As requested by Fenrir Wylde Razgriz. I'm sorry if it's weird or anything - I'm half asleep right now but I figured you were getting tired of waiting. Also my internet is so dodgy but I'm too tired to get angry. Only the second day back at uni and I'm already dead :I

Oh, IMPORTANT NOTE: I've decided to halt further requests for now (only temporary, I promise) until I can get through the 30-something already on the list and make it shorter. That way you guys won't have to wait months for me to get around to your requests. And since uni's back on and I'm busy with RL (alas!) I'm going to have less time to write so the wait will be longer :(

Disclaimer: Don't own.

...

The Winter Council

"Cookies?" North offered once they were all seated, holding up a platter of (rather questionable) sweets. Jack promptly decided the elves had been at them and declined, much like the others.

"How are Christmas preparations going?" Tooth asked, setting the meeting into motion.

"Everything is on track," North replied happily, reclining back in his seat and munching away on a tree-shaped cookie. "Will be done in time like always."

"And you, Bunny? Have you started getting ready for Easter?"

"Nah, can't start 'til next month or the eggs'll go bad before I can get 'em out," Bunny informed her. Having such a short deadline put an unwanted amount of pressure on him, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

"If you need help, Cottontail, I'd be glad to offer my services," Jack smirked. "Winter will be fine on its own for a little while."

"You stay away from my eggs, mate," Bunny warned.

Jack put up his hands in surrender.

"You guys are lucky," Tooth sighed, sharing a look with Sandy. "Sometimes I think it would be nice not to have to work all the time."

"Isn't it about time we organised another vacation?" North asked, agreeing with the Sandman's suggestion.

"Can it wait until after Easter?" Bunny replied with his own question. "That way Frostbite and I'll be on our off-seasons and you won't be quite so busy, either."

Sandy nodded along with Tooth. Before North could answer, though, a knock on the door made them all turn in time to see a yeti stick its head in and mutter something.

"A visitor?" North translator. "Who?"

More growls.

"For Jack?"

"Me?" Jack glanced between North and the yeti.

"Apparently you have visitor," the Cossack shrugged.

"Me?" Jack repeated, his face sceptical.

"Send them in!"

A short silence followed after the yeti obediently disappeared before the door opened fully and an older spirit with a frosted beard and serious eyes stepped in. His long robe dragged on the ground, the ice patches across the fabric glistening in the light.

Jack's eyes widened in shock and he hurried to stand up, banging his hip on the edge of the table in his haste. He was vaguely aware of the other Guardians' confusion but now was not the time for explanations.

"I see you are learning, Jack Frost," the man said, his face completely expressionless.

It was even more confusing for the others when he restrained himself from any kind of quip or comeback. Instead, he remained ramrod straight, eyes locked firmly with the stranger's in a show of respect and obedience. Bunny was half expecting him to salute.

"Forgive me," North said as he stood. "But who are you?"

Jack flinched but didn't look away.

"My apologies," the man half-bowed. "It was rude of me to barge into your home without so much as introducing myself. You see, I was looking for Jack here but he wasn't where I expected him to be." He looked meaningfully at the young winter spirit who appeared to be struggling to stay still. "In any case," he continued, "I am Old Man Winter."

There were several blank faces in the room at that. Sure, they'd all heard of Old Man Winter, but they'd thought Jack was the only winter spirit; that the name was just a variation. Even if Jack Frost wasn't old at all (in appearance, at least – and he was still young compared to the rest of them).

"Ah, I see," North was the first to recover. "Call me North. I'm sure you know of Bunnymund, Tooth and Sandy."

"I certainly do," Winter nodded. "I doubt there are any amongst the spirits of our world who are ignorant of the Guardians. And now I hear that Jack Frost has joined your ranks. I am honestly surprised."

Bunny frowned and opened his mouth to ask just what was so surprising but in a flash Jack was suddenly in front of him and covering his mouth with a chilled hand. Bunny grabbed his arm and pulled it away. "What are ya doin', mate?" he asked.

Jack shook his head ever so slightly, the movement barely visible. His eyes were wide and clearly displayed his nervousness.

"Jack," there was something threatening in the Old Man's tone and Jack flinched, wincing as he turned around to look back at their guest. "I believe Bunnymund asked you a question."

Jack seemed to shrink under the cold gaze and he turned his head back to Bunny, although his eyes focused on the ground. "I was stopping you from starting something you would regret," he said quietly.

"And why would he regret it?"

Jack cringed. "…Sorry."

"That is not what I asked, Jack."

"…I don't want to say," Jack sighed.

"Very well, I didn't come here to chit chat, after all," Old Man Winter abruptly changed the subject, much to Jack's surprise. "I am aware that it has already been some time since your appointment as a Guardian, but I wanted to personally congratulate you on your new position."

