Disclaimer: If I owned Rise of the Guardians, the world would have never seen it. I'd be hording it to myself because it was so awesome. Just saying.
First Snowfall
It had been a relatively normal day for Jack. He had brought winter back around for Jamie and his friends to enjoy, and took great joy from the snowball fight that ensued. Things were just looking up for him since he gained believers. He left later that night to spread his snowy touch further across the globe to the areas where winter should be present, stopping by another village for a moment of rest as he watched and laughed as more kids enjoyed his little gift.
His attention was drawn to a small group of young children following a lone teenager. Curious, he dropped down onto the awning of the building the group was passing by to see what they were up to for this wonderful wintery day.
"Mama! Tell us the story about all the guardians again!" One of the little girls chirped excitedly, tugging at the oldest girl's arm- though still mindful of the small toddler within the teenager's grasp.
The oldest of the group chuckled. "Again? I thought I just told you about everyone again yesterday."
"It's been a few days!" A boy jumped in. "Honest!"
"Yeah!" Another child agreed. "Please mom?"
The girl laughed. "Alright, alright. Let's get a nice campfire going and some hot chocolate in everyone's hands and we can begin. Does that sound good?"
The children cheered and worked together to get their now apparent mother figure to move faster.
Jack decided to follow, wondering what story could have the children so hyped up. And more than that, he wanted to know if the girl meant by guardians. He was also wondering why all the children called this obviously young woman mother of all things. She couldn't be any older than seventeen, not to mention that only the baby (who looked around the age of one) was the only one with similar traits to the girl.
The group traveled to small, but homey little rambler seated a short distance from town, working quickly to get everything ready as soon as possible. The teenager took the baby girl inside for a nap, having fallen asleep on their walk back home, and came out with an armful of blankets so that the children wouldn't get cold.
"All right then! Is everyone ready?" The girl asked, laughing lightly when she received a round of cheers. "Well, where should I start?"
"Tell us about the Tooth Fairy!" The same little girl who had asked for the stories called out.
The teenager smiled. "Well what did all your friends say she looked like?"
"Everyone at school says that she dresses in white and has big glittery wings," one of the other boys reported.
"And what about her helpers?" The brunette teen pressed.
The boy shook his head. "According to everyone at school, the Tooth Fairy doesn't have any helpers."
Jack and the teenager scoffed at the same time.
"How ridiculous, no wonder they can't see her!" The teenager proclaimed. "Of course the Tooth Fairy has helpers! She has to work every single hour of the day since it's always nighttime somewhere. And she isn't all white, how else would she be able to blend in a little? The Tooth Fairy looked more like a hummingbird."
"But why is that mommy?" The other little girl asked.
"Because hummingbirds a small and quick! And they can blend into their environment much better than a woman flying around in a blazing white dress!" The children and Jack laughed at the girl's exaggerated hand movements.
"Does that mean she has wings like a hummingbird too?" The eldest little girl inquired.
The brunette shook her head. "Not at all. Her wings are like the other children said, but probably not as large as they would imply. I think they would be more like a lady bug's wings."
"Now the Easter Bunny!" The youngest child of the current group, the little boy who had yet to speak, cheered.
The teenager chuckled again. "I would think you'd like to hear about Santa, or North as I should call him."
"Mama," the middle age little girl whined, although it was all in good fun and not at all for real. "You said you would tell us about all of them!"
The teenager smiled. "Yes, yes. I remember. Well then, Bunny it is. His full name is E. Aster Bunnymund, who lives in the Warrens with his giant stone egg helpers, and he isn't your usual rabbit. Bunny is actually very large and very strong."
"How big?" The oldest boy, clearly amazed already.
"Bunny is about six feet tall, master of Tai Chi and fights with a pair of boomerangs," the girl informed the group. "In fact, I bet he even has an accent!"
"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! What accent!" The children cheered in a jumble.
