Author Note: I'm sorry it took me so long to update. I had a tiny bit of writer's block when it came to Jamie's mom, but shortly after admitting I wasn't sure what to do about her (having her find out about the Guardians and things and what's really going on or keep her in the dark for now?), I decided what to do. So I'm happy to say that I came to a resolution, which you should see when you read the chapter. I didn't mean to leave it on such a cliffhanger, but in the interest of not keeping you guys waiting any longer, I decided to post what I had. The resolution of the fight and everything with Gethen should be pretty long if the next chapter goes the way I was thinking it would go, so I decided to split it up instead of posting one super long chapter.

Now, reviews!

CrossoverJunkie: Glad to see that you haven't given up on the story, even if it does take forever for me to post. :) Thanks for the advice on what to do! I hope your trip was fun too.

KijoKuroi: That is one of the nicest things someone has said about this story! Thank you. That really warmed my heart.

Technow: No, I'm sorry. I have no idea what Beowulf is. I believe at the the time I just needed a good sounding evil name and literally googled something like "evil names" and that just happened to pop up in a list, no explanation on where it came from. I liked the first name Gethen and just thought Grendal could be a silly last name for him, since all the Seasonals have last names. So while I would love to do a Beowulf reference in honor of Gethen's name, I don't think I'd do it justice since I have no idea about any of it. (The fact that it seems to suit him is also incredibly ironic, btw.) And no, unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to Trollhunters. I'm so behind on all my shows! I still haven't watched the last few episodes of A Series of Unfortunate Events yet.

Also, a big thanks to everyone who has faved and followed this story. Even if you don't leave a review, you are secretly poking me with guilt and reminding me that people are still interested in the story, even if it does sometimes take forever for a new chapter to come out. Don't worry, there WILL be an ending to the story. I will not leave it hanging, unfinished and sad. Besides, there is still a lot of plot yet, and I admit, I'm super excited still for what will come AFTER this particular plot with Gethen.

So now.. On with the story! Finally!

Oh, and forewarning: There is a lot of skipping around in this chapter, so you can see what everyone is up to. Time might skip around a little too, to show you what certain characters were doing as things geared up. Sorry if it's confusing.

Chapter Fifty-Five: Winter vs. Spring

Pitch grumbled at Lillian's exclamation.

"What about Jack's sprites?" Pitch started to ask, but Lillian had wriggled out of his grasp and rushed out of Jamie's room.

"Lillian!" Pitch called, then halted as Jamie mumbled in his sleep and rolled over. He gave Jamie a deer-in-the-headlights look for a moment, before Jamie settled back down.

He breathed a sigh of relief and then hurried out of the room after Lillian. Tooth had already rushed off with Baby Tooth, claiming that she still had so many teeth to collect and..!

Pitch had pretty much tuned her out as he hurried off after Lillian.

Lillian had tromped down the stairs and rushed to the kitchen, not paying Jamie's mom any attention, as she sat glued to the tv in the living room, watching a weather report on the news.

She hurriedly grabbed the cooler that had the sprites in it out of the freezer, when she noticed that she had her bracelet back.

This was awesome.

Now she could go find Jack!

Her excitement faded however, when she realized she had no idea as to where he was. How would she find him?

Meanwhile, Pitch was frozen at the bottom of the stairs, as he could clearly see Jamie's mom sitting in the living room and he had a strong feeling that she would be able to see him. He frowned in consternation, as he didn't exactly remember when she had seen him, but he just knew she could.

"Oh my goodness!" Jamie's mom exclaimed, and Pitch stared as Lillian came rushing into the room. Lillian looked inquisitively at Jamie's mom and then turned to look at the report on TV.

Lillian gasped loudly, but Jamie's mom never heard her. The reporter on TV was talking about the impending blizzard in California and how devastating it was going to be.

That's where Jack was. Lillian didn't know what Jack was up to, but she knew she had to stop him.

She looked around and spotted Pitch trying to silently get her attention. She hurried over and passed him the cooler, but made sure to stay out of arm's reach.

"I have to go to Jack," Lillian said looking apologetic. The floor had a big flower sprout out of it as Lillian's bracelet began to glow brightly. "I'll be careful!" she called out as the flower ate her up and vanished without a trace.

