Only a few steps inside, and he already had half a mind to walk right back out onto the chilled streets. The music was incredibly loud. Hot bodies drenched in sweat were jumping and moving like a living sea, seemingly unaware of their blown out eardrums. The rhythm of the beat had hypnotized it's audience into a half contained frenzy. Masses of people had swamped what he thought was the main dance floor. Looking up, he could see two other floors through the great atrium. Each balcony wrapped around the main floor, holding hordes of sloshing people. He chuckled under his breath, enjoying the feeling of the bass in his chest.

These places weren't his normal gig. Sure, he loved having fun, but he was busy as of lately. Lately, meaning the past ten years. It had been about three years since him and the gang got together, saving children and whatnot. And in between blizzards and snow days, he was subjected to more meetings than he could handle with North, he respected and even liked the guy, but business was not his expertise. As a Guardian now, he had to catch up on all the Guardian knowledge. The meetings consisted more of history lessons than actual planning, thank god. History was boring, but at least Jack knew his way around it a bit. He was, after all, over three hundred years old.

He let his mind wander back to the present. It wasn't completely dark in the club, though the strobe lights did more to confuse him than to light the way. Women and men were jumping and grinding against each other, reminding him of why he was here. He was here to cause trouble. The hot and humid air had more than enough water in it for a good blizzard in the place, and every person here had a good sheen of sweat to have fun with. He called the wind to lift him to the first balcony.

Upon landing, he noticed a few very good looking bodies of the opposite gender. He smirked and raised his shepherd's staff. In a flash, the girls jumped and scurried. He always had to make sure all the hot ones cooled down a bit. Gusting out a bit of deep laughter he jumped up onto the railing, splaying his toes to keep steady on the metal.

Getting more riled up by the minute, he tried to remember the last time he was in this specific club. It had been a while since he'd made it all the way down to Florida, but he figured it was about time these permanent vacationers got a good taste of winter. Jack had the perfect storm in mind.

Speakers surrounded him on all sides, blasting their intense cacophony. He was really enjoying the noise. The eighties had an amazing nightlife, but it couldn't hold a candle to the intense new techno all the kids were coming up with these days. The sound gave him an intense urge to dance and sweat with all the bodies on the floor. He would have gladly done just that, except for one tiny problem. He would just get phased through everyone. As if to prove his point, a very drunk man leaned into the railing and passed right through Jack. Luckily, Jack was in a good mood, and just froze the floor and sent him sliding into a group of dancers to his left. Nothing like a game of human bowling. All of the spilled booze and beer mud on the floor made for a pretty thick ice slide, and sent a few unsuspecting passersby on an unwarranted journey under the short skirts of girls. Jack wanted to make that journey, too, if only for the scenery.

Jack huffed, and an almost maniacal grin settled on his face. He pulled his hood up over his head. "Time to get down to business." He stated to no one in particular. He leapt from his perch into the air above the main dance floor. He vaguely noted where the DJ was set up, a man and a woman blasting out their rhythms. The guy was yelling into the mic to get everyone's hands in the air, while the chick was concentrating on the tunes with a set of headphones pressed against her ear. Jack frosted another ass while watching the DJs. The song finished and immediately the lights stopped.

Another man on the odd shaped platform stepped forward, mic pressed tight against his lips. "C'mon y'all, let's step this shit up, 'cause we're here to have a fuckin' good time!" The crowd erupted into a deafening roar. Jack set himself down on the side of the platform and grinned even harder. "Good thing we're all on the same page." Almost immediately once the words had left Jack's lips, he caught an odd movement by the female DJ. She raised her left hand over the crowd. A simple beat started.

The male DJ continued messing with the huge table of synthesizers, and the beat slowly but methodically built up with deeper tones and a hypnotic harmony. The strobe lights blinked on and off with the beat, catching the audience in midair moments. A deep base started in the back of his lungs and suddenly Jack became entranced.

The woman played the song like a symphony, and she was the conductor. Her arm moved to the pace and intensity with the song, her lips mouthing the sounds the speakers made. The symbols on the track started up, and a small shower of sparks flew from her finger tips. Jack made a startled movement backwards, clearly not expecting this turn of events. In a million years, he never thought he'd have to save a DJ from catching on fire.

With a push of his feet against the electronics he was perched upon, he jumped off and planted his feet on the ground about a yard away from the burning DJ, to which she seemed completely unaware of the sparks coming from her. He reached out to grab a hold of her with his one hand. Successfully latching onto her shoulder, he swung her around, careful to not get whipped by her hair in the process.

