And here it is, the final chapter (awww :(, I really enjoyed writing this), in just one week, this story was started, and finished :D...meant to get this out a bit earlier today, but oh well, still got it out today.

I want to thank absolutely everyone who has read, reviewed, favoured and followed this story. I'd hoped it would do well, but I didn't expect nearly so many views. Thankyou so much everyone, it really means a lot to me :)

It's funny, originally this chapter didn't exist, but I'm glad it came to me as I was writing.

Ok, I try always to get details as correct as possible...buuut...my geography could use some work, so apologies if by chance any details are wrong :P

Very well, as always, sorry for bad grammar and spelling, but please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of it's characters. The plot for this fanfic, and the gifts in this chapter are my idea though, no pinchy please ^-^

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

Norths booming toast was followed by a chorus of cheers from the yetis, and jingling of the elf's bells.

Each of the other four guardians echoed him, raising their cups of eggnog.

"Thanks North, this is definitely the best Christmas in a long time," Tooth spoke, Sandy giving a nod of agreement.

"Absolutely! But then we haven't had everyone together in long time," North replied.

"So you guys don't do this every year?" Jack questioned, barely finishing his mouthful of eggnog first.

"Not as much as we used to," Tooth admitted as she fluttered around, "It used to be one of the only times we were certain to get together, but now it's been…almost a decade I think…"

"Yes, but that is all in past now. Today we have ALL guardians present," North stated proudly.

The others all smiled, and followed his gaze to the opening in the roof above, where the man in the moon shone through, his light toasting along with them.

"Oh, and speaking of present…" North added with a sudden excitement that Jack thought he recalled from the first time they'd tried to initiate him as a guardian.

The head of the North Pole turned and threw a couple of orders at a group of elves. They scurried off quickly, a couple knocking into each other. They made a show of falling over and trying to scramble up, but in the end a couple of their friends came to the rescue…

…by rolling them along the ground like barrels!

Jack heard a chirping by his ear, and looked to see Baby Tooth holding out a ginger bread cookie in the shape of a tooth, with a pink ribbon around it.

"Aww, Baby Tooth. Thanks," He took it gladly, looking over the small gift.

"Its low sugar," Tooth added with a playful wink, "Just to protect those pretty white sparklers of yours."

Jack had to laugh, and put the gift in his front pocket, just as the elves returned.

They carried gifts over their heads, whilst some of the yetis looked ready to grab the presents away, terrified they'd be dropped.

The guardians were each handed a gift; Sandys was in gold wrapping, Tooths in purple, Jack blue, and Bunny green.

The group exchanged smiles, before opening their presents. Inside they all found the same thing, but none were in the slightest bit disappointed.

It was a snow globe, slightly bigger than a normal one, but still smaller than the portal style ones North used. They also had a gold chain attached on one end, so they could be worn.

Inside the beautiful glass, a light trickle of snow flittered about on its own. Jack gave it a playful shake, but gasped as something began to form when he did so.

It was a large snow flake. It twirled and flew around the globe as freely as Jack himself did through the air.

There was a surprised gasp from Tooth, and he looked to see within her globe, tiny purple fairies sparkling like amethysts, whilst white specks like diamonds glittered around them, just like teeth.

She chuckled and look to him. Jack smiled back and shook his own globe again, and watched the fairies replaced the snow flake.

He looked around at the others. Inside Bunny's globe was a rabbit bounding around scattered, coloured mini eggs. Whilst in Sandy's was a swirl of gold sand constantly changing shape, from dolphins, to fish, to dinosaurs etc. And finally, as Jack looked to North, the jolly man smiled, holding his own globe, within which a reindeer led sleigh flew over rooftops.

Jack shook his own globe until he saw each of his friend's images, but paused as he shook it once more, and found instead the glowing full moon.

"North, they're stunning," Tooth finally broke the silence.

She fluttered over to her friend and placed a kiss on his cheek, whilst Baby Tooth hugged the other side of his face, earning a light chuckle.

Sandy and Bunny both stepped up to shake his hand, before North finally turned to their youngest member.

"Jack?"

He wasn't asking to be thanked or anything, but the boy had fallen silent; he was inviting him to speak.

Jack was unsure what to say, but his eyes showed everything.

Aster watched him, and allowed a calm smile upon his own face; He knew how much the gift…a symbol of his place in their family…must've meant to Jack.

The boy shook his head, still unable to find his words. Then like to startle them all, he darted forward and hugged North.

The giant of a man was as surprised as the rest of them, but he just hugged the boy in return, patting him on the back.

"Thanks…" Jack mumbled as he pulled away, smiling gratefully.

