A/N : Omg, over 100 reviews by now! I know there are a lot of RotG-stories here which have far more but for me that's amazing, never got so many comments for anything I uploaded here.
So, I gotta apologize in advance for this upcoming arc. It was supposed to be a oneshot ( again ) but I kept writing and writing and it just didn't end ( again ). It will be quite intense but you'll also get a lot of family-fluff / comfort / bromance, etc. Ye be warned. :P
inabox : Glad you liked it that much!
Guest : *whistles innocently*
Nora Frost : Uh, I doubt "Despicable Me 2" has a copyright to that phrase. Don't remember it was said in that movie, but I've only watched it once and that was in German.
CatGirl1995 : Hhm, I'll definitely keep that idea in mind for future oneshots.
SaiyanPrincess : Jack totally is the best big brother anyone could wish for.
Wolfrunner99-2 : No kidding, hehe. And I will!
Hanyoualchemist1 : I fear I'll hurt your feely feels even more with this current chapter. Please forgive me in advance! *is so jealous about the snow*
Oluhasuu : Stay strong!
lemonCocolate : Yeah, now and then I have to write something funny to make up for all the angst. But I'm still oddly attracted to dramatic stories. ^^"
*Set right after „Snow Days & Fun Times"*
Jack was on his way to the North Pole, after a whole day and night of playing with the children he had an urging appetite for chocolate milk and the elves' special sugar cookies. He had barely left Burgess when he suddenly had a bad feeling of paranoia, like he was being followed. After he glanced back and around himself and couldn't make out anything unusual he tried to shake it off, but he couldn't get rid of the nagging anxiety deep in his stomach. As he continued flying the scenery below him got increasingly greener. He had only blessed his home town and the contiguous areas with snowfall.
And then an abrupt gust of wind, which was surely not his wind, took a hold of him and sent him crashing towards the ground. Jack yelped in shock and tried to battle the force engulfing him, but to no avail. All he could do was slow the fall down a bit before he was slammed against the hard soil of a field where only a few scarce piles of snow were left. Even while shouting in pain as is body made contact with the unforgiving ground he still kept a death grip on his shepherd's crook. Brown withered leaves danced around him eerily and he didn't have to ponder twice who could be responsible for his less than graceful landing. Back on shaky legs he stared at the brown-clad figure who was approaching him at fast speed. His grip on his staff intensified as the familiar and dreaded red-head touched down right in front of him. The Spirit of Autumn.
"Frost." he snarled in a despising tone.
"Harvest." Jack retorted bluntly.
He was no idiot. Of course he had known about the risks of his early snow day. That the autumn spirit wouldn't be happy about it was no surprise, but he had the faint hope that he wouldn't notice. After all it was just a tiny area on the globe which got a foretaste of winter.
Well, so much for that.
"So, what gives me the displeasure of your nice way to say 'hello'`?"
"Ye think I wouldn't notice teh lil' stunt ye pulled? Snowfall in this area in teh middle of autumn?!"
The taller spirit was obviously not in the mood for jokes and Jack did his best not to show how nervous he was getting. From past experiences he knew damn well what the Irishman was capable of and he didn't look forward to what might happen next. And yet a question burned on his tongue.
"How the hell did you find out anyway, I thought you were busy in Europe?"
A shiver ran down his spine as a disturbing smile appeared on Flann's face.
"Friend o' mine told me."
He glanced at the earthy ground next to him and for a moment Jack wondered if he had missed something. Suddenly the patch of earth seemed to move and a dark shape ascended from it. Jack swallowed as he stood eye to eye to the creepy creature who seemed to be around 6'5" tall. He was dressed in a black sleeveless cloak, wearing an orange shirt with wide long sleeves and boots in the same colour underneath. A chain of small skulls served as the replacement of a belt and instead of human hands he had skeletton hands. A head-shaped pumpkin sat on his neck, with eerie yellow light shining out of his eyes, nose and mouth. Overall, he didn't look like someone you would want to meet in the middle of the night.
"Sam Hain…" Jack breathed out with a slightly trembling voice.
"Oh, you remember me, what an honour." the Spirit of Halloween remarked cynically.
"Did you really think I'd tolerate you spreading snowfall barely one week before my holiday?"
The words came out in a menacing hiss, the malice in them going hand in hand with his appearance. Jack had never been one to show fear or weakness in front of others, especially not enemies, but right now he had great difficulty at staying calm. His pale knuckles turned white as he grabbed his staff, his only source of comfort, with all his might.
"Well, at least I hoped so…"
He was screwed anyway, so he decided he could be honest. Nothing to lose, right?
