It was a clear, nice day. The sky was coloured a soft blue and the sun gave even the dark tiled rooftops a glistering appearance as the dew collected on them during the night evaporated. The flowerpots on the windowsills were in full bloom. A small group of children emerged on the streets, running wildly after a ball, kicking it to one another without a care in the world.

Then the sky abruptly darkened. People paused and looked up at grey clouds gathering from the east. They lifted their hands to check for rain when a cold breeze picked up. They stared down at their palms when what collected on their fingers were small, weak snowflakes that melted quickly as they watched.

The snowflakes multiplied within minutes and people rushed for shelter, hands covering their heads. The only exception were the children who, after a bit of complaining about having their game cut short by worried mothers pulling them indoors, sneaked out again wearing light jackets, determined not to have their fun ruined. They chased one another with snowballs, ducking from one alleyway to the next, almost getting run over by cars multiple times in the process. As the day lengthened, the snowfall increased and more children emerged to play outside, relishing the sudden snow. The cars stopped moving altogether, their wheels spinning dangerously on the suddenly ice-filled roads.

As the evening neared, the sky began to clear again. People grumbled for the weather's indecisiveness, watching as the cold wind carried the clouds to the west until they disappeared from view. The cars resumed heading to their destinations, driving carefully in the melting ice. The children returned to their houses for a warm bath, faces flushed red and noses runny, excitement still bubbling in the air.

By the time night fell, the sky was once again littered with stars. A warm breeze relieved the blossomed flowers from their snowy burden.

Meanwhile, in a small town further west, an old man who had just finished hanging his laundry on a clothesline swore in annoyance as small droplets of melted snowflakes dotted his shirts. Sighing, he began to return the clothes in the basket, hurrying up as the dots grew in size and number.

"What are you doing here, Frost?!"

…Was probably what the Domovoy would have said if Jack hadn't just stuffed its mouth with an expertly thrown snowball.

"Wh-Pbthhhhh!" was what it actually said.

"Sorry, can't hear you!" Jack shouted and promptly froze the garden's flowers solid, just to piss the Domovoy off.

The small household spirit managed to spit the snow successfully off its tiny mouth. "Frost!" it yelled indignantly. "Don't you have something else you should be doing?!"

"Nope!" Jack quipped happily as he froze the dog's water bowl solid and buried the doghouse in a tiny avalanche.

"You were here ten days ago!"

"Aha," said Jack, blasting the carefully collected pile of leaves in all directions with a well-aimed gust of wind.

The Domovoy sounded frantic. "And you were here three days before that!"

"Okay," agreed Jack, turning the sidewalk in front of the house to a surprise skating ring for the unsuspecting.

"Don't you have anywhere else to be?!" the creature ran after him, catching the decorative wreath the winter spirit had just shook free from the door with a breeze.

"Nope," Jack answered as he sent both wreath and Domovoy for a test drive on the new skating ring with the help of another breeze.

"What about that village over the hills?" the small creature pointed frantically towards the distance as he began slipping downhill the iced pavement.

Jack turned around to squint at the direction the Domovoy had pointed at. "Uh, I dunno. I've probably been there too, you know. Probably. Stands to reason," he added thoughtfully, rubbing his chin.

He turned around to face the Domovoy again, only to find it going down the iced pavement at full speed.

"–or any other village at aaaaaall–" it was yelling as it went, which Jack thought was extremely impressive.

"Well I'm trying!" he replied, rolling his eyes and then giving the Domovy thumbs-up for its impressive balance skills. He shot off at full speed to find another house protected by a Domovoy. Much, much, much better than pranking a house with no household protector spirits. Their reactions were priceless.

He landed in front of a house that had two Domovoy.

They froze (figuratively, for now) on the spot when they saw him, and Jack grinned.

"Not you again–" was what they said right before the winter spirit threw a poster the wind tore off a wall right at their faces. It got stuck and enveloped them both.

He laughed with huge, hearty laughs as they staggered around, trying fruitlessly to peel it off themselves.

He was just about to use the wind to throw them on their garden's trampoline when he heard the sound of screeching children.

His head whipped around with enthusiasm. "Finally!" he exclaimed and flew off towards the school. "School day is over, it's time to play, get out here, all you pint-sized people!" he shouted to a bunch of middle-schoolers and promptly began bombarding them with snowballs from above.

Within seconds the schoolyard was transformed to a snow battlefield of absolute mayhem. There was no mercy; snow was shoved down children's shirts, snowballs were thrown at teachers, children collided with each other as they slipped on ice that they didn't know was there. There were screams, and there was laugher that sounded like screams and screams that sounded like laughter. It was like the biggest, most out of tune orchestra in the world was performing, and Jack was the happy conductor. It was absolute chaos and he loved it.

It went on until disgruntled parents appeared to spirit away their overexcited offspring and lock them behind doors with lame excuses like "freezing cold" and "homework". Jack showed his disapproval of the latest development by sending the adults to skate on their own lawns.

He giggled as he chased pigeons around the rooftops until he noticed it was growing dark. The sun, still hidden behind a heavy curtain of clouds, was lowering towards the horizon.

"Laame!" Jack chastised the shaded sun and took off into the air, heading west at full speed.

"Chase you to the next village!" he yelled at the faint glow of white radiating through a dark cloud and he flew, flew, flew, flew breathlessly through cold, clouded skies, over hills and mountains, bypassing cities and villages in which it would be dark again too soon, until he reached a place where the bright haze of the sun was right overhead and there remained many, many hours of sunlight and games to be enjoyed.

Jack landed with purpose, scanning his new surroundings for pranking material while soft snowfall joined him from the skies.

There were plenty of tall buildings, several houses with rose bushes in their gardens and–

–he locked eyes with a small, gnome-like… elf-like… creature that was staring at him from behind a pile of sticks, which apparently it had been stacking neatly, task abandoned in favor of gaping at him.

The boy grinned and aimed as it took a deep breath to yell indignantly:

"Frost, you were here just two weeks ago–"

"Yay, thanks for noticing!" he exclaimed cheerfully as he blasted a load of snow on the creature's head.

He shot off down the road at full speed, laughing and freezing the gardens' rose bushes as he went, all in one fluid motion.

He did pause just as he reached the town square —for the whole two seconds it took him to flit his eyes around the crowd and point his finger at a short woman taking a large dog for a walk.

"You!" the boy yelled excitedly. "I nominate you as the lucky winner for today's wintry escapades!"

And before he had the time to inhale another breath, Jack had flown right in front of the dog and threw a snowball straight into its eyes.

The large animal stopped dead, snorted and shook its head to dislodge the snow, confused.

Then it promptly rushed at the strange cold entity in front of it, snarling and barking, and also dragging its unsuspecting master along with it.

Jack screeched and giggled as he zipped into the crowd, leaving a trail of frost at his heel and causing the shrieking woman and a whole bunch of passers-by to either skate, run into the dog, or both.

He only stopped when four different people had been entangled in the dog's leash and it couldn't run anymore. He remediated the situation by throwing non-stop snowballs at the trapped and immobilized animal's snout until it tore its own leash off in an attempt to get free and chase him.

