Falling into step with Bunny, Jack muttered. "What was that about?"

The rabbit shrugged. "Not sure really, somethin about a couple elves getting inta Fable's library. Never seen her so angry before. Honestly, when she came after North, I put ma money on her."

His statement made Jack laugh. "Seriously, you bet on her!?"

The pair watched as Fable tightened the straps of her bag, all the while chatting with Tooth. She was smiling now, even laughing in the exchange, Frost had to admit she had a pretty laugh. It reminded him of chiming icicles that hung from the branches of trees. "Ya shouldn't underestimate her Snowy, her books aren't her only minions ya know."

Jack fingered his staff thoughtfully, "What do you mean?"

Going down on all fours, Bunny made to join the rest of the group. Glancing over his shoulder he said. "Think about how she pulled us into her journal, the best storyteller can do more than just pull a listener in."

Frost blinked, could she really do something like that? "Have you seen it?"

Bunny paused and sat up on his haunches "Once, a long time ago."

His words came out with a hint of fear, but not the kind that was spurred by Fable, more like he was afraid for her. Bunny's ears twitched and he turned and continued on his course, coming to stand with Fable. Jack came last and watched as North muttered something to his snow globe and threw it through the air. The gateway opened before the group. "Still not understand why we don't just take sleigh."

North groused as Fable was about to step through. Pulling back she replied. "It's morning in New York, and its five months before Christmas. We're trying to be subtle North. Also, Bunny hates the sleigh, and I hate Bunny's portals."

Jack snickered, already enjoying the fond memory of his vengeance. The knowledge spirit's posture stiffened, but she didn't give him the pleasure of acknowledgment past that. "Why you hate Bunny's portals?"

Fable kept her eyes focused on North when next she spoke. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Frost sauntered over, crook resting lazily on his shoulder "Someone's embarrassed."

With that, he jumped into the swirling mist of the portal, before she could put a word in.

Jack found himself in a dank and dark passage of the lesser friendly park of New York. A place that made the winter spirit grateful that he was invisible to most; in any other situation he would have felt nervous in this hole. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned to find Fable pulling herself through from the threshold of the portal. When she realized that she was using Frost as a means to anchor herself into the alley, she pulled away as if she had just been burned. "Not really touchy feely are ya?"

Passing him up, she made for the mouth of the alley and looked up and down the streets, calling over her shoulder. "I reckon you're a special case Snow Cone, I'd rather not dirty myself by touching you."

While the others were coming through, Frost approached her. "Seriously, what's your problem with me, I haven't done anything?!"

Stepping back, Fable looked the winter spirit up and down. "I use to be a fire elemental Frosty Cakes, it's only natural that you and I clash."

She tried to return to the group, only to have Jack grab her shoulder and keep her in place. "But you're not a fire elemental anymore…"

Shrugging him off, Fable's eyes narrowed. Her words came out in a hurried list. "Alright then, you annoy me, you're overly cheerful to the point where it's simply unnatural, you give snow days willy-nilly. I don't mind them from time to time but you give them too often and with countries like the North America cutting back of school funding, the children don't need any more days composed of rotting their brains in front of a television."

He stared at her for a long time. "Cutting back on school funding?"

Fable threw her arms up in the air, and then turned and went to join the other four Guardians. "Honestly, do you ever pick up a newspaper!?"

Jack was hot on her heels, despite her hurtful words; she was still fun to annoy. "Nope"

He popped the 'p,' relishing in the look of exasperation. A smile curved his lips. "Personally I prefer to do my reading via iPad or Kindle."

At his words, Fable froze, slowly her head turned, her eyes were on the verge of popping out of her sockets. "I suppose those are really putting you out of business. I heard they've stopped printing the Webster Dictionary, ouch, this whole advancement in technology might make you and your books a bit….Oh what's a word you would use? Obsolete?"

The look on her face was enough to confirm that Frost had overstepped more than a few boundaries. Fable actually looked very hurt by his words. Tooth flitted over; fixing Jack with a look that would resemble a mother scolding her child. "Jack!"

Fable put her hand up. "It's fine Tooth, paybacks a bitch and so is Climate change…No offense North."

Giving Jack one last look, composed of mostly hurt and anger, she beckoned the Guardians to follow her out of the alley, talking as she did so, mostly about Lydia and where the child lived. Jack hung back for a moment; with a second he felt a paw hit him at the back of the head "Real nice Frostbite."

He wasn't given a chance to retort, Bunny had already hopped ahead to join the group. With a sigh, Jack alighted and flew after them, pondering how he was going to apologize to Fable . Frost hadn't meant any harm in it, if anything he meant everything he said there to be banter, but now that he thought about it, he found that what he had said resembled what Bunny had said to him when Manny had first decided that the winter spirit join their ranks as a Guardians five years ago. Jack knew that if Fable came at him with a textbook, he deserve every wallop to the head she delivered.

Author's Note: Yes, the thing about the Webster Dictionary is true, I believe they stopped printing it a couple years back. It's sad because computers can be hacked and memories on them wiped clean, while books have the possibility of lasting. The dictionary also shows the progression in words in both spelling, meaning, et cetera in the Modern English language, it had such a history. The reason I made this a bit more hurtful than humorous is due to the fact that if I were Fable, I wouldn't be to dismissive of the possibility of the written word being transferred to something like an iPad. Where books have the possibility of lasting for eons to comes, things like laptops and ipads burn out within the next few years... Now add the complete and total transfer of literature to ipads, kindles, and laptops... Doesn't sound good huh?

So, I am on my second week of the Winter Term, and yes, I am still very tired, but thanks to a lack in huge essays its not all that bad. My classes are good, I have friends in two of them, and a particularly handsome gentleman in the third, which of course will make the two hour class time fly by. Also, Arion is working wonderfully, I brought him with me to class today to take notes in my Film class seeing that a light up keyboard is incredibly useful when sitting in the pitch black (giggle) of a classroom. Anyway, life is good on my end, working hard and preparing for Wizard-Con next month. :)

Anyway, tell me what you all think, seriously I love the reviews you guys send me, it makes my day, and I'm always looking for ideas from you guys. And if you guys wanna draw something from this or create a sort of one-shot AU fic, just tell me, I'd love to read/see it.