Author's Note: Thanks for all the power suggestions, guys. You really helped me out with this chapter. Speaking of which, I hope I did the dark spirit justice. He also says something in this chapter that I'm tempted to elaborate on in a future chapter via a flashback. It reminded me that not all characters start off as being evil, so maybe we could see a glimpse of the dark spirit before he became what he is today. Plus I love the fluffy moments. :)

Now.. reviews!

CrossoverJunkie had a suggestion that the dark spirit's powers could involve having people relive frightening moments in their head. I literally had a "DUH" moment there, because I had read a book that involved a phantom that had that very power. I just didn't think about using it as the dark spirit's power. I was going to go with this, but then Guest suggested using decaying/decomposition as the dark spirit's power and how it pertains to balance. Maybe at one time the dark spirit was interested in keeping the balance, but now he can use that power to tip the balance into his favor.. I hope Guest doesn't mind that the dark spirit is SO going to abuse this power by using it for other things. :)

M.v.j.M wanted me to have the HP crossover chapter be its own story, and don't worry it will! I'll be working on Chapter 2 and then posting it as its own story like I did with Jamie's Ghost Hunting/UFO Adventures. Child of Spring will always be the first to be updated though, so expect slow updates on the other two. Also, did you know how easy it is to crossover ROTG/Child of Spring with.. well, anything? I thought of doing a Series of Unfortunate Events crossover, since.. HELLO. Children. Rise of the Guardians. It just fits. But I don't need any more stories in the works, but.. arg. I hate my brain sometimes.

Skypeoplephoenix732 suggested that the dark spirit's powers counter another guardian's powers, like using hopelessness, etc. I decided to go with Guest's suggestion instead, but you did give me an interesting idea for waaaay in the future plot. So after this little plot is over with, and the next thing I have planned, I might go with this. So thanks for helping me to keep this story going!

And if you guys are curious, I wanted the dark spirit's powers to be not exactly like Pitch's, but still dark. If this chapter doesn't make it obvious why, then it'll explain more fully in the future.

Now on with the fic! (Also, this chapter backtracks so we can see what happened to Jack from his point of view.)

Chapter Fifty-One: Nature's Balance

A little earlier, Jack was flying through the air, his staff in one hand and the cooler in the other. He made sure to keep a firm grip on it and kept channeling small amounts of his winter magic through it, so that it would stay nice and cool for his newly rescued sprites.

It was when he was nearing North America, that he spotted it. He paused to stare at it in confusion.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked no one in particular.

It looked like.. spring flowers. Which wouldn't be that unusual since it was late spring, but there were hundreds of thousands of them and they covered the ground like a multicolored carpet.

Jack was very confused since it couldn't have been Lillian, since she was still at the Pole. Jack only hesitated for a moment more, before he took off again and silently urged the Wind to hurry.

Jack flew as fast as he could, and eventually he saw that the flowers seemed to be making a sort of wide path - straight to Burgess.

Flowers weren't dangerous, sure, but his first thought was of the kids and he didn't want anything happening to them. So just to be sure they were alright, he decided to go check it out.

Jack grew more than a little concerned as some time later, he saw that the flowers led right to his lake. He had the Wind fly him low to the ground, but he didn't land. He was somewhat grateful for his foresight when two pairs of arms snatched him right out of the air.

"What are you doing?!" Jack cried out as he struggled in their grip. "Let me go!"

Some part of his mind said that they looked a little like spirits, but that was impossible! They were dressed in a mixture of green and happy spring colors. One was a male wearing pants while the female had on a dress. If Jack hadn't been so panicked, he would have seen the mixture of shock and regret on their faces, as they realized that they hadn't captured the Seasonal Spirit that they were meant to.

The two spirits exchanged a nervous look. The male shook his head, and the female internally cringed. They had heard the rumors of the sprites that were allowed out, and also had seen it for themselves on the dark spirit's mirror: Jack Frost was close with the Guardians. Capturing him meant incurring their wrath.

"We can't," the male spirit spoke up, sounding as weary as he looked. He was so tired of everything, but he couldn't leave his fellow spirit or the other Spring Sprites.

"What?" Jack asked, looking confused as if he had misheard them. Of course they could! Right? They were the ones who grabbed them, so all they had to do was let go. Jack glanced down at the ground worriedly where the cooler was resting. He hoped his Sprites were alright.

"We're sorry!" the female spirit piped up, looking incredibly guilty. Jack looked just like a boy, after all. A teenager that wasn't quite an adult. She knew that he would suffer if they brought him back to the dark spirit, but she also knew that they didn't have any choice. "He'll know if we don't do what he wants."

