All's Fair in Love and Snowball Fights
My name is Jack Frost, and I'm a Guardian. It's been a few months since we saved the world, and life is good.
A solidly packed snowball flew out of nowhere and smacked Jack on his head, sending him skidding face-first through the snow.
Or not.
"Ha! Got you!" A booming Russian voice boisterously exclaimed.
As Jack pushed himself up from the ground, he replied, "Yeah, very funny, leveling a guy from behind." Keeping his back turned to his assailant, Jack smirked as he continued, "But I know something even better. It's called…this!" Raising his staff, he spun around and shot off a quick blast of magic toward the hulking fur-covered figure.
The other Guardians, distracted from their snow play by the confrontation, gasped. The frost bolt had struck squarely where Jack had intended it to: North's beard. The gleaming, white mass of hair was North's pride and joy—or at least it was before it froze. Moving surprisingly quickly for a man of his girth, North trapped Jack in a bear hug and flipped him upside down, deftly pinning his arms to his sides.
"No, no, no! Wai—!" Jack's protests were cut off by a mouthful of snow as North dunked him in a nearby snowbank. When his head emerged above the glittering flakes, he commented, "You know, it doesn't look ba—" The rest of Jack's opinion was lost as his head plunged into the white powder once more.
Finally North released him, letting Jack fall in an ungainly heap on the ground. Jack sat up and shook his head, ridding his silvery-white hair of excess snow.
"I guess I deserved that," Jack ruefully admitted.
"Yes, you did!" North exclaimed, chuckling so hard his formidable belly shook.
As Jack stood up and brushed off his dark blue hoodie, he noticed the other Guardians' mirthful expressions. Tooth, her green and blue plumage shimmering in the sunlight, hovered in the air while holding her sides—obviously trying to choke down a fit of giggles, she was failing miserably. Sandy was more sympathetic; a small, childlike smile spread across his face while his small golden body floated above the snow.
Jack's blue eyes narrowed as he regarded the last of the Guardians: Bunnymund. The tall, muscular rabbit was making no effort to curb his amusement at Jack's expense.
Laugh at this, Peter Cottontail.
Jack quickly bent down and scooped up a handful of snow. "Hey Bunny, think fast!" he yelled as he sent the projectile hurtling toward his target.
Apparently Bunny was not feeling especially quick-witted—he didn't even move before taking a face full of high-velocity snow. As Bunny casually wiped off his face with one paw, his eyes narrowed and locked on Jack.
"You know," Bunny drawled, his Australian accent evident, "It's not wise to mess with a rabbit, mate."
Jack frowned. Based on previous experience, he had anticipated the rabbit's reaction to be one indignant outrage.
Bunny is taking this awfully calmly, I wonder wh—
Jack's thoughts were interrupted as a crushing weight descended upon him from above. Tooth had made a snowball rivaling the size of North's belly and lifted it high overhead before letting it drop directly on Jack's head. Bunny had just been waiting for Jack to get his comeuppance.
"Hey!" came the muffled exclamation from under the snow. Finally, Jack's head popped out of the pile. "What was that for?" he asked, glowering at Tooth.
"Well, I don't know why, but your hair was begging to be covered in a nice coat of snow. Who am I to deny its wishes?" Tooth replied, shrugging, a smirk blatant upon her face.
"'Begging to be covered in a nice coat of snow', was it?"
It would only be polite to return the favor.
Bursting from his snowy prison, Jack launched a barrage of snowballs at the hovering fairy. High squeals echoed through the air, though a deep Russian curse told Jack he had missed his target at least once. Pandemonium erupted, with everyone but Sandy engaging in a free-for-all snowball fight. Still slightly irked with the Easter Guardian, Jack eventually focused his attention on taunting Bunnymund. He was so intent on casually avoiding Bunny's shots that he failed to notice one of North's snowballs hurtling toward him from the side. Unprepared for the impact, Jack yelped as he was knocked to the ground.
"Points for me!" North triumphantly shouted.
Oh-ho, so this is a contest?
A sly smile spreading across his face, Jack called out, "Bring it."
He got up, his gaze still intent on Bunny.
"Rimsky Korsakov!" North exclaimed as a whole fleet of snowballs rose up around him, hovering motionless in the air. A moment later, a strangled bellow could be made out among the thumps of snow hitting its target.
As North dug himself free of the new drift, he lightheartedly hollered at Jack's back, "That is cheating, Frost! No powers!"
"Way I see it," Bunny commented, "is that 'e can 'ardly do anything without his powers, much less win a snowball fight."
A slight frown flashed across Jack's face at Bunny's scathing assessment, but it was quickly replaced by a devious smirk. After ducking under a snowball thrown by Tooth, he drew a small circle in the snow with the end of his staff. Jack closed his eyes for a brief moment, reaching for his power and concentrating on making his new idea work. Scooping up the snow within the circle, he formed it into six separate snowballs. The snowballs were swiftly launched in a tightly-packed volley toward the back of the rabbit's head.
"Oi!" Bunnymund exclaimed, turning around. "Yer payin' for that, you larrikin! Why I'm gonna—" His threat was cut short by half a dozen snowballs speeding out of the blue and leveling him from behind. Rather than exploding in a poof of powder, however, Jack had enchanted the snowballs so that they would rebound and zoom away, readying themselves for another strike.
"Crikey!" Bunny yelped as he rolled aside just in time to see the snowballs slamming into the snow where his head had been seconds before."What in the bloody Centralia did you do?!" He shouted at Jack, trying to regain his feet while avoiding the whizzing white orbs. Jack leaned heavily on his staff, too busy guffawing to answer.
