Yola! The Creation Monster here! This is me publishing for the first time!
*YAY!*
Yea… So this stuff is all new to me. Not fanfictions, I've done a TON of those, but publishing. I can never finish a FF all the way through. Or written in some cases… Anywho! I am confident about this one! This one I am sticking with! Because I love it so much! This will have (hopefully) weekly updates! If I miss a week, feel free to harp on me about it! I need better management skills and what better way to do that than with fanfiction deadlines!
So without further to do… On to the story!
OH! FYI: There will be language in this fic. Mostly by me in the A/N areas, but watch out for it nonetheless. And…
THERE ARE NO MAJOR SHIPS IN THIS FIC! OKAY?
OKAY! NOW you may continue.
Nicholas St. North sat in his workshop, tinkering away at the block of ice that sat on his desk. Snow fell outside, the flurries swishing past the window with the wind, but the chill that often accompanied the snow never reached inside, warded off by one of North's own inventions.
With a sigh, North set his tools down and grabbed a cookie off the plate that sat just outside his work area. He leaned back in his chair and looked at the ice. Something wasn't right with it, but what, North wasn't sure. He bit into the cookie, deep in thought, when Jack burst through his door. "North! Have you seen my staff?" He asked as he searched North's workroom. "I could have sworn I left it in the globe room but I can't find it!"
"Have you checked your room?" North suggested. Each Guardian had a room at North's workshop. The workshop was the common meeting point for them. It was also the only home in the group with rooms. So if any Guardian stopped for a visit, they had a place to stay.
The room fell quiet fast and North looked up from his sculpture only to give a small chuckle. Jack looked at him with a look of disbelief. Of course! He had checked every where else BUT his own room! North chuckled again. When the Winter Spirit wasn't in Burgess or spreading winter, he spent a spell at the workshop, especially since he had no business in either hemisphere during the spring and fall seasons. Besides, the Guardian of Fun was a great help when North was trying to decide what toys the kids would enjoy that year.
"Why do you need your staff? Autumn has not yet ended." North pointed out, which was true. It was the beginning of October, only a week and a half into the month. No snow was needed yet. Jack tossed the Russian a smile. "It has now." With that he started towards the door, making it only half way through before pausing. Jack turned back into the room to face North. "North... If that is who I think it is, you may want to add Baby Tooth. Just a suggestion." He said before leaving the jolly Russian to his work. North smiled and looked down at his Toothiana sculpt. Jack was right, as always. He picked up his tools and got to work. He may only have a month, but North was going to make sure every little girl had a Toothiana doll under their tree.
Jack gave out a whoop of joy when he spotted his shepherd's crook resting against his headboard. Since taking up residence at the North Pole, Jack had gotten into the bad habit of losing track of his crook. It came as a shock to all of the Guardians, himself included the first time he lost it in North's shop. He had managed to leave it behind in the Globe Room after a meeting with the Guardians. When Jack noticed, he panicked. The group had spread out and nearly tore the workshop apart looking for Jack's crook. Finally, Sandy managed to find it lying on the floor behind one of the chairs.
"Three hundred years that thing has been glued to your hand, Frostbite." He remembered Bunny saying. "What's with losing it all of the sudden?" Jack didn't have an answer then. It wasn't until thinking further on it that he came up with an answer. Here he didn't have to worry about the crook. Unlike before, he wasn't constantly moving. He had a place to rest without worrying where he was going to go next or worrying about the other seasons. He had a permanent home, even though Burgess would always rank first.
Smiling, Jack bounded across the room and grabbed his crook as he rolled across his bed and onto his feet. He ran to the window and threw the frost-covered panes opened. Jack's smile only grew as the North Wind blew into the room, wrapping itself around Jack in what could best be translated as a hug.
"I missed you too, Wind." Jack said as he hugged the Wind back. When interacting with seasonal spirits, and more so their respected season, the each of the four winds became more solid in their form. It was odd to describe and confused the other Guardians to no end, but, for Jack, it was normal and he could care less about explaining.
The North Wind unwrapped itself from around Jack as the boy went stand on the window sill. "Wind! Take me home!" He said with a joyous shout and jumped out the window. The wind never gave him the chance to fall as it lifted his body, shooting him off into the night sky.
"But Mother Goose!" Elizabeth interrupted Katherine from her spot on the rug. "Santa wasn't really a bandit!"
"He most certainly was!" Mr. Qwerty replied, beating Katherine to the punch. "He was one of the meanest bandits around!" The butterfly teased a he ruffled his page-wings.
"No he wasn't!" The four year old argued back. "He wouldn't be Santa if he was a meanie!"
Mr. Qwerty laughed. "I am not lying to you, Miss Elizabeth. I was there when North became Santa!" This much was true, but back then, Mr. Qwerty was just a glow worm and not a butterfly (who was also a book).
Elizabeth gave the duo a look of confusion. "But if he was mean, then how did he become Santa?"
"Well, Elizabeth," Katherine began with a smile. "The Man in the Moon saw how nice and smart North really was, but saw that he was lost-"
"Did he get lost in the grocery store? I've gotten lost there before." Elizabeth asked, pulling a laugh out of both Katherine and Mr. Qwerty.
"Not that kind of lost, sweetie. The lost I am talking about is different. North grew up being bad, so he had to find the niceness."
"Did he ever find it, Mother Goose?" Elizabeth asked as she scooted closer to Katherine.
"Why, of course he did! Do you think he would Santa today if he hadn't?" Katherine gave the small girl a smile as she ruffled her hair. The same smile grew into a smirk as the brunette looked out the window. It was snowing in early October, which could only mean one thing.