Jack kept flying around the crowd, leading the large dog to cannon itself into numerous people. The short woman must have untangled herself successfully from the pile of victims because she was soon running after her dog, shouting and repeatedly slipping on ice, which Jack found hilarious.

He lost interest the moment he saw a couple dozen pigeons take off above his head; he immediately went after them, abandoning the dog and the people, and started throwing snowballs at the birds, aiming to make them drop. He laughed as they fought to stay airborne after the blow, spiraling downwards and obviously confused.

Then he had reached the edge of the town, and he spotted another small village a short distance away; it was composed of pretty wooden houses nestled on a rocky shore.

And more importantly, it had household spirits too, right? The last one did, and they were close by…

Jack tightened his hold on the staff and tossed himself to his next destination with a blast of freezing wind, dragging heavy grey clouds with him.

He flitted happily from road to road, covering them with a layer of ice. He screeched with glee as the few cars that occupied the streets started getting out of their lanes, twisting and spinning and still going forward.

The boy used the wind to steer the vehicles back in place and dragged them on the roads after him, sending them in a mad, barely-controlled dash around the village. There were useless brakes' screeches and people's screams and more than a few crashing sounds as rubbish bins and mail boxes (and occasionally Jack himself) bumped against the cars' mad path.

Jack was forced to stop when the drivers almost jumped off their vehicles in a frantic attempt to reach safety.

He turned his attention on a large house and promptly began to fill the entrance with snow until the door was no longer visible.

His gleeful spree was interrupted by four tiny gnomes wearing adorable red pointy hats, which popped abruptly out of the soil and began to exclaim profanities at Jack. They looked so funny and oooooh, these hats… They were asking for trouble by being so cute… Jack had plans for them.

He must have paused his assault on the house in contemplation of his plans on the four nisse, because suddenly he realized he was just standing and staring at them with a huge grin on his face as they hopped adorably up and down, and he could actually listen to what they were saying and–

"You were here three times last week!" one of them yelled.

"Really?" Jack's smile became even brighter.

"Don't you have anywhere else to wreak havoc in?!"

Jack laughed at the absurd idea. "But I've been everywhere!" he answered as he sent a blast of frost against the creature, and he immediately took off because not matter how funny and adorable the nisse looked, they could become dangerous when angered.

He loved it.

He circled above them, hilariously out of reach, expecting them to jump up and down fruitlessly in an attempt to get him–

He didn't understand why they all stayed on the ground instead, looking at him with troubled expressions.

"...What happened to you?" one of the three non-frozen ones asked.

"What?" Jack was confused. "Nothing happened to me!"

"You seem a tad more... over-enthusiastic than usual, lately," another one said slowly.

The boy started laughing. "Well I've been trying out this new thing actually! I'm impressed you noticed."

The nisse exchanged glances.

"…And what kind of new thing would that be?" the one closest to him asked.

Jack grinned at it from above. "You see, I had this grand idea recently, and I don't know why I haven't had it before! It's more fun during daytime, right? More people around to play with."

He paused, recalling the quiet, slow nights he used to spend stargazing and strolling on rooftops. How could he have used to think of them as peaceful and calming? They were insufferable. He got restless just from thinking about them. A feeling of desolation and pointlessness overcome him simply at the thought of standing in the empty, dark streets. It made his chest feel tight and his heart beat hard.

He shook his head to clear the memories and feelings away and focused back on the waiting nisse, smiling.

"So I decided to simply stay where there is daylight all day long. I mean… You know what I mean," he chuckled, pointing his staff at the dim glow of the clouded sun. "I follow the sunlight. This way, I'm always having fun, non-stop. Pretty neat, huh?"

The nisse just stared at him, their expressions unreadable. Were they talking at him to distract him from something? Was it a trap? Jack glanced behind him, to see only an old and rusty traffic light and some equally worn electric cables laying haphazardly on the sidewalk (which incidentally would turn into hilarious tripping hazards once covered by a layer of snow), but no threat whatsoever.

He was distracted by the nisse speaking again and turned his attention back to them.

"This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard," the one closest to him was saying. "And I'm including the things that come out of Aksel's mouth, who was born into my household four years ago and has expressed several times the desire to become a washing machine when he grows up because he likes the way they spin."

"Heh," Jack chuckled. Then: "You have a kid in your household? Can I play with him?"

The nisse glowered.

"Absolutely not. You– augh!"

It didn't complete its sentence because Jack sent forth a powerful blast of icy wind that froze every nisse's feet straight on the ground.

The second gust of wind tore the cure red hats off their heads and Jack doubled over with laugher as the creatures screeched with indignation.

Not that they were able to do much, frozen as they were. They were forced to watch while Jack constructed mini-snowmen, copies of the stuck nisse, in compromising positions (two of them were kissing and the other two danced together) on the pavement right in front of them.

"You know, since you were nice enough to ask about my playtime," Jack commented as he put the finishing touches and added the stolen hats on the sculptures for emphasis, "I'm going to do you a favor and bury your neighborhood's school in a snowdrift. I didn't originally plan for this but I figured, more time for you to spend with your households' kids, right?"

The nisse snarled at him but couldn't do much else.

Jack's following snicker almost drowned the sound of tiny feet scampering towards him from behind. He turned leisurely, thinking of some happy toddler, only to come face to face with a snarling nisse lunging straight for his head, tiny mouth wide open and full of sharp, triangular teeth.

He ducked to the side, surprised, and the attacking creature passed harmlessly by him. It landed on the iced pavement and immediately turned to face him again, growling menacingly all the while.

"Reinforcements!" Jack exclaimed happily, adjusting the grip on his staff. He got short of breath with excitement, an evil grin forming on his face. The other nisse had been distracted, but this one would be a proper fight. These creatures were many times stronger than they looked, and they had a poisonous bite. Beating it would be a fun challenge indeed.

The one free nisse circled him, whispering what was probably profanities in its native language, while Jack tried to refrain from hopping on the spot from enthusiasm. He kept his staff aimed at the creature at all times, ready to take off at the slightest sudden move. It looked so pissed. Maybe it would be easy to distract it as well…

Jack smiled innocently at it. "You look upset," he said in the most serious of tones. "Are you jealous of being left out?" he gestured vaguely to the nisse frozen behind him and their ice copies. "Growl once for yes, twice for no."

The nisse let out a low, long snarl of pure frustration, its tiny hands mimicking a strangling motion.

"…I'll take this as a… maybe…?" Jack replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. The creature's eyes were still pinned on him, tracking his every move. Not distracted enough. "I'll tell you what," he went on, "I'll make a sculpture of you kissing the frozen you, how does that sound?"

For one moment, the tiny spirit looked impossibly more affronted than before. Jack took this chance to shoot an ice blast at it just as it yelled "NOW".

What?

The next moment he felt a heavy weight strike him on the back, and a force tugging his staff away from him. He grunted and fell forward, the staff slipping out of his grip despite his best efforts to keep hold of it. He tried to rise, only to discover that his legs were tangled in the worn electric cables that lay on the pavement a few moments before.

"Crud."

Tiny hands kept him down, pushing, and he raised his head to stare at the nisse he had just frozen, being broken free by two of its previously incapacitated friends.

