WARNING: THIS AUTHOR NOTE IS IMPORTANT!

AN: This story takes place on Christmas when Danny was 14 years old, the developments of that particular date have not taken place in here; meaning that Danny hates Christmas as much as ever and hasn't met Ghostwriter. Some of the original events of the DP chapter will take place in this universe, but others wont –I'm not being specific as not to ruin the surprise. Anyway, this being cannon up to the actual chapter means that this happens right after The Ultimate Enemy… On the other hand, the events that happened in the "Rise of the Guardians" movie shall remain the exact same, albeit it has been a while since Jack bowed to protect children and stuff.

This story shall show multiple POVs, though I shall do my best to limit myself to one per chapter. This one will be from Jack's, but, since I already have this poem on hand, I decided to open with it. Enjoy!

There is always a time, at the end of the year

When everything's nice and there's nothing to fear.

Smiles go around and even Goth kids are cheery…

Only Danny Fenton doesn't seem to be merry;

He huffed and he puffed and complained left and right,

About the usual holiday fight

"Santa", "No Santa" he whined rather loud

He seemed surrounded by his own gloomy cloud.

Now I'll share his story, hope you're not in a rush,

About the lesson that learnt our own ghostly Scrooge.

...

There is something else I shall say, now that the time's due:

Please forgive my typos and I beg you, don't sue;

'Cause I say "I own nothing", and you know that is true.

Chapter 1: The sadness before Christmas

It had been a really long time since the town of Burgess had witnessed such a dark night: the stars and the moon were hidden by clouds so dense they made the sky seem like an endlessly black void that swallowed all light. The sounds of the people's chattering from the streets bellow had long since died along with the sunlight, and even the whistling of the wind seemed to emphasize the silence. At times it seemed like time had frozen the depressing sight just to match the melancholic, lone figure sitting on the roof of a rundown shack not too far from a frozen pond.

Jack Frost was the only being out in the chilly night. The tiles of the wooden house he rested on were currently covered in frost, as was the rest of the construction, which hinted that the winter spirit had been sitting there for quite a while. A soft sigh came out of his mouth, it had been long since a complex expression had befallen his pale face. It was quite unusual to see the mischievous and playful guardian in such a gloomy mood, especially after the time he found his reason for being four years ago by defeating Pitch Black, gaining friends he knew he could count on, and obtaining some believers as well, so, he didn't feel as lonely as he once did. But, then again, it was the uncertainty that those very changes had brought that now made him feel so utterly miserable.

It felt like a lie that just a couple of hours ago he had been experiencing one of the most wonderful days. The day, which had been only slightly less cold than the current time, had been so full of life; laughter had been the predominant sound in the air and the smiling faces of children had warmed his soul. The smile on Jack's face had been so bright when the wind had carried him into his former hometown; he couldn't ever help but feel cheery every time he neared the place and this morning had been no exception, nor could he have restrained himself from causing snow fights left and right when he'd finally arrived.

The abysmal difference between the daytime scenery and the nighttime one made Jack unsure if the depressing vision before his eyes was actually real or only in his head. Memories of earlier hours replayed in his mind as the gripped his long staff.

Jack's visit to Burgess this day in particular had not been for his job as much as it had been for the sake of visiting a very important friend of his, Jamie Bennett, who had asked him to come for his birthday party that year. The spirit had been delighted to be invited again, just as he had been the year before, and the year before that, and it wasn't just because those happened to be the only parties Jack Frost had been invited to in over three centuries. No, a lot of it had to do with the fact that by spending time with the kids he could feel alive and have fun. And, him being the guardian of fun, knew Jamie thought his presence made it all seem extra especial. There had been, however, a very unexpected development after he'd arrived which caused the white-haired spirit to have a bitter taste of the reality. Cupcake, one of his first believers, had stopped seeing him.

