Jack sighed sadly. The last month had been so boring. He perched on his staff and gazed at a group of kids laughing and playfully pushing each other around. North was so busy preparing for Christmas the next month that when Jack visited, the man was so distracted he hardly noticed whether Jack was talking or not. Bunny wasn't the easiest guardian for Jack to talk to. They usually ended up arguing about one thing or another. Tooth… she was nice but a little too excitable around teeth for Jack's taste. And Sandy was great but not much of a conversationalist.
Jack formed a snowball in his hand and watched the kids in front of him and contemplated. Did they need to be encouraged to have more fun or was he just feeding his mischievous side? He shrugged not really caring and tossed the snowball at the quietest child and started a heated snowball fight. He smiled warmly at the sound of loud giggling and playful arguments. Jack hopped off his staff and snatched it out of the small hole he'd made. He walked calmly through the kids and made some ammo for them to use and smirked at a particularly well played dodge and sneak attack.
He looked up and noticed a little boy watching the snowball fight. He looked nervous about something. Jack bit his lip considering if he should throw a snowball of fun at the boy. But before he could make up his mind he noticed someone already walking over to the boy. A very distinctive someone with half a head of black hair and half a head of white hair. Danny, the Spirit of Fear. Danny crouched beside the boy and put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder and muttered a few things before standing up and smirked as the child walked over cautiously.
Jack watched and waited to see what the boy was going to do. The boy walked over to a hiding girl and tapped her shoulder.
"Can I join you guys?" he asked softly. The girl grinned.
"Of course you can. You can cover me. I'm Jill. You're new right?" The girl answered brightly. The boy nodded with a nervous smile.
"I'm Charlie. I moved here a few days ago," the boy replied and scooped up a handful of snow and handed it to Jill before making another snow ball for himself. Jack smiled happily at the sight before stumbling back from getting hit by a snowball himself. He straightened up and searched for the culprit before noticing Danny smirking at him, casually tossing a second snowball into the air and catching it with the same hand.
"Hey snowman. That's twice I've gotten you now, right?" Danny recalled cockily. Jack laughed.
"It doesn't count when I'm not looking Danny. How have you been?" Jack greeted, discretely creating his own snowball behind his back. Danny shrugged.
"Pretty busy to be honest. Pitch had a little trouble a couple of weeks back with a group of vicious nightmares in Russia. And Diana's finding her new home difficult," Danny replied conversationally. Jack frowned sympathetically.
"Yeah, I was sad to hear that she moved away from Burgess," Jack commented, fiddling with the snowball behind his back. Danny nodded slowly.
"Yeah, it was hard for her. But on a brighter note, Stephan finally got over his fear of the dark. Now I'm working on his fear of dentists. Not the easiest fear to help with but I'll get there," Danny retorted with a smile.
Jack smiled and unexpectedly threw his snowball at Danny. Danny flickered intangible and the snowball sailed harmlessly through him and landed on the pavement and threw his own snowball at Jack, hitting the winter spirit in the chest.
"No fair!" Jack exclaimed in disbelief. Danny laughed.
"You need to be a lot better than that Jack. Turning intangible like that is practically instinct for me by now," Danny informed him and with a twirl of his hand created another snowball.
Jack huffed playfully annoyed. Danny laughed.
"So… er, did you ever reconsider becoming a guardian?" Jack ventured. Danny blinked in surprise before shrugging.
"Never really thought about it. At first I didn't want to be a guardian because I didn't want to get close to anyone. That and since I died I really hate being ordered to do anything. But seeing how you guys interact… it's not like that, I know that now. But you don't need me now anyhow," Danny answered softly, juggling the snowball from one hand to the other distractedly. Jack frowned.
"Why? I don't get why you were so against it," Jack inquired. Danny smiled sadly.
"I think it was because I still hadn't come to terms with being dead. I was bitter about it. But now that I said a proper goodbye to at least some of my friends… I guess I feel better about it," Danny explained quietly. Jack nodded.
"Did you go back like you said?" Jack asked. Danny nodded.
"Yeah, it was nice to talk to them. But I can't visit them like you visit Jamie. It's not fair on them. But I did agree to visit every Hallowe'en in case they really need to talk to me," Danny answered. Jack smiled sympathetically at Danny.
Danny lazily tossed the snowball he made to one side.
"What about you? I see you started a snowball fight," Danny broke the silence and nodded to the escalating snowball fight behind Jack with a smile. Jack glanced at the fight and laughed.
"Yeah, wasn't sure if I should or not but I had nothing else to do. North is really busy and Bunny and I don't really get on. Tooth and Sandy… they're alright but they usually really busy," Jack informed Danny. Danny nodded slowly. He glanced at the sky and bit his lip.
"I'm sorry Jack but I need to go and check on Abby in Australia. She has a big play on and she was kind of forced into it. She has really bad stage fright," Danny apologised and frowned sadly at Jack as he deflated. Danny glanced at the kids.
"But, if you want to… it's summer there but you could come with me and then depending on how long it takes to calm her down, I might be able to take you up on that offer of a snowball fight," Danny suggested. Jack looked at Danny and grinned appreciatively.
"You don't mind?" Jack retorted quickly. Danny laughed.
"Of course not. As long as you don't distract me too much, it's fine. But I'll warn you… I'm not an easy opponent in a snowball fight," Danny warned with a mischievous grin. Jack laughed.
"Challenge accepted," Jack announced happily. Danny chuckled and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder.
"Remember, you wanted to come. Sorry for the dizziness," Danny muttered as Jack suddenly recalled that Danny would teleport as they disappeared in a puff of green mist.
So, that's really the end of the story. After all the story started with Danny becoming a guardian, and now he's accepted it.
Until the next chapter.