This Means War -CHAP.03--RotG-

  Though she'd told herself she didn't want any involvement in anything bigger than making fireworks and having the occasional starburst and snowball fight, Catty couldn't get everything that had happened out of her head.

  Jack had said that nobody cared about them if they weren't a guardian. Temp had basically implied pretty much the same thing too; that they were just left to their own devices for no real reason. Even North - a guardian himself - hadn't quite been able to deny it. Yet he and the other guardians had still expected them to help.

  Not to mention it wasn't like the guardians to ask non-guardians for assistance. Was there really something bigger going on? And was Catty making the right choice by refusing to help? She wasn't sure what to do anymore.

  "Bee in your bonnet?"

  Catty looked round from the newspaper dispenser she'd been sitting on. Temp was leaning casually against the wall behind her, wearing a red silk shirt that clashed quite amazingly with his raven hair. He hadn't been stood there a minute ago - he must have snuck up without her even noticing. Clearly decades of being on a wary lookout for Jack Frost still wasn't enough to completely hone her senses just yet.

  "What's it to you?" she asked grumpily. Her recent confusion had been starting to bother her. She'd been happy with her life how it was. But now that she'd started questioning it and doubting the other guardians, she'd been starting to dislike this static state more and more.

  "You know, considering your resentment towards me, I've never actually done anything to you," Temp pointed out, unruffled by her attitude.

  He did have a point. His attitude may have grated on Catty a little before, but had he ever actually done anything wrong? The answer was no - she'd just been jumping to judgemental conclusions like usual. She really needed to stop doing that. Especially seeing as there weren't many people around who could actually see her, let alone talk to her.

  "Okay, okay, I'm sorry if I sounded snappy," she apologised grudgingly. "But for the record, following someone around isn't exactly normal behaviour."

  "I guess you could say I find it difficult to make friends." Temp shrugged. "Don't you ever feel like that? Seeing as you're a fellow chosen-but-not-chosen, if you know what I mean."

  "Can't say I've ever really tried," said Catty truthfully. When you had a lifestyle designated by the Man in the Moon, there wasn't really many people you could make friends with. Most of the actual guardians were always busy doing what they were supposed to do, unlike her. "Somehow, I get the feeling we're not actually meant to have friends."

  "Strange thing to say," Temp commented. "What makes you think that?"

  Catty raised her eyebrows. She would have thought that it was obvious. "Well, there's not really people for us to even make friends with, is there? So it feels like it's kinda supposed to be that way sometimes."

  "You mean since you're stuck in this lifestyle, but not actually a guardian like the rest of them," said Temp, making it more of a statement than a question.

  "Right." Catty felt like they were going round in circles here.

  "Well, who says it has to be that way?" Temp asked, suddenly sounding cheerful.

  "What are you even talking about?" Catty was now totally confused. "Nobody says. That's just the way it seems to be."

  She had no idea what he was trying to get at. First he'd implied that nobody cared about them if they weren't a guardian. Yet now he was trying to say that things weren't so black and white after all. It was starting to hurt Catty's head. He really needed to pick a tune and stick with it.

  At least he seemed to realise that. "I'm confusing you, aren't I?" he said with a rueful grin.

  "Just a tad," said Catty dryly.

  "I'm sorry," said Temp, and for the first time, he actually sounded sincere. "I guess you could say I find it difficult to try and make friends."

  Now that took Catty by surprise. "Wait, you were trying to... make friends with me?"

  "Is that weird?" asked Temp, nonplussed.

  "I guess not," admitted Catty. "Most people just probably wouldn't be so black and white about it."

  "Well, everything's black and white when it comes down to it."

  "Right..."

  Catty decided not to point out that he'd just contradicted himself once again. After all, it wasn't every day that someone requested friendship so up front. Between Jack and the guardians, Catty had never had much choice in making friends before. How fitting that this strange, new non-guardian had the same idea in mind that she'd always secretly wanted: a friend.

