Jack's POV

"Tag, you're it!" Jamie laughed and ran.

"I'm gonna get you!" I chased after him. I didn't run further more than five steps and a snowball got thrown in my face.

"Nice shot Cupcake!" Jamie gave her a high five.

I laughed as I brushed off the snow on my face. "What game are we playing? Tag or snowball fight?"

"We're playing both." Pippa said happily, making more snowballs.

Monty and Caleb teamed up and charged at me with two snowballs each. I ran and scooped up some snow, quickly making it into a snowball and threw at them. They unfortunately dodged it and it hit Claude instead. (I've checked and these are the names of Jamie's friends in ROTG so hope you won't wonder with the names)

"Time out!" I shielded my face. I could have been mistaken for a snowman if it wasn't for part of my blue sweater still visible. I can't remember how many snowballs were flung at me already.

Sophie laughed at my appearance. "It's a living snowman!" She said.

Jamie and his friends helped to get rid of the snow on me. Thank goodness I don't feel any cold, otherwise I'd probably be frozen by now. The snowballs could have turned my face blue. That happened to Jamie once, poor him, completely blue! Besides, with me wearing nothing but a sweater, I would have froze to death if it wasn't for my powers.

"So Jack, when can we go see the gateway with you?" Jamie asked eagerly.

"Yeah! When can we be allowed to see it?" Claude asked.

"We've been waiting forever!" Pippa added.

"Oh... To be honest, I don't know guys. I would love to go together with you all, but permission hasn't been granted due to safety concerns." I sighed.

"We can protect each other!" Cupcake said.

"Yeah, we've been through a lot more worse than this." Monty nudged me.

"He's right." Caleb nodded. "Oh come on! We want to see it, with you as our guide."

"I promise I will take you there one day." I assured. "I too can't wait to see it myself. As soon and Santa gives the all clear and removes the barrier, I'll definitely take you there."

"Can't we just destroy the barrier or something? Sorry, I'm not very patient." Cupcake suggested.

"Don't do that." I said. "You... Wouldn't wanna be in the naughty list now then would you?" All of them quickly shook their heads.

"Plus, it's a magic barrier! There's no way we can get through it. What do you think us kids could possibly do?! We don't have powers like them." Jamie added.

I knew I had to stop them from thinking more of the gateway. I hate to see them so sad and frustrated not being able to get near the gateway. But rules are rules, I too have to put a face and obey it. Deep down, I am not happy of not being able to explore the gateway as well.

"Come on, grab your sleighs, we're gonna have some fun." I grinned, grabbing my staff. "And don't worry, this time no one will be losing their teeth."

"Not too fast for me please." Pippa said and I nodded.

"Also, don't freeze the roads again." Jamie reminded.

"Now where's the fun in that?" I asked. "No road means no path. Relax, I won't get you kids into trouble again."

"As fun as it is, we just can't do so." Jamie crossed his arms.

All of us except Sophie went to take their sleighs. Sophie was still too afraid to go with the rest of us. So, I did the usual, I built a few snowmen for her to play with. She never gets bored of it, placing a carrot on his nose, a hat on his head, and finding sticks for hands.

I flew up and began creating our starting point. It's always the same every winter, it never gets old. We'd go all around town, sure it scares the people sometimes, but who cares as long as we can have fun.

"So, are we ready?" I asked the rest as I descended back to the ground.

"Who isn't?" Caleb smirked.

"Here we go!" A blast of ice shot out of my staff and we were off. It was the best time of every winter.

"Woo hoo!!!" Monty yelled at the top of his lungs. "Faster please!"

"AHHHHHH!!!" Pippa already began screaming. Although many times none of us can tell whether it's a scream of fright or fun. I made sure she wasn't going too fast as promised.

"Hey there!" Claude called out to the folks around, laughing at the same time.

"Brace yourselves, you're about to fly!" I yelled above them. I began speeding up all of them, preparing for a leap. They went flying off the path. This time, Cupcake screamed, frightened. Pippa eyes were already shut, not daring to look. Jamie on the other hand, even dared to put his hands up, cheering happily. Brave boy.