The teenager hummed in thought. "I'm thinking it would have to be something like Australian."
"Why is that Mama?" The oldest girl asked immediately, nearly jumping off her chair in her excitement.
"Well if he's going to fight with something like boomerangs, then he must have picked that weapon from some background like that one right?" The girl reasoned.
"Now Santa!" The children shouted out.
"Well for one, his name is Nicholas Saint North and he lived in Santoff Clausen."
"You mean he doesn't live there anymore?" The middle aged boy inquired.
"Well I think he lives in the North Pole now," the girl laughed. "And he isn't as most believe him. North is actually very strong and he fights with two sabers. I think he looks closer to a tough biker than most would think, especially seeing as he has a tattoo of naughty and nice on his arms."
To this there was a resounding and unison "Wooow~" from the kids.
Jack chuckled. He didn't know how the girl knew so much, but watching all their facial expressions was definitely amusing.
"North didn't start out as a guardian of children, though he was one of the firsts," the girl told the group.
"Really now?" Now this peaked Jack's interest.
"What do you mean!" The youngest child cried out. "Santa has to be a guardian!"
"He is, he is. Don't worry," the teenager laughed. "I'm just saying that he didn't start out that way. All of you have to remember; guardians aren't made, they're tested. It wasn't until the battle against the Nightmare King that North officially became a guardian under the Man on the Moon along with Sanderson Mansnoozie, also known as Sandy, or the Sandman as most know him."
"Wh-Who's the Nightmare King?" The middle aged girl stuttered out.
"Well, he's mostly known as the boogeyman," the teenager told the group in hushed tones. "But he's also known by the name Pitch Black. The Man in the Moon, or Mim for short, battled Pitch and ended up stuck on the moon. It was thanks to a small spirit boy named Nightlight- who helped raise Mim- and a diamond dagger that Pitch could be imprisoned for such a length of time. But thanks to a stray and curious moon beam who wondered too far, Pitch was freed. After a long adventure where North's little troupe of outlaw elves were turned to stone by The Spirit of the Forest-"
"Wait!" The oldest boy cut in. "Tell us that one too!"
"Yeah, me too!" Jack added, though he knew it would go unheard.
The teenager laughed and shook her head. "If I tell you the entire adventure, then I won't be able to tell you about all the guardians."
The children sulked a little but agreed and motioned for the girl to continue.
"Anyways, North managed to drive out Pitch and his Fearlings and protect the small village of Santoff Clausen. North, Nightlight, a wizard named Ombric, and a woman named Katherine gave chase and were almost taken out by Pitch, but thanks to Nightlight's army of moonbeams and the Abominable Snowmen, or Yetis as they should be called, sent from the Lunar Lamas, the group was able to make it out."
"Well this is getting interesting," Jack mumbled. It was a shame she wasn't going to tell the whole story, but he would have to remember to ask the others about all of this later.
"From there they met up with Bunny and later Tooth, where the guardians then managed to banish Pitch from the world. They knew it wouldn't last forever, but as long as they remained to bring hope and light, as well as protect the children, then they were sure that everything would turn out alright."
"Wow," the middle aged girl breathed. "So now Pitch is locked away?"
The teenager shook her head. "Pitch did in fact come back to power. Calm down. Calm down." The teenager waved her hands and motioned for the kids to still themselves from their rising panic. "That's what brings us to the next guardian."
This brought all the children to a halt.
"Who?" The oldest boy demanded.
"Why, it's Jack Frost of course!" The teenager replied with a wide smile.
The spirit jumped in surprise and looked around to study the girl. She knew his name? That he was a guardian? Could…Could she see him too?
"What's he like?" The oldest girl asked excitedly.
"Well his hair is like the mountain top in the middle of a blizzard, his skin pale as the moon, and his teeth sparkle like freshly fallen snow!"
Seriously, who's been telling people this? Jack wondered to himself, but returned his attention wish a slight shake of his head as the girl continued describing her vision of him.
