AN:I had this story going round in my head, so here it is. I created the character of Jono a while ago, you can see his bio on my deviantart account named the same as this account, I was obviously the first to think of this :D this pleases me immensely! Anyway I'm sorry about the death and hope you do like where I'm going so far, this was by far my longest chapter so far and I plan to make this story last.(take time to think it out instead of wandering towards my story's end like I normally do)

A Child's Soul Is A Precious Thing Chapter One:

The Spirit of Death

Jono sat watching the moon, he was almost waiting for MIM to talk to him. Jono growled as he knew MIM talked to a Spirit he knew a lot, yet never to the guardians not directly like he did to this spirit. He sighed wondering if he needed to go back to his 'home' or not. He did need to check his spooks weren't causing any mayhem. Being the Spirit of Halloween could be a pain in the arse during the time when his spooks had little to do as they soon grew bored and started to get restless. They either when and terrorized children who were out too late, or started to eat things they shouldn't like furniture or candy.

That and the snow was piling up. Jack Frost was certainly out doing himself this year for Christmas.

Jono stood, his body lanky and his arms and legs seemed a bit too long for his body. His hair the same colour as straw, the ends a mossy colour and his hair was shoulder length. His bright red trench coat was decorated with a black bat on the back. He had his hat on which was a murky green colour with red words around a light green sash around the base of it reading 'All hallows eve' on the front and 'all saint's eve' on the back. His trousers were the same murky green of his hat and his top was a jet black. His boots of dark brown were splattered with mud. He had left his trusty scythe at home along with his mask.

The spirits skin had a yellow tint to it, resembling straw or a material you might use to make a scarecrow, his eye were a deep red. An orange scar running over his right eye gleams in the moon light.

Jono headed for his little hide away. He was greeted by his first spook. Boo who grinned at her master. The little spook was in many ways cute, often failing to scare any children, but it mattered little to Jono. After all Boo was the first spook he ever made. She was priceless in that sense.

Boo was a mini witch of shorts. She had long white hair and big purple eyes. Her skin was unblemished and milky white. She only came up to Jono's knee and she was very bubbly. She loved to follow Jono around and she often tried to be the best behaved out of all the spooks. Boo skipped along side Jono as they entered the cove. The mountain rocks next to the waterfall gave way under Jono's hand to reveal a door of deep dark oak.

Once inside the spooks were surprisingly silent. That's when Jono noticed the figure in the centre of the room. The figure wore a cloak of jet black, torn half way along ruggedly down from the left hand mid point to the right hand corner, this revealed skinny legs wearing brown boots which were muddy and worn. The hood of the cloak was down revealing shaggy dirty blond hair, pulled into a loose ponytail. The Spirit that stood in the centre of the room was definitely a male, as he was singing in a dark, almost deadpan sort of voice, to the Halloween Spirit's minions.

"Ten little children went out to dine, one choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little children stay up late, one overslept and then there were eight. Eight little children went down to Devon, one said he'd stay there and then there were seven. Seven little children chopping up sticks, one cut himself in half and then there were six. Six little children-" The figure stopped singing as he noticed Jono.

The male Spirit turned he was thin, thinner than Jono, and extremely pale. On his shoulder by his neck a bigger then normal rat lay, it's fur neat and clean unlike it's master's hair. The rats red eyes stared at Jono, and it's white fur brisled. "Good eve, Jack O'Lantern. I was taking a break from my duties, my rats are at the moment taking care of it." The voice is gruff and cold in tone.

Jono nods a greeting to the Spirit. "Pied Piper, long time no see. What brings you here after all I would expect you to go see MIM or go back to your own home." Jono sat down and gestured at the seat opposite his, which Boo pulls out for the Pied Piper. The Piper walks over and sits down with oddly messy grace. Boo goes to the kitchen, pouring her master and their visitor a cup of warm Halloween punch. She came back and handed the cups to them before sitting on the side of the table top.

