get pepper? And isn't that for sneezing?"
"Either way would work, right?"
"Only if it hasn't already swallowed him!"
Before they could think on the matter further, the monster starting thrashing its head about wildly. It seemed to curl in on itself, shuddering. A loud boom had them covering their ears, just as the creature exploded, splattering everything within a ten metre radius with mud.
"Ewwww," Jack groaned, pulling himself out of the debris. He was so covered in mud that you could barely see him.
"Amen," Lleu added, wiping the gunk from his arms. "How the heck did you manage to blow it up?"
"It's mostly robotic on the inside," Jack explained. "I just froze some components and jammed some gears and the rest followed."
"So definitely the work of North, then."
"Oh I have no doubt Bunny was involved too."
When Jack was back on dry muddy land, the two of them turned to May, wincing at the state of her once white dress and sunhat. The woman in question was completely expressionless. With one hand, she attempted to remove the mud covering her face.
May locked eyes with her 'brothers', opened her mouth and said two words.
"I'm in."
Jack grinned. "Then let's go get our last member."
...
...
"Oi, Ceres!"
The autumn spirit looked up as her three counterparts landed nimbly before her. "What are you lot doing here?" she asked. Her eyes homed in on Jack. "Oh, MiM, he's not drunk again, is he?!"
"What? No, I'm completely sober," Jack said with a bemused smile. "We came to ask a favour. One which we think you would find mutually beneficial."
Ceres raised a brow. "I'm listening."
"How would you like the opportunity to humiliate and terrify Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny?"
...
...
It was a real struggle to keep from laughing as Jack and his three co-conspirators hid in the trees of the Warren. It was a better situation than they could have hoped for – North was there, too. And it was easy enough to have the wind blowing in their direction to prevent Bunny from knowing they were there (if he hadn't sensed their presence in the Warren already).
Now all they had to do was sit and wait for an opportune moment. It didn't take long.
As soon as the two holiday icons were close enough to one of the flower beds, May and Ceres set to work. It was hard to tell from May's expression whether she was enjoying herself or not, but the efficiency of her work and the twitch of the corner of her mouth suggested so. Ceres was downright grinning. Albeit evilly.
Jack and Lleu watched in fascination as their magic made the plants around the Warren grow exponentially. With barely a thought, the vegetation mutated at the throngs of their combined magic, twisting and gaining artificial sentience as they loomed over the two Guardians watching wide-eyed.
Bunny was quick to catch on as the vines wrapped around his legs holding him in place froze over, making it near impossible for his own magic to influence the suddenly mutinous plants.
"Damn it, Frost!" he snapped, eyes darting around as he looked for a sign of the winter spirit. "I know you're here!"
"Bunny, what do we do?" North asked, looking a little panicked as a monstrous Venus fly trap-like flower hunched over him.
"Let's see how he likes being eaten," Jack snickered.
May nodded, mentally directing the plant to comply. Which it did. Gladly.
North's cries of distress were muffled by the jaws of the mutant flower.
"Okay, okay," Lleu said around a fist he was using to try and suppress his laughter. "My turn."
Ceres waved in a 'by all means' kind of way.
"Jack! Get your scrawny hide out here!" Bunny was still shouting. "And whoever's with ya; I know ya can't've done this by yourself!"
"Yeah, not likely," Jack whispered, rolling his eyes. "Lleu, if you would."
"Gladly," the summer spirit smirked, holding out a hand in Bunny's general direction. The wind more than happily responded to his beckoning, cycling in an upward loop where it met with colder air from Jack's wind, until a small cloud began to form above the Pooka, growing darker and darker the more time passed. They knew they were on the way to success when the first droplet of water landed on Bunny's fur.
"What the-?" Bunny glanced upwards, eyes widening as he spotted the new addition. "Crikey!"
A small bolt of lightning struck the tips of his ears, barely enough to give more than a jolt. Bunny jumped, pulling down his ears and glaring at the cloud.
"Frostbite!" he growled, still trying and failing to locate Jack as his fur got drenched in the tiny cloud's rain.
