A/N :

Nikki Pond : Yeah, true.

LBIGreyhound13 : A while ago someone suggested writing a story where North says something that really hurts Jack and I coudln't imagine him doing that unless he was VERY stressed and faced with a situation that's sort of the last straw that broke the camel's back. Glad it worked.

Hhm, no, I guess he hasn't told them about the incident in Pitch's lair, but I have written a bunch of stories already where the Guardians realized they messed up and apologized, so not sure if I'll write another one.

Shamangirl1 : *hands out tissues*

Miss Lib93 : I totally agree, but if everything was sunshine and rainbows we wouldn't satisfy our craving for some lovely angst. I'm terrible, I know. XD

Natalie H.D : Thank you, but we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Germany. Merry early Christmas to you, too! ^^

vampirerose40 : Glad you liked it, hope you'll enjoy the rest as well. :)

Also big THANK YOU to AyameKitsune, I heart the Hitachiin twins, Sora Tayuya, Q-A the Authoress, Auua Ytjoml, Andipandi5, SaiyanPrincess, Anniewaterbabyc and s.m, dnv hb for their reviews! You guys keep me going ( or writing, to be exact )! ^_^

I read many fanfictions about the blizzard of '68, everything from Jack wanting to upset Bunny, helping because he thought eggs on white snow looked nice or it all taking place during random tantrums and bad mood. So I tried to come up with my own theory how it could have happened.


At this time of the year Jack always had to be careful. Easter marked the date when the last bits of snow had to completely vanish from most of the northern hemisphere and make place for spring. While the southern hemisphere did have winter starting a month later it wasn't nearly as cold as in the rest of the world. Heaps of snow weren't exactly common for countries like Brazil, Namibia or Fiji. As much as he loved spreading his season he also had to be considerate of the way nature worked. An eternal winter wouldn't do the planet any good. But this also meant that he had to hold his powers back when he was traveling around the globe. It wasn't such a big deal as long as he could let it out in the Arctic or Antarctica where no one was harmed.

One day before Easter Sunday it was about time to do exactly that. Jack hadn't caused any snowfall for quite a while. A past encounter with the famous Easter Bunny had left its marks on him.

During an egghunt he had spied a leftover basket and was drawn to the brightly coloured eggs like a mosquito to the light. Just then the anthropomorphic rabbit had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and given him a lecture about stealing 'googies' which were meant for children. One or the other threat and swearword was used during the monologue until the white-haired immortal was seriously expecting the larger spirit to totally lose his temper any moment. Fortunately he got away with the warning that he shouldn't dare to mess with Bunny's holiday again or he would definitely regret it. It was rather low on Jack's priority list to get on even more people's bad sides. The occasional encounters with Flann MacHarvest, a few other spirits darting malignant glances at him whenever they saw him passing by or the majority of adult humans complaining about snow, cold and ice were enough.

It was not uncommon in many countries that there were still small amounts of snow during April but this year Jack really didn't want to provoke the furry guardian any more, so whole North America as well as Europe and other parts of the world hadn't seen any snow for almost 2 weeks and he gradually felt the consequences it had on his body. 200 years ago he could barely contain his powers for a few days but he had learned how to deal with them and obtain better control. Still, he couldn't keep them in forever and by now he was literally bursting with energy and his unspent powers begged to be released. Before he would do exactly that and head to Antarctica he decided to visit his home, Burgess, once more and hang out there for an hour or two. When he arrived at the little town a crowd of grade schoolers, who were storming out of the local school and chatting excitedly, caught his attention and he curiously landed near them to hear what they were talking about.

„I wonder what the Easter Bunny will bring me tomorrow, I hope it will be lots of chocolate eggs!" a blonde boy exclaimed bright-eyed.

„Me, too! Oh, and remember those awesome blue and red eggs I found last year? I want some of those again, they're my favourite colours!"

„Look at this, our art teacher told us to draw the Easter Bunny today." a brunette girl told the rest of her friends while searching her school bag for the piece of paper.

When she had finally found it she showed it to them expectantly and asked if they liked it. Jack walked closer towards them to examine the drawing as well and had to snort in amusement. A smiling brown fluffy rabbit with a basket full of eggs on his back didn't exactly correspond with the truth.

„Pretty cool! I imagine him the same way!" another girl squealed but the blonde boy didn't seem to agree with this version of the famous legend.

„I dunno, he looks too cute. I think he should be more...well, cooler, bigger..."

„And grumpier, sourer, stuck-up and a real killjoy." Jack chimed in but the children had already continued their discussion and didn't hear him, of course.

„I wish I could meet him someday, he must be such a sweet thing, being so generous and giving eggs to everyone!"

