When Bernard Met Jacqueline

Santa's Workshop, 2019, CE

"How did you two meet, anyway?" Elle asked one day out of the blue, pulling up her welding mask and putting down the handheld game system to stare at Jacqueline intently.

"You'll need to be more specific," Jacqueline said, putting the piece of metal Elle had asked her to cool off down, and looking thoughtful.

"You and B. I couldn't even begin to imagine how you guys met, let alone got close enough to happily call each other cousins and have it sort of work."

"What do you mean, sorta?" Bernard asked, sitting down between them. "I thought it was convincing enough."

"The two of you don't look anything alike!"

"Cousins don't have to look alike," Bernard pointed out.

"I dunno, I think my natural hair colour is close to Bernard's," Jacqueline said. She thawed the end of one of her curls and held it up to compare to Bernard's hair.

"And both of us have pointed ears."

"Yeah but ours are more pointed, and Jacqueline's pointy ears are so slight you barely notice them."

"They have like a rounded point, which is weird," the sprite said, still scrutinizing her hair.

"I appreciate a good oxymoron," Bernard said, shooing Jacqueline's hand away. "How do you think we met?" he asked Elle.

"I have no idea. Everything I thought of seemed way too wild."

"You'd be surprised," Jacqueline said, smiling to herself.

"It's a pretty long tale actually," Bernard said. "Lots of wildness in it, I think."

Jacqueline nodded in agreement. "Definitely pretty wild. Real embarrassing for me, because of how us sprites age."

"Could it be told over lunch?" Elle asked, eager.

"Well if someone were to have brought lunch over, then maybe," Bernard said, reaching into his satchel and pulling out a whole bunch of sandwiches. "I got some PB&J, Tuna, Egg Salad—"

"Gross," said Jacqueline.

"Hey. Don't knock sandwiches. Besides, these are sandwich types you can tolerate. I made sure."

"Does this mean I get to hear a very fun story over lunch?"

Bernard and Jacqueline shared a knowing glance.

North Pole, 526 CE

"Up! Up!" The little sprite shouted, her arms stretched high above her head.

"Alright, alright," Jack said, grinning. He picked her up and threw her onto his shoulders. She giggled, grasping his frozen hair tightly.

"Careful! That's freeze dried."

"When can I learn how to do that?" She asked, leaning over his head to look into his identical blue eyes. Her dark brown plaits covered his eyes briefly. He held her waist tightly, making sure she didn't fall forwards.

"Jacqueline, Mother would freeze me if I taught you how to freeze dry this early! Now get back up there, you don't wanna get hurt."

"Okay!"

Jack grinned. Jacqueline was perhaps the only thing in his life right now totally stopping him from lashing out irrationally at the other Legends. Times were tough, which was why he found himself here at the North Pole in April. The kinks of the new Law, known as the Legate Law, had been worked out and today the members of the Council of Legendary Figures had met up, Legates in tow, to inaugurate them and tie up loose ends.

There would be more official stuff, of course, if it wasn't for the fact that more than half of the Legates were fairly young.

Tooth Fairy had chosen his son, who was only a baby fae. Cupid had gone with his daughter—which was a shock to Jack, he didn't even know Cupid was married let alone a Dad. She couldn't be more than six hundred. Sandman had come with his son, who was somewhere between Jacqueline's age and Cupid's kid's age. What was her name? Hedone? Volup-something? She said something about going by Dite during the meeting, because it bothered her grandmother. Both Cupid and Jack had laughed at that. Easter Bunny was expecting a new litter, and had told the Legendary Council that once they were born and matured enough, he'd initiate gladiatorial combat as was the way of the Easter Buns, and choose his Legate like that.

The Council had agreed. Jack had thought it was nutty, and would've made a comment if he hadn't been with his little sister. Who had many, many, many questions throughout the meeting.

Thankfully, there were some older Legates amongst them. Mother Nature had gone with Jack's Aunt Spring. Which made sense, after all. Out of all four seasons, Spring's powers were most similar to Mother Nature's—the learning curve wouldn't be too steep were she to step in and of course, her three sisters would happily help her learn how to wield their seasonal powers. Father Time had chosen two Legates: Day and Night themselves. Now they were a strange duo. Gave Jack the willies. They stared at everyone like they knew everything, which they probably did. Swearing in all the Legates was probably the only thing that had gone well in the meeting, really.

Not that it hadn't gone well. Jack was just…none too thrilled with one of the Figures at the moment.

Everyone in the Council had a Legate except for Santa, of course. It was always him. He was special, he had a Clause, a special pact with Kris Kringle and Saint Nick, so he couldn't have a Legate. Whatever. Jack thought they should all be treated equally, but evidently nobody else agreed because Santa's uniqueness made perfect sense to them, of course. Why host the meeting up North if Santa didn't even need a Legate?

"Because it is the safest location for us right now," Mother Nature had said, referring to the disappearances of Sandman's Dad and Tooth's wife and the nasty amount of darkness out there that had caused this whole special law to be made in the first place!

The man made toys, how special could he be? Jack hailed a whole entire season! He was way more unique than the fat man in the suit, way more powerful! He also unobjectively had the best Legate.

Jack and Jacqueline had gone third, after Mother Nature and Spring, and Father Time and Day and Night. Then they had called a quick break. Already the two siblings were learning weird things about this Legate thing. They suddenly had a much stronger mental connection; he could hear her thoughts fairly easily. She currently had an unknown song playing on repeat in her head.

"Well you're very sing-song today Jacqueline," he said.

"We passed music! It was fun! But now it won't get out of my head!"

"I noticed."

"Jack," said a familiar, irritating voice. Bernard was approaching, walking very fast, his lips pursed.

"Bean pole," Jack replied. He could feel his sister hugging the top of his head, watching them with interest.

"Council's reconvening. I know you've already been sworn in, but Mother Nature would like you to be there for the remainder."

Jack sighed. "Fine. I'm on my way."

