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Jack looked at the cloak North gave him to wear for the big event that night and stared at his reflection for a while. It was a blue cloak that reached his wrists with fluffy white fur stitched to the ends and hood that reminded him of the fluff on North’s coat. His frost already decorated the ends and curled around the fabric as if to lay claim on the new garment. Underneath his new cloak was a black turtleneck sweater with white snowflake patterns stitched into the neck and ends. He felt a little silly but couldn’t deny that he felt quite cozy. Underneath that warmth he worried over if he truly deserved to go with North to the ‘Yule Party’, as he called it. Sure Jack was a winter spirit but he wasn’t really connected to Christmas itself like North or Krampus or any of the other spirits he barely knew.
He peeked out the door and saw North braiding parts of his hair and even dashing himself with what looked like cologne.
‘He’s not overdressing himself but man he’s excited about this party. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him wear cologne..’ Jack thought to himself before he realized North was looking at him through the mirror.
“Ah! Heeyy.. Lookin’ sharp.” Jack squeezed into the room and floated over to his friend.
North laughed and stuck his hands in his pockets casually, “Thank you! I was debating if I should bring my signature red coat. Too much?”
Jack scrunched his face in thought, “Maybe just in case, if it gets too cold?”
“Well since you are going, it’s going to be cold.” North laughed as he tucked his coat under his arm.
North noticed Jack’s hesitation and smiled at him, “Jack, I know you’ll be accepted there. Besides, what's Christmas or Yule without a nice winter? Any spirit worth their salt would know Old Man Winter is very important!”
Jack could feel his face heat up at the sudden praise and all he could do was chuckle in response.
“I hear no denial from you and you’re even wearing the clothes I gifted you!” North smiled looking at Jack and nodded, “You’ll fit right in. It’s a good thing we aren’t doing an ugly sweater contest this year. I would have gone all out for us to win.”
Jack snorted at the idea, “Well...Maybe.. If there’s one next year.”
North’s eyes lit up at the prospect, “Don’t make that promise unless you plan on following through. My ugly sweaters are EXTRA!!”
“So are you.” Jack snorted.
North nodded along and checked the time. He sighed in relief to see he had enough time to walk out and gather the presents he got for the other spirits. Jack followed and counted 20 that North loaded into his sleigh.
“Aw man.. Should I have gotten them gifts?” Jack bit his lip a little.
North shook his head no, “You can do something much better at the party that will mean just as much. Trust me on that. If you want to get them gifts the next time you show up, I can help you out. I don’t know if you know this but I am a wizard at gift giving.”
Jack laughed and wanted to shove North into the sleigh but restrained himself.
“Gee I would have never guessed.”
North checked a few other things before he slipped his coat on. He made sure to pack some food for his beloved reindeer and gave each of them pets while slipping on their reins. Blitzen demanded extra snout scratches and North obliged.
“I know I know. Listen, you all will get plenty of love when we get there. You’ll be able to roam and socialize but we don’t want a repeat of 20 years ago. Yes I’m referring to you, Comet. No picking a fight with Jólakötturinn. They are much much bigger than you and I don’t want to hear any crying if you even try it.” North patted Comet on the face and addressed his reindeer.
Jack sat in the sleigh watching North with a smile on his face. He glanced back at the gifts in the back seat and was amazed at the variety of sizes among the gifts. Before he knew it, North sat himself down in the driver’s seat next to him with the reins in hand.
“All set?” He looked towards Jack.
He took a deep breath and nodded, “Yeah. Yeah I think so.”
“Good!!! Alright boys we have a party to get to!!” North called out to his reindeer.
Jack grinned ear to ear as they raced out of the icy tunnels of the workshop and out to the skies above.
If Jack had to guess where they were landing, he would say it had to be in Northern Europe. The architecture screamed somewhere near Germany, which made sense to him since the majority of the spirits were from that region. He guessed the Icelandic spirits had a slightly harder time getting there than most, but they seemed to be in good spirits. He slowly slid out of the sleigh and watched North loudly greet his fellow Christmas entities.
"Ah La Befana! I'm surprised to see you joined us this year." North kisses both cheeks to greet an elderly witch woman.
"Ciao North!" Her italian accent was very thick and her tone was very relaxed, "I thought it might be nice to join..I know I work later than the rest of you but it felt nice to be included."
She smiled much like an old grandmother would and patted North's hands. Her gaze shifted over to Jack and gently smiled at him. He gripped his staff tightly and nervously stepped forward.
“Uh..Hello La Befana..” He said nervously.
