Due to popular demand, here is a short second part of the previous chapter, from North's perspective :)

Fun fact: the first half of this chapter was written in a Kmart carpark

Disclaimed.

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Displaced Part II

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North had been having a reasonably good day. Toy production was meeting schedule, the elves hadn't blown anything up yet, and Jack, who he'd been told was around somewhere, had so far refrained from harassing the yetis or rallying the elves. Not that Jack was ever a bother, pranks or no. He was like the son North had never had, and he saw much of himself in the boy. Perhaps his younger self a touch more than currently, but many similarities still remained.

He had almost returned to his office, intent on finishing up his latest toy design, when he caught sight of the door. It was ajar. And he was positive he'd closed it when he'd left to prevent the elves getting their hands on things they shouldn't be.

Closing the distance in three quick strides, North slammed the door open, ready to catch them in the act of licking his ice models again. But there were no elves. Just Jack, who startled badly at the noise and flailed in an attempt to catch whatever it was he'd been holding.

"North!" he gasped, and the thing slipped out of reach and shattered on the floorboards. Instantly a monochromatic portal burst into existence.

North felt his breath catch. His eyes widened in realisation, meeting Jack's equally surprised ones for barely a second before he was sucked in. The portal collapsed on itself and vanished, just as quickly as it had come.

Oh, this was bad. Very, very bad.

As with all his snow globes, the globe itself became the portal, and so there were no remnants of it on the floor. But North didn't need evidence to know exactly which snow globe that had been.

"Stupid, stupid!" he cursed himself. "You knew it was dangerous and still you left it lying around where anyone could get it!"

It was a prototype portal he'd been working on in his free time. The end goal was to be able to achieve interstellar, long-distance travel, beyond the scope of what his regular globes could achieve. He'd been hoping, when he'd perfected it, that they might even be able to go visit Manny. Unfortunately, he hadn't had much success, and feared for where his latest dud might have taken Jack.

"Think! Think!" He started pacing. "There must be way to fix this!"

Maybe he could recreate the dud? It was possible it might open up somewhere completely different, but if there was even the slightest chance that it could bring back Jack, it was worth a shot.

All thoughts of toy making thrown to the metaphorical wind, North swept from the room and headed towards the storeroom for his magical supplies. What had he used exactly? He was sure he'd written it down somewhere.

Ten minutes later saw him returning to his office, arms laden with what he hoped was everything he'd need. He'd barely laid them all out on a free patch of worktable when a fierce wind picked up. The force of it made North's eyes water and he shut them tightly. Around him he could hear things being knocked from shelves and tables alike.

As soon as it died down, North reopened his eyes, sorely wishing he kept is swords in his office. But, as it turned out, he didn't need them. Because there, standing in the middle of the room and looking decidedly disorientated, was Jack Frost.

"Jack!" North gaped, dropping the tool he'd been holding and rushing over. He scooped Jack up in a tight hug. Jack staggered upon being released and held a hand up to his forehead.

"Hello again," he grinned.

"What happened? Where did portal take you? And how did you return?"

Jack blinked at the onslaught of questions. "It wasn't so much a where but a when." He glanced over his shoulder and frowned. "Father Time came and got me, but I guess he didn't stick around. He said you told him where to find me."

Now it was North's turn to frown. The last time he'd spoken with Father Time was at least a century before Jack's Guardianship, and he had decidedly never mentioned Jack to him.

…Which probably meant he hadn't done it yet. He briefly wondered what it was like to not experience time linearly, and made a mental note to go see Father Time and let him know that he'd need a favour. Or had needed a favour.

Jack was looking at him strangely.

"What is it?" North asked, coming back to himself.

"You knew me right from the start. How come you never told me?"

North blinked, suddenly remembering that day back before he'd met Ombric when he'd come across a strange boy in the woods. He hadn't thought on that for a long time. Not before he'd learned exactly who Jack Frost was, and only sporadically since. It had been an exciting day, and he'd grown quite fond of the boy. By the end of it, though, he'd suspected the boy had been something more than human. And he'd been right.

"I was wondering when that would happen for you," he said at length. "To think it was me who caused it!"

"Yeah… maybe don't leave unstable portals lying around," Jack grinned wryly.

"I have certainly learned lesson!"

Jack shifted his weight slightly. "You haven't answered my question."

North heaved a sigh and sat down on his work stool. Jack didn't move.

"It is complicated," North began carefully. "For many years after strange boy disappeared into woods, I thought of him – of you – and wondered if I would see you again. But then things got busy. I met Ombric, became Guardian. Always busy. And incident –" he waved one hand through the air "–slipped from my mind."

Jack listened intently. From the look on his face it was clear he had no idea where North was going with this but he made no move to interrupt.