"Jack!" Tooth scolded, Bunny's shouts having drawn attention to his plight, "Leave Bunny alone."
Standing up once more, Bunnymund declared, "No chunks of ice are gonna get the best of me!" He pulled his boomerangs from their sheaths and, in a remarkable display of coordination, proceeded to slice the snowballs with sharp precision as they approached.
Jack stopped laughing long enough to grin in anticipation; Bunny's competitive nature was showing up, right on cue.
"You want to win? Well, you're gonna have to work for it, Cottontail!" he called out.
"Blimey! How many of these things are there?!" Bunny hollered after a moment; he was now fending off dozens of undeterred spheres.
Jack rolled in the snow, clutching his sides as he laughed. Perhaps slightly maliciously, but all in good fun, he had imbued the snowballs with the ability to multiply when cut apart.
Breathing heavily, Bunnymund struggled to fend off the icy barrage of death. When all of the snowballs drew back suddenly, Bunny quickly took advantage of the respite to try and catch his breath, bending forward and resting his hands on his thighs, still clutching his boomerangs. His break was interrupted, however, by an odd droning buzz; Bunny's gaze shot up, morphing into an expression of panic when he saw the plethora of snowballs rapidly hurtling toward him.
Bunnymund yelled as he turned tail and ran. The snowballs chased him around the area, bouncing off the back of his head. North roared with laughter at the spectacle, while Tooth—fighting to hide her amusement—busied herself scolding Jack.
Completely brushing off the fairy's reprimand, Jack called, "Hey, Sandy! What's the score?"
A panicked look swiftly overtook the golden man's face as he frantically tried to keep up with Jack's rapid strikes against Bunny. Chuckling at both of their expressions, Jack finally let the enchanted snowballs fall to the ground in a heap. Sandy communicated via sand pictures over his head that Jack had won by a snowslide. Then came Tooth, who had earned several points for the giant snowball. She was followed closely by North, and Bunny's score was far below the rest, thanks to Jack's mischief claiming his attention.
"You'll pay for this one, mate!" Bunnymund declared, his eyes intent on Jack.
"Bunny!" Tooth rebuked, interposing herself between the rabbit and his target.
North stepped forward. "Tooth's right. It's getting late, and snowball fight is over. Now shake, and make it good one, or I lock you in storage room with elves."
Sighing, Bunny slid around Tooth and held out his paw. Jack reflexively began reaching for it, then paused, looking up into the rabbit's sage-green eyes—
Eyes that glinted coldly, void of emotion.
Oh crap…
To be fair, he did ask for it… but that might've been a bit much. Let's hope he's feeling forgiving.
Contrary to appearances, Jack treasured his friendship with Bunny. The thought of it being marred by something as simple as a snowball fight was upsetting.
As he took the offered paw and shook it, Jack began an apology: "I didn't mean for—"
Bunny cut Jack off, "It's fine." His eyes softened as he added, "You may've had reason to pop me a corker to the cakehole."
Jack knew that this was Bunny's way of apologizing for his rude remarks, and was greatly relieved that the rabbit wouldn't hold a grudge.
"A corker, mind," Bunny said, his gaze teasingly narrowing. "You owe me. Big time."
"There!" North exclaimed, making everyone jump. "Now we can eat." Winking at Jack, he added, "Bad feelings during dinner give indigestion."
"You know we're immortal, right? We don't need to eat," Tooth said.
"Ah! But we are family, no?" countered North. "And family eats together!" He seized Sandy's and Bunny's arms and began striding toward the nearest secret workshop entrance, leaving Tooth and Jack to follow at their own pace. Jack wasn't exactly interested in how the brushing habits of children changed as they grew, but all the same he listened as Tooth chattered on—or rather, tried to. As they walked, Jack found his attention wandering to a nagging feeling at the back of his head. It wasn't exactly painful, but a curious sensation of lightheadedness slowly crept over him.
Maybe North's snowball hit me harder than I thought. Nothing a cookie and some hot chocolate won't fix.
Jack realized Tooth was still talking to him. He paid attention long enough to decipher something about toothpaste and fruitcake, but he caught his mind drifting again a minute later.
Why can't I focus?
Almost as if the thought was a trigger, Jack's surroundings seemed to blur and blend into one another. Completely disoriented, he tripped, almost falling to the ground.
"Are you alright?" asked Tooth, concern creeping into her voice as she considered Jack's uncharacteristic stumble. The other Guardians, far ahead by now, hadn't noticed anything.
"I'm fine," Jack replied as he unsteadily regained his footing. "I was just dizzy for a few seconds. I mean, North did bean me in the head a few times." Jack briefly shook his head, relieved when his vision cleared and everything came into focus.
"Are you sure?" Tooth asked apprehensively.
"Yeah, it's good." Jack's assertion was swiftly ruined as his legs buckled and he found himself on his hands and knees, engulfed in a sickening nausea.
"Jack!" Tooth fluttered around him in anxious agitation. "What's wrong?"
"I think I have a concussion," Jack moaned, using his staff to hoist himself to a standing position.
"We don't get concussions," Tooth argued, placing a hand to his forehead in concern.
Jack took a wobbly step forward, his head swimming. "It sure feels like one…"
"I'll go get North; don't go anywhere." Her words came through a dense fog, muffled and out of sync with her mouth.
As if I could go anywhere like this...
Black spots and tiny pinpricks of light danced at the edges of his vision; slowly they crept inwards, forming a thick haze as Jack lost feeling in his limbs. The last thing Jack noticed was the sensation of falling forward—into the darkness.