Jack Frost stood atop the highest dome of the North Pole. It was early morning and the Summer sun already shone brightly over the frozen landscape. The days would be growing shorter now, as Fall began to edge its way into the northern hemisphere. Soon night would overtake day, and the auroras would light the Arctic sky. Life had returned to normal, or what Jack figured passed as normal for a Guardian. He'd only had the title for a few months, and was still trying to adjust to it. The memories of three hundred years' worth of invisibility didn't vanish that swiftly.

He'd spent centuries wandering this world on his own. He'd encountered other spirits, but made few lasting acquaintances. Until that fateful night when he'd been stuffed in a sack by a pair of Yetis and transported to the North Pole, no one had bothered to care about a single wayward Winter sprite. It was as if a spotlight had suddenly been shown on him, and now everyone knew the name Jack Frost. He still wasn't as famous as North or Bunnymund, or even Tooth or Sandy. Still, it was more than he'd ever dared dream.

Jack's blue eyes traveled over the white landscape. He wasn't invisible anymore. He had a home, of sorts. He had friends. Kids believed in him. Other spirits acknowledged his existence. It was great, almost everything that he had ever wanted. Yet he still felt empty. Something was still missing. North had his Yetis and elves. Bunny had his eggs. Tooth had her fairies. Even Sandy had his dreamsand creations. Pitch...Pitch had his daughter back. Jack had no one. He was the one puzzle piece that didn't quite fit in right. It had always bothered him, but now that he had a basis for comparison the loneliness seemed even worse. With everyone having gone their separate ways, and no malevolent spirits threatening humanity, Jack had plenty of time to mull it over.

His thoughts traveled back to Pitch. Now there was a story that had ended happily. It had been two months since they had faced Mab, the Faerie Queen of the Winter Court. That battle had earned the Guardians a sixth member in the unlikely form of Pitch Black the Nightmare King, now the Guardian of Courage. Jack had learned a great deal about Pitch in that short time. Mab had taken his powers, returning him to his human self, a man named Kozmotis Pitchiner.

Pitchiner had helped the Guardians fight against Mab, even single-handedly taking her on to protect Jack's human friends. In the end, the belief of Jamie and his friends had returned Pitch's powers, but not the darkness that had controlled his mind. Not only that, but it turned out that Mother Nature was his missing daughter. Pitch had lost everything only to gain what he had always desired: family and people to believe in him. That knowledge brightened Jack's spirit, at least. After spending so much time with him Jack had come to realize that he actually enjoyed his former enemy's company. He liked Pitch. The man understood him in a way the other Guardians didn't. Or maybe it was in a way they couldn't. None of them had ever been alone and invisible. Pitch had, and for longer than Jack could imagine.

He sighed. He would have liked to speak more with the newest Guardian, but Pitch had quietly slipped away with his daughter Seraphina shortly after his induction. The Burgess entrance to his lair had closed when Jack and the others defeated him, and it was the only passageway that Jack knew of. He didn't even know if Pitch wanted a lonesome wayward ice spirit to come calling. Jack had no indication that Pitch enjoyed his (or anyone's) presence.

A shout from below woke him from his thoughts.

"Jack! Come down here, we are having meeting!" North gazed up at him from one of the many balconies. Meeting? Had he done something wrong? He couldn't recall having screwed up anything lately. A thought fluttered around the back of his mind, and he faintly recalled North mentioning a Holiday Meeting. That must be it. Jack groaned. There was one other part of being a Guardian that he was having trouble dealing with. Hard work and deadlines. It was as if the others didn't know how to just go with the flow. Dates, times, blah blah blah. Schedule this, plan that.

He'd tried to humor them for a while, in the few quiet months between becoming a Guardian and Mab's rise. Jack had hoped that maybe they'd finally give up and let him just be himself again, but no such luck. North had even tried making him plan his Snow Days, for crying out loud. Jack loved the other Guardians dearly, but sometimes they made him just want to scream. One more reminder that he didn't quite belong to the same rigid little world. He didn't even know how to explain it to them. They'd just look at him and smile and tell him it he'd get the hang of it eventually. He didn't want to get the hang of it, but the Guardians were the closest thing to a family he had. Jack would do his best to make them happy. He jumped down from his perch, landing lightly next to the big Russian.

"So, what are we doing? Planning out future meetings?" He tried to look interested.

"Ha, of course not. Planning the next several months. Fall kicks off holiday season, big important time for us. Especially now, after what happened. We need to make sure this is best one ever."

"Uuuugh." Jack rolled his eyes, and he decided to give it a try one more time. "North, you know I'm no good with that kind of thing. I'm not like the rest of you. I don't work on a schedule." North patted him on the shoulder, causing him to stumble.

"You'll get the hang of it eventually, Jack. You are still new." North smiled warmly. Jack scowled inwardly. Had he really expected a different answer? Nope. North continued. "You, and Kozmotis too. Two new Guardians! You'll be like the rest of us in no time, don't worry!"

