I HAVE BEEN REALLY EXCITED FOR THIS ONE, SHTTRD GLAS! It's also really long, and I'm debating whether or not to add a second part...
Also combined with a request from Shamangirl1 (but you'll probably have to imagine the butt-whooping ^^;)
Disclaimed.
...
A Change in the Wind
...
It was a subtle thing; the kind that would normally go unnoticed had the noticer not been Jack Frost. As it was, the noticer was, in fact, Jack Frost, and so the subtle thing was noticed. A minor change in the way the wind 'spoke', the way it moved and felt, was all it was, but to Jack it may as well have been an announcement blared in his ear.
The winter spirit in question froze in midair, his journey to the more southern regions of the hemisphere temporarily forgotten as he took it all in, listening to the hushed whispers. Had it really been one hundred years?
A huge grin split his face as he confirmed that, yes, he had heard correctly. But while it was a moment of excitement and worth celebrating, it also meant he had a lot of work to do and not a lot of time in which to do it.
With barely a thought, Jack descended to the snowy landscape below and quickly began drawing shapes in the slush. With mere mental insistence he dragged the two-dimensional drawings into corporeality until he had numerous snow owls seated before him and watching him expectantly. He had gotten a lot better at creating things from snow and frost since North had aided him, inadvertently teaching him that it would be by far more effective to focus not on having the creations disperse into snow, but instead having them affect the local weather and coaxing snow from where it had already gathered and frozen in the clouds.
A short order saw all of the birds flying off, each in a different direction. Now, with winter covered, he could focus on more important things. Letting out a long whistle, Jack shot off into the sky, his trajectory north-east.
There was still a whole pile of things already in the temple from gatherings of centuries past, if he remembered correctly (although not all of it was his), but Jack couldn't help but want items more appropriate for the current century. Everything had to be perfect.
...
...
Jamie smiled to himself as he helped Sophie put the last rock into place on their joint-effort snow bunny (she had insisted). In his opinion, it didn't really look all that much like the Easter Bunny, but the little girl seemed proud of it, so he wouldn't mention it.
A chilling gust of wind swept through their backyard, enticing the two Bennett children's attention skyward, just in time to watch a familiar hoodie-clad spirit land nimbly on the fence.
"Jack!" Jamie beamed, always happy to see his favourite Guardian.
Sophie chanted his name as she raced over to him and Jack jumped down from his perch so she could hug him.
"Hey, kiddos!" the winter spirit greeted enthusiastically. If his smile had been any bigger his face probably would have split in two. It wasn't unusual to see such an expression on Jack's face, but it generally meant plotting of some kind. Thankfully, Jamie usually found himself on the dishing end, rather than the receiving one.
"Why are you so excited?" the eleven year old asked, just a touch suspicious.
"I just heard some really great news," Jack replied, his eyes straying to their snow-Bunny. A smirk grew on his face. "Nice snow Bunny. Should take a photo so I can show the real one… Or get him to come look for himself."
"Bunny!" Sophie cried excitedly.
"What kind of news?" Jamie brought them back on topic.
"Oh, right! It's a secret," he told the boy slyly. "But if you help me, I'll show you once everything's sorted."
Jamie raised a brow. "What do you need us to do?"
"I need to find the prettiest, shiniest things I possibly can."
"Okay…" Jamie said slowly. "Why?"
Before Jack had the chance to answer, a breathy roar echoed across the yard, preceding the arrival of an ice dragon. Jamie and Sophie watched it land with open awe, mouths agape and eyes wide.
"There you are," Jack said happily, patting the dragon on the nose. "We have work to do." He paused, glancing down at the kids. "Oh, right, Frostwind, these two are Jamie and Sophie. Jamie and Sophie, this is Frostwind."
"That is so cool," Jamie uttered.
Frostwind lowered his head so that he was at eye-level with the kids before jumping around them in excitement. Sophie squealed in delight and chased after him.
"Did you make him?" Jamie asked, watching the two run around.
"Yeah… long story. I can tell you later, but I don't have much time at the moment."
"Right, shiny things," Jamie acknowledged. "What kind of things were you looking for?"
