A/N: Okay so I realized quite quickly that people seem to love this story and nothing has even happened yet :) So even though I had a huge case of the dreaded Writer's Block I muddled through. My Muse was a great help and he kept poking me until I finished. I went back through this chapter a couple times until I was satisfied so I really hope you like the hard work I put in. Enjoy!

I don't own.

Chapter 2: The Child They Missed

Autumn was happier than she could ever remember being. Jack Frost was real! He was real and he was standing in front of her! He was real, he was standing in front of her, and he was gorgeous! She felt her heart skip faster the longer she looked at him.

"So, Autumn," Jack said, bringing her out of her reverie. "How is it that you still believe in me? I'm not complaining, but I'm just not used to children believing in me, let alone adults."

"I don't know," Autumn shrugged. "I've believed in you since I was really young, even though nobody could tell me much about you. I looked up your name on the internet and all I could find was that you were the personification of winter and a little myth about summoning the snow."

"Summoning the snow?" Jack had never heard of such a myth.

"Yeah, it says that if you want the snow to come during the winter, you have to call for Jack Frost, that's you," she explained. "To do that, you're supposed to put a paper snowflake under your pillow and go to bed with your pajamas inside-out while thinking 'Jack Frost, come and make the snow fall.' I did that every winter since I read about it, and it worked every time. That's why I've always believed in you, because you've never failed me."

Jack laughed. "That pajama thing? I told Jamie that years ago! I didn't think people would take it seriously. Kids actually do that?"

"Well I did, and you came every time. The morning after I did it, there would always be fresh snow on the ground."

"Weird. I mean, I sometimes get feelings that I should be in one place or another to make it snow, but…"

"That's where kids are wishing for you to come and visit! I have this friend at school who says she used to do that when she was a kid, it used to work for her too."

"Used to?" he asked.

"Yeah," she became quiet. "She stopped believing, and now she just does it for kicks and giggles, but you never come when she does it anymore."

Jack frowned. The subject of people not believing in him was a sore one, and just thinking about someone who had once believed and in him ceased to do so broke his heart. He had lost a child's faith, how many others had he lost?

"Okay," he said slowly. "Excuse me if I'm a bit slow on the uptake right now as this is a pretty foreign area for me. You said I never failed you, but you also said you didn't believe in the other Guardians, does that mean they failed you?"

"Guardians?"

"Yeah, yeah. Santa Clause, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and Sandman," Jack clarified. "Did they fail you?"

"You mean they're actually real?" Autumn's eyes got wide. Suddenly her whole childhood got a lot more miserable; they were all real but they never came.

"Of course they're real!" Jack exclaimed not noticing the young woman's inner turmoil. "Who do you think puts presents under your tree at Christmas? Who do you think replaces your baby teeth with money? Who do you think hides the chocolate eggs around your house on Easter? And where do you think your good dreams come from?"

"I never got any presents from Santa," Autumn said, tears forming in her eyes. "I caught my mom taking my baby tooth and replacing it with a dollar once; I also caught her hiding Easter eggs around the house. And I've never had a good dream."

"But, I don't understand," Jack said, his eyes widened in horror. "The Guardians are supposed to take care of all of that. How is it that your whole life, they've missed you every time?"

"What exactly are the Guardians, Jack?" Autumn asked hearing the word a second time.

"Well it's the five of us; North, Tooth, Bunny, Sandy, and me," Jack explained. "I'm relatively new. I'm used to children believing in them and not me, but I've never met someone who believed in me and not them!"

"Yeah, well, like I said, you never failed me," Autumn muttered. "Anyway, what do you all do? Guardians of what?"

"Childhood," he said simply. "We 'keep happy their hearts, brave their souls, and rosy their cheeks.' We also 'protect with our lives, their hopes and dreams.' At least that's what the oath I took says we do, and I think we do a pretty good job of it."

"You protect us?"

"Well, children," Jack corrected.

"I was a child once, Jack," Autumn was getting really upset now. "You Guardians were supposed to protect me too. But they all failed me, not one present, egg, dollar, or good dream. All I got were crushed hopes and nightmares! The Guardians never came, and in their absence, I got the Boogeyman instead!"

Jack's eyes went wide again. "Pitch took advantage of their absence?" he asked to be sure he heard right.

"Who's Pitch?"

"Pitch Black, the King of Nightmares. Children call him the Boogeyman."

