A follow-up chapter for the previous one, as requested by Mewgirl Anna

Disclaimed.

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Keeping Balance Part II

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Jamie grinned as he spotted a familiar, blue-hoodie clad figure flitting from rooftops as he and his friends walked home from school. He wasn't the only one to notice, either, judging from Cupcake's excited exclamation of, "Is that Jack?"

In unspoken agreement, the group immediately took off running in the direction they'd seen Jack go. Surprisingly, it didn't take them long to catch up, but Jack didn't seem to have been in much of a hurry. He was leisurely walking along a thin fence railing, apparently not having noticed their presence on the other side of the road.

"How does he do that?" Monty asked, panting from their short sprint.

"I know right, I can barely walk on the ground in a straight line," Claude added.

"Man, I don't know why you're all so surprised," Caleb laughed. "He's a spirit. He can fly and make it snow whenever he wants! Something like this seems kinda anticlimactic, don't you think?"

Caleb had a point, Jamie mused. Jack didn't exactly adhere to logic. His disregard for gravity should have been the least surprising thing about him.

At that moment, Jack happened to glance in their direction – or maybe he'd simply heard them talking. A huge grin split his face as he closed the distance between them in a single bound. "Are my ears ringing?" he smirked.

"Oh, um, we were just talking about how you're really good at balancing on stuff," Pippa confessed when no one else said anything, cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Luckily, Jack didn't seem fussed in the least. "I wasn't always this balanced," he told her. "When I first started out as Jack Frost I could barely land without falling over!"

"So wait, we could get as good as you if we practice?" Cupcake asked.

Jack shrugged. "I've had a few hundred years to get this good but I don't see why not." He paused for a moment, his brows tilting into a light frown. "Don't go trying anything unless you've got adult supervision."

"You're adult supervision, right?" Jamie asked.

"Technically, no."

In response, Jamie pulled his best puppy-dog face; the one he knew Jack was unable to say no to. And, just as he'd hoped, Jack caved within seconds.

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Something was going on in his lair. Pitch didn't need to leave the dark sanctuary of his personal room to know. And he had a very bad feeling he knew exactly what it was.

Or, rather, who.

A quick step through the shadows brought him to the main chamber, where he sensed the chaos was coming from. It took less than a second to find the source, but significantly longer to process it.

As he'd expected, Jack Frost had invited himself in again, never mind that Pitch had gone to great lengths to hide the entrance. And just as they'd been instructed, the Nightmares had intercepted the intruder. What Pitch had not expected, though, was the lack of fear or malicious intent coming from either party. The Nightmares were chasing after Jack, snapping at his heels as he jumped from one back to another with a huge and thoroughly amused grin on his face, barely faltering as they tried to buck him off. Winter spirit or not, that he was able to maintain his balance without even holding onto anything was just plain ridiculous. But, more importantly, and more irritatingly, the Nightmares seemed to be having just as much fun as Jack was.

Pitch's lip curled in disgust as he watched the scene playing out below him. How had it happened that his own Nightmares were so used to Jack Frost that they played with him instead of dragging him out by the most painful means possible?

I am not dealing with this, Pitch decided, slinking once more into the darkness. He was going to have to dish out some serious A-grade Nightmares to feel sane again.

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...

Jack followed Lleu deep into autumn, all the way from North's Workshop, where the latter had tracked him down with claims that there was something important Jack was needed for, to the south eastern end of Australia, where they finally came in to land at some sort of show ground where a series of brightly coloured tents were set up. The only light in the space came from two large spotlights set up near the largest of the tents, but it was enough for Jack to identify it as a circus, and one that had been closed for the night from the looks of things. It was just the right level of creepy that Jack stayed on high alert.

"Through here," Lleu instructed, lifting the bottom of the tent just high enough for someone to crawl through.

Jack eyed the opening of the tent dubiously. "Isn't this illegal?"

"Psh," Lleu waved flippantly. "Can't get arrested if you don't exist."

Well, it was kind of hard to argue with that, Jack supposed, and he slipped under the canvas. Lleu followed after him without hesitation. Predictably, it was too dark inside to see anything. Jack kept his staff at the ready, half expecting something to jump out at him.

"What are we doing here?" Jack whispered. Was there some sort of hostile spirit that needed relocating?

"It's a surprise," Lleu returned, a smile in his tone. "Lights!"

At his call, several lights flicked on around the tent. Jack squinted his eyes shut, one hand raised in an attempt to shield himself from the blinding. When he dared to open them again, it was to find a full circus set-up, complete with all manner of equipment. Sitting on the edge of a trampoline was none other than May Queen, and Ceres moved over to join them from where she'd been standing by one of the lights. Both women had forgone their usual attire in favour of pants.

Jack blinked at the three of them, uncomprehending. Finally, he found his voice again. "Is this an intervention?"

"Um, no, it's a circus," Lleu rolled his eyes. Ignoring May's irritation, he jumped up onto the trampoline and used the momentum it gave him (and a light breeze) to flip up onto the trapeze. "As the Guardian of Fun, how could I not invite you?"

"This was the important thing you needed me for?"

"It is important!"

Jack was as touched as he was annoyed. He'd thought something serious had happened. "Let me guess," he turned to May and Ceres, who had yet to move, "he dragged you here, too?"

"He dragged me," May said, holding up a hand. "Ceres was the one who found this place."

Wait, Ceres was the instigator this time? Jack turned an incredulous stare on her.

Ceres sniffed disdainfully and stared him down. ""It's no gladiatorial event but circuses can be enjoyable."

"May, get up here and be an acrobat with me!" Lleu called from above them. While they'd been talking, he'd shifted so that he was dangling upside down, arms stretched out towards May as if he could grab her from all the way up there. May rolled her eyes but complied, using the trampoline the same way Lleu had.

Jack let his gaze drift back to Ceres, who had taken the opportunity to hop up onto one of the large rubber balls littered around the ring. "Come on, Frost," she smiled maliciously. "Let's see how good your balance is."

"I want in on that!" Lleu gasped, hurling himself off the trapeze. May, who had just gotten up there, scowled at him. She grumbled something under her breath before drifting down to join them on a ball of her own, albeit a little more shakily than the other two.

Jack shook his head at them in exasperated amusement as he found his own. He'd barely gotten used to the movement before Ceres slammed her ball into his.

"What is this, circus bumper cars?" Jack asked, easily correcting himself.

"Last one standing wins," Ceres said, changing trajectory to come at him again.

Jack quickly rolled out of the way, only to slam into May, who wobbled precariously for a moment before managing to right herself. And so it went, the four of them against each other, occasionally forming alliances and ganging up on someone. Within ten minutes, even May was laughing as she careened into Lleu with enough force that one of his flip-flops went flying off and hit Ceres in the head, who then went on the attack with renewed vigour. It would be almost an hour before one of them finally fell.

Guest Review Responses:

ANGSTANGSTANGSTA: I've been working from the request list, so I haven't had a whole lot of control over genre for a long while, but there are some angsty requests coming up. I'm sorry about the wait though! (And I know what you mean - angst is great XD)

Painapple: Ikr so unfair