Author's Note: At last! Regular plot update. Not only that, but we have officially hit Chapter 50, not including all those Interludes. This is also officially the longest anything I have ever written. :) So yay! I wanted to make this chapter extra long, but I hit a good stopping point. I had time to think about the plot some more and where I want it to go. This is good, since I somewhat know what's coming in advance, but also bad, since now I want to skip everything and get to the really cool stuff. Thankfully for you, when I hit that point I stopped and thought more about the more immediate plot, and came up with the rest of this chapter, yay. I threw some fun with the Burgess kids in there at the last second, since I've been neglecting them and they should be more involved in the plot.

Now, reviews! I'll start with the HP crossover reviews first, then last actual plot chapter reviews, so please bear with me.

HP Reviews:

CrossoverJunkie, I have actually read the first couple Harry Dresden books, and I really liked them. I got distracted by other things and never did read any more though, so I missed out on the seven laws of magic. I have to admit that I was highly amused while reading them, since most of them get broken some how or another in the HP series. I'm not really a huge fan of the memory charm either, but you have to admit that the Ministry wizards have absolutely no problem with obliviating any muggle they feel is on to them. My case in point is the poor guy at the camping site for the Quidditch World Cup. I think the ministry official told Mr. Weasley that the muggle wasn't happy unless he had at least ten memory charms a day, which I feel might cause some brain damage there! So I don't feel that Mr. Weasley was out of line for obliviating what he felt was a muggle who had accidentally stumbled upon their family. Don't worry though, Lillian will get sorted out. ..And yes, maybe it was a little cliche, but I still feel like it's in line with the HP universe.

kame otaku brought up a good point: Would the memory charm work the same on spirits as it would on a regular human? HM! Guess we'll have to wait and see. :)

rainbowunicroms459, don't worry Jack will BBFS all over the place and I'm sure once Pitch figures out what's going on, he'll FFFS (father-figure-frantic-syndrome) all over the place too. And I do plan on including Jack and the others eventually too.

DOCTORSINTHETARDIS was yelling at Pitch and Pitch does need a good kick in the rear. I'm sure Jack will be happy to provide it for him!

Now.. Chapter 49 reviews!

DOCTORSINTHETARDIS suggest that Jack make an ice bubble and the he and the Sprites could travel that way by using the Wind. The problems I saw with this would be that, if Jack made it too thin, the ice would break. And if he made it thick so it would be more sturdy and not melt, then it would be too heavy to fly in the air. It was a really cool suggestion though, so I might use ice bubbles in the future for other things. Thanks for the idea though! You got me thinking about what other kinds of things Jack could be doing with his powers.

CrossoverJunkie suggested that Mother Nature should be doing her own investigation, and she will, since the weather situation has escalated quite a bit since the last Seasonal Meeting, which wasn't actually all that long ago. (Even though it feels like it was!) I also really liked your suggestion about the old, forgotten tune. I couldn't see Pitch singing it, but humming.. yes!

Aqua and Luna I'm glad that you liked my fic, especially since it somehow gained a whole ton of OCs when I wasn't looking. I have to admit, that I'm not a huge fan of OCs, so I don't blame you for passing this up. I'm glad you decided to check it out though!

Alrighty, I think I covered everyone. I also want to thank all the people who have faved and whatnot! If you want updates about any of the other fics (Jamie's Ghost Hunting and UFO adventures, the HP crossover) you'll have to do an author alert, since I might not mention it in the author's notes in this fic. Or else you can just check my profile or whatnot.

OK! On with the story! I also hope you like the part with Mother Nature and don't think it's too mushy. I admit it, I tend to put the characters through a lot emotionally.

Chapter Fifty: Tea Time with Mother Nature

The dark spirit nodded to himself as thought through his plan. It would work.

"Now now," he said far too sweetly to the Spring Sprites and Spirits. "Don't be like that."

His expression turned darker and some of the insanity could be seen shining through.

"You know how I don't like it when my Sprites don't listen to me," he said, practically growling.

The poor Spring Sprites looked terrified and the Spirits were no better. But they knew better than to try and argue, so they didn't say anything.

Soon the dark spirit had their cage open and he was hauling out a few of the Spirits. He leaned in close to them and whispered his plan on luring the Spring Spirit out.

When they heard what he wanted them to do, their eyes widened. Sure, it was still technically their season still, but with all the strange weather going on, this was insane.

