Heeeeey sorry this is late. I was gonna finish it an update yesterday but my 8 hour shift turned into a 10 hour shift and then my neighbour came over for a chat and by the time she headed home I was too dead to do anything except sleep. Also sorry because the ending of this one is Bad (the entire chapter was way too hard to write, honestly)

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Frenemies

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It had been months since Jack had seen Pitch; months since his unintentional confession and Pitch's subsequent running from his problems (again). Jack couldn't remember how many, exactly, but it had been enough that he'd started to suspect that they might never be able to bridge whatever chasm he'd chiselled between them. And for once Jack had decided he wasn't going to be the one to take the first step – mostly because, if he was being honest, he was running too. He'd exposed himself, and, it seemed, it might have been a mistake.

And so it was with very mixed feelings that he stared up at the stormy night sky and watched Lleu wage an all-out war with none other than Pitch Black himself.

"Well, that's not something you see every day," he said. It took a lot to piss Lleu off enough to fight like that; which was just as well, considering the damage it was doing. Jack tilted his head towards May and Ceres. "Still, I'm not sure why you thought I was the one to call about it."

May's frown was more severe than he'd ever seen on her. Ceres looked like she wanted to join in. Jack had no idea what was keeping her feet firmly rooted to the ground, but he was grateful. The last thing they needed was to make it worse.

"I called Ceres first," May huffed, tossing a glare at the woman in question. "But once she found out what was going on, she was more inclined to join the fight than to stop it."

Ceres snorted. "You can't tell me you don't feel the same!"

"My feelings on the matter are irrelevant," May snapped. "They're causing substantial damage to the area. Jack, you're the only one on well enough terms with both of them to do anything. Except Mother, but I think we can all agree that's a last resort."

Jack cringed. 'Last resort' was putting it lightly. Mom… well, she didn't really seem to understand the term 'overkill'. He still didn't think he was the right person for the job, but it looked like he didn't have much choice.

"Do either of you know what this is about?" he asked, resigning himself to his fate. Given May's words, it seemed likely.

May and Ceres shared a weighted look. It was a resounding 'yes'. Neither of them seemed particularly inclined to share, however.

"You're really just going to let me go up there without knowing?"

Ceres shrugged. How helpful.

"You."

Jack turned to May. "What?"

"It's about you," she clarified.

"It usually is when it comes to that idiot," Ceres added with a roll of her eyes. Jack wasn't 100% sure which idiot she was referring to.

"How could it possibly be about me?"

Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the area for a fraction of a second. Jack's attention darted upwards, and he caught a glimpse of Pitch's sand attacks being completely shredded in the face of Lleu's ferocity. This was one fight Pitch had absolutely no chance of winning. Suddenly feeling pressed for time, he decided a proper explanation could wait; stopping the fight as soon as possible was far more important.

"If things get out of hand," he said, not looking away from the scene, "make sure Mom knows it wasn't my fault." Without waiting for a reply, he shot skywards.

Jack had flown through storms before – hell, he'd even been struck by lightning once – but they were nothing compared to this. Lleu's wind was overpowering, buffeting against him. His own wind struggled to keep him on-course, even as it was threatened to be consumed. The heat up amidst the fray was as intense as in the height of summer. Already he could feel sweat beading on his skin and soaking into his clothes, where it remained damp; too warm for even his natural freezing ability to have an effect.

Once again, Jack questioned what had possessed May to volunteer him.

Above, and ever growing closer, he could see (and feel) the fight growing in intensity. Another flash of lightning streaked across the sky, leaving the air charged and smelling strongly of ozone. A second flash quickly succeeded it, except this time it didn't make it to the ground.

Lleu snatched the bolt from the air, moulding it in his hands as easily as Jack did with ice and snow. He surged forward with his improvised weapon, his cry of rage completely drowned out by thunder so booming, Jack could swear he felt it in his bones.

Pitch hastily threw up a wall of sand to defend himself, but it was clear even to him that there would be no blocking this. And if it hit…

Jack shot between them, swinging his staff towards Pitch even as his attention remained fixed on Lleu. The wind responded in turn, briefly overcoming its humid counterpart and hurling Pitch back, well and truly out of range. And as it acted, so did he.

Pivoting, Jack ducked beneath the lightning fist and kicked his foot upward into Lleu's wrist. Not having anticipated a third party, Lleu faltered, and his concentration slipped. The lightning broke free, searing the sky a blinding white. Jack jerked backwards, out of Lleu's immediate range, and readied for another attack.

For several long moments, the only sounds were the howling winds and the echo of thunder.

"…Jack?" Lleu snapped out of his shock. He stared, wide eyed. "Wh–?"

"Enough!" Jack glared. "Whatever's going on here, find a better way to resolve it."

Lleu's face scrunched up in confliction, but it looked like he was going to give in without a fight. Jack allowed himself a mental sigh of relief, and, naturally, that was when things went wrong.

"Stay out of this, Frost!"

Jack turned. Pitch had reappeared behind him upon a Nightmare. His eyes, sharp as a blade, were fixated on Lleu.