"Huh," Jack breathed, impressed. "I guessed I was the one being distracted." He eyed the creatures working methodically, breaking chunks of ice very quickly, glaring at him all the while. "I'll be honest, I have no idea how you guys managed to free yourselves. How did you free yourselves?"

The last nisse, now also free, flexed its tiny arms to dislodge the last few pieces of ice, picked up his staff and approached him.

"Seriously, how did you do it? Was another one of you hiding around, or do you have like a secret tool or a hair dryer or–"

The nisse slammed his staff against the pavement. "Enough! Be quiet!" it snapped.

"Hey!" Jack protested, wriggling underneath the nisses' hold. "If you break this I'll bury your school in a snowdrift so big archeologists will discover it in the future!"

The nisse sighed in exasperation but didn't whack his staff again regardless. "Look, Frost, I don't know who hooked you up on caffeine, but you need to ride this wave out in a way other than destroying everything in your path."

"It's only a little destruction!" Jack countered with an innocent smile.

Every nisse around him groaned simultaneously and in unison.

"Do you know how long your 'little destruction' has lasted?" the one holding his staff asked, approaching.

"…Not long enough?" he tried.

The nisse looked unimpressed.

"It's the most fun I've ever–"

"Yeah, that's enough," the nisse replied and then turned to the others. "Let's tie him somewhere for a few weeks. That should do it. If he hasn't calmed down by then–"

"What?!" Jack exclaimed, enraged, and made to rise. The other nisse kept him down, but that didn't deter him from trying. "Are you crazy?! You can't do that!"

It didn't turn to face him when it answered. "We can do anything to protect our village from any sort of damage, and right now detaining you sounds like the best decision we've made in a while."

Jack almost rose to one knee before he got pushed down again. "No! You guys are nuts!"

"That's the pot calling the kettle black."

"I'll go crazy if I'm stuck doing nothing for a few weeks!" he shouted, effectively kicking the red hat off a nisse, which looked genuinely hurt by that.

"You are crazy right now, and you've been distributing non-stop mayhem to everyone," one of them countered, the others nodding in agreement.

"Aargh!"

"Still, it might make him angrier afterwards…" another one commented, making the rest of them pause and think. "There might be some… repercussions…"

"You bet there'll be, you tiny hairy cowards!" Jack snarled. "Once I'm out I'll raze your village with hail! Stepping outside will be like stepping on a floor full of marbles!"

The nisse exchanged glances. "Or we could hold him forever," one proposed.

"I'll freeze your beards together for all eternity!" Jack yelled, kicking and punching (rather ineffectively) at whichever nisse was closest to him.

They looked at each other again, wincing.

The one holding his staff turned to him, unimpressed. "How about a compromise? You need to be punished for all the trouble you've caused."

"I'll freeze your head inside a toi–"

"We'll tie you to someplace for the night. One night," it insisted while Jack glared at it. "You could take a nap or something. Honestly, you look like you need it. We'll give you your staff and let you go in the morning."

Jack opened his mouth to protest but the creature cut him off. "Then," it went on, its tone warning, "if you keep causing trouble and we catch you again it will be two nights, and then so on and so forth."

The other nisse seemed to more or less approve of this plan, murmuring various comments of agreement.

"I don't want to stay tied up for the night!" the boy exclaimed, indignant. "I want to do stuff!"

"Tough luck, Frost," the nisse holding his staff smirked.

"We could tie him somewhere he could have fun watching something to pass the time?" another one proposed.

"There's that annoying juggler who always takes a spot in the square on Saturdays."

"He won't be there during the night. Plus I think Frost would somehow egg him on to make him even more annoying. Actually, I already regret mentioning the juggler in front him."

"Let's just give him a book. Can you read, Frost?"

"I'll fill your hats with snow when you least expect it!"

"No! Let's give him a menial task! Clean up all the snow, that sort of thing."

"That sounds like something that would backfire spectacularly."

"Well, we could–"

"If you don't let me go right now," Jack snarled through gritted teeth, "I swear I'll find a way to wreck everything within my reach until you wish you had just let me freeze you all solid!"

"…Just tie him to some tree along the old road outside the village," the one holding his staff said, waving its free hand dismissively. "No buildings are there, not even any working street lights. Nothing for him to damage."

Jack froze in place and then started struggling with renewed frenzy as the other nisse nodded in agreement. "No! Don't do this, let me go!" he cried as they began to drag him away, and screeched in a last, desperate attempt: "What if there are cars?!"

The nisse walking away with his staff paused at that.

"…Wait."

The others stopped and Jack breathed hard as it turned around slowly to face him.

It looked extremely amused. "Cars?" it laughed. "Frost, what are you really hooked on?"

"There might be cars in the road during the night!" the boy repeated, frantic.

"Yes? What, don't tell me that the thought of them passing in front of you without you being able to make them slide into each other is torture?" it frowned.

"I don't like them!"

The spirit lifted an eyebrow. "I saw you racing with a car, giggling your head off, literally three minutes ago."

Jack spluttered. How could he explain this? "...Ah, but… But I wasn't in a dark street three minutes ago! You said there aren't any working lights! I won't be able to tell they are cars."

His eyes flitted pleadingly from spirit to spirit, each gaze meeting his own wide with bewilderment.

Argh, how could he make them understand? "What if they run over me?" he tried. That was a good argument, he thought.

The nisse holding his staff was the one to break the silence. "First of all," it sighed, "you will be tied to a tree. Traditionally these are not found on the path of incoming vehicles. You should be fine. And secondly," it went on past the rising murmurs of the others, "I saw you getting run over by the car you were racing against, and you promptly got up and resumed racing it, still giggling your head off!"

Jack attempted to wave wildly, trapped as he was. "That's different! It wasn't dark! I knew it was a car!"

"Did you hit your head?"

"No! Please don't tie me there! Please!"

"What, because of cars?"

"Yes! Please!"

The tiny creature eyed him suspiciously for a full minute during which Jack got simultaneously more anxious and hopeful.

Then it opened its mouth and said:

"Wow, there really is something wrong with you. You're actually serious."

"There's nothing wrong with me!" Jack snapped. "And that was the worst, most lamest idea of punishment in the history of ever and believe me, I'd know. Tying me to a tree, what on earth is wrong with you!" he yelled. "What happened to… feathers and tar and burning on a stake and going to bed without ice-cream? I have a reputation to uphold, you hairy toddlers! You make me ashamed to prank you!"

Silence followed this outburst, during which Jack breathed hard and all nisse stared at him in bewilderment.

Then the one holding his staff spoke slowly. "…Tie him to a tree for five days, and if he hasn't lost the attitude keep him there until spring arrives."

The rest began to drag him by the legs again, prompting Jack to snap into action, grabbing at the ground and kicking viciously at his captors. "No! You guys are the worst! I hate you! And I hate you most of all!" he yelled at the one walking away with his only possession, but he was nonetheless met with silence and kept getting hauled farther and farther from his staff.

The tiles of the sidewalk were slipping mercilessly away and out of reach; they had acquired a thin layer of ice during his previous escapades, which negated all fiction and allowed his miniscule abductors to drag him away by the legs with minimal effort.

Even as the irony of the situation dawned on Jack, it appeared that it had not escaped the notice of said miniscule captors, either: all the nisse were giggling uncontrollably.