Both Jono and Boo know why the Piper was there. It was Christmas and Santa was about delivering presents and the last thing the Spirit wanted was to run into a guardian on his rounds. Which may contradict the fact that he was in the Jack O'Lantern's domain. Jack O'Lantern was the new Guardian. MIM had chosen a new Guardian and that had been Jono. Well he was technically now Jack or Jacko but he preferred his old name that and it could be confusing when he was around Jack Frost.

Jono notices how Piper doesn't touch his punch nor answer his questions. So Jono just gave up and studied the other. It's something he'd done to the male many time before knowing his features well also knowing how he likes solitude.

The Pied Piper has four scars that Jono knows of, and he can recall them all by now even the slight different colouring each had. One scar ran across the bridge of Piper's nose, it was a grey in color indicating that the bone was or should be showing. Then one on his left cheek horizontally with a pinky tinge to it. The two others were on his neck, one horizontal over his collarbone to his Adams apple, the other from the underside of his chin to half way down his throat vertically. Both these had a red tint to them.

Jono wonders how the Spirit obtained them. If they were from his past life before he became an immortal or after once he was a Spirit. He doubted he'd ever know. The Piper warmed to no one, not even his brother who coincidentally is also a Spirit. If anything Piper avoids his brother like the plague, not that the Piper would or could avoid a plague. The only thing that tips that avoidance is with any of the Guardians, Jono being the only exception at the moment that he knows of.

Boo swayed her legs over the edge of the table obviously feeling nervous and unsure about what she should do. Jono wondered if it was because of their similarity in age that drew the Pied Piper to him, both the Spirits being twenty, the age before they became an immortal meaning they were more mature than the ones who became Spirits at a younger age but not as stuffy as some of those who were older when they became Spirits.

Then a knock at Jono's door disturbed them. Jono get up and quietly approaches the door, looking through the the peep hole he sees the Sandman floating outside his door with something in his hands. Jono gives a silent prayer that this won't end in disaster. Opening his door. Jono greets the fellow Guardian. "Sandman, what brings you here?"

Sandy however doesn't answer and instead heads straight toward the Piper, who watches him as he does. Sandy extends one of his hands and offers the object in it to the other spirit. The object is a heart shaped locket with writing on the front. It's a silver heart with black gems outlining the surface around the place for words on the front.

"Oh... Thanks, I guess." The Piper mumbles but it's nowhere near as malic full as it normally is. The locket gets stored in one the the Piper's many hidden pockets. Jono would like to ask what it was but knew he'd not get an answer, or if he did it would be a 'mind your own business' kind of answer.

Sandman forms a question mark out of sand above his head, gesturing to the surroundings. Jono guesses the Sandman is asking why the Piper is here. "Christmas is no time to be doing my job." He states and gives Boo his cup of warm punch, standing up and heading for the door.

Jono moves out of the Spirit's way as he leaves, all the Spooks seeming to let out a breath of relief. The Pied Piper was an ominous presents even when in a good mood, if you could call his version of a 'good mood' a good mood that is. His rats didn't help the matter often being scraggy old things missing bits of their ears and tail and chunks of fur. They showed no signs of liking anyone but their master, often hissing and nipping at the other Spirits for coming too close.

Sandman looked almost upset that the other Spirit had seemingly been offended by his actions, but seemed not to dwell on the matter. Instead he came over to Jono and made the shape of a moon over his head and then the shape of a musical pipe followed by a speech bubble, tilted head indicating a question.

"I don't know he didn't say." Jono answers. Jono then frowns. "What was that and why did you bring it back to him?" Jono asks. Sandy then tries to explain, the images that appear above his head one after another are: A locket, a child, and then a pipe playing music notes. Jono shakes his head. "I've got no idea what you mean." The Sandman frowns deep in thought but was interrupted by the northern lights. Norths distress signal. This had never happened before, that on christmas eve North would call all the guardians to his workshop. Then again as Jono notices North could have finished his rounds by now.