  "So how about it?" Temp prompted. "Fancy a friend in this lonely lifestyle?"

  Catty laughed. The carefree, eloquent attitude suited him much more, though it was still nice to know that he had a soft side hidden in there somewhere that simply longed for company too. She gave him the first real smile since they'd met. "Sure. Sounds good to me."

  She couldn't remember why she'd ever had a problem with him. Or maybe it wasn't that she couldn't remember - maybe there had just never been a reason. He really didn't seem like such a bad guy at all. He must have just always caught her in the grumpy aftermath of run-ins with Jack.

  Temp smiled widely back. The expression lit up his entire face, especially those emerald eyes. It was really quite something. "Great!" he exclaimed. "Then in that case, my friend, I look forward to catching you later."

  "Oh. You're going already?" said Catty, taken aback. Though she wasn't sure what she'd expected. For them to instantly hang out maybe? It sounded a little juvenile, even in her head.

  "Don't worry. We can hang out another time," Temp assured, echoing the thought in her mind. Maybe it wasn't such a juvenile thought after all. "But it isn't just the guardians who have work to do. Am I right?"

  "Oh. Right," Catty agreed, once again struck by the question of what Temp's supposed work was. He may have told her a little about his gift, but it didn't explain what it was that he actually did. Catty still felt rude to ask. She was sure she'd find out eventually.

  Once again though, Temp seemed to possess the gift of mind reading. "If you had the ability to know what people desire most, then what would you do with it?"

  "Err..." Catty wasn't sure. Was that supposed to be a trick question?

  "Don't worry, I was just asking rhetorically," Temp laughed. "And in response to the question you wanted to ask, I simply help people get what they want." He chose to leave Catty with that final thought. "I'll see you around, little firefly."

  Catty watched him retreat down to the end of the street before taking off in the other direction. She started off flying, but as soon as she'd passed the first few blocks, she was suddenly hit by an overwhelming thought. That was really weird. A niggling voice at the back of her mind was practically screaming it at her.

  The feeling was so strong that she touched back down onto the sidewalk, lest she flew headlong into something in her distraction. It felt like coming out of a trance. It was as if her mind had been clouded, but she hadn't realised until it had cleared again. She had the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched, but when she turned around, there was nobody about who even registered that she was there.

  Catty leant against a lone streetlight and kneaded her forehead with her palms in frustration, ignoring the few passersby as if she couldn't see them the same way they couldn't see her. What was wrong with her lately? Ever since North had told her and Jack about the strange new guardians popping up out of nowhere, she hadn't stopped thinking about it.

  North had advised her to be careful. Now she felt like she was starting to become paranoid. Only two minutes ago, she'd been perfectly comfortable talking to Temp. Then as soon as she'd gotten out of range of him, she'd started panicking - believing that his wanting a friend, even though it was just the same as she had, was more than just a happy coincidence. It was just too good to be true.

  Catty sighed. She didn't know what to think anymore. All she did know was that she was desperate to understand more, now that her eyes had been opened to the potential of some serious, underlying conspiracies playing out under everyone's noses. And, despite him being her supposed 'friend', she was going to treat her new buddy Temp with caution for now. Just in case.

  Geez. Catty practically rolled her eyes at herself. Ever since Temp had started making his appearances and North had butted into her life too, she'd started way over thinking things. Whatever happened to the good old days when her biggest concern had been having another snowdrift dumped on her head?

  That was it, Catty decided. She didn't want to be a part of the bigger picture. So she wasn't going to. Simple. Instead, she was going to go about her life as normal, in blissful ignorance of anything foreboding, and just focus on the little things that she was interested in. It was her life after all. And she was the one who had chosen it.

  She didn't know why she hadn't thought of that sooner. She'd already decided that whatever the guardians were up to had nothing to do with her. So she was going to carry on believing that. As if proving it even further, she continued to skip further down the street, now feeling much better about the situation.

