The North Pole: Three years since the battle of Burgess

North was always busy, but it was especially bad in December, right up until the day after Christmas when everything started all over again. The deadlines became urgent; children turned bratty, then sweet, then bratty again and were switched from 'Nice' to 'Naughty' lists.

And then there were the letters.

North had to read all of them to know what children wanted, and that took hours upon hours of sitting in chairs reading. The yetis helped, of course, but this was always the part that North enjoyed, seeing the wishes of children, and he usually did about half of it himself.

But a week before Christmas with hundreds of letters still to be read and thousands of toys still to be made, North found himself stuck in his chair with a frown on his face as he looked at a letter. The return address was handwritten, but very nicely so, with two names on the front in different handwritings. This was not the handwriting of children; it was the mature-looking scroll of young adults, who had for some reason decided to write to Santa again.

He opened the letter and began to read, his frown growing deeper and deeper with each word he read. Some elves came in with a tray of cookies and were abruptly concerned that the new lines on his face were permanent, they were so deeply engraved onto his face.

North's mind was racing. Teenagers didn't write letters to him. They might help their siblings write one, or they might write one to humor someone else and never send it, but North hadn't gotten a letter from a teen ever. He would've brushed it off as a sibling humoring the younger one if it weren't for the fact that the names on the front of the letter had different last names and –after having a yeti check the lists- both were teens.

It was bothering him a great deal, far more than it should have. He quickly read through the letter again.

*!*

Mr. Claus,

We haven't written to you in a while -sorry about that- but we thought maybe we should this year. A sort of goodbye to childhood, if you will.

The one thing we both would appreciate is a white Christmas, if that's within your control. If it isn't, it's okay. We just don't get much Christmas snow up here - well, down here, actually. Now onto the part where we feel greedy about asking you for things.

I'll keep this short: blank sketch books, blank music sheets, general art supplies, and an archery set. I'll keep mine short too: audio books, an advanced alchemy set, and some new blades.

Let's see if this works. Let's hope it does.

Thank you,

Saraswati Anderson and Hecate Douglas

*!*

North sighed, and shook his head. He wasn't sure why, but it just kept bothering him. But why did it bother him? Maybe this really was their way of saying goodbye to childhood. For all he knew, some other spirits were playing pranks on him, though that was doubtful.

He was so lost in thought that he missed the entrance of a certain winter spirit.

"Hey North," Jack's voice finally reached him, "You okay?"

"I'm not sure," North said quietly, his accent heavy, "but this letter bothers me."

"What letter?" Jack asked and came over to the desk where North sat, "Some kid's Christmas letter?"

"Not kid, Jack," North corrected, "a teen."

"A teenager?" Jack's eyes widened, "How often do you get letters from them?"

"I never have," he replied, "Two of them wrote one letter. They probably live close to each other."

"Why tell me?" Jack asked curiously.

"They asked for Christmas snow," North chuckled, "Snow, art things, books, and weapons."

Jack blinked. "Weapons?" he choked out with a snort, "They're asking you for weapons?"

"And archery set and blades," North nodded, "Quite odd."

"I'll head their way," Jack agreed, "Where is their way?"

"Washington," North replied.

"D.C.?" Jack sounded surprised.

"State," North corrected, "Though Sara lived in Virginia for a time, if I remember correctly. She stopped writing earlier than most."

Jack watched as North became visibly upset over that for a moment before his expression turned back to normal, "So Christmas snow? They think you control the weather too?"

North shrugged, "Not sure. But they were very polite about it." He handed Jack the letter with a brief chuckle, which the spirit quickly read through.

"Huh," Jack muttered, "That is weird. They'll get snow on Christmas eve, right at midnight."

North smiled finally, "Thank you Jack. Don't forget."

"I won't," Jack grinned, "See ya North."

Before North could give him a proper send off, Jack was gone, leaving only an icy wind behind.

*!*

The roof was slick with frost, but the two girls who were scrambling over the rooftops had plenty of experience with it and hadn't fallen in the past decade they'd been doing it. It wasn't like they had far to go, with only one empty house separating them.

