Once again, I'm awake at two in the morning. But on a positive note, guess who figured out how to do line breaks! (Me)

Chapter 14: Courtesy of Jack Frost

"Hey, I just had an idea-"

"No."

"Wha- but I hadn't even said what it was!"

"Doesn't matter. It's comin' out of yer mouth so that already means it's a bad idea."

Jack huffed, the stupid kangaroo never listened to him. "Do you not even want to know what I was going to say?"

"Not really."

Though it annoyed Jack, it was probably for the best. He doubted that any of the Guardians would be too fond of his idea. Oh well, he'd just have to go through with this one on his own.

"Fine." He replied, kicking up his staff from the floor and flying off towards the library, not looking back. Surely there had to be something in there that could help him?

Bunny didn't even falter - if he knew what Jack's idea was, and he got into trouble (which he most likely would), he'd be the one getting the blame. If you knew what he was going to do then you should have stopped him! You know how easily he gets into trouble. He shivered, and not because of the cold - he could practically hear Tooth lecturing him already, and she was hundreds of miles away.

Nope, he thought, I'm staying out of this one.

Hours passed as Jack searched through every page of every book in the library. He was not one who was well known for his patience, in fact it was quite the other way around. By the time nightfall had passed, he'd had quite enough and was ready to give up completely and forget about his idea.

Stretching his legs, he stood up, accidentally shifting one of the books with his bare feet. Coincidentally, it happened to open to the exact page he had spent too long looking for.

Perfect he thought, scooping the book up into his arms and taking a mental note of the page's content. Leaving with a short gust of wind and a few stray snowflakes, he rushed out of the grand doors, not looking back, leaving the library looking like a hurricane had hit it. Dozens of books lay strewn open on random pages all around the room. You could barely see the floor.

No matter, he grinned widely, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

He'd blame it on the elves.

It turned out that the date was very close - only about a week away. Which meant he had only a few short days to gather everything he needed. His first stop was the kitchen at the North Pole. After nearly setting a handful of elves on fire (accidentally, of course) he had been banned from ever going in again. Though, because of the urgency of the situation and the strict time schedule he was under, he decided it was acceptable to un-ban himself for a short amount of time.

Walking into the room, his nose was instantly assaulted with the smell of freshly baked treats. White powder coated every surface, including most of the elves, making it seem as though a bomb of flour had been set off. Ginormous ovens, larger than Jack himself, lay at the back of the room, baking tasty delicacies (the chocolate chip cookies were his personal favourite). Two huge tables stood proudly in the middle of the room, covered with icing, sweets and other decorating utensils.

The yetis were not happy to see him. He was immediately grabbed by the back of his hood and dragged out, being unceremoniously deposited in a heap on the floor outside the door. The furry beast responsible (Sammy) glared down at him, a stern look in his eyes. Sticking his hand in front of Jack's face, he forcefully shook his finger. If the message wasn't already clear, it was now.

"Aw come on, I didn't even do anything!" The Winter Spirit stood up and shook himself off before heading back to the door of the kitchen. Again, before he had even been able to turn the handle, he was picked up and dumped back on the floor.

"I'm not going to blow anything up! I just want to ask Mark if he can do something for me." (Mark was the head baker yeti). The stern look increased, but Jack would not give up. With a loud huff, he stood up once more, glaring at the yeti in front of him.

He would get into the kitchen.

Before Sammy could blink, Jack shot up, into the rafters and out of sight. Yaglablaba he thought, meaning good riddance in yettish. Waiting outside for a moment to check that the pesky Winter Spirit wasn't coming back, before turning around and walking towards the door.

Reaching for the handle, he felt a cold gust of wind and his quick reflexes immediately kicked in. He spun around, fully expected Jack to be stood behind him. But he wasn't, so he decided it was just a trick of the wind. It was not until he span back around that he found the door had been closed and the handle was frozen solid. A loud thud echoed from inside and the yeti groaned loudly in annoyance.

He was going to be in trouble.

