It was a beautiful, bright spring day in Arendelle and Anna was enjoying it in one of her favorite gardens near the palace. Normally she'd be in and out of the town, exploring, but since there was a dignitary visiting that evening, she had to stay near the castle so that she could be ready in time for dinner. However, there was still plenty to enjoy even in the garden. Currently she was cuddling a few ducklings while the mother watched nearby. She giggled as one of them hopped onto her wrist and gave a plucky quack.

Anna shivered as she suddenly felt a freezing cold wind blow by her. She was in a summer dress with thin sleeves, so she felt the full force of the blast. Odd, she thought. Wondering what her sister could be up to, she raced inside to find Elsa.

"Elsa?" she asked, wandering around, wondering where she could be. She checked the more obvious places first, but couldn't find her in the library, her room, or her study. There was only one other place Anna could think to find her, and she sprinted towards the kitchen.

"Are you sneaking chocolate?" Anna asked playfully, looking in the pantry. Elsa blushed as she was caught with several squares of fudge neatly stored in a napkin.

"Would you like some?" she offered, holding out the napkin. Anna giggled at a small streak of chocolate near her sister's mouth. She pointed at it and Elsa quickly wiped it away.

"You know how to buy my silence," Anna said with a laugh, taking a square. "I was just wondering if everything's all right?"

"Yes, why wouldn't it be?" Elsa said, raising an eyebrow.

"Ahhhh…. no reason," Anna said, now confused. "Just wondering, that's all. I mean, the Duke of Winbrane coming and all, it's bound to be stressful."

"I feel perfectly fine," Elsa assured her. "Should I be worried?" she asked, wondering what mischief her sister might have gotten into since breakfast.

"No," Anna said firmly. She dropped her fudge as a thought ran across her mind. But that was impossible! She had to make sure, though. "I've got to go."

"All right then…" Elsa said, as Anna rushed out of the pantry. She walked out and turned to the cook. "Make sure my sister doesn't get a very large slice of cake tonight, Edvin. I'm worried all the sugar she's been having is affecting her brain."

…

Anna ran into her room. "Jack?" she asked tentatively, slowly coming in. She saw a young, stick-legged man sitting on her bed. "Jack!" she cried, running and pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. "You're here! But how? I thought being in warm weather made you sick."

"I just needed to see you," he said quietly, looking visibly upset. "Needed to know at least one person doesn't hate me."

"What's wrong?" Anna asked, sitting down next to him and putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

He began to rant and Anna listened. He talked about how he had been asked to be a Guardian, but he didn't want to be one. However, before he could leave, Pitch Black, the Nightmare King, had broken into Tooth's palace and stolen all the teeth and her helper fairies. Jack had agreed to help them find the teeth and fairies in exchange for memories of his past.

"The teeth - she has mine," he explained, breathless with excitement and frustration, hands waving around wildly with every word, "All this time I could have known who I was, why I was made like this, why I'm here."

"You waited for this for years, anyone would want to know," Anna said, understanding. "What happened?"

He told her about how they did the fairies' job and took the teeth and gave the children their coins. It had helped keep the children's faith in the Guardians alive. Soon after, Pitch had attacked them and Sandy had been destroyed by his Nightmares. Anna shivered as she remembered having a particularly terrible nightmare the night before. She hadn't realized how big the Sandman's impact was; until now the Guardians and Jack's story seemed further away, less personal to her.

Jack continued on as he talked about how Easter was next and he and the remaining Guardians helped Bunny in making all the eggs for the children. However, a child, who apparently had found one of North's teleportation globes while they had been grabbing teeth, had found her way into the Warren. Jack took her back to her home and put her to bed, which is when he heard a voice.

"It called my name; I recognized it! I can't remember where I heard it, but it sounded so familiar. I chased after it, until I found this broken bed in the middle of the forest. I went down and found myself in Pitch's lair. I found the fairies, and all the teeth. I tried to free the fairies, but they couldn't fly, and then I heard that voice again. I searched in the teeth, until Pitch came and showed me he had mine. We fought, but then he just… gave me the teeth. I didn't understand until I saw the tunnels leading out of the Warren: all the eggs were smashed. When I came out, I was in a park, where the other Guardians were.