„Pffff, yeah, right. Sweet as a lemon and definitely NOT giving eggs to everyone." the winter teen grumbled and slowly walked next to the group until they had reached the busstop.

Another girl who had glanced at the drawing eventually decided to add her opinion, albeit quite reluctantly and shy.

„To be honest, I think it's a female. I mean, I can't imagine a male rabbit painting eggs all day."

While the rest of the children merely gazed at her with raised eyebrows Jack bursted out laughing and held his belly.

„That's a good one! I wish he was here right now, would be a blast to see his face!"

„Still pretendin' they could hear ye, Frost?"

The white-haired immortal turned around in an instant as he heard the disturbingly familiar voice with the Irish accent behind him. Several feet away from him he discovered the Spirit of Autumn leaning against a tree and watching him in faked amusement.

„I must say, this is a pretty pathetic sight, ye know?"

„What do you want?" Jack inquired annoyed, he honestly wasn't in the mood.

„Can't ye imagine? Ye actually thought I wouldn't find out, didn't ye?" Flann shot back and made his way towards the blue-eyed immortal.

With every step in his direction Jack sensed the threat of an upcoming fight drawing closer as well. Although he had no clue what he had done wrong to stir the redhead's wrath this time.

„What the heck are you talking about?"

„Don't act even dumber than ye are. New Zealand, Frost. Does that ring a bell?" the autumn spirit snapped and waited for a reaction which eventually came in form of an incredulous groan.

„You can't be serious. That's what the fuss is all about?"

Three or four weeks ago he had flown over the island state and a rather big assembly of people in the middle of nowhere had caught his attention. It turned out that they were shooting a film so out of pure curiosity he followed and watched them for a while. Just when the sun began to set and he planned to leave he heard how a small group of crewmembers talked about the upcoming scenes. They were going to take place at the foot of the mountains and lead into the nearby forest and supposed to look as eerie and cold as possible to emphasize the athmosphere of the action. Jack didn't waste a second thought and covered the whole area in a thin layer of frost which had melted the next day but lasted just long enough for those people to film their scenes. The possibility that Flann might notice and freak out hadn't even crossed his mind back then, it wasn't as if he had buried the whole country under a blanket of snow.

However, he should have known that this wasn't about frosty grass, chilly breezes or a little bit snow. Once in a while, namely every few decades, the Spirit of Autumn apparently had congregated so much pent-up anger that he needed to let it out on someone. And this certain someone was Jack. He had no idea why the Irishman always seemed to have hit every branch when he fell off the bad-temper-tree. Or why he selected him of all spirits as living punching bag. The frosty ground in New Zealand was just an excuse to beat the hell out of him again because MacHarvest, for some reason, couldn't stand his guts. Jack had enough of it, but if he let go of his suppressed powers now the USA would be in big trouble. He had to release them where no one would be affected and therefore couldn't risk a battle with the brown-clad spirit.

„Told ye often enough that ye ain't gettin' away with that sort of troublemakin'. And still ye do it again and again. So ye either are plain idiotic or ye like gettin' teh hell beaten out of ye. At least it's some kind of attention, eh?" Flann sneered and sent a spiteful glance at his opponent.

Jack tried to not show any kind of emotion and bit back a snarky reply, as much as he wanted to freeze the bastard's behind.

„Well, if you want to fight then let's meet in the woods tomorrow." he decided matter-off-factly.

„How about NOW?" the autumn spirit snarled with increasing impatience, but the white-haired teen did his best to keep his cool.

„My schedule is pretty full today."

„Like I care."

Suddenly he had another idea, why the heck was he even attempting to ward the fight off? He had enough energy stowed away to teach the immortal bully a lesson, that he couldn't treat him like dirt without facing the consequences.

„Alright, then let's fly to Antarctica, I'm sure you don't want any innocents getting hurt." Jack remarked and gestured at some pedestrians in the proximity.

All he got was a cynical snort and a glare that was dripping with disdain.

„Don't act like ye're a serious rival fer me, I'll finish ye quick and easy."

Before Jack could utter another word he was engulfed by a gust of wind, slightly warmer than his own, which took a hold of him, lifted him several feet into the air and then slammed him down onto the street. With a groan he got on his knees and the first thing he saw was the blurry shape of a car speeding towards him. He managed to jump away just in time but was still too sidetracked to notice the sharp leaves darting into his direction. When he did turn around it was already too late and he was hit by them, leaving cuts mainly on his arms and chest. The wounds weren't deep but still enough to hurt and make him gasp in pain. On the other side of the street Flann MacHarvest stood tall and enjoyed the view of his suffering victim.

„Ye know, I had expected a lil' more resistance, but guess ye know ye have no chance anyway."