"Hold on tight!" I directed them onto the other half of the path. It would have been a really rough landing if I hadn't added a whole lump of snow. I made sure to make their landing as safe and soft as possible. There was this one time, Claude suffered quite a serious injury to his ankle due to a bumpy landing. I made sure that won't ever happen again. But that landing wasn't the end yet.

The last part of the path for downhill. It's a very steep path. "All right, let's see who crosses the finish line first today!" I shouted as I let go of all control on their sleighs. Sure, it looked dangerous, but it's perfectly safe, no one ever went overboard before. Besides, I'm always keeping an eye on them.

Cupcake went down as quick as lightning. Within a flash, she was already at the end of the path, laughing happily. "I win this time!"

Soon the rest reached the end as well. "That was fun!" Jamie said.

Seeing all of their happy faces brought so much joy to me. I enjoy seeing people having fun, and it's even better when I'm having fun with them.

We went back to go meet Sophie, and I saw someone I didn't expect to see. Bunny was playing with Sophie. What's he doing here?

"The Easter Bunny!" Monty exclaimed.

"Hey little ones." Bunny smiled at them. "Ah Jack, just the person I'm looking for."

"What is it?" I asked.

"One, you're not performing your duties completely. Two, fooling around on the job! Three, North's calling us for a meeting!" He replied.

"What do you mean I'm not performing my duties?! I'm playing with them, can't you see?! Next, it's my duty to spread fun, so what do you mean I'm fooling around? Finally, ANOTHER MEETING?!" I yelled.

"It concerns the gateway in Burgess, you idiot!" Bunny shouted back.

"The gateway?" All of us asked in unison.

"Will we finally get to see it?" Jamie asked excitedly.

"Are you finally removing the barrier?" Pippa asked.

"The meeting will discuss about it. Now, if you want to hear the answer sooner, Jack and I better get going now." Bunny replied.

I grunted and sighed. "All right, let's go. I promise I will come back immediately to tell you the news." I turned to Jamie. Hopefully good news...

Bunny tapped the ground twice and his hole appeared. "Hop in." He gestured.

"Nah, I'm flying. First one there wins." I grinned and flew off at top speed.

"Unfair Frost!" I heard Bunny.

Sure enough, I was the first one there, ha! I stumbled upon Tooth as I arrived. "Jack, you're here!" Tooth said as she saw me.

"Hey Tooth." I smiled and Bunny suddenly came hopping out of his hole.

"What an unfair head start." Bunny grunted.

"All right, let's quickly get this meeting over with." I cleared my throat. "Was it necessary to have it? I hate meetings."

"Just pay attention and give suggestions if you have any." Tooth said.

"My suggestion? Stop the meetings." I snapped.

"Oh come on, it's about the gateway! Surely that interests you a little?" Tooth asked.

"I'll only be interested when that barrier is brought down and I can explore it. Just flying around the gateway ain't sparkling up any adventure." I replied.

North's entrance cut out conversation short. Sandy was with him and waved at us. "Ah good, you're all here, now we can proceed with the meeting, I expect your full attention." North clapped his hands and walked to the meeting room.

I sulked and followed them. Pretty sure I'll end up sleeping after 5 minutes, it never fails.

"As you all know, we've gathered here today to discuss about the gateway in Burgess. As Guardians, it is our job to protect the children...." That was all I decided to hear and closed my eyes. I can't help it, as interesting as the topic of discussion is, the minute I'm in the meeting room I fall asleep.

"Jack Frost!" North's yell startled me until I fell off the chair.

"So, is the meeting over?" I asked my usual question as I got up.

"Certainly not, stop falling asleep! Please, pay attention, this is a serious matter." North crossed his arms.

"Sandy, maybe you can use your sand to not make him fall asleep?" Tooth suggested.

Sandy thought for a while and an exclamation mark popped out on his head, he nodded with a big smile.

"No, no, no, don't you even think about it!" I backed away from him, wanting to run out of the room. The last thing I wanna do is hear every single thing about the meeting. Get away from me, Sandy! Don't you dare!