They would have to fight with other Seasonal Spirits' magic to get theirs out and be the more dominate. Not to mention there was only a few of them that the dark spirit would allow to go, and doing what he wanted on such a large scale would take a serious amount of power.

The Spring Spirits glanced at each other and then looked at the dark spirit. They knew they didn't have any choice.

Very reluctantly, they nodded and with a cackle of delight, the dark spirit ushered them out of his lair.

That Spring Spirit would soon be all his.

Very soon.


Jasper sat in his painting room on a stool in front of his easel, but he wasn't painting. He was just staring blankly at the canvas while he tried to think of something to get rid of Jack Frost and his Sprites.

They simply could not stay in his forest. Jasper would never turn them out with nowhere to go, of course, but the longer Jack and his Sprites stayed, there was more of a chance of his winter magic escaping, and that would be terrible for his forest.

Not to mention his poor Sprites. They needed the coolness of Fall, and not the harsh temperatures of Winter. If Jack's winter magic escaped, it could make them sick, or even cause them to fade.

No, he definitely had to get rid of Frost. The main problem was transporting those Winter Sprites though. Even if they seemed fine now, Jasper knew that they were severely weakened still and they shouldn't be traveling on their own for a long time. They might be ok if Frost carried them, but that was no guarantee.

He didn't want to be responsible for causing Frost's last Winter Sprites to fade, so he decided it wouldn't be worth the risk to have them stumble around the North Pole. Besides, he didn't want Frost to get lost and he wouldn't have any way of finding Frost if he did let him wander around..

The problem was that the only other way to get to the Pole would be to have Jack fly, and the temperatures were so unpredictable right now. If only there were some way of keeping the sprites cool while Jack flew.

Jasper's thoughts wandered as he tried to come up with a solution. He focused on his canvas and paused, frowning at the telltale signs of ice in yet another painting. He was letting this Frost business get to him.

He pushed the sleeves of his hoodie up as he prepared to grab his paintbrush. Painting always helped to calm him and he had his best ideas when he was painting. Before he could grab the brush however, he paused and looked down at his hoodie.

He remembered when he had come upon this particular hoodie in a thrift shop window and decided that he had to have it. As far as he knew, he was one of the few spirits that would wear modern clothing. Most clung to the fashions of their previous life, but not him.

He smiled a little as he thought of what people had accomplished over the years, and then it hit him.

It was so obvious!

He shook his head and looked at his favorite Sprite.

"I should have thought of that in the first place," he told her.

She blinked up at him in confusion, but nodded all the same.

"Do you want to keep an eye on things?" he asked her. "I'll be right back."

She nodded eagerly and watched as Jasper disappeared in a swirl of leaves.


Pitch Black and Sandy stepped out of the shadows and into Mother Nature's throne room. Sandy shuddered as they stepped out. Pitch had offered to transport them, and Sandy had accepted as more of a show of faith in Pitch than anything.

He trusted that Pitch was good now and that he wouldn't do anything that would hurt himself, but..

Sandy held in another shudder. Traveling through the the shadows made him feel a little cold and empty. There was something wrong with lurking in such darkness. At least for him, there was. Pitch didn't seem bothered at all by it.

As he approached the throne with Pitch, he could see that Mother Nature was distractedly toying with a bracelet. She seemed agitated and a worried frown marred her face as she stared down at the bracelet. She didn't even seem to notice them, which surprised Sandy.

He made a few golden pictures over his head, but then stopped when he noticed Mother Nature hadn't noticed them. He gave Pitch a "go on" look, that Pitch dutifully ignored. Pitch was frowning too, and seemed rather reluctant to go up to Mother Nature. He was still very upset with her and didn't want to be indebted to her at all.

He especially didn't want her anywhere near his Jack or Lillian, not after what had happened.

Seeing that Pitch needed a little help, Sandy elbowed him rather hard and at Pitch's rather loud "Ow! What was that for?!" Mother Nature finally looked up. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was that was visiting her.

"..F..Father.." she faltered, feeling out of sorts. "I didn't think you would come see me.."

Pitch looked about ready to give her a snarky reply, but at Sandy's reproachful look, he relented.

"I've come to see you about one of your Seasonals," he said a little stiffly.

"My Seasonals?" she questioned, looking confused. "What about them?"