Still, something wasn't right. Jono grabs his mask and scythe, pulling the mask on then placing his hat on top of it. Him and Sandy leave for the North Pole, Sandy having constructed a plane for them to travel in. Boo waved them goodbye as they went, knowing something was horribly wrong.

North was stood staring at the globe when everyone seemed to arrive at the same time. He only needs to say one thing. "It's Jamie." Then their on their way to Jamie's house in North's sleigh. North had finished his rounds for the night, and once he got back to the Globe Room had found something wrong.

The ambulance outside Jamie's house only heightens their fears. Jack races ahead of the sleigh getting to Jamie's room first to find a figure in the room. The figure was dressed completely in black. The cape he wore was ruggedly cut from it's left midpoint, down to the bottom right corner. A musical pipe is clutched in one hand brought up to where the figures mouth was playing a sad melody, in the other hand was a heart shaped silver locket with black gems.

"Who are you and where's Jamie?" Jack asks cautiously. The figure doesn't grace him with an answer as he finished his ghostly song and turns leaving through the window. Jack too startled by the sudden departure of the person, could not stop him, almost as if they couldn't see him. Was he human? "Wait!" Jack yells.

The figure is however stopped by the rest of the Guardians. North looked the most angry that Jack had ever seen him. The words that left his lips with laced with hate and anger. "Pied Piper." He grounds. Jono already knew it was him as soon as North said that something was wrong with Jamie. He tried not to show his conflicting feelings about what was most likely to unfold.

"Ah, the Guardians. I must say I'm not pleased to see you. Why can't you cut me some slack? I have a job and so do you. MIM gave me this job so you shouldn't get in my way." The Piper growls. He pulls the hood down to show his eyes glowing a vivid red, this confuses Jono as he knew the Spirits eyes are normally a vivid grey not red.

"Why should we let a child killer like you get away?!" Bunnymund sneers at the Spirit, his stance low to the ground, ready to pounce the Spirit if needed. "We remember Hamelin, and don't act like you don't remember it too. You DROWNED all those children! Not to mention the children that died the year before. You must have been responsible for that too. Black death or not, you did it!" Bunnymund accuses.

"What?" Jack murmurs. obviously coming to realized what must have happened to Jamie. "No... Not Jamie... Why?" Jack fought not to start crying, his question directed at the Spirit.

The very question and the fact it was directed at him caused the Spirit to become more angry. "You are all the same. Always see the good. You see black and white. No between. Everyone has a place in this world. I don't kill, I safeguard the souls of dead children. I am the 'Spirit of Death', my very job is to make sure that a child remains in the hearts of those close to them." The Piper grumbles.

Toothiana sounds deflated when she speaks. "You job is take away what we protect, of cause we need to interfere. You allied yourself with Pitch, therefore you are our enemy." She, then looks to Jono, almost as if she knows Jono is more on the Piper's side than theirs. Jack seems conflicted also, almost as if he understands, more so when Sophie comes running over to Bunnymund, running straight through the Piper in the process.

"Bunny!" Sophie is crying and obviously upset, The Piper brings his pipe to his lips and plays a few simple notes, Sophie immediately is calmer and almost sleepy. Bunnymund glares at him, Sophie looking in the direction of him, but is confused as to why Bunny is glaring at thin air.

The Piper shakes his head, looking over at Jono, Jack and Sandy, all who have not shown any particular macil towards him, yet. "Well, what do you lot have to say? All angry at me for my job? Think I get a kick out of it?" The Piper bites out and when he's met with silence he continues. "They are just envious because MIM talks to me, he actually talks, not just some one-sided convocation. Not that it matters, he doesn't like me. Why else would he give me this job?! Well? Are you going to say something or stand there like a bunch of idiots? I've heard it all, from those three mainly, I'm deranged, I'm a monster, you name it I've heard it."