Snarling, Jack grabbed the first immobile thing that came within reach: the pole of a street sign.

He managed to hold on to it for a good four seconds, during which the tables of ridiculousness had turned, and now it was the nisse that fruitlessly marched in place, their tiny legs running pointlessly on the slippery pavement. Then they coordinated their efforts, and with a force belying their size, they managed to heave him away from the sign and resume their abduction.

So Jack grabbed the next available thing, a tree.

The process repeated several times, during which Jack grabbed another tree, a fence, a garbage bin (a bad idea on his part, seeing as it was simply dragged along, threatening to spill its contents on Jack and earning very confused looks from passers-by), a pram (a slightly better idea, since in this case passers-by rushed to hold the pram in place, but in the end he felt sorry for them and let go) and a bench, all the while still in the same block.

By this point, the nisse were hissing with frustration at having their progress halted so many times and were spewing profanities —which Jack mentally catalogued for later use— and threats —to which he responded in kind.

"We'll bite your toes off!"

"Nggh! I'll ice your hats and smash them to pieces!" Jack growled back as he held on to the bench.

"We'll tie you to that tree and leave you there to melt!"

"I'll freeze the contents of your trousers!"

The nisse yanked hard with a strangled scream and Jack gasped as his grip gave way and he was once again dragged on the iced pavement.

The roar of a passing vehicle from behind informed him that they had just reached the end of the first block, and Jack promptly seized a fire hydrant as it rushed by him, managing to hug it with both arms.

"Aargh! Let go, damn you!" the nisse screeched, pulling at his feet with such force that his joints began to hurt. Yet, Jack hugged the thing even harder. He turned his head slightly to look behind him: he could see the nisse tugging furiously at his legs, their own feet running pointlessly in place on the ice. And right behind them, a road, devoid of cars at that particular moment, then more blocks.

The nisse growled and heaved harder. The boy hissed with pain and held on tighter, all the while staring at the empty road expectantly.

Just a little more, just a little more… Jack began counting his labored breaths, keeping his eyes glued on the asphalt.

"Let go, you pest! We will bite you if you don't cooperate!"

He heard the faint roar of an approaching car, and it appeared slowly within his field of vision, along the lane they had to cross.

The winter spirit gritted his teeth and watched carefully the vehicle's path, ignoring the yells of the nisse.

Just a little more, just a little, just– NOW!

Without giving any warning, Jack let go of the fire hydrant and pushed away from it with all of his force.

The sudden thrust in motion, combined with the creatures' frantic pulling, sent them all skidding across the frozen asphalt –nisse still firmly attached to Jack's legs– and delivered them right across the path of the oncoming vehicle.

The boy grinned triumphantly as it loomed over them.

The following collision launched them several feet along the road. Jack was spun around himself several times by the force of the blow, watching the nisse lose their grip on his legs and get hurled in various directions along the way.

Yet he had gotten tossed by the wind countless times during his long life, and so Jack Frost landed nimbly on his feet, kicked the worn cables away from his legs without much difficulty, and set off running towards the direction that the one nisse that had taken his staff had gone to.

Behind him were screams of frustration, moans of disorientation, and warnings of the impending danger yelled at said creature, which Jack didn't pay any mind to.

He skidded skillfully around the corner that one nisse had disappeared behind and resumed running, following the tiny footsteps its legs had left on the thin layer of ice.

It went around another corner, and Jack picked up speed, running in large strides that the miniscule house spirits could never hope to outrun.

Another corner, and then he was upon the creature.

He saw its stupid red hat first, standing out among the grey and white walls, and then he saw the long shape carried in its hand.

He reached the creature with a single jump just as it started to turn towards him, and he managed to grasp the butt end of his staff.

The nisse, probably too startled to react, didn't immediately let go.

Big mistake.

Jack froze it solid on the spot, then hurled it away with a powerful swing of his staff.

There came a pitter-patter of tiny feet behind him, and Jack swiftly turned and shot a massive blast of ice towards the incoming group of nisse, launching them all backwards in a thick flurry of snow.

A hard smile formed on his lips as he watched the expressions of their faces switch from anger to shock and fright.

Jack Frost took off high into the air and went after them.

He hunted the nisse mercilessly across the streets, following them from high above where they could no longer reach him, going after them wherever they tried to hide; freezing them with powerful blasts of ice. He stalked the skies, seeking the creatures in every corner and alley of the town, his angry cries mixing with the screeching of the wind. And when he could no longer find any opponents he scourged the roads with snow for good measure, although the resulting layer was nowhere near as thick as he would have liked. The never-ending day of endless games and fun also meant he was always a bit tired.

Growling, Jack glared at the now empty city. Wherever he looked nisse lay frozen on the streets, half-covered by snow. There probably existed more, hiding in various holes and basements. He would have liked to get them all, but he doubted he would be able to do so.

Still dissatisfied, Jack circled above the quiet roads, searching for any escaped unfrozen nisse, glaring at the ones that had now turned into sculptures.

Why weren't there any more?!

"Aaah!" he yelled in frustration, sending a freezing blast into thin air. "I'll do it again, do you hear me?! I'll do it worse! If you even think of, of, stopping me again I'll freeze you and then smash you to pieces! I'm not afraid of you!"

The town was quiet. No retort was heard.

No cars were rumbling across the streets.

No people were seen outdoors.

Jack paused in his flight, and stared around.

Everyone had gone inside. Everyone.

But… but it had actually been just a small blizzard. Less than half a foot of snow had accumulated. He could do a lot worse, Jack knew. It was hard to create very much snow since the start of the neverending day, harder than he remembered it being before… And even now, despite all his anger and his effort, it only became a small blizzard. So why had people gone inside? Normally kids should rush out to play; the cars should have their special snow tires on and be out and about, there should…

Actually, it wasn't just the sudden lack of people and cars. There was something else off, Jack thought as he stared at the houses and the trees and the horizon. He just couldn't put his finger on it. Like there was something unreal to the whole situation, like it was a dream.

He gazed at the vaguely unsettling scenery, his heart feeling very tired. Didn't want to deal with any of this. He just wanted to play. Why did these stupid household spirits have to go and make such a big deal of a simple snow day? Deciding to detain him for days… Who did they think they were?! At very least he gave as good as he got: it would take at least two days for all the nisse to thaw properly. Let's see them get stuck in one place.

But Jack didn't have time to speculate on the nisse's fate much longer, because the clouds of the blizzard began to clear, and he saw that the sun was low on the horizon.

There was no point staying in this lame town, anyway. Time to leave and look for a better place to play.

With one last scornful look at the empty streets, Jack took off to the skies.

The boy almost fled west at first; the sun had been very low and Jack had no intention of spending any of his valuable time roaming lame, empty cities. He found the gusts of frozen air against his face very refreshing and his head began to clear. He suddenly felt very much alive again, and the world was once more amazing and real.

Grinning, Jack went even faster, no longer to chase after sunlight, but to enjoy the thrill of flying in breakneck speed; to see all land rush by in a blur. He screamed in delight, spreading his arms wide, causing soft snowfall to trail far behind him, covering the earth in a serene blanket of pure white.

