Frozen Heart

Surrounded by the kingdom’s soldiers, without her magic or any idea how to use her new weapon, Wendy clutched the crystalline snowflake in both hands.

“Jack Frost!”

Both Lucys looked at her in surprise, but Natsu just grinned, revealing his fangs to the confused men.

“Oh, you’re in for it now…”

Before most of them could raise their weapons and charge, Earthland Lucy grabbed one of her keys.

“Open, Gate of the Ram! Aries!”

The pink-haired Celestial Spirit fidgeted as the dust cleared from her entrance, looking to the holder of her key guiltily.

“I’m sorry…I won’t be much help to you…”

Lucy blinked, confused.

“Wha-?”

“Wool Magic: Wool Wall!”

Once the fluffy pink mass was conjured around the group, the wind shrieked and the earth quaked with a battle cry Natsu, for one, recognized.

“Ha! Get ‘em, Jackie!” He cheered, Happy jumping about his feet in victory.

“Show ‘em whose boss!”

A burst of cold came through the woolen shield, and a familiar voice, muffled, followed a few tense moments later.

“Wendy? Natsu?”

Aries deactivated her spell, mumbling an apology as her gate closed, while Jack landed in the icy circle of fallen soldiers, concern clear on her face.

“Jack!” Wendy cried, throwing herself into the Winter Spirit’s arms as tears threatened to leak free. “I-I thought…”

Hugging the young Dragon Slayer, Jack smiled as Baby Tooth hovered around the child’s face with soft twittering words of comfort.

“Didn’t I say all you had to do was call?” She reminded gently, petting the girl’s hair comfortingly.

Edolas Lucy could only stare in fascination as the Earthlanders and Exceed rushed to greet this newcomer, awestruck.

Jack Frost? Does that mean…?

A jingling, like silver bells, and a sound like thunder brought everyone’s attention skyward, almost every jaw dropping as Jack sighed in a fond sort of way.

“Figured they’d follow me when I took off.”

Both Lucy’s jaws hit the ground as a great red sleigh flew towards them, pulled along by eight giant reindeer that hit the ground in a clatter of cloven hooves.

A blur of green and gold exploded out of the massive contraption, fluttering around an amused Jack and awed Wendy.

“What happened? Are you okay? Nothing happened to your teeth, right?”

Sandy floated after his fairy companion, giving the stunned Fairy Tail mages a sleepy smile as Bunny tumbled out of the sleigh like Natsu scrambling to escape a stopped train.

“There you are, little one!” North boomed loud enough to make Edolas Lucy jump. “Was wondering where you had flown off to!”

“Yeah, thought we lost you somewhere over the northern oceans.”

Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, Happy and Carla stared, dumbfounded, as a young boy perched on the sleigh’s front, his mischievous smile and snowflake-patterned blue eyes too familiar to ignore.

“Sorry about that.” Jack apologized as Baby Tooth landed on her hair. “But she called, and there wasn’t any time to waste explaining.”

“Um…Jackie?” Natsu whispered loudly, leaning in conspiratorially as said half-Spirit rolled her eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Who are these guys?”

Blinking once, she smiled apologetically, turning Wendy to face the group of Spirits as she floated up.

“These are the Guardians of Childhood.” Jack explained, gesturing to each in turn. “Nicholas St. North, or Santa Claus; E. Aster Bunnymund, the Easter Bunny; Toothiana, the Tooth Fairy; Sanderson Mansnoozie, the Sandman; and Jack Frost.”

“Whoa…” Both Lucys breathed, staring at these magical beings with undisguised wonder.

Happy giggled, peering up at Jack with a sly look.

“You’re a boy~.”

WHACK!

As the blue winged cat twitched in his own personal crater, the winter-girl smiled, sweet as can be.

“Did you guys have any trouble getting around?”

“Nah, we got here okay.” Natsu replied, the two blondes giving him death glares at the nonchalance.

Liar!

“Oh, isn’t this sweet?”

The silky dark voice echoed, as if coming from everywhere and nowhere at once, putting both groups on the defensive.