Frowning and gritting his teeth Jack told himself that he had to retain control over himself, if he lost his temper now it could lead to a catastrophe. There was no way the older immortal would have mercy on him and he also didn't want to get trashed around without fighting back, so the only remaining option was trying to escape and hoping he would be faster than the Irish spirit. Carefully he bundled his powers and shot a swirl of snow at his enemy to confuse and blind him for a moment. Flann struggled against the cold wind with his own and when the snow vanished he had to realize that the winter spirit was gone as well. But he couldn't be overly far away.

Jack urged the wind to take him away as briskly as possible. As he was flying over a forest several miles away from Burgess he suddenly felt something grabbing his ankle and pulling him back with such force that he reflexively gave a yelp of surprise. He looked at the rope which consisted of withered leaves and immediately froze and broke it to free himself. Just when he scanned his surroundings for his enemy a squall of autumn wind slammed into his back and catapulted him against one of the highest pine trees. Even though a bunch of branches had cushioned his fall he groaned in pain after he had landed on one of them. It would border on a miracle if his body wasn't completely sore tomorrow. But right now he had other problems. His heart hammered in his chest, blue eyes darting around to spot the dreaded spirit whose obvious only purpose in life was to make his life even harder. Out of nowhere a sharp wind shear aimed towards him and cut the branch he was standing on off the trunk, forcing him to jump off to not fall to the ground as well.

„Got ye." a disturbingly familiar voice whispered.

The same moment he was grabbed from behind, his left arm violently pulled behind his back while another arm wrapped itself around his throat. Jack struggled in vain against the strong Irishman, panic rising as it got harder to breathe. Choked gasps left his pale lips, something inside of him urging to be released to end this suffering.

„Told ye ye're not a serious threat fer me, ye lil' scumbag." Flann boasted and tightened the stranglehold even further.

Enough was enough. He couldn't hold it back any longer. With an agonized scream he allowed his suppressed powers to go wild, his skin radiating such fierce coldness that the red-haired immortal had to let go of the frost teen to prevent him from turning his arms into chunks of ice. All he could do was stare in utter shock as a tornado of wind and snow spinned around the winter spirit, who was barely visible through it, and rapidly grew until he had no other chance but to dash off as long as he was still able to. When he assumed he was at a safe distance he turned around and his brown eyes widened at one of the largest blizzards he had ever seen beginning to form in record time. Even though he hated to admit it, he had underestimated the brat. Next time he would need to bring some extra help. But right now he had to get out of harm's way.

Jack barely noticed what was going on around him. His vision was blurry and his mind befogged as he unleashed his powers, and still something in the back of his consciousness urged him to stop. He tried, but it was too late, the blizzard had taken a life of its own. Burgess would be completely devastated if he allowed the furious wind and snow to roam free, that was the only clear thought in his flustered head. If it would work, he wasn't sure, but he had to do something. Using the rest of his stowed powers he manipulated the blizzard so its size increased and lost its original force simultaneously. When he had succeeded at thinning it down so it wouldn't cause too much damage he literally pushed it away from his hometown and in direction of uninhabitated land, but still a weakened part of the storm remained.

The procedure took longer and drained more strength from him than he had expected, he didn't even have a clue how many hours had passed. Out of the blue a wave of dizziness hit him, accompanied by a sudden feeling of faintness and nausea. He tumbled out of the wind's grasp and plummeted downwards, the blanket of snow on the ground at least cushioning the impact a little bit and yet it left him lying there unconscious.

When he opened his eyes again all he saw was white. Something cold and soft covered him like a blanket, silently luring him back to sleep. No matter how tempting that was, the sudden memory of what had happened before his involuntary nap caused him to jackknife out of the snowbank he had been resting in. With terrified blue eyes he had to realize what he had done.

Everything was white, wherever he looked there was snow covering trees, rocks, the ground as well as streets and houses in the far distance. Had it been December it would have been excusable but taking into account that it was April this was a catastrophe. Sunlight only shone dimly onto the scenery around him, birds starting to tweet their songs despite the drastic change of weather. He guessed it was early morning, which meant that he had slept for at least 12 hours straight.

With a heavy sigh Jack dug his staff out of the snow and stood up, gaze still focused on the outcome of the unplanned release of his powers. Hopefully nothing worse had happened. The wish had barely crossed his mind when he stepped on something solid, covered by masses of white just like everything else, and heard a faint cracking sound. He bent down and brushed the snow aside to reveal a brightly coloured broken egg.

„Oh no..."