"Nicely done, ladies and gentleman," Jack beamed at them.
"Pleasure to be of service, good sir," Lleu bowed.
"Shall we get out of here before they spot us?" May asked, glancing at the scene continuing below.
"Probably for the best," Ceres stood on her branch, stretching. "Though I suppose we should help them a little first." From the sounds of it she really didn't want to.
"Yeah, you're probably right," Jack agreed.
"Very well," she huffed, waving her hand at the clearing. The plants instantly stopped their rampage, becoming the regular foliage they had once been. North grumbled as the fly trap-like flower finally released him. May likewise extracted her magic from the plants.
Jack held up his staff, ready to blow the miniature thunderstorm away but paused when Lleu grabbed the hooked end.
"Can't we just leave it for a while?" he asked, doing his best rendition of puppy-dog eyes. "It won't hurt him, really, and it'll diffuse on its own after a while."
Jack couldn't argue with that, shrugging as he and the others took off out of the Warren before they were spotted.
"The rabbit's got some gardening to do," Ceres smirked.
"Or an all-you-can-eat buffet," Lleu laughed.
...
...
"Sandy, glad you could make it, mate," Bunny greeted as the small golden man drifted down into his Warren.
After a brief discussion, he and North had come up with a plan, but they knew they would need back-up, especially if he was right in his assumption that Jack had involved the other seasonals. Tooth would likely have a fit if she found out the extent the pranks were getting to (it really was starting to look more like an actual war) so they'd settled for just Sandy. The guy was definitely an instigator and more than once Bunny had found himself comparing him to Jack. Someone who could think on the same level as the winter spirit would definitely be a bonus.
Sandy created a question mark above his head, not having understood why he'd been sent for.
"We need your help, my friend," North told him.
Sandy waved his hand, signalling for him to continue.
"We want you to help us win war against Jack and other seasonals."
Sandy's eyes widened, not having known that others were being drawn into the battle. He silently asked what they wanted him to do. Although the part of his mind that could think clearly whispered to him the dangers of acting against someone like Jack Frost, the other, more mischievous side of him didn't really care.
Bunny smirked. This was going to be good.
...
...
"Hey, Sandy," Jack waved at the Sandman as he floated overhead on his dream sand.
He and the other seasonals had agreed that it would be dangerous to split up and make themselves easier targets, for a little while, at least, and had made an impromptu sleep-out at Jack's lake. It was dark out, but still too early to sleep.
Sandy waved cheerily back, letting himself come down to meet them.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lleu whispered. "What if he's on their side?"
"We'll just have to be careful," May replied in an equally hushed tone.
"How's dream delivery going?" Jack asked.
Sandy held up both thumbs, grinning. He then gestured to the lot of them, a question mark appearing above him.
"Oh, we decided it would be nice to hang out for the night. It's not very often that the temperature is suitable for all of us at once, you know?" Jack explained. The ease in which he believably stretched the truth was both admirable and scary.
Sandy nodded in understanding. He pointed up at the sky as he created an image of a clock and a sleeping child.
"You've got to get back to work?" Jack correctly identified. "Okay, we'll see you around, Sandman."
Sandy waved goodbye and headed off, his rather evil smile hidden from them. He let them lull into a false sense of security before subtly sending a thin trail of dream sand their way. They were asleep before they'd even realised what had happened.
...
...
Jack groaned as he drowsily blinked awake. It took him a minute to take in his surroundings and the three other spirits dozing nearby before it finally clicked that he hadn't been woken for his shift of night-watch.
"Hey, you guys, wake up!" he called, nudging Ceres with his staff.
"Ngh… five more minutes," she groaned, rolling away from him.
"Why didn't you wake me for my shift?" he asked, nudging her again.
"Huh? Wha?" she opened her eyes somewhat dazedly before she realised the same thing he had only moments before, shooting upright. "What happened?"
"We fell asleep," May yawned, stretching her arms above her head.
"Sandy," Lleu added. "I bet you it was his doing."
"Oh this isn't good," Jack's voice drew all their attention. He was staring down at a small square of paper.