"Anything, really," Jack shrugged.
"Well, we might have some stuff inside. Hey, Soph!"
Sophie stopped, half mounted on Frostwind's back.
"Can Jack borrow some of your dress-up stuff?"
Sophie stared at him for a long moment before abruptly forgetting about the dragon and racing inside. Jack and Jamie exchanged a bemused look and followed after her, being sure to tell Frostwind to stay put first. By the time they found her in her room, Sophie had pulled out everything in her costume box, completely covering the floor in an assortment of outfits from fairy dresses to superhero costumes. The little girl in question victoriously held up a plastic tiara and shoved it in Jack's face.
"It's perfect!" Jack exclaimed, examining it closely. "Would you mind if I borrowed this for a little while? I promise to bring it back at the end of next week."
"Jack can borrow," Sophie smiled.
"Thanks, kiddo."
Jamie raised a brow at the exchange, half expecting the winter spirit to try it on.
The three of them scavenged throughout the rest of the house, and by the end of their search, they'd managed to accumulate only a small number of things Jack could take that their mother wouldn't miss – an old CD, some tin foil, and a bunch of keys that unlocked goodness knew what. Jack seemed happy with the haul, though.
"I can keep an eye out for other stuff if you want," Jamie offered as Jack stashed the items in the pocket of his hoodie and the three of them stepped back out into the yard where Frostwind was waiting.
"Really? That's be great! I don't know how much spare time I'll get to come back myself, but I'll be sure to send Frostwind every now and again. If nothing else, he doesn't mind being buried in snow," Jack smirked, winking at them.
"I take it you have to leave now?"
"Sorry, kiddo," Jack smiled sadly. "But I'll catch you guys next week, alright?"
"You promise?"
"Promise."
...
...
Why, of all possible times, did North have to pick that very hour of that very day to hold a Guardian meeting? Jack could practically feel the seconds ticking by as he tried to stay focused on what Bunny was saying (something about eggs or paint or whatever). But there were so many other, more important things he could be doing right then and he was finding it increasingly difficult to sit still and pay attention.
He gave up altogether, though, when a swarm of elves hurried in through the door and over to him.
"Yes!" he cheered, swinging around in his seat to face them properly. He was vaguely aware that Bunny had stopped talking and the other four were now staring at him. He didn't particularly care, though. "What did you find?"
One of the elves towards the front of the group triumphantly held up a piece of dollhouse furniture for him to see.
Jack resisted the urge to groan. "No, I said shiny, not tiny. Did any of you actually listen?"
Another elf handed over a silver bell (much like the ones they had on the ends of their hat-outfits).
"Yes! Perfect!" Jack grinned. "See, this is what I meant."
The elf looked around at its peers smugly.
"What about the rest of you? Christmas lights? Hmm… it's a good idea, but I'm not gonna have anywhere to plug them in. What else?"
"Um, Sweet Tooth?" Tooth hedged.
"No, Dingle, a bar of soap is not shiny," Jack rolled his eyes. "That is, though, good job, Tinsel!" he gratefully accepted the weird gem-thing the elf held up proudly.
"Jack?"
"Please tell me you didn't take that from a reindeer," Jack winced as he spotted the horseshoe amongst the elves.
"Oi, Frostbite!"
Jack finally glanced up at the Guardians, raising a brow at their confused and somewhat concerned expressions. He suddenly remembered they had been in the middle of a meeting. "Oh, sorry. What were we talking about?" he swung back around to face them properly. "Bunny, you were saying something about eggs?"
The others didn't seem to think the meeting was quite as interesting as the display of elves and random, unrelated objects. Sandy frowned, making a question mark.
"Oh, well, you see– Frostwind! Perfect timing," Jack's attention was shot as his dragon drifted in through the window, an ice chest held carefully in his mouth. "What did you find?" Jack asked, leaving his seat in favour of examining the chest. "Coins, jewellery, a pocket watch, candy wrappers… this is a pretty good haul, good job."
Frostwind preened at the praise.
"Here, can you take these back for me?" Jack asked, placing the elves' collection in alongside the items already there. "You remember where to go?"
