Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians or any characters from it.
Chapter 1: We have a problem
It was the middle of October, and Jack loved this time of year. Though he couldn't let everything be blanketed in snow yet, he still amused himself by riding the winds and watching as people hugged their jackets closer for warmth or their papers went flying through the air. Jack laughed as they chased the papers in vain as his winds floated them just out of reach. He zoomed through the streets of a small town in America, watching the locals busily prepare for Halloween. Decorations were in every store window and costume shops were bustling.
Jack was about to call it a day there and head for some other place to have fun when, out of nowhere, he crashed into something and fell to the ground. 'Why didn't I go through it?' he wondered as he sat up and reached for his staff; he had lost his grip on it when he crashed. Once he had managed to locat the frozen staff, he looked up to see what he crashed into and found it was a human.
The human sat up and groaned after being knocked to the ground. When Jack looked at him, he could see that the other person was about 16 and was wearing a black shirt with a skull, black jeans, black Vans and an army green jacket; from what Jack could tell, the teen was also African American. But the weirdest part was, Jack couldn't see the other's face as he was wearing a mask in the shape of a pumpkin. It was one of those cheap masks anyone could get for 50 cents at a Halloween shop; the kind where it just covers the face and there's a thin, easily breakable string that "secures" it to the head. In the mask, there were only holes for the eyes and mouth.
"Watch where you're going," the other person muttered before getting up. He looked down at Jack, rolled his eyes and offered his hand to the white haired ice spirit.
'He can see me…' Jack thought with wonder, automatically accepting the other boy's help and hoisting himself up. The other teen looked him up and down critically.
"It's the middle of October, man. You gonna freeze without shoes," The African American teen said, staring at Jack's choice of clothing.
Jack was still nonplussed. "You can see me, right?" he managed to say.
If it hadn't been for the pumpkin mask, Jack felt he would've been on the receiving end of the world's largest facepalm. "Yeah, bro. I can see you," the other kid said, his voice muffled by the mask's cheap plastic. "Now anyways, you need some shoes?"
Jack shook his head. "I'm fine with the cold," he replied.
The masked teen seemed to consider whether or not he should just drag Jack to a store to buy proper footwear, but decided against it and shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat, man. Anyways, name's Hal. What's yours?" he questioned.
Jack debated whether or not to tell the truth. 'Well it's not like he'll believe me anyways if I say I'm an immortal ice spirit and a Guardian,' Jack mentally reasoned.
"My name's Jack Frost," Jack replied out loud.
"Hm… Frost," Hal said, considering while Jack wondered what was so special about it. "That's a cool last name. I got a crappy last name. It's just 'Owen'. Isn't that stupid?..." the teen continued to rant for a while and Jack discovered that the other was quite touchy about his last name.
Hal finally stopped ranting about how boring his last name was when his cellphone beeped. He pulled it out of his pocket and groaned. "I have to go, man. It was nice meeting you Jack Frost." Hal started walking away, yelling rather loudly at whoever was talking to him on the phone.
Jack stayed rooted to the spot, a little fascinated that he actually met someone who could see him. "Wait," Jack said to himself. "I don't even know what he looks like…" he groaned. He would probably never see the kid again, and if he did, he wouldn't know his face because of that stupid pumpkin mask. "Just my luck," he muttered. "One of the few people in the world that can see me and I have no idea what he looks like."
Jack was snapped out of his thoughts by a sudden flash of lights in the sky. The beautiful red and green lights seemed like a simple display of natural phenomena, but Jack knew that it was really a Guardian signal for trouble. He summoned his winds to carry him to North's workshop.
~~~~~At the Workshop~~~~~
Despite the fact that it was an emergency, Jack couldn't help but admire all the toys that zoomed around the room in preparation for a Christmas that was 2 months away. Brightly colored, jellyfish shaped robots floated up through the air while Jack had to step over train tracks that crisscrossed the floor. Not even Phil giving him the evil eye could dampen his amazement.
He finally made his way to the control panel in front of the globe where all the other Guardians were waiting. He waved to the Sandman who responded with a sandy hand popping up next to his head and waving back.
"'Bout time you got here, mate," the Easter Bunny glowered down at the ice spirit.
"Now, now bunny," North began with his strong Russian accent. "He is here now and that is all that matters."
"Why AM I here?" Jack asked.
"We'll let Tooth explain," North replied.
The feathery green fairy fluttered forward. (A/N: Yay for alliterations!) "We've had trouble at the tooth palace. Some of my memories have been stolen," she said sadly, not her usual self.