"Jack also has eyes colored a rich wintery blue, even deeper than sapphires!"
"Is he cute?" The oldest chipped in again.
The teenager nodded sagely. "Of course he's good looking! Jack Frost can't go around nipping the noses of cute girls unless he was handsome!"
The two girls giggled while the boys rolled their eyes. Jack merely chuckled. He would never admit that he was both deeply embarrassed that someone thought that way about him, and extremely smug at the same time.
"Anyways," the young woman persisted, "Jack is the spirit of winter and he loves having fun. That's why we get such wonderful snow days like today! But he also cares very deeply for all the children in the world, whether they believe in him or not."
"Mommy, why would it matter if we believe in him or not?" The middle aged girl questioned with a slight tilt of her head.
The teenager smiled, but the nearby spirit could see a bit of sadness behind it. "The guardians get a great portion of their powers from the belief of children and only those who truly believe can see them. Since not many believe in Jack, I'm sure that he must be very lonely."
The winter spirit could only stare in wonder, touched by the girl's sentiments.
"But it was thanks to Jack that the other guardians could come together with enough power to drive Pitch back into the darkness whence he came."
Silence settled over the group as the children took in the story.
"Mama," the middle aged boy spoke up. "Do you really believe in all of them?"
The girl blinked, staring at the child a bit before shrugging. "Here's what I do know: Seeing isn't believing; daybreak will return at the end of even the darkest night, spring will follow any winter, Mother Nature can be a witch; and the Man in the Moon is a jerk. However, no matter what anyone else thinks, it's up to you whether you believe in something or not. Don't let anyone else make you think otherwise, alright."
"So you believe in Mim?" The youngest child giggled.
"Sure, I talk to the moon all the time," the teenager proclaimed.
"Mom, you curse at the moon all the time," the oldest boy refuted.
"Curse, talk. Eh, who's counting," the teenager replied nonchalantly. "I need someone to blame when I stub my toe on the way to the bathroom at night."
"You could just turn on the light," the boy pointed out.
"The light is too bright and I'm too lazy," the teenager argued. "I'd rather blame something else."
Jack laughed at the way the kids shook their head in exasperation. This must be a common event.
The teenager clapped her hands together. "Alright troupers! It's time to go to bed. You have school and I have a test along with work, so chop-chop!"
Jack watched as the little family gathered their gear and returned to the warmth of the house. He made a split second decision to stay, wondering if the girl would end up running into a wall or something in the middle of the night. She was such a curious person and she seemed to know so much. He settled down next to her window and watched as she collapsed on her bed. It was evident in her actions that she had been hiding how weary she really was the entire time. The winter spirit turned his gaze to the moon, thinking about everything the girl had said. Had she made everything up, or was she speaking the truth? If so, how on earth did she know?
It wasn't until much later into the night that Jack redirected his attention and gaze back into the teenagers room, hearing rustling and a murmur or two. What he saw made his frown, as the girl had curled into herself and looked to be afraid. He looked for a Fearling or shadow that indicated the Nightmare King's work, but found nothing.
Suddenly, the girl sat up with a shuddering- yet oddly quiet- gasp. She looked around frantically before climbing out of her bed and through her window. Jack silently followed the girl as she broke into a light jog in nothing but house slippers, flannel pajamas, and a worn out hoodie. Eventually they came upon a small frozen lake where the girl plopped down unceremoniously on an old stump and curled into herself once more.
"It's alright," she murmured to herself as she rocked back and forth. "He's not here. He can't hurt you anymore. You're okay. Come on pull yourself together."
The girl shook and shivered from the combination of cold and the tears she desperately tried to stop, and all the while Jack could only stand by and watch. He wanted to help, to offer the girl some form of comfort, but what could he do when she couldn't even see him?
The most he could do for now was watch over her and make sure she made it back to her home in one piece. He only left once the sandman arrived and provided the girl and her family with better dreams.