"That was easier than I thought," Bernard said, walking away.

"That was easier than I thought" Jack mimicked, sticking his tongue out at Bernard's retreating form.

"Down! Down!"

"But you just wanted up."

"Well now I want down," Jacqueline said. "Please." She put her arms around his neck, swinging herself down from his shoulders and succeeding in nothing but hanging off of Jack's neck.

"Easy, easy. I'm super chill, not super fast." He grabbed her waist and placed her down.

"Who was that?"

"That was Santa's Number One Elf," Jack said, dryly.

"I liked his hat. I want his hat. Can I go put on his hat?"

Jack grinned. "Why, of course! His name is Bernie. He loves that name! You go catch up to him and get that hat. Just don't get lost, okay?"

"Yay!" Jacqueline said, rushing after the Head Elf.

"Have fun now! Be safe!" Jack shouted. As soon as his sister was out of view, his smile dropped. It was time to put a little salt in the old man's cookies, as it were.

Hunting down all of the Legends and their Legates was exhausting. They were all over the place as per the norm—after all, this was the North Pole. Jack had been last on his list; now he was back to doing his rounds, since Santa wasn't really needed at the meeting, not with the clause. In fact, Bernard was fairly surprised that the Legendary Figures didn't have a safeguard in place prior to these disappearances.

He was trying really hard not to think too much about the Legate Law, as it had been called. Mainly because he found the concept fascinating and wondered how the transfer of powers would work. What happened when the Legends got a Legate? Did new powers happen? Did they connect differently? It was all very fascinating.

"Bernie Bernie Bernie!" A voice shouted, interrupting his thoughts (probably a good thing—if he thought about how the Legate Law worked all day he would get nothing done, sans major speculation). He turned around and saw Jack's Legate running towards him, arms out.

"Hey there. That's not my name." He said gently, biting back the don't call me Bernie he was so used to saying.

The girl skid to a halt. "It's not?"

"Nope. My name is Bernard."

"Oh. That makes sense."

"It does?"

She nodded, and motioned him closer. Bernard bent forward. "Sometimes Jack tells me something but it's not a thing that everyone knows it's just something Jack knows. I call them Jack things. I like your hat!"

"Oh. Thanks, kid. It's real old."

"Can I wear your hat?"

"Sure thing," Bernard said, thrown off a tad. He put the hat on her head, much to the joy of the little girl.

"What are you doing now?"

"I'm just gonna check up on all the elves," Bernard said.

"Can I go with you?"

"You should get back to that meeting with your brother," Bernard began, staring at the girl.

"Do I have to? It's so BORING now that I've had my turn. This looks a lot more fun."

"You're a Legate now. You have duties and responsibilities. You really should go back, and show everyone how great of a Legate you'll be," Bernard said with a soft smile.

"You think I'm gonna be great?"

"Sure, why not? You have a good nice list record, after all," he said. "You wouldn't want to ruin that," he winked.

The sprite giggled. "Okay," she said, only a little reluctantly. She turned around to go back to Jack and frowned. "Bernard?"

"Yes?"

"I dunno where Jack went."

Bernard sighed. Of course. "Let's go look for him then. He probably hasn't gone back to the meeting either, especially since he's lost you," Bernard said, booping her nose.

"Okay!" she said with a giggle, grabbing his hand. "So I don't get double lost!"

"That is a very good idea Jacqueline, thank you."

"That's my name! How did you know? ARE YOU SANTA IN DISGUISE?"

"No, I just know lots of things. It's why I'm number one, kid," he said, winking, the sprite giggling.

"This place is so big," she said. "And so old I bet! How old is it?"

"Well the workshop is two or three hundred. Almost as old as me! But the North Pole has existed for much longer than that."

Jacqueline gasped. "I'm older than the Workshop!"

"Really?" Bernard said.

"I'm four hundred and thirty-one!"

"You're even older than me!"

"Really? Wow!"

Bernard grinned. This kid was quite possibly the happiest little snowflake he had ever met. It was a very refreshing change from her brother, that was for sure. Bernard frowned for a moment. Had he really thought that the kid would be just like her brother? That hadn't been fair of him, especially considering how different they were now that he had met Jacqueline. He found himself listening intently to her chatter while searching the Workshop for Jack and doing his rounds. So far everything seemed more or less normal, which was a relief. And the kid was sticking by his side, chattering away. Also a relief.

"His snowman was really scary so I made one and the snowman came awake and said "happy birthday!" so I said no you silly, it's not my birthday! I named him Frosty. After Jack."

"After Jack?"

"Yeah! Cause he's all Frosty on the out, you know?"

"Oh I know, alright."

"Abominable was not fun. He almost hurt Frosty seven whole times! Jack really liked Abominable though," The kid said, frowning.

"What's wrong kiddo?"

The sprite shrugged. "I can't word."

"Hey, that's okay. Sometimes I can't word either. Sometimes feelings are weird, and you can't really find a word for them, or a proper thought when we try to figure them out. But you can always try."

She puffed up her cheeks, thinking. "Jack gets really mean with people sometimes. But not to me. Never to me. But it's still scary."

Bernard gave the little sprite's hand a squeeze. "He's not that scary, kid. He's just an overstuffed snowman. You remember that, alright?"

That got a giggle out of the sprite. "Alright."

"Good. So, are you excited for Christmas?" He asked, changing the subject as they rounded on construction, watching the many doll houses be assembled.

The little sprite's eyes lit up. "Yes! Very! It's lotsa fun at home! We get two whole trees! One is for us to make all winter and the other one is for normal Christmas looks! It's red and green and very BIG and it's right in the middle of the ballroom!"

"You have a ballroom?"

"Yup. But there's no balls. Just slidey floors that are not supposed to be ice rinks. That's what Daddy says, at least. Momma agrees but she liked the last one I did. She says she'd rather have it there than in the foy-foyie-front hallway or kitchen. But if it's not supposed to have ice, then why is it slidey already without ice?"