"Then yes. Pitch came all the time. Sometimes I can see him, lurking in the shadows, waiting for me to go to sleep so he can invade my mind and give me nightmares. He came last night."

"He was at your house?"

"He was in my room! I tried to call the snow last night, and he wasn't impressed."

"I didn't get the feeling that this place needed any snow," Jack said, wondering why the snowflake thing hadn't worked this time.

"That's because Pitch took the snowflake from under my pillow while I slept and tore it up. I found the pieces by my bed and black sand under my pillow."

"Wow he really hates me," Jack said almost impressed. "He's still trying to get people to stop believing in the Guardians."

"I don't think he did it to get me to stop believing in you," Autumn mused.

"Why else would he rip up the snowflake?"

"I think it was to tell me he was there and that he didn't approve of you."

"Why do you think it's so important to him that you believe?" Jack asked. "I mean, I know he hates how adults constantly tell children he's not real but…"

"I don't know, but I do know that he likes to pay me extra special attention," Autumn said sadly. "I've tried everything I can think of to keep him out and he still comes. I keep a nightlight, my bed is right on the floor, my closet door is firmly closed, and I have a dream catcher, nothing works."

"Things like that won't stop Pitch," Jack said. "Being afraid of him is what gives him the strength he needs to be really dangerous. If you're not afraid, then he can't hurt you."

"You sound like you're talking to a kid," Autumn said wryly.

"Well, I don't know how to talk to adults…"

"You look almost adult, yourself."

Jack scratched the back of his head self consciously. "I'm not really. I'm more of a kid right below the surface."

"Hey, me too!" Autumn grinned. "My mom always says I grew down instead of up. I was really mature growing up and now I'm making up for lost time."

Jack grinned too. Just then, he got an idea. "Hey, Autumn? How would you like to meet the Guardians?"

"Really?" Autumn's eyes got bright. "Is that allowed?"

"We'll find out!" Jack said joy and mischievousness dancing in his beautiful eyes. "Grab hold of me. First stop is the Warren!"

Autumn didn't hesitate to grab hold of Jack around the middle and cling tightly despite the cold he radiated. He jumped high into the air, pointing his staff skywards, and alighted on the highest branch in the surrounding trees.

"Hold on tight," he said to her with a cocky smirk. The raised his voice to the open air. "Hey, Wind!" he called. "Take me to the Warren!"

The shock of having the cold winter wind pick her and Jack up made Autumn scream and cling tighter to him, but as soon as the initial surprise wore off, she whooped in delight. Jack and Autumn soared through the air at top speed over land and sea, before dropping into a rather warm glade.

"Where are we?" Autumn asked. "It's so warm."

"We're in the Warren," said Jack wrinkling his nose at the warmth. "Home of the Easter Bunny, located in the middle of Australia."

"Australia!" Autumn was gobsmacked. How had they gotten from Maryland, USA to Australia in about two minutes?

"What do you think you're doing, Jack Frost?" came a deep voice laced with a thick Australian accent.

Jack and Autumn whirled around to face the speaker and Autumn's jaw dropped. Standing before her was the hugest bunny she had ever seen; he stood eight feet tall and had leather cuffs that went around his wrists and ankles with a strap that went over his shoulder to hold a weapon to his back. The weapon in question was a boomerang held threateningly in Jack's face.

"Have you got a few roos loose in the top paddock?" Bunny seemed to grow even larger in his anger. "You can't bring people to our sanctuaries, especially not adults like her!"

At this, Bunny's attention was drawn to the gaping mouth of the young woman. It suddenly became clear that she could see him.

"Can she see me?" Bunny asked Jack in an aside.

"Yes, and she can hear you too, Cottontail," Jack mocked.

"You're the Easter Bunny?" Autumn gasped. "But you're huge! You're not like what I imagined at all!"

"But…wait," Bunny said, confused. "You still believe in me? How old are you, kid?"

"First of all, I'm not a kid," Autumn said putting up a finger to emphasize her point. "I'm twenty years old. And second, I didn't believe in you until a few hours ago when Jack said you were real."

"Okay…" said Bunny, still confused. "I'm lost, you could see Frost?"

"Well it took some convincing," Jack supplied. "She believed in me but she couldn't see me until I hit her with a couple snowballs."

"What?"

Jack and Autumn could see this was getting them nowhere, and so began their story again from the beginning. Autumn told most of the story about how she lost faith in the Guardians a long time ago because they never came