Pitch actually growled in frustration, but immediately regretted it as he heard footsteps. He hastily moved away from the staircase and was almost to a shadow to disappear into, when he heard Jamie's mom scream.

Great.


Bunny had returned to the globe room not long after Pitch and Tooth had left. He had just come from Lillian's room after a frantic Phil had tried garbling something at him and he was not pleased to see that not only was she missing, but so was Pitch! Which meant he ran off by himself again.

Grumbling to himself about annoying spirits and their stubbornness, he glanced over at the globe as he so often did, and then he stopped and stared with a gasp.

He could clearly see one blue light on the way to California and the other, which was so far away, seemed to blink in an instant to Burgess along with a regular light. As Bunny watched, the blue light there vanished and reappeared in California. No, what drew his attention was that Jack's light was growing dimmer and around his light, so were hundreds of other children's.

What was going on?!


Mother Nature paced in her palace. She could feel the winter magic pouring from Jack and frowned. This was definitely not good. She knew from Sandy and Pitch that Jack was missing, and now he was using so much of his powers.

She glanced out one of her windows as if expecting to see snow, but she saw nothing to indicate the increasingly turbulent weather.

As she continued her pacing, she suddenly felt a huge surge of spring magic. She stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes widened. She felt Winter clash with Spring, and her dread grew. What was going on?!

With a swirl of petals and leaves, she hastily disappeared from the palace. She knew she had to find her children, or else the world would be doomed. With that much power from two seasons being released at the same time, she knew that a lot of people would be hurt. Not to mention the damage it would do to the planet.

She had to hurry!


Pitch hastily shoved the cooler containing the Winter Sprites into a shadow, hoping Jamie's mom wouldn't notice that. He winced when he heard the sharp intake of breath.

"M-Mr. Pitch?" Jamie's mom asked shrilly. "Wait.. Did you just have your hand in the wall?!"

Pitch hastily moved his hand away from the wall, having successfully shoved the cooler into the shadow, thankfully.

"Ah.. no, of course not. Who could possibly do that?" he said rather lamely. "Anyway, I'm sorry to disturb you so late.. It's.. it's just that your door was open, and.. ah.." he gestured at the front door, which was closed. "I.. was wondering if you've seen my eldest, Jack? He's.. sort of.. snuck off on me."

Jamie's mom calmed down a bit and then looked confused at Pitch's nervous and halting explanation of why he was in her home.

"No.. I.. don't even know what he looks like?" she said, very confused.

Pitch could have smacked himself. Why did Lillian have to run out into the living room anyway?! And why could Jamie's mom see him and not any of the other spirits?! This was very irritating.

Pitch opened his mouth to continue with his terrible explanation, but just then the tv caught his attention.

"Conditions appear to be deteriorating as the blizzard continues to get worse!" the poor weatherman stated. Apparently the station was showing the weatherman who was on location and bundled up as best he could.

The weatherman winced suddenly as thunder boomed as loud as a cannon and lightning crackled all around.

"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed. "The blizzard is turning into a.. a.. sort of thunder snow!"

But all Pitch could see was Jack hovering in the air behind the weatherman, and Lillian, who had just arrived via the giant flower, yelling at Jack and waving her arms.

When Jack shook his head, Lillian's bracelet began to glow and then the real storm began.

Jamie's mom noticed that Pitch was distracted and looked at the tv as well.

"Oh my gosh," she said, her eyes getting wide. "I've never seen a storm that bad, let alone in California!"

She tore her gaze away from the tv, to see that Pitch still looked very distraught.

"I'm sure your son is just out with his friends," she said consolingly to him. "He's a teenager, right? I'm sure he'll be home before you know it. Do you want some tea?"

Pitch vaguely nodded, barely hearing her. All he could do was stare at Lillian and Jack on the screen.

"Have a seat," Jamie's mom said as she gestured at the couch.

Soon they were both sitting side by side on the couch, sipping their tea as they watched the weirdest weather phenomenon California had ever seen.

"You know, sometimes it's like the weather has a mind of its own," Jamie's mom, Lauren, commented.

Pitch made a strangled noise as lightning struck perilously close to Jack and hastily drank some of his tea.

He wanted desperately to disappear into a shadow and appear where Jack and Lillian were, but he couldn't do that with Lauren right there. The poor woman would probably have a nervous breakdown.