"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooh crud."

Jack did a complicated maneuver, spinning upside down, until he came at full stop.

From his position, hovering hundreds of metres high in the air, he glared at the sea that spread before him.

It reached as far as the eye could see, melting into the horizon in a dull grey-blue.

Jack kept scowling at the water until he was sure that it should have frozen solid from his gaze alone. Alas, he had no such power, and the waves kept splashing in a mocking fashion.

The boy sighed and rolled his eyes, defeated. He hated having to cross the sea. There was nothing to do during that time! Just endless water stretching for ever and ever. Maybe if he got lucky he could come across a ship to toy around with but, like most adults, sailors were usually too focused on their work and rudely indifferent to the entertainment Jack could offer them. As if being on a ship was particularly demanding! It looked pretty easy and fun to Jack: dangling from ropes, climbing on ladders, getting splashed by the waves, fishing… Like an adult playground. Yet sailors seemed unwilling to appreciate the beauty of it and instead stared at the expanse of water with a boring steely gaze.

The winter spirit sighed again, and eyed the east sky darkening behind him. He still had some time to mess around at the coast, before he absolutely had to cross the ocean.

He swooped down towards the nearest beach he could spot, where several families were sitting on the sand or swimming in shallow water.

However, as Jack closed in, everyone seemed in a sudden hurry to leave. Those who were playing in the waves rushed to get out, many of them tripping in the sand on their way out, before grabbing towels and hurriedly wrapping them around their shoulders. Those who were already on land shot upright, some putting their hands around their mouths to yell at those still in the water at the top of their voices, or hastily put on coats and turned to walk towards the road.

"Oh, come on!" Jack complained, irritated. As he landed with a gust of air on the beach, the last child was stumbling away on the sand, clinging on its mother's waist and crying.

"Hey!" the winter spirit yelled after them. "Come back! Let your child have some fun, what's wrong with you?! It's not dark yet!"

No one turned back.

Jack stood alone on the beach, the cold winds spinning the sand all around him in fun-sized whirlwinds. Discarded toys and the occasional sandal were being tossed by the breeze, along with forgotten trash. He stared at the people's retreating silhouettes, uncomprehending.

The adults being wary of him was common enough that he wouldn't bat an eyelid, but the children loved what he did. They'd always find a way to stay outside and enjoy the snow day. Some of them, sure, they'd obey their parents' killjoy instructions to stay indoors, but the majority would manage to get outside.

And now, just as the first, softest snowflakes began to drift to the ground, the last car was speeding away.

Jack tightened the grip on his staff, watching the dust trail of the vehicle until it disappeared behind a hill.

Then he turned to face the waves again. "Bed time is apparently extremely early now," he muttered, crestfallen. "Their loss. I was just thinking of creating ice slides for the kids to glide into the water. And iceberg boats. And ice castles to compete with the sand castles. If the adults weren't so… adult-y…"

Defeated, Jack rose to the skies again and with a final sigh headed west, over grey waters.

At first, Jack chased a flock of seagulls until they careened north and he wasn't willing to get off course.

Then, he found a little fishing boat and toyed with it, just the littlest bit, sending snowballs from the heavens at the sailors. They seemed unable to differentiate the touch of the snow from the splashes of the waves that crashed against the ship, because they completely ignored them, so Jack left, unimpressed.

Then there was a solitary life preserver floating eerily on the surface, all by itself.

Jack spent a long time searching a wide area around it, scanning the endless waves for any sign of life. There was none. No boat, no debris, no people. Only water.

In the end he resumed going west, extremely unsettled.

He managed to make some time pass by staring at the sky; immersing himself in the shapes of the ever-changing clouds and the different hues of grey and blue that colored them.

And then he could not find another distraction and Jack began feeling very uneasy.

It was just that…

…the ocean was…

The ocean was so empty.

There were no children. There were no people. And most spirits that dwelled in the sea lurked only in the deep.

There was nobody to play with. There was nothing to amuse himself with. Just a soul-sucking expanse of water stretching forever.

The boy frowned at the sight of the waves crashing against each other in a perpetual demonstration of true futility. How he had come to hate crossing the ocean…! How on earth did he manage to enjoy flying over the thing before?! There was nothing to occupy his mind with during the whole trip…

Jack felt his insides churning sickeningly at the thought and gulped. He couldn't help it. He knew what would follow. Without fail, whenever he was left alone and listless, his mind would begin taking him down really unsavory paths. Thoughts he didn't want but couldn't stop would pop up in his head. It was going to happen again now. Hell, it was happening already! He didn't want to think about how he was thinking things he didn't want to think!

No, no, find something else to focus on, like…

The merciless waves reminded him of insidious whirlpools lying in wait of the unsuspecting–

"No, quit that!" Jack snapped, angrily, clutching at his head with both hands. It felt like he was being pranked by his own mind, lately. Like an unsuspecting person stepping on an unseen patch of ice and suddenly finding themselves skating against their will to end up landing face-first into the snow, Jack had found that his own mind could turn out to be as treacherous and slippery as ice on a frozen lake. Sometimes the world would simply… slide out of focus.

It was just the never-ending day, Jack knew. Playing all the time simply meant he had less time to rest. He was tired; nothing that wouldn't be fixed with a solid night's sleep. A good, long sleep that he kept postponing because there were so many things to do, to see, and he was NOWEHERE near done, yet. Even short naps seemed unnecessary and a waste of time. It was his choice to keep playing. There wasn't anything wrong with him.

The nisse were wrong! Why on earth did they imply that he was doing something that wasn't normal?!

Jack fired a blast at the stupid waves. The resulting explosion of ice on the surface didn't make much of an impression to him.

"…Those crappy hairy toddlers acting as if they had the right to rule the place! Who do they think they are? Detain me?! What am I, a criminal?" Jack grumbled through his teeth. "They were nuts! Serves them right to be the ones detained now. 'Did you hit your head?'" he mocked in a fake voice. "No, I haven't hit my head! I'm just not fascinated at having to spend the night at the most boring place possible, and you have no right to force me to do so!" Jack snapped. "Ah, I should have stayed there a little longer and give that damn idiot who decided to take my staff a good talking-to. I didn't see him afterwards. I didn't even notice where I threw him. What a basket-case. Seriously, why was not wanting to be tied up during the night with nothing to do such a foreign concept to those gnomes?" he fumed. "I can go wherever I want, and I can do whatever I wish. Why would I wish that? It's not strange not wishing that. Maybe they can't tell, what with them being the wettest blankets in the history of laundry. I bet standing all night in a dark street with nothing to do is quality time for them. If not, then they are the most ungrateful bastards I've ever met! I do this for the people, for the kids! They're meant to enjoy a snow day! It's a gift! It's fun! What is not fun is sitting on your butt all night long on an empty street! I choose not to do it! The whole world is my playground, I'm not missing out on anything by avoiding that!"

The continuous string of words escaped from his lips without him realizing it. When he noticed, he closed his mouth shut and fired a second blast at the despised sea, breathing hard. He tried to organize his thoughts without resorting to speaking them aloud.