  She skipped straight through several people on the street, not even trying to avoid them. She didn't care. She didn't need them and she didn't need the other guardians. All she needed was her fireworks, her ability to find her own means of entertainment, and her...

  Catty's foot suddenly slid out from underneath her and she toppled over sideways as she tried to regain her balance. She landed flat on the cold sidewalk. To anyone else, it would have seemed strange that there was only one patch of ice in the middle of otherwise dry paving, but of course, Catty knew better.

  She rolled back up onto her feet, tugging her dress straight and glaring across the street. Jack was stood on the opposite side, leaning against his wooden staff and lazily bouncing a snowball in his free hand, looking the epitome of casual. The smug grin on his face ruined the innocent image.

  "I guess it's true. You never can teach an old dog new tricks," Catty said loudly, feeling irritable that this wasn't the first or even fifth time he'd pulled that one on her.

  "Why learn new tricks when the old ones work so well?" replied Jack, ignoring the jibe. "I couldn't give you even more to keep up with."

  "That's it..." Catty retaliated with a fast series of fireworks. Jack only just dodged out of the way in time. The three fireworks exploded against the wall behind him in consecutive flowers of red, gold and green, making a couple jump who were passing by.

  Jack grinned, looking pleased with Catty's reaction. "Well... Come and get me." He levitated up into the air. "Or don't you have a second wave to follow with?"

  "Oh, you are sooo gonna regret that!"

  Using her fireworks as boosters, Catty lifted up into the air too and charged at him. Jack took off over the rooftops with Catty in hot pursuit. The fun was all in the chase, but Jack couldn't deny that snowballs had their merits too. He flew along backwards, almost in a lounging position, creating and quickly throwing snowballs up at Catty so that she had to zigzag to avoid them.

  One came close to hitting her square in the face, but she was prepared. She met it with a starburst, causing it to explode in a mass of stars and water drops. She then struck back by aiming long lines of gold sparks at Jack with both hands, forcing him to tumble and roll out of the way.

  He turned back right side up and put on a burst of speed, zooming straight through the neighbouring town and onto the next. Catty pushed herself to keep up. She couldn't aim very well at higher speeds, but she shot off a couple more starbursts anyway - flying straight through the glittering imprints that they left behind in the sky.

  Now this was more like it. Catty could forget about all the conspiracy possibilities just as long as she was flying and throwing fireworks. Things may have been changing, but her war with Jack was one constant she could rely on. She realised this somewhat grudgingly. She didn't like the idea of relying on Jack in any way, shape or form.

  But if there was one way to clear her head, it was getting down to some fun.

  Jack iced a twisting pathway along one of the back streets. He touched down onto the ground, took a running start and launched himself onto his creation. He slid along the icy stretch like a professional skater, knees bent to improve his balance, his bare feet gliding across the smooth surface. Ice was his element and he was at one with it. He laughed and called to Catty to keep up.

  What a show-off, Catty though. Keep up? She had a much better idea. With Jack's attention on his new slide, she darted sideways onto the next block before continuing in the same direction. She could guess that Jack would continue along the same straight street on his stupid course of ice. She just had to beat him to the end.

  Using both hands to propel herself along with fireworks as added boosters, she put on an extra spurt of speed as she zoomed past block after block. She couldn't just keep up - she needed to overtake. When she was sure she must have gained the lead by now, she cut back through one of the side roads and onto the back street again.

  Her timing couldn't have been more perfect. Catty emerged from the side road just as Jack was reaching the same junction. She blasted as much heat as she could muster at the icy pathway ahead of him, instantly melting it to steam and water. Jack wasn't able to react quick enough.

  His momentum was still determined to carry him forward, even as his feet met the hard friction of the rough ground. He tumbled literally head over heels several metres along the street before rolling to a stop. Irritated, he scrambled to his feet, preparing an extra large snowball in retaliation.