"All the children couldn't see Bunny anymore. They had lost faith in him. The Guardians all blamed me. I wasn't there when the Nightmares attacked the Warren; they thought I had left to go find Pitch on purpose. They wouldn't listen and I couldn't stay. So I left and came here." He looked at her with sad eyes. "The only person right now that knows I exist and doesn't hate me."

Anna gave him a hug, before he could say anything else. After he relaxed a little, she let him go and turned his shoulders so that he looked her in the eye. "So Pitch is still out there, with the fairies and teeth, the Easter Bunny is no longer believed in, and children are losing faith in the Guardians everywhere, is that right?"

"That about sums it up, yes," he said with a wry smile.

"Well then it looks like you could use some help." Anna said, getting up and walking to her closet. She quickly took out her travelling cloak and turned back to Jack. "And that's what I'm going to do."

"Anna, no, it's too dangerous," Jack insisted, but she cut him off with a look and a firm hand.

"Jack, I've survived being frozen by my sister. I think I can handle a Nightmare King." She gave him a brave smile. "I walked across a frozen fjord in a blizzard while freezing to death; this will be a walk in the park!"

He raised an eyebrow, doubtful that she understood what she was risking.

Anna placed both hands on his shoulders. "I'm not a five-year-old anymore, Jack. I think I can decide for myself if I want to go or not."

"It'll be dangerous."

"Fought against a snow monster, remember?"

"You could get hurt."

"Fiancé tried to kill me."

"I may not be able to protect you."

"I'm there to protect you, silly."

"Your sister will kill me if you die."

"She doesn't even know you exist."

"You're going to try to follow, even if I leave you behind."

"Probably."

"Fine."

"Good."

Jack got up from Anna's bed and he joined her at the window. His ice and frost flurry had subsided a while ago and now Arendelle was again bright and very warm. Anna opened the window and they stood on the ledge looking out. "Ready?" he asked.

"Ready," she replied.

He leapt off, Anna hugging him tightly, trying to hold back a scream as the wind flew them towards the Guardians. Jack didn't know the way, so he hoped that the wind would do the work for him.

They soared over Arendelle, Anna looking down at her kingdom in wonder. She could see even more than she could from the rooftops of the castle and the view was amazing. If she survived whatever was coming, she'd have to ask Jack for more rides like this.

They flew by the North Mountain, perpetually covered in snow, when they were suddenly buffeted by a competing wind. "Jack, what's wrong?" Anna asked, clutching to him even more tightly (if that was even possible).

"I don't know-" he started, before he was cut off by a Nightmare about to hit Anna and him. He ducked, but was hit by a second one coming from his blind side. They both fell and crashed into the powdery snow below. "Anna!" he yelled. "Are you all right?!"

It was several long, agonizing moments before her head popped above the snow. "I'm fine!" she said. "Like landing on a pillow, remember?"

He almost laughed, but was distracted by Pitch swooping down and grabbing Anna. "Let me go!" she yelled, kicking at him.

Pitch chuckled. "Feisty, isn't she?" he asked Jack, clutching Anna closely, stroking her braids. "And the fear, oh, delicious!" He gave Jack a patronizing look. "Though it's more from you than her; she doesn't seem to know when to be afraid."

"Let her go, Pitch, she has nothing to do with this!" Jack yelled, staff pointed defensively. He would have gone after Pitch in a heartbeat, but with Anna there in his grasp… he couldn't risk hurting her.

"Think I didn't hear what you two said?" Pitch said with a sneer. "She came, knowing what the consequences were, foolish girl. Well, now she'll know the price. Unless you're willing to make a trade?"

"What do you want?" he asked Pitch hesitantly.