He really was not missing out on anything. There might be fun things happening during the night here and then, sure, but not on a desolate, dark street. And from the moment he was not missing out on anything, avoiding dark roads during the night was the best, most obvious choice. It was Normal. There was no fun to be had there. Nothing to see, nothing to do. Why not be anywhere else instead, when he had the choice?

Why did those idiotic nisse act as if there was something wrong behind that logic?

Why did they imply–

They couldn't actually know–

They couldn't have known.

Could they?

Was it just a coincidence, that spirits who didn't like him decided to tie him up next to a dark road and let him spend the night there?

Were they truly simply cruel enough to want him to do something this boring and stupid enough not to realize why he wouldn't want to do it?

There was no other explanation.

They couldn't have known about that first night with the car.

They hadn't been there, there hadn't been anyone there.

Did he let slip something?

"…I might have overreacted a bit when they first suggested tying me up by an empty road for the night…" Jack admitted, uneasy. "But… it wasn't irrational not wanting to do that. And I changed the subject almost immediately. And I got us all run over by a car on purpose. No, they have no reason to think I might be afraid of cars. I'm not afraid of cars. They're not scary. They're very fun to play with. I can't be afraid of them. That night, I…"

He squeezed his eyes shut.

The vehicle's headlights shone at him out of the darkness, and Jack had somehow foolishly managed to think that it was Typheus before him. He had thought he was back in the tunnels, and that the approaching light was a fiery snake chasing after him to burn him alive. Which was stupid, because he knew full well that it was an actual car, he had seen it with his own eyes moments before, when he had been flying overhead. And he was not underground but outside, in a meadow, and he was very far away from the volcano. He knew it. He knew all of it.

…Yet, at the same time it seemed that he did not know it. The only thing he could do was stare, open-mouthed and unable to move as the light grew larger and brighter. (And what point was there to try to move? He could not fly, and the snakes' wind would reach him first.)

And then he had gotten run over by the vehicle.

Getting hit by a car was by itself not a big deal; he was a spirit, he was hardy. The nisse were right about that. The blow was nothing much, that wasn't the issue.

The issue was, that at the moment of impact he thought that the monstrous snake had actually got him, that he was dying in a dark tunnel deep underground and no one would notice–

There had only been a horrifying, all-consuming dread, sucking the breath and sense away from him.

"Hnnn!" Jack winced, pulling at his hair. His chest heaved as the feeling flooded through him once more, blurring the sky and the waves. "No, no, I'm here, I'm here–"

"…"

He could hear the whistle of the wind.

He could smell the salt.

He was flying above the ocean, he was travelling towards the coast, he was going to have fun, it was okay–

Jack lowered trembling hands. He hadn't realized he had been clutching his head.

He stared at the grey waves, breathing the clean air greedily.

"…It went okay this time…" the boy wheezed; his voice came out flat and tired.

…That night with the car… it had completely overwhelmed him. It was an unbearable emotion, eating his mind raw and cutting him apart. It had torn him apart, like a snowball bursting into powder. He didn't know how long it had taken him to come back to himself; he had been lying on the ground for an indiscernible amount of time, unable to get back in touch with his surroundings. He really, really hoped he had at least blacked out for a while, because… yeah.

When he eventually did realize that he was still… still there, that there was no burning fire, no deathly black tunnels, and there was… sky, and grass, he barely managed to sit up because he was trembling so much and he couldn't breathe…

And he didn't understand what had happened.

He still didn't understand what had happened. Why it had happened. How could he be so stupid when he knew full well where he was and that it was just a car in front of him?

It didn't make any sense.

Jack knew he wasn't the sharpest pencil in the box but that incident with the car was of a whole new level of stupidity and absent-mindedness even for him. It couldn't be that he was scared of the snakes killing him; well, of course he had been scared of the snakes killing him but that couldn't be the issue because he had almost died countless other times during his long life! In fact, his whole existence was basically a string of poor decisions related to excessive fun followed by near misses.

And that was normal. Being attacked by other creatures was normal, provided that he survived of course, which he obviously did. Survival was triumph: it meant that he had prevailed to live and laugh another day. It meant that he could go on unhindered. That he had outsmarted his attackers, overcome the difficulties and had fun in the process. He never… looked back.

He survived this time with the snakes as well.

So, it couldn't be fear. There was no reason to be afraid of a fight that was both over and won!

Jack sighed, feeling very tired.

He didn't know what explanation to give.

How could he think that it was…

Well, it made sense to think that it looked like a fire snake in a tunnel… It did look like a fire snake in a tunnel. That was no reason to believe it was a fire snake in a tunnel.

But then again, he had still been exhausted at the time. He had still been overheated. And wasn't it, like, common knowledge that people who trudged through deserts and suffered from the sun would see hallucinations? Was it not possible that he was also experiencing one?

"…Several days after I got out of the volcano," Jack replied bitterly to his own thoughts. "Yeah, right. More likely the snakes actually melted some brain-cells out of my ears while I was in there. Maybe I'm just stupider for real now, and they're all right."

He scowled. "That would explain a few things… Like how I keep thinking of the stupid night with the stupid car while I don't want to!"

He almost shot another blast of ice at the ocean, but he literally did not feel like he had the energy to do it right now.

…He didn't like the thought of brain damage.

Would it even be permanent?

"No, no, no, it's fine, I'm fine!" Jack breathed. "I don't need all that many brain cells to have fun, after all. And, and I'm sure that being really tired at the time didn't help. A full night's sleep would do wonders!"

He noticed a group of dolphins playing in the waves below, not a care in the world.

"…Yeah!" Jack said more brightly. "Take notes, mister Frost: they don't need a huge brain to have lots of fun. I can certainly do a lot better than them! No matter what has happened, there's nothing wrong with me."

And he believed it.

The only thing he had to do to ensure his continued amusement was to avoid dark roads, in case of a repeat. At least until he figured out exactly why it had happened. He did not want to experience… that… again. He wasn't that stupid.

And since he did not miss out on anything by not being in a dark road at night, it was practically no issue. There was nothing wrong with him. The whole world was his playground. There was no spirit freer than Jack Frost, no spirit who found as much enjoyment in the world as he did!

Jack laughed. Heck, he even found it funny that he managed to panic over a car!

Smiling, he flew lower to play with the dolphins–

–and realized they were not dolphins at all.

"Mermaiiiiids!" he screeched with glee as he flew among them. They were jumping through the air, beautiful black and red hair streaming in daylight. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen any.

"A little winter breeze!" they chattered back, beaming and waving at him.

"Heyyy hey, hey, do you want to play?" he asked eagerly. "I can make you an ice ship! We can play pirates."

"Aren't you a little lost, little breeze?" a mermaid with magnificent green eyes asked him, a wonderful smile on her lips.

"No! Let's play!"

"Now's not the right time, sweetheart. Why don't you go and rest a bit at the north pole? We can play some other time."

Jack was confused. "Do you have something to do? Do you have to work? I can help with that!"

"That's really sweet of you, but you being here will not help the ocean very much. It's too cold," she clarified when Jack looked almost offended.

He scoffed at that. "Come on, it's the ocean. It can take a few icebergs."

