A/N: So I typed this up in a note on my phone and edited it on my tablet, so bear with me if it's a bit sloppy. I will fix any mistakes you spot.

I don't own Rise of the Guardians, but Holly and Lewis are my intellectual property.

Thin Ice

"I learned something about a hundred years ago that I could have used when I was human," Jack had said. "Something about ice."

I remembered those words from when I was a kid. Jack Frost had told me that lying down on thin ice will spread your weight out so that it won't break. It was well timed that would remember those words now, and rather ironic that they came from my old imaginary friend.

"Holly, I'm scared," came the plaintive cry of my six-year-old little brother.

"It's okay, Louis," I returned as calmly as I could, trying not to betray my crippling fear.

Louis had run out onto the frozen river despite my telling him it was dangerous. I was crouching at the edge of the bank, about to crawl out onto the ice to rescue him.

"I need you to lie down on the ice, Louis," I called. "You need to spread your weight out."

"I c-can't!" he cried. "It's gonna break!"

"No it won't, just trust me. I need you to lie down so I can come and get you."

He nodded nervously and began to lower himself down. Suddenly a booming crack like thunder rang out across the ice and he stopped moving and wailed.

"It's breaking!" he screamed.

"It's okay," I replied calmly, trying to quell my rising terror. "I'm coming to get you, just lie down nice and slow and spread your arms and legs out like a star."

I began my approach, placing my hands on the ice first, far apart. I then lowered myself onto my chest and pushed my boots against the rocks at the bank and slid slowly out onto the river. I listened for any cracks but none came.

"See?" I said cheerfully despite my panic. "Just like that, no cracking."

"Will the cracking stop when I lie down like you?" Louis asked skeptically.

"That's right," I said encouragingly. "And then I can slide over and pull you to safety."

"Okay..." He nodded slowly and resumed lowering himself down. The ice cracked a little more but he closed his eyes tight and didn't stop until he was on his belly.

"That's great, Louis," I called out, relived that the cracking had stopped. "Now don't move, I'm coming to get you."

I pulled myself forward with my arms and legs as if swimming across the surface of the frozen river. I took it slow and paused at every creak and groan the ice made. I knew that even though it had stopped cracking, there was a very real possibility that it could give way at any second and we would both be doomed.

Jack had once told me that he had died in a frozen pond trying to save his sister from the breaking ice but had fallen through in the process. I didn't know why he kept popping to mind while I tried desperately to save my brother, maybe I hoped that the imaginary winter spirit might come to the rescue or maybe it was my subconscious's way of reminding me of the dangers of thin ice. Either way I was determined to save Louis without either of us getting wet.

Finally, I was close enough to reach him.

"Louis, grab my hand," I said holding out a gloved hand for his mittened one.

He reached out and took it. When he did, though, the movement caused the ice to make the loudest crack yet and he screamed.

"We're gonna fall in!"

"No we're not!" I said determinedly as if the words would make it true. "Just don't let go of my hand."

He gripped me tighter and I pulled him away from the cracked area and the ice groaned again. I ignored the sound and swallowed my fear, pushing Louis closer to the bank.

"Okay," I said. "Now drag yourself along the ice and don't get up until you're on solid ground."

He finally started moving on his own, pushing with his toes and waving his arms like he would to make snow angels. As he did, I became aware of a creaking groan right below me.

No, I thought stubbornly. I'm not going to fall through and die like Jack Frost. It didn't matter that he wasn't real, I would not follow his example.

But it seemed I had no choice. Louis finally made it and I began to follow, but the already weakened ice began to crack again. I panicked an started to move faster.

Suddenly, with an almighty boom, the ice gave way below me. I let out a terrified yelp before I went under.

Luckily I had my arms out across the ice and managed to hold onto the shelf as the current tried to drag me downstream. Somewhere above me I could hear Louis yell my name, the sound distorted by the rushing all around me. My muscles had seized up the moment the icy water touched my skin and it was becoming increasingly difficult to hold onto the ice, let alone pull myself out.

"You can do it, Holly," I heard a voice from my childhood say next to me.

I pried open my frozen eyelids and saw, to my amazement, Jack Frost in the water next to me, his white hair and blue hoodie billowing around him.

I must be hallucinating from the cold, I thought. There's no way my imaginary friend was really floating in the water that I was about to drown in. There's no way that the universe is that ironic.

"You can do this," he repeated. "Just pull yourself out. I believe in you."

Yep, definitely ironic. I don't believe in him yet he believes in me. I must have gone into shock.

However, his words seemed to buoy me and lend me a little extra strength. With more effort than I had ever put into anything else my whole life, I hauled myself up and pulled my head above the water and gasped what felt like the first breath of my life.

The air that shot into my lungs was so cold it burned, but I was glad to breathe it as it proved my continued existence. I didn't know how long I had been under the water, but it had been too long and my fingers ached from holding into the ice shelf. My toes had become so cold that I couldn't feel them anymore and all of my muscles screamed in agony.

