Jack smiled as he walked down a street in Burgess on Halloween night. Cheerful kids in colorful costumes ran from door to door, collecting candies. He loved this holiday. The enthusiasm, the fun, the laughter. This was a night to dress as scary monster and try to frighten others for the amusement of everyone involved. Tonight, children laughed in the face of fear.
Jack had often walked through the streets of various towns on Halloween, but there was something special, this time. A year and a half after Pitch's defeat, enough children here in Burgess could see him that Jack had seen fit to wear a costume of his own.
A child dressed as superman spotted him and stopped, staring with a bemused smile. Jack walked to the kid, taking a chocolate egg from his basket as the little superman's eyes shifted from the just above his head to his basket and finally to the top of his staff. The winter spirit dropped the egg into the bag already partially filled with candy and ruffled his hair.
"Happy Easter."
The kid's startled laugh made his smile widen as he continued on his way, looking for more children to distribute his eggs to. The colorfully warped chocolate eggs were hard to find, this time of the year, but he knew the best person to ask for any Easter related supplies. Bunny had been suspicious, but had liked the idea of giving out Easter chocolates on Halloween.
While the children went around collecting candies, he collected smiles and giggles. No freezing weather accompanied him this time. The kids would not appreciate having to dress more warmly, hiding their beautiful costumes from sight to avoid Jack Frost nipping at their nose.
"Easter Bunny hop, hop, hop!"
He grinned widely at the familiar words and turned to see a little blond fairy in a green dress come running up to him. He kneeled on the sidewalk and leaned his staff on his shoulder as he opened his arms wide, waiting for Sophie to throw her arms around his neck. She hugged him close for a few seconds before grabbing the bunny ears from his head and putting them on hers. He chuckled when they slipped off and she had to hold them in place.
"Are you here all alone, Tinker Bell?"
"No. Jaime's here. You need to see, Jack!"
She grabbed his hand and dragged him away, bunny ears forgotten. He grabbed the fluffy white things as they fell off and placed them back on his head. She led him to where a blushing Jamie was standing, staring at his feet. Jack stifled a laugh as he took in the kid's brown pants, white wig and blue hoodie decorated with little snowflakes. He was holding a staff made out of a broomstick and some cardboard.
"Nice costume, Jamie."
"H-hi, Jack. I wasn't expecting you to be here. It's early."
Jack wondered if Jamie might have chosen a different costume, had he known he would be there.
"What, and miss my first chance to distribute candies on Halloween?"
Jamie raised his head and actually looked at him, at the fluffy bunny ears on his head, the basket full of chocolate eggs and the black cheerleader's pom-pon tied to his staff with yellow and purple ribbons and artfully frozen around the crooked end in the shape of a paintbrush. The kid burst out laughing.
"Are you supposed to be the Easter Bunny? You don't look anything like him."
"That's half the fun."
Jack doubted Bunny would appreciate his sloppy costume. That just made him smile. He picked two eggs from his basket and dropped them into their bags with a wink.
"Happy Easter."
He left Tinker Bell and Jack Frost to continue on their way to meet up with Jamie's friend. As he wandered through the town, he could recall that, not long ago, he had been fighting nightmares in these same streets. But tonight the scary monsters roaming the streets laughed as they collected candies from smiling adults and accepted his colorfully warped eggs with wide grins.
Pitch would hate Halloween night. And that, too, made Jack smile.