Frostwind gave a short nod and obediently went to carry out his mission, leaving in much the same manner as he'd arrived.
"Is everything alright, Jack?" North asked carefully.
"Yeah, why?"
The Cossack glanced from Jack to the window, then over to the slowly dispersing elves before letting his gaze drift back to Jack. "No reason."
Jack shrugged and reclined back in his seat. That is, until he spotted the few iridescent green feathers on the floor near Tooth. If one were to say he calmly reached down to pick them up, that one would be telling the greatest lie of the century. No. He pounced. Like a cat. On a sugar rush. In under a second he had seized the feathers, holding them up to the light to better admire them. The others were openly worried now, but Jack didn't even notice.
"Frostwind, wait up!" Jack suddenly called, shooting off after his dragon.
Bunny blinked as the events slowly sunk in before he turned to a blushing Tooth. "Are you moultin'?"
Tooth's embarrassed expression quickly morphed to indignant rage.
...
...
Tooth was 98% sure something was up with Jack. It was fairly obvious, actually; but as for what that something was, well, Tooth had no idea. It was one of the now rare occasions that she was directing her fairies from the Tooth Palace instead of being out in the field herself, but if she hadn't been there, she would not have spotted Jack flying around one of the other towers, looking for all the world like he was searching for something. Every now and then he'd stop to talk to some of the fairies before moving off again, scanning every nook and cranny of the place.
Tooth didn't even notice that she'd stopped watching him until a peppy 'Hey, Tooth!" from behind nearly gave her a heart attack.
"Hello, Jack," she spared him a warm smile. "Moscow, sector one, we've got an incisor and a molar on the same street."
"Do you know where Baby Tooth is?"
"I sent her off to Japan about half an hour ago – Sydney, sector three, premolar and a really wobbly canine on stand-by! She should be back soon."
"Okay, cool. I was wondering if I could borrow her next week?"
"Sure, I don't see a problem," Tooth shrugged. "Uh-oh, we've got two incisors in the same house; Tokyo sector two! Any specific reason?" she asked, turning back to him.
"She's just the right level of shiny."
Tooth, as well as all the fairies swarmed around her, momentarily froze to stare at him.
Jack, apparently completely unfazed by the looks he was receiving, said, "Could you ask her for me? Tell her to meet me at the lake on Monday if she says yes!" and without another word he was zipping off again, leaving Tooth and her minions to watch after him in complete bafflement.
...
...
"Oi, North, you here, mate?" Bunny called out as he, Sandy and Tooth entered the Globe Room.
"Yes, yes, what is it?" North asked, entering from a side door. "What is emergency?"
"We need to talk," Tooth told him. "About Jack."
North heaved a huge sigh and flopped down into an armchair by the fire, gesturing for them to do the same. "So you have noticed strangeness, too."
Sandy nodded, showing them all a scene of a tiny sand-Jack flying all over the place, but not once delivering snow like he normally did.
"I found him in the Warren searchin' for old wrappers and dippin' random objects into the dye river," Bunny added with crossed arms.
"He's been collecting feathers," Tooth said uncomfortably. "And he asked to borrow Baby Tooth because she's 'just the right level of shiny'."
The others stared at her for a moment.
"Is same here," North told them. "Elves are constantly taking shiny things to give to ice dragon when it stops by."
"I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation; I just don't know what it is. Maybe he's–" Tooth cut herself off as a bunch of elves massed into the room in time for Jack's dragon to swoop in, pick through the pile of random stuff they'd taken and fly off again.
Bunny gave Tooth a sceptical look. "Better be one hell of an explanation."
"Maybe is elemental or seasonal thing?" North suggested, reading Sandy's expression.
"Do you think maybe we should go ask one of the other seasonal spirits, then?" Tooth asked.
"Would not hurt. But does anyone know where to find them?"
They all exchanged helpless glances.
"Ya know, we could always just try askin' Frostbite," Bunny shrugged.
Sandy shook his head, creating a globe and a question mark. The message was clear: he'd become even harder to find than usual.