North just nodded in return. Jack chuckled as he shook the globe until it returned to a snow flake, and hung it around his neck. He walked back past his friends, and as he met Bunnys eyes, he gave a small nod, which the pooka calmly returned.

"Didn't you say you had a surprise for the rest of us frostbite?" He spoke as Jack picked his cup back up.

Jack made a sound like to say 'oh yeah' as he quickly wiped his mouth, and set the cup down.

"Can you guys meet us in a little while near the base of Belukha mountain in the Altai range? We gotta pick up some other guests first," He grabbed his staff.

"We?" North raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you're gonna give me a lift right cotton tail?"

"Do I have a choice?" Bunny rolled his eyes.

"Sure. To the sleigh then!" Jack mimicked North.

Bunnymund was very quick to catch his hood and yank him back, making the others laugh.

"Just so you know, EVERYONE is invited!" Jack laughed, indicating to the yetis and elves.

"Come on ya larrikin," Bunny grumbled as Jack signalled for Baby Tooth to come along, "Oh, hey North?"

"Hm?" North looked to him, and suddenly a wide smirk appeared on the pookas face.

"Don't say you weren't warned mate."

Before anyone could get a word in, he opened a new tunnel, and Jack gave a yelp as he and Baby Tooth were pulled along.

"Warned? About what?" Tooth questioned, looking to her friend.

"Bunny using riddles? What is going…?" North began as he stood tall.

He was distracted as he felt a lump beneath his jacket. He reached into the inside pocket, and pulled out a small, colourful drawstring bag. As North pulled the string, he almost dropped the parcel, as out crawled tiny, candy sized eggs.

"How adorable!" Tooth couldn't help herself as they padded up the man's arm.

She chuckled as one jumped off his shoulder, and she carefully caught it. Sandy watches as they looked for somewhere to go, and kindly made a sand slide for them to roll down.

The elves chased them as they scurried across the ground, whilst the yetis struggled to admire them without crushing them.

"Did Jack slip these to you?"

"Classic," North chuckled as a couple got tangled in his beard.

Sandy chimed up then. He made an image of the little eggs, then switched to a rabbit and gave a shrug.

"That's true…eggs are more likely from Bunny…" Tooth spoke quietly.

"A gift from Bunny…?" North shared their confusion.

He looked over the tiny eggs thoughtfully.

"Don't say you weren't war…" He muttered Bunnymunds words, before his eyes widened.

"Uh oh…"

The next second, it was as if someone had let off an entire batch of party poppers.

Tooth screamed, Sandy chimed, and North hollered as the dozens of eggs suddenly popped loudly all over them.

The yetis grunted in shock and tumbled over, nearly squashing the elves, who were scrambling and lost within the multiple clouds of paint.

Being absolutely covered in them, North eventually stumbled over, just as they were beginning to finish.

The group coughed and spluttered, trying to see through the thick clouds.

Sandy shook his head, and glanced over himself, noticing the rainbow of colours painting his usually fully golden form.

He and Tooth looked to each other, before suddenly laughing.

"Wow, red actually kind of suits you Sandy," Tooth joked.

The paint on her wasn't quite so clear since her feathers were already so vibrant, but the patches of green and yellow over her face looked like some odd sort of mask.

They turned to North as he groaned loudly, and helped him sit up.

"BUNNY!" The man hollered when he got hold of himself.

He looked to the other guardians as they both struggled not to laugh, and even the yetis were trying to hide smiles.

His eyes trailed down to his beard, which had changed from white to a mix of blue and pink. He pulled it forward a bit to see it better, and the rest lost it, breaking out into laughter.

"This is for that time, isn't it?" Tooth winked at North.

"Using Jack as an accomplice, very tricky…" North chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

He made the others jump a bit as he joined in the laughter, and got to his feet.

"Oh those two are right back on naughty list!"

"Bunny's been on the naughty list?" Tooth joined in the joke.

"Alright! Everyone go clean up!"

The yetis and elves were quick to obey, whilst North turned to one of them.

"Have everyone assemble at the Belukha mountain in twenty minutes."

The yeti ran off to pass on the order. North on the other hand, turned to Tooth and Sandy, and cleared his throat deliberately.

"Now everyone, to the sleigh!"

"We're so on the naughty list for this!" Jack laughed as he slid through the tunnel after Bunnymund.

"Yeah, well that's not exactly something new for you is it?" Bunnymund chuckled back, focused on where he was going.

"I really wish we could've stayed to watch. I wanted to see these things in action," Jack pulled out a tiny red candy egg from his pocket.

"Hold onto that too long and you will. They're a bit temperamental about anyone but me touching them."

Hearing the smirk he couldn't see, Jack looked to the egg, before quickly flinging it over his shoulder. Not two seconds after, he heard a bang, and looked over to see a cloud of red.