She smiled warmly at him and nodded politely.
“I believe this is the first conversation we’ve actually had, Father Winter. Although I don’t blame you, Italy isn’t exactly a hotspot for cold weather. The most my region can get is rain or light snowfall in the north.” She sighed.
“I mean, I could try giving some cities a better snow day..”
La Befana shook her head, “No need. If they want snow they can just travel a little further up north. Although a rare snow day every now and then might be good for the children.”
Jack chuckled a little, “I’ll try to remember that.”
“Well you two have fun! I’m going to make sure the Yule Lads didn’t sneak in any alcohol..We don’t want a repeat of Christmas pasts…”
North nodded, “Definitely not.”
Jack looked at La Befana and North with a confused look on his face, “What happened before?”
La Befana winced and tried to find a proper way to tell the story.
“Well you see alcohol is harmful to cats and..” La Befana gestured to the distance.
Jack looked over his shoulder and nearly fell over when he saw a massive furry cat trotting it’s way over to the large christmas tree. The sheer size of it would send any dog running for the hills and maybe even a lion or two. Not far behind the massive cat was a giantess that looked like a hunched elderly woman.
“Jólakötturinn! Do not eat the tree!! You will have unpleasant poops for days!” She barked at the big cat. Despite the cat being big, the woman was much bigger.
“Ah, bless Gryla. Training that big boy must not be easy..” La Befana sighed.
“Jeez Louise..” Jack muttered watching the Yule Cat saunter away from the tree to rest on the wave pavement.
“Yes so..Gryla got quite upset when Jólakötturinn got a hold of some one year and it wasn’t pretty. Ever since then we keep any drinks like that away from our little party here.” North went on.
“I guess that makes sense- Hey where did La Befana go?” Jack looked around only just noticing that the witch had vanished.
North laughed, “Went to check the Yule Lads that’s who. They are the 13 sons of that giantess over there, Grylla. They are relatively harmless these days and only punish bad children. Grylla used to eat children and cook them in a stew for her and her husband Leppalúði. He’s no threat either since he is lazy and stays home all the time. I’ve only met him a handful of times. Jólakötturinn, or The Yule Cat in english, is her cat. They used to eat people who didn't receive new clothes for Christmas. Nowadays they're on a cow diet.”
“Grylla doesn’t eat kids anymore..right?” Jack curled his nose in disgust.
“Of course not! She wouldn’t be standing here if she did. We met a compromise and she’s made some changes to her diet,” He smiled to see a large cauldron of stew by some tables, “Ah that no doubt has to be her handiwork.”
Jack stared at the floating meat inside the stew and tried not to think too hard about it. While he was walking he felt like someone was walking right on his heels. He slowly looked over his right shoulder and jumped almost a foot in the air when he caught a horribly distorted face looming just inches away from him.
“AAHH FUCK!!!” Jack jumped back.
The man laughed and laughed til tears came from his eyes. Jack pointed his staff at the guy threateningly.
“What the hell is your problem?!”
“Aww. Jackie-Pie doesn’t like lil pranks does he?” Said the man but his mouth never moved.
“Wait a second..” Jack squinted at the trickster, swearing he knew that voice.
The face morphed and twisted as the man seemingly pulled it off to reveal it was just a mask. He had shaggy long gray hair and a scruff that was barely considered a beard. He was only a little taller than Jack and didn’t seem that much older than him physically. There were scars that rested under his eyes and around the upper part of his face that resembled lightning.
“Hans Trapp, nice to see you’re still kicking and being a nuisance.” North snickered.
Hans turned to North and sarcastically bowed, “Oh the Christmas Boogeyman, that's me, wouldn’t miss this for the world! Or at least I’m unable to since Krampus says I need to get out more.”
“I thought I smelled your stench straw-boy.” Jack rolled his eyes at his gaul to scare him
“Aw and yet you got scared by me anyway!” Hans laughed as he tucked his scarecrow mask into the bag that rested on his back.
“Did you break your diet and eat a kid or do you just stink that bad?” Jack snickered.
Hans rolled his eyes, “I’m still following the guidelines thank you very much. I haven’t eaten anyone since I got cursed in the first place THANKS. Besides, pigs are just as satisfying if not more. I’ve even had the occasional farm animal.”
“Cooked I hope.” North raised a brow.
“Krampus won’t let me have it any other way. Boooring!”
La Befana passed by with some large pots and smiled at him, “You wouldn’t have a craving for meat if you didn’t commit that sin in the first place deary.”