"What's that?" May asked, dread in her tone.
"I found it in my hoodie pocket… I think you guys might want to see this."
"Well, show us then!" Ceres grumbled.
Wincing, Jack did as he was told. Silence reigned for several moments.
"I'll kill them," May hissed, breaking the silence.
"How did they even manage to get those costumes?" Lleu asked in horror.
It was a photo. A photo that brought nothing but a very, very bad feeling. How many were in circulation? Had they spread to the mass spirit population?
"Oh, God, I'm never going to live this down," Ceres hung her head in her hands.
The photo showed all four of them asleep under a tree, dressed as characters from the TV special puppet-version of Jack Frost. Jack was, obviously, Jack Frost, complete with the ridiculous elf hat and pointy shoes. Ceres, who was next to him, was dressed in what could only be Elisa's costume (and the very thought made them both want to dig a hole and bury themselves); May was next in Holly's sparkly outfit, leaving Lleu in the blue, glitter covered costume of Snip.
"This… this is not acceptable!" Ceres raged.
"We have to get them back," Lleu said with absolute seriousness.
They settled for making plans, but before they had gotten far, a very angry looking Tooth Fairy descended, opened a portal with one of North's snow globes, and demanded that they walk through it. And no one was willing to argue with an angry Tooth.
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...
The portal, surprisingly, opened up into the Warren, where they found a very chastised looking North, Bunny, and Sandy. Tooth shepherded them over to join the others.
"Alright, this has gone on long enough," she glared, hands on her hips. "Bunny, you have Easter to worry about, not childishly trying to get back at Jack for something that he says was an accident."
Bunny muttered under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"That's what I thought," she snapped her gaze to Bunny's accomplices. "The same goes for you two. North, you should be supervising the toy production and Sandy, you should know better."
They both looked appropriately apologetic.
"As for you lot," she flew over to the seasonal spirits. "Don't you two ladies have seasons to take care of? I don't really know you, Lleu, but you should be ashamed of yourself, too. As for you, Jack, well, I can't say I'm all that surprised but this is getting out of hand!"
They blinked at her outburst, not used to being scolded by anyone who wasn't Mother Nature. Jack looked unaffected, as though it was a normal occurrence.
"Bunny, Jack, I want you to hug and make up," she ordered.
"What?!" the two in question cried.
"Now."
"Yes, mom," Jack muttered, rolling his eyes as he turned to face Bunny who likewise looked as though he had a few choice words he wanted to say.
"Without the attitude, please," Tooth said, brow raised.
"I'm sorry for knocking you into the dye river," Jack said without actually sounding apologetic. "But it was an accident."
"If you say so," Bunny replied, not believing it. "I'm sorry for getting back at you." Then he added quietly so Tooth wouldn't hear, "Though not as sorry as you."
"Yeah, we'll see about that, Kangaroo," Jack replied just as quietly.
"Now hug," Tooth ordered.
They groaned, rolling their heads to look at her.
"That wasn't a request."
"Fine," Jack and Bunny huffed, coming together for a very short, very awkward, and very unheartfelt embrace.
"Good. Now all of you go do whatever it is you were supposed to be doing," and with one final warning glare Tooth flew off.
"See ya later, Snow Cone," Lleu waved with a sigh and what looked like a poorly repressed smile, taking off with the girls.
North disappeared through a snow globe, Sandy following him.
"Later, 'Roo," Jack saluted, letting the wind carry him off.
As the two turned away from one another they silently snickered, one with 'Kick Me' stuck to his back and the other sporting 'Pet Me'.
For the record, no the photo wasn't circulated to all the spirits. But it will make great blackmail.
Guest Review Responses:
WEast: Haha thank you :3 I'm happy you enjoyed it XD
NorthernMage: That makes two of us lazy :P It was a play on Slenderwolf (except he was more on the muscled side) If I chucked them all in a forest with the real Slenderman, I don't know how they'd survive... unless... I can totally see Jack stepping forward when SM turned up and casually slipping him $20 XD
Guest: I'm glad!