Chapter 8: North's Workshop

The scene opened up to show Frost flying over a desolate snowy region. "I heard it was somewhere up here..." Frost muttered to himself.

"Guardians... Jack is 50 here." MiM informed the Guardians.

"What are you looking for?" North tilted his head. The area around them seemed oddly familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Oh, you'll see." Jack smirked. This was a good memory. He liked this one.

A small pinprick of light shone out from the darkness around them, and Frost gave a whoop of excitement as he flew faster. It wasn't long before the Guardians could make out the familiar silhouette of North's Workshop.

Frost flew around for a bit, before landing on what he figured was he front steps. "I hear that Santa's a spirit, too! Like Sandman! So, maybe he'll see me?" The wind blew, as if saying something to Frost. "I know, but... I want to try. Maybe... I mean, he is Santa... Perhaps he'll let me spend the night? And I'd love to try some cookies~! I hear they're amazing!" He grinned as he knocked on the door and politely waited.

"You'd never had cookies?!" North's eyes widened.

"Nope. I didn't really need to eat, you know, being a spirit and all. But I did still get hungry. Luckily, as the 21st century came around, people became more wasteful with their food, and I was able to just snatch what I wanted out of garbage cans." Jack explained nonchalantly, as if it was normal for spirits to rummage in rubbish bins for their meals.

"Jack! You may not be able to die from starvation, but you need to eat!" Tooth admonished with no small amount of horror.

"Wha?!" Jack was taken aback, even as Frost knocked again, growing impatient.

"But Tooth, what was I supposed to do?! Not like I know how to cook or anything, and I couldn't just walk into a McDonald's and order a Big Mac." Jack crossed his arms, and Tooth looked down.

"He's right, Sheila." Bunny spoke up. "And we weren't there for 'im when he needed us."

"I mean... He's Santa... he's supposed to be good to all nice kids, right?" Frost idly questioned to himself. A flash of a child dying in a blizzard was seen as Frost cried, devastated that he was unable to do anything but kill this child who didn't look much older than four or five. "Then again..." The brief flashback faded to show Frost still standing before North's front door. "I'm not nice... am I?"

The wind blew again, and he smiled bitterly. "It is my fault, Wind."

"It ain't your fault, kid." Bunny spoke up, cutting off Tooth before she had the chance to start.

"It is my fault. But I know now that it's a necessary part of my job. Guardian or not, Winter Kills. It always has, and it always will. It's what I do. I kill so you" Jack poked Bunny's chest, "can bring new life in the springtime. I kill crops so the ground can rest and restore lost nutrients. I kill animals as nature's way of controlling the population. I kill humans who are either too stupid to dress warmly, or too poor to survive. I kill children that they will not suffer in life. I make those deaths as quick as I can." Jack sighed. "And I remember... every single child... every adult..."

"Even adults?" Tooth spoke up. "They could see you, too?"

"Yeah. When dying, anyone can see a spirit, so long as they're connected to whatever's killing them. Just like my dad could see Pitch. But since I'm winter, they see me as they're fading. I help any adults I come across just like I do kids, ya know? I mean, they're all just humans." He smiled. "And even the adults are kids compared to us."

"I've never thought of it that way..." Tooth pondered Jack's words even as the front door to the Workshop finally opened. A very put out Yeti stared down at Frost in disbelief.

"Warblefreshar?" He gasped in shock.

"Uh... hi?"

"Warble! Imirgrashimar!!" The Yeti put his fists on his hips and sent Frost a glare.

"Is... erm... Santa there? I'm Jack Frost, and I'd really like to meet 'im!" Frost grinned. And in that moment, he looked every bit the little kid he'd died as. The Yeti hesitated for a moment, before letting him inside. He made a 'stay here' motion as he went off to find Nick.

But Frost, being the curious child that he was, couldn't sit still for long. And really, who could expect any child to sit still in a boring entry room when they were in Santa's Workshop!? Such idiocy would later have that Yeti—who would later be dubbed Phil—bashing his skull against a brick wall.

But for now, as the Yeti was otherwise occupied trying to get Nick to listen to the situation—something that was failing miserably as it was only a few weeks before Christmas, and the man was far too busy to coherently understand the Yeti—Frost found his way to the one room that every child dreamed of. The Toy Factory Room.