He didn't have time to comment though as Bunnymund suddenly called 'Here's our stop'. He barely managed to redirect himself as the tunnel suddenly shot upwards. As sunlight poured down upon them where the surface opened up above, Bunny moved to the side as Jack flew up and out. He wobbled a bit until he readjusted to the familiar feeling of being in the air. After a quick circle over the tree tops, he landed lightly as Aster hopped out.

"Tell me cotton tail, why were you so eager to go along with this prank? Scratch that, why did you suggest it?"

"You regret that bit of fun?" Bunny smirked as they walked through the forest.

"No, but you can't blame me for being curious right? And since I was your so called partner in crime…" Jack walked backwards as he spoke, his staff held over both shoulders.

"Call it payback. North played a prank on me one year, I warned him he wouldn't get away with it."

"Wow…you really know how to hold a grudge," Jack raised an eyebrow, and turned to walk properly, "Should I still be watching my back after that whole blizzard thing?"

"What do you think?"

Jack frowned a bit and shifted his staff to one shoulder.

"You know I do recall that I apologised at the time for that…"

"Why?"

Jack stopped at the question. Bunnymund had also paused, and looked at him questioningly; it seemed strange, considering the topic usually aroused annoyance from the pooka.

"Why did you apologise? You'd been around more than long enough by then to know when Easter Sunday was. Were you just causing mischief?"

Surprise took Jacks face.

Though perhaps a little sceptical, Bunnys voice wasn't assuming.

Was he actually willing to listen?

At the time Jack had wanted nothing more than to explain it had been an accident, but after the incident had quickly escalated to their first big row, he'd been too stubborn…and sort of afraid…to try again.

After all this time, the chance to tell his side had finally appeared, and he felt too awkward to talk.

"Because it was an accident…" He finally blurted out.

"You're gonna have to do better than that," Aster answered plainly.

Jack sent him a frown. Aster was clearly serious, but the winter spirit hadn't missed a spark of humour the other guardian had failed to keep out of his voice.

Aster had indeed decided to give Jack the chance to speak, but the last kind of response he expected was the slightest ting of red upon the boy's cheeks.

"Well looks like this is going to be interesting."

"I'm not going to say anything if you're just gonna laugh about it!" Jack spat defensively.

"But you'll say something if I don't?"

Jack flinched back as he fell into the verbal trap, and turned away. Bunnymund hadn't missed his face turning a darker shade, and forced himself to back down.

"Alright, I won't laugh, whatever it is."

The guardian of fun shifted a bit, but glanced back. Bunnymund kept his composure patient, and though Jack refused to look at him properly, he forced himself to speak.

"A few…a few years before then…sixty-five I think…winter ran a bit late. It would've cleared up in time for Easter of course, but the weather was still cool enough that I decided to throw out one more snow day on the Saturday…"

Jack paused, glancing to Bunnymund, who gave a slight nod; he vaguely recalled that.

"…anyway, most of it melted away like I'd planned it to, it was only a small snow day after all. But come Easter Sunday, there were still patches of snow all over the place. Not enough to hinder the egg hunts or anything, but enough to stand out…"

Bunny's nose twitched; Now he definitely remembered that year. The egg hunts themselves may not have been affected, but it had been fairly painful hiding the eggs around Burgess and the surrounding areas.

"I just…" Jack began, but clamped his mouth shut.

His face grew redder still, looking odd on the pale skin. Aster would've been amused…if he had any idea just why the boy looked so embarrassed.

"I just thought that all the coloured eggs looked really nice against the white snow."

Bunny felt himself freeze, more in surprise than shock.

"I don't know why, I just liked it," Jack grumbled, shifting around out of awkwardness, "So the next couple of years I hoped that the same thing would happen. But winter kept finishing on time, early in fact; I couldn't push my luck when the weather was already too warm, even if I was tempted. Then in sixty-eight, the cold weather lasted again, not quite as long though. I don't know, I guess I got too excited or something, but where I meant to call up just a small snow storm, it turned into a full blizzard. Maybe I panicked because the weather was starting to get warm and I didn't think enough snow would last until Sunday morning…"

"So let me get this straight," Bunny interrupted, and stepped forward, "You almost ruined Easter that year, just because you were trying to make it look nicer?"

Jack stepped back at his approach.

"…I know you probably hated the snow in sixty five to; bet it was cold on your paws," He muttered, only half a chuckle in his voice.

Bunny certainly wouldn't deny that; his paws had been numb by the end of it. But then…whilst he definitely preferred the eggs amongst the lush green spring grass, when he thought about it, the eggs hadn't looked back amongst the snow either.

He frowned and stepped back away. Jack glanced up, curious by the Pookas silence.