Pitch opened his mouth to explain, when Sandy essentially blurted it out with a barrage of golden sand images.

Mother Nature took this all in.

"Jack Frost?" she asked him. "This is about him?"

"..He's missing," Pitch said quietly. "We were wondering if you knew where he was."

Mother Nature's confusion turned to regret.

"I know many things," she said softly, "But I don't know where my Seasonals are at any given time. I can tell when they are doing as they should and when they are not.. But I can't tell you their current whereabouts."

"Wonderful," Pitch snapped. "Just wonderful. It was so useful to have us come here," he continued as he glared at Sandy.

Mother Nature's gaze dropped back down to the green and pink bracelet she was holding and Sandy noticed that her shoulders had drooped a little in disappointment.

Sandy frowned up at Pitch and pointed at Mother Nature with a pointed look. It said quite clearly: Talk to her.

Pitch raised an eyebrow at Sandy's look. They didn't have time for this, Jack was missing! Who knew what sorts of horrible things could be happening to him, or already might have happened! They had to get out of there and go look for him! And he didn't care what the Guardians said about not interfering with Seasonal business. He'd tear Jasper's forest apart branch by branch if he had to.

He looked impatiently back at Mother Nature, and then he finally noticed her defeated posture. She was gazing down sadly at a bracelet she was holding, and didn't look at Pitch, as if she expected him to leave right away now that she couldn't be of any use to him.

He sighed as he saw all this and inwardly grumbled.

"..Do you have any tea?" he finally asked. There was no way he could handle this discussion without any tea.

Mother Nature looked up at him and blinked in surprise.

"Tea?"


Jasper had decided that in honor of Jack, he should do his shopping in Burgess. He looked around at a few stores and already was flushed from the heat. He hadn't even been gone for ten minutes and he already missed his forest.

He wasn't sure how Jack was going to stand the heat when he traveled, but he reminded himself that not everywhere was scorching hot right now. He wondered if August was doing anything about this, but then remembered all the ranting August had done, complaining about said temperatures and told himself that August was trying his best.

As Jasper entered a generic store, he wandered the aisles and soon found what he was looking for.

Perfect.

Soon he had grabbed what he needed and disappeared in a swirl of fall leaves. Jamie's mom, who had been shopping at the time, stopped to pick up a fall leaf in disbelief. She laughed to herself and shook her head and then continued her shopping. She wondered what Jamie would make of her finding a leaf in May, and then grinned. It might be fun to see his reaction.

So she tucked the leaf away in her pocket and continued on with her shopping.


Jack was busing chatting away with his Sprites when Jasper appeared suddenly in a swirl of leaves, holding an armful of things.

"I know how you can get back to the Pole," he said happily to Jack. He was happy because the Sprites could now travel safely and also that all the winter magic would soon be going away.

"How's that?" Jack asked as he looked at what Jasper was holding.

"It's quite simple," Jasper said as he plunked a small cooler down on the table near the Winter Sprites.

He popped open the top and began lining the bottom with little cool packs and folded a kitchen towel and placed it on top of them.

"You can use your magic to make the inside of this cooler very cold," Jasper explained to him. "They can sit on the towel and be relatively comfortable. They won't even have to move while you're traveling, so it shouldn't be taxing on them. You can use your powers to keep the cooler the perfect temperature for them while you're flying. All you have to do is make it to the North Pole without melting."

Jack looked from the cooler to Jasper, then back to the cooler and back to Jasper again. He burst out laughing and Jasper was fairly offended that Jack was laughing at him, until Jack spoke.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Jack said with a chuckle. "It was so obvious!"

Jasper blinked in surprise that Jack Frost had essentially said the same thing he had, then gave him a small smile.

"I know, right?" he agreed with Jack.

"What do you guys think?" Jacked asked his Sprites. "Think you're up for a trip?"

Neve and Neva looked at one another with a grin and then they both flew inside the cooler.


As Jack took off with his Sprites safely tucked away in the cooler, Pitch was sitting down in one of the rooms of Mother Nature's palace. There was a nice silver tea tray containing a nice china set of tea, that had various seasonal things painted on them. Pitch had chosen the Fall cup, since he didn't want to have to choose between Spring or Winter, while Sandy had opted for Summer for the same reasons. Mother Nature, who was still a little preoccupied, chose Spring. The Winter cup had been placed off to the side and looked a little lonely all by itself.