  Getting up cost him valuable seconds though and Catty beat him to it, throwing a lurid red firecracker in his direction. He yelped as it burst in his face, blinding him with bright stars and glitter - the heat also effectively disintegrating his snowball.

  "Try and keep up, my ass," said Catty smugly, landing lightly on the ground. "I think you're the one who needs to keep up."

  "And you always say I fight dirty." Still trying to blink away stars, Jack blindly shot an arc of ice in the direction of Catty's voice.

  Catty neatly avoided it, back-flipping up onto the top of the closest parked car. "Gotta aim before you shoot," she taunted in a singsong voice.

  She turned to slide down the back of the Honda's streamlined body when a figure standing at the nearest corner caught her eye. As she turned back for another look, the figure disappeared down the side street, but not before she got a glimpse of a red shirt and black hair. Was that Temp? But he'd said he had things to do - what the hell was he doing here?

  Wham. A snowball hit Catty so hard in the side of the head that it knocked her clean off the car. She'd barely hit the sidewalk behind it when she was already dragging herself back to her feet. Jack appeared round the bumper of the car, practically doubled over through laughing.

  "That was hilarious!" he chortled. "Did you really think it would be a good idea to stop paying attention?"

  Catty flicked wet hair out of her eyes and impatiently pushed past him. "Time out," she huffed.

  Jack turned, his eyebrows raised, gaze following her in amusement. "What; is that how this works now? What if I decide to ignore you and snowball you in the back?"

  "Will you just, for once, not be such a Jack-ass!" Catty snapped over her shoulder, storming down to the corner where she'd seen the figure in red and black disappear.

  "Oh, very original," Jack sarcastically called after her.

  Catty ignored him. She was much more interested in where Temp had gone. She was sure it had been him. Though whoever it was, they definitely weren't there anymore. Catty even walked halfway down the side street, but there was nobody else in sight.

  She bit her lip, feeling troubled. It had to have been Temp - who else would have been watching them? But why? Had he been following her? She'd already been struck by the feeling that somebody was watching her earlier on. Whatever was happening, she didn't like it. It was making her feel really on edge.

  "What on earth are you looking for?" Jack had followed Catty onto the side street. He tried to sound casual, but he was curious. This was definitely a new one. Normally, they just threw snowballs and fireworks at each other until one of them gave up or got bored.

  Catty didn't notice. She was still chewing her lip, unsure what to do. She didn't know what exactly was happening - or if it was even a problem - she just knew that she didn't like not knowing more. She definitely couldn't ask Temp about it. And she didn't know if she could trust any of the guardians either. They'd certainly never been interested in her until they'd wanted her help. That left one more person she could talk to.

  Reluctantly, without looking away from the street ahead of her, Catty asked, "Have you seen anyone new around lately? Anyone... like us?"

  Jack raised his eyebrows. "Why?"

  Catty frowned, though it was more at herself. "I don't know. I just... feel like there's something more going on."

  Jack rolled his eyes. "Lemme guess. You teamed up with North and the guardians on their little scheme to find Cupid or whatever. Now they've got you helping to try and talk me into it as well."

  "Actually, I told him no too," said Catty coolly.

  "Oh..." Jack couldn't quite hide his surprise. But then he'd took off before he'd heard what Catty had had to say. "Then... why are you asking me?"

  "Because I'm starting to wonder if I made the right decision by saying no," said Catty, still frowning to herself. "I'm not going to pretend to like you. But I know that at least we're in the same boat. I guess I just wanted a second opinion."

  Amazingly, Jack didn't comment on her wanting his help. Instead, he just said, "I've already made my thoughts on the guardians clear. None of them care about us."

  "Yeah, that's what I thought."

  Though Catty still didn't sound sure. If she went by what Jack said, then she had made the right decision. The guardians didn't care about them, so they were simply returning the favour. But something just still didn't sit right. It was an uncomfortable feeling that she knew was going to gnaw at her until she got some real answers.