"Some other time sweetie, I'm serious," one of them said, and now there was a slight warning in her voice, and Jack remembered that mermaids were awesome until they spontaneously decided you would make a great snack and your bones an artsy necklace. He wasn't sure how often the latter happened. Weren't mermaids also the type to spontaneously off and marry a random fisherman?

Jack lounged on his staff as he followed them, thoughtful.

Then, without any warning, he turned the large wave that one of the mermaids was jumping towards into a large ice slide.

Instead of diving into the wave she slipped on top of it, screeching until it broke from her weight and the currents beneath the surface. She returned into the water with a loud splash.

Annoyed exclamations followed her short slide game, and Jack grinned at the pouting mermaids.

"We told you–"

Jack blasted another ice-slide into existence, causing another flurry of shrieks and complaints. He grinned through it all. After all, if they really wanted nothing to do with him, they could just dive right under the water where he could never reach.

"Are you asking to have your leg bitten off?!" one of the mermaids hissed at him. She was swimming right underneath him, too.

"Well, it's not like you could do it," he smirked, prompting her to lunge out of the water and straight at him.

It was the easiest thing to swerve to the side and watch as she coursed through the air and landed on a freshly-made ice slide.

"Aaah! Cold! Cold!"

"Oh come on," Jack rolled his eyes. "Not you too! I had trouble playing with people in the sea just earlier!"

"Yeesh, I wonder why," another one replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Yeah, I'm sure you guys can do a lot better," the boy grinned and sent another blast of ice in the mermaids' path.

Chaos ensued.

Jack turned the sea into an impromptu playground: waves turned into slides, ice obstacles popped up in the mermaids' tracks forcing them to slalom wildly, a flurry of snowballs rained from above.

The mermaids retaliated in screeches that made Jack's ears hurt, and took turns to leap off the water in an attempt to grab at him. Those attacks were very easy to dodge, although they kept him amused all the same. The winter spirit giggled as he kept just out of reach of their jumps, easily keeping up with their pace. There wasn't much they could do, but they were very noisy.

"You look very cool, do you know that?" he said as one of them leapt magnificently out of the water —right before she fell face-first into a chunk of ice.

"Aargh! What is the matter with you?!" they screeched. "Leave us alone! We just want to enjoy daylight in peace!"

"You'll enjoy it more if you play with me!"

"Forget it!" one of the mermaids snapped. "Dive back in ladies! We'll come up later, he can't stay here forever," she instructed the others and made to dive into the water. Jack was faster though, and the combination of a blast of ice and a well-timed gust of wind sent her to collide on a mini-iceberg.

"Wait!" the boy cried as the rest of the women disappeared beneath the surface. "Don't go! I just–"

But by then even the last mermaid had regained her composure, rubbed her head and dived in the waves, sending him one last glare.

"–wanted to… Never mind," he murmured, suddenly alone above the ocean once again.

He resumed going west.

"Why didn't they want to play?" he mused. "Mermaids are very playful when they're not murderous. These ones were so cranky and– LAAAND!" Jack screamed at the sight of distant mountains.

"Finally finally finally finally finally finally finally finally finally finally–" he chanted, speeding up.

The waves beneath him abruptly turned into pastures and hills. He watched the earth rush by with glee, savoring the sight of greenery turning white. Here in the New World most of the settlements were built relatively recently, he knew, so there weren't going to be any household spirits… he could definitely play with the people, though!

The boy landed on the very first village that came across his way and immediately went about his games with extreme mania.

The streets and alleyways turned into a slalom race for the freezing winds. Every small object that was not nailed down was hurled into the air. The roads were filled with the noises of slamming shutters, barking dogs, car horns and screeching children; a symphony of life. The falling snowflakes looked like glimmering confetti against the grey sky, and Jack's heart was filled with elation. He flew faster than ever, his own screams mixing with the whistle of the wind and the cacophony of the living city.

He lived for these moments of pure excitement.

He went so fast, he almost missed the group of children having a snowball fight in the park. Their tiny ungloved hands grabbed fistfuls of snow gleefully, mindless of the cold, and they threw it at one another without a care in the world.

"Finally!" Jack hissed, satisfied, stopping the gust he was riding so abruptly that he almost landed on his face.

Snickering, he also scooped up a large snowball and aimed at the tiniest kid, a toddler no more than four years old, sitting morosely on her butt in the snow.

"STOP!"

The screech cut through the air suddenly, stopping all the children dead in their tracks. Jack's own raised hand paused in the air. Even the wind stopped.

All heads, Jack's included, turned towards the source of the scream.

A young woman was marching angrily on the thin layer of snow, her eyes dead set on the toddler. She snatched the small girl up so abruptly it almost looked rough, although the kid didn't look upset.

"Hey!" Jack complained. "I was aiming at her!"

The young woman turned towards the gaggle of children who were staring at her, stunned.

"What on earth do you kids think you are doing?!" she snapped. "Get inside, all of you! Put on jackets, for heaven's sake! And gloves! And hats! Do you want to catch your deaths?! Are you not thinking of your poor mothers?! Inside, all of you!"

"Oh, yeah, actually, she's got a point," Jack agreed, slouching on his staff. "Kids these days."

He lowered his snowball arm and was content to watch as she herded them out of the park.

"Come back once you're properly dressed!" he yelled, laughing.

…He was still holding that snowball.

After the tiniest moment of hesitation, he hurled it at the woman's retreating back.

She snapped around to glare at her attacker, looking affronted.

Jack waved happily at her as her eyes skipped over him.

"…You go home to your mother, too, do you hear me!" she shouted at the unseen offender. Her voice was the tiniest bit softer now, her eyes still searching the trees at the edge of the park for a hidden figure.

In the end she lowered her head and resumed to push the kids towards their homes.

Jack burst into a fit of laughter and almost skipped in place with glee.

"Yes! They're going to come back! We're going to have so much fun!"

He paced up and down, excitedly. Should he wait for them? How long would they be? Should he go do something else?

But he loved playing with children so much! What if there wasn't another bunch playing around at the moment and then he missed this group?

"Oh, oh, oh, I know, I know, I know!" he said excitedly to the thin air. "I'm gonna make them something for when they come back!"

He grinned as he surveyed the surroundings.

"A snow fort! Classic. Two snow forts, obviously. But these will be the best the world has ever seen! There will be moats! And crenels!"

The winter spirit marched up and down excitedly, planning where he would put what.

"And tunnels! And, and, and, let's start!"

He immediately began to build the first snow fort, and set off to make it as glorious as he had imagined. However, he realized very quickly that he needed a lot more snow. He had only succeeded in creating a thin layer on the ground, and even that looked close to melting.

Jack flew around the park madly, causing more snowfall along his tracks. In the end he stood back for a bit, panting with exertion, surveying his work.

"Okay, this should be enough… for one snow fort, at least."

He hummed happily as he put the finishing touches on the first fort and stepped back, satisfied with his work.

The fort was more than a meter tall. It had walls all around it, and you could only go in by stooping and going through a gate. Yes, there were crenels at the top of the walls, and Jack imagined the children ducking behind them and springing up to hurl snowballs at their friends. The moat surrounded the whole castle, except for the gate, so anyone who wanted to do a close range attack would have extra fun.