Tooth’s wings buzzed warningly as she turned sharply, and Bunny went from doubled-over with nausea to fighting-ready in seconds, boomerangs in paw.

North produced two wicked-looking sabers, and Jack Frost’s staff started to glow in the crook like a magic-powered gun.

Sandy joined Jack in forming a protective ring around the mages, golden sand swirling around his hands in preparation for attack.

“Acting as if you can stop the inevitable…Haven’t you Guardians learned?”

A figure morphed out of the shadows, tall and sharp, gold eyes glowing with a wicked shark’s smile.

“You can’t kill fe-”

A snowball the size of North’s head smashed into his face, sending the Nightmare King sprawling, and all eyes turned to Jack in stunned silence.

“What?” She retorted, frowning. “He was starting to monologue!”

Reforming out of the darkness, Pitch Black seethed as snow melted off the spikes of his hair.

“Who dares to strike-?”

SMACK!

Another massive snowball bowled him over, and even Carla had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing aloud.

“Who dares to-?”

SMACK!

“Who dares-?”

SMACK!

Pitch exploded out of the mound of snow that had buried him, a writhing mass of shadows and hell-fire eyes.

“ENOUGH!”

“Ooo, scary.” Jack deadpanned, arms crossed in an unconcerned way. “I might need to go change my pants.”

Baby Tooth was flopped over the winter-girl’s shoulder, laughing so hard she was in tears, and both Lucys’ exploded into their own restrained giggles as Bunny about doubled-over with mirth instead of illness.

Pitch fumed, ready to tear that insolent Jack Frost apart for this injustice-

But the voice registered as distinctly female, and he stared at this new Spirit with undisguised awe for a moment.

She was petite and dark-skinned, with big blue eyes and long white hair that tumbled down her back in a loose plait, the fairy perched over her ear like a jeweled accessory.

“And who might you be?” He purred, gaze sweeping up and down her body in appreciation of the figure her clothes showed.

Blue eyes narrowed at the sudden shift, suspicious.

“Is none of your business!” North retorted, brandishing his sword in the Boogieman’s face.

“Yeah, back off!” Natsu growled, fists clenched tight at his sides.

Really, Jack was just surprised he hadn’t burst into flame yet.

“Leave her alone!” Tooth ordered, every inch the warrior queen. “And give me back my girls! Right now!”

“And if I choose not to?” Pitch challenged, slick as oil as his eyes shifted to the angry Tooth Fairy.

With a battle cry that echoed Jack’s, the fairy lunged, wings cutting through the air like blades-

A mass of black sand rose up from the ground, taking the form of rearing horse, front hooves kicking at the air and driving Tooth back with a gasp.

“Did you forget about my Nightmares?” Pitch wondered coolly, a sort of manic glee in his eyes.

“Oh, very clever.” Jack shot back, practically bristling like a furious cat. “Any other puns you’d like to throw out there before we beat the hell out of you?”

The Nightmare King smirked, amused.

“Feisty little thing, aren’t you?”

Ice shards flashed in her eyes, and Wendy squeaked as the half-Spirit shot forward, staff smashing into the ground where Pitch had been standing in a cloud of shattered cobblestones and dust.

Bunny reacted next, throwing egg grenades to keep the shade from getting to the mages as Sandy lashed out with two sand-whips that had Pitch jerking out of the way.

North leapt into the fray with a Russian curse, nimble as a man physically half his age, swords slicing precise arcs in an attempt to slash the Nightmare King to ribbons.

Jack Frost and Tooth were right on his heels, and Pitch was forced into a hasty retreat as Sandy herded the Fairy Tail wizards into the sleigh, making a stepstool for Wendy and the Exceeds out of his dream-sand.

Scanning the shadows carefully, gloves creaking as the grip on her staff tightened, Jack tried to fight down a growl.

Slowly, the Spirits returned to the sleigh, eyeing the nearby shadows the entire way until the reindeer had pulled them clear over the rooftops.

Beginning to unwind, the Winter Spirit turned to the stunned mages, a half-smile forming on her face.

“So, how’s your day been?”