  Jack grew impatient. "Look, if you wanna team up with the guardians, then do whatever you want. I don't care. I'm just not going to do the same."

  Catty sighed. She should have known that talking to someone so stubborn was futile. "Fine, whatever. I'm off then. I don't feel like fighting anymore."

  "Yeah, yeah, just throw in the towel," muttered Jack, though he didn't really seem to care. But just as Catty lifted up into the air, he said more loudly, "Wait..." Catty stopped and turned in mid-air, looking at him expectantly. "Can I ask you a question?"

  Catty shrugged, nonplussed, and landed back on the ground. "What?"

  "Has the Man in the Moon ever spoken to you more than just the once?" Jack asked, somewhat hesitantly.

  Catty frowned again. "What are you talking about? I thought the Man in the Moon only spoke to the guardians."

  Jack stared at her in surprise and Catty realised what he was implying. "Wait, he's spoken to you?" she questioned, just as he asked, "He's never spoken to you?" Jack's brow knitted together in confusion as he added, "Yeah, but only once."

  Catty was amazed. The Man in the Moon had spoken to Jack? But why not her too? What was so special about Jack? "Well... what did he say to you?"

  "He just told me my name," replied Jack, shrugging. "That was it."

  Catty didn't believe him. "No, really, what did he say to you?"

  "What? That was it!" insisted Jack, not sure why she thought he was lying.

  Catty raised her eyebrows. "Why would he need to tell you your name? Didn't you know that already?"

  "Of course I didn't. I didn't know anything before I was... well, me. Before I was Jack Frost," Jack explained uncertainly.

  Catty gaped at him. He was really telling the truth. But how was that possible? Jack suddenly understood  why she was so surprised and they both started speaking at the same time again. "Wait, you had a past before you were like this?"

  "Stop speaking over me!" Catty accused impatiently, before repeating her question. "How can you not have known who you were? Don't you know where you came from?"

  "I don't know anything!" said Jack. "I know my name and that's it. Why aren't you the same?"

  "Well... I guess you must have been chosen for this by somebody else," Catty thought aloud, only theorising. "Whereas me... Well, I chose this life for myself."

  "Hang on, you chose it?" Jack repeated incredulously. "Who could possibly choose a lonely life like this where nobody can ever see them?" He said the last part bitterly, but Catty wasn't going to let him begrudge her her life decision.

  "Hey, I have my own reasons, okay?" Catty retorted hotly. "Has it ever occurred to you that some people just don't want to be seen? So don't try and act like you know me."

  She was done with this. She made to fly off a second time, but Jack stopped her once again, this time going as far as to jump into the air too and block her path. "Wait!"

  "Now what?"

  "When you asked me if I'd seen anyone like us..." said Jack. "You meant as in not a guardian, right?"

  Catty could see now that she'd put that seed of doubt into Jack's head too. For the first time, they'd actually both revealed something about themselves. And it turned out that they weren't quite so similar after all. Catty didn't know how Jack had become Jack Frost, but it sounded like it must have been a very different start to hers. And from the sounds of it, he'd gotten the worse hand out of the two of them. It wasn't surprising that he'd want answers too.

  "I think so. I'm not entirely sure," Catty confessed. She felt loathed to say anything specific about Temp. If it did turn out that she was being paranoid and that he really did just want to be friends, then she knew she'd feel guilty for accusing him to her supposed arch enemy. So instead, she just said vaguely, "I've just seen some new faces around. And as much as I don't want to admit it, I think North was right when he said that things are changing."

  Jack actually looked thoughtful, making Catty wonder if he'd started seeing these new non-guardians too. He slowly landed back on the ground. "So you want to find out more about what's going on, but without joining up with the guardians?"

  "Kind of," Catty admitted, following suit. Her boots lightly touched the asphalt. "I've already decided that I don't want to be a part of their group. But I still want to know what's happening."