But as he stared at the epic showdown on the screen, he knew that he had to do something.

Soon.


In the globe room at North's, a rather nondescript cooler suddenly flew out of a shadow in the corner by the globe and went skidding across the floor, before coming to a stop near Bunny's foot.

"I can't believe..!" Bunny was fuming at North. Bunny, North and Tooth had all been having a serious discussion about some spring flowers randomly appearing in Burgess earlier, only to have Pitch and Tooth disappear on them later.

Tooth had shown back up not that long ago to say that Pitch was now with Lillian, and after dropping Jamie back at his house, she was certain that Pitch was going to go off on his own and search for Jack himself.

Which is precisely what the Guardians had all scolded him for before, but apparently Pitch was a very slow learner.

Or he just didn't like listening to them.

Bunny was certain that Pitch was doing it on purpose just to spite them, and he was bemoaning the fact that they had absolutely no idea where to look for them and..!

Bunny was stomping his feet and waving his arms about how selfish Pitch was to just take off on them with no notice, when his gaze fell on the globe. Specifically, the blue lights he could see on the globe.

He stopped mid-rant and could have smacked himself.

"The lights!" he exclaimed, while rushing over to the globe. North hurried over as well, and they soon spotted both of the blue lights in.. California?

"Look, Bunny! Many lights are dimming!" North said in dismay.

"Crikey, look at 'em all.." Bunny said, his ears drooping a bit as light after light grew more dim all around the blue lights.

"And blue light! Is getting dim too, no?" North said as he indicated one of the blue lights.

The blue lights had gotten stronger since everything that had happened, but they tended to bounce around from dim to semi-bright, back to dim again. Since Jack and Lillian had gotten friendlier with the Guardians, they had tended to be more bright. But now one of them seemed to be in trouble.

Bunny's ears went back up again and he squared his shoulders.

"Right," he said. "We gotta go there and help 'em out. 'Sides, it's a good bet that Pitch is already there."

"Da," North agreed. "We can take sleigh!"

Bunny blanched at that.

"Mate, my tunnels are more safe - " Bunny started, but was cut off as North grabbed his arm and dragged him off.

Phil poked his head out from his work room as he could hear Bunny's very loud protests all the way to the sleigh.


Sandy was floating high above a city, with streams of golden dreamsand shooting out in every direction. He was still very worried about where Jack was, but he had eventually left the Pole to go spread his dreams.

He was very distracted however, and then he started to get the strange wishes.

Wow! I wish it would keep snowing! This is awesome!

I wish school would get cancelled tomorrow!

I wanna build a snowman! I wish Mommy would let me go outside!

Sandy looked perplexed, since wasn't it still May? Sure, the weather had been strange lately..

He shook his head and went on to another city to spread dreams. He kept half an ear out for the wishes, hoping he could decipher the child spirits' wishes from the rest. And sure enough, the wishes began to change..

I wish the snow would stop!

I wish the sun would come out!

I wish Jack would stop! What's wrong with him?!

Sandy's eyes widened at that last wish.

Was that Lillian?!

What did that wish mean? Was Jack behind some of the strange weather?!

I wish Lillian would listen to me..! I wish Pitch were here!

Sandy froze in midair.

That had to have been Jack's wish.

And then, at the next wish.. barely whispered as though it were more a plea, Sandy rushed off.

I wish I didn't have to do this.. Don't make me do it, Jack.


Pitch stared at the screen, watching everything unfold as he gripped his mug of tea very tightly. While Lauren thought she was watching an epic storm unfold, only Pitch could see the true battle taking place.

As he watched the showdown between Lillian and Jack, their fears rang out to him.

What if I can't stop this blizzard? What if I fail my sprites?!

I don't want to fight Jack.. I wish Pitch was here!

The Guardians will hate me for spreading this blizzard..

What if I can't stop Jack? What'll happen if I fail?

Pitch winced as the continual fears poured in from both his children. Both so insecure and in need of help. He finished the last of his tea and made to stand.

Lauren or no Lauren, he had to go. Jack and Lillian needed him, and that was all that mattered.

But before he could stand, he saw a swirl of petals and leaves appear not far from where Lillian was.