“Whatever. The gods are fickle and seem to pay attention only when they feel like it. Though I guess that can be said for any spirit with lots of power huh.” Hans curled his nose and looked at Jack.
Jack’s face felt hot, realizing Hans was referencing The Man In The Moon and just huffed.
“I kind of want to not think about that tonight if you don’t mind.”
Hans’ expression lightened up and he almost looked remorseful, “Sorry Jack. I kind of forget that’s still pretty fresh for you. It’s so easy to forget that you’re actually the old man compared to me.”
“We’re both depicted as old men, sometimes Hans. Well I guess you moreso as a scarecrow, right North-” Jack turned to jest with North and realized he was gone, “Aw come on!”
“Don’t get your cloak in a twist Jackie, he’s over there.” Hans pointed North standing with a tall man that looked like a goat demon.
“Good to see you made it Nicky. Did you do something new with your hair?” Krampus smirked.
North’s cheeks were just as rosy as the human artists depicted them and he laughed while twirling one of his braids in his fingers, “Maybe I felt like looking a little different tonight, who knows? The yule spirit can work in mysterious ways.”
Krampus raised his brows and chuckled. He clearly was trying to poke and prod at North and it was working. They almost resembled those kinds of human couples that flirt in public places. Hans made fake gagging motions and Jack nudged him to get him to quit it. It was then that they noticed someone else approaching them.
“So you’d rather make goo-goo eyes at your husband, than say hi huh?”
He was an irritable looking man dressed to the toe in dark and warm looking furs. His hair was a deep brown and his beard was just a little shorter than North’s. He had a thick German accent just like Krampus and a face that when resting looked angry.
“Knecht Ruprecht? Is that you?” North playfully tried to pretend he didn’t recognize the man before him.
“Klaus you can’t be serious. Your age isn’t that bad.” grunted Ruprecht.
“Oh go easy on your son Nicky.” Krampus chuckled.
Jack’s eyes widened to hear Krampus say such a thing and zipped right over to the group of men. Hans followed suit, more than willing to see Jack’s reaction.
“Sorry to intrude but did I hear that right?? North you have a son?!”
Ruprecht looked at Jack with furrowed brows, “Klaus who is this?”
Krampus snorted and nudged North “Good luck explaining this one Nicky. You really did a good job here. Hey Hans! Frau Perchta is giving out hot apple cider. Let's go get some before the Yule Lads drink it all.”
“Oh putain, oui! Good luck Jack.” He said while slipping away with Krampus.
North sighed and looked towards Jack with a tired smile, "That's right, you're still new so there are many things about me that you don't know..This man is Knecht Ruprecht. He is my adopted son. I found him all alone in the woods of Germany and took him under my wing."
He then looked at Ruprecht and gestured to Jack, "Ruprecht, this is Jack Frost. He is the newest guardian, we're..close. Similar to how you and I are."
Jack looked up at Ruprecht and didn't quite know what to make of him. Was he going to feel jealous that North had a new son figure in his life? Did Ruprecht hate him for filling that hole in which he once occupied? Oddly enough, Ruprecht didn't scowl at Jack or brush him off. He didn't even furrow his brows in his direction. Ruprecht nodded and shook hands with the winter spirit.
"So you must be the Jack he spoke so much of." Ruprecht almost retracted his hand upon the initial shock of Jack's cold hands, but he pulled through.
"He talks about me?"
Ruprecht folded his arms and shook his head, "Every year he comes to the party with a new story on why you are still on the naughty list. Some of the other spirits take bets on what you could have possibly done. It's kind of amusing to watch but gambling isn't interesting."
"You don't find many things interesting Ruprecht." North mumbled.
"You get in on it?" Jack raised a brow at North.
North laughed a little, "Oh well I entertain them. Sometimes I make up offenses and have them guess which is the real one. It's all in good taste though I assure you! So they have at least all heard of you."
Jack's face flushed out of embarrassment and didn't quite know how to feel about that. It felt a little nice how he didn't have to explain who he was, but at the same time it made him discombobulated on North talking about him so freely.
"Anyway. Good to see someone is keeping an eye on him. Sometimes I get worried-"
"Now hold on Ruprecht don't you mean that the other way around???" North interrupted.
Ruprecht looked at his adoptive father and continued with no hesitation.
"No."
