Secret of Frost and Moon

by Alaia Skyhawk

When death turns out not to be the end, you can't help but ask for what purpose you were brought back... What differences would it make, to remember your past right from the begining? To learn your purpose, piece by piece, right from the start? How would that change the life, future, and secrets of the Spirit of Winter; Jack Frost?

84. New First Impressions

Alaia Skyhawk: Sooo many giggles to come. Enjoy :)

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.

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Chapter 84: New First Impressions

There was an awkward silence immediately after he said it, one that dragged out in such a way as to make him just a little bit nervous. He'd heard pauses like this before, from North and Bunny in particular, and they usually led to one thing.

The explosion of voices that inevitably followed, as North jumped to conclusions, and Bunny immediately made things worse by loudly either agreeing or disagreeing.

"The Spirit of Winter?! He works for Mother Nature!"

"But he is also a Guardian, he works for the Man in the Moon!"

"She stole Katherine from us!"

"But she also chased away those Fearlings!"

"But Pitch was in that rock! She could have chased them away to trick us!"

"Please, the two of you. Calm down!"

North had his swords drawn, Bunny was using his staff to prevent the Russian from charging around and doing anything he might regret. Tooth, although far less hyper than she was in Jack's time, was fluttering around them trying to get them to see reason. Katherine, Nightlight, and Ombric were watching the scene as though entranced... And off to the side, very close to Jack, Sandy shook his head and let out a silent sigh.

Jack casually strolled over to him, and gave him a nudge before speaking in sandscript.

'This is familiar.'

Sandy blinked, staring at him in surprise, before hesitantly drawing a sequence of symbols.

'You understand this?'

Jack nodded. It was the old type of sandscipt, obviously, but he knew that version as well as he knew the new one.

'Yep. Me and you are good friends in the future. I learnt to talk the way you do, so we could chat and I could translate for you.'

Sandy's expression broke out into a big smile, and he excitedly tugged Jack towards a couple of chairs well away from the smouldering charcoal in the hearth. From his perspective, this was the first time he'd been able to talk to someone properly, and be understood, for a very long time.

He clapped his hands happily once they were sat, then chuckled silently as he pointed to himself and the others.

'Are we very different in your time?'

Jack returned the little man's smile, laughing silently as well.

'You're exactly the same. Standing off to the side, barely noticed most of the time. Looking on while those two make idiots of themselves, and Tooth tries and fails to stop them from bickering. North, with that dark hair, looks a lot younger than the one I know, and your Bunny is a bit... strange.' Jack glanced at the remaining three. 'Katherine is younger than the one I know, and Nightlight's manner seems slightly younger too. Ombric is about the same, an eccentric. '

Sandy silently laughed again, although he now looked a bit more serious.

'To preserve time's integrity, I know you will not be able to tell us much of the future. But may I ask, do we succeed in defeating Pitch in this coming battle? Do we defeat him for good?'

Jack frowned, glancing at the rest of the still oblivious Guardians, before he answered.

'You defeat him, but it's not forever. I've fought him in my time, though that is the final battle. In my time, Pitch stopped existing seven years ago, and the Golden Age is on the verge of being reborn. Mother Nature... She gets her father back.'

Sandy's face lit up with joy and hope, he even went so far as to launch himself from his chair to hug Jack in thanks for telling him. And then his attention turned back to the bickering North and Bunnymund, and he sighed.

'I have no idea when they'll stop. We don't have time for this.'

Jack tapped him on the shoulder, to get his attention.

'Just go over, grab each of them by an ear, and twist them. That'll shut them up, or at least it always works when you do it in my time.'

Sandy looked thoughtful at that, drifted over to and past Toothiana, and did exactly as Jack suggested. The argument between Russian and Pooka was instantly cut off by a matching pair of yelps, before Sandy then drew several symbols to scold them.

From his seat, Jack called out.

"He said 'You're wasting time, when you've already been told Jack was sent to help us. Stop being foolish, and concentrate on what's important'."

Several individuals looked at him in surprise, as Ombric pointed at Sandy.