Mother Nature took a sip of her tea while studiously avoiding Pitch's gaze. Pitch was also avoiding Mother Nature's gaze and fiddling around with his tea cup.

Sandy looked from one to the other before helping himself to a cookie from a small pile of them on a plate and dunking it into his cup. He took a big bite from the cookie before giving Pitch a look.

Pitch could feel Sandy's gaze on him, and inwardly grumbled. Emily Jane was the one who had thrown the fit, not him! She was also the one who had hidden poor Jack and Lillian away in a cave!

Not looking at Pitch at all, Mother Nature quietly spoke to her cup.

"How are they?" she asked softly.

"Jack was recovering from a cold," Pitch snapped. At Sandy's reproachful look, he took a deep breath and took a long sip of tea.

Mother Nature flinched as though Pitch had struck her.

"Why do you care for them so?" Mother Nature said, her tone betraying her hurt. "We have not spoken for so long, before the.. incident," she said, hinting at when Pitch had been in her throne room last, "and here you are.. calling them your children."

Pitch finally looked at Mother Nature, eying her.

"I thought you would understand, you being so much older than they," he told her, trying to keep the bite out of his tone. "They had no one to look after them, and it was you who would not speak to me," he reminded her.

Mother Nature flushed and looked down at her cup again.

"You were not my father," she said softly. "You let evil take hold of your heart, and yet.." she trailed off.

"I took them in," he supplied for her.

"I had thought there was no redeeming you," she said in a wavering voice. Her cup was becoming a little blurry. "I thought I had lost my most beloved father forever."

"You know the Man in the Moon helped me," he said after a pause. "I may not be what I once was, but I am no longer the Pitch Black you knew."

"I know that now," she whispered.

There was silence as Pitch drank from his cup again. As he set his cup back down in his saucer, he looked at Mother Nature who had tears shining in her eyes. His look softened, and he couldn't help but hum an old, forgotten tune.

Tears fell down Mother Nature's cheeks as she heard the tune she hadn't heard in so very long.

"..Mother used to sing that to me, when you were away.." she sniffled.

"I know," Pitch said as he stopped humming. "I came home earlier than expected one night, and heard her singing to you."

More tears fell down Mother Nature's face and she brushed them away delicately.

"What I did was unforgivable," she said, her voice thick with tears. "I should never have taken my anger for you out on Jack and Lillian."

"You will always be my child," Pitch said softly to her. "You will always be my Emily Jane."

Mother Nature's lip trembled.

"That's all I wanted," she said quietly. "That's all I've ever wanted."

Sandy watched as Pitch abandoned his tea cup and walked over to Mother Nature. As Pitch hugged his Emily Jane, Sandy couldn't help but smile a little smugly.

And Pitch said he didn't want to come.


Jack was flying through the air, his Wind whipping around him, blowing his hair playfully. The coolness of his winter wind was helping to keep him from getting too hot, and it didn't take a lot of effort on his part to keep the little cooler nice and cool for his Winter Sprites.

Neve and Neva were sitting inside the cooler, happily chatting away about what they though the North Pole would be like now. It had been so long since they had been out of that dreadful dark spirit's lair.

Neva was wondering how long it would take them to get there, and she might have been worried, but she could clearly hear Jack tell them every once in awhile that it would be alright, and they still had a ways to go yet.

The two Sprites continued their speculating, until they felt the cooler jerk a little and Jack's voice could clearly be heard.

"Hey, what's that?" his voice said, sounding a little muffled to them through the cooler.

Neve raised an eyebrow in question and looked up at the lid of the cooler, as if it would help him see outside.

What do you think he sees? Neva asked Neve softly.

Neve shrugged in response and then the cooler gave another little jerk as Jack took off again, the Wind helping him to fly quickly.

The two Sprites were almost convinced that it hadn't been anything when they suddenly heard Jack cry out and then their world literally was turned upside down.

The cooler thankfully hadn't been that high up in the air at that point, as it tumbled over and over, finally landing with a thud on the ground.

The two Winter Sprites had tumbled head over heels and were grateful that the cooler had landed on its bottom.

"What are you doing?!" they heard Jack's voice cry out. "Let me go!"

"We can't," an anguished voice replied to Jack. It sounded masculine and weary.

"What?" Jack said, sounding confused.

"We're sorry!" another voice said, this one more high pitched and feminine. "He'll know if we don't do what he wants."