Jack was making noises that would rival a hyena's heckle and had to hold himself up using his staff. North stared at Ruprecht with a look that conveyed a deep betrayal with a dash of 'et tu Brute?" Ruprecht broke his poker face a few times because he looked over at Jack who's tears were freezing on his cheeks. Jólakötturinn even stared at the scene because he couldn't tell if the frost spirit was dying or not. Gryla was armed with a spoon and wouldn't hesitate to stop her cat from eating the poor man.
"Sorry..Sorry.. His comment caught me off guard. Holy crap." Jack wiped the ice off his face and tried to quiet his giggles.
"Yes, well.. He can be funny at other's expenses." North ran his fingers through his beard.
Ruprecht raised his brows and shrugged, "Ah well. What can you do."
He watched the pair go back and forth and ate up their conversation. Yet the more they seemed to catch up, the more out of the loop he felt. Jack told North he was going to check out some of the food everyone brought and left the father-son pair to talk about old times. Jólakötturinn was lounging by the large fire, with the biggest grin a cat could have. Gryla was stowing away at a stew she was trying to keep warm and Jack knew to keep away from it as best he could. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Hans and Krampus were nearby drinking the warm apple cider out of classically German looking steins. He knew them well enough to be in their company and not find it awkward. They noticed him right away and gave him some smiles as he approached them.
"North ditched you?" Hans said mid sip of his cider.
"Nah. It looked like those two needed to talk so I just kinda left." Jack shrugged.
Krampus noticed Jack's deflated attitude and leaned over, "Everything alright?"
"Kind of.. I guess I was expecting something different. It's much calmer around here and I guess I feel a little out of place. There are so many things I didn't know about him and.."
"It makes you feel like you don't know him at all, right?" Hans chimed in.
"Yeah.." Jack dug his toes into the snow.
"You know," Krampus smirked, "You could bring your center to this party."
Jack tilted his head, "What about it?"
"Kramps be careful. We got both witches here. Though he wouldn't be as bad as the last guy who tried to "spice things up"." Hans snickered.
"Before you even get confused let me explain. I was jokingly saying you should liven the party up and Hans brought up someone in our past who got on Nick's last nerve."
"Thank you Krampus, so who was this guy?"
"I'll do the honors since his region was close to me," Hans stretched his arms, "His name was Pere Fouettard, or in English "Father Whipper". He was similar in function as Ruprecht or Belsnickel but this guy had a worse start than either of them, okay. His backstory started out with him kidnapping 3 wealthy kids with his wife. They did pretty unspeakable things to the kids and put them in barrels to stew. North found them and punished Fouettard by making him serve him as an escort. Don't know what happened to the guy's wife but North refuses to speak about it. The kids were fine by the way, they apparently got resurrected but we think someone else helped him with that. Don't know who. Anyway, Fouettard existed for a long while until one year he decided to pull the sickest prank on all of us.."
Hans shuddered and took a final swig of cider. Krampus put a hand on Hans' shoulder and finished Hans' story for him.
"Fouettard knowingly gave the reformed spirits here..a certain type of meat. Were it not for North, Belsnickel, myself and Ruprecht.. The others might have had breakdowns that carried to the next year. North saw no hope left for him and you can assume the rest."
"That's completely horrible, I'm saying that now, but I also find it very odd just how many former cannibals are North's frenemies." Jack looked back and forth at Krampus and Hans.
"Times change!" North spooked Jack and Hans so hard that Hans almost jumped out of his skin.
"Speak of the devil and the devil shall come." Hans curled his nose.
"You two aren't scaring him are you?"
Jack rolled his eyes, "No they're just telling me about all this stuff you didn't tell any of us."
North smiled at Jack, "I didn't think you'd be so interested in my history, but I'll tell you what. I'll be a little more honest about myself from here on out. Just probably not tonight since you're still processing everything you just learned."
"Yeah no kidding. You have an adopted son, dealt with GIANTS, are dating your 'shadow' who is also a goat demon, have WITCHES to deal with, and 13 short men who each prank someone differently. Who a majority, for some reason, used to eat people?? How did you make a truce with that line up???"
"It wasn't easy. Tsar Lunar didn't think they had it in them but I did everything in my power to try to save those you see before you. Krampus was the first to believe in this truce and soon others followed him. Sure I've had a few that couldn't make it, but to see how many of us are still here made it all worth it. I dream to maybe to be on these terms with Pitch someday."
Jack's eyes widened, "With Pitch? You think that's really possible?"
"I hope so. The Balance needs him just as it needs all of us. We can be evil, good and in between. This world isn't as black and white as Tsar Lunar thinks and one day I'll show him how wrong he is."
"I'll drink to that." Belsnickel responded.
"That better just be cider!!" Frau Perchta called out.
