Chapter Text
He had only been a Guardian for two years.
Jack Frost, the trickster, mischief maker, ruiner of school days and Easter Sundays alike had defied all expectations and attained gainful employment…in a manner of speaking. And again, he proved his myth wrong by rising to the occasion and became a responsible, mature winter spirit…sort of. Rather than continue to roam the world, spreading chaos and fun alike yet remain alone, he had found the joy of belief, the flood of pride whenever a child saw him with wondrous eyes.
Right now, though, it was his day off. And he did what an impish winter spirit does best: snowball fights.
“Hey Tooth! Think fast!” he yelled, throwing a twinkling snowball. Tooth did not think fast, and felt the full impact in her face. She shrieked, and with playful vengeance snatched up three ready-made snowballs from the ground and returned fire. Jack dodged them effortlessly, but failed to dodge a fourth, larger snowball thrown from the rear.
“Haha! Got you, Frost!” shouted a booming Russian voice.
“Oh, surprise attack, North? It’s on now!” Jack called back and flicked his staff over another pile of snowballs, sending each of them hurtling in North’s direction. Too busy laughing, North was hit by each one with the last one knocking off his fur hat.
In mock indignation, North boomed “You are cheating, Jack Frost! No powers!”
Jack casually leant against his staff and grinning, shrugged “Hey, all’s fair in love and snowball fights!”
“You are right, Jack Frost! Just like this!” said North, and with a flash of impish glee nodded behind Jack. Pausing in mild confusion, Jack was too late to notice Tooth sneaking up behind him with a snowball as big as North’s belly. And with great effort and the manic fluttering of wings, she lifted the huge, heavy snowball over Jack’s head and…
THUD!
North bent double in raucous laughter, and Tooth, exhausted but delighted, flew a few circuits with her hands in the air, cheering “I got him!” Covered in snow, Jack shook it off and with an expression of “Yeah, yeah, you got me, shows over, c’mon now…” called to Sandman “Hey Sandy! What’s the score?”
Sandman was hovering above them and he conjured the scores above his head; Tooth won by a hefty margin followed by Jack and then North, who gestured dismissively, while Tooth squealed in delight and zoomed around them like a hyperactive hummingbird.
“I can’t believe I beat THE Jack Frost in a snowball fight!” she squeaked. Jack smirked and called “Yeah? Keep it up, we’ll see!” Tooth stuck her tongue out and grinned back at him.
Still chuckling, North noticed the darkening sky and reached into the inner pocket of his overcoat for his pocket-watch. Beckoning to Jack and Tooth, he said “Come, it is almost nightfall. We must eat!”
Tooth rolled her eyes. “Nick, you know we’re immortal, right? We don’t need to eat?”
North chortled and replied “We are family, and family eats together! Besides, how you think I keep my fabulous figure?” He punctuated the question by grasping his belly and shaking it.
Jack mumbled so only Tooth could hear. “I did not need to see that…” and earned a snigger from the nearby fairy.
North nodded to Sandy who nodded back, and the sky was filled with tendrils of golden dream-sand. Night time was Sandman’s domain, where he flicked and waved the golden sand like a conductor of an orchestra. Protector of Dreams, indeed. North had always commented that Sandy was the most important of them all; Easter, Christmas and Winter only happened once a year and collecting teeth was a finite process, but dreaming? No, that was every night.
The three Guardians left Sandman to his symphony and trudged back to North’s workshop. Jack remarked, pretending to be wistful, “You know, it would’ve been cool if Bunny was here. I’ve got a few snowballs with his name on them.”
Tooth giggled and gently chided him “You know he hates the cold, Jack!” Nodding emphatically, Jack replied with a cheeky smirk “Oh, I know.”
He suddenly stopped, and raised a hand to his head, wincing in pain. Tooth frowned. Apparently this was uncommon to her, reactions to random outbursts of pain.
“Jack, are you okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just….it’s just a headache.” he groaned. It was far more than a simple headache, Jack felt all of his muscles start to contract in reaction to the building pain in his head.
“Jack…we don’t normally get headaches…” she said with growing concern.
“Well it definitely feels-”
He blacked out before he could finish.