"You understand that?"

Jack nodded, slouching deeper among the cushions of his seat.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I? In my time, me, North, Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy all work together as the Guardians of Childhood. Protectors of Fun, Wonder, Hope, Memories, and Dreams... I act as Sandy's translator, whenever we hold a meeting." He tilted his chin towards Sandy, and followed up using frostdust. 'Can you believe these guys? Dense!'

Sandy nodded and grinned in return, writing his reply which, like Jack's remark, was unintelligible to the rest of those present.

'Very much so.'

There was another awkward pause, although not of the kind that occured a few minutes previously, and Jack got up from his chair to casually stroll towards them with his staff across his shoulders.

"Ok, we should get down to business. I've heard plenty of stories about the battle you guys are heading for, but I wouldn't call me 'clued in' as to what's going on. Sandy, I can tell, is the same as the one I know. Ombric, Nightlight, and Katherine are what I'd expect too. Tooth, apart from those swords you're packing, I can guess you fight pretty similarly to what I know as well." He stopped and looked at North and Bunny. "But you two are quiiiiiiite a bit different. You don't have the same 'vibes', like you're a lot weaker than the ones I know."

North gaped at that.

"Weak? Who are you calling weak?"

When he tried to take a step forward, he was brought up short when Jack froze his boots to the floor. The Guardian of Fun then gave him a long look.

"So if I say 'mass parcel delivery spell' or 'snow-globe', you know what I'm talking about?" He got a dumbfounded look in response, and so now addressed Bunnymund. "And if I say to you, 'tap your foot twice on floor', you understand that either?" Another blank look, and he sighed. "Yep, just as I guessed. You two have zero believers, and haven't started your Legends yet. You're operating on self-belief, plus some probable support from Tsar Lunar to prevent weakness and shrinkage, and that's it. You're Guardians, but you don't have the power from believers to back you up."

North growled under his breath, but stopped when Bunnymund put a paw on his shoulder. The Pooka's expression was serious.

"He is quite correct. You and I, we are only as strong as we would be if we were not immortals. By comparison, Toothiana and Sanderson are far above our level. Both of them have many believers, and have been doing their work for a long time." He now looked at Jack. "Although here in the past, you have no believers either."

Jack shrugged.

"Spirit of Winter. In this time, with the world population being what it is here, I'm still probably more powerful than the rest of you put together. Even without my believers. I was always chosen to be that way, as a safeguard. Even if you lost all your believers, and became helpless, I can still fight."

Ombric's eyes widened at that.

"A Guardian of Guardians, who shares not the same weaknesses as his peers. Oh my, how clever for the Man in the Moon to do that."

Jack inclined his head, touching his words with a hint of sarcasm.

"I'm sure Tsar Lunar would be glad you think that. Of course, he did put me through proverbial hell to keep my Guardianship a secret from Pitch. But that's no matter. It paid off in the end."

Katherine approached him, curious.

"You've fought Pitch?"

Jack nodded, although he also glanced at Sandy.

"While those two were arguing, Sandy and I had a chat. Since I'm from the future, I know I can't tell you details, but I can say that I've fought and defeated him in battle. In my time, however far into the future that is, Pitch Black no longer exists and Fearlings are little more than jokes. No one pays them the slightest attention in my time. They're completely powerless." He ran a hand through his hair, frowning for a moment when he noticed the blue streak again, and continued. "Of course, since I know none of you remember this conversation in my time, I know you won't remember any of this after I'm sent home. I can tell you anything I want, so long as it doesn't change the way you would do things here in this time. So, back to the point. What were you guys planning to do next, before I got dropped here?"

Toothiana ceased her fluttering and landed, sombre.

"Pitch had just stolen the ship we had, that was the Lunar Lamadary's tower. Without it, we can't reach the moon, and he will surely use it to go after Tsar Lunar. Before that, it would have been our plan to seek out the remaining two Golden Age Relics that are here on Earth, but now I fear we'll have to try get the ship back first."

Jack nodded thoughtfully.