"Sheila, come here,"

Jack tilted his head, but when Baby Tooth chirped, he understood. Not sure what the Pooka was thinking, he indicated for her to go. The little fairy looked to him nervously, but flew over to Aster.

The second she reached him though, Jack flinched as Bunny stopped, and pulled one of his boomerangs out.

He didn't get a word in before Bunny turned and threw it. Instinctively, Jack ducked out of the way, but the weapon wasn't aimed at him. It flew over his head to strike the snow covered branches in the tree above, hard enough to send the snow crashing straight down on top of Jack. The boy yelped as he was knocked flat on his face, and almost fully disappeared under the pile of white.

After a few moments, he pushed himself up, and shook a large mass of snow from his hair. He glared straight at Aster, who just smirked, spinning his boomerang around in his hand.

"Alright Frostbite, I'll forgive ya," Bunny spoke with a cocky nod, and put his weapon away.

Jack got to his feet, and brushed himself off as the pooka continued walking. Baby Tooth quickly returned to him, chirping wildly. He raised a hand to calm her.

"Using my own element against me? You know you're gonna pay for that later,"

"Oh, how so?" Bunny just continued to smirk.

"You'll see. I'm not spoiling the surprise," Jack returned the smirk as the little fairy snuggled back into his collar.

"Huh, whatever you say. Come on, you wanted to get there before the others right?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, it looks like our other guests are ready to go."

Jack gave a nod towards a gap through the trees where the forest ended. Bunnymund followed his gaze, and his smirk changed to a calm smile.

"Are you sure they're coming Jamie?"

"Yeah, don't worry. Jack said he had a big surprise for everyone, and that we should wait by the edge of the forest."

"We can't be too long. My mum isn't happy about me being away from the family on Christmas day."

"And why did you insist on warm clothes? I know it's cold here, but you said we were going somewhere else…"

Jamie tried to answer his friend's questions…really not sure of much himself…but was distracted when he felt Sophie pulling at his hand, and heard her giggling excitedly.

"Sophie, what is it?"

He looked around, and let out a happy gasp.

Hopping through the snow was a little frost rabbit like the one Jack had used to help him believe in the Easter bunny. It looked at them, shook it's cotton tail, and ran off into the forest.

The children laughed and took after it, following it around the trees, and tumbling over through the thick snow.

Just as they reached a small space between the trees, the rabbit suddenly turned and jumped at Jamie. The boy raised his arms to catch it, but it burst into snow before it reached him.

The children were still excited, but now looked around, lost about where to go.

Sophie made a startled sound, and looked to her ankle, where a little red egg was nudging her. She instantly laughed and picked it up, whilst green and red eggs began appearing from the bushes, going straight up to the children. Some had very distinct snowflake or frost designs over them.

Jamie smiled and crouched as Sophie showed him the one in her hands, when something struck him on the back of the head.

Caught off guard maybe, but he wasn't worried by the familiar feeling; he knew a snowball when he felt it. He turned back, already smiling before he found Jack crouching on a low branch, smiling right back.

"Merry Christmas everyone!" The guardian of fun cheered, jumping back down.

They all echoed him, and Jamie was hugging Jack within seconds.

"Merry Christmas Jack," He repeated quieter as he was hugged back, "You haven't been around in ages!"

"Sorry for that, guardian work and all. Had to make sure everyone could have a snowball fight today," Jack pulled back after a moment, patting him on the shoulder.

"Everyone here?"

They turned as Bunnymund walked out into view.

"Yeah, that's everyone," Jack answered as Sophie ran past.

Bunny couldn't help the affectionate smile that only the little ankle biter ever seemed capable of bringing out of him. He crouched to greet her, chuckling as she hugged his face.

Jack gave a wily smirk, and leant towards the others.

"Come on guys, you're not gonna leave the Easter bunny out of the hugs are ya?"

Bunny's ears shot up, but before he could do anything, the other children all jumped on him, knocking him over.

He groaned, slightly winded. But still managed to frown at Jack, who was just laughing his head off.

"This is your idea of payback?"

"No, this is a freebie. You'll know payback when it comes for ya," Jack grinned.

Bunnymund wanted to groan loudly, but instead he gave into the hug…albeit a bit awkwardly.

"Alright you lot, time to move, we're on a schedule. Everyone well rugged up? It's even colder where we're going," He spoke as he gently pushed them off and stood up.

The children nodded eagerly, and so he carefully helped Sophie onto his back. Jack took Jamie's hand, and the others one by one joined hands.

"Express for Belukha Mountain leaving in three…two…"

'Tap Tap'

The children screamed in both surprise and delight as the ground opened up beneath them.