"We have a ballroom here too, with balls. It's very cool, wanna see?"

"Sure!"

Bernard grinned, veering right and stopping in front of the doors to the ball room. Jacqueline grinned, pressing up against the glass.

"Look at all the bouncies! Can we go in?"

"Very quickly. Sometimes the balls escape and they bounce all over the place, and it's always a mess," Bernard said. The ball stampedes were the worst—they had been trying to make them less bouncy as of late to avoid the problem. After all, it wasn't great to work when bouncy balls would fly at you, uncontained.

"Then we'll just peek!"

"Stay close to me kid, okay?"

"Okay," she said, hugging his leg. Bernard opened the door a bit, letting the sprite scamper in front of him and peer in. She shrieked.

"What's wrong? Did one of them hit you?"

"No! There's just so many! Look at them all! Bounce, bounce!"

Bernard breathed a sigh of relief. He scanned the ballroom himself, making sure Jack wasn't in there waiting to unleash the cavalry. About 6 out of 8 of the last year's stampedes were courtesy of the sprite himself.

"Alright, I think that's enough," Bernard said, grabbing the girl before she ran in and started bouncing with the balls. "We still gotta find your brother."

"Right," Jacqueline said, bouncing in place. "Can you tell Santa I want a bouncy ball?"

"Of course, kid. He probably already knows—what's wrong?"

The sprite had stopped bouncing, her face sad. "Jack did a bad," she whispered.

"Wait, what?"

"Bernard! Bernard! We have a problem!" Judy came running down the hall, her hat a little on the frosty side.

"Oh no. What did he do?"

"Santa's office is frozen solid."

Bernard pinched the bridge of his nose. "Was anyone else in there?"

"No, I was just dropping off his midday cocoa when it got really cold. I raced the frost out but I still got a little hit." She turned around and sure enough, her back had a light layer of frost on it—not just her hat.

"Okay, you go warm up. I'll go deal with Jack." He heard a sniffle, and saw that the little sprite that had been following him around was crying. "Hey Jacqueline, it's okay. C'mon, let's go get your brother."

When the sprite didn't move, Bernard found himself picking her up and heading towards Santa's office. The hallway was much chillier when he got there. He put her down a little way away and approached the raised voices.

"Jack this is really quite uncouth, even for you."

"I was just testing you! Keeping you on your toes."

"By freezing my office?"

"Seriously Jack?"

"Oh, great, it's you."

Bernard glared at the sprite. "The feeling is mutual I assure you," he began. "You were supposed to go back to the meeting!"

"I would have but A, it's boring and B, my Legate and I have already been sworn in so what's the point?"

"Do you even know where your Legate is?" Santa asked Jack.

"She just scampered off. You know how it is, kids will be kids."

Bernard and Santa shared a look. "That was very irresponsible of you Jack. She could have been seriously injured! This is not a place for kids."

"Which is really ironic Santa, since everything here is geared towards them."

"Okay that's more than enough outta you, Frost. Santa, I'll get some of the elves to start melting your office. Now as for you Jack—"

Santa put up a hand, stopping Bernard. "Not to worry, Bernard. I shall take Jack back to the meeting myself. I'm sure Mother Nature will be able to properly deal with him. Would you mind bringing his Legate by momentarily? I don't think it is necessary for her to be there just yet."

"Of course, Santa," Bernard said.

"Thank you. Alright Jack, let's get going."

"You know, if you had a Legate than maybe your office wouldn't have been frozen. What if something had happened to you?"

"I find I am in agreement with Bernard. That is more than enough, Jack."

Bernard watched them turn the corner. This Santa had a lot of patience for the meddlesome winter sprite, almost as much as Nicholas had had. Sighing, he began to think of the best way to melt Santa's office. Perhaps he would just call Jack's Dad, that may do the trick. He turned around, his eyes settling on the smaller sprite, who sat curled up in fetal position against the wall, crying.

"Hey Jacqueline, it's okay. I'm sure Jack won't get into too much trouble," he lied.

"S'not that," the sprite said, her eyes teary. "Jack did a bad, Bernard. He does the bads more and more and I'm—I'm scared that he'll do a really big bad."

"Well if he does a really big bad, I'll personally see to it that he gets in big trouble. Like right on the naughty list trouble. Forever. I Promise."

The sprite wiped her nose on her sleeve, smiling. "Okay. Thank you, Bernard," she said, hugging him. He hugged her back tightly, trying to ignore the fact that snot was definitely all over his shirt now.

When he returned Jacqueline to the meeting room, everything had quieted down. Jack was sulking in the corner and Tooth Fairy and his son Myles were being sworn in. He gave her one last hug before sending her off to her brother, despite every fibre of his being telling him to not to. Elf intuition, if you will.

She nudged Jack's leg. The sprite glanced down, smiling and lifting her up, putting her back on his shoulders when she motioned quietly to go up. She felt the top of her head and gasped, pulling off Bernard's hat. She caught his eye quickly, and threw the hat at him with enough force that it landed fairly hard on his face. For a young sprite, she really could stir up quite the breeze.

She grinned and waved bye, and as Bernard tapped two fingers on his head and back at her, in a tiny goodbye salute, he decided that he would do what he could to watch over this kid.

His good old Elf Intuition was telling him that he really, really should.

556 CE

The next time they met was about thirty years later.

It began with the rumours in housekeeping. These rumours made their way to hospitality, which then made their way through the kitchen and out into the Workshop, which then made their way to Bernard as he was doing his rounds.

"…so according to her, Santa hasn't heard from Mother Nature in a few days, and she was supposed to meet him to talk about what happened last week."

Last week being Jack's latest shenanigans as he checked up on the Dome, if Bernard recalled correctly. Those poor dolls.

"I heard that he hasn't heard from any Legendaries residing in Crystal Springs," another elf replied.

Bernard's Elf Intuition kicked in, and with a sharp turn he rushed past the gossiping boys, heading straight to Santa's office.

"Santa?"

