Hello again! This was just a little idea I couldn't get out of my head. I hope you like it! I tried to give Mother Nature elements similar to what might be found in the movie, were she in it. Beta'd by two of my friends on tumblr, thewhaleridingvulcan and mischievous-frost.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or the books by William Joyce

Mother Nature was far from pleased. She didn't like to interfere with her father and the Guardians. Both sides had good and bad for her, so it was really best not to be involved at all. Besides, it really was none of her business unless it affected the seasons, and it had yet to go that far. She had always kept an eye on the goings on, though, because one day, she might be needed.

Jack Frost was her spirit. She may have shared him with the Man in the Moon, but he was still a seasonal spirit. Still hers.

How dare they?

"So I suppose you've learned a lesson today." The Guardians, who were metaphorically licking their wounds in one of the cities that had only just woken, turned to stare at her. "Or at least I hope you have," she continued, "As otherwise I might just have to side with father, for once."

"Seraphina, what is it you want?" North was trying to look intimidating, but was currently barely standing on his own. Though she scowled at the name, Mother Nature would not be deterred.

"First, don't call me that. I don't like you much on a good day, and especially not right now." She glared at the rabbit as he opened his mouth to speak. "Shut it kangaroo. If I wanted you to stick your foot into your mouth, I'd take care of it myself." She ignored his offended look at the nickname. As if he didn't deserve worse. "Secondly, how dare you?"

All was said with perfect calm. She was a master of the elements, it would not do to lose control while she was angry.

"What do you mean?" The Tooth Fairy asked, and Seraphina gave her a condescending look.

"I mean, how dare you treat my winter spirit that way?" Their shocked looks only made her angrier. What, they thought that just because she didn't spend every second with the lonely spirit he wasn't hers? That just because he was a guardian he wasn't hers?

She found it was more difficult to keep control of her temper than she had thought it would be.

"Did you think that what you just did was okay?" She asked, incredulous. "Jack is a CHILD! And you've done nothing but belittle him and force him and ignore him and-don't you start!" That damned Bunny had opened his mouth AGAIN looking so ready to argue. Who did he think he was, anyway, she was MOTHER FUCKING NATURE. She could make it snow on his holiday every year for the rest of his immortal life, if, of course, he even managed to make it that long. Fool. "I cannot take care of Jack in the ways in which I might have wished, and we all have your precious moon man to thank for that. But you? You have all had so many chances. So many. I have watched."

And she had. She had watched whenever Jack had tried to break into the North Pole, had watched when he'd tried following one of the Tooth Fairies back to the palace, only to be stopped by the heat and Tooth's little followers. She had seen him lose all control and to find afterwards that someone saw him, only to have them yell at him without even bothering to ask why. She had watched as his attempts had landed him on the naughty list, where he was written off as simply a jokester spirit. She had watched as Jack had increased his attempts, year after year, to receive attention, but be denied by these so called Guardians of Childhood.

"We didn' realize-" Bunny started to grouse.

"Oh, please. How dare you call yourselves the Guardians of Childhood? You have left a child to hold his own for three hundred years, no matter how he has tried to get your attention, no matter how out of hand his attempts have been, acting as any child denied of their needs would," they all looked guilty at that, "And the only time you ever bothered to look at him twice is when it's convenient for you. The only reason he didn't kill you all is because he hasn't lived long enough to become as bitter as my father has!" She shouted it, and she knew that was what was really having an impact. She was known more for her icy temper than her fiery one, though she possessed one only if she couldn't (or shouldn't) possess the other, for fear of creating unnatural natural disasters.

"The only saving grace you had, the ONLY reason I did not interfere at all, was the Sandman. He was the best of all of you. He and I understand each other, to an extent, because he made an effort. Why do you think Jack was so upset after he disappeared? At least the Sandman understood what it was when no one would listen to you." She knew that would be a blow as well. Sandman did not show it often, but it was really frustrating to never be listened to just because he couldn't talk. That didn't mean he had nothing to say, after all. Not that the Guardians would have thought of that.

"I'll never forgive any of you for these atrocities! You forced him into this! He could have been saved from being a part of this at all! But no, all of a sudden you need something, so you swoop him up and act like he should be so honored that you deigned to get off your high horses to acknowledge him for once! You ignore him when he says no! And even though he helped you, you continue to draw unjust, unsupported conclusions about his character, based on assumptions you made while you were ignoring the fact that he was a child so lonely he misbehaved for any morsel of attention."

She took a deep breath. She hadn't yelled this hard in centuries! And the rainfall was only a minor inconvenience...so far.

"And now you've sent him off, emotionally vulnerable and alone, to the one spirit that actually has enough leverage to convince him to take up his side. I hope you're proud of yourselves."

She didn't give them a chance to reply before she slipped back into the elements. Damn that had felt good. She continued to watch, waiting, seeing if they'd gotten the message.

"She's right." Tooth's already drooping wings failed to hold any of her weight any longer, as many more children woke up without an Easter. "We shouldn't have sent Jack away. There are ways to manipulate the teeth..." Her eyes widened as she figured out what she'd just said, what that meant.

"What?" Bunny demanded.

"He probably didn't even realize... the teeth, the containers, they can be used to draw in the person. If Pitch found Jack's teeth and triggered it... He wouldn't have been able to ignore it, especially since he doesn't remember. The pull to find his teeth would have been too strong!" She put her head in her hands, as the other two Guardians gave her horrified looks.

"What have we done?" North asked in despair.

Yes, what have you done indeed. Seraphina thought as she moved away from the Guardians, down to where she felt Jack's particular magic.

It wasn't unexpected that he would choose the South Pole. It was quiet and lonely, here. It fit how he felt, whenever he came, she knew. There was little she didn't. She did, after all, have an entire planet to look after, much like how the Man in the Moon did. She could just be more hands on than him.

She arrived in time to see her father snap her spirit's staff. This did not please her. Were both sides just destined to anger her needlessly? As her father walked away, she signaled to him to meet her a little ways away.

"Was that really necessary?" She asked as soon as he appeared before her.

"Seraphina." He looked amused. "A pleasure."

"You aren't answering the question father."

"I certainly thought so. You're little spirit has been getting in my way." Seraphina just sighed. There was a reason, she reminded herself, that she didn't pick sides. It never helped her any.

"Fine. Whatever. But you're not allowed to kill my spirit." She glared at him. She was not afraid of her father. That would be too contrary. "His current injuries will not kill him. And neither shall you. Or you will have to deal with me. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Her father knew when things were to his benefit as well, and it helped that he assumed that he'd already won this little war.

"Good. Good eve, father. Let the nightmares feast." She spoke her usual goodbye. It struck her as ironic, in this instance.

"Let the spirits be merry, my dear child." His customary response. She knew he was just laughing hysterically on the inside.

They parted ways, and she went to watch Jack. Her spirit. He was sitting up, eyes glazed over with his memories. Than he gasped, coming back to himself, excited beyond what she'd seen in so long.

"I'm a Guardian." His voice was amazed. She smiled. So, her child had chosen a side? It was for him then. It was for him. When he put the pieces of his staff together, forcing his power through it, she gave him the smallest thing he didn't know he needed. Permission. She watched her child, excited and urgent, go on his own journey, make his own decision, for once.

No one need know that she had even visited.