"Well, it's summer down in the Southern Hemisphere now, right?" Tooth informed them.
"And where there's summer, there's a summer spirit," Bunny finished.
"Then is decided," North stood to his full height. "To the sleigh!"
...
...
If asked, Lleu could comfortably say he loved his job. And unlike his icy counterpart, he felt it was even better that nobody could see him; it meant there was so much he could get away with. Like moving people's things from one side of their beach towels to the other when they weren't looking. Or making footprints in the sand when they were. The confusion was beautiful.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on where you stood), he was distracted from his beach-antics as a red blur streaked across the sky in the distance. Lleu narrowed his eyes as he followed it with his gaze. It was too low to be a plane and too big to be a bird or a kite. Not to mention there were a bunch of brown blobs in front of it. Which really only left one explanation.
Question was, what was Santa Claus doing so far south at that time of year?
"Probably worth investigating," he mused, calling for the wind to carry him.
Like the ninja he sometimes liked to pretend he was, Lleu managed to land soundlessly on the runners of the sleigh without being spotted by any of its occupants, noting that the Guardians were all busy peering over the sides of the sleigh in apparent search for something; well, all except Bunny, who looked like he was busy trying to keep down his lunch. The fact that Jack wasn't with them could explain the searching, but if they were looking for the winter spirit, they were looking in the wrong place. Unless, of course, they weren't looking for Jack at all.
Lleu smirked to himself as an idea sprung to mind. He couldn't waste such a golden opportunity, after all.
"Bunny," he whispered, just loud enough that only the Pooka would hear him.
Just as he'd hoped, one of Bunny's ears twitched in his direction, but the rabbit didn't move from his tense position.
"Hey, Bunny," he tried again. "Buuuuunny."
The other ear twitched and Bunny cautiously tilted his head slightly in Lleu's direction. "Did you guys hear that?" he asked his companions.
"Hear what?" came Tooth's reply.
Lleu shoved a fist in his mouth to keep from laughing.
"I thought I heard someone callin' me."
"Bah! You are probably hearing things," North bellowed from up front.
Lleu waited until everything went quiet again before, "Hey, Bunny, guess what."
"I swear I can hear somethin'," Bunny said, sounding increasingly frustrated and confused. He shifted himself a little closer to the edge of the sleigh to peer out but instantly regretted his decision and disappeared back inside.
"Bunny," Lleu huffed. "I know you can hear me. Come on."
Bunny moved again, but this time let his ears do the searching instead of his eyes.
"That's it, a little closer…"
"Who's there?" the Pooka demanded.
"Guess what, Bunny."
"What?" it was more of a confused 'what' than an actual answer to what he'd said, but Lleu would take what he could get.
"HI!" the summer spirit yelled as loudly as he could, springing up from the runners and into the rabbit's face.
Bunny jumped so high he almost fell out of the sleigh. The other Guardians likewise flinched, their heads all snapping around to face him.
"Gah! You're as bad as Jack!" Bunny growled, shoving Lleu away with a paw. "Bloody hell you nearly gave me a heart attack!"
Lleu was too busy laughing to form a coherent response.
"Ah, just the man we were looking for!" North smiled, bringing the sleigh to a halt.
"At your service," Lleu bowed, tipping an invisible hat. "What can I do for you?"
"We wanted to ask you something," Tooth said carefully. "About seasonal spirits."
"Oh no, what did he do?" Lleu sat up, suddenly serious.
The Guardians looked rather wary.
Sandy was the first to try and explain, but Lleu just stared in confusion.
"Sorry, man, I suck at Pictionary."
"He's turned into a bloody magpie," Bunny crossed his arms. At Lleu's raised brow, he added, "He's been goin' around collectin' stuff to an obsessive degree and to be frank it's startin' to freak us out a bit."
"Ooooh," Lleu chuckled. "Geez, don't scare me like that; I thought something was seriously wrong."
"Wait, this is normal?" Tooth frowned.
"Yeah, it'll happen every one hundred years or so. You'll get used to it."
"What exactly is 'it'?" North asked slowly.
