The Elemental's Curse

Vetur

Jack Frost peeked out from around the tree trunk he was hiding behind. He gripped his staff tightly, frantically searching the area around him. His heart was pounding and his breathing was a little heavy from being out of breath. He couldn't see any impending doom, so he cautiously stepped out.

"Attack!"

Jack was pummeled with snowballs almost instantly, gasping out a dramatic "No!" before falling to the ground, letting his staff land beside him in the white fluff of his creation. The children laughed and ran over to him. He grunted as each child fell to land on him, and they all smiled wide.

"You're funny, Jack!" one of the girls stated.

Jack thought back to his sister, back when he was alive, and how she'd always tell him how funny he was. It made sense; after all, fun was the core of what made him a Guardian of Childhood.

He looked over the group of children: Cupcake, Jamie, Sophie, Claude, Caleb, Pippa, and Monty. He carefully wiggled himself out from underneath them, careful to not accidentally hit or kick any of them before grabbing his staff and hauling himself to his feet. The children did the same, cheering over their victory, to which Jack smiled and simply rolled his eyes.

That was when his eyes caught sight of the Northern Lights stretching across the sky. He froze - no pun intended - and felt a slight amount of panic rising in his chest. The last time he saw the Northern Lights was a year ago, right before he was recruited as a Guardian of Childhood. That was when a dark spirit, Pitch Black the Boogeyman, had unleashed his gaining power and tried to destroy the Guardians and all of the good belief of the world.

"I have to go, you guys," he quickly said.

"Aww," all of the children groaned.

"Do you really have to?" Jamie asked sadly.

"Unfortunately, yes. Guardian duties call." Jack knelt down to look Jamie in the eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But when I come back, you guys will have a snow day fit for a king!"

"Yay!" the children hollered in excitement before waving goodbye to Jack and running off. Jamie stayed back and watched Jack wave in response before shooting off into the air, following the stream of colorful lights towards the Guardian headquarters.

Jack tried to think of if he'd seen anything out of the ordinary. Besides the fact that most of the other elementals hadn't come to harass him in the while - his sister Daisy had even checked up on him - nothing was new. He finally made it to the North Pole and mentally thanked Wind for the ride before letting it drop him through an open window straight into the Globe Room. As usual, the rest of the Guardians had already beat him there. But Jack stopped short seeing a new being added to the group.

"What is he doing here?"

The other four Guardians were surprised by Jack. His eyes were narrowed and he sounded disgusted, angered. He was glaring straight at Groundhog, gripping his staff so tightly his pale skin seemed to go even lighter.

"Jack," North carefully began. "Groundhog is reason I call meeting."

"Whatever he's blaming on me, I didn't do it!" Jack retorted.

"I didn't blame you for anything, you annoying pest!" Groundhog snapped. Jack's eyes almost instantly flashed with hurt. "I might've actually saved your pathetic life! You should be grateful!"

"That's enough," Bunny growled, grabbing Groundhog's shoulder. "You already told North everything you know. I'll escort you out."

Groundhog glared at Jack before he willingly left the room with Bunny. Jack loosened his grip on his staff, the normal color of his skin quickly returning. Tooth and Sandy exchanged frowns; had everyone been this awful to Jack? Had they been that awful to Jack?

North quickly led Jack over to one of the velvet red chairs and offered him milk and cookies. He gladly accepted, ignoring the huff that came from Tooth. Bunny came back a few minutes later and North explained everything to the Guardians that Groundhog had relayed to him.

"When I asked Manny," North sighed. "He knew nothing. Said he'd look and tell us what he found later."

"Oh, it all makes sense now!" Jack realized. "I normally gather with my three siblings this time of year to plan the next year of seasons. But none of them have come to get me like usual."

"You mean they're missing?" Tooth asked.

"I don't know," Jack shrugged. "If they're hiding, they're probably at Mother's castle."

"Who?" Bunny questioned.

Jack raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Seraphina Pitchiner? Humans call her Mother Nature? Us elementals call her Mother? Come on, surely you know of Mother Nature."

"We do," North nodded. "But you've never spoken of her before, so we didn't know if you accepted her."

"Of course I do," Jack replied, now shocked. "I've just always preferred to be on my own, so I never hung around the palace much; I normally avoided her because she always had a lecture ready. My siblings don't really care for me, either. Except Daisy, maybe, but she likes befriending everyone."

"Pompous brat she is," Bunny muttered, though the others heard him.

"But it doesn't matter," Jack added, trying to ease the tension. Then his eyes widened. "Wait a minute! Of course! Mother will be looking into what is killing her elementals! Maybe she's figured it out?"

"Blimey," Bunny groaned. "Now we gotta visit the sheila?"

Jack shot Bunny a nasty glare, who instantly shut up in response.

"Of course!" North clapped enthusiastically. "Is great idea, Jack! We leave in one hour!"