"Listen, I didn't do it to piss you off, believe it or not. There's this kid, my first believer, and he really longed for snow so I gave his town a little pretaste of winter. It'll melt in the next few days again and by Halloween there won't be any evidence there has ever been snowfall. So can't we just let the matter drop and you guys continue spreading…whatever you spread?"
The try of an excuse and hopeful smile prooved to be as fruitful as planting a palmtree in the middle of the North Pole. The glares of the two spirits just turned even colder as they attempted to burn a hole into his soul.
"Oh well…I don't believe you.". Sam replied unfazed.
"Ye claimed ta just do it for teh kids far too often for me likin', always teh same old story." Flann added.
"It may be an old story but it's the truth." Jack retorted, his nervosity slowly changing to plain annoyance.
He was sick of having to justify himself.
"Whatever ye say...by teh way, I guess I probably should congratulate ye for yer new job as a guardian."
The frost teen raised a suspicious eyebrow at the taller man.
"You...congratulate me?"
"I said I probably should, didn't say I would. You becoming a guardian, that must be teh joke of teh century. Is killing humans by hypothermia a requirement to get this title now?" the autumn spirit shot back with venom dripping from his voice.
Sam Hain nodded his pumpkin head at his fellow's statement and crossed his arms while staring Jack down.
"It's a temerity that you, the youngest one of us spirits and the one known as troublemaker par excellence was chosen by the Man in the Moon. And now you already prove again why you don't deserve that honour, messing around with other people's holidays like this."
Jack tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but to no avail. Even with his guardianship, the belief of several children and the approval and love of the other guardians, his self-esteem still was far from being strong, let alone invulnerable. On the contrary, he hated to admit it but already a few harsh words were enough to shatter the wall he had tried to built around his weakness to hide it from everyone else. The insults thrown at him felt like small needles being stabbed into his heart. And yet, he used every bit of self-control to not let show how hurt he was. Giving them satisfaction and a reason for triumph was the last thing he wanted.
"You know, it's sort of flattering that you're jealous of me. But that's your problem, not mine. Man in Moon chose me so either you accept his decision, whether you like it or not, or let your own envy consume you."
Without intending to do so he had only increased the hatred directed at him. What he had said was the truth but the Spirits of Autumn and Halloween weren't exactly know for their tolerance and understanding.
"Ye bloody lil' bugger! I think we gotta teach ye a lesson once and for all!"
The young guardian got into a defensive position and aimed his staff at his adversaries.
"Two against one? So you can't even play fair, can you?"
"As far as I have heard your battle against the boogeyman wasn't equally balanced either. Five against one, how was that fair?" Sam interjected.
"The hell...are you seriously siding with Pitch now?!" Jack blurted out in clear dissapproval.
"Just so you know, he started a war against the guardians and threatened all children of the world and he had a whole army of nightmares. So I doubt he had any disadvantage."
Again he was justifying himself and he absolutely hated it. But he couldn't just shrug off an accusation like this.
"I don't feel like discussing this matter with you right now, Frost. What matters is that you dared to mess up my Halloween preparations, as well as interfered in Flann's season. We can't let you get away with it."
Sam addressed him like someone would do to a small child. Like he couldn't comprehend the situation at hand very well. Needless to say, Jack felt a little insulted. But before he had the chance to vent his displeasure a wave of razor-sharp leaves was sent in his direction. In the last second he managed to freeze them and they dropped to the ground where they shattered into tiny pieces. A strong gust of wind swepted him off his feet, making him tumble several steps back until he gathered enough strenght to combat it. Ice power shot out of his staff and towards his enemy but the Spirit of Autumn was equipped with equally quick reflexes and dodged the attack easily.
Jack was too absorbed into the fight against Flann that he didn't notice his second opponent dissappearing. Only when he sensed a sudden source of heat coming closer at disturbingly fast speed did he turn around and the last thing he caught a glimpse of was a fiery pumpkin. Cries of pain escaped his throat as it smashed against his back, broke there and burned parts of his hoodie and the skin underneath. The impact forced the assaulted winter spirit to drop to the ground, his fingers digging into the earth as he panted and cowered there on all fours. He told himself to get up, the fight wasn't over yet, but his limbs trembled under him and he was fairly busy with not falling flat on his face. Just when he thought the pain couldn't get worse something hard pushed onto his wounded back. A heart-breaking scream echoed through the cold night as the force violently pressed his body against the earthy soil. It took him several moments to catch his breath again. The weight still apparent on his back didn't make this achievement any easier to accomplish. Snickering was to be heard from above him and he turned his head around as much as he was able to. Sam Hain towered above him with one of his booted feet firmly placed on the young spirit's back. The pumpkin-head loved his triumph and didn't waste the opportunity to rub it under Jack's nose.