Static zapped up Jack's arm as Lleu shoved past him. "Don't you dare even talk to him, you horror movie reject!" And then they were at it again, just as fiercely as before.

A hot wind knocked Jack back out of the way, though he had no idea whether it had been intentional or not. He scowled. It looked like he was just going to have to do this the hard way.

"Okay, wind," he said, "time to dissipate this storm."

It was harder to travel up to the main storm cloud than it was getting to the battle; the air was warmer there, and the downdrafts were almost overwhelming. He was well and truly out of his element, but that had never stopped him before. With a mental apology to May – things would get much worse before they got better – he climbed higher and higher, dragging the wind up with him, until he reached the cool air above the storm. The wind there welcomed him eagerly.

Jack smiled at its presence. "Time to go to work."

The wind acted without need for any verbal instruction. A natural storm would be overcome by a downdraft without need for intervention, and would then peter out into nothing. This, however, was no natural storm, and its destruction wouldn't be either. As one, Jack and the wind dove, pushing at the massive cloud and forcing it downwards. Lightning flared.

Lleu and Pitch were so caught up in themselves that they hadn't even noticed what was happening. They did notice, however, when thunder boomed so strong that the resulting shockwave sent them off balance. Jack seized the opportunity the distraction had provided. With one strike, his ice shattered the Nightmare supporting Pitch, even as he bowled full-body into Lleu, sending all three of them tumbling towards the ground far below.

Ever reliable, the wind caught them well before they were at risk of impact, and Jack sent it his silent thanks as he pushed Lleu away from his burning skin, and promptly froze his feet to the ground. Spinning on his heel, it didn't take long to spot Pitch, who hadn't needed the wind's aid, thanks to a hastily created Nightmare. Jack froze it solid, trapping Pitch in place, too, while he was at it. Pitch glared at him.

"I told you to stay out of it!"

"You should know by now that I never listen," Jack returned.

The ice at Lleu's feet was already melting. In a few moments he'd be free, which meant Jack only had that long to sort things out.

"Okay," he swivelled to face Lleu. "Explain."

Lleu didn't look like he wanted to.

"You explain it to me, or I'll get Mom and you can explain it to her."

Lleu cringed. "She'd be on my side," he muttered. Which meant Pitch must have been at fault – hardly surprising.

"What did you do now?" he asked, making no attempt to mask the exasperation in his tone as he turned back to Pitch. In his peripheral vision, he spotted May and Ceres coming to join them.

"Nothing!" Pitch declared defensively. "It was an unprompted attack!"

Jack raised a disbelieving brow. "It's never 'nothing' with you and you know it.

Pitch didn't refute it.

"You just can't help being antagonistic. I get it," Jack continued. "But maybe pick your battles. You're not stupid, so why are you getting into fights you know you can't win? …Unless you planned all of this to get me here." He smirked. "Missing me already?"

Pitch's lip curled like he'd said something particularly disgusting. "Don't flatter yourself."

"Aw, don't be like that. I know deep down you secretly enjoy my company."

"Hey, sorry to interrupt… whatever this is, but I have a question."

Jack had almost forgotten Lleu was there. The ice was well and truly gone now, but if the look on his and the girls' faces was anything to go by, complete stupor was more than enough to keep him in place.

Lleu glanced between them, but did not ask whatever it was he was thinking.

Jack and Pitch stared at him. "…Didn't you have a question?"

"I'm trying to find a G-rated way to phrase it." A pause, then, "Um. What?"

"What?"

Lleu pointed form Jack to Pitch and repeated his question, as if somehow that explained everything.

Jack and Pitch shared a glance. "Any idea what he's talking about?"

"I don't even know why he attacked me," Pitch replied, somehow the most confused one there.

Lleu huffed. "Why are you two so buddy-buddy?!" He jabbed a finger in Pitch's direction. "Especially after everything he's done to you?! I was willing to keep my peace the first few times since you seemed okay, but how many times are you going to let him get away with it?!"

"Get away with what?" Jack countered. "What is going on?!"

"He attacked you! Multiple times! And just recently he left you in the Otherworld! What if you'd gotten stuck?!"

Jack blinked, completely caught off guard. "That's what this is about? How do you even know about that?"

"That's hardly what you should be focusing on!"

"He's right," May said, sporting an expression that clearly indicated how she felt about that. "Why do you keep allowing him" she shot a glare at Pitch "to hurt you?"

"Okay, well, to start with, Pitch didn't leave me in the Otherworld," Jack began, holding up his hands placatingly. "Okay he kind of did but that was after he came to help me, and it was my own fault."

He could feel Pitch's gaze on the back of his head but resolutely kept his eyes on the other seasonals lest he lose his nerve. This really wasn't how he wanted to resolve their lingering problems, but he rarely got what he wanted anyway. At this point, he'd take what he could get.

"And yeah, okay, we've had our conflicts," he continued, "but I have conflicts with everyone. Including you three, not so long ago."

May and Lleu's faces pinched. Ceres remained unreadable.

"I was on worse terms with Bunny than I've ever been with Pitch, and we're friends now. So I figure it can happen again, right? It was the same with you, Ceres."