"Ah Bernard. I was wondering when you would show up."

"I heard some concerning things out on the floor, and I just wanted to cross-check with you, if I may be so bold."

He smiled and gestured Bernard inside, the door closing behind him. "Have a seat."

Bernard gave the chair a pointed stare before sitting down on the very edge.

"Now what have your brethren been saying?"

"That you haven't heard from Mother Nature, or anyone in Crystal Springs for the past three days or so."

"That is correct. About twenty minutes ago, I contacted the Legendaries outside of the continent. None of them have heard from Mother Nature. We need to plan the Spring Conference and that is hard to do when we cannot contact the person who is in charge of arranging it all."

"What did the others say?"

"Ironically enough Sandman ended up being the most helpful. Apparently, something is wrong with Crystal Springs. The continent has been covered in storm clouds, spreading all over the four corners. It is supposedly the strongest in the Northern Province."

"Oh no," Bernard said. That's where Jack's family lived. Immediately, his heart dropped—what had Jack done? Was the kid okay?

"Oh yes, I'm afraid. They're calling it the Day of Darkness, according to Sandman. The day the storm appeared, that is."

"Which was?"

"About three days ago. It has not yet dissipated. I tried getting through to the Northern Province via crystal ball but I could not. I'm quite surprised at how fast word got around, this happened naught but twenty minutes ago."

Bernard shrugged. "Word gets around fast. You've been here for thirty-three years, I'm surprised you've just noticed."

Santa chuckled. "I notice new things every day, despite my age. Perhaps you could do me a favour, Bernard?"

"I'll definitely try."

"I do not know how bad it is over in Crystal Springs, so I do not know if you'll be able to get through. But perhaps you could give it an attempt?"

"You want me to go check up on things, try to figure out what's wrong?"

"If you can. Though affairs of Crystal Springs do not affect me, I am still quite concerned."

"Of course."

"Try to find someone of authority, or someone who would know what has happened. Given the circumstances, I think we both know what, or perhaps whom the cause is," Santa said, looking over his spectacles at Bernard.

"Jack is my guess."

"Precisely."

Bernard had made up his mind. "I'll do it."

"Thank you, Bernard," Santa said. "I greatly appreciate this."

Bernard nodded, getting up and leaving. He knew exactly where to go to get answers: the heart of the storm.

Teleporting where he needed to go was hard.

The winds whipped, snow flying everywhere. He had appeared a little way away from his mark, which was to be expected with the weather like this. Everything around him appeared to be frozen solid.

He fought the winds all the way up the stone road, stopping in front of a pair of wrought iron gates. When they didn't open, Bernard's concern grew even more. He held out his glowing palms, lighting it up. It was frozen solid and could not open for him, despite the loud groaning telling him it was trying its hardest.

"Hey, don't stress yourself out there," Bernard said to the gate. There was a sad groan in response. "S'okay, let me help you out."

The groaning stopped, nothing but the fierce winter winds around him now. He aimed his glowing palms along the base of the gate and shot at it, the warm magic slowly melting the ice. After a few minutes, Bernard finally heard the gate groaning again, this time actually moving. He nodded as he slid through the smallest opening he could fit through, the gate groaning loudly again once he got through before silence reigned. He squinted ahead. He could barely make it out but he was sure that he was at Frost Mansion. Something on the ground a few paces behind the gate caught his eyes.

A large puddle of dark brown sat by the gate, three large white spots in the middle of the puddle.

His intuition was right. Something very bad had happened.

After several minutes fighting the storm, he finally made it to the veranda. The porch was covered in ice, the roof on the veranda holding icicles bigger than him. He squinted behind him at the pathway, noticing the dried dark marks on the stone steps. He knocked on the door loudly, trying really hard to not look back at the spots.

After a few moments, the door opened up. A disheveled red-haired man held a cup of something hot in front of him. He blinked and stared at Bernard.

"Blaise, it's Bernard. Can I come in?"

The man grabbed Bernard by the coat and dragged him in, fighting the wind to close the door. Once the door was closed, the storm's roar turned into a dull, constant whistling.

Bernard took in his surroundings. The large hall was quiet, the rooms all dark. He noticed scorch marks along the walls, some icicles stuck in them as well, large chunks of what was either hail or ice scattering the floor.

"What happened?"

Blaise sighed, motioning for Bernard to follow him. The man was silent; his usually ignited hair was flat and dull on his head, as if he couldn't muster the effort to keep it lit. They went to the kitchen, where Blaise placed a steaming mug in front of him—hot cocoa.

"Warm yourself up first," Blaise began, his voice hoarse. "Jack's storm is relentless."

"So it was Jack," Bernard said.

Blaise nodded; he looked like he was in pain. He had a few scratches on his face, some dark spots on his clothing as well. Dark spots that matched the ones outside, Bernard noted.

"He finally did it."

"Did what?"

"Left."

"Oh."

"It was only a matter of time. He'd been getting worse and worse as of late. I tried to confront him about it on Monday and, well, that's when all this happened," he said. "Jack pinned his mother to the wall. I got scraped a few times trying to go after him. I had to shoot at my own son, Bernard. Winter had to force us apart."

"Blaise, I…I don't know what to say. I want to apologize, but that feels like it's not enough. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You getting in is more than enough. We've been cut off from everyone for days now. From what I can tell, Jack whipped up a pretty good ice storm. It's been going since he left, getting more and more fierce. I haven't heard from anyone. We couldn't even rush to get help for…"

Bernard perked up. His heart was pounding. Something had happened to the kid.

"What happened to Jacqueline?"

"I think she may die," Blaise said bluntly. Bernard shot up.

"Don't tell me the dark spots outside, the rusty looking things…they were..." his voice dropped to a whisper. "Blood?"

"By the gate, yes." Blaise nodded.

"And it was hers?"

"I had hopped the storm would have washed it away. But I suppose it's just frozen under a thick sheet of ice."

"What did he do to her?!" Bernard demanded, feeling his blood run cold.