I could see Louis standing on the bank with tears streaming down his face. I hoped to god, he didn't get it in his head to try and rescue me or we would both be dead.

Putting this morbid thought from my mind, I finally began to pull myself out onto the ice. I only managed to get my torso out of the water when the ice around my belly broke and I nearly plunged back in. I let out another yelp that sounded hoarse from the cold, but managed to hold on.

Jack came out of the water and stood on the ice next to me. I hoped that hallucinations were weightless or I was a goner.

"You're almost there, Holly," he said encouragingly. "You can do it."

I nodded and grit my teeth. I dug my fingers into the ice, my nails cutting into it through my gloves, and pulled myself forward once again. I shimmied from side to side until my hips cleared the edge of the shelf, then reached forward again to pull my legs out.

"Come on, Holly," Louis yelled from the shore. "Don't fall in! You can do it!"

I was too cold and exhausted to respond, but I continued to drag myself across the ice until I finally rolled onto the snowy bank at my brother's feet.

"You did it!" he cried, relived.

"Yeah..." I muttered, before I sank, exhausted, into darkness.

I became aware of a rhythmic beeping very close by. I opened my eyes with difficulty to investigate the sound and was met with the blurry sight of a white room.

I was in a bed with white linen with a tube sticking out of my left arm and several round sticky things at my wrists, ankles, and chest attached to wires. The wires lead to the machine that was beeping steadily. I realized then, that I was in a hospital and did a mental inventory of my faculties.

I wiggled my fingers and discovered that they were heavily bandaged and burned when I moved them. I wiggled my toes and discovered the same. Well, all my limbs seemed to be in working order. Except my vision still hadn't gotten any clearer.

Had the cold water damaged my sight? I hoped it was only temporary.

"You're lucky to be alive," said a familiar voice from the corner of the room.

I looked. It was Jack Frost.

"You're not real," I said to him.

He frowned, hurt. "I am real. You can see me, so you must believe. Have you forgotten me so easily, Holly?"

I remembered a long time ago, Jack had told me the reason my parents couldn't see him was because they didn't believe in him. But I didn't believe in Jack Frost any more; I was seventeen for crying out loud! I must still be hallucinating from my near-death experience.

"You're just a figment of my stressed imagination," I replied. "It's perfectly natural to call up childhood comforts when one thinks one will die. You're just an imaginary friend from when I was little."

"Fine," Jack sighed, irritated. He walked up to the side of my bed and sat down next to me resting his staff over one shoulder, careful to avoid touching me.

"Where is everyone?" I wondered aloud. "Shouldn't my parents and brother be here, worried sick?"

"It's too early for visitors," Jack responded. "They'll be let in in about an hour."

"Okay..." I replied, wondering how healthy it was to talk to a hallucination-probably not very-but finding it comforting never-the-less. "Why do my fingers and toes hurt so much? What's with the bandages?"

"Frostbite," Jack said wincing. "The cold isn't everybody's friend."

"Why are you here?"

"Because you needed help and you called for me."

"I didn't call for you," I protested, trying to recall if this was true or not.

"Not out loud," he conceded. "But subconsciously, I was the one person you thought could help. I think that's why you can see me even though you don't believe; because you want me to be real."

My head spun at this. I had been thinking an awful lot about how Jack Frost had supposedly fallen through the ice to save his sister.

"If you're so real, how come you didn't just pull me out of the water?" I challenged. "Why did you just stand there?"

"I tried," he replied sadly. "When you first fell in, I tried to grab you but my hands went right through you. You don't believe in me so I couldn't touch you. I still can't."

"Because I think you're a hallucination?" I supplied skeptically.

"Exactly."

The door opened then, and I looked to find a nurse peering in.

"Oh good, you're awake," she said kindly. "You have visitors."

She moved aside to allow three people into the room. They were my parents and brother.

"Holly!" mom cried. "Oh thank god you're awake!"

"How long have I been out?" I asked.

"Not long," Jack replied. I ignored him.

"About a day," dad answered.

That's his idea of not long? I would be having words with this figment.

"Is Louis okay?" I asked looking at the boy. He was staring at me with wide tear-filled eyes.

Suddenly he burst out crying and threw his head in his arms on the edge of my bed.

"I'm s-s-so s-sorry, Holly!" he sobbed. "If I hadn't gone onto the ice when you told me not to, you wouldn't have fallen in! I'll never disobey you again!"

"Oh, Louis!" I cried putting an arm around the crying boy. "It's okay, I don't blame you, I'm just glad you're safe."

And it was true; no matter what had happened, even if I had drowned, I would never blame the little boy in my arms. I would even put up with this hallucination of Jack Frost for the rest of my life if it would ensure that my little brother was safe.

A/N: So let me know what you think. If I get enough feedback, I might make it a multi-chapter fic, but for now it's just a one shot. R&R!