In a quiet corner of the Altai mountains, an unfamiliar sound broke the tranquillity, as one by one, five squealing, laughing children seemed to fly out of the ground itself, and landed safely in the soft snow. They continued to laugh and roll around as Jack flew out with Jamie in hand.

"That was so cool!" The boy cheered as they landed.

"It is pretty fun, ha?" Jack agreed honestly.

"What is with you and North liking cold places?" Bunny grumbled loudly as he bounded out last, Sophie tight in hand.

It looked like he was both trying to keep her warm, and use her as a hot water bottle himself.

"Uh, hello? Jack Frost? The tropics sound nice and all, but I'm not sure that would work out so well."

"Not asking you to pick bloody Hawaii mate, just somewhere I can walk without losing feeling in my feet."

"Well that kind of place wouldn't work for my surprise."

"Is it far Frost? We can't keep them out here too long."

Jack nodded in agreement, but indicated over Bunnys shoulder.

The group followed his gaze to the area behind them, and even the pookas mouth fell open in shock.

The mountain side and flatter areas of the small corner were decorated with ice sculptures of all different shapes and sizes. There were long, twisting slides; some small enough for the children, some big enough for a yeti to fit on comfortably. There were tunnels that wove in all directions, places to climb…all sorts of obstacle course items lay ready to be put to use. Right smack in the middle of it all was an open area, with small walls of ice and mounts of snow dotted around, whilst piles upon piles of snowballs lay ready and waiting.

Bunny admired the scene, lowering Sophie as she squirmed eagerly, wanting to go explore with the others. As the pooka stood tall to watch them play, he became aware of Jack standing next to him, and glanced around, noticing an expectant grin that the boy didn't try to hide in the least.

"Waiting for something frostbite?"

Jack shrugged casually, but kept grinning. Aster knew exactly what he was after; it made him want to roll his eyes, and laugh at the same time.

"Not too shabby mate," He finally gave the boy what he wanted.

He meant it to; no wonder Jack and been almost unreachable the last few days. It had only taken three days to get the warren completely ice free, and then North had had them help clean up the remaining mess they'd made at the pole.

After that, Jack had simply resumed his normal task of bringing blizzards and snow days when and where he could. Bunnymund no longer banned him from the warren, although in doing so, he discovered the real punishment North had planned for him;

The guardian of wonder had first begun lending Jack snow globes so that he could get in and out of places fast if ever he needed to. He'd been allowed to carry two at once before, but after all the fuss, North had cut that to just one. Bunny reasoned it was so that if Jack intentionally went and got himself in trouble, he couldn't quite so easily get himself out.

It was a good dose of discipline for the fun loving guardian, but it also meant Aster had to return him to the surface himself if he ever visited the warren.

He had to give that that was well played on North's part. At first Jack had visited every two to three days, and would spend hours practicing decorating the eggs. He hadn't necessarily been any trouble, but as nice as it was to see Jack finding interest in his art style, it had been understandably annoying for Bunnymund at first. However, when the week of Christmas came, he'd gotten worried when Jack only showed up once, and barely for an hour, only to finalise their little practical joke on North.

He glanced back to Jack, who had resumed watching the children, but he could see a true spark of happiness in the boy's eyes. He was really happy to know his surprise had worked, even for his rival.

The pooka found his paw touching a hidden pocket on his belt strap, and he quickly glanced away.

Should he…?

"Hey guys, don't use up all the snowballs before the others get here, ok?" Jack laughed as the children played.

"Hey,"

"Hm?"

Jack looked around as Bunny spoke, only to have something small thrown at him. He stumbled a bit to catch it, but opened his hand to see a strange amulet.

Baby Tooth flew out from the collar of his hoodie to see it. It was a beautiful emerald colour, and in the shape of half an egg. A yellow stone sat in the middle, whilst a simple brown cord looped around from one end.

"Bunny? What is this?" He asked curiously, though maybe a little unsure how to react.

"Put it on your staff and tap the ground," The pooka answered without looking at him.

Jack and Baby Tooth glanced to each other, but did as he said. Jack carefully tied it around the hook part of his staff, and with another quick glance to Aster, tapped the base upon the ground.

The little yellow gem within the amulet glowed, before Jack jumped back as the ground before him opened. He stared down the tunnel in amazement, before turning to Bunny, speechless.

"It'll take you directly to the warren from anywhere, and once there, it'll allow you to use any of the tunnels to get back to the surface," Bunnymund explained, finally looking back to him.

"You mean…you're saying that I can…?" Jack began, too shocked to finish his sentence.

Bunnymund was giving him permission to enter the warren whenever he wanted?