The winter spirit couldn't help but compare the memory of the thick-framed brunet who had stood up to the Boogie Man claiming she would protect them from the nightmares to her current self. Cupcake, who had always been taller than the rest had continued to grow in more ways than just physical; she had thinned-up somewhat after she hit her growth spurt; the birds' nest that had once been her hair had grown longer to a point where it brushed her shoulders, and her facial features seemed to have gained a more feminine quality while it's chubbiness had decreased exponentially. She still looked like quite intimidating though.

All the changes the fierce-looking girl had gone through in the span of a year were a bit baffling to Jack, whose long life as a solitary free spirit had made him unable to really grasp how short childhood really was. But, now that he'd had the time to hang around a particular bunch of kids, he came to a realization that he probably should have come to a long time ago: his dear kids were growing and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Worse yet, they were bound to forget him, leaving him alone all over again… He'd known this, but this had been the first time he'd experienced it and it hurt.

Jack knew that it wasn't like he would be completely alone even if there wasn't a kid left who believed in him. He now had friends who could keep him company forever, since they shared his status of immortal. Still, the thought of losing Jamie so soon hurt more than he could bring himself to admit out-loud.

The older of the Bennett siblings had turned twelve today; an age when most didn't believe in magic anymore. Next year he would no longer be considered a kid but a teenager, and that particular fact worried The Guardian of Fun plenty. Jack had yet to find a teenager who could see any of the guardians. He had seen quite a lot of them wandering the streets at night, but none of them took notice of the sandman and his giant dreams of golden dust parading around every populated area; nor had he noticed any of them bat an eyelash when a very eye-catchy sled pulled by reindeer flew above their heads; nor they noticed the bird-like fairies (or even the mice) that went in and out of their very own homes to visit their younger siblings…

That Cupcake had been the first to 'grow up' was not surprising to Jack (who has always been under the impression that she was at least a year older than the rest) but, that being the case, it could mean that next year, when everyone hit thirteen, he would no longer be seen by any of them. Sure, he had more believers than the six he currently worried about (Sophie Bennett being the first to come to mind) but those six held a very special place in his heart.

The youngest guardian shook his head ever so slightly, making the white locks of his messy hair move almost unnoticeably. He had tried to focus on the positive side of things, yet he seemed to be stuck in his thoughts and he couldn't break out of their depressing circle. He knew he really should put this to the side and go do his job, but he couldn't seem to gather the force of standing up to continue covering random things with frost.

He didn't know exactly how long he'd been sitting there. He'd chosen this particular roof because he could see the sleeping face of Jamie from his room's window. He couldn't seem to leave, feeling that the face of that little boy who could see him would change if he took his eyes off of him. Still, he knew he couldn't stay there forever, and he knew he wouldn't really be able to figure his tangled emotions out on his own. He needed to get things out of his chest, and who better than his fellow guardians to go for advice?

Jack considered his options. He couldn't go with Sandy. Despite being a really good listener, the little man still had never been able to speak a word and Jack couldn't figure out what the glowing sand-symbols he communicated with meant half of the time. He could go to Toothania, but the hyper way she handled herself made him hesitate. He didn't know if he was in the mood to handle her fast speech and tendency to become distracted at the moment, not to mention the fact that the little fairies constantly flying around guaranteed no privacy while he opened his heart to his friend. He shook his head and mentally scratched her of his mental list of options. Then he wondered if North would have time with Christmas around the corner, however, when he noticed the only option left to ask for advice if he discarded the large man as an option would be Bunnymund, the idea of visiting the North Pole instantly cemented itself in his brain. Needless to say, the Easter Rabbit could never be an option to go with emotional chat that he could use against the Winter Spirit.

Once his mind was made, Jack stood up with a graceful jump and raised his staff to the wind, asking it to take him to the North Pole. During his flight there the spirit felt the worries diminish greatly, as he dwelled in the familiar wind; which carried him above towns, forest and cities, making the world underneath seem so small and yet so pretty. Jack had always felt comfort in the whispering breeze of winter, in the peacefulness of the starry night and the little snowflakes that that fell softly around him when his staff grazed the puffy, white clouds. He could almost forget the problems that had risen this sudden need to visit North.