She turned about, eyes half lidded from the booze he could smell everywhere and something else he couldn't quite get a read on. Everything slowed down. The music continued, close to the resolution, but very out in the distance. It sounded miles away. She opened her eyes fully, and met his questioning stare with a bright amber gaze.

The base dropped.

So did his stomach, for that matter.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, but that seemed like an eternity to Jack, who still wasn't used to meeting the gazes of fellow humans. A wicked grin crept onto her face. Eyes crinkled, she spoke to him in the quietest of whispers, and yet in this mess of base and noise, he heard her loud and clear. It was as if a thousand whispers and voices had joined together, some shouting and others singing. A humming found it's way around the corners of her speech.

"You're just in time for the main event."

Just as he wrinkled his brow in confusion, light poured from the ceiling. He threw his head back and looked up into the light. Slowly yet certainly, two huge latches were pulling apart from each other to open up the club to the crisp night sky. The waxing moon beamed down into the hot air from the gaping rectangle where the ceiling used to be. He stood in utter bewilderment for a moment, hand still firmly on the DJ's shoulder.

Everything that Jack had ever known about clubs and burning DJs got thrown out the window that night.

He felt strangely giddy, as if he'd had an enormous amount of sugar. The feeling made Jack realize that this must be what happens to all those small hyperactive children. His hand was tingling, and for a moment, he was incredibly confused. He followed his sense of limbs. Feet were on the ground, check. Right hand wound around his staff, check. Left hand holding onto the DJ's shoulder. Ah. That's somewhere to start off.

Eyes still somewhat plastered to Manny, who looked down upon them from the sky light, he angled his head towards the DJ. Her bright eyes were fixed to the opening, face filled with intensity and a shit-eating grin. Her body was still, right hand continuing to hold up the large black headphones to her ear. Jack would have laughed, had he not thought he was out of his mind. She looked as if she had planned the whole thing, and was now enjoying her success.

Jack couldn't tell much about her features, given the distracting strobe lights and all of the noise. He was crazy. It was official. There was no way someone from her age group could see him. Or even interact with him for that matter, it was preposterous. She looked to be, what, twenty-something? Twenty? Twenty five? Definitely around that range. Or she could have snuck in here with an amazing fake I.D. and an entourage. Then again, she was a DJ, and she was doing her job in front of hundreds of listeners. It was plausible, but very unlikely, that she was the age of the kids who still believed in Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, even extremely less likely, still believed in him. Jack Frost. She seemed small, but nowhere near the height of a child.

It was odd. North had told him that the cutoff age for more than half of the believers was ten. At that point, the kids thought that they were too cool to believe in the Guardians, and began peer pressuring fellow students to drop the belief like a sack of potatoes. He had experienced it first hand through his previous life, and was now going through it with Jamie. He'd been the main reason that Jack hadn't kept up completely with all the blizzards down south. Jack could tell himself that the hold up was due to the Guardians and the immense cold he had to keep up with, but at the end of the day, he knew he was there to support Jamie. He'd been bullied just a wee bit, but even that was too much for Jack. He stayed in Pennsylvania, just reassuring Jamie and telling him what to do with the bullies. Jack taught him to throw a mean left hook. And then at the deploration of the Tooth fairy, who had a mean right hook herself, he told Jamie not to resort to violence, but notify a teacher or parent instead.

In a perfect situation, Jack hoped to keep Jamie believing for his whole life. Something not easily done. But, if his belief was hidden and protected right, Jack would have a friend and a kindred soul for longer than he would have ever believed he could attain.

So, how could this woman see Jack? Her belief must be very strong, considering her physical appearance. The curiosity was eating at him, and it was about time she took her attention away from Manny, and back to himself. Gently, as though not to startle her out of her satisfied reverie, he squeezed her shoulder.

Her eyes squinted at the moon, glossed over and large. She turned to look at the offending appendage on her shoulder. Jack lowered his head, bobbing slightly, to make himself seem less threatening. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her away and leave him without an answer to his questions.

She followed his hand, brows furrowed, to his arm. Then his chest. Raising her eyebrows, she looked up to his face.

The tingling in his hand increased ever so steadily. He took a moment to revel in the fact that another person of his physical age could interact with him. Face relaxed, he gave a genuine grin. She took a second. Realization bloomed across her face, returning the warm smile he had given her. The music continued to pound in the background, but the silence resumed between them. He had to say something now, right? That's how these greetings worked. He took a short intake of air.

A breathy "Hey" escaped his lips.