"Is it Pitch again?" Jack asked angrily, his grip on the staff tightening at the memory of the evil being known as Pitch Black.
"No, no," Tooth immediately replied. "Only two containers of memories have been stolen. The only problem is…" she trailed off, muttering something under her breath.
"The problem is?" Jack asked, confused.
"Our problem is those memories belonged to two beings who are now ex-Guardians," Bunnymund stated while twirling his boomerang.
"Ex-Guardians?" Jack asked. "I thought this Guardian business was for life."
"It usually is," North replied. "But they decided to abandon their posts, and therefore the children. We blotted their names from the Guardian records, but they are still immortal and wield the types of powers you did before becoming a Guardian."
"So how are we supposed to track them down?" Jack asked Tooth.
"I can locate where the memories are," Tooth replied. "It's an extra precaution I took after Pitch stole all of them. It's kind of like a tracking device in each container."
"Stupid ex-Guardians too," Bunnymund stated. "They were always slackers and they only had to work one night a year. You don't see me slacking around Easter."
"Shocking," Jack muttered under his breath.
"What was that, Frost?!"
"Nothing, you stupid kangaroo."
"Kangaroo?!" Bunnymund roared.
"Boys, please! You're both pretty!" Tooth interrupted their argument and left them spluttering indignantly and pointing at each other. "Now back to the business at hand?" She asked in that tone of voice that said, 'If you don't stop I will punch you into next week'. They fidgeted and came to an uneasy truce.
Sandy started signaling to everyone to try and get to their attention before a sandy image of a pumpkin and a jester's cap appeared above his head.
"Thank you Sandy, I almost forgot," Tooth said. She turned back to Jack. "You wouldn't know which Guardians we're talking about. They were the spirit of Halloween and the April Fool. We have no idea what happened to them after they left their post. Do we have any pictures of them we can show Jack?"
North shook his head. "We destroyed everything we had of them when they left their post."
Suddenly, a beam of moonlight shot through the window and illuminated the Guardian seal in the floor. The floor opened up and a huge, glowing blue crystal rose out of it. The first image in the crystal was of a person in medieval jester's uniform, complete with scepter. The person grinned in a sort of maniacal way, but it wasn't overly offputting.
The image swirled until another figure was apparent in the glass. Jack's eyes widened as he stared intently at the image. It seemed like it, but it couldn't be…
"I know this kid!" Jack exclaimed trying to make sure he was right. It HAD to be the teen he'd crashed into earlier that day.
Tooth looked startled. "You met the spirit of Halloween?"
Bunnymund pushed past her and got in Jack's face. "You met him and DIDN'T CATCH HIM?!"
North picked up the Easter Bunny by the back of his neck and set him down a few feet away from Jack. "Come now, old friend. Jack didn't know earlier!"
"How could he not know?!" Bunnymund protested.
"All he told me was his name!" Jack defended himself. "He looks like a normal teenager!"
"Wait," Bunnymund said. "He told you his full name AND YOU STILL DIDN'T GET IT?!"
"Alright! Enough!" Tooth yelled, while Sandy nodded in the background. "It's not Jack's fault that he didn't know. Now we have to track down those memories…" Tooth trailed off and muttered to herself and her fairies, trying to locate the containers.
"And what do you mean I should've known just because he told me his name?" Jack questioned the Easter Bunny.
The Easter Bunny massaged his temples to ward off an impending headache. "Mate, have you said his name out loud?"
"Um, his name was Hal?" Jack responded, trying to remember what the African American teen had said.
"His full name, mate."
"Er, Hal…" Jack started drawing a blank for the last name. 'What was it again? I should remember this… he ranted about it for 5 minutes straight… It started with an O… That's it!'
"Owen?" he said in a questioning tone.
"Now say the full name," the Easter Bunny growled, his patience waning.
"Hal Owen. Hal Owen. Wait. Crap," Bunnymund nodded while Jack felt so stupid he wanted to kick himself. "I get it. Hal Owen. Halloween."
A/N: Ta da~! A Rise of the Guardians fanfic I pulled out of nowhere... Yes. When you have three unfinished fanfics and exams, the correct response is to start another fanfic. Studying? What studying? Hahaha...
So yeah, there are OCs (Halloween and the April Fool) but I'll try not to make them too annoying. Well I guess the April Fool will be annoying since he IS the April Fool... Hm... Still haven't quite gotten his character worked out. On the other hand, I do already have Hal's past worked out. Gosh I'm excited to write for him.
Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW! I really want to know what you guys think of the story and the characters! Tell me if you like it/hate it/ have ideas. Constructive criticism is always appreciated, but no outright flaming please! Thanks! :D