Once Jack had arrived the pole, more specifically the house of the Christmas icon. He walked straight to the main door and it's gate keeper, a very familiar yeti: Phil. It felt weird for both him and Phil that he was now allowed to get into the workshop whenever it struck the mood. The short span of time since his welcome status had changed paled in comparison to centuries of failed sneak-in attempts to the toy-shop —not that the winter spirit would complain about that. The couple of the usual glares directed towards him by the furry guard didn't faze him as he casually walked by him, before opening the otherwise closed door to the workshop area.

Jack looked around the enormous place, walking carefully to prevent himself from stomping on the small, silly elves as they played with each other, messing up some toy or another, while he made his way towards the white-bearded Russian man in the red suit giving out orders left and right to his workers. Nicholas St. North, who kept frantically directing the last minute changes, stood outside his office instead of inside which was where Jack had assumed he would be.

"No, lights go over there! Put that lot here! Who let elves go near paint?... Oh! hello, Jack," North greeted. It had taken him a long while to even notice his shorter white-haired comrade, but the blue-eyed boy didn't pay it any mind. In fact, he was actually kind of surprised the older guardian had noticed his presence in the middle of the whole Christmas pandemonium that came this time of a year. Sure, the workshop always seemed lively with toys being made left and right, but this time of a year it was even more so since the influence of TV commercials made kids change what they had wanted as a present, which meant more work for the inhabitants of Santa's Workshop.

The borderline panicked atmosphere that Jack saw in the workshop made him hesitate on asking North for help at the moment; after all, it wouldn't make much of a difference for him to ask for advice now or do it in a couple of days. Waiting that long would mean Christmas was over for the year, giving his friend enough leisure time to focus on giving him advice. Mentally he kicked himself for interrupting North's schedule, he decided to leave the Russian and had just opened his mouth to let the man know, but was stopped by the booming voice of the big man overflowing with enthusiasm. "So, Jack, why are you looking so down? It is almost Christmas! Everyone should be happy on Christmas!"

"Yeah, well, I-" Jack mentally fished for excuses but gave up getting the feeling his friend wouldn't let him brush his mood aside. "Could we…talk somewhere less crowded?" Jack looked around, hesitant to talk where he stood.

"Ah!" Exclaimed Santa in understanding. "Follow me." He gestured to his door and then lead the younger spirit the ten-steps-or-so that were needed to take to reach said door. Once they had crossed the opened door and closed it, the two relocated themselves to opposite sides of North's large desk. Jack was still trying to find the words to explain why he had come when North gave the boy a knowing look. "You are worried about that, aren't you?" The man smiled in a fatherly manner.

Jack was not sure if the man had guessed correctly but he nodded anyway and began telling North the story of how he had arrived Burgess just to learn that Cupcake no longer believed. He felt himself choke a bit when he told the older spirit that she seemed convinced that the claim that "Jack Frost is here!" had been a clever joke the others had agreed on making and had been oddly insistent about it.

It surprised Jack a bit that Nicholas St. North had kept quiet the whole tale, only nodding at crucial times so he knew he was paying attention; however, the bearded man stood up as soon as Jack reached the part when he left the birthday party with the excuse he needed to go back to his job of covering things with frost (which he did, but didn't actually do) and just getting away as quickly as he could. Jack decided to keep out the fact that he went back to Burgess five minutes later, to hide on Jamie's neighbor's roof next to a chimney where he could stay hidden while watching the celebration go on without him being noticed; after all, that behavior could be considered kind of lame in Jack Frost standards, so he had to save face.

The Christmas icon walked from his desktop to a plain wooden cabinet a couple of steps behind it. Jack couldn't see the contents of the furniture piece since the wide back of his friend was in the way, but once he turned around he noticed his friend was holding an snowglobe, and, as he had learnt quite some time ago, those globes were used by the big man as a form of transportation. It was clear that the intention of North was to take him somewhere else for whatever reason, which made Jack worry about the older guardian being away from the workshop in such a crucial time of his work.