"Wha?" Jack started to ask, but the other spirits quickly used their powers and they all vanished in a whirl of spring flower petals.


In the dark spirit's cave, the three spirits all appeared in a whirl of flower petals. The two Spring Spirits were holding onto Jack Frost.

The dark spirit frowned for a moment, but then he grinned. If he had Jack Frost in his command, he would be unstoppable. He had heard that Jack had given even Pitch Black a run for his money, so that meant the Frost kid had be strong. He noticed how nervous Jack looked and gave him a wicked grin.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here. A wayward snowflake, hm?" the dark spirit said as he eyed Jack.

"Let me go!" Jack demanded as he struggled harder.

The dark spirit noticed that the two Spring Sprites were having trouble holding onto Jack, so he walked over to them and plucked Jack's staff out his hands.

"I don't think so," the dark spirit said smoothly as he toyed with Jack's staff, twirling it with a smirk.

Jack's eyes widened as he saw the dark spirit playing with his staff. The dark spirit's smirk widened as he saw the sheer desperation in Jack's eyes. That smirk however, turned into a look of astonishment as Jack wrenched free of the Spring Spirits' grasp and lunged at the dark spirit, snatching his staff back.

If the dark spirit thought Jack Frost would be a pushover, he was sorely mistaken. Jack glared at the dark spirit and shot a blast of electric blue winter magic at him, aiming to freeze him into the next ice age. Obviously this was a very bad spirit, if he was into kidnapping and taking away his staff, which helped him control his powers.

The dark spirit was forced to dodge quickly, and the next few blasts that Jack shot his way. With a snarl, the dark spirit approached the remaining Winter Sprites in their cage and held out a finger to them menacingly.

"Stop this foolishness!" he commanded to Jack, and Jack froze in the middle of taking aim.

Jack, uncertain if this was some sort of trick gave the dark spirit a cocky smirk, but inside he was worried. Those sprites the dark spirit was by looked just like the two Winter Sprites he had left behind.

"Why? What can you do?" Jack asked nonchalantly as he twirled his staff. While Jack looked calm and cool, he was ready to blast off his strongest blast of winter magic if necessary. Nobody threatened his sprites.

The dark spirit gave a rather evil grin at that.

"Do you know who I am, Jack Frost?" he asked, his voice laced with dark amusement.

"Hmm.. Let me see. Black hair, dark eyes, fetish for black clothes.. Are you related to Pitch?" Jack asked with a chuckle.

The dark spirit's eyes narrowed at that.

"Don't compare me to him!" he shouted angrily at Jack. "I'm far more frightening that HE will ever be! King of Nightmares.. Bah!"

Jack blinked in surprise at the sudden outburst.

Okaaay.. Don't mention Pitch. Yeesh.

"I'm Gethen Grendal, and I'm far more frightening than Pitch Black!"

Jack couldn't help it. Really, he couldn't.

He knew the situation was very serious, but seriously..

Gethen Grendal?

Gethen wasn't particularly happy when Jack burst out laughing at the sound of his name.

In fact, he was pretty enraged. So much so that he forced open the Winter Sprites' cage and grabbed one of the last remaining Winter Spirits this time.

The Spirit's eyes widened at this and he turned large, frightened eyes on the amused Jack Frost. Why was his Seasonal laughing at Gethen? Didn't Jack know just how powerful this dark spirit was?!

Jack's laughter was abruptly cut off as he took in the site of Gethen manhandling the poor Winter Spirit.

"Let him go!" Jack glared at Gethen.

"Laugh at me will you," Gethen growled. "You don't have any idea what I can do, do you?! Everyone always underestimated me, but no more!"

Gethen's hand began to glow, and the Winter Spirit winced in pain.

"..N-no..!" the Spirit cried out.

Gethen was holding the Spirit by the arm, and the skin under Gethen's hand started to turn translucent, and then fade.

The Spirit was crying out in pain as he was starting to fade, bit by bit.

"Stop it!" Jack cried out, completely horrified at what he was seeing. "What are you doing?!"

"It's funny, isn't it?" Gethen said conversationally as if he wasn't slowly murdering a Spirit in front of Jack's eyes. "The different ways we can use our powers. For instance, you wouldn't think causing plants to decompose and die wouldn't be particularly powerful, but if you apply it to other things.."