"Elizabeth... How do you feel about a riddle?" Katherine laughed as the four year old sprung up off the floor in excitement.
"Calm down, Elizabeth! Calm down or I can't tell you the riddle." Elizabeth settled down almost instantly, crossing her arms against Katherine's knees and resting her chin on her arms.
"Are you ready?"
Nod.
"Okay. I live in the winter, but die in the summer and my roots grow upward! What am I?"
Katherine watch as Elizabeth's face scrunched up in thought and she tilted her head a fraction.
"Oh, Izzy, that's easy!" A voice said from behind the little girl. "It's an icicle!" The voice continued as Elizabeth turned around and let out a loud squeal of "Jaaaaaack!" before she clumsily got up. Jack knelt to the ground as the little girl bulldozed into him and threw her arms around his neck in a hug before retracting just a quickly.
"Daddy! Daddy! Jack's back! Jack's back!" She squealed as she dragged the Winter Spirit into the back of her house, past the kitchen and into a hallway full of doors. One of the doors creaked open and a man walked out, scraggly unkempt hair with a beard to match and round glasses perched on the end of his nose. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms against his chest.
"And let me guess..." He began as Elizabeth shifted from foot-to-foot. "You want to go out and play?"
A pregnant silence hung in the air. Jack swore he could feel the air grow hotter, but then again, it could have been the heater kicking on. The silence drug on for a moment before Jamie looked at his daughter with a grin. "Well, what are we waiting for? Go get dressed and maybe, just maybe, if you ask nicely, Jack will get some more snow going out there you." Elizabeth squealed again as she ran off to her room in search of her snow gear, forgetting about Jack altogether. He stood in the corridor as he looked at his first believer. "She really does have a set of lungs on her, doesn't she?"
Jamie shook his head and laughed as he watched his daughter dart about their house. "Yea. Just be thankful you aren't around for the tantrums." Jamie looked at Jack with a smile. "Good to see you again, Jack. Missed ya, man."
Jack smiled. "Miss you too, Jamie. I have to say... I think I am starting to see some crow's feet around your eyes there." The Winter Spirit laughed as Jamie tossed him a scowl, reaching up to his eyes when he though Jack wasn't looking.
Jack smiled as he looked at Jamie. Jack owed everything to his first believer, who never stopped believing. Every winter he made regular visits to the pond, sometimes with the other kids from that fateful night years ago. When he wasn't with Jack, he was working. Working on a secret something that he wouldn't tell Jack about which drove him insane every time he went to visit the kid. Jamie had some uncanny ability to know when Jack was coming to visit (which he later came to find his 'uncanny ability' was North) and always had his work locked up where Jack couldn't peek.
It took some time, but in Jamie's second year of college, Jack finally saw Jamie's project. A book with a blank cover and no name. A book that held more meaning than Jack thought. Jack prodded for more, but Jamie said nothing, telling Jack over and over to "just read the book already!" Finally Jack caved. He read the book and, in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner, shot into Jamie's house. While the Bennett family roared on about the "suddenly opened door" and moved to protect the food from the winds and snow, Jack had pulled Jamie aside to thank the boy profusely. What he had been given was a book that told of the adventure they all took that night years ago, telling how the Guardian of Fun stood up to the Boogieman and defeated him. The book was told through Jamie's eyes, depicting the Guardians, an Jack, in a heroic light. But what had really set Jack off was the fact that, on the inside back over was a note promising one thing: "I've already talked to North and this year, he promised to leave this book under every tree this Christmas." Jack smiled. With that book he had gained a multitude of followers in each country and that wasn't to be the only book. Apparently, Jamie had already planned to write more, a book for each of the Guardians under the pen name, William Joyce. It wouldn't be long before Jamie had every child in the world believing in them.
"Daddy!" A whine interrupted Jack's reminiscing, which snapped him back to reality. Reality being a curious and wide eyed four year old who sounded cross with her father. He barely caught Jamie's puzzled look before they both looked down at Elizabeth.
"Izzy!" Jamie mocked in despair before laughing at the pout that crossed his daughter's face. "What's up, princess? What did Daddy do this time?"
"It's more like what you didn't do."
A/N: Welp! There you have it! My first ever published fanfiction. I am not really sure how I feel about it. I like it, but… I'm worried. Probably because it is the first one I've ever published.
So! Things to touch up on! 1) In my mind the North Pole and Santoff Claussen are two totally different places. Unless Joyce say that they somehow moved Santoff Claussen to the North Pole, The North Pole will be at the North Pole and Santoff Claussen will be stay in Siberia.
2) I totally see Jamie being an author. He is an imaginative kid and I see Sophie being his illustrator. I figured Jamie and Jack would have become best friends over the years and Jamie would understand Jack's problem with not being seen still. And the greatest way to get a child to believe is BOOKS! Whether it is school, parents, grandparents, babysitters, whatever, 90% of children will be read a book and picture books give them an idea of what to look out for, so when they start playing pretend with those stories, they begin to believe, because kids believe anything adults say.
3) Again, until Jack's book is published, Pippa will be the little Overland's name.
4)Oh yea! 20 years have passed since then. I assume Jamie is about 10 in the movie, so he is 30ish in my story.
5) Katherine and Mr. Qwerty are book characters! Go check out the RotG wiki to learn more about them!
Comment, like, do whatever the hell it is you people do on here. IDK. Just tell me opinions! And errors…. I read over them a lot. So tell me what you think and I will update in a week! Adios bitches!