"Pitch is here?" Jack brightened at the news. Maybe this meeting wouldn't be as boring as he'd thought. If nothing else, Pitch would probably hate the stupid thing as much as Jack did. They entered the main section of the workshop, heading toward the Globe Room at its heart. Jack swiped a few sugar cookies from a passing gaggle of elves. North strode into the Globe Room's center, clapping his hands.

"Alright, good, I have brought Jack. We have everyone now, yes?" Jack heard affirmations from Toothiana and Bunnymund, and he could see Sandy floating next to a tray of hot cocoa and nodding. Pitch stood in the shadows, watching the others with luminous silver-gold eyes. Sprinkles the Nightmare stood beside him, and Jack was surprised the others had allowed her in.

"I can't believe you summoned me here for this." Pitch's silky voice sounded unimpressed. "Some of us have important things to be doing right now."

"What could be more important than annual Holiday Meeting?" North looked genuinely confused.
"Oh, I don't know. Let me think. How about everything. Watching grass grow, for instance." Pitch sneered. Jack grinned. Yeah, meetings would be much more interesting with him around. Jack left North's side, jumping up onto the table next to the Nightmare King. Pitch acknowledged him with a small nod, and Sprinkles gave him a welcoming nudge. Jack slipped her one of the sugar cookies he'd taken from the elves. North started to speak, booming out something about the Fall schedule. Jack felt his brain shut down almost immediately.

"So, enjoying the life of a Guardian?" he turned to Pitch.

"Oh, yes. So much that I can hardly contain myself." The tall man answered dryly.

Jack spread his arms, imitating North. "Welcome to schedules and hard work! Forget being spontaneous. Do your Nightmares have a day planner?"

The others were talking now, and to Jack it was just a stream of words that didn't concern him. Aside from North and Bunny, the other Guardians weren't even associated with holidays so why on Earth were they even here? He felt like he was going to explode. Pitch's expression was growing steadily darker, and Sprinkles snorted in irritation.

"And...are you two even listening?" North glanced at them.

"This is a waste of time, North." Pitch crossed his arms. "Look, you can all do things your way, it's fine. Just don't expect me to. I may now be a Guardian, but I'm not going to fit neatly into one of your pretty little colored boxes. I don't remember anything in the Oath about following whatever rules you've made up. I will work with you on your Naughty List kids, but I go where I am needed, when I am needed."

The others stared at him in stunned silence.

"Yeah." Jack added, feeling suddenly heartened. "Same here. You can't schedule fun. It just happens. You don't plan the weather. I'm not gonna say 'oh Toronto needs a snowstorm on Friday at 8pm' a month in advance." he paused. "Unless, you know, Mother Nature tells me Toronto needs a snowstorm on Friday at 8pm. That's kind of different. But you know what I mean! We do things our way!"
"You can't just..." North looked flustered. "You two are Guardians now, you cannot just go galloping around world like wild things!"

"Oh yeah?" Jack decided he'd had it with the lot of them. "Watch me." He shot Pitch a mischievous glance. "How fast is Sprinkles? Think she can beat me?" He didn't wait for an answer. Clutching his staff, he shot into the air and out through the great window at the top of the room. The sun shone brightly, bathing the icy cliffs in golden morning light. Jack closed his eyes for a moment, basking in the cold Arctic air. He heard a shrill whinny behind him, and as he turned Sprinkles flew past him.

"If this is some kind of race, Frost, you're losing." Pitch called smoothly over his shoulder.

"Oh yeah? Don't think so!" Pressing his arms close to his body, Jack launched himself like an arrow toward the shadowy figures, zipping past the Nightmare's inky streamers and pulling ahead of them. They flew across the frozen landscape, cliffs and canyons rushing by in blurs of sparkling blue and gold. Jack urged the wind to take him as fast as it could. He could see Pitch and Sprinkles out of the corner of his eye, a stark contrast against the blinding landscape. He didn't even care where they were going, the only thing that mattered was that they were out of that accursed meeting. He was free. It felt great to be racing on the wind again, and now he actually had someone to pit himself against. Onward they sped. The flat ice sheets began to give way to forested mountains as the two spirits competed with supernatural speed. Jack let out a whoop. Russia? Canada? Did it matter? They could go anywhere they wanted to.

Wherever they had ended up, the mountains were high enough that snow still covered the ground though it was the tail end of Summer. Jack veered off, dropping down into the deep green of the forest. The trees were massive, and grew thickly together. Everything smelled like pine and earth and freedom. He bounded from branch to branch since the trees were packed too close for him to fly easily. Fleeting movement caught his eye, and he saw Nightmare and rider disappear into one shadow, only to reappear out of another. The race became a sort of game of hide-and-seek, with Jack trying to figure out where they would appear next. He laughed aloud. This was fun, and he was starting to enjoy himself again. His earlier worries began to melt away. He was playing games with Pitch, of all people. None of the other Guardians would do something like this. They just didn't get it. They were too set in their ways, too bound by schedules and deadlines. Jack didn't need any of that. He needed the wind and the sun and the sky.