"Don't worry about the ship, or getting to the moon. I can get you, and anything and anyone else you want, up there in about two seconds. Even at base power, the moon is within range for me to use one of my more useful tricks. I'd say you're best off retrieving the relics, and going after Pitch once he makes his move towards the moon. Do you know where they are?"

While surprise meant most of them would want to ask how he could get them to the moon, practicality meant Bunnymund spoke before any could ask it.

"North has the sword of the previous Tsar Lunanoff. It can show us where they are. Should we head out at once?"

Jack blinked.

"Whoa whoa, don't ask me. I'm here to help, not to lead. There are things I can do while you get the relics. Things that I think I have to go do, if I don't want certain individuals in this time tracking me down and cornering me as soon as they sense me. And they will sense me, as soon as I start flying around."

Nightlight, who had simply watched up until now, tilted his head in obvious query. Katherine echoed it.

"Who?"

Jack groaned.

"My other colleagues. I need to speak to Mother Nature, and Ariko, Achieng, and Oisin, so she can order them to leave me alone. We're all fairly good friends in my time, but when I first started out... Ariko couldn't stand the sight of me, and Achieng wasn't much better. Trust me, we don't want them getting in the way." He glanced at North. "Oh, and if I hear you bad-mouthing Mother Nature again, I'll turn your beard into an ice-cube. She's already one the best allies Tsar Lunar has, even in this time."

As the implications of that sank in, Ombric then clapped his hands to get their attention.

"I think we should all tend to breakfast needs, and then move out. With the sword Relic, we found the second and third Relics quite quickly. The fourth and fifth should not prove too much of a problem. In the meantime, Jack Frost can carry out whatever preparations he thinks will help us against Pitch."

Jack gave them a jaunty salute, even as he conjured an ice mirror.

"I'll be off then."

He stepped through it, ignoring their startled gasps at the image of the strange garden beyond, and dismissed it before any of them could follow. As fun as it had been to chat with Sandy, it had felt incredibly awkward interacting with these past versions of his friends. To have some of them deferring to him because he was from the future and 'knew what was going to happen'. When in actuality, he knew pretty much squat about this coming battle. He was somewhere over a hundred years before his own birth, for moon's sake.

Jack let out a sigh, about to head for the gazebo at the centre of the garden when an angry female voice directly behind him, made him go utterly still.

"And just who are you, trespasser?"

He didn't turn, he didn't need to in order to recognise her. Instead he looked ahead of him, to the parts of garden he could see where snow had now begun to fall in response to his presence.

"Mother Nature, Emily Jane Pitchiner... Look to your own garden, because it's telling that to you already. Even though I'm sent from the future, this place knows my power."

He heard her quiet gasp, only now choosing to turn and face her. She looked the same as he had always known, but he doubted he'd ever seen her wear this particular expression of surprise as she noticed the falling snow. And then she looked at him again, green eyes piercing, but still stared at him with a degree of suspicion.

"You are a Spirit of Winter, but I have yet to choose and make one. What trickery is this?"

Jack stared right back at her, unflinching.

"But you're not the one who will make the choice, because you made a deal with Tsar Lunar to let him choose who would be your Spirit of Winter. A secret that, in this time, is known only to you two." He touched a hand to the clasp of his cloak, with its combined symbols for his dual role. "I already wear the proof of who and what I am."

She looked at the clasp, with its vine-encircled snowflake and elaborate 'G' in the centre. The moment she set her eyes on it, her entire manner changed.

"You know about the deal? ...You're also a Guardian?"

Jack nodded.

"Sent back for some Permitted Paradox thing, by Father Time. To help the Guardians in this time, defeat Pitch and push him back into the shadows for a long while." He sighed. "But my Winter powers are pretty distinctive when I start throwing them around. I need you to order the other Spirits of the Seasons to leave me alone. No one but Tsar Lunar and Father time will remember me once I'm sent back to the future, but I still don't want to make too big of an impression on those three before I go. Which I will, if I end up with them chasing me for being somewhere 'outside my Season'.