The houses were close enough to jump from one to another, and both girls did exactly that. One of them had shoulder length, truly ginger hair that earned most people the name 'Carrot Top' with dark green eyes and a splattering of freckles. She was tall and thin, her body well developed from a kind and giving puberty. The other girl was even taller, just under 6'0, and had a thin body that could only be described as willowy. If she was shorter, she could've been described as girlish due to her comparatively smaller chest. Her hair was ash brown and fell to the middle of her back, her eyes were dark blue, and her body was littered with a series of long thin scars from a car accident when she was little.

"Hey Saraswati," the ginger greeted the brunette. "Fancy meeting you up here!" she mocked a British accent and laughed quietly.

"How odd indeed, my dearest Hecate," Sara said in an almost convincing accent, "What a strange occurrence! 'Tis needs to be investigated. What are two strange girls doing on the roof of an empty house in the middle of the night?"

"I haven't the faintest idea!" Hecate laughed before her eyes lit up curiously, "Have you written anymore?"

"Yup," Sara nodded, "'The Strange Investigations of Sara and Kate' is well along into Chapter 3."

"It's going to look great on your admissions," Kate sighed longingly, "Wish I could write something like that."

"I write fiction, you write fact," Sara shrugged, "It's an even balance. You're writing about the natures of poisonous foreign plants and you're doing a damn good job. You've never even left the country and you probably know all of the different ways to kill someone with a root of a rare planet in Kenya. It's sort of scary, actually."

Kate laughed and covered her mouth to stifle her giggles. "But you know how to write good stories and play music and draw – and god knows how fast you read. You're this giant walking encyclopedia of almost everything."

Sara shrugged, not denying the statement, and checked her watch. "Eleven thirty," she sighed, "I'm heading in at twelve."

"Aw!" Kate groaned, "Why?"

"Christmas Eve, Kate," Sara rolled her eyes.

"So?"

"I have a sister, unlike you, and I have to make sure she's fed and on her way Maria's house by ten in the morning."

Maria was the little girl around eight who played with Sara's sister, Farrah, every day they had off from ten till two. The girls were the best of friends, due to the three-day age gap and their mirrored personalities.

"Fine," Kate sighed, "We'll just have to make the most of our time."

The two girls then began a conversation at a pace that would render eavesdropping pointless if anyone was listening because words were spoken so quickly, talking about the holidays and soon to be coming school, over break assignments and college applications.

"I wonder if we'll get our white Christmas," Kate pondered, looking up at the midnight sky which was noticeably thick with clouds. She shivered suddenly as a freezing blast of wind blew past them, and blinked rapidly as snowflakes landed on her nose.

Sara laughed as flakes touched her nose as well. The girls stood up, clutching each other for support as the eyed the thick flurries of snow raining down.

Sara checked her watch. "It's midnight," she breathed with wonder, "On the dot midnight, on Christmas Eve, and it's snowing… Coincidence?"

"I think not," Kate grinned, "We got a FREAKING CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! WOO-HOO!"

Her cheers were cut off by Sara's hand. "Not so loud!" she laughed quietly, "Don't wake up the whole neighborhood!"

"We got a Christmas miracle!" Kate whispered excitedly when Sara moved her hand.

"I know!" the two girls collapsed into badly muffled laughter and started dancing around on the roof of the empty house in the falling snow.

Sara shivered suddenly; her skin was crawling with the too-familiar feeling of being watched.

"I'm going to head inside," she whispered, "If the snow's still here in the morning, I'll bring the kids over and we can all have a snow day."

"Kay," Kate nodded, "Night Sara."

"Night Kate." And with that, Sara silently slipped across the roof and landed the slightest thud on her own before slipping down the side of the house and into her room via the window.

*!*

Not too bad, I hope. I've never written fanfiction (or anything non-school related) before but I saw ROTG and I had to make something :)

And please, leave a review for whose POV you want in the next chapter. Who you pick decides whether you get Jack or Pitch in the next chapter!

(I don't own Rise of the Guardians: Let this stand for the rest of the story)

Debating-to-Debate