"Not to praise myself, but I've done an awesome job. Well done, Jack," he smirked. "Now, for the second fort! It will be, oh, oh, oohhh oooover there!" and flew towards a small cluster of trees not five metres far from the first fort.

"The entrance of this one will be a tunnel going through the trees!" he exclaimed, restless with glee, and flew above the copse to make sure it had a proper layer of snow.

He landed back in the cluster and began clearing the ground along where the tunnel would be–

A bony hand snatched the back of his shirt, fingernails scratching the nape of his neck, and pulled backwards.

Jack made to scream as he was yanked blindly off his feet, but the collar of his shirt pulling against his throat drowned his voice.

He fought to tear himself free but the force holding him was unyielding, and when he swung blindly with his staff backwards he failed to hit anything.

It was the Old Hag.

She got him.

SHE GOT HIM.

Jack struggled in earnest, desperately trying to pull free, while unable to utter a sound. She toyed with him, yanking him back and forth like a spring, the vice of cloth clenching painfully around his throat.

No, no, no. She's going to make me watch, she's going to do it because of me, please not this, please not this–

He swung once more with his staff, ineffectively. In one last ditch attempt, he planted his feet on the snow-covered ground and pulled forwards with all his force, willing himself to just– break– free– even if he tore himself apart in the process.

The pull against his windpipe was excruciating. He was choking. He still pushed forwards, feet slipping on the snow before regaining their footing.

The world began to turn black.

Then there was a ripping sound and Jack was suddenly yanked forwards, the force pressing against his neck gone.

He landed face first in the snow and scrambled to stand up and turn around to face her, shaking, although he knew he could never be fast enough; he shot a blast of ice blindly before he had even finished turning, although he knew it would not be enough, it would never–

The Old Hag was nowhere to be seen.

Jack stumbled a bit, his defense pose unsteady, breaths coming out harsh. He stared around wildly. Where could she have gone?! Where could she have hidden?!

He whirled around to look behind him.

The park was empty.

His head jerked up to glance at the treetops, but even their dense foliage could not provide adequate cover for an adult to hide behind.

He turned back quickly, to face the copse of trees, uncomprehending. Where did she go?! How could she have moved so silently?

Then his eyes came across a small object pierced on the tip of a branch not two metres away from him.

It was a torn piece of cloth.

…The same colour as his shirt.

Realization dawned on Jack as he stared, mouth slightly agape.

He stood up straighter, shoulders relaxing, and he lowered the staff. He was still breathing hard but it was getting a lot easier now that the dread which had filled his chest was being replaced by amusement.

"Ha…"

The first chuckle came out of his mouth without his consent.

"Hahaha… Hahahahaha!"

Jack laughed heartily as he flicked the piece of cloth off the tree with one finger.

"Hahaha! What, am I going to be scared of trees now?" he said, affectionately patting the offending branch. "This is absolutely ridiculous! I'm lucky no spirit saw me freaking over my shirt getting stuck on a branch or they'd never let me live it down."

He could imagine it:

Jack Frost. Bringer of snow days. Scared of twigs.

Smiling, Jack turned his back on the tree and gazed out at the park. There weren't any people in it right now, but it had a nice, pristine blanket of snow, and there was this awesome snow fort right in the middle. It looked very beautiful.

Jack shifted the staff idly in his hands, surveying the scenery.

…What was he doing before…?

Was he supposed to be doing something?

Jack's mind came up blank.

He strolled quietly among the trees, breaths calm and deep.

Everything looked beautiful when covered with snow. The boy watched the trees, the still flowing fountain, the birds flying overhead, and then the children with a kind of passive tranquility, like watching a family scene stolen through a window. Everything was distant and intangible.

He wandered around in the snow until his feet got tired and he sat down to lean his back against something, holding the staff on his lap. He knew he was lost in a snowstorm that existed only inside his head, one that he could not control.

Yet he did not mind.

It was so peaceful in the blank, white skies of the blizzard.

Then all of a sudden the skies in his head cleared again and the world slid back in place, with him once again firmly in it.

Jack blinked.

He was sitting on the pavement of some road, surrounded by tall concrete buildings.

He did not remember getting there.

The boy sighed and stood slowly upright, eyeing his surroundings with uncertainty. He should… uh. What time was it? He should–

"The second snow fort!" Jack exclaimed, slapping his forehead. "Ugh, I forgot! How could I forget– well, not that it matters," he cut himself off. "One snow fort should be more than enough for a group of children to have fun. If anything else, it probably inspired them to build their own! I did good."

A part of him wanted to visit the park again to see if the children were still there. Another part of him thought that it was unlikely they hadn't left; any amount of time could have passed.

All of him preferred not to come across an empty field where children had played before and he had just missed by a few minutes.

Jack soared in the sky to fly west, somewhere far from this village.

His chest felt tight and tired.

"Maybe… maybe I should try to have a short nap," he said flatly to no one.

He landed again on the next village he saw, right in the middle of its square where most of the people were and there was the most noise. Three large trees were growing in one corner of the square. Jack glanced at the ground below them and gingerly floated towards a nice, thick branch that would serve as a napping spot. He laid down across it, head and torso leaning against the tree trunk. It was pretty comfortable. His hands gripped the staff tightly, as they always did whenever he was sleeping.

Jack closed his eyes.

Below him, there came noises of the bustling village.

People talking.

Children laughing.

Horse-drawn carriages cloppity-clopping along their way.

Cars roaring.

Dogs barking excitedly.

Once again, sorry for taking so long to update! I hope you guys enjoy the new chapter... A myriad of kudos to my awesome beta reader! 3

ChameleonGiant, THANK YOU FOR LEAVING ME THIS AMAZING REVIEW I CAN'T EVEN AAAAAH!

You made my day! You commented on everything, on every little thing! Reading a comment like that is every fanfic writer's dream! THANK YOU! It was super detailed and it touched on everything and I don't even know where to start, haha! Just, wow!

Well, this story is partially about a person facing a hardship and having to find ways to overcome it. You use everything and anything you can, especially if you have no help. The degree of success of course varies :P Also, his fear of not being missed if something bad would happen to him resulted from an experience of my own -nothing extreme, lol; just a sudden realization when I was studying abroad that dying and no one noticing you are gone is a LOT worse than simply dying. The sort of thing that could happen to anyone with no family or friends living nearby, to anyone being alone in a strange country.

I'm super glad you like the writing! Uh, I didn't try to make his personality any different though, that is a minor fialure on my part. Could you elaborate/give me a few examples about which parts of the text gave you that impression? :-) (I'm glad it wasn't too jarring!)

I'm always so happy when readers say they found Old Hag scary! :D And so relieved when they didn't find the gargoyles super annoying! Typhon/Typhoeus/Typhaon/Typhos/or however he is spelled is a mythological monster from the antiquity, supposedly still buried beneath Mount Etna in Italy :D I wanted to find a sort of dragon to live inside a volcano and he was by FAR the most extreme creature I found. If you ever have the time and will to do it, read up his descriptions. They're pretty metal. (Not as metal as the Azdec gods. Nothing is ever as metal as the Azdec gods.) And no, we won't be seeing him again... There will be a few more spirits in the following chapters, I hope you'll enjoy them too :-)

MANY KUDOS for this incredible review. THANK YOU!