She was still hesitant, understandably so, but she couldn't deny he knew things he couldn't possibly have known otherwise. More than that, now she looked for it, she could sense the shift in the balance of the world's weather that his presence created. The touch of an experienced hand, from someone who knew this world's Winter so well that he subconsciously adjusted parts without even realising he'd done it.

This young man, this immortal, was the one the Tsar would someday choose?

Mother Nature turned, gesturing for him to follow her to the gazebo.

"So you're from the future, and your presence here is Father Time's doing. Very well, I will summon the others. However, they will not be easy to convinced, for I highly doubt you know any significant secrets of theirs you could use as proof."

Jack fell into step behind her, smiling to himself.

"I think I know a way to handle them. Just make sure they all get here at once. It'll be easier if I have the full audience right away."

Mother Nature glanced over her shoulder at him, puzzled, but said nothing. She, just like the Spirits of Spring, Summer, and Autumn... had no clue as to his personality, or his reputation.

So he sat one of the five chairs she had brought into the gazebo, waiting patiently with her as the epitome of good manners. And when his fellow Spirits of the Seasons did arrive, he didn't give her the chance to speak first. Instead he rushed to his feet, pasted on an expression of awestruck respect, and hurried to the gazebo entrance so they'd see him first instead of her.

And then he began to 'not quite' babble, in a tone and manner to match the look on his face.

"It's you! This is an honour, I finally get to meet you all!"

The other three Seasonals stopped in their tracks, staring at him as he hastened over to use a deep Japanese style bow to greet Ariko, greeted Achieng with the tribal greeting her future self had taught him once they were friends, and greeted Oisin with a good firm western-style handshake and a polite inclination of his head.

They were so surprised by it, and his apparent knowledge of their mortal backgrounds, that there was a pause before Oisin disengaged his hand from Jack's and regarded him in puzzlement.

"And you are?"

Jack feigned mortification, and then immediately began to apologise.

"Oh, sorry! I'm Jack Frost, the Spirit of Winter and a Guardian. This is my first time down here."

Achieng blinked.

"Guardian and the Spirit of Winter? First time down here?"

Jack smiled winsomely.

"I've been on the moon for many years, at the request of Tsar Lunar. He knew Pitch was soon to surface, and feared the Guardians he's already recruited would not be able to stop him on their own. So with the greatest of respects, he asked Mother Nature to create and send him the Spirit of Winter, to be trained as a Guardian to help stop the Nightmare King. Our dearest Mother Nature, graciously agreed to do so."

He turned sharply, to clasp a startled Ariko's hands in adoration. "And I've heard so many great things about all of you, and the shining examples you are of steadfastness and responsibility. I so look forward to working with you all, once my task against Pitch is done. I'm sure there is so much I could learn from you, which could not be taught better by anyone else."

Jack was practically gushing compliments by this point, in his portrayal of a young immortal who has been rather isolated and so is just a tad naive. But he was also, with apparently the greatest of sincerity, slathering praises all over their egos.

Ariko, her hands still held in his, actually blushed for a moment before delicately tugging her hands free and smiling at him.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Jack, and to know you've heard such good things of us."

Over at the gazebo entrance, Mother Nature was watching the whole scene with quickly disguised bemusement. Jack hadn't even bothered to try convince them he was from the future. He'd just used his knowledge of their temperaments to disarm and win them over in less than sixty seconds.

She watched a bit longer, as Jack continued to charm the trio, before she cleared her throat and called out.

"Jack, I know you're happy to finally meet them, but this is a business summons. As you may recall?"

Jack became immediately contrite, and stood there looking a bit bashful.

"I'm sorry, My Lady."

Mother Nature paused, unable to help the small smile his expression caused, and then addressed the other three Seasonals.

"This was only intended as a short meeting, to introduce you to Jack and to ask that you ignore seasonal boundaries in his case. Just for the duration of his task for Tsar Lunar. It would not look well on our reputation, if we hinder the one he has spent so much effort training. And it would not do well for us to cause a hindrance in the battle against the Nightmare King."