As Pitch stared, he suddenly saw Mother Nature and the rest of the Seasonals appear.

Lauren, who could see none of this, made a comment on how the storm seemed to be getting worse.


Mother Nature had gone to round up her Seasonals. She could tell Jack was spreading Winter out of season and it was very perplexing for her. Why would he do such a thing? She admitted that she had no idea where Jack or Lillian were at the moment, and it seemed that Pitch didn't either, as she recalled his earlier visit with Sandy.

She sighed as she appeared suddenly at the edge of Jasper's forest. Several fall sprites twittered excitedly as they spotted Mother Nature, since she didn't ever visit the Seasonals. Normally the Seasonals had to come to her. She asked the nearest sprite to fetch Jasper for her, and soon a worried Jasper had appeared.

"What's going on?" he asked Mother Nature as he appeared suddenly in a swirl of fall leaves. Rather than walking down to her, he used his powers to magically appear nearby her. "The last I knew, Jack was taking his sprites to the North Pole."

Mother Nature looked very confused at this, since she had heard from Pitch that Jack had visited Jasper and then mysteriously vanished.

"I don't know what you mean," she said, confusion obvious in her tone. "But I can sense that Jack is spreading Winter out of season. There is a big storm brewing, and I shall need all of my Seasonals to help stop it."

Jasper ran a hand through his hair, looking very perplexed by all this.

"Jack flew away with two of his sprites in a cooler. He said he was going straight to the North Pole. Something must have happened when he left."

Mother Nature nodded at this explanation.

"Do you know where August is? I haven't been able to find him. Perhaps he is lurking around California again."

Jasper shook his head in disgust.

"No.. I wanted him to help me out with Jack, but he left."

Mother Nature looked distressed at this.

"We must hurry. It is May and there will be a big snowstorm, I can feel it."

Jasper blinked, since this was pretty insane even with all the strange weather they'd been having lately.

"Where's the storm going to be?" he asked curiously.

"..California."

Jasper rolled his eyes at this.

"That's August's favorite state! He's bound to be right there. I wouldn't be surprised if he was arguing with Jack right now."

"Then we must hurry and put a stop to this!" Mother Nature said urgently. Before Jasper could reply, she had them both vanish in a swirl of petals and leaves.

The fall sprites all looked at one another. How could their Seasonal leave without them?

The one that always wound up guarding Jasper's paints spoke up, having gone outside to eavesdrop on the conversation. She told the others that they had to help Jasper out.

Somehow, they had to get to California before it was too late.


August was with Marin in California when the first snowflakes had begun to fall. Now it was a few hours later, and the snow was falling much more thickly now, and the wind was starting to pick up. He shivered as the temperature continued to plummet down to freezing temperatures.

This was California, this wasn't right! He glanced at Marin and noticed she seemed to be shivering as well. He sighed and took hold of her hand. Marin felt a warmth spread from her hand and up her arm, and soon the warmth had spread to her whole body, warming her up.

"You should go back home," August told her sternly. He still wasn't very happy with her, but he didn't want her to freeze.

Marin shook her head. Gethen would find out if she left California, and something bad would happen to the remaining sprites. She only hoped that this blizzard meant that Gethen was too busy to pay her any attention.

"I want to stay with you!" she shouted over the howling wind.

August scowled at that.

"It's too dangerous! You'll freeze!"

Marin scowled right back at him, her sapphire eyes flashing in annoyance.

"Don't you get it?!" she shouted at August. "I can't go! He'll know I'm not listening to him and everyone will die!"

August continued to scowl, now looking angry and a bit perplexed.

"What are you - " August started to speak, but was cut off when lightning started to flash everywhere. Thunder boomed overhead like a loud explosion and the snow fell much faster and thicker than ever before. The wind began to howl as it blew more harshly, and they could feel the frigid air as it hit their skin.

Marin's eyes widened as she took in the sight of the worsening storm.


Not long after she left Pitch, Lillian's flower of doom grew bright and big in California and spit her out right in the middle of the gathering blizzard. She had guessed right on where she should appear, since she could see the tell-tale blue hoodie high up in the sky.

As she stood up, she put her hood up on her cloak as the temperature was rapidly falling. She cupped her hands around her mouth and called out to Jack.

"Jack!" she shouted at him, her voice tinged with worry. "What are you doing?!"

