Family Shadows

".... Shade, while you are a good person- scratch that no you're not, I do not appreciate you randomly showing up at my doorstep!". Shade looks at him and says "Well if you MUST know, guess who's coming to visit you soon?". Jack looks at him and laughs "Ha, you're joking right?". Shade just smirks and Jack says "You're joking.... Right? Shade.... You're being too quiet Shade! Tell me you're joking!!!!".

He ran back to his house and was about to walk in, when he remembered his disguise. He went back to his human look and walked in to see Grace with her bow ready. "EASY! Just me, so no matter how annoying I am, please don't shoot!" He said putting his hands up. She lowers the arrow and immediately ask "Jack.... Why was there a season shadow here?!". Jack slightly panics.

"So yeah.... My father has very.... 'Unique' interest in friends. Speaking of which, guess who left? Shade. Who's on edge? Me. Who's on his way here? That tall mother fucker right there!". Grace processes that for a moment and then says "I'm starting to notice a pattern in your family's craziness.". "Oh really Grace? Go figure!".

.

The next day he walked down some stairs wearing just some purple shorts and a white t-shirt, only to find his mother and Grace laughing. He takes this opportunity to use a trick his father taught him. He creates shadow around his feet making his footsteps silent, but before he can scare them his mother turns to him and he swears to god her eyes turned red.

"Doing something Jack?" She asked. He takes a step back and says "Just saying hi before the new day brings some sort of chaos!". They then hear a knock on the door and his mother opens it, letting in the two people he hates the most. "Well, well, well, look what walked in!" Jack says. "Aye Dusk, is the no fighting rule still a thing?" Orion said. "It is, but maybe an exception could be made!" Dusk responds.

"Oh I've been waiting for this all day! bring you little shits!" Jack says as Grace holds him back. "Jack no, it's too early in the morning for this, just calm down!" Grace says. "Just give me one second-" He says holding out his hand. They hear glass breaking and a staff with a blade on each end flies into his palm. Him and his brothers were about to fight when his mother walked in, and for the first time, grace sees Dusk and Orion look scared.

She points to the door and says "Take it outside.".

.

Grace sat down on a bench as the brothers got ready to fight. "Do you always let them fight it out like this?" She asked their mother. "Only until it goes too far.". She sees Jack spin the staff and look more confident. The two brothers charged at him, and Jack just swings the staff, tripping them both. "Ah, the royalties of my favorite weapon!" He said being snarky.

"Listen here you little shit-" Dusk says before getting frozen to the ground by Jack's hatchet. "Ding dong, a bitch is frozen!" Jack says smiling. Grace turns to his mother and says "You know, Jack is so confident when he's here, like he's a completely different person! Why is that?". Jack's mother thinks about it for a second and says "I'm not really sure, but he's always felt like this when he's home.".

"Grace! I've bested the siblings of fire and lightning!" He says triumphant. Orion fires a bullet at him and he hits it away with his staff. "Yeah, nice try, but it'll take a lot more than-". He then sees Orion smirk. "Oh brother, check yer neck.". He looks puzzled but brings out a handheld mirror. He went pale to see the skin on his neck changing back to that of a season shadow.

"I-I'll be right back!" Jack said running off. His mother follows him to his room and he nearly collapses. "Jackal?!" She says as his disguise wears off. "I'm fine! Somethings just messin' with my disguise-". The two both hear a knock and Grace says "Jack, are you okay?". He sighs and says "Yeah, just needed a minute to catch my breath!". She walks away and he turns to his mother.

"I need to prevent my father from coming here, he'll notice right away that she belongs to a season!". He stands up and stretches. "I'll be back, can you hold my siblings from going after Grace?" His mother nods as he starts changing his clothes. He changes into a black short sleeve, and black shorts. He also puts on a black cloak with purple flowers and crowns etched into the ends of it.

He sighed and said "Time to go out in public!".

.

The kingdom of Shadow is very vast, larger than Spring. It contains many shops and warriors, being the only place that a season shadow can truly call home. "Heh, I almost forgot what it felt like to be in my own kingdom!" Jackal said walking around. Outside of the kingdom, he was Jack, but here.... Jackal. He looked towards a large castle and said "Oh god.... Here we go!".

He walked up to the front of it and got to a large steel gate. Two guards aimed their weapons at him and one said "Halt! State your name and business!". He sighed and said "Does nobody recognize me?". He created black flames and said "Jackal Shadow-Star! Heir to the Shadow-Star name?! I swear I'm gonna-". The guards quickly moved out of the way and said "Apologies!".

Jackal walked through and said "I swear when I get to my father it's going to be the worst conversation yet!". Black flames sputtered from the corners of his mouth as he walked towards an arena. He looked down to see a few soldiers fighting, and then one came out on top. Jackal smiled, and created a spear with his power. In the arena, someone said holding a microphone "Would anyone like to challenge our victor?!".

The crowd all gasped once Jackal jumped into the arena. "Oh sorry, did I ruin your little glory moment?". The soldier who was fighting, charged at him. Jackal just yawned and caught the attack. He looked out into the crowd and said "Oh, FATHER~". He looked towards one of the viewing stands and smiled. "There you are!".

.

Jackal's father had dark purple skin, void colored hair, a light purple leather jacket, black royal boots, purple eyes, and purple jeans. "You're so annoying sometimes Jackal.... In MY arena of all places too?" He said holding his head. "What can I say, I'm your kid!". The two lock eyes and he says "Well, it's not everyday that you come to see your old man! What is it?".

"Well, I heard you were going to be coming to the house later-". "Oh yes! I wouldn't miss it for the world! Especially to meet your new friend!". Jackal went pale and said "What?". "Yes! Your brothers were so excited to tell me about how interesting and strong your friend is! I'm very interested in meeting her!". Jackal was almost ready to kill them both at that very moment.

"Now then, on to something else. How is your objective going? I assume that the kingdom of Winter is on its knees?". There it was, his natural objective: Destroy and dismantle Winter. Mission name- Icebreaker. "Y-yes! Icebreaker is going as planned! Glacial is doing his job perfectly, though I haven't heard from him in a while!". His father nods and he says "He reported his progress yesterday. He's got the king locked away, alive for the time being, but so far the other seasons have been fighting back. All thanks to that blasted bright-stone!".

Bright-stone. The only substance that can kill a season shadow permanently. You see, if a season shadow gets killed or dies of something besides old age or sickness, they can still be brought back by being left in the darkness for a certain amount of time. But bright-stone can make this death permanent. "So, I need to go! I'll see you later! he said quickly.