Jack chose that moment to glance hopefully at his fellow Seasonals.

"Unless... You'd like to help me? Tsar Lunar taught me about many of the terrible and terrifying things that Pitch did when he brought down the Golden Age. Some of the things he's capable of, are truly horrible." He hesitated. "But then, you're supposed to be looking after the weather. It would be terrible if the weather went wrong while you were helping me. We should always put our responsibilities first, and be good examples. My responsibility is to fight Pitch, and then look after the weather. I shouldn't be asking you to help me do my job."

He sounded so genuinely crestfallen as he said it, that Ariko's momentary expression of relief, softened and she hugged him lightly in reassurance.

"Yes, we must all play our appointed parts. I'm certain an honourable and brave person like you, will do just fine against that knave."

Jack ducked his head, apparently to hide a blush.

"Thank you. I'll do my best."

Mother Nature came forward to usher Ariko away from him, while Jack began trembling a little and kept his head down.

"Thank you for attending. I'll let you get back to your work."

She conjured a vine gate, which the three Seasonals passed through without question. The moment it closed and they were gone... Jack burst out laughing. He hadn't been trembling in fear, he'd been fighting not to giggle.

He managed to compose himself somewhat, after a few seconds, and shook his head at how easy it had been.

"Now that was priceless. A pity future Ariko is going to come after me with a sledgehammer, once she remembers how I played her for an absolute moron."

He creased over laughing again, even as Mother Nature regarded him with disapproval. She didn't look anywhere near as impressed.

"You lied to them."

Jack held a finger up in objection.

"Actually, the only thing I lied about was being kept on the moon, and who it was I'd heard all the horror stories about Pitch from. Just about everything else I was completely sincere about, except for most of the stuff I said while pandering to their egos. Ariko's biggest flaw has always been her pride, but the other two let her lead them around by the nose for years with 'the right way to do things'. So I buttered her up, knowing the other two would go along with anything she accepted. So long as I didn't provoke Achieng's temper, or step on Oisin's sense of formality."

Mother Nature frowned at him, folding her arms across her chest.

"You're treating this like a game."

"Well I am the Guardian of Fun." He saw her blink at that, and smirked. "Fearlings, and the Nightmare King, get their power from Unnatural Fear. But the power of Fun and Laughter is Unnatural Fear's polar opposite. I'm not sure how involved I can risk becoming during the fighting, without chancing something that breaks the paradox, but I can make sure the tide of the battle stays tipped in the Guardian's favour. Thanks to your help, I can now do that without worrying those three will get in my way. Because if there's one thing the Guardian's will need to know, it's the moment Pitch launches the ship he stole and heads to the moon. And to watch for that, I need to first go find where it is."

He was still smiling, but there was a subtle shift in his manner. One that revealed a will and determination as hard as diamond, beneath the fun-loving exterior he outwardly showed. He was a warrior, tried and true, and he knew what he was doing.

Mother Nature sighed.

"It is a pity I will forget you, once you return home. That I will not remember this you, as the time comes when you first become immortal. As I get to watch you develop and grow into what you are now. You strike me as being a mischief maker, and yet I can't find it in myself to truly disapprove of that. Not when you can make me smile, as you did while talking to Ariko and the others."

Jack held out his hand to shake hers.

"When this is over and you remember, back in the future when I get home. We're going to have to sit down and have a good chat about this with your father. He's sure to find it as funny as you do."

She went still, her eyes widening as tears began to well up. Her gasp as the sound of one who barely dared to hope.

"My father? I manage to save him?"

Jack smiled at her.

"We do... We save him, us two. Just I promised I'd help you do."

She turned aside for a moment, wiping away her tears, and took a shuddering breath.

"I've done some foolish things the past few days, which have contributed to the situation the Guardians now face. In reparation, I want to do something to help." She faced him, placing a hand upon his shoulder. "To face Pitch as he is at present, that staff of yours is all and well. But I would feel better in knowing you have a proper weapon."

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Alaia Skyhawk: And now we go from giggles to serious. See you all next chapter :)