Mean Seasons 50 Resurface 2

He waited a few days before wandering to the one place he had a true connection to: Burgess. Yes, the humans here respected Winter, even loved it.

So he would spare them.

For now.

As he made his way back home to his kingdom of ice, a small voice penetrated his ears.

"Jack? JACK! You came back!"

Before he could reflect on where he had heard that voice before, a warm bundle suddenly grabbed him by the waist. Looking down, he saw a small boy holding him by his middle. Sneering in disgust, the coldhearted Winter King was about to backhand this foolish mortal who dared to touch him, let alone grab him, when it happened.

A warm feeling passed through his frozen heart. An instinct, one thought long dead, reignited, and he decided that this boy...this boy was different. Special. He reached down and grabbed him by the collar, and with him in this position, flew to his palace.

ROTG

Jamie was frightened. Jack Frost had kidnapped him, and had strapped him facedown to what could only be described as a torture table made of rough, uncomfortable ice. Why he had done this was aching to be answered, but the boy knew that whatever it was, it wasn't Jack's fault. His friend, his Guardian, would never do anything horrible to him!

"Ssstop Struggling boy." The voice of Ice chuckles from somewhere above his head "It won't do you any good. Besides I'm not going to hurt you. Consider yourself lucky."

Jamie yelped as icecold fingers ran down his now-bare back, and a hissing chuckle reached his ears. "Relax, boy. You are about to become royalty."

The fingers stopped in the middle of his back, and all of a sudden, pain shot through his delicate skin, making him yelp. As the agony creeped across his back, the boy whimpered and closed his eyes, shutting them against the pain that seemed to crawl in the middle of his skin, all the while his ears ringing with what he perceived to be cruel, cunning, and heartless cackling.

As the boy passed out in fitful slumber, and the Frost Branding continued to burn in his skin, the Winter King did a waltz in the air above the intricate brand, his eyes shining a bright blue, as a smile of ecstasy graced his lips as he twirled and dipped gracefully, ritually adorning the crawling mark with snowfall as he moved in tune to the frigid music of his season, the cackling actually the expression of his joy, though it sounded cruel.

"A prince you will become, dear Jamie Bennet...A prince of Winter!"