Ceres tilted her head in contemplation. "…I suppose you're not wrong."

"What?!" Lleu rounded on her. "You're agreeing with him?!"

"Hey, I would have left him in the Otherworld too if I'd had the chance," she shrugged. Jack tried not to let that bother him. "Maybe he's right. Maybe we should give Pitch a second chance to prove he's not completely scum."

"He's had, like, a dozen chances now!"

"And how many chances did we give Jack before we realised it goes both ways?"

Lleu stilled; a tense statue.

Jack was still caught up with the fact that Ceres was being the reasonable one. Pitch looked as surprised as he felt.

"Fine," May stepped forward and thrust her hand out towards Pitch. "A truce, then. One more chance."

Pitch stared at the offered hand like it might reach up and smack him. The moment drew out, and it started to dawn on Jack that he had no intentions of accepting a truce. Stubborn pride, he shook his head.

He reached out, snatching Pitch's wrist and tugging his hand up to return May's gesture. He received a severe glare for his trouble, but Pitch's bad moods had never stopped him before.

May cast him a look that seemed to ask 'Does that count?'. Jack shrugged. It was probably the best she was going to get.

Ceres stepped up next, but unlike May she didn't offer her hand. Instead, she gave him a critical once-over and said, "If you blow it, I'll have a legitimate reason for kicking your arse." That explained her earlier 'reasonableness', Jack supposed. He should have known.

Pitch sneered down at her. It was amazing that he hadn't run off already. Or started another fight.

Jack glanced over at Lleu, who looked like he was moments away from combusting. He was clearly not at all happy with the compromise, and Jack let himself feel a little touched at the blatant concern for his well-being. Only a little, though, because a truce was a really good idea, and he really did want to patch things up between himself and Pitch. Reinforcing their friendship (could it really even be called that?) like this could only help. At least, he hoped so.

He gave Lleu his best pleading expression – the one Jamie had taught him. It worked like a charm on Mrs B. Time to see if it would also work on Lleu.

It did. The results were almost instantaneous. A brief glance in his direction was all it took for Lleu's will to visibly crumble. He sagged under the weight of it, and let out a long, draining sigh.

"Alright!" he cried. "Alright! Just stop looking at me like that!" Grumbling darkly under his breath, he stepped closer. Like Ceres, he made no attempt at a civil agreement, but it was still an agreement nonetheless. Jack would take what he could get. "I don't like you," he told Pitch.

"The feeling is mutual," Pitch returned curtly.

Lleu narrowed his eyes. "But! For some reason well and truly beyond my comprehension Jack does – bless his misguided soul – so I guess I'll stop trying to kill you. For now."

"How thoughtful," Pitch said, sounding anything but thankful. Jack elbowed him in the ribs, and was promptly thwacked in the side of the head in retaliation. Lleu riled up like some kind of particularly angry mother hen, and sensing things were about to escalate again, Jack quickly stepped between them.

"Okay, we're all… well maybe not friends, but not exactly enemies. I hope. Frenemies?" he tried. That was a thing, right? "We're frenemies. So no more fighting. And on that note, if someone wants to help me dissipate what's left of the storm before Mom notices anything?" He'd gotten it well and truly started earlier, but it would take a bit more care to make sure it faded without incident.

"Yeah alright," Lleu sighed, breaking away from glaring at Pitch. "I want you to explain everything anyway."

Of course he did. Jack nodded – there really was no avoiding this. And maybe hearing his side would help diffuse the situation.

"I'm going home, now that there's no reason to stick around," Ceres said, and without further preamble disappeared into the darkness. May gave them all a long, unreadable look before silently following after her.

Jack let his attention drift back to Pitch as he turned to follow Lleu skywards. He still looked mad, but there was something else there that Jack couldn't quite read. He wasn't sure if it was good or not, but he could hope. In the next second, Pitch was gone; no more substantial than the shadows he'd slipped into.

It's a start, Jack told himself, and tried not to wonder how many times he'd thought that.

Guest Review Responses:

Hanabi:Sorry I'm only getting to respond now - I haven't updated for a month ^^; Thank you so much for your reviews!

JFunderburker: Thank you! It's been a fun little bit of nonsense to include haha

A fan: sfjhgkjhds TTATT thank you

truly I love it: I personally would find dogs instead of penguins but you are absolutely right it is the best course of action

Guest: Thank you! Yeah Jack would definitely keep downing a gross potion so he could talk to them XD I'm sure North will help him out with a permanent solution. As for a continuation of this series: not by me. A bunch of people have expressed interest in using my Seasonals and even just the AU itself for their own stories (which I have given permission for) so you may see a few of those floating around. There's also someone who wants to continue MTGBIS themselves (and I genuinely cannot remember who it was (if you're reading this I'M SORRY PLEASE REMIND ME)) so there's that too. I will still be writing for this fandom, though it'll probably be more actual AUs than canon-compliant things, but I won't say I'll never write anything in this universe again; it just won't be a series like this :)

EriTheBear: Aw thank you! You just like the nonsense I can tell ;)

Iloveanimals: An excellent choice!