Gethen grinned malevolently as the Winter Spirit was becoming more and more translucent. Now almost the Spirit's entire arm was translucent and barely visible. The Winter Spirit had adverted his gaze from Gethen and his arm, and had icy tears trailing down his cheeks.

"Decompose..?" Jack said. "Wait.. Decay? You make things decay?!"

"Keeps the balance of Nature, you know." Gethen said as he kept flicking his gaze from the suffering Winter Spirit to Jack Frost, who was looking horrified about the Spirit, yet a little confused about Gethen's powers.

Jack just stared at Gethen.

"You've gotta be kidding," he said in disbelief. "With everything that's going on.."

"No one appreciated me," Gethen said darkly. "I bring death and destruction. You pathetic Seasonal Spirits were always complaining! Oh boo hoo, I made your stupid Spring Flowers die. Oh boo hoo, now the Summer plants are dead. Oh no, don't kill off my precious leaves!"

"Mistral was the only one who understood. Being a bringer of death himself.. Then you had to come along! With your goodness and kindness.. and fun. Pathetic! Almost as pathetic as the 'King' of Nightmares. That should be my job! Forget the Balance, forget plants.. I can cause so many more things to fade. To decay."

Gethen flicked his gaze back to the Winter Spirit and his eyes lit up with amusement.

"Spirits, for instance."

The Spirit had been silently suffering all through Gethen's speech, and Jack's eyes widened as he saw that almost half the Spirit was nearly invisible.

"STOP IT!" Jack cried out desperately. He shot a blast of winter magic, but this time he aimed right for the Spirit, who instantly became completely visible again. The blast was so strong that Gethen's hand froze a little and he was forced to let go of the Spirit.

Gethen rubbed his frozen hand with his good one, but he smirked at Jack.

"My, how powerful you are. Think of the things we could do if we combined our powers together. A neverending ice age.. Nothing but destruction and chaos. The fear we could inflict on everyone!"

Jack aimed his staff at Gethen.

"I'll never help you!"

Gethen snapped his fingers at the Spring Spirits, who leaped at Jack.

"We'll see about that."


Jamie opened up the cooler and stared inside. The kids all crowded around Jamie to look inside the cooler too.

"Ohh, fairies!" Pippa squealed.

"Omigosh, they're so cute!" Cupcake added.

The two Winter Sprites stared up at the humans in complete shock.

No human had ever seen them before. How was this possible?

Jamie looked down at the fairies, frowning a bit as he took in their attire.

"Why do they kinda look like Jack?" he asked.

Monty pushed up his glasses for a better look.

"They have white hair and are wearing winter clothes," Monty said as he looked at them carefully. "The girl has on a scarf and earmuffs, even though it's so warm out.

Jamie very carefully stuck his hand just inside the cooler.

"Oh wow, it's really cold in there," he said as he withdrew his hand.

Neva had ducked her head at that, and Neve moved protectively in front of her, but he didn't draw out his sword. Instead, he frowned at Jamie for frightening poor Neva, although Jamie didn't seem to take notice.

Claude and Caleb looked at one another and then looked back inside the cooler.

"Maybe Jack made it cold for them," Caleb suggested.

Jamie looked confused, but then looked down at the two Sprites.

"Do you guys need cooler temperatures like Jack does?"

Neve gave a curt nod at that and then held out his hand, the palm facing upwards. It glowed a faint blue with winter magic, and single large snowflake appeared out of thin air, very intricately designed, looking more like lace than snow.

Neve rose his palm into the air and the snowflake floated up and out of the cooler to stop right in front of Jamie's face. The snowflake managed to stay in midair for a few seconds before the heat got to it and it melted in an instant.

Neve knew he shouldn't be using his powers so soon, but he had to get his point across. They weren't fairies, they were Winter Sprites. Sprites that needed the cold and not to be gawked at by human children. If he could get these kids to help him and Neva out for now.. Oh, if only another Sprite was around! They could ask for help for Jack, at least.

Jamie stared at where the single snowflake had been, and then looked down at Neve.

"You have powers.. Like Jack," he said to the Sprite. "Do you help Jack out?"

Neve nodded rapidly. Good, the kid was smart.

"Jamie," Pippa piped up. "Remember, the fairy said that they need the cold. And you're kinda letting all the cold out."

Jamie hastily snapped the cooler shut.

"I don't think that's a fairy." he said.

"Then what are they?" Cupcake asked. "They're no unicorns."

"I don't know," Jamie said as he shook his head. "But how are we going to keep them cold? And where IS Jack? If he was looking after them, why is this cooler just laying around?"