"Well, I'm quite annoyed by your interference with my plans. You give me that staff, and I'll give you back the girl."

"No, Jack!" Anna yelled, knowing that it was the way Jack channeled his powers. "Go help the Guardians, I'll be-" She was cut off as Pitch wrapped his arm around her throat, and she struggled for breath.

"Shut up!" he shouted at her. He turned back to Jack. "The girl or the staff, Jack, make your choice."

Jack didn't hesitate before he slowly gave over his staff to Pitch. "Now let her go," he said after Pitch held his staff in his free hand.

"No." Pitch said simply, holding Anna close to him. "I think I'll-"

But Anna had had enough. I don't think so, she thought, before twisting and biting Pitch hard on the arm. He yelled before grabbing her by the cloak and throwing her into the valley. Jack could see she hit the opposite stone wall hard before tumbling down to the bottom.

"Anna!" he yelled, before running at Pitch. He may not have had a way to use his powers anymore, but he wasn't going to allow Pitch to do that without paying the price. Pitch easily sidestepped him and his Nightmares threw Jack into the valley as well. Pitch gave a dark laugh before snapping Jack's staff in two and throwing the pieces into the valley with him.

"Anna?" Jack said, crawling to where his friend lay, unmoving. He checked her for injuries, but she was very fortunate. There was no blood and it didn't look like anything had broken. She stirred a little as he finished his inspection.

"Jack?" she asked in a small voice. "What happened?"

"Pitch took my staff and broke it," he said in defeat. "You know I need my staff to use my powers."

Anna struggled to sit upright and Jack helped her. She leaned against the wall and looked at him with large, sad eyes. "I'm sorry we didn't get the Guardians." She stared at her hands. "It's all my fault; if I had just stayed in the castle and let you go, Pitch wouldn't have gotten you."

"Hey, don't blame yourself," Jack assured her. "I made my choice, and I don't regret it."

"Thank you," she said, her voice cracking. "But what can we do now?" She looked up at the sky, blinking away the snowflakes falling in her eyes.

Before he could answer, he was interrupted by a young child's voice yelling Jack! Jack? Jack!

"What wrong?" Anna asked, confused at Jack's sudden stiffening. She apparently couldn't hear it.

"It's that voice again," Jack told her, thinking. He reached into his pocket and found his teeth were still in there.

"Those are your teeth?" Anna asked. He nodded. "You finally can know, Jack. Maybe this will help."

He considered it for a few moments, doubtful that it would be useful. Curiosity won over eventually, as he pressed the jeweled opening.

Anna waited with baited breath to hear what he found. He gasped a few second later, a look of amazement on his face. "Did you see that?" he asked.

"No," Anna replied. "Why? What did you see?"

"I was human! And I had a family! And a sister! I saved her! That's why I was in the ice: I fell through as I rescued my sister from thin ice. That's…" He looked up at the moon. "That's why you made me a spirit. That's why you chose me to be a Guardian." He looked at Anna with eyes full of amazement. "We have to find the other Guardians."

"Great idea, the only question is: how are we going to do that?" Anna asked, pulling her cloak closer to her body; it was getting almost unbearably cold.

Jack wondered. He couldn't summon the winds by himself; he was powerless without his staff. But maybe…

He ran to the broken pieces of his staff and fit them together again. He focused every bit of energy he possessed and channelled it into the staff. "Come on, come on," he muttered, grunting with effort. He pushed even more, until he didn't know if he had any more magic left. He focused on Anna and all the children that needed him. He remembered his sister; he was chosen to protect the children and he wasn't about to let Pitch win.

Anna gave a shout of victory as his staff glowed and the splintered ends fused together again. "You did it, Jack!" Anna whooped. He laughed in relief.

"Come on, we have to find the Guardians," he said, before hugging her tightly to him and calling the wind again. It eagerly shot them towards the sky.

Whew! This was the work of several months of brainstorming and editing! I decided I'm not going to be able to do much more with it and decided to start posting. Part two should be up soon, as it's already complete and edited.