"...The most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you." - Winnie the Pooh.

Chapter 1: The first snow of winter

One winter month about three years later found Jack idly hovering several feet above the front of a kindergarten school, perching on his spindly staff like a bird. Like a hawk, he was watching everything with cunning, calculating eyes, ready to swoop down at any moment on unsuspecting children being led across the street by their preoccupied parents. Many of them happily held their mum or dad's hands, as they were too young to walk by themselves. Some were bunched up together in little flocks, chatting away about the day and teasing each other until someone would come and pick them up. The perfect targets, in other words.

Grinning mischievously, Jack raised his hand and directed a passing cold breeze to tickle the cheeks and tousle the hair of the children running to and fro below him. It wasn't the chilly kind, but it was enough to make the little girls giggle and the boys whoop for joy.

A group of them raced each other in the snow-strewn lawn right outside the open doors, shoving each other good-heartedly before bursting into laughter. It was endearing to watch and made Jack smile lightly, fondly recalling his memories with Emily. The times when she had whooped and tussled with him in the snow. The times when they had both run in from the cold, stamping their boots and blowing on their fingers with great loopy grins on their faces.

"Lily, your sister is here!" Jack was pulled out of his musings by the voice of a teacher with a loose strawberry-blond bun, who was coughing from a sore throat. One of the smaller kids raised her head in the call's direction and climbed off the slide she'd been playing in. One look and Jack estimated her to be less than four years old.

Taking the teacher's hand, Lily was guided to meet a teen girl, with a red scarf wrapped around her neck and who was brushing some snow off her coat. She looked quite young, so she must be Lily's sister. Upon laying eyes on each other, Lily screamed joy and barrelled into the other's outstretched arms. Her sister returned with a bright smile as she pulled little Lily up on to her hips, squeezing her into an almost motherly hug.

Yeesh. You'd think they've been separated forever... The spirit thought with a snicker.

Jack's paid no more attention to the sisters after that. By the time Lily's sister had released her from the initial embrace, he was coming up of ways to prompt the children into a game of footprint tag.

He readied himself to make a descent. His bare toes curled around the staff and he spread his arms for balance as he tilted forward, teetering on the edge of an invisible precipice. That was when he heard something that nearly startled the life out of him.

-low them...

A person with lesser agility would have been taken advantage of by gravity and dropped six feet to the ground. However, with quick reflexes, Jack instantly steadied himself. Turning his staff, he perched on it like a sparrow, only this time only this time he was glancing around at the empty air around him. An unfamiliar someone had whispered in his ears. But he saw no one.

After a moment, he decided he must be hearing things and was going to cautiously his attention back to the ground below. It was then that he heard it again.

Follow them, Jack...

The whisper moved gently through the air, like leaves brushing the pavement. It sounded very calm, yet had an urgent note to it.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Who's there?" He called. Silence stared back at him. Jack frowned, "Since you won't show yourself, why should I bother to do what you say?"

A brief pause made Jack suspect again he'd receive no reply. However, this time it came.

Because, it said, they will die if you don't...

Jack froze where he stood, hand firmly clasped around his shepherd staff. Right at that moment, his eyes were fixed on the two sisters, who had already begun to move away. With a tight voice, he asked. "Why?"

The voice, again, held no malice. That told Jack that it was not the owner's intention to inflict harm on them.

Go after them...Now...

Jack groaned. Catching a burst of crisp wind, he glided and did what the voice told. There was no harm in doing it, he decided. And although he probably wouldn't admit it, he was curious. What did the owner of that voice want with these two? And why would Jack be the one to find out?

Intent on knowing, he coasted across the sky on a gentle meandering breeze, silently watching as they treaded slowly forward on a pavement side-by-side. Lily was pointing to the landmarks she could remember on the way home. There, a huge house with a cheerful swing in its green garden. And there, a flag that has such a funny shape on it hanging high! Such was the innocence of a child's mind.

Her sister answered happily each time the little girl asked a question and, though Jack couldn't hear their answers, he could tell that she was trying her best to humor her sister while making sure they both didn't slip on the road. But she was apparently patient, and also smiled encouragingly when Lily showed off the new rhyme she learnt that day.

Lily began telling stories of her friends at school, rapidly changing subjects with infectious enthusiasm until she had grown quite tired of talking.

"Look, Lily. Can you see the snow falling?" Her sister suddenly said as she gestured the sky above. "It seems we have much of that this winter."

Lily imitated her sister and looked up to the sky, while her sister gently brushed off the snow on Lily's chullo hat. "I like snow." she whispered softly.

Smiling, her sister lovingly patted her head. "Me, too."

Both sisters gazed in awe at the soft downy falling snow for a moment before a woman with her arms full of shopping pushed past them, muttering about the blasted cold.

Lily's sister laughed. "Alright little bear, let's get you home and into some warmer clothes."

They turned off the main road and started hiking up the gentle slope of a hill into a quite pretty neighbourhood, where houses nested pleasantly beside each other. Finally, they halted right in front of what Jack assumed was their home - a regular, quaint house with a small, tended garden. The elder sister pulled out some jingling keys from one of her pockets and following a cheerful 'click' pushed open the front door and ushered Lily to take off her boots.

Right behind them, Jack was lingering uncertainly just above the gate. He'd followed them this far and, contrary to his expectations, saw nothing out of the ordinary. Surely nothing could be demanded more of him now. Jack almost shook his head and berated himself for listening to a voice that he was convinced now did not exist. But then, just as Jack was wheeling around to leave, the voice uttered yet again with persistence.

Hurry, Jack. Come. Don't let them out of your sight...

"I know, I know. Stop nagging already..." The Guardian muttered to himself and sighed. He didn't have time for this.

They were already at the house. Tightening his grip on his staff, Jack put on a burst of speed. Just in time, as he slipped in, right as the door closed.

...


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Author's note:

Finally, after years of deliberating I have done it: I have written the first chapter. I've been harbouring this story ever since I saw RoTG many years ago. I know I put the story originally as Adventure and Fantasy (because it is!). But somehow I feel this is a story of friendship and, dare I say it, romance too!

So I bet you're wondering, why the hell should I read what happens next. Well, here's a couple. It'll be up to you to decide in the end if it's worth it. In this story, there's:

- Certain references the book series (though the story is largely inspired by the movie)

- Awesome ice users and authentic folkloric figures.

- The complete cast of Rise of the Guardians

- Baby Tooth

- A girl who does not swallow nonsense

- And a familiar fun-loving winter spirit ;)