Hmm, to tell or not to tell? On the one hand, I could save them a lot of worrying and confusion… on the other, they'll be worried and confused. "Heh," Lleu smirked, fishing around in his pocket and pulling out a glitter-smothered wind chime, which he threw to Bunny. "Do me a favour and give this to Jack?"
Bunny looked from him to the chime and back again rather blankly.
"But tell him I want it back in fifty years when it's my turn," he added. "He can just leave it in the temple with the rest of my stuff. He'll know what I mean." Then, revelling in their completely lost expressions, he stood and jumped out of the sleigh. "Have fun!"
"Wait, you didn't answer the question!" one of them called to him.
Lleu just laughed.
...
...
If they were honest with themselves, Lleu had been next to useless, only serving to make them more confused. And when Jack didn't come to the Pole after they'd returned there and activated the Aurora Borealis, they became increasingly concerned. Not to mention they had no idea how to locate him. That is, of course, until Frostwind flew in and sat expectantly before them like he was there for the meeting.
The Guardians stared at Frostwind. Frostwind stared at the Guardians. Silence reigned.
Sandy looked to the others, trying to convey to them his line of thought.
"A substitute?" Tooth guessed, much to Sandy's relief.
"The blighter knows not to blow off meetings," Bunny grumbled irately. "What if it'd been an emergency?"
Frostwind suddenly perked up, releasing a breathy cry of alarm.
Sandy held up his hands to placate the creature, trying to convey that, no, there wasn't actually an emergency.
"Is Frostwind, yes?" North asked. The dragon nodded. "We are looking for Jack; could you show us where he is?"
Frostwind seemed to consider this for a moment before trudging back over to the window. When the Guardians didn't move, he looked back at them expressionlessly.
Bunny heaved a huge sigh. "To the sleigh?"
...
...
The temple carved into a mountain that Frostwind had led them to was not really what they'd been expecting (mentions of said temple by the summer spirit aside). From the look of the worn and damaged trail leading down the mountain, it was safe to say the structure was once a place humans had gone, but now, being only accessible from the air, was likely abandoned. There were large cracks in the walls and pillars, the whole thing seemingly only held together by a patchwork of ice, crawling plants and mud. None of this took away from the beauty of it, however.
Frostwind didn't bother to check that the Guardians were still following as they approached, soaring straight in through the large entrance and disappearing into the darkness.
"Why would Jack come here?" Tooth asked, eyeing the illegible inscriptions carved into the walls. Despite having knowledge of every language, this was not one she could read.
"I do not know," North admitted, scanning the darkness in a futile attempt to see what was ahead. "Shall we go and find out?"
Sandy nodded and stepped forward, only to find his way blocked by some kind of invisible force.
"Some kind of protection spell," Bunny noted with narrowed eyes as he placed a paw against the invisible barrier.
"But if we can't get in…" Tooth frowned.
A frustrated huff from inside drew their attention. Frostwind was staring at them (looking rather annoyed for a being that couldn't really change facial expressions).
"Oi, don't give us that; we can't get through."
If the dragon's eyes weren't made of ice, he probably would have rolled them. As it was, he merely slipped back outside and started nudging the Pooka's paw. When the rabbit clearly didn't get the message, Frostwind resorted to biting down onto the appendage (ignoring the protests this garnered) and dragged him through the barrier.
The others, upon understanding that they would have to travel with him to get through, were far more cooperative. They walked as a single unit through the unlit hallway, the dragon as their only guide in the darkness. After what felt like an eternity, the walkway finally opened out into a large square room.
The first thing they noticed was the atmosphere – a charge to the air not unlike that felt during a storm; a warning and promise of power. The air itself, though, wasn't even damp. It put a feeling of foreboding in all of them.
The room, however, was much like what one would expect to find in a temple; there was a stone alter in the centre, and the walls were beautifully decorated with murals. One figure that came up again and again was that of a woman, depicted much larger than the people around her and always without colour. Four ornate chests stood in the corners of the space, each one decorated in a different style. The blue and white one with silver adorning was the only one that was open.
And there, standing just in front of the alter, was Jack. He didn't seem to notice they were there, completely absorbed in his task of freezing various shiny objects together in the vague form of a woman.