The shadowed green of the forest began to lighten. Ahead of him, the trees began to thin, and he could see a snow-filled clearing. Jack launched himself off of a thick branch, aiming for the open air of the clearing. A shadow appeared suddenly in front of him, as Pitch must have had the same idea. Jack couldn't pull out of his dive swiftly enough, and they crashed into one another, tumbling with a thud into the snow. Sprinkles landed on a nearby drift with an amused-sounding shriek.

"Oof. Did I win?" Jack rolled onto his back, staring up at the clear blue sky.

"I think not. You crashed into me, ergo I was ahead of you." Pitch sounded amused and slightly winded from the fall.

"Point. But only because you were using the shadows."

"I must have missed the part where you said I couldn't."

The snow was surprisingly deep here, and Jack had to pull himself out of the miniature hole he'd created when he fell. Sprinkles whinnied and rolled down the drift, leaving a rapidly vanishing trail of iridescent dark dreamsand. She snuffled around in the powdery snow at the drift's base, huffing out little puffs of white. Even the Nightmare was enjoying herself. Jack grinned and scooped up a handful of glittering crystals, forming them into a perfect snowball. His magic hadn't affected the Nightmare King before, but he wondered if it would now that the Fearlings were gone. Time to find out. He threw it at Pitch as the other man stood to brush snow off of his dark robes. It struck him in the side of the head in a poof of white, replacing all the snow he'd just removed.

"Frost, must you insist on hitting people in the face?" Pitch shook his head, but a slow grin spread across his sculpted features. "Faces. Did you see their faces?" He let out a short, smooth laugh. "That was priceless."

"I know, right?" Jack's grin widened. "'You can't just go galloping off!" he says. And then,we did. They're just so freaking stuffy I couldn't take it anymore."

Pitch laughed again, with genuine amusement. "Just like that! I-" His laughter grew stronger. "Oh, oh they're going to be mad, aren't they, but...haha...their expressions were worth it. Really I don't know what they were thinking."

"We'll be grounded. For eternity." Jack couldn't hold back his own laughter.

"I've been grounded for centuries. Underground." Pitch wheezed. "They'll have to try harder."

Jack had to catch his breath. "Okay, okay." He held up a hand, stifling another giggle. "Okay. We should probably head back. North means well, I know he does." He sighed, mood suddenly dropping. "It's just..."

Pitch straightened, fixing Jack with an intense gold gaze. "Do not let them change who you are, Jack. Just because you and I are now Guardians, it doesn't mean we have to do everything their way. I said it before, we see shades of gray where they only see black and white. We are not the same. They will have to learn to accept that." He held out a hand, and Sprinkles trotted over to him. He climbed gracefully to her back. "Come now. I suppose I shouldn't let you take all the blame for this little excursion."

Jack nodded, and took to the air. They soared back over the snowy mountains in silence. The sun rose higher in the sky, and the trees gave way to the flat expanse of the Arctic once more. By the time they reached the workshop again, the other Guardians had left. Only North remained in the Globe Room, discussing something with the Yetis. He glanced up as Jack and Pitch landed. "Ah, so you have decided to return?"

Jack rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "Yeah. Look, I'm sorry, I just felt so trapped. I had to do something..." He trailed off.

North sighed. "Jack, you are Guardian now. You need to show a bit more responsibility. You have purpose now, duty." He glanced toward Pitch. "As do you, Kozmotis. I would have expected-"

"Me to be a better role model?" Pitch cut him off. "Really, North? You do realize the only thing that has really changed is that I'm not trying to destroy you all? I am who I am, and that's that."

North crossed his arms. "I understand that this is a new way of life for both of you. So for now we let this slide. In future though, I hope I can expect better behavior from the two newest Guardians." He gave them both one final appraising look before heading toward his study.

"Did...any of that even get through to him?" Jack stared after the retreating figure. "Any of it at all?"

"North and the others are set in their ways. They do not deal well with change."

Jack kicked at a spot on the carpet. He wanted to please them. He wanted to fit in, but he didn't want to stop being himself to do it. Why couldn't they just accept him for what he was? Maybe he was just being belligerent. They had given him so much, the least he could do was try and be a responsible little snow spirit.

"This has all been very exciting, but I must take my leave." Pitch glided across the floor toward the shadowed base of the Globe. He paused. "Frost. I enjoyed that little race. If this place gets to be too much, come to Venice. Serpahina's done a bit of...redecorating but ah, it's much quieter than this wretched circus." He melted into the shadows, Sprinkles trotting after.

Venice. The sunken, tilted architecture of Pitch's lair suddenly made sense. Jack wanted to ask just how he was supposed to find the entrance, but Pitch was gone. Venice was a labyrinth of canals and slowly sinking buildings, he'd just have to do some exploring. Jack stared at the shadows a moment more, then up at the great Globe. For now though, he really felt that he should find a way to make up for disrupting the Guardians' meeting.