Jack did a very good impression of a fish.

"I also wanted to remind you that just because you now have new duties, does not mean you can forsake your old ones."

Jack frowned. "I haven't been–"

"Do not interrupt. Would you care to explain to me why you failed to show up to the court meeting and thereby forced me to personally come find you, wasting precious time that we both know we can't truly afford to spare?"

Jack blinked, but a mixture of realisation and horror slowly dawned on his face.

"I take it you forgot, judging by your expression."

"Oh man, how did I forget?!" Jack mumbled to himself. He really wanted to bang his head against a wall or something but that would probably do nothing to help with the situation. "Wait, but why did you come personally?"

Old Man Winter raised a brow.

"I mean," Jack quickly back-tracked, "why not send a Mini-Miser or something instead?"

The older spirit gave him a look that clearly read 'are you seriously asking me that?'. "Because I know that should anyone else have come, you would have continued to waste time. This way, we might actually get something done today. Now hurry up; the others are waiting." Old Man Winter then turned on his heel and marched back toward the door.

Jack watched him go for a minute before sighing and trudging after him.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a tic," Bunny interrupted, holding up both paws. "Does someone wanna explain to the rest of us just what exactly's goin' on here?"

"I mean no disrespect, Mr. Bunnymund, but this is a matter for winter spirits and those associated with the season, and them alone."

Jack narrowed his eyes, "In a way," he said slowly, "North's a spirit associated with winter."

Old Man Winter stared at him silently for so long Jack was forced to look away in discomfort. After a time he heaved a sigh and said, "Very well then, but we do not have time to dilly-dally about with explanations. Come along if you must," he told the Guardians.

The others exchanged glances before shrugging and following.

"Wait, not all of them can fly," Jack pointed out.

"We will take sleigh!" North bellowed happily, ignoring Bunny's groan.

...

...

North hadn't really known what to expect, but in hindsight he probably should have guessed they'd go somewhere freezing. The ice castle was a bit of a surprise, though. Jack had ridden the sleigh with the rest of them while Old Man Winter flew ahead, but he had been oddly silent the whole time, his expression unreadable. It was very un-Jack-like behaviour and had the rest of them watching him from the corner of their eyes in concern.

The castle itself was an architectural marvel. There was so much detail carved into it and despite the material it was made from, it appeared completely sturdy. The two winter spirits in company had no qualms about entering it, at any rate. Bunny, on the other hand, was less than thrilled.

The interior was much the same as the exterior – ice as far as the eye could see. In fact, North was pretty sure the place didn't have anything within its walls that wasn't made from ice.

Old Man Winter led them down several slippery hallways (to the Guardians, at least – the two winter spirits didn't seem to be having any trouble at all) until they ended up in a large semi-circular room with a map of the Earth carved into the straight wall. Numerous spirits were milling about inside and all looked over to the doorway as they entered.

"Glad the two of you could join us," a woman with white hair tied back in a tight bun said with a raised brow. "And I see the Guardians have come too?"

"There wasn't time for explanations, apparently," Jack offered quietly.

The woman nodded, not making any further comment.

"Shall we get started, then?" Old Man Winter asked.

There was a general consensus of agreement and every winter spirit in attendance turned to stare at Jack, who shifted uneasily under the scrutiny. The Guardians just looked confused.

Heaving a sigh, Jack finally stood a bit straighter and glanced over at the map. "How far in are we now?"

"One week and two days," a broad man with a large beard supplied from the other side of the room.

"And progress?"

"We've each been aiding the season in our own areas predating today, so I would approximate around 5%," the woman from before replied.

"Right then, we have a lot to do," Jack said, moving to the front of the room. "Mother has given me a general brief, but for the most part it's going to be a pretty relaxed season." He turned to the man who'd answered his first question. "We're looking for about a maximum of fifteen inches of snow at any given time in your sector – not including mountains – but Mother said to organise a three-day blizzard in the middle of January and then another week-long one at the start of February. The rest is up to you. Can I count on you to do that, General Winter?"

"As always," General Winter nodded.

"Major General," Jack switched targets to a man similar in appearance to General Winter but with a shorter beard and a different style of uniform, "we need more ice than actual snow in Texas, but other than that there aren't really any expectations from Mother. I'm thinking no more than about 25 inches of snow in the lower regions, but you can go all out in the colder areas. Try not to ice up the roads too much without giving them a little warning first, though."

"As you say," the Major General agreed. "And what of the northern regions of Canada and Alaska? I was anticipating about 75 inches for Alaska and a maximum of 120 inches for Canada."

"Sound fine to me," Jack nodded. "Does anyone have any objections or suggestions?"

No one said anything.

"Alright then, moving on."

