A/N :

*rises slowly* I am back from the dead! No, actually I'm just back from two moves, settling down in another country in a new appartment with my best friend and a veeeery long writer's block. I hope to get back to writing on a more regular base again.

So no more talking, here's a new chapter, you've been waiting long enough for it.


*set before the movie*

A strong wind blew over the Antarctic continent. The already low temperatures dropped even further, as if the freezing air wasn't cold enough yet. Swirls of snow and ice joined the increasing storm, more and more, until everything was turned into a blurry mass of white. Whirling and howling the storm wandered around, following the path of its creator, who stayed in the very middle of it.

Jack groaned angrily as he let out his frustration on the vast scenery below. Another decade without being seen had passed and his recent attempts to change that hadn't been successful as usual. At least he could blow off some steam here without hurting anyone. Looking down he noticed that he had no idea where exactly he was. Above the ocean, among some glaciers or in the middle of a snow desert? The whirling tornado around him blocked out the entire view of his surroundings.

The winter spirit let the storm clear a bit and sank down carefully until his feet touched solid cold ground. All he could recognize were wide fields of snow and a few blurred icy mountains in the distance. Nothing sparking his interest. Just when he was about to jump into the sky again he halted in his tracks. He could have sworn he had seen something moving from the corner of his eyes. Once more he scanned the landscape and then he saw it. Whatever it was, he couldn't tell. But the small, round and dark shape in the far distance had caught his attention. The fierce weather calmed down just like its master with every step he took towards the object of his curiosity.

When Jack had reached it and the air was clear again he gazed down at a grey ball of fluff. It was hurled together to protect itself from the storm, so the frost teen couldn't even tell where the its head was. A heap of snowflakes covered it and except for weak breaths the creature didn't move at all. Jack briefly wondered if it was pretending to be dead, because he had noticed it moving just some moments ago. Slowly he knelt down, so he wouldn't scare it, and cautiously reached out to touch it. As soon as his cold fingers made contact with the fuzzy feathers the small body flinched and suddenly a black and white head with large black eyes was staring at him. Jack gazed back at the emperor penguin chick, which appeared to be indecisive whether it should attack, flee or hope for the best. Suspicion towards the winter spirit was evident, though.

"Hey, don't worry, I won't hurt you." he spoke reassuringly and tried to touch it once more.

The penguin however didn't agree with that intention and snapped at his fingers. Only thanks to his quick reflexes Jack managed to escape the tiny but sharp beak.

"Woa, that was close! You're quite the fighter, aren't you?" he smiled impressed.

Still the chick was staring him down as if saying "Try again, this time I won't miss!".

The white-haired boy thought it over. There had to be another way to break the ice. With a grin on his face he raised his hand, slowly to not startle the penguin, and created several snowflakes which joined each other until they had the simple shape of a fish. All of a sudden the fluffy bird let go of its distrustfulness and chased after the fake fish. Jack watched the spectacle for a while until he decided to grant the little creature its success. The snow fish became slower and the next moment it was caught and vanished into tiny particles. Confused and frustrated eyes glared at the frost teen. This time it was the penguin which drew nearer. Determined. Angry. It hadn't even covered half the way when it collapsed and stayed lying on the icy ground. Jack was alarmed and dashed towards the grey chick. It was shivering and suddenly looking so weak.

"I'm such an idiot…" he whispered to himself.

He had been so absorbed into his own emotions, his frustration, then his curiosity and playfulness, that he didn't realize in what a serious situation the little animal was. Only now it dawned on him and he could have slapped himself for it. Penguins didn't stray away from their group, especially not when they were still babies. This one must have gotten lost in the storm. The storm he caused. The poor thing must be freezing and hungry. And what did he do? Tease it with a fake fish and drain its last bits of strength.

"I'm so sorry." Jack spoke softly as he knelt down next to it.

Hesitantly he extended his hand towards the Antarctic bird, which continued to watch his every move. He couldn't tell whether it finally trusted him or if it was simply too exhausted to fight, but it finally allowed him to touch it. Gently he let his fingers glide through the fluffy fur-like feathers. When the penguin realized it wasn't in danger it visibly relaxed and moved its head towards the spirit's hand to let him stroke it as well. Jack smiled and continued to ruffle the grey fuzz, much to the penguin's pleasure. It used its last ounce of energy to drag itself closer to the youth and cuddled itself against his legs, hoping for some warmth. Disappointed it glanced up at him when it noticed his lack of body heat.