She blinked, as if she was surprised. "Hi."

For some reason, her voice sounded normal. The way a person's voice should sound, instead of that odd choir of spine tingling notes and hums. Her voice now seemed to fit her better. He realized he'd had her shoulder in his palm this entire time, and hesitatingly released her.

Almost immediately, the tingling stopped, and left his hand feeling partially numb. He brought his attention to his hand. His palm was still warm from the physical contact, another odd result of human interaction. His hand felt weird, like he had rubbed up against a balloon and acquired an undetermined amount of static electricity.

A tendril of static reached out from his pointer finger, touching his middle finger with a snap of noise. His fingers were mini Tesla Coils, with small stretches of static electricity grasping the air harmlessly.

That wasn't normal. He opened his mouth to let out a flurry of questions, but surprisingly, she beat him to it.

"Do you want to take a breather with me?" Her gaze promised answers, and a small companionship. His breath halted, trying to process the question with all the noise and sound disrupting his thoughts. The look on his face must have voiced his confusion, and she repeated the question again.

"I mean, do you want to get out of here? I know the back way out." She practically yelled at him.

"Yeah, sure!" He shouted, "Lead the way!"

She nodded her head, and took his arm in hers, the headphones left forgotten on the equipment. Grabbing the elbow of his still held out arm, she began to weave her way through the crowd. People were passing through Jack left and right, which made him overly uncomfortable. He was just about to call to the wind when he spotted the exit sign after more than just a few moments of struggle. He sighed in relief to himself.

Firmly pushing forward, she was able to grab the handle of the door and shove them both into the night alleyway. Jack was released from her grip, and took a moment to breath in the cool night air. He was too riled up, a moment of peace would do him good. The door shut behind them, separating them from the deafening noise of the club. The beat from the music came muffled to his ears. He opened his eyes, not quite remembering when he had closed them. Manny filtered through the space between the club and the tall building across from them. He let out a short hum.

Shuffling, then an acrid creaking came from behind him. He turned around to see the DJ sit upon the fire escape, arms stretched in front of her. She stretched one hand, then the other. She brought her arms above her head and moved her torso in a side to side motion. Her small black cropped t-shirt moved up with her arms, and Jack couldn't help but admire the view. Lines of light patterns danced across her torso and arms, coming to a halt at the base of her head, just under her jawline. They were all tattoos. Very intricate and methodical designs, completely in white, claimed most of her upper body. White became orange, then gradually a deep warm brown on her hands and finger tips. It looked like the frost he always conjured up, but more angled. In fact, if Jack looked closer, he could have sworn they were circuit layouts for some piece of complicated electronics. That would make sense, she was a techno DJ, after all.

She finished her cat stretch, and faced him again. He realized he had been staring, but at that point, he thought he deserved some answers. She motioned for him to come sit on the fire escape with her. Jack leisurely strode to the metal steps, minding to stay within a reasonable distance from this woman, though she was no one to fear. Just good manners, he supposed. Though he wondered why manners were important now. He backtracked, and just decided to get comfy, resting his feet on the railings and leaning against the opposing metal safety guard. The DJ shoved her hand in one of the pockets on her jeans, pulling out a small cardboard box of cigarettes. She flung the box at him. He caught it naturally, and gave it a once over.

Millions of questions floated through his head then, and he managed to find his voice while fiddling with the pack. Out of all the questions he could have asked, his brain seemed to pick one which really didn't matter to him at this time.

"Don't you have to help out the other DJ?"

The halfhearted question seemed to get her attention.

"Not really," She stuffed her hands into her jean pockets, "Martin only really needed my help in the beginning. Now he's got it all in the bag."

Jack noticed an almost non-existent accent creeping into her speech, though he couldn't correctly identify it. Tucking it into his brain for a later inspection, he resumed his train of thought.

"How often do you get this gig? You both must be pretty good to play here."

She gave him that same shit-eating grin, as if to say that of course she was good enough to play here.

"Oh you know, we practice every now and then. In fact, this is the first time we've played here."

"So you and this Martin guy are a duo?" He asked, getting back into the rhythm of small talk.

"Actually, no." Jack pursed his lips. "It's just Martin."

She didn't seem uncomfortable at all, so Jack was about to pursue with another question when she interrupted again.

"So," She began, "let's cut to the chase." He raised his eyebrows. She was getting to the point faster than he expected. She leaned on her legs with her elbows on her knees. Her hand wedged under her chin, supporting her head. Jack looked into her intense stare, waiting for the bomb to explode. She took a breath.

"How can you see me?"