"After confronting us, Jacqueline came downstairs. She chased him outside. Winter managed to free us, and we tried to run after Jacqueline. But it was too late. All we saw was the snow, the kids a small shadow in the distance. There was a loud scream from Jacqueline, and then Jack disappeared. We rushed down, and she was covered in it. She was out. Barely breathing. We couldn't take her anywhere so she's up on the third floor. We had to move her where it's colder—we were hoping it would help her heal."

"He stabbed her," Bernard said. "The icicles, the clean spots in the red ice…"

"There were three of them. They went right through her. I had to melt them. Winter couldn't remove them. She—Jacqueline—was too hurt. We were afraid of what would happen if we pulled them right out. Winter was too hurt to even try. Physically and emotionally. She's been in bed since, and I've been trying to look after both of them."

"Was there…you know…"

"Rosehaven Magic? Yes. For a while on Tuesday. But it dissipated. And it left Jacqueline behind."

"Then she won't die. If it didn't take her, she's gonna make it through."

"I thought so too. But she still hasn't woken up. The bleeding has stopped; I've been changing the bandages regularly. And Winter…" Blaise sighed. "It's a mess. In the span of three days, I've managed to nearly lose my whole family, Bernard. My son is gone, my wife is bedridden, and my daughter might be dying."

"It's going to be okay, Blaise. I know you'll manage to get Winter on her feet again. And if the magic left Jacqueline behind, then we know she won't die." Bernard paused. This really wasn't any of his business. He had done what Santa had asked him to do. But they needed help. And Bernard wanted to help them! Mind made up, he continued. "Would it...would it be okay if I went up to see her?"

"Yes. Of course. I've been watching her non-stop and could use the break to be with Winter for a bit. If she wakes up, or anything changes, please tell us."

Bernard nodded, getting up and following Blaise's directions to the top floor.

The bedroom was big and empty, except for a large round bed covered in blankets and pillows. Candles were lit up all around, casting a warm, bright glow in the room. He walked closer to the bed, finally seeing the small sprite tucked up in the center. Bernard felt her head. She was cold, which was good. Since her core was winter magic, the cold was a good thing. Her breathing was more or less even, only a little ragged every so often—but nothing too serious. It seemed Blaise was a decent healer.

Or at least, he had resources. Bernard looked down, noticing the books piled high on the floor around a small bedside table. All of them had to do with healing. He also noticed her white pyjamas on the floor beside the table, now ripped in three places and covered in dark stains. He sighed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you, kid."

He grabbed her small hand, giving it a tight squeeze.

She squeezed back.

After reporting back to Santa and telling him what he planned to do, Bernard stuck around to help Blaise with healer duty. She finally woke up on Thursday and by Sunday, the storm dissipated. Crystal Springs was covered in ice. Now that the storm had stopped, and Bernard was there to watch Jacqueline, Blaise had set out to help melt the continent. He, Summer, and other heat and fire gifted magical people were working very hard to get Crystal Springs running again.

They had gone to the springs first and found them clear of ice already, an exhausted Mother Nature sitting at the base of the mountains. Immediately Winter had brought Jacqueline to the healing waters. This seemed to be exactly what she needed. After that she was right as rain—just a little slow, since her wounds had not yet healed entirely, and still sentenced to bedrest by her parents. A week after the Day of Darkness, Bernard sat with Jacqueline in her new room, listening to the sprite chatter away.

"I got a scar here, here and here now," she said, pointing to her stomach, then her belly, then the side of her stomach, between both spots. "They look yucky. Daddy says they won't go away, but they will look less yucky. Momma said at the springs that they might be a little bit blue forever."

"That still sounds pretty gross," he said.

"Blue is my favourite colour, so I think it'll look cool!"

"Looking on the bright side, huh?"

The sprite nodded. "There's a lot a bad. I'm trying not to think about it all too much. Momma is really sad and can barely stay with me because she's so sad. She's...different. I don't understand why. Daddy's been gone all week trying to warm everything. And I've been stuck here and worst is my favourite jammies are all ruined." She sighed, pulling her knees to her chest under her nightdress and hugging them tightly.

"I can fix the jammies problem for you, kid. I'm an elf, after all."

"Thank you, Bernard."

"Making clothes is easy, no need to thank me kiddo."

"Not for that. But also, thank you for that. I'm saying thank you cause you've been spending time with me. It's been very lonely lately," she said, sad. "I appreciate your company."

"Well then, it's a good thing I brought this," Bernard said, pulling a white teddy bear out of his bag.

"For me?"

"Yup."

The sprite grinned, hugging the bear. "I'm gonna name it Bernard the Bear. Bearnard!"

The elf blushed. "Keep Bearnard safe then, okay? He's very special."

"Really?"

"Yup. I think the next little while is gonna be a little hard for you. So, if you ever feel sad or overwhelmed, you just give Bearnard a big hug and you can come see me. Sound good?"

The sprite stared at the bear, her eyes wide.

"Sounds very good, Bernard."

Bernard hounded the textiles department quite a bit, making sure they got the colour right, the pattern right, and the material right. The head of textiles got fairly fed up and told him to do it himself then, since he seemed to know exactly how to do them

And so, he did. That Christmas, Jacqueline opened up a gift that simply read from B. There were her favourite jammies, all put together and right as rain.

The sprite smiled.

624 CE

The year was 624 CE. Bernard sat in his office, enjoying a break. Until there was a flash of light, and a small child appeared on the floor of his office, holding a teddy bear tightly. A frequent occurrence, this past century.

"What's wrong kid?" he said. She stood up, teary eyed—she had finally had her growth spurt in the last century.

"I don't think Mom loves me anymore."

"What would make you think that?"

"She never stays with me long. She always looks at me all sad. I don't know what to do so I came here."

Bernard didn't know either. But he did his best.

"That kid appears around here a lot," the current Santa said one morning to Bernard. This Santa wasn't one of Bernard's favourites. He was very…crass, to be frank.