"Sorry." the frost teen mumbled honestly disheartened as well.

How he wished he could warm the little creature up. Despite the cold radiating from him it stayed huddled against him. The sight nearly broke his heart. He was responsible for this. It was up to him to make up for it.

Gently he picked the penguin baby up and was relieved when it didn't fight back, as if it knew that he was going to help. When Jack jumped into the air the chick cuddled even closer against his chest. Instinct told it that its species wasn't supposed to fly, but it still curiously looked down at the world below.

Jack started circling the surrounding area in the immediate vicinity. The little fluffball couldn't have wandered that far away from its family, could it? Fortunately he was right. Soon he spotted a wide field of black, white and grey in the distance. He was taken by surprise by the sheer size of the penguin colony. The activity and noise of the hundreds, if not thousands of animals built a stark contrast to the seemingly dead secenery around them. It looked like all penguins of the entire world had gathered here.

The winter spirit wasn't sure how they would react upon seeing him and decided to land on the edge of the colony. There he was hopefully at a safe distance as to not pose any threat to them. His caution prooved to be unnecessary though. Some of the birds spotted him, but lost interest almost immediately. He wasn't one of their natural enemies so they could care less and were busy tending for their young anyway.

But now he was faced with another problem. How the heck was he supposed to find the chick's parents? There were so many of them and they all looked exactly the same. Would he have to go to every penguin and hold it under their beak until one of them recognized their offspring? As he was pondering the options and mentally preparing himself for a very long day his new fluffy friend took the matter in its own wings and waddled towards the colony.

"Hey, Fluffy! Wait!" Jack shouted, briefly wondering why he had just given him a name, and why he had decided it was a male.

Suddenly the little bird halted in its tracks and let out high-pitched squeaks. Some of the penguins glanced their way, but probably just out of curiosity. None of them moved an inch towards them. Fluffy stopped shouting and let his head sink down before he looked at the frost teen with big sad eyes.

"Don't worry, we'll find them." Jack comforted him and gently patted his head.

Since the baby penguin was still weak and would have never managed to walk around the entire colony on his own, Jack took him in his arms and carried him again. Slowly the duo passed hundreds of penguins. All the time Fluffy shouted and only took breaks to catch his breath. After what seemed like forever a particularly loud shout echoed from the mass of black and white. Fluffy appeared to be both startled and excited as he called out once more. Suddenly a big dark shape separated itself and stopped mere feet away from them. The same previous calls were exchanged before the baby penguin struggled feverishly to free itself.

Jack knelt down and released his friend. Instead of immediately rushing away Fluffy looked back at him. In his imagination the young spirit heard him asking if he was going to be alright and if it was really alright to leave him now. A part of him knew very well that this was "just" an animal, which most likely had no deeper understanding for the situation. But the hope for another living being actually caring for him was enough to let him brush rational thinking aside. They were friends, if only for a short time.

However, as much as he loathed being alone again, he couldn't keep Fluffy as his pet. He belonged to his kind.

A questioning squeak ripped him out of his thoughts. Black eyes stared at him, awaiting a reaction.

"It's okay, go to your Mom…or Dad. I really have no clue." he chuckled and stroked over the soft grey feathers one last time.

Relieved and happy the little penguin ran towards its Mom-Dad, who welcomed it just as eagerly by bending down and rubbing its beak affectionately against its younger one's. Jack watched a little disgusted as the adult penguin threw up some fish which Fluffy greedily swallowed straight from its mouth. When the dinner was finished the chick climbed between Mom-Dad's feet and hid there to warm itself up. Only the head was still sticking out from the warm blanket of white feathers and Jack thought he could hear a final squeak before the two returned to the colony.

"Bye, weird penguin."

"Bye, Fluffy."


A/N : I LOVE penguins, especially emperor penguin chicks, so this had to happen sooner or later. ;)