Frostwind hurried over excitedly at the sight of him, finally drawing the winter spirit's attention.
"Back so soon?" Jack asked. "Was it important?"
The Guardians would have taken this moment to peacefully and calmly announce their presence, had the statue thing not moved. The half-finished sculpture crouched down of its own accord to lovingly stroke Frostwind's snout.
"What the bloody hell is that?!" Bunny cried before he could even think to stop himself.
Jack startled at the sudden shout, and he, as well as his dragon and the living-sculpture turned to stare at the new arrivals.
"What are you guys doing here?" Jack asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"Frostwind led us here," Tooth replied quietly, looking more than a little lost.
"Oh," was all he said, before returning his attention to what he'd been doing when they walked in.
"Um, Jack?" North hedged.
"Yeah?" Jack didn't look up.
"What are you doing?"
"Building an armour."
"Why?"
"Because if she doesn't have any armour she can't leave the temple," Jack explained like that made absolutely perfect sense.
"And who is 'she'?" Bunny asked, eyeing the statue-thing warily. It didn't escape his notice that the statue thing was staring back at him, either. Actually, he was fairly sure it would have confronted him by now had it not been deliberately standing still for Jack.
"Hang on, almost done," Jack waved in a 'shut up' kind of way. "This one's from Sophie," Jack told the thing, reaching up to place a tiara on its head. "And that should do it," he stepped back to admire his handy-work. "Baby Tooth's gonna meet us at the lake. You think this'll be enough?"
The woman moved around as though examining her 'outfit', and it was only then that the Guardians noticed the semi-transparent distortion in the air in places the armour didn't cover, vaguely resembling a body. Apparently approving, she suddenly swung her arms around the winter spirit and hugged him deeply.
"Still waiting for an explanation," Bunny announced.
"Yeah, yeah, keep your fur on," Jack rolled his eyes. "Guys, this is the Wind."
They stared at him.
"Wind, these are the Guardians. But you already knew that."
"The wind is a spirit?" Tooth was the first to voice one of their collective thoughts.
"Um, yes and no," Jack replied, watching as Wind moved over to them and inspected them all closely. "Most of the time she's just, well, the wind, but she does have semi-sentience. Then about once every hundred years, she can gain a form like this – it only lasts for a week or so, though."
"Is that why you needed shiny things?" North looked over the rather mismatched armour.
"Well, anything would do the job, really. But she has a thing for shiny stuff," Jack smirked.
"Oh, that reminds me," Bunny reached into one of the pouches on his sash and pulled out the wind chime Lleu had given him. "Lleu asked me to give this to ya; but he said ya have to give it back for 'his turn'."
Wind snatched the chime from his paws, holding it up to her face.
"I'll have to remember to thank him," Jack mumbled, joining them. "The cord on it's long enough to put around your neck," he told his oldest companion. She glanced at him before doing so.
Sandy was the first to recover from the shock of it all, offering the Wind a formal greeting. She pretty much skipped the handshake and all semblance of personal space, practically pouncing on him to admire the golden sand that made up his body. Sandy looked like he didn't know whether to be scared or flattered.
"Come on," Jack called, racing out of the room. "We've only got a week and there's so much I want to show you!"
The Wind scrutinised the Guardians for a moment longer before she, accompanied by Frostwind, hurried after the boy. The Guardians watched them go for a second before shrugging and following.
Weirder things had happened, after all.
Oh, for the record, Lleu's wind likes noisy things, Ceres' likes natural things, and May's likes pretty things
Guest Review Responses:
Fandomcrazy: That's not good! Please be sure to take care of yourself and get plenty of rest :3 (Haha I know exactly what you mean though XD)
Shttrd Glas: Thank you! Good to hear it's not getting boring or anything ^^;
Guest: *can't tell if you've been named and just not using it or not* Ummm I'll just name you (possibly again) anyway ^^; Hmmmm... how about... Frankenguest? Lol feel free to hate it; my naming game is pretty sad tonight XD Thank you! Good to know - my half-conscious ramblings can be weird...