"See, that's where you belong, stuck in the mud."
The guardian clenched his teeth, if it was because of the stinging sensation of his burnt skin or the damage to his dignity he wasn't sure, probably both. He wouldn't give up now, he had to get back up, he had to fight. With a great amount of energy he swung his staff at his opponent who had to let go of him in order to avoid the attack. But before he could stand up thick green roots shot out of the field, wrapped themselves around his ankles and wrists and forced him to fall on his stomach again. Panic rose up in him as he tried to freeze them but they showed no sign of being affected by his powers. On the contrary, the more he strained the tighter they got, feeling like they would cut into his skin. And again that nasty foot stepped onto his back. This time Jack didn't allow them the satisfaction to hear him cry out, but it took everything he had to bite back a scream.
"Teh lil' bastard almost got ye there, didn't he?" Flann remarked as he stood in front of the fallen winter spirit with his hands on his hips, amusement written all over his freckled face.
Sam glared at his fellow and then at the boy lying underneath him.
"As you see I had everything under control. Now if you don't mind, take that stick away from him before he'll do it again."
Alarm bells started ringing in Jack's head and he grabbed his staff as tight as he could, trying in vain to rip his hands from the iron grip of the vines. The Irishman bent down to him and watched him struggle with a mocking grin on his face.
"Give up, Frost, ye already lost." he sneered.
Jack didn't reply but narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth like a cornered animal. The red-haired man took a hold of the magical staff and pulled, but the guardian mustered all his remaining strenght and refused to let go. A quick look was exchanged between the two older spirits and after a small nod on both sides Jack's world was consumed by sheer agony. Sam had lifted his foot only to kick him with full force while Flann simultaneously trampled on his hand, the one which was holding onto the staff. If he had been human instead of immortal the force of the impact probably would have broken his spine in half. The teen failed to suppress the scream forcing it's way out of his lungs and hid his face in the dirty ground, not wanting them to see the tears of pain flowing out of his eyes. When he came back to his senses he had to realize that his hands were empty. In horror he looked at the Spirit of Autumn who was standing tall and looking down at him, gloating smile on his face and Jack's conduit of power in his hand.
"Ye're really a damn stubborn brat, ye know that? It's yer own fault that ye always need ta learn it teh hard way." he stated while pointing the staff at him.
For a moment Jack's fear and pain was washed away by plain anger. How could that ruthless bastard dare to humiliate him like this, raising his own weapon at him?!
"You better give me back my staff or-"
"Or what? You'll squirm even more like a worm and continue to give us death glares? How intimidating." the pumpkin-head scoffed and crossed his arms, his foot never easing the pressure on the boy's injured back.
Through clenched teeth the young guardian hissed at them, though he was fully aware of the fact that he was far from being any threat for them right now. That didn't stop him however.
"Do you guys have any idea how pathetic you are? If you're so high and mighty why do you waste your time acting like bullies instead of fullfilling your duties? Guess beating the crap out of someone is more fun than simply doing your job, huh? And then you wonder why the Man in the Moon didn't choose you as new guardians."
Flann's eyes widened and and Jack knew he had struck a nerve. But then the dark brown orbs narrowed in fury.
"Shut up!"
In a swift motion the autumn spirit had bent down, grabbed a little rock which was lying on the field and thrown it at the teen who couldn't move, let alone dogde it. Jack saw stars for a moment as the stony missile hit him on the side of his head. He groaned and blinked but his vision kept being blurry. Even while being tied to the ground he felt the world around him spinning.
"I think you are the more pathetic sight right now, kid." Sam Hain remarked nonchalantly.
"True that. And since ye don't wanna listen ye gotta be punished. That's how ye deal with naughty kids, eh? So ye better learn yer lesson and don't mess with our season and holiday 'cause next time we won't be that kind. And ta make it even clearer ta ye..."
Weak blue eyes glanced at the Irish spirit. When he realized what was going to happen Jack wished he hadn't looked up. Flann MacHarvest grabbed his shepherd's crook with both hands and swung it around only to slam it against the ground with all his might. The wood splintered in half and for the second time in less than a year Jack felt like something inside of him was being ripped apart as well. If he screamed out again he didn't know. He also had no idea what happened afterwards. The second his staff was broken darkness engulfed him and dragged him into unconsciousness.
A/N : I better go and hide somewhere safe now...