  "What about the Man in the Moon? He must be somehow involved if he told North that he's not the one choosing these new guardians," Jack pointed out. "Don't you want to learn more about him too?"

  Catty shrugged. "I guess so."

  She couldn't deny that Jack had a good point. And she had to admit that she was now intrigued to know why the Man in the Moon had never bothered to speak to her. She didn't really like the idea of Jack being shown favouritism - even if his beginning in this life had been very different to hers.

  "Okay, I'm in," Jack decided.

  "Excuse me?"

  "How about a temporary truce?" Jack suggested with an innocent look that Catty didn't trust for a second. He held out his hand. "Until we can find out more about what there is to all of this."

  Catty eyed his hand warily. "I think you're jumping ahead of yourself. All I wanted was an opinion; not a sidekick."

  "Sidekick?" Jack's eyebrows practically disappeared into his hairline. "I'm offering my expertise here - which I have a lot more of than you, by the way - so that makes you the sidekick."

  "Wait, wait, wait, who was the one who started all of this?" Catty reminded him. "And who said I even want your so-called 'expertise'?"

  "I think you're passing up a golden opportunity here," said Jack. "Do you even know where North's workshop is?"

  "What does that have to do with anything?"

  "Because that has to be where the guardians keep base when they need to convene," Jack decided. It seemed like the most logical idea. "We can go and find out more of what they know without having to team up with them."

  Catty frowned, feeling suspicious. She could hear the excitement rising in Jack's voice. "If that's what you're so excited to do, then why don't you just go and do that yourself? What do you need me for?"

  "Well, I've never actually been able to get in before," replied Jack. "North has these yetis as security, so I kinda need something to distract them."

  "So you want me to be a decoy?" Catty deduced, unimpressed.

  "Eh, we can work out the finer details later. So are you in or what?" Jack asked impatiently. "North's hideout is gonna be the best place to find out more about what's going on and you know it."

  His hand hadn't wavered. His bright blue eyes were now alight with mischief. Catty could see that this had suddenly become Jack's new idea for fun; a way to score some laughs. She just really hoped that the joke wasn't going to be on her.

  "Fine. But only if nobody is the sidekick," said Catty, reluctantly shaking Jack's hand. It was smooth and cold. Go figure. "And if you try any funny business, then I swear I'm gonna shoot a firework right up your-"

  "Spare me the details, alright?" Jack cut across her. "Let's meet up back here tomorrow morning and we can stage the first break-in."

  Catty didn't like how Jack was already trying to take charge. She knew it was petty, but she couldn't believe she'd agreed to even team up with him; let alone take orders from him. "What makes you think that you're the one calling the shots?"

  "You think you can do this on your own? Be my guest," said Jack with a shrug.

  "Hey, you were the one who was suddenly eager to get me on board," Catty pointed out. "You can't do this alone either."

  "Yeah, well you were the one who came and found me in the first place," Jack argued.

  "I didn't come and find you! All I asked for was a second opinion!" Catty insisted.

  Jack just grinned cantankerously. "Sorry, but that's not gonna fly. And speaking of flying..." He flipped back up into the air to make his point. "I have some snow days to put into place. I'll see you tomorrow, fireworks girl."

  No, no, no. Jack was not going to leave and have the last word. "You'll be lucky if you see the sun come up," Catty growled, a starburst materialising in her hand.

  "Ah, ah, it's a truce, remember?" Jack pointed out, still grinning. "No fireworks."

  Catty glared up at him, the starburst intensifying in her hand. "Then get out of my way and I won't have to shoot you with it."

  Jack laughed, but he heeded her warning. "Don't forget; tomorrow morning." And with that, he flew off, disappearing up into the clouds.

  As soon as he was out of sight, Catty threw the starburst at the nearest wall, scowling to herself as it exploded into a gold flower. Damn that Jack Frost... She had a feeling that she was really going to regret this decision.