Alaia Skyhawk: I'm just going to mention again, that there will be no OCs paired with any canon characters in this. So as cute as Jack/Yuki might have been, she's not going to be anything more than his Lieutenant and sort-of like a little sister (even if she's WAY older than him). Sorry if that disappoints anyone, but it was never something I planned to do :)

And yep, the title of this one says exactly who is going to appear in this. On a small side-note, North's sleigh at this point isn't the fancy one he uses in the film. It's the basic one that you catch a glimpse of during Pitch's "Dark Ages" speech in the film :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

~(-)~

Chapter 21: First Impressions of Santa

There was a sort of contented quiet in the Ice Palace's library, which had three more reading chairs, two more tables, and two more sets of as-yet empty shelves than had been in there a few months previous. The change was due to the room getting more use, most specifically as a classroom for reading lessons. As for who had received those lessons, from the Spirit of Winter himself, it was Yuki. The much-changed Lieutenant of Winter, who was presently seated in one of the new chairs, reading a book while several Winter Sprites snuggled around her bare feet.

Jack glanced at her, smiling at that. She took her role as Caretaker of the Winter Sprites, very seriously, and it was rare for her to be anywhere without at least one or two of them following her around. However, she was only assertive when it came to them, and only showed any real confidence whenever he or Cernunnos were around. Yuki had a long way to go to build up her confidence, but she was moving in the right direction.

Jack re-settled himself in his chair, closing the book he'd been reading. It was the fifth of December, and he'd been back here for a couple of days for a short break. That wasn't to say he'd not been to the village, in fact he'd spent most of the past two months there, but at the same time he now had a reason to come back to the Winter Sanctuary during Northern Winter. For the company of his Lieutenants, who had quickly become his good friends. For their company, which was an entirely different kind than that which he shared with his family, and with the village children.

It was turning out to be a learning experience for all three of them, for none of them were used to spending large amounts of time with other immortals. And as part of that learning experience, Jack had asked to accompany Cernunnos on the most important day of his December rounds.

Speaking of the Gifting Stag, he now walked into the library. All the doors in the Ice Palace had been enlarged to accommodate his height and his antlers, allowing him to go anywhere within the complex except for the Hall of Mirrors, since the walls around the door into there were covered with said Ice Mirrors. There was no room to make that door bigger.

Jack got up out of his chair, approaching Cernunnos who had also received a gift of attire in his new role as a Lieutenant. He now wore a harness of blue-leather straps, decorated with clear crystals and white and grey fur trim. At his shoulders the harness held a saddle-shaped piece in place which matched Jack's cloak, and where the Spirit of Winter could sit whenever the two of them are out working together. Far from being a mark of subservience to Jack, Cernunnos asked for it because it was more comfortable for him whenever he chose to carry Jack around. That and it made Jack and him both look good, like true work-partners instead of a scruffy vagabond and an oddly oversized white stag.

Jack smiled as he got closer, slinging his staff casually against his shoulder.

"Time to set off, then?"

Cernunnos nodded.

"Yes. If I am to get started in advance of North beginning his delivery run, then we need to leave now."

Jack floated up to sit on the saddle-pad astride Cernunnos' back, tucking his knees into a fold in the furs to hold himself steady. He then glanced at Yuki.

"Are you coming with us, or do you want to meet up at the final stop?"

She lowered her book and smiled, but made no attempt to rise from her seat.

"Maybe next year, when my work to 're-invent' myself in my homeland, has had some time to start taking effect. I'd rather not wander around too much until then, if I don't have sprites to shoo home."

Jack nodded in understanding.

"This is only your first Northern Winter as Lady Yuki, so don't worry if things are slow to start. People in Japan will believe in you if you give them time to learn the difference between 'Lady Yuki' and 'Yuki-onna'."

Yuki's smile remained in place. Jack and Cernunnos were the only people who could mention her past and not make her flinch in memory.

"I'll see you in North America in a few hours. Go on, before you make Cernunnos late for his job."

The stag in question chuckled, and trotted out the door.

"You heard the lady. Let's be off."

They headed out of the sanctuary, and flew northwards to the regions where Cernunnos did most of his work. He did do some work in Southern Winter, but like Jack it was so minimal that it was hardly much at all. But tonight would be his busiest night, and all thanks to the Guardian of Wonder.

