October

Phil made his rounds to the other Guardians; Sandman, Toothiana, and the Easter bunny; passing on North's message to them. They too had been so caught up in work that they had forgotten what night it was; Tooth as usual was working around the clock and on extra alert, since candy and cavities didn't go together, and Sandman was working by curfew since not every child was asleep. Phil never found Jack, even on his visit to Burgess to look for the younger Guardian. So he returned to the Workshop. Upon entering the portal, he wondered if he should turn back and look for Jack for a little bit longer, just to be sure the boy would be okay on his own for the night. Jack's a tough boy. He'll be fine, he thought finally. And anyways, Pitch might not even show up tonight...

Almost as if on cue, the Guardian of Fun, flew over the skies of Burgess, the wind carrying him carefully and fluidly so that he could watch the children run around in their costumes and buckets. He seemed to absorb their laughter, thrive off of it, and began to laugh a little himself. It was only natural for him. Jack dove down, slipping soundlessly through the branches of a tree next to the sidewalk, and landed softly on a branch close enough to the ground so that he could hear everything that anyone who passed underneath happened to say. Keeping his staff in the crook of his elbow and hands stuffed in his hoodies front pocket, he sat on the branch, leaning his back against the tall trunk.

Sure enough, some laughing children crossed under the branch; one girl dressed as a cliché witch in sneakers, and two boys dressed as a costume superhero and a lizard monster; all carrying buckets and bags in their hands.

Jack leaned forward a bit to peer inside their buckets as they neared and nearly fell off of the branch trying to see. The kid's buckets were full of candies in orange and black wrappers, festively packaged. "Let's go to the Mayfield house. I heard they give out candy apples!" one of the boys said. "Yeah, okay. Then I'm going home. It's getting too cold out here and I didn't bring my jacket." Jack raised a curious eyebrow. Grinning to himself, he tipped his staff towards the children and sent a cold breeze towards them. The sudden gust of chilly air knocked the witch's hat off of the girl's head, tossed the superhero's cape, and tilted the buckets in such a way that a few pieces of the children's candy fell out and onto the sidewalk.

The children hurried to collect their candy and moved on mumbling about 'the stupid wind'. Jack laughed, knowing they couldn't hear him, when something caught his eye near the grass in the shadowed part of the walkway. He gently dropped from the branch and picked up the candy that had somehow made its way over there. Jack brushed the little blades of grass that spotted the wrapper, and inspected the label. The picture on the wrapper suggested chocolate. Jack couldn't remember the last time he's eaten candy before. Of course, he didn't really remember everything from his life before he became Jack Frost, but not once did the memory a bite of sugary junk register itself in his head.

Shrugging, Jack opened the wrapper, and carefully peeled the brown covering from around the chocolate cup. Biting into it, he recognized the first taste on his tongue as chocolate. Whether it was milk or dark, he couldn't tell; he didn't remember either of those flavors.

The next taste was peanut butter, which he decided he didn't like very much because it was so dry and left him parched. He threw away the candy and went off in search of another agenda.

Jack found himself at the front lawn of the Bennet house, wondering if Jamie and Sophie were home. He hadn't asked his first believer what he was doing for Halloween; he hadn't had the chance to come see him yet. Now, he floated to Jamie's bedroom window and looked inside. There was the brown headed boy, helping his little sister into a set of plastic fairy wings covering in glitter. Jack smiled and tapped on the glass. Jamie looked up and nudged Sophie. "Jack! You're here!" Jamie said, opening the window and letting the winter spirit inside. "Course I'm here. It's almost winter." Jack regarded Jamie's pirate costume and asked, "You guys are going trick or treating too?" Sophie jumped up and down, bouncing in her little pink dress and wings. The little silver tiara on her head nearly fell off. "I'm the tooth fairy! Blood and gums!"

Jack laughed so hard that he nearly fell off of the windowsill. Sophie remembered exactly what the real Tooth Fairy had told her a few months earlier when she showed the little girl the teeth in the Warren. He would definitely have to remember to tell Tooth. Jamie shrugged with his snaggletoothed smile. "She wanted to be the Tooth Fairy." Sophie continued to smile and laugh, clutching her little plastic wand in one hand and her trick or treating bucket in the other. From another room, Mrs. Bennet called, "It's almost time for fairies and pirates to go trick or treating! Last minute checks everyone!" Jamie called back to her, and then turned excitedly to Jack. "You'll come trick or treating with us, right? I mean, we'll get lots of great candy and Mom always lets us eat some of it before bed. It'll be fun!"

Sophie chimed in, "Fun, fun!" Jamie rolled his eyes. "She should've been a parrot." Jack smoothed the little girl's wild blonde hair down and placed her tiara back on her head. "Nah, she's pretty cute as the tooth fairy." Sophie began bouncing again and the tiara threatened to fall off once more. Jack sighed with a smile. "I've got nothing else to do...I'll meet you two outside." He said, and disappeared out the window.

Watching the world through golden eyes, a tall thing, a figure in the shape of a human stood on the top of an unlit building. But it was most certainly not a human; far from it. His skin was an unhealthy gray, and his eyes were deep and sunken in. He stared up at the sky and inhaled, breathing like it was the first breath of fresh air he'd savored in quite a long time. It probably was; he'd been in a hole fighting for his life for the past few months. He smiled weakly. "Ahhh..." he exhaled. "A night of fear, all across the world. Finally, the night that celebrates the fear of humanity. A night that celebrates me." He laughed softly. "It's almost sweet. But," he looked at the moon in the sky. "It's not the time for all that. It is time for me to regain myself. This is the night that the world will be cloaked in darkness."

The figure raised his arms and the glow of the moon began to dwindle. The Man in the moon struggled to shine his beams through the black clouds beginning to cover his protective view. "And the best part? They won't even realize it."

Sorry, it's kind of short. In which Jack goes trick or treating and Pitch returns.

-AC