Easter Sunday. Today. He was screwed if Bunny found out what he did. But maybe he would be too busy to notice that one town had a little more snow than it should have at this time of year. Still, the children would be dissappointed if they couldn't find any eggs or accidentally stepped on them as well. He had to make up at least a tiny bit for the damage he had caused, so he called the wind for help and blew the soft top layer of snow away with carefully controlled gusts. It wasn't much he could do at the moment, but it rendered the eggs visible. Though the problem was the exact opposite all of a sudden. Now the colourful Easter goodies stood out of the white scenery that it was impossible to miss them, it wouldn't be about looking for them but simply picking them up faster than the other children.

„Ugh, damnit..." Jack silently muttered and cursed himself, desperately hoping that Bunnymund wouldn't see the mess he had caused.

What the hell did ya do!?"

The frost teen let out a startled yelp and almost jumped out of his skin as he hastily turned around to be face to face with the Australian rabbit. He was glaring down at him, his brows furrowed in anger and green eyes twitching the slightest bit. Jack gulped. He was in trouble. BIG trouble.

„I-it was an accident, I swear!"

„Yeah, right, ya couldn't think of a better excuse, eh?" Bunny snorted with faked amusement, his resentful stare only leaving him for the fraction of a second.

„This is MY holiday and ya have nothin' better ta do than ruinin' it!?"

Jack reflexively took one step backwards when the tall guardian came dangerously close. Furry fists were balled and trembled with suppressed rage while he seemed to argue with himself whether to give the younger spirit the beating of his life or not. The look he was darting at him held so much despite and hatred that it attempted to drill its way through his very soul. Gulping nervously Jack tried again to apologize, even though there was no reasonable chance of actually easing the mood.

„Listen, I really didn't do it on purpose and I'm sorry. But it's only one town, the egghunts will be fine everywhere else, right?" he smiled weakly and hopefully at the anthropomorphic rabbit, who simply stared at him dumbfounded for a short moment and then threw his arms into the air, his temper finally getting the better of him and causing the youth to flinch in fear of what might come next.

„Ya gotta be kiddin' me! Yer blasted blizzard ravaged the entire United States! Even San Fransisco and Miami got snow, and ya still call that a freakin' accident!?"

Without a doubt he must have looked rather stupid with his mouth agape and his eyes widened in disbelief, but there was nothing else Jack could do as the news sank in. All he had wanted to achieve was protect Burgess from getting completely destroyed by his involuntary release of power, but giving the whole country a late winterstorm surely hadn't been part of his struggle. His pulse rose just like the frantic beating of his heart. What had he done?

Oh crap...crap crap crap crap-"

Bunnymund interrupted the teen's mental mantra by snapping his furry fingers in front of his face and yanking him back to reality. Further swearwords and threats about what was going to happen if he ever dared to mess up Easter again were thrown at him. All Jack did was silently enduring the pooka's outburst as he kept his gaze focused on an empty spot in mid-air. It didn't feel right to fight back in this situation where guilt weighed on him like a ton of rocks. He knew he deserved the hate and the telling-off. But then the Guardian of Hope went to far. After noticing the younger spirit's absent-minded look and immediately translating this behaviour into an offending gesture because he assumed the boy simply didn't care about what he had to say, Bunny grabbed this lean shoulders and shook him fiercely.

„Crikey, are ya even listenin' ta me, ya pain in the neck?!"

Jack cringed at the déjà vu. For the second time this weekend someone had haunted him, blamed him, yelled at him and eventually used physical violence to make their point even clearer. In his mind's eye the most probable outcome swiftly took shape, namely another beating by yet another spirit who hated his guts. No way he would allow this to happen again, he had enough of being treated like the dirt below their feet. With more strength than both of them expected he pushed the anthropomorphic rabbit away from him, his eyes holding a frosty glare now in turn.

„Don't touch me! I already apologized and if you don't believe me then fine!" he shouted in anger, then added with a quieter and almost sad voice, „Why should I have expected anything else."

Before the Australian guardian could stop him he had floated up into the air and out of reach. He didn't want to fight anymore. For once, all he longed for was everyone leaving him alone.

„Come back here! I'm not done with ya, yet! I swear if ya pull a stunt like this again I'll-"

„No, we are done here. And don't worry, I won't do something like this again. But you don't believe me anyway so whatever."

Bunnymund had already opened his mouth to continue the argument but it was too late, the Spirit of Winter had already vanished beyond the highest treetops. Cursing out full-throatedly he stomped several steps in the direction the well-known troublemaker had fled until he urged himself to calm down and let the matter rest for the time being. He had to take care of the eggunts and try to make the best of the situation. Maybe he could hide the eggs so they were slightly visible under thin layers of snow, the only option inbetween children finding them at first sight or not at all. A groan rang through the forest when he realized he had to rearrange all eggs he had already hidden. If Jack Frost knew what was best for him he would stay out of his way for a century at the minimun. Though he rather hoped he would never encounter the icy nuisance again.