"She's…a friend of mine."

"She really looks up to you. Who the heck is she?"

"Jack's sister."

"Frost? The winter sprite who tried to trick me into thinking the last Santa was assassinated, and that I was next?"

"That's the one."

"Never would've guessed."

"They're quite different."

"She looks up to you a lot, I think. It's very admirable of you to take her under your wing like that."

"Well…thanks sir," Bernard said.

This Santa was very crass. But he had his moments.

770 CE

The year was 770 CE. A familiar light went off in his office.

"Hey kid."

"Guess what?"

"What?" he asked, without looking up. He was very preoccupied with his spreadsheets—something was off somewhere and he was trying to find the mistake.

"I have a baby sister and a baby brother!"

"Congratulations," Bernard said, still not looking up.

"That's not all," she said. "Guess what else?"

"What?"

"Look look look!"

Bernard looked up and nearly fell out of his chair. Jacqueline was in front of his desk, holding Bearnard (who needed a bit of a wash), grinning maniacally, her hair a mess of loose, frozen white curls. "Sweet Christmas!"

"I learned how to FREEZE DRY!" she said excitedly.

"I noticed," he squeaked. The change in appearance had startled him—it would take a bit of getting used to.

"It melts every night but that's okay! Mom says practise makes perfect! I think the Twins will be good for her. She seems happier."

"That's good. So why curls?"

Jacqueline shrugged, her cheeks colouring. "My hair isn't naturally curly, so I had to really mess with it and the end product was...this. But I like it! And maybe my hair will be wavier after a few decades of this. I just really wanted to do curly because...well, you have curly hair and I like it."

"That's…really something. Thanks, kid."

1108 CE

The year was 1108 CE, and Bernard was incredibly confused.

All day he could've sworn he heard the kid giggling up a storm, but when he looked in the direction of the sound, there was nothing but a pile of snowflakes. On top of that, the familiar light that signified her arrival with Bearnard in hand was nowhere to be found.

He was beginning to think that maybe he'd been working a little too hard, and was hallucinating or sleepwalking or something, when he heard the giggles again.

"Alright this time I've got you," he said, turning around very fast. He saw her, for sure—disappearing in a flurry of blue sparks and snowflakes, cheekily waving.

Bernard stared at the pile of snow. His laughter started small, before growing louder as he realized that the kid had learnt to teleport and was, of course, showing off. Just like she had with the freeze drying all those years ago.

"Two can play at this game," he said.

And so, the rest of the day had been spent trying to catch Jacqueline before she poofed away. When he finally succeeded in the middle of R and D later that day, he made sure she stayed put by doing the only thing that came to mind: straight up tackling her down.

"I learnt how to teleport," she said, excitedly.

"I noticed," Bernard said, dusting himself up and then offering her a hand.

"I was trying to scare you but you always looked," she began, taking his hand and pulling herself up.

"Making sure you didn't lose a limb, of course. Teleportation is fun, but you gotta be careful kid. You don't want to lose any particles."

"Have you ever lost any?"

Bernard didn't reply.

"Dad says silence speaks for itself."

Bernard still didn't say anything, supressing a grin.

"Okay fine. I'll take a break before I go home. Where's the kitchen?"

"Down that hall, right on the end. So if you can teleport now, why do you still have Bearnard with you?"

The sprite coloured, blushing. "It felt weird leaving without him."

1512 CE

It was 1512 CE when Jacqueline finally managed to really shock Bernard.

He sat in his living room late one night, relaxing and reading a book. He wasn't too surprised when she appeared beside him. She had been doing this for centuries now and had horrible timing—well, good timing, depending on how you looked at it. She always managed to catch him when he wasn't busy.

"Hello Jacqueline."

"Hey Bernard, my elf, what's going on? How's things? Do you have any advice for someone who is about to be burnt at a stake?"

Bernard choked on his cocoa. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm going to be burnt at the stake," she repeated. "What do I do?"

"Well normally perish in an agonizing way."

"That's not helpful."

"Why are they burning you at the stake?" He didn't think Jacqueline would openly be a heretic.

"I—okay you remember that knight I was seeing, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well I dropped him because he was kind of a huge jerk and a terrible swordsman. His page was better than him. I was better than BOTH of them and that irked him, I think. He was all "tis not a woman's place" so I said "you are quite right" and broke up with him. Then I met this Lady, and she's wonderful! Her family is wonderful too! We were seeing each other for a while when the knight saw us, you know…" she blushed. "kissing and stuff, and he accused me the very next day of bewitching the Lady and well now I am going to be burnt at the stake."

"That is by far the most ironic thing I have heard in a while."

"Right? I didn't even freeze anything…So, what do I do? Fire isn't a good thing for me, if you recall."

"No, but your winter magic should simply make the flames seem like a really hot day. Your fire sprite lineage should give you enough resistance to poof out before you start burning up, leaving just enough time for enough smoke to accumulate to cover your escape."

"That sounds really complex."

"Any better ideas?"

"Start an ice age?"

"Don't do that. That's a terrible idea."

Needless to say, the next day, when Bernard heard of a prison frozen solid somewhere in Europe, he was not surprised.

But hey! At least it wasn't another ice age.

1602 CE

In 1602 CE, Bernard was doing his rounds when a familiar chill appeared at his side, a very regally dressed Jacqueline appearing, frowning.

"You doing alright kid?"

She shrugged.

"We can go talk."

"It can wait until after your rounds, don't mind me, I'll be as silent as the grave. I am technically dead, after all."

"I—what? You doing alright there Jacqueline?"

"I was "burnt at the stake" yesterday," she said.

"They're still doing that?"

"You would be surprised; it's nuts out there. Like, really nutty. Especially since 1572, oh boy."

"I'll take your word for it. Let me finish these rounds, then we can go back to my office and talk properly. That okay?"

"Yeah. Like I said, silent as the grave."

Bernard rushed through his rounds, more than a little concerned for the kid. The moment they got to his office, Jacqueline began talking.