And so it went for each country on the map. The Guardians watched without really knowing how to react as Jack took on a more mature, leader-like demeanour. He was like a general organising his troops. The other spirits present were all older than him, but none of them questioned his leadership or judgment, even if they did at times look a little put out. Before an hour had passed he seemed to finish, slipping through the crowd towards them.

"I didn't know there was a whole court of winter spirits," Tooth smiled at him.

"I'm more surprised that you seem to be in charge," Bunny pointed out.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't be if Old Man Winter didn't retire. When I came around he figured it would be a good opportunity to pass off all his duties to me. Honestly I hate the job," Jack sighed. "I'm always glad when it's over so I can go focus on the fun side of it."

"Wait, the guy's retired?"

"Yup. You'd never know it, huh? He seems to think I'm going to screw up if I don't have constant supervision."

"Well, I think you did excellent job," North told him, slapping him on the back with enough force to make him stumble.

Sandy frowned, signing something but what Jack had no idea.

"He is asking why you were acting so strangely back at Pole," North translated.

"Oh. You guys do not want to get Old Man Winter mad," Jack ran a tired hand down his face. "He'll freeze you with no hesitation and you'll be stuck like that until he decides otherwise."

"Jack!"

Jack turned to face the short man with the icicle for a cane that was hurrying towards him. "Snow-Miser? What's up?"

"I wanted to ask about the effects of climate change on the ice caps at the Poles," Snow-Miser said with a frown.

"Already taken care of," Jack reassured him. "I've been making sure to check it over and fix any damage when I'm down south between seasons. I can't fix it permanently, but it's not being neglected."

"And in the north?"

"I've been doing air surveillance whenever I head to the Workshop, but if you wanted to send some Mini-Misers to do a more detailed scan I would appreciate it."

"Consider it done," Snow-Miser smiled. "And greetings to you, Guardians," he bowed to them. "I had not expected to see you here."

"Neither had we, actually," Tooth admitted.

"If you'll excuse me, I must go speak with the Snow Queen about distribution in England. Jack, I heard the Old Man say something about pinning you with training some new Yuki Onna; you might want to leave before he spots you."

"Thanks for the tip," Jack smirked. "Definitely don't want to get stuck with that. You guys ready to go finish our own meeting?" he asked the Guardians.

"Yes," Bunny rubbed his arms in a futile attempt to keep warm. "It's bloody freezin' in here."

"Ice castle; of course it's freezing. It's ice," Jack fondly rolled his eyes and led them back out through the many hallways to where the sleigh was waiting.

"Who knew there were so many different winter spirits," North noted, sharing a silent conversation with Sandy.

"You probably would have if you weren't so busy all the time," Jack shrugged casually. "It's no big deal – the rest of them don't really care about being believed in; only in getting their jobs done. Whereas I'm more focused on the fun-side of winter rather than the work side."

"We know, mate," Bunny grumbled as he climbed into the sleigh after them. His paws were so numb he didn't think he'd even be able to open a tunnel let alone muster the energy to argue against the sleigh.

As they took off, Sandy created a group of people followed by a clock and a question mark.

"How long has there been a court?" Jack guessed. "Dunno; it was before my time. Apparently originally they all just went about their work, but they kept clashing and arguing and Mother Nature had her own opinion on things so Old Man Winter was appointed as 'the' spirit of winter and he organised the roles of all the others."

"And now that's you," Tooth concluded.

"Yup. It's not all bad, though. I can get away with a lot."

Bunny shook his head in exasperation. "Trust you to abuse your authority."

"Trust you to be a stuck-up kangaroo," Jack shot back with a smirk.

"If I wasn't tryin' not to throw up, I'd pummel ya, kid."

Jack just laughed. Bunny was slowly getting more accustomed to the sleigh, but no amount of travel would let him get over air-sickness. "You could try."

Guest Review Responses:

Guest: I henceforth name you Guestatron 2000 (I'm sorry I'm not all here right now...) Unless you can come up with something better or just don't use it. Either way. Thank you so much! I don't really like OCs all that much either, but with a fandom like RotG, it's hard to avoid - especially for a one-shot series. But I'm really happy you like them anyway :3 I shall try!

FrostyJack: Thank you! Binge reader :P I fully intend to keep updating :3

Maguestic Unicorn: I lol'd so hard when I realised you decided to keep the name I gave you XD I honestly hadn't been expecting anyone to take me seriously. (I'm glad you did, though XD) It doesn't matter if you're the real MU or not, you can be the real one now ;) Glad you liked it! Double updates went extinct when RL decided to attack, unfortunately.

Guest: Another nameless one, I see. Then if it pleases you, I shall dub thee Sir Guestington (unless you would prefer Dame). You're not missing anything, sorry if that was confusing. The 'incident' was a roundabout way of referring to the events of the movie.