𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐈𝐂𝐄 》 JACK FROST

XIII. A Dear Friend

A DEAR FRIEND

2007 AD

22nd February, 10:00

North Pole

The Guardians and, well, a temporary Guardian were gathered around the Globe room, watching as the lights flickered. Agatha leaned towards Jack slightly, like she was a kid in High School trying to talk to her friend without the teacher noticing. ''This is a bad thing, correct?''

Jack rolled his eyes, ''Yeah. They're our believers.''

Agatha nodded to herself as she went back to standing up straight. ''Agatha,'' a voice boomed, causing Agatha to jump and let out a small squeak. She blushed as she saw the amused faces around the room.

She cleared her throat, avoiding all eye-contact, ''Yeah?'' Her weight shifted onto her other leg as she fiddled with her fingers.

''Do you know anything of Pitch's plans?'' North continued, his arms crossed across his large chest, showing off the tattoos on his forearms, one reading 'Naughty' and the other reading 'Nice' - For a fraction of a second Agatha got distracted by wondering which she was on. She assumed Naughty as she had never received a Christmas present, but she didn't really know if Spirits got them.

Agatha opened her mouth to speak, but the voice that sounded through the room wasn't hers, at least, last time she checked she wasn't Australian. ''Hang on a minute there, ya Nilly, why do you get to accuse her of knowing Pitch's plans?''

''Because, Bunny,'' North said, smiling, ''I am not you.''

''I know you're not,'' Bunny scoffed. ''I'm the Eater Bunny; I have Easter.''

''And I have Christmas.''

''You say that like it's better!-'' Before Bunny could continue, Jack waltz between the two, his staff behind his shoulders as his arms wrapped around it - like a scarecrow.

''Boys, boys, boys,'' He tutted, as if scolding children. ''Time essential mission here.''

North nodded, ''Right, right, right...'' He turned back to Agatha, his arms uncrossing them so he could clasp them together. ''Agatha! My question?''

''Well, the last two times you fought him was so he could stop you from being believed in,'' Agatha said and though she knew she was right, she still waited for nods of confirmation. ''And the times before that was so he could prove something to Manfred-''

''-Other times? There were - there were other times?'' Tooth inquired, curiously fluttering forward, almost in Agatha's face. She nodded slightly, her brows furrowed.

''Yeah?'' She looked at them all. ''Didn't you know? There were other Guardian's before you. The Dark Ages was when Manfred was struggling to find suitable bachelor's to take the positions of them - and then you also had to be good enough to be a Guardian. . .'' Agatha trailed off, finding someone to be a Spirit was quite hard work. She would know, she recorded all people that took someones place in death and sent them to Manfred.

''There were others before me?'' Jack asked, sounding unsure, not knowing how to feel about this newly obtained information.

''Yeah,'' Agatha snickered slightly, ''Ever heard of Frosty the Snowman?''

Jack pulled a disgusted face, ''I was a snowman?''

''Oh yeah, and before that there was the whole 'Old Man Winter' thing~'' Agatha sang slightly, guilty of finding Jack's distaste amusing.