"Does it ever get any easier?"

"Does what?"

"Losing people you love. I mean, you've gone through lots of Santa's since the first one you came with. He like raised you or something, right?"

"Or something, yeah."

"You stay while these Santas come and go. Does that ever get any easier?"

"Honestly? At first, it wasn't. Especially when the next Santa we get is not the best Santa. It's even harder when they're a Santa who has been here for a while, that's genuinely a nice person. It hurts to lose them, sometimes. But I promise with time, it gets easier. It will never be super easy, but it does get easier."

"The hurt lessens?"

"Considerably. And even fades into acceptance. Now what's got you so heartbroken?"

"A princess."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. She found out I was magic. And she was okay with it. And we were really great together and she was so sweet, but unfortunately her brother found out and I got sentenced to burning at the stake again."

"Found out about the two of you or the magic?"

"Both."

"I really hope this doesn't become a habit for you, Jacqueline."

"The dating aristocracy that will absolutely get me in trouble or the burning at the stake thing?"

"Both. How did you not die this time?"

"I did what you told me to do last time."

"Better than an ice age, right?"

"A little bit, yeah. But it hurt a lot more this time."

"Literally or emotionally?"

"Both. But the burns weren't too bad, Mom stopped them fast and the Springs made them right as rain. But losing her is really tough. I really, really liked her. Now she thinks I'm dead, and her brother is having her see a priest on the morrow. If I were to go back and console her…well, it wouldn't be the best idea."

"Time to lay low?"

"For a bit, yeah. Things are getting exciting out there, though. They're calling it a Renaissance. They're finding all this Roman and Greek stuff, it's amazing. But I'd enjoy it more if I wasn't so…"

"I understand. Tell you what, kid. I'll get a room set up for you, and you can stay here to cool off as long as you like."

"Really?"

"Yup. However long it takes you to feel better."

"Thanks, Bernard."

"No problem, kid."

1718 BCE

In 1718, Bernard was cornered by a much too observant elf working in the naughty and nice center. She handed him a scroll.

"What's this for?"

"It's something you may be interested in," she said, before rushing away.

They only ever gave Santa a section of the list when there were children who concerned them. Why would Bernard have one now? He unrolled it as he walked, and when he read the name on the parchment his eyes widened.

"Piracy. You're kidding me. As if being burnt at the stake wasn't enough, honestly. This kid is going to give me a lot of unbalanced humours." And so, when he next had free time, he found himself trying to pinpoint the exact location of said kid.

He poofed and reappeared in the hot sun somewhere near the Caribbean. The humans near him jumped, drawing weapons.

"Okay, you can put those away. Where's your captain?"

"The Captain is inside the cabin," one pirate said. She barked something in a Latin language, and all of the others put their weapons down. "Who are you?" she asked. Sure enough, as Bernard really noticed his surroundings, and tried to ignore the heat, he noticed that every crewmember was a girl.

"I'm a friend of hers."

"Alright, I'll take you to her."

The woman, whom he presumed was the first mate, led him to the captain's cabin. She knocked on the door.

"Captain! Someone is here to see you."

"What? We're in the middle of the ocean how could someone just arrive, did we get boarded? Oh, hello Bernard," she said as she opened the door.

"Hi. Mind if I come in? It's very hot out here."

"Tell me about it. Yeah, sure." She opened the door wide. She briefly talked to the woman, giving some kind of commands. She nodded and left the two of them in peace.

"So what can I do for you?"

"Piracy, Jacqueline? Really? This is your idea of lying low?"

"…Yes. Okay, I know, not the best idea, but I haven't killed anyone! We have a strict no kill policy."

"But you have pillaged and plundered quite a bit. You're on the naughty list, did you know that? You've been on it for thirty years now! And does your crew know you're magic?"

"Yes. In fact, most of the navy and other pirates do. They call me The Snow Witch, Bernard! Bruxa da neve, how cool is that?"

"This is serious trouble you're stirring up Jacqueline. If you wanted to amass a huge fortune, why didn't you do something less dangerous?"

"It was either marry rich or build a business empire, which is incredibly hard to do out here as a woman. I've been doing some good, you know. Everyone in my crew has been whisked away from various bad circumstances. We're just trying to have a good life."

"By pillaging?"

"And exploring the world! Humans are finally doing it, there's so many more interesting things to see and I'm meeting so many other magical beings that have been contacting those of us in Crystal Springs, it's so exciting!"

"Don't you miss home?"

Jacqueline sighed. "I haven't been home in a few centuries."

"You're joking."

"Well, it's always been hard to be at home. I visit! And write! My parents know what I'm doing. They're okay with it, they're preoccupied with my siblings. And anyway, it beats sitting around being judged by everyone in the continent just because of who I am. I'm tired of it. At least here under the blistering hot sun, I can make a name for myself."

Bernard was quiet. She had a point, though he didn't agree with how she was trying to establish herself, for lack of a better word.

"Are you happy?" He asked, struggling to consider it because all he wanted to do was whisk this kid back home and ground her. She had two swords and a wall of pistols behind her, that was beyond concerning.

"For the time being, yes. Seeing the world this way is amazing, Bernard."

"I can't believe I'm doing this, but fine then. If you're happy, stick around. But promise me one thing."

"Of course! What?"

"You'll stop if it gets too dangerous. Retire to the Azores or something. Okay?"

"Okay. I promise."

"Good."

1924 CE

Friendship with Jacqueline was very weird, Bernard was realizing. Especially that now they were around the same age, maturity wise.

He was glad when the piracy thing ended safely for the kid. And glad when they met up in 1732, despite the secrecy breaching shenanigans they had caused. But Jacqueline had made a really great breakthrough that day, and Bernard couldn't have been prouder as they fought off the cronies of a jealous relative of the Santa at the time.

His thoughts were on how weird their friendship was because of a quick jaunt over to her flat in Chicago that Bernard had just made. A child had asked for a real live snowflake that never melted, and Bernard knew Jacqueline would help him out with that for sure. He preferred her over her brother any day, really.