"Yeah, I am," Bunny answered with a sigh, looking like he might be blushing under his fur, "And I'm also telling you that I won't hesitate to take it straight back if you come knocking just to annoy me. As soon as New Year is over, I have to start focusing on Easter, I won't have time to play chauffeur to you," He warned, his face gaining its usual firmness.

Jack chuckled, but he was grinning at the same time, and whilst Aster had expected him to like it, he wasn't sure just how to react to the pure joy on Jacks face.

Did it mean that much to him? It was just meant to make things easier if he ever came to the warren again…heck…the pooka knew he was practically giving Jack a free ticket just to annoy him!

But as the boy removed the amulet from his staff and carefully stowed it within his pocket, Aster couldn't help but feel that the boy would do all he could NOT to abuse this new trust.

"It's ok Baby Tooth, just don't want to accidently end up using it every time I go to make more snow," Jack chuckled when the little fair chirped at him curiously.

Before removing his hand, he took the cookie that she'd given him, and bit into it, smiling when she did.

Just as he swallowed, he stumbled a bit when a snowball struck him. He turned to see Bunnymund smirking at him.

"Oi! Aren't we going to wait for the others?" He smirked back.

"And give you the chance to get the first strike? You didn't really think I'd allow that now did ya?" Bunny answered, tossing another snowball lightly in his paw.

Jack grinned playfully at Baby Tooth.

"Well, looks like it's game on!"

Bunnymund threw his second snowball, before taking off across the field. Jack easily dodged this time, and grabbed one of the premade snowballs as he took after his rival.

They chased each other back and forward across the field, throwing both snowballs and challenging remarks. They almost forgot about the children, who often paused in their own games to watch them. Eventually though, Jack took shelter behind one of the ice shields with Jamie, grinning as they high fived. Sophie went running over to join Bunnymund behind a large snow pile, where he made a snow ball and handed it to her. She'd grown a bit since Easter, and though she still just threw it at an invisible target, he could see she was getting stronger.

"Whoa!" He barely dodged a snowball as it skimmed over his ears.

"That the best you can do cotton tail?" Jack's voice rang across the field.

Bunny already had another snowball ready in his paws, and threw it hard. As it struck the icy shield, he had to admit to himself that Jack was definitely the better player at this game, but that didn't mean he'd let him win.

As Jack prepared his next snow ball, a sound caught his attention, and he looked to the sky.

"Ha! Hey Bunny, head's up!"

"You can't get me where I am Frost!"

"No, heads up as in; Time to hit the deck!"

Bunnymund raised an eyebrow, before he caught something in the sky.

"Aww crikey," He chuckled, ducking back behind the snow mount.

Up in the sky, Norths sleigh burst through a portal, bringing with it the rest of the guardians.

"Bunny! Jack! You two have a lot of cleaning to do when we get back!" North called from the air.

As he said that, a number of portals opened around the field, through which a large amount of yetis spilled out, followed by a couple of elves.

"Oook…probably better give me a wide berth for a while buddy," Jack chuckled to Jamie.

He gave him a pat on the shoulder again, before zooming off across the field. Half the yetis went after him, whilst the other half located Bunny.

"Crikey…" Bunny backed away.

He grabbed Sophie and put her with the other kids.

"Keep an eye on her for me, ok?" He said quickly, before rushing off.

The yetis didn't stand a chance of catching him with speed, but they were locked onto him like hound dogs; he wouldn't be able to forget they were there for even a moment.

"Just look at this place. Did Jack really do all this himself?" Tooth admired the bird's eye view.

Sandy was making images of everything he saw. The usually quieter guardian was almost bouncing with excitement.

"What do you say North?" Tooth spoke with a playful smile as she watched Jack and Bunny race around, "Should we give them a few minutes?"

"Heh, why not? The yetis have earned their fun," North answered equally as playful.

Jack almost hit his head as he dived into one of the tunnels he'd made. He crawled back from the entrance to avoid notice by his pursuers. With his speed and agility, the yetis had lost track of him, but they wouldn't miss the hiding holes forever.

He bit back a gasp as someone knocked into him from behind.

"Well fancy meeting you here. What're you doing?" He hissed to Bunny, who'd come in from the other end of the tunnel.

"Oh gee, I don't know…a rabbit taking cover in a tunnel…don't see that every day…" Bunny muttered sarcastically, "What about you?"

"Dah, it's my tunnel."

They both hushed quickly as a yeti lumbered past on Bunny's side.

"Not that I'm not having a great time and all, buuut…would you say no to a temporary truce?"

"Just until we're not the prime target…?"

"Just until we're not the prime target…" Jack repeated with a nod.

"You know that won't happen until North gets a good shot at us both."

"Yeah, but at the least we can turn the yetis attention away, and I think I know how."