"Erm, are you sure you have time for this right now?" Jack voiced out in concern, though his tone was edged with more curiosity than it probably should have been.

"Jack, my giving toys to children of world is important, but that does mean I cannot spare few moments for friend's sake. Besides, it is almost Christmas! Nobody should be sad on Christmas!" The man repeated his early exclamation, then, suddenly, he seemed absorbed in a thought before loudly proclaiming, "Trust me, I know what you need!" in a confident tone.

Having said that, the bulky, tattooed man used the globe in his hand to create a portal to take them to some place named Amity Park, if the cheer he yelled was anything to go by. Once the image of a town not much bigger than Burgess came into view inside the swirly circle, the spirit of fun was dragged in by the one who opened it.

Jack felt a little bit dizzy, which wasn't much of a surprise for he was not as used to this way of travel as his older comrade, yet he managed to hide his condition by evenly asking, "Where… are we going?" He already knew the name of the city, but the place was rather big and the way North lead the way indicated he had a more specific goal in mind; however the sliver of uncertainty and curiosity this encounter brought was getting increasingly overshadowed by the annoyance of not having his questions answered by his friend; whose hyped long strides were twice as long as Jack's, which meant the last had to jog a bit to catch up.

The two guardians walked a couple of blocks, before North slowed down and stopped in front of a weird looking house; sure it had the usual shape, bricks as normal as the next house's, and very ordinary windows… however the giant UFO-shaped thing on top of it, along with the glowing, neon green sign that said "Fenton Works" made Jack stare in surprise. Jack was absorbed in his musings that he almost missed the cheer of "Ah! Here we are!" coming from his left. Jack turned around to see the Russian proudly pointing towards the strange house. Frowning in confusion, the guardian of fun followed the direction the guardian of wonder had indicated and then glanced uncertainly back at his fellow guardian, who seemed oblivious to his hesitation and neither showed any falter in his enthusiasm nor lowered his hand while he moved his head to insist he kept on looking.

"JACK!" An angry yell came from inside the house and the spirit turned around as a reflex, making his gaze fall in the window at the left of the door, before noticing he was not the one being addressed.

"SEE! Reindeer can be used to pull slides!" The sight of the big man dressed in an orange attire that resembled a full-body pajama made of the wrong fabric, energetically pointing to an article print-out that the white-haired Jack assumed the black-haired had taken from somewhere on the internet.

The winter spirit found himself smirking while taking a step forwards, accidentally covering the window with frost, but not so much so that he couldn't take a look inside. He watched silently a woman dressed just as weirdly as the other inhabitant of the house, except in blue, argued. "Oh, please. Like a picture taken from the internet could be proof! If reindeer could truly were good pulling slides so well, then why there aren't any reindeer sled racing? Besides, even if reindeer could pull a slide, how do you explain the flying?"

"They can fly BECAUSE THEY ARE MAGIC REINDEER!" The man yelled hotly, and soon the two similarly dressed people began arguing about the existence of magic; a fight which wasn't too uncommon between 7 year-old children this time of a year.

It took it a moment of witnessing the childish man continuously claim that everything was possible thanks to Santa's magic to get what the red-clothed, old spirit was trying to hint at by dragging Jack around and making him witness the argument. That man, Jack-whoever, still believed despite no longer being a kid!

"See?" The Santa let out in a very proud voice, before adding in a more comforting one "Some people's faith can last a lifetime, Jack. And, after the fight with Pitch, I believe that Jamie will be one of those few," the jolly man assured his fellow guardian, making his mood improve drastically.

Now a warm joy filled the winter spirit's soul; he knew that his Jamie wouldn't live forever, but the prospect of having the boy be there for Jack for a while longer caused hope replace the sadness. With a wide smile spreading in his face he turned around to his friend. "Thanks, North," the youngest guardian said to the older, who laughed boisterously at the unusual word of gratitude.