Imagine his surprise when Jacqueline's mother opened the door to the flat instead. And his shock when over coffee and cocoa, Jacqueline told him how she and Winter were running the most successful bootlegging ring in the city!

He had started to have a serious talk about bootlegging with her when she cut him off.

"Bernard. I'm eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, I know what I'm doing."

He didn't quite believe that.

"And besides, my Mom is here," Jacqueline said, nodding her head at Winter who was focusing on making the special snowflake for Bernard. "She'll keep me in check. Or, I'll keep her in check."

Winter snorted. "We'll be going down in a blaze of glory, I expect. And there you are, Bernard, an everlasting snowflake!"

After delivering the snowflake to wrapping and checking yet another gift off the list, Bernard was a little stuck on what Jacqueline had said. Eighteen-hundred and twenty-nine! Already! It seemed like just yesterday she was a small four-hundred-year-old, running around the workshop excitedly and talking nonstop.

And now she was a full-grown sprite, running an illegal bootlegging ring during prohibition in Chicago.

Bernard generally didn't pay much attention to the passage of time. After all, he was immortal. But this encounter with the kid had made him very, very self-aware of how much time had just flown by.

Friendship with Jacqueline really was quite weird. But Bernard found that he liked how odd it was.

He wondered what Jacqueline thought about it.

2017 CE

Bernard wasn't sure, but sometime in 2007 it seemed like they had gone through a very almost traumatic time together that Jacqueline fully remembered but Bernard did not. It wasn't until nearly ten years later that he fully brought it up with her.

"What happened with Frostmas?"

Jacqueline faltered, her face a flurry of emotions before finally she sighed. "I wouldn't even know where to begin," she replied. "It's...it's a lot B-Man."

"I remember you mentioned that nobody believed you about Jack."

"Not really, no. But you were there for my crazy theories from the start!"

"Glad to hear that. Wish I could remember. I keep wondering what exactly happened during that timeline, you know?"

Jacqueline looked thoughtful. "Well...I can tell you that a full record of everything that happened during the Twelve Years of Frostmas exists. It's in the CSA. If you ever have a day off, you can go give it a read. It's not restricted or anything, after all. And it'll tell you everything you need to know about those twelve alternate years."

Bernard did find the time to give it a read. It was lengthy, and incredibly personal. He learnt a lot of things he wasn't sure he had wanted to know. But one thing stood out in particular: even in this crazy timeline that only got crazier as the years went by, he and Jacqueline were still friends. She mentioned how much that thought comforted her several times throughout the read, as well.

It was nice to know that she thought the same way, too.

"So you're telling me, an entire record of a timeline that technically didn't happen exists, and neither of you told me about it?!"

"I forgot about it until B-Man asked."

"And I forgot to mention it after I read it."

"What is it, cursed to make you forget after reading?"

"Something like that," Jacqueline replied.

Elle let out a low whistle. "That's some friendship, isn't it? Kinda wish you had mentioned the Clifton Manor Incident, though."

Jacqueline laughed. "I've told you about it several times!"

"I think it's my favourite story of you two. I can see how the cousin's thing came into play now, at least."

"It also helps when your species are cousins as well," Bernard added.

"I guess the moral of the story is that friendship is weird and happens where you least expect it," Elle said. "I can relate to that," she added, looking at her two friends. Bernard grinned, and Jacqueline let out an "awwh" that would have done Dite proud.

"You flatter us, Elle," she added, looking a bit slushy.

"It's true!" Elle paused for a moment, doing silent math in her head. "You two have been friends for about fifteen hundred years!" she felt a brief pang of regret? Jealousy? Deep in her gut.

"Hey now, don't start thinking that way," Bernard said, sensing her feelings. "We're just old geezers, compared to you."

That made Elle laugh.

"And besides, what you and Bernard have is very special," Jacqueline added. She knew Elle well enough to know where her thoughts were going. "He may be one of my best friends, but so are you! And you two get the bonus of being soulmates," Jacqueline finished, with a little eyebrow waggle.

"And your best friend is pretty cool," Bernard said.

"Ice cold, even," Jacqueline added, pulling her shades out of her sleeve and popping them on.

Elle laughed. "You two are crazy."

"Takes one to know one," Jacqueline said, pulling down her shades and winking.

"She's crazier, really. Piracy? Several near deaths via burning?"

"Wanting to put your beret on my head?"

"Truly insane," Elle joked.

"Hey! It shows everyone I'm the boss," Bernard said, patting his beret proudly.

"One of the perks of your seniority, huh?" Elle teased.

"Yes!" Bernard insisted.

Jacqueline laughed. Friendship was weird and definitely happened where you least expected it.

But she wouldn't have had it any other way.

A/N: A break from Winter's Birthday for what is now the longest smile shot at 9,367 words. Sorry for the length. It seems I'm over my horrible writer's block but can't write anything short (but boy oh boy I TRIED with this one, my dudes).

I've had these little snippets bouncing around my head since like early December and put them all together here in the story that shows the brief overview of how Bernard met Jacqueline and how they became friends! Hopefully B-Man is in character!

Please review! I love feedback. And we'll get back to Winter's Birthday eventually, I promise! I lost my notes for it with the hard drive destruction back in May '16 so now I'm just trying to figure out what my plans with it were. I hope you all had very merry holidays and a very happy new year!

DISCLAIMER:
I do not own the rights to The Santa Clause, nor do I own Bernard, Jack Frost, or any of the Legendary figures mentioned above. I do own the rights to Jacqueline, Blaise and Winter Frost, The Twins, the other Legates, Legate concept as well as Crystal Springs. I am making no profit, this is purely for my own enjoyment and that of my readers. Please do not use my characters/concepts without my permission.

I also do not own Elle; she belongs to Ana, aka, etiquette-faux-pas, who has given me clearance to write Elle so long as I return her (relatively) unharmed.