A/N Hello again, ROTG fandom! I have something else for you that I must say I am VERY VERY proud of - I keep patting myself on the back, I like it so much! :D I started writing it a few months ago but never finished it until today! I really hope you enjoy it!

Summary: In which Jack reminds the guardians that he is in fact, not a child and doesn't need their approval or permission for the things he does and that they, in fact, have no right to discuss "punishments" , especially when said discussed punishments involve his staff, which is also none of their business.

It was bloody cold in North's office.

The temperature in the normally cheerful, happy, office of wonder had gone from being pleasantly warm to below freezing in a matter of seconds, and taking with it the friendly, open feeling it had. The light it seemed had been chased to the corners of the room and shadows, shadows that for once didn't belong to Pitch, but were no less dangerous, took their place.

Jack Frost was their guide and they gathered around him, curling and twisting in a way that reminded them of storm clouds in the sky, preceding a blizzard of epic proportions. His pale skin stood out in the sudden darkening of the room, almost glowing with power, eerily similar to the way it had when he stood up to Pitch those many months ago after Sandy's brief demise.

And his eyes were blazing with anger... and all this rage was more or less being directed at him.

Bunny swallowed and realized that, in hindsight, taking the winter spirit's staff was probably a very poor decision on his part.

"Give. That. Back." Jack said lowly.

Bunny blinked and looked down at the staff in his paw. There wasn't a speck of frost to be seen - in his grip and everyone else's, Jack's conduit was nothing more than a stick - a dead piece of ancient wood, with nothing special about it. Jack worked the same way - without it, he was grounded and he had no way to release his, admittedly impressive power and he was reduced to nothing more than a season sprite.

Which was why Bunny had taken it in the first place.

"You have staff back after you-"

"After what? After I learn my lesson?" Jack turned on North, seething. "Who exactly do you think you are? You are not my father and this may come as a surprise to you guys, but I am not a child - I'm well over 300 years old and I don't need your permission or approval to do what I want to do. In the past, you have never once cared about what I did or where I went so long as I stayed out of everyone's way and now all of a sudden I'm a Guardian and you treat me like some wayward child that needs a guiding hand!" Jack shook his head and gave a short, humorless laugh. "No. You do not get to summon me here to discuss "punishments" for things that A, I didn't actually do, B, would be completely within my right to do if I had done it, and C, is none of your business whether I had done it or not!"

By the end of his rant, Jack had encroached to the point where he was almost completely in North's face, radiating danger and cold like a bomb.

In that moment it was easy to see that the person in his face now wasn't the friendly new Guardian of Fun that they all had grown very fond of. He wasn't the confident, but eager to please kid who enjoyed their company more then he let on. He wasn't their friend right now.

He was the full on wielder of Winter itself - strong, powerful, hardened over time through pain and centuries of loneliness - a being that was very capable of protecting himself when the need arouse... and they had just seriously ticked him off.

North's mouth opened and closed a few times but no words came out - it was one of the very few times Bunny had ever seen the man truly shocked. Under any other circumstance, the look on his face would have been hysterical... but at the moment it only spoke wonders of how very far they stepped in the wrong direction.

And it was a very scary thought.

The room was chilly in the silence that followed. After a moment North ducked his head and looked away... a look of shame and embarrassment was on his face. A moment later, Jack seemingly satisfied with North's silence turned and once again focused his burning anger on Bunny.

"My staff is not a toy." Jack said lowly, moving towards him slightly. "It isn't yours to take away at will and use against me when you see fit! It's mine. It's all that's only mine and you will give it back to me." Jack finished dangerously, stopping a few feet from where Bunny stood, waiting.

Bunnymund prided himself in not being frightened of many things... but after taking one more quick glance at the staff in his hand, he took a step forward, his heart beating wildly in his chest, and carefully - respectfully - flipped the staff over and offered the end of the stick to Jack.

Because for the first time in their long history of knowing each other... the winter spirit frightened him and the danger of their error was very, very real.

He flinched slightly when Jack snatched it from him and watched with a sort of fear and fascination as it immediately frosted over and began to glow blue with his power.

Jack took a stepped back from him, his fingers tightening their hold on the rod. He glared at them once more and then in a blinding flurry of wind and snow and ice, he disappeared out the nearby window and wouldn't be seen again by either of them for several months.

Almost immediately, the dark room lightened and the chill began to disappear from the air. North and Bunny both turned and looked at each quietly - the tension in the room was abruptly released and they sagged against the desk in unison. The only sound in the room was their loud breathing.

North slowly ran a hand over his face and met his eyes once more - the look of deep shame and embarrassment was still there along with pain and worry for the damage that they did - the trust they had so carelessly broken. Bunny couldn't see his face... but he had a feeling that it mirrored the look on North's face perfectly.

It went unsaid between them that they had made a very bad mistake and crossed a line that shouldn't have been crossed.

And somehow they needed to fix the damage.

A/N So? You like it?

I started writing it because I was getting really annoyed with all the stories that have the guardians thinking Jack did something wrong and so they TAKE AWAY HIS STAFF AND GROUND HIM UNTIL HE LEARNS HIS LESSON!

I mean, seriously? It what way do they have any right to do that to him? They. Have. No. Right. So those scenarios really ticked me off and so I decided to put Jack in a similar situation although what he did (which is a mystery to me, I don't really know what happened, hence why it was mentioned only briefly) wasn't actually him at all and he acts accordingly. Jack may be the Guardian of Fun, but 300 years is a very long time and time changes people. I think it's possible that Jack has a side of himself that has hardened to protect himself from the loneliness and the pain of his existence and to help carry the weight of his season by himself... and that that side of him doesn't put up with much. Especially when he did nothing wrong. I wanted to bring that side of him out and I wanted it to frighten the others - I thought it would make them respect Jack a bit more and realize that he isn't as young as he looks. I think he deserves that respect.

I see the way they take away his staff as a betrayal - that they think they can just use and control him this way, with no regard for the things he's been through and what he did for them. It's horrible and in no way fair.

Well - I hope you enjoyed it! Please review - they make me feel loved!