"We better get back. I need to get back to toys," Santa swiftly declared, in a way that seemed to suggest the end of their little adventure. Nicholas St. North waited a moment to breathe-in the cheerful air of Christmas in the decorated town, before telling Jack that they should get back to the workshop –or at least he should– then pointed towards his companion's chest. "You have lots of work to do as well; after all, it is winter," North pointedly reminded Jack about his duty. Jack smiled and they both stepped away from the window, feeling refreshed by the short visit. Then they turned and gave a couple of steps into the empty street, ready to go back to the Pole; however, the sudden slam of the main door of the house they had just scrutinized made them turn, bewildered. A teen, no older than fourteen, fumingly stormed down the steps they had just walked down and ran out into the cold night pausing a few feet away from Jack and North.

Jack winced as the door closed on its own by bouncing on an inner wall, using the leftover momentum that came from the raven-haired teen throwing it open."I hate Christmas!" the teen all but yelled, his rage apparently blurring his sight as he stomped forwards, because he crashed right into the white bearded man, who was too shocked due to the teen's earlier exclamation to even blink, and was thrown even further into confusion when the boy didn't walk right through him.

Apologetically blue eyes darted up, towards the one his owner had pumped into but instantly a scowl replaced the previous feeling when he noticed the signature, white beard. "GREAT! Another Santa!" the teen yelled, pushing North out of the way as he continued to storm somewhere away from the building.

"Wait!" Jack's comrade pulled the angry boy by the arm. Normally the big man would have no way to prevent an angry teen from passing by, but Jack figured the man hadn't really processed that fact as he grabbed this particular one in his startled indignation of finding someone who not only didn't like Christmas, but openly hated it.

"What?!" the boy demanded, yanking his arm from the gasp of the holiday icon. "Came here to sing carols? Selling postcards? Planning to spread some 'Christmas joy'?" He air quoted the last part and paused, letting his angry sarcasm stab into the Russian. "Well, guess what!" The teen spoke in a slightly quieter voice but his tone still seemed as sharp as a knife as he growled out his next words through gritted teeth. "I. Don't. Care." and the teen glared at North, raising his finger to the thick red coat he was wearing. "So you-" he then motioned to Jack Frost's chest instead, "and your Christmas-happy son leave me the hell alone, will ya? I'm not in the mood for this right now!" Having said that the boy walked away, leaving a couple of stunned guardians in front of his house as he made his way down the street.

Once Jack's bewilderment had decreased somewhat he turned to see North who now seemed to bare as much sadness as he himself had felt a few hours prior.

"North?" Jack ventured, making his friend snap out of it. The older man looked down at Jack, his face going from sad and bewildered to determined.

"Come, Jack. It seems it will take us longer to get back to Pole, no?" Without hesitating a moment after he'd spoken, the man shot forward to follow the source of his most recent depression. Jack sighed and flew to catch up, not knowing that just around the next building his bulkiest friend stood, looking at the empty street; the boy he'd been chasing should have been there, but he was nowhere to be seen.

To be continued.

.

AN: I take this particular chance to say I won't be including any more disclaimers, the one in this chapter should suffice and was there for the sake of tradition. I take in suggestions on where to take this story, since the plot is still on construction and some hints of what my readers want could come in handy. In fact, the next chapter might come so latter on that you might want to see this one as an oneshot, though I do plan on continuing it… Which is why I shall do my best to include as many plot-bunnies and crazy ideas you might want to see… but only if they fit my capability of portraying things… I also am unsure whether to put in some Pitch or not, since this story happens in cannon right before The Ultimate Enemy. There is a good possibility there, but keeping Ghost Writer's intervention in the original chapter is an option as well… any preferences on that

Having said that, I want to add a huge "THANK YOU" to Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet who betaed this chapter; she helped me more than words can express, and took time out of her busy schedule just for me *sobs* I'm moved. If you haven't read her "DPxRise Of The Guardians" oneshot "Mistaken Relations" you should totally do that, since it is, in my opinion, the best one in the whole page ^_^