Jack didn't appear to hear Lillian over the Wind, or perhaps he was ignoring her, since he didn't turn in her direction or look down. He continued to try and bring the storm more under control, but as his staff glowed a bit too energetically, he could see that he was just making it worse.

"JAAACK!" Lillian shouted at the top of her lungs, and waved her arms around for emphasis. She even started jumping up and down while waving her arms. She felt a bit silly, but she had to get his attention somehow.

Jack whirled around in midair looking very startled as he saw Lillian was there. He looked very guilty for a moment but then hitched a smirk on his face. But the smirk faded when Lillian continued to shout at him.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" Lillian shouted at him some more. "STOP THIS BLIZZARD! YOU'RE GOING TO HURT A LOT OF PEOPLE!"

Jack looked at Lillian and sighed. She didn't understand anything! He shook his head at her and called down.

"I can't!" he called back as he had the wind take him lower to the ground, but not having him land, since he still had the blizzard to deal with. Why did it have to get so out of control?!

Lillian looked at Jack like he was crazy.

"You HAVE to!" she shouted back to him.

Jack shook his head in exasperation. She didn't understand! He literally couldn't with his staff the way it was.

"JAAACK!" Lillian cried out in frustration. "STOP IT! C'MON!"

Jack shook his head frantically at her.

"I CAN'T! REALLY!"

Lillian gave Jack a look of hurt and betrayal. Why would he be like this?

"Don't make me do it Jack," Lillian said more quietly, but Jack didn't respond. So with trepidation in her heart, she summoned her spring powers and held out her hand towards the sky, as her bracelet began to glow.

Jack's eyes widened at that, and then he heard a sizzle as a bolt of lightning barely missed him followed by the loudest BOOOM of thunder he head ever heard.

Jack flinched away from the lightning and stared at Lillian with wide eyes. She was attacking him?!

Lillian looked sadly at her friend, but didn't stop the assault. She flinched as another bolt of lightning almost hit Jack. She hoped she could scare him into stopping, but it didn't seem to be working.

Jack had the Wind move him just in time as he dodged the second bolt of lightning. Lillian didn't understand at all! He didn't want to freeze her, but at this point it was either freeze or be fried.

Very reluctantly, he raised his staff and pointed it at Lillian.

I'm sorry, Lillian.


Pitch stared at the screen, but decided that his children still needed him. He saw Lauren absorbed in what was to her, a very unusual weather report, but to him it was a heart attack waiting to happen.

All his children were in that horrible storm, and he had to do something. Anything!

And so, feeling slightly foolish, Pitch gave a huge gasp and stared wide eyed toward the kitchen.

"What is THAT?!" he exclaimed in what he hoped was a very surprised and worried tone of voice.

"What?!" Jamie's mom jumped up hurried over to the kitchen to look. "What is it?!"

Taking his chance, Pitch left his mug of tea on the coffee table and literally dove headfirst into the first shadow he spotted, knowing that he didn't have much time at all.

"What did you - " Jamie's mom started to ask as she turned around, but then stopped as she saw suddenly that Pitch was missing. She thought she saw a flicker of something near the coffee table, something.. black..? But dismissed it as her imagination.

She wandered over to the front door and frowned in confusion as she saw that the deadbolt was still locked.

"Mr. Pitch..?" she called out hesitantly, but she received no answer.

Where did he go?


Author's Note: Dun dun duuun. So you can see that I decided to tease Jamie's mom and not have her figure out anything or have Pitch explain anything. I'm thinking if she does find out, she'll be a bit like the mom in The Santa Clause. "Don't fly over any oceans and no leaving the continent! Be back by dinner!"

My favorite part of this chapter has to be when Pitch and Lauren are both watching the weather report and seeing two very different versions of it. Does anyone have any guesses as to who's going to help resolve everything first? Will Sandy magically show up and save the day? Will Pitch use his Adult Mode? Or will Mother Nature and the Seasonals beat everyone to it? Or maybe the Guardians will swoop in at the last minute! Hmmm. Anyway, don't worry. No innocent weathermen will be harmed in the next chapter. :) As always, if you have any ideas or suggestions, just let me know. FYI, it's been almost two years since I first posted this fic! I never thought it would go on so long.