"I'm listening…"

"Wanna help us out Baby Tooth?"

Jack lowered his voice as they both leaned closer.

"Where did they go?" North thought aloud as he had the reindeers land on a wide ledge upon the mountain side.

Sandy himself made a pair of binoculars as he searched the field. Just as he was scanning one of the larger piles of snow, a blur shot out from either side; one blue, the other grey.

He chimed and pointed excitedly, whilst on the field, Jack and Bunny raced around the yetis.

"All yours little sheila," Bunny spoke as he neared a couple of yetis preparing snowballs.

As he raced past them, Baby Tooth flew out of hiding in his fur, and buzzed around one of the giant creatures, who was holding a boulder sized snowball over his head.

He grunted in frustration as she flew around his face, and released one of his hands to try and swat her away.

But with all his fumbling, he couldn't balance the mass of snow, which tumbled out of his hold, straight on top of his friend.

It seemed to take a moment for him to realise, but as Baby Tooth flew off, he looked to his friend, who had turned to scowl at him.

With only time to give a 'huh?' sort of sound, the first yeti quickly found a regular sized snowball shoved in his face. He grunted loudly in a whiny voice, before grabbing a ready-made snowball and throwing it at his friend. The other yeti was quick to duck, but the shot flew straight into the back of another further away.

Across the field, Jack fought to suppress a laugh as he watched the yetis turn on each other, the Easter bunny all but forgotten. He glanced around from where he was hiding, and noticed a couple more yetis had divided one of the snowball stacks evenly between themselves.

With a playful smirk, he moved over to the piles as silently as snow falling from the sky, and raised his staff.

With a bit of focus, he carefully, but swiftly moved one pile of snowballs next to the other pile, leaving one yeti without any. Seconds before they looked again, he dashed away back into hiding, almost giving himself away with a laugh.

As the yeti reached back for a snowball, he found his hand searched through thin air, and looked to see his pile vanished. However, his friend's was much bigger than before.

He complained loudly, whilst his friend just argued back, clearly oblivious to the change and certain they were rightfully his.

From up above, the guardians watched as the yetis quickly forgot about their original targets, and began a free for all with each other. The children were quick to join in the game, and even the elves were soon helping to prepare more snowballs, and even throwing back when they got hit.

"Jack Frost, guardian of fun, and definitely prince of mischief," Tooth laughed.

Sandy made an image of Bunnymund as he nodded.

"You're right, it seems kind of strange for Bunny, but it's also nice to see him so…loose," Tooth agreed.

North gave a couple of nods like admitting they were right, but they could see his fingers twitching in anticipation.

"True, but either way…TIMES UP!" He suddenly announced.

With patience not much stronger than Bunnymunds, He laughed loudly and began jumping down the side of the mountain, ready to join in. Tooth and Sandy laughed and took flight over the field.

Jack meanwhile, was sitting on a small rock, laughing as he watched the fun going on around him. There was a noise beside him, and he looked to Bunnymund, who'd skidded to a stop in the snow, and threw a snowball right at an elf, hitting it square in the back.

"Nice shot," Jack nodded, "Think it's safe to call off this truce now?"

"I reckon so," Bunny smirked back.

"In that case…"

Aster flinched as snow hit him right on top of his head. He looked up to see Baby tooth giggling, before she quickly fluttered away. Before he could react, he was struck by a snowball from the side, this time from Jamie.

The boy laughed and cheered, and Jack gave him the thumbs up.

Though a smirk beaconed to come out, Bunnymund pushed it aside to give a frown instead.

"Very funny frostbite, but maybe it's not the Yetis you should've been worried about…"

Jack gave a loud, playful 'uh oh', before he raced away once more with Aster on his tail.

After getting a strike in on Sandy, North gave a proud cheer, before looking around as Jack and Bunny raced past. Jack flew up one of the slops on the mountain side, but stopped when he glanced over his shoulder and realised he wasn't being followed.

Watching from below, the guardian of wonder could only smirk and keep down a laugh as Bunnymund…having used his speed to go up and around Jack…landed behind his opponent and struck him with a snowball.

As if they were playing a game of tag, this time Aster took off with a grinning Jack now on his tail instead.

'Just like brothers…' North thought fondly.

He glanced around, just in time for a snowball to hit him in the face.

"Ho ho, I saw that Tooth…" He chuckled as the tooth fairy just faked innocence at him.

Back up high, Bunnymund skidded to a stop as the path ended, and left him peering cautiously over the edge, where a long, yeti sized slide of ice had been created.

"Heh, not for me…" He muttered, ready to turn back.

"Oh no?"

He'd momentarily forgotten about Jack, but the winter spirit saw his chance, and knocked into Bunny from behind.