He and Jack arrived in Japan at late-afternoon local time, stopping by only the poorest parts of cities, towns, and villages. At each home where the family were thinking of celebrating using food they couldn't afford to spare, Cernunnos would lightly kick a hoof against the frame of one of the doors. If the occupants of the house came to the door to see who was there, even if they couldn't actually see him, his power would be allowed to enter the house. Once there, thoughts of wasting precious food were set aside, and the family would think of a more sensible way to celebrate.

After all, food isn't what makes you truly happy, it's being with the people you care about... Although admittedly Jack helped that thought along, by flicking an occasional special snowflake at the people who answered the doors.

Cernunnos remained silent about that, but once they'd progressed eastwards around the North of the World and reached Europe, one of those snowflakes brought the entire family outside for an impromptu snowball fight.

Jack cheered them on when it started, laughing until the stag beneath him cleared his throat.

"What is it?"

Cernunnos turned his head to glance back at his passenger.

"Must you really encourage them to such levels of excitement? Such a thing is not a part of your role as the Spirit of Winter?"

Jack raised his eyebrows and folded his arms across his chest, his staff tucked in the crook of one elbow.

"So? I like spreading the Spirit of Fun, it makes them happy." He pointed at the family. "Besides, aren't they doing what you wanted them to do? Celebrate and make happy memories, that don't involve wasting food."

There was a moment of silence, and then Cernunnos leapt up into the sky to head for the next house.

"Point taken... but it still seems a bit excessive."

"Wet blanket."

Cernunnos glanced back again, to see that Jack had stuck his tongue out at him, and shook his head to himself.

"North calls me that as well, and says that I 'dampen the Christmas spirit'. That is, of course, completely untrue... He always makes sure to finish his delivery run by passing the same place every year before he heads to the North Pole. The two of us we, as you might say, 'race' each other to get there first."

Jack blinked, and then started to grin.

"You race Santa Claus, to get to all the homes where they need to save food, before he can get there and get them all worked up to the point they waste supplies they need to keep for later?" He laughed. "But how can it be a race, when you've started four hours before him?"

Cernunnos began to descend towards the next town where he was needed, and snorted quietly.

"Remember that before I became your Lieutenant, I could not fly. I may pass between one wooded grove and another with a single step, but not all places I am needed have such clumps of trees close to them. I may have far fewer homes to visit than he does, but before now he always had the advantage of speed. Over the first few years he did his deliveries, we worked out that if I started four hours before him, we would both arrive at our final stop at around the same time."

Jack began to laugh again, thumping the stag on the shoulder playfully.

"So it is a race! How often have you won?"

"More often than he has. And as much as I loath to admit it, as much extra work as he causes me, I do enjoy our little yearly spar. As you would say, it is a 'bit of fun'."

Seated on the stag's back, Jack continued to grin for the remainder of the rounds, and he continue to gift fun and laughter to the homes they visited. Many of the families were desperately poor, and he could tell that Cernunnos took as much warmth of feelings from seeing their smiles, as he did.

It was thanks to his new ability to fly, that Cernunnos arrived at a small colonial village in North America some several hours before dawn local time. From a place of concealment at the edge of a large clearing, he and Jack even glimpsed a flying sleigh and reindeer pass overhead about three hours later. They were finished, and North still had numerous places to go and children to take gifts to before he circled back.

About an hour after their sighting of North, Yuki floated down on the winds along with several Winter Sprites. She smiled when she saw the two of them waiting, and ran over waving at them cheerfully.

"How did it go?"

Cernunnos lowered his head so she could pet his nose in greeting, and then answered.

"Very well. We've been here for four hours, and it's still going to be a while before North gets here."

Jack dropped down from his perch in a nearby tree, and strolled over.

"Well since we're still waiting for him to show up, I'm just going to go deal with an avalanche. I'll be back in about an hour."

The two of them watched Jack fly off, before Yuki frowned ever so slightly.

"Do you think he doesn't want to meet North?"

Cernunnos shook his head.

"No. He got that avalanche warning as we crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and likely wants to deal with it before people living near it wake up and risk setting it off themselves... No, I think it's just a case of duty calling. Even if he misses North this time, there's always next year. One year isn't all that much when you have the potential to live forever."

The two Lieutenants settled down to wait. Yuki watching the sprites playing in the snow, while Cernunnos curled up on the ground to take a nap.