"And then, of course, you became spirit," North continued, "and I knew only your name. It did not even cross my mind that you might be same boy I met all those years ago; after all, you were new to the world, and I did not know that boy in woods was not from that time."

"And Jack is a pretty common name," Jack added.

North nodded in agreement. "It was from Bunny that I first got description of you. And not a flattering one at that."

Jack rolled his eyes.

"It would be long time after that before I saw you for myself."

"Christmas Eve, 1792."

North's brow rose. Jack remembered the precise date?

"Well," Jack corrected, "that was when you first saw me. Truthfully, I'd been tailing you since the '50s."

"I did not know," North confessed.

Jack shrugged. North took it as his cue to continue.

"It took me a while to realise why this new Jack Frost was so familiar to me. And when I remembered boy, much confusion! But when I thought about it, I concluded that time travel must have been involved; I could think of no other explanation."

Jack frowned, his expression hard to read but decidedly unhappy. "So why didn't you talk to me anyway?" He sounded so tentative, almost scared to hear the answer. It broke North's heart.

North cast his gaze down to his hands. "I do not know. I have no excuse. But, Jack," and here he looked Jack in the eye and held his gaze, "it was not because of anything you did or did not do. There are many things in my life that I regret, but my failure to reach out to you is one of the biggest."

Jack was the first to avert his eyes, fiddling with the hem of his hoodie.

"And then you were chosen, and I knew you would make excellent Guardian! After all, you looked out for me, a man you did not even know, so why not children too?"

Jack turned back to him, a small smile on his face. But it was a far cry from the carefree grin he usually sported.

"And after that, what happened in past did not seem so important, no? I was getting to know you as you were, and it seemed pointless to tell you of a meeting that you knew nothing about. I decided I would just watch and see; it would happen eventually."

It was hard to say whether this answer satisfied Jack or not. North knew that it was a poor excuse, and had their situations been reversed he doubted it would ease his mind.

"Jack," he stood, placing his hands on Jack's scrawny shoulders. "You are the best thing that has happened to me – to Guardians – in many long years. I am sorry that I hurt you. Then and now."

Jack's eyes glistened with unshed tears. North said nothing of them, and instead pulled him into a deep hug (albeit slightly less bone-crushing than normal).

"Well, we're friends now, right? That's gotta count for something," Jack eventually said, voice muffled by North's chest.

"Yes, and I will always be here for you. Because you are more than just friend, more than Guardian," he stepped back, holding Jack at arm's length. "You are family."

Jack gave him a watery smile, a little closer to his usual ones.

"Come!" North suddenly bellowed, starting to usher Jack towards the door. "I believe Boris has baked cake this morning. Maybe elves have left us some! And while we eat I will answer any questions you have."

Jack made no protests. Just as well; the boy didn't seem to be putting on much weight, despite any and all attempts to fatten him up a bit. Tooth would throw a fit if she ever found out that North was giving her precious Sweet Tooth sugar, but what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

Later, he would head down to the Bermuda Triangle and pay Father Time a visit. It wouldn't do to cause a temporal paradox. Besides, this was where Jack Frost belonged: in the present with the people who loved him most.

Guest Review Responses:

Guest: (Ch.30:) Naaaw thank you! I try really hard to keep everyone as in character as possible. (Ch.49:) It's really fun to write too! XD (Ch.57:) That story always makes me cry ;A; but I couldn't resist! Sorrynotsorry (Ch.119:) Aaaa thank you! X3

Guest: (Ch.119:) Thank you! oAo

Guest: (Ch.119:) I'm so glad you liked it! Thank you ^w^

RotGisMyLife: They already knew that Jack was affiliated with Mother Nature cause he's the winter spirit. Bunny's horror was because of the way Jack was talking to her XD In chapter 15 the knew of Jack's affiliation, but not that the spirits under MN consider her as an actual mother to them. Sorry that wasn't very clear ^^;

789: I loooove time travel as a trope but damn it's so confusing that trying to write it can really hurt your brain haha To be honest the doll thing didn't even occur to me until I set out to write this chapter (you can thank SonYuki for the request :P) and then I thought 'Hang on. North knows more than he should. And how the hell did he make that doll so fast' so ye XD I barely know anything about Petrov except what people have told me and what I found on the wiki site but yes I love him anyway he's great XD I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter!

CereALL: 3 Thank you! Gosh you flatter me ^/^ Requests make up the bulk of this series but at the moment I've closed them. Just until I get through the last ones on my list. After that I'll reopen them again :) (Jack-Pitch bonding is honestly so fun to write, even as difficult as it is, so you can bet it'll come back again before we reach chapter 200 haha)

Painapple: Heck ye I do