Belsnickel rolled his eyes and lowered his fur hat to cover his eyes, "Yes Frau Perchta."
Krampus nudged Jack, "Remember when I said you could liven it up if you wanted..?"
Jack perked up, he had nearly forgotten the yule spirit's suggestion. He surveyed the scene before him and already began to plot his initial move.
"Uh.. just what do you mean Kram-Bam?" North suddenly looked nervous at the idea.
"Oh you'll see Nicky." Krampus smirked.
Jack whipped up a wind that carried him into the air, which commanded the attention of all the spirits at the party. They watched him whip around the large bonfire and floated above the tall Christmas tree.
"Old Man Winter here, just bringing you your nightly forecast of SNOW!!" Jack threw a snowball point-blank into Ruprecht's face then into Belsnickel's.
At first everyone was worried at how they would react, but the magic of Jack's snow caused their eyes to twinkle for just a moment. They began to laugh, which contrasted to their unnerving appearances. Belsnickel grabbed his switches just as Ruprecht did and they started to stare each other down.
"First one to actually whip the other's shin owes the other, half of their offerings next year." Ruprecht smirked.
"You're on!" Belsnickel laughed as the pair began to swing their switches at each other at mach speed.
"Well be damned, they're more ridiculous sober." Frau Perchta watched while munching on some baked apples.
A few more snowballs struck the Christmas witches as Jack took cover behind the tree.
"Agh! Perchta how could you!" La Befana glared at the other witch.
"Oh don't you start! I did nothing! It was Jack Frost!"
La Befana's hand twitched and a whole bunch of snow dumped onto Perchta from the trees above them. La Befana giggled as she watched the other cronely witch dig herself out.
"Witch fight!!!" Hans called out in excitement.
While the witches launched a full blown snowball fight between themselves, Jack whisked himself over to the elves. They were busy playing with the instruments instead of actually playing them. Jack caught their attention and looked over their music sheets.
"Hey I know you guys got a plan here, but I need you to play a specific song for me. C'mon its for North trust me."
The elves looked skeptical until Jack went into further detail about the song. They revved up their instruments and followed Jack's instructions to the T.
North looked confused at first until he noticed Krampus and Hans clapping along with the song.
"Do I know this song..?" North muttered.
It wasn't until everyone else joined in and chimed with the song going "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" It was then, that North realized Jack bribed the elves to play a disco song that he adored as a guilty pleasure. He found himself clapping along until the song kicked in full swing. Belsnickel and Ruprecht halted their game and joined North in his little dance. Belsnickel did the squats with North since Ruprecht could only do so much with that limp of his.
"There lived a certain man, in Russia long ago-" Jack started.
"He was big and strong!" Krampus gestured over to North as North flexed while laughing at how silly he felt.
"IN HIS EYES A FLAMING GLOW!" Jack and Hans belted out.
"Most people look at him with terror and with fear-"
The witches butted in, "BUT TO MOSCOW CHICKS HE WAS SUCH A LOVELY DEAR!"
North winced but lost his composure at the elderly women singing that part. Krampus joined with North as the other two men were laughing and doing some very dated dance moves. Jack smiled at his handiwork and tapped the tree's lights to give it an extra shimmer when the light hit it just right.
"You think we're gonna eat soon?" Hans whispered.
Jack looked at the chaos and shook his head at Hans, "Give them a minute. North's gonna take a bit to get out of this groove."
"Theeen do you think you can come next year?" Hans smiled.
"We've never had a dance party since the dark ages." Gryla added, and Jack realized she had really good hearing.
"Plus it's a nice excuse to see you outside of the pole or the Alps." Hans added.
"Okay sure. If you guys really want me here.." Jack smiled at the sudden inclusion.
If North could really co-exist with so many spirits that he's had a mixed history with, could Jack do the same with his enemies? Seeing North dance with someone he should be choking instead of giving doll eyes to, gave Jack some hope for the future. The party didn't go originally as planned, but everyone still welcomed him. They even put up with some minor antics of his! It warmed his chest in a vaguely familiar way. The night was still young after all, what more could happen to make the night interesting?
He took one sip of the hot cider and got his tongue stuck on the metal cup, "Ahkay.. Who gave me a mepthal cup?!"
Gryla snorted and patted his head with her finger, "Welcome to the club kid."
Jack sighed and looked up at the stars. The waxing moon was a welcomed sight for once and Jack smiled with the ideas of the future in his eyes. His hands however were busy trying to pry his tongue off from the metal cup.