He was audibly snoring when the sounds of a sleigh approaching reached her ears, and she looked up to see it glide down to land in the clearing. It was a rather simple affair, looking like any ordinary sleigh from Russia and Siberia, but for the pact it was painted bright red and was being pulled by six massive and rather aggressive-looking reindeer.

Yuki ducked behind a tree as North clambered out and began to walk over to the nearby stag. And then the Guardian folded his arms across his chest, and laughed.

"What's this, Gifting Stag? Did you fall asleep and miss all your rounds?"

Cernunnos cracked open one eye, and looked up at the Russian. He then got to his feet lazily, stretched, and then yawned before answering.

"No, I got bored waiting for you. I've been here for more than four hours."

North blinked in surprise, and then began to bluster.

"Not possible! Did you cheat, and start early?"

Cernunnos snorted vehemently.

"Most certainly not!" He then chuckled. "Your feral reindeer aren't the only 'deer' that can fly anymore."

With a powerful kick he was up in the air, and made a circuit of the clearing before dropping to the ground with a dainty motion that one wouldn't expect for his size.

North was still staring, trying to figure out why his small-time rival had suddenly gained such an ability.

"When did this happen? You never used to be able to fly."

Cernunnos, thoroughly enjoying this, raised his head haughtily.

"You're looking at a Lieutenant of Winter, Guardian. I answer to Jack Frost now."

At the mention of Jack, North broke from his stupor and darted over to his sleigh. He then rummaged around, until he found a white box about five-inches square.

"Speaking of Jack Frost, perhaps you give this to him for me, hmmm?" North raised an eyebrow, as if still surprised he was doing this. "In the last forty-nine years, he has been on Naughty List thirty-two times, but he was on Nice List for first time ever this year, against my expectations. Immortals that appear on Nice List, get gift. Just a small token, but still in the spirit of Christmas."

Cernunnos tilted his head in surprise.

"How did he end up on the Naughty List so often?"

The response was bland.

"Dumping large piles of snow on children, deliberately making adults slip on ice, and first time he on List he almost buried Santoff Claussen with an avalanche."

The stag actually coughed at the awkwardness of that explanation, even if he knew that besides the avalanche, the rest of that was just Jack entertaining the children. But since it wasn't part of his 'job' as the Spirit of Winter, it seemed his playful pranks counted as misdemeanours.

But still, he had to wonder.

"What got him on the Nice List this year?"

North actually paused at that, and frowned in puzzlement.

"One thing... 'Made Yuki-onna very happy'." His frown deepened. "But why he do that? Yuki-onna is dangerous, no one go near her. She is not a good Legend to be around."

The moment those words left North's mouth, Cernunnos manner and voice became as cold as the season he now served.

"...Yuki is behind the tree to your left, you slack-witted fool."

"What?"

North turned sharply to look where the stag had said, and there stood Yuki with a cluster of Winter Sprites at her feet. She looked nothing like the tattered figure he'd last seen more than eighty-years previous, with her hair now in braids and white ribbons, and her ragged kimono replaced by one of blue and white. She stared at him in silence, a hand pressed to her mouth beneath eyes that were welling up with tears, and she was visibly trembling in distress.

The sprites looked up at her, then at North, and Cernunnos remarked into the following silence.

"Yuki is now a Lieutenant of Winter, and until that was a victim of her own Legend. She has confidence issues, and didn't have the strength of will to use her powers to shape the stories made about her, so those stories shaped her powers into a form she couldn't control instead." He looked at North. "You've just upset her, and those sprites don't like to see her upset... You might want to run."

Before the Guardian of Wonder could react, a dozen Winter Sprites charged at him and knocked him flat. They then proceeded to jump up and down on him, not really harming him, but certainly displaying their anger as they chittered insults.

It was to this scene that Jack flew down, noting the slightly-battered sled and savage reindeer, before looking around in puzzlement at his two Lieutenants.

"So... where's North?"

As Yuki remained where she was, not sure what to say, Cernunnos rolled his eyes and indicated the mound of bouncing Winter Sprites.

"He just insulted Yuki... They didn't like it all that much."

Jack blinked, turning slowly to look at the sprites before being forced to cough to hide the burst of laughter that tried to escape him. But he doubted that would be a tactful way to meet Nicholas St. North for the first time, and chose to help the Guardian instead.

Jack's low, soft whistle made all the sprites stop still and turn to face him, and then he pointed to Yuki in clear meaning.