"Wow..." He grinned from ear to ear. He was so excited that he didn't notice the little elf scurrying beneath his feet until he literally tripped over the pointy hatted being. "Whoa!" He flung out his hands in an attempt to catch himself, but in his panic, he accidentally let out a wave of icy power. He flash-froze half the room, halting production and inadvertently shattering several hundred toys.

"Oh, no." North muttered to himself. He felt his face flush with shame. He remembered, now. He'd been to angry and stressed to recognize Jack later on, but... no, he remembered now.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Nick stormed out of his office, Phil trailing after him. The Yeti's eyes went wide as he stared at Frost in a mix of anger and horror.

"I-I-It was an accident, I swear! I slipped, and—"

"Is TWO WEEKS before Christmas! Why you come here and destroy toys?!" His booming voice was obviously frightening the boy, but Nick didn't seem to notice. "You are banned from my workshop!" He looked to his Yetis. "Throw him out! And do not let him back in!" He bellowed, red in the face. "You are now on naughty list, Jack Frost." He glared.

"But it wasn't my fault!" Frost protested, but his words fell on deaf ears. His shoulders drooped as his earlier excitement turned to hurt disappointment. Phil picked up the boy by the back of his shirt and threw him out into the snow.

"W-wait!" He called out to the Yeti as he went to close the door. For whatever reason, the Yeti paused, leaving the door open a crack to listen to what the child had to say. "Can... erm... I maybe... Come talk to you sometime? I mean, even if I can't understand you... You can still see me, and... that's what I need right now. So..." He sent Phil a grin. "I'll play with you another time, 'kay Phil?" He grinned as the Yeti blinked in surprise at the sudden name. Before he could answer the white-haired youth, he was already soaring away on the wind, heading for MiM-knew where.

"Well... that was eventful." Bunny sighed.

"I am so sorry, Jack. I should never have spoken to you that way... nor should I have had you thrown out of workshop." North apologized.

"Hey, don't worry so much, North! What's done is done, and it's all good now!" Jack beamed. "You've made up for it, so don't worry!"

"I think ya forgive a bit too easily, there, Frostbite." Bunny's ears were back in sadness and a bit of fear. If this is what happened with him and North... then was the Blizzard of '98 just a misunderstanding, too? The guilt welling up within him told him that he already knew the answer. He just refused to acknowledge it.

Jack sighed as the next memory cropped up. He knew this was still going to take awhile, but... I was about 200 when that happened... He shivered. "You'd better not show that one, MiM... or I swear, I'll never forgive you." Jack muttered under his breath. Bunny and Sandy were the only ones who heard him.

The two shared a confused and worried look. They hoped that whatever had happened to their Snowflake wasn't as bad as their imaginations told them it was.

Their gut said otherwise.

A/N: Hello~ Sorry it's been so long. I've been caught back up in the Hetalia Fandom again, but I've also been overworked between my two jobs. I clocked nearly 50 hours one week, it was crazy! But things should be (hopefully) calming down a bit now that I've moved into a room for rent.

Onto other news. Easter is around the corner. And Rise of the Guardians—despite it constantly being seen as a Christmas movie—actually takes place during Easter. So I find this rather fitting that I'd update the month of Easter. If I don't update again before said holiday, HAPPY EASTER YA LITTLE ANKLE BITERS! (since I know most of you are kids)

ALSO! I was going to update this yesterday (On April 9), but my wifi glitched out (it's 11:50PM as I write this) and I couldn't access the internet. D: So that's why it's updated on the 10th, instead of the 9th.

Words: 1,432

Pages: 3

Posted: 04/10/2019

Random Facts about this Author:

I'm 23

I identify as Female (the sex I was born as)

I love anime with a terrifying passion

Hetalia is my favorite anime (and favorite fanfiction topic to write about)

I have like no social life

I'm a lazy dragon who hoards files on a computer

I'm making a Hetalia RPG on my computer

I want to major in Computer Programming

I own a cat, and she's the most adorable, fluffy, sweet lil piece of toasted marshmallow you'll ever find~ plus she's a rescue! Her name is Mia, and she's my baby~!

I love Assassin's Creed