Beware the Seasons (A Rise of the Guardians Fan Fiction)

Chapter 4

When they reached the Pole, Jack was quickly carried into the infirmary. The first thing North did was take off his hoodie. He suddenly wished he hadn't. His whole back was burned. Blood slowly dripped from his wounds. "Bunny get me bandages!"

The other Guardians could only watch as North carefully wrapped bandages around Jack's entire torso. Tooth stared at him as tears dripped from her eyes. She pointed to a spot on his chest. "Are those scars?" Sure enough, there were scars in the same pattern of the burn marks left on Jack's body. They were all shaped like hands.

North finished bandaging Jack and started working on his broken bones. He set his legs and nose and did his best for anything else that looked out of place. After a couple of hours, he wiped his brow and sighed. "That's the best that I can do. The rest is up to Jack's body to heal." He pulled a blanket over the sleeping boy. "Let's give him some privacy." As Bunny closed the door, he noticed that Jack's face still looked pained as he slept. Whoever had done this to his little kit was going to pay.

~time skip~

Sandy had given Jack an extra strong batch of dream sand. He didn't wake up until two days later. When he finally opened his eyes, he was blinded by the light coming in from the window. Jack held a hand up to his face and instantly noticed that he wasn't wearing his hoodie. In fact, all he was wearing was his pants. He started to sit up and instantly regretted it. His wounds ached as he tried to move around.

Jack finally looked around the room. He could tell that he was in North's infirmary. Which means they had been the ones to treat his injuries. He had to get out of there before they could ask questions. He found his hoodie laying on a chair, it had been washed. He quickly threw it on and searched the room for his staff. Instead he found a note taped to the window. It read: "Dear Jack, we have a feeling that when you wake up you will try your hardest to escape so we don't ask questions. So, to keep this from happening we have your staff with us in the dining room, so you can come and get it whenever you would like. Love, North." Jack crumpled the note in his hands. "Curse you Santa Clause..."

~time skip~

The Guardians quickly stood up when Jack entered the room. "Jack you're up!" Tooth squealed.

Jack only glared at North "Give me my staff so that I can leave."

"Ah ah ah..." North shook his finger "Not before you have a nice breakfast." He gestured to the large spread on the table in front of them.

Jack sighed, knowing there was no way around this. He begrudgingly took a seat in between North and Bunny. It seemed that the others had already eaten as all they did was stare at him as he put tiny portions on his plate. He wasn't used to eating a lot of food after all. After a few bites of toast, he looked up at them tired of their staring. "There! I've had breakfast! Now give me my staff and let me go."

Bunny looked at him seriously "Not until you tell us who did that to ya mate." He pointed at the burn mark on his cheek.

Jack subconsciously put a hand over the mark to hide it. "It was no one. Now let me go."

North scrutinized him "If it was no one Jack, then tell us how you did get injured?"

Jack shifted in his seat "I uh... fell out of a tree?"

"And got burned?" Tooth asked.

"Yeah well um..." he tried to think of another excuse, but he couldn't. He hung his head "Look, we've had fights like this for years. They all hate me and a lot of it is for good reason. I've really made their jobs harder over the years."

"So, it's more than one person?" North asked.

Dang it. Jack thought "Um... yeah..."

"Sweet Tooth..." Tooth met his eyes pleadingly "no matter what you've done to these people over the years, you didn't deserve what they did to you. They could have killed you."

"Yes, I did..." he continued to hang his head as the Guardians looked at him in shock "I deserved all of it..."

"Don't say that Jack!" North scolded him. "What could you have possibly done that would make it ok for these people to hurt you?"

"I've made mistakes over the years." He answered. "All winter does is kill people. How can I be a Guardian of childhood if my season kills children?" he looked down in same as tears froze to his cheek "Poppy was right..."

He wasn't even paying attention anymore as the other Guardians figured out what had happened. "The other seasons did this to you?!" North asked astonished. Jack simply nodded, no longer caring. They suddenly realized this is why Jack hated physical contact. Because the other seasons had been abusing him for centuries.

Sand blew out of Sandy's ears in anger as the others had similar reactions. As soon as they found those other season spirits they were going to pay. Bunny gently lifted Jack's chin, so he could look him in the eye. "Jack everybody makes mistakes. That's just a part of life. You need to learn to get over them and accept that they are in the past." Jack looked at him with tearful eyes and to his surprise gave him a giant hug. The other Guardians followed suit and they would stay that for what felt like hours.

The next day, the three spirits got a surprise call from the Guardians of Childhood. After their encounter, the Guardians were sure that they would never hurt their Jack again. Not on their watch.

The End.

(A/N - Hey guys! :) Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. :) Bye!)