"Get off him. You know better than that, even if he did insult Yuki. Immortals are going to make those mistakes for a while, until they learn better. They don't know her as Lady Yuki yet, got that?" With the sprites now scrambling clear, Jack walked over to North and took hold of a hand that dwarfed his own. He then tugged the bearded man into a sitting position, before stepping back and leaning on his staff. "Sorry about that. Yuki has been misunderstood for a long time, so the Winter Sprites are very protective of her."

North shook himself a little, only to find himself face-to-face with the Spirit of Winter. And despite being previously shown a sand-image of the immortal, he'd not expected Jack to look so young.

"Ummm..."

Jack frowned when North continued to regard him blankly.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare? Don't take me for being a youth just because of my physical age. I'm seventy-six years old."

North still remained speechless, and Cernunnos strolled over to nudge a certain dropped white box, with one hoof.

"Hey, Guardian. Weren't you looking for Jack to give this to him?"

Jack saw the box, and glanced between it and North.

"You have a present for me? Why?"

It seemed that now, at last, North found his senses and scrambled to his feet. He then grabbed the box, dusted it off, and held it out towards Jack with a flourish.

"You were on Nice List this year, for making Yuki-on..." A warning snort from the stag made him pause, and correct himself. "For making Lady Yuki very happy. Go on, open it!"

Jack accepted the box tentatively, giving it a small shake only for nothing to be heard.

"It sounds empty to me."

North ran a hand over his face, muttering to himself in Russian at the Spirit of Winter's scepticism, before explaining.

"Is one of my special gifts, that I only give to immortals who were on Nice List, or to children that have been very very good. Is magic! When you open it, it will have one of the gifts you want the most, inside... Within limits, of course."

Jack raised his eyebrows and took hold of the white string that held the box closed. After pulling the knot undone, he then slowly lifted the lid off and peered at what was inside, only to choke on a gasp.

He looked away from the contents of the box, lips pressed together into a the sort of frown that made it obvious someone was trying not to cry. He then noted the way North, Cernunnos, Yuki, and the sprites were all watching him, and reached into the box to pull out the item that had made him react so emotionally.

It was a plain silver cuff made of an inch wide band, in the open-ended style normally made in bronze or copper for people of less wealthy means who wanted an item of jewellery. He'd also recognised it instantly, as being identical to the one Emily had spotted during a trip to the town beyond the village's valley. She'd wanted to buy it for him, and have it engraved with snowflakes, but it had been far too expensive and he'd told her to save the money for more important things.

The silver cuff he held had those snowflakes on it, and his hand visibly trembled with it in his grasp.

Jack took a deep breath, composing himself, and pushed up his right sleeve to pass his wrist through the open side of the cuff, which was a perfect fit. Not too snug to be comfortable, but not so loose that it might fall off and be lost.

He then pulled his sleeve back down to hide it, and then tucked his arms beneath the cover of his fir-trimmed cloak.

Jack nodded to North, slightly flushed with embarrassment for his emotional response.

"Thank you. I will treasure it."

North smiled, and nodded as well.

"I won't ask what the significance of that trinket is, but I can see it holds great meaning to you. Is good, when a gift is that."

There was a moment of stillness, and then Jack turned away to jumped lightly into the air.

"Cernunnos, Yuki, let's head back to the Winter Sanctuary. He's is going to need a rest after tonight's work, and I need to prepare for a blizzard that's due over northern China."

North watched as each of the three immortals, and the Winter Sprites, all rose up onto a gust of wind and soared away into the brightening sky. He remained there for a few minutes more, his expression thoughtful, before he shrugged and returned to his sleigh.

For an immortal who had been on the Naughty List thirty-two times in just under fifty years, and on the Nice List once for the most surprising of reasons, Jack wasn't the obvious troublemaker he'd expected. There was clearly a lot more to the Spirit of Winter than met the eye, those inner parts hidden by a layer of ice like a frozen lake of mysteries. It was enough to make him wonder if Jack would be on the Nice List again next year.

North paused as he took hold of the sleigh's reins, then shook his head. No, with a record like Jack's, that wasn't going to happen.

~(-)~

Alaia Skyhawk: Hee hee, RAMPAGE OF THE FURRY BRIGADE! The image of them jumping up and down, squishing North and acting like a group of temper-tantrum-toddlers, was just too funny to pass up.

And yep, Jack got a special memento as his Christmas present... the last present he's going to get from North in a very long time lol :D