"Wha?" was Jack's confused reply, but if he was going to say anything else, it was cut off.

The two Winter Sprites looked at one another as they heard nothing but silence. The cooler was still quite cold from Jack's winter magic, but for how long?

And what had happened to him?!


Now it was Bunny's turn to pace back and forth as they all waited for Pitch and Sandy to return. Tooth had been served a cup of tea and was fiddling around her cup nervously, unaware that at that moment, Pitch was having tea as well.

"What do you think is taking them so long?" she finally asked.

"Knowin' Pitch, Sandy is probably tryin' ta keep him from strangling her. Ya know how upset he was 'about Lillian and Jack bein' in that cave," Bunny said as he took over eying the globe constantly for the blue lights.

He frowned as he saw that other lights, the light of mortal children who believed were starting to dim a little. It wasn't so long ago that all belief had almost faded and with this blasted weather being all crazy, it was starting to take a toll on the kids.

He huffed in irritation as he took to pacing again. After a minute or two, he abruptly said he'd go check on Lillian and stomped out of the room.

Lillian was still feeling out of sorts and was grateful when Bunny came in as a distraction. But soon it was clear to her that Bunny was distracted.

"What's going on?" she asked Bunny. "Have you found Jack yet?"

Bunny didn't want to admit he was waiting on Pitch to come back from Mother Nature's, so he stalled and noticed Lillian had her notebook out, with her notes for her book written in it.

"How's the book comin'?" Bunny asked, in what he hoped was a casual tone.

Lillian rolled her eyes, but told Bunny that was fine. As she and Bunny made small talk, she couldn't help but wonder what was going on with Jack. He had gone to rescue his Winter Sprites, but that was so long ago.

She wished she had her bracelet so she could use her flower of Doom to transport her to Jasper's. Without it, she felt so useless.

She frowned a little as that feeling of wrongness overtook her again. She had to get to the bottom of this, but how could she, when she had so little control over her powers right now?


Some time later, Jamie was walking with his friends down to Jack's lake. They knew Jack wouldn't be there with it being so hot, but they still liked to hang out there. It was quiet and the lake was peaceful.

"What is going on with this weather, anyway?" Jamie asked as he glanced over in the direction of Pitch's lair. He didn't notice anything unusual, nor did he see any golden eyes in shadows glaring out at him or his friends.

"Could be whatchamacallit," Pippa offered. "La Nina? Where the weather is warmer than normal."

Jamie gave her a look.

"Lillian's in charge of spring, and it's still spring! This is like, the middle of summer weather. Plus my mom told me she found a leaf from fall at the store. Like, this leaf was bright red and orange and looked like it had just fallen off a tree."

The kids all thought about that one, before Cupcake offered a suggestion.

"Lillian's the Spirit of Spring, right? What if there are Spirits for other seasons?"

Jamie's eyes brightened at that.

"Wow, cool! You think one was at the store?!"

He was so impressed in fact, that he failed to notice the cooler on the ground by Jack's lake and tripped on it, face planting right by the water.

"Ooh, what's that?" Monty asked as he approached it.

"Looks like trash to me," Pippa offered.

Jamie sat up and eyed the cooler suspiciously.

"Is it just me, or is this trash talking in squeaky voices?"


Author's Note: I think we all know where I was contemplating stopping the story before. Aren't you glad I decided that would be too evil and write a little more? :) I also know "nina" is supposed to have ~ above it, but I'm not proficient enough to figure it out on my keyboard, so you'll have to forgive me for leaving the ~ out over the N. Just pretend it's there. Also, the highly amused part of me could see Jamie and his friends stuffing the Winter Sprites in Jamie's freezer out of desperation. I wonder what they'll do with them?

Also! The next chapter will finally reveal the dark spirit's name and we'll see some action! So be prepared for some BAM! POW! ZAP! to be coming up. (You're supposed to imagine those words in epic comic format, or else them showing up like they do in super old shows, like the really old Batman. I could see Lillian finding the series somewhere and binge watching them all, and then boring everyone silly with the plot. "Hey, remember the episode where..?")

As always, if you have any suggestions I'm all ears! I could also use a little help with the dark spirit's powers, since he needs something that will differentiate him from Pitch. I want them to be somewhat similar (you'll find out why later), but they need their differences too. I also wanted to throw in that I didn't forget about the Nightmares.