After having a quick word with Mark, Jack headed to Burgess to speak with Jamie. The young boy had gotten used to the Guardian of Fun's odd requests by now, so didn't think twice about this one. Though he did make sure that Jack promised a snow day soon, he didn't say anything as he gathered the supplies, placed them in a bag and handed them to the young immortal.

Without a second to lose, Jack flew off into the horizon, excited thoughts swirling about his head.

Today was the day. Jack couldn't help the grin from taking over his face as he thought about what was to come. It didn't take him long to get to his destination as he slept close by the night before. Silently, he entered the large room and emptied the contents of his bag onto the ground in front of him, checking there was nobody around. If he had calculated correctly, the inhabitant wouldn't be home for over an hour, giving him plenty of time to set his plan into action.

He started with the banners, placing them at random points around the room. The largest of them all hung above the main chair, drawing the most attention. It was bright orange with bold green lettering. It was, in his opinion at least, fabulous.

Next came the balloons. It took him a good twenty minutes to blow them all up but the wide assortment of coloured balls placed (thrown) around the room certainly brightened the atmosphere and he decided they were definitely worth the time.

This next part was the best part: confetti. Floating high in the air, he threw the miniature decorations around the room in a very unorganised fashion. They landed gently and settled into place, covering the entirety of the floor.

Lastly, he had bows. There wasn't much empty space now but, genius that he was, he found the room, placing four big green bows on the throne.

Picking up his bag, he admired his handiwork. If he did say so himself, he'd be a pretty good decorator. He may just surprise North in the workshop soon.

Less than fifteen minutes later, his guest arrived. And he did not have the response he had been looking for.

"FROST!" The Nightmare King roared as he caught sight of his lair. His beautiful, dark, empty lair, now covered top to bottom in hideously ugly coloured objects. Before Jack even had a chance to respond, there was a cold blade pressed to the back of his neck.

"Heyy, Pitch-" He gulped as the blade pressed further into his skin, threatening to cut him.

"You have three seconds to explain the meaning of this." If looks could kill, Jack would have been dead already.

"Well, you see, I was thinking-"

"Oh god."

The Guardian of Fun rolled his eyes, ignoring the sarcastic comment. "-and an idea came to me. Just because you are a sad loner-" he swallowed loudly as the metal pressed deeper into his flesh; that was the wrong choice of words. "doesn't mean you should have to be alone all the time. And then I got to thinking some more and this brilliant idea came to me and -"

"Enough. My patience is up. I don't know what you're attempting to achieve here apart from trying to lose some limbs, but I suggest that you have this mess cleaned up by the time I am back. Take this as a warning. Next time I won't hesitate to slit your throat."

"But-" In a puff of smoke (or sand? Jack wasn't sure) the Boogeyman disappeared, leaving the boy alone. He sighed in disappointment, beginning to collect his belongings. You couldn't say that he hadn't tried.

It was nightfall when Pitch came back. He was happy (as happy as the spirit of fear could get) to see that his underground lair had been transformed back into its usual gloomy state, just the way he liked it.

He was caught by surprise though, to see a small colourful package sat on the middle of his throne. Sighing in aggravation, Pitch walked up to his chair, taking the object into his hands, half expecting it to explode. He wouldn't put it past the little devil.

Delicately wrapped in bright orange paper was a gift box, containing three things. A long, dark cloak, a cupcake, with expertly applied black icing (thanks to Mark) and a small, folded piece of paper, reading Happy Birthday in messy handwriting inside. The work of none other than Jack Frost.

Huh, he thought. Perhaps I misjudged the boy.

And so, sat in his fresh new robe, the Boogeyman bit gently into his cake. He had to admit, it was delicious. He would never say this to the frost child, but he was thankful. And maybe, just maybe, the boy wasn't so bad after all.

Who knows, perhaps the Nightmare King isn't entirely evil. Also, for future reference, the majority of chapters won't really follow on from each other due to clashing ideas, (as will be made clear in the next chapter) but I think I'd quite like the idea of Jack trying to get through to Pitch or even them being vaguely friendly before the happenings of the film to be the main storyline-ish.