"Yeah, why didn't we think of that earlier? It'll save North a whole lot of trouble scolding you every time." Bunny thought out loud.

"No thank you!" I yelled.

"Fine, let me just straight away get to the point! We're going to check out the gateway ourselves to make sure it's safe for public." North announced.

"We're what?!" Bunny and Tooth asked in unison. Sandy began forming lots of exclamation and question marks on his head. I looked at him with my jaw wide open.

"North! Are you thinking straight?!"  Bunny exclaimed.

"Yes. We will we going to the gateway and explore what's behind it. I don't believe in those rumours, I'd like to see it for myself." North nodded.

"And how can we just, go like that?! Sandy and me aren't like you guys, working only once a year!" Tooth protested.

"Tooth, you have millions and millions of your mini fairies to help you! I'm sure that they know where to go themselves. Sandy's sand has a mind of its own, they can do the job." North said.

I was dumbfounded. This was the answer I've been waiting for so long to hear, and now... I don't know how to react to it. North's finally removing the barrier? We're finally going to go nearer to the gateway? And most importantly, we're gonna explore what's behind it?!

"When are we going?" I blurted out, trying to contain my excitement. Keep calm Jack, keep calm!

"Now." North replied.

"Now?!" I exclaimed. "Oh man I better go get Jamie and the rest." I bolted to the door but North stopped me.

"Hold on Jack, you can't bring the children! At least, not until we have confirmed it is completely safe. Then you can bring them." North argued.

"Fine, let's go! I've been waiting for this forever!" I yelled. Tooth, Bunny and Sandy walked to us.

"Are you sure about this?" Tooth asked uneasily. "People who went through it presumably died."

"Hey, we're Guardians, we've died before." I said.

"Only you died Jack, the rest of us were chosen before we died." Tooth explained.

"Whatever. We're immortal." I rolled my eyes.

"To the sleigh!" North announced.

The gateway looked freaking majestic. Just glancing at it, I can't find the words to describe it. All this while I've been flying around it, as close as the barrier would let me to, wondering when I could get any closer.

"We should look around first before going into it, right?" Bunny asked.

"I don't see anything that's interesting except the gateway." I said. "Well, maybe the glowing leaves."

"It's definitely magic." Tooth said as she examined them.

"No doubt, have you ever seen a part of the sky that's at night fall when it's broad daylight?" Bunny looked up at the sky.

"It's like a balance between day and night. Inside the gateway is day, around it is night." I stated.

Sandy didn't even know where to start. He was looking at everything excitedly. North inspected the steps leading to the gateway.

"What do you boys think?" Tooth turned to us.

"The place has a strong magic energy?" I replied. I think it's super amazing and I want to go like right now. Can we stop wasting time?!

"Don't ask me." Bunny shrugged. "I don't even know where to start."

"Done with your little adventure yet?" North asked as he walked towards us.

"There's a bigger one waiting." I grinned.

"Ok, time to find out whatever is behind that." Bunny nodded. Sandy gave a thumbs up.

"It's now or never." Tooth said.

"All right, let's do this!" I flew up in excitement.

"Jack, wait up! We'll all go in at the same time." North called.

"I know, so do hurry up!" I replied.

And when I touched down on the steps, it glowed until it scared me.

"Wow!" Tooth gasped, flying towards me. "Impressive."

"Every step you take will glow." North explained. "Yes, it is impressive."

"The amount of magic located here..." Bunny couldn't finish his sentence.

Sandy was camouflaged, the colour of the glow matched perfectly to him. I didn't even know he was there until I bumped into him.

"Boy that's really bright."Bunny gestured to the gateway.

"It's not too bad, at least we're not looking at the sun." I joked.

"Shut up." He snapped.

We were at the top, just one or two steps away from the gateway. "Hmm, I wonder..." I said out loud as I put my hand into it. It had a tingling sensation. Tooth quickly pulled my arm back out.

"All right, we have a job to do." North said.

We took a step and walked through the gateway.

It all went black.

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