"Umm.. what about the freezer?" Monty suggested.

"We need to contact the Guardians," Pippa said. "Maybe they know what's happened to Jack."

"Or Pitch," Jamie added with a shiver. He wasn't looking forward to seeing the Boogeyman, but if it was to help Jack..

Repressing another shudder Jamie cracked open the cooler.

"Don't worry, I'm taking you home with me until we figure out where Jack is," Jamie reassured the Sprites. "I might have to stick you in the freezer for now," Jamie continued, sounding a little sheepish. "I don't have anywhere cold enough."

Neve nodded as the lid snapped shut again.

As the cooler gently rocked while Jamie was walking, Neve sat down with Neva to wait. They exchanged a look as they both sat.

It was a look that said "How can we help our Seasonal?"


Lillian stared up at the ceiling, bored out of her mind. She glanced at her door. It had been pretty quiet out there for a long time.

Nodding to herself, she got out of bed and wandered to the door. She leaned in close to it and listened.

Silence.

She carefully eased the door open and stuck her head out. With a grin, she noticed that the yeti guards that had been placed at her door were gone.

Excellent!

Now to find out what was going on with Jack. She wandered towards North's workshop when she heard the sound of voices. She quietly walked towards the voices when she heard North, Tooth and Bunny quietly conversing.

Well, North and Tooth were quiet while Bunny was fuming.

"We shouldn'ta let 'em go by themselves! They've been gone fer too long and so has Jack! We haven't even heard a whisper of what's goin' on!"

"I could send some of my fairies out to look around," Tooth suggested. "They can somewhat converse with Seasonal Sprites, so maybe they could find some and figure out what's going on."

Lillian blinked as she heard that. She was standing near the entrance way to the globe room, trying very hard not to be seen.

Lillian drew back as a yeti suddenly raced into the globe room. He was waving his arms around and speaking quickly to North in garbled yetish.

"What?!" North exclaimed. "What do you mean is spring flowers all over by North America? Is near Jack's lake too?"

Lillian blinked at that. Only a Seasonal would be powerful enough to make so many spring flowers like that. But she was the only Spring Seasonal, right?

Jack's lake.. Did it have anything to do with Jack being gone? Maybe there would be a clue about his disappearance!

Lillian brightened, but then her shoulders slumped. She couldn't make her Giant Flower of Doom to get there. She pouted for a minute, but then brightened again as she thought of one mode of transportation.

Santa wouldn't mind too much, right?

Lillian quietly snuck away to where North kept his snow globes. She looked up at the cabinet appreciatively as it was stocked full of snow globes. She had to find something to stand on to reach them, but she managed to snag a couple.

Lillian whispered to one of the snow globes and as Phil entered the room, he saw the bright flash of a portal fading out.

He wasn't too concerned until he saw a flash of pink going through it.

Where was Lillian?!


Pitch was finishing up his tea, and a look of concern crossed his face.

"What is the matter?" Mother Nature asked, picking up on it right away.

"Something is terribly wrong," he said as he stood. "I should go. We still have to find Jack.."

Mother Nature nodded.

"I have my own investigations to do," she said. "The Balance of Nature is very off, and I need to see my Seasonals to see if they have anything to report on it."

Pitch looked down at Sandy who didn't look all that happy about traveling through the shadows again, but Pitch didn't much care what he thought of that. He looked back at Mother Nature.

"If you see Jasper before I do, make sure you ask about Jack."

Mother Nature nodded.

"Of course I shall, Father." she said, and gave him a small smile.

Pitch returned the smile and before long he and Sandy where disappearing into the shadows again.

Even though he was very worried about Jack, a small part of his heart swelled with warmth. Maybe now he could have three children in his life.


Author's Note: I tried to include a little something with everyone in this chapter. I felt bad Pitch was being left out, so we get to see a little bit of him with Mother Nature at the end. So do you think Mother Nature will join Pitch's little family? It would be cute seeing her having little fluffy moments with Pitch, Jack and Lillian in the future.

I have a feeling that I'm abusing Guest's suggestion and he/she probably didn't mean for Gethen to use his powers like that. Also, on Gethen's name. His first name is.. I don't remember what language, but it means darkness. The last name is just something totally random that google helped me out with. I'm not very good at naming things, so.. hopefully it's not too lame.

If you guys have any plot suggestions, I'm all ears. If you couldn't tell, things got off track with the last chapter when Jack got kidnapped instead. Sometimes things don't always go according to plan. :) Now I wonder what will happen with Lillian!