"You're misunderstood." A quiet voice comes from behind the Piper. Everyone was shocked.

"Wha-" The Piper turns to find himself facing the young Sophie. She was looking at him, actually looking at him. She could see him. "What?" He repeated the word he failed to finish the first time around. He knelt down his face still far away from Sophie's but closer than before.

"You're misunderstood?" Sophie asks as if she's not sure if he meant for her to repeat the answer to his question or not. She seems to not be scared of him. The Piper had never had children see him, not that is until he comes to collect the ones that are barely living, or if he goes to a hospital where a child has died. They see him as the grim reaper. The person that kills them and takes their souls away.

"How... How can you see me?" The Piper asks confused. For 5,980 years he had only ever been seen by dying, scared children. Why now should a child who was alive and perfectly healthy see him?

"Rat." Sophie said, pointing over to a giant rat behind Bunnymund, It was a scruffy old brown thing with one half of it's right ear missing and a lump of fur from it's hind leg. It's black eyes gleam in the limited moon light. Around one of it's front legs, lockets dangle, the heart locket. Children's souls. That when Jono understands what the Sandman had tried to tell him earlier.

Piper sighs. He doesn't want this child to believe in him. He had taken her brother away. How could anyone believe someone that does that is misunderstood. "You shouldn't see me, I not like the Guardians, I don't need nor want children to believe in me." The Piper's words are icy and meant to hurt. Not that it registered to Sophie.

The Piper stands straight and looks at the rat. "Are you done for tonight?" He asks. The rat scurries forward and raises it's big head. It's thick tail swishing along the grass softly as it chittered to it's master. Once it finished the Pied Piper nodded. He glanced towards the three Spirits he had addressed before Sophie spoke up. "Anything to add? No? Good. I don't need you." Piper spits out and with that he was gone.

"Where'd he go!?" Bunny growled.

"You know where he went. Back to his 'home', a dark and dingy place." North snorted. He looked at Sandy. "What is wrong Sandy?" He asks.

Sandy looks forlorn, but he shakes his head and leaves for the clouds, his home. He needed to think and rest, after that he would be ok, he knew he would. He hoped.

Toothiana sighed. "We're all sad, we all need time and space. Poor little Jamie." She leaves herself after that, to mourn in the comfort of her own palace. Bunnymund takes Sophie back to her room, leaving with North after, Jack and Jono were still there at that point.

"What do you think?" Jack asks Jono. And Jono knows he means about the whole Piper being the taker of children's souls and him taking Jamie's. Jono gives himself sometime as he takes off the mask, well pumpkin really but it did have eye, nose and mouth holes so it was like a mask, he had put on before leaving with Sandy for Norths workshop.

Jono places the pumpkin on the floor, leaning his scythe against a tree, Jack doesn't leave like he hoped he might, Jack stays and waits. Jono finally gives in. "Sophie's right." He feels his throat go dry, half expecting for a blast of ice to hit him. Instead Jack just watches the house from afar.

Jono is about to leave when Jack says. "I think so too." Jono looks at Jack surprised by this revelation. "There's somethings not right about all this." He adds.

AN: The song is a version of the ten little Solider boys/sailor boys it has many versions, some of the original versions were both racist and very morbid for a child's nursery rhyme yet that's what it was. :-/

Anyway I'm sorry in advance for killing Jamie! I didn't want to but... Who else would matter as much to the Guardians? I mean I know all children matter, but Jamie's gonna hit em hard... I'm gonna go curl up in the corner and cry myself to sleep know.

P.S. How do you like the Pied Piper? The tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin was actually a retelling of children killed during a plague and the Pied Piper represented the Grim Reaper in a sense. Therefore it makes sense for him to be the Spirit of Death. Also it was a story to warn children from pedophiles, but you know I'm not that dark yet... Honest.(if you can't tell the Pied Piper is the Spirit referred to right at the start about MIM talking directly to him)