Aster cried out in shock as he was send sliding unceremoniously, whilst jack just slid down on his feet behind him.

The Easter bunny landed sprawled in a cushioning pile of snow, whilst Jack landed lightly next to him.

"Gah…that's just asking for a pounding," Bunny growled, a bit winded and not amused in the least.

"No, that's payback," Jack smirked down at him.

Bunnymund grunted in annoyance, looking away.

He should've known.

"Come on cotton tail, admit you'd miss me if I wasn't around to cause you trouble," Jack just shrugged, and in a surprising move, held out his hand, "I…don't think we should sit here too long…" He added when Aster hesitated.

He nodded back towards the mountain. After seeing that short adrenaline ride, a couple of the yetis were eagerly climbing up to have a turn, oblivious to the two guardians still sitting in the landing zone.

Realising he might end up a Pooka pancake, Bunny quickly took the offered hand and was pulled up.

They darted aside as the first Yeti came sliding down, roaring in excitement as it flew off into the snow, almost crushing poor Sandy as he unwittingly drifted by.

Like they'd found a temporary safe zone, they watched their friends playing together, having a great time. Bunny smiled as he watched Sophie hiding with Jamie's friend Pippa, and when she actually managed to hit an elf with a snowball, he couldn't help a sense of pride.

He glanced momentarily to Jack, but found himself doing a double take as he saw a spark of sadness in the boy's eyes.

"Frostbite?" He muttered before he could stop himself.

Jack was snapped out of his thoughts, and quickly shook his head, vanishing that spark.

"Was just thinking…" He quickly spoke in a casual tone…too casual, "It's a shame I can't leave this place as it is, even if I could stop it from eventually melting…"

As soon as he'd said it, Bunnymund found himself completely agreeing.

No matter how remote this place was, there was no way the giant ice playing field would go unnoticed for long.

Casual as he acted, Jack was clearly proud of his work, and Aster had to feel for him; any of them would be disappointed to have to ruin their own creation.

"I thought about making it at the pole, but I didn't want anyone to see it before now. Don't worry, I'll get rid of it as soon as we're done," Jack assured him quickly as he ducked to scoop up another snow ball.

Though he was careful not to let it show, Bunnymund was honestly impressed… and actually kind of proud…that the playful, immature guardian was ready to make the right decision, even if he didn't like it.

"Ah, buck up frostbite, we can still enjoy it the rest of the day at least."

Jack gave him a surprised look, and Bunny quickly turned away, realising he'd admitted to enjoying the place so far; a bit open when talking to his rival, at least in his opinion.

Jack gave a playful smirk, and bounced the snowball in his hand.

"Wanna make a bet?"

Aster's ear twitched a bit, and curiosity getting the better of him, he soon looked around.

"First to get a hit on North wins?" Jack continued playfully.

Bunnymunds competitive side quickly rose to smirk back.

"Too easy mate. Make it a hit on North, Tooth and Sandy."

"How about on each of the yetis to?"

"Don't get stupid, I can't even tell them apart, let alone how many there are."

"Hmm…then, how about one yeti, and one elf?"

"Sounds fair. So what are you after?"

"If I win, I get to push you down the slide again,"

Aster shivered at the thought of it.

"Not gonna happen."

"It's that or tell me what that prank North pulled on you was."

"You think I'd really tell you that?"

"I can always find out from North. I bet he'd love to tell,"

Jack grinned devilishly as Aster struggled to keep his cool.

"Fine, the slide then. But if you lose, you have to clean up my half of the mess at the pole as well as your own."

"No way…I'll do half of yours…"

"Eighty per cent?"

"Sixty."

"seventy."

"Done."

With a last challenging smirk at each other, the guardians took off to complete their bet. As Bunny quickly got his first two strikes…i.e. the yeti and elf…he paused momentarily to watch as Jack got Tooth, and took off as the laughing fairy chased him.

He thought of Jacks earlier joke. He would NEVER admit to missing the boy if he wasn't around to bug him…

…but that didn't mean it wasn't true.

Like it or not, the youngest guardian was still like a little brother to him;

'Painful but loveable…' He smirked and shook his head, '…painful but loveable.'

'WHAM!'

"OOF! Oh you're in for it now North!"

Thanks once again to everyone for reading.

I'm hoping one day to write a sequel to this, which will likely be a lot longer, and if I do, then Pitch Black will definately make an appearance ;P However, that won't be for a LONG time. I have a couple of other fanfics still in process, and whilst I don't regret in the slightest putting them on hold for this one, it's time for me to get back to them.

Non the less, this was soooo much fun to write! thanks for the support everyone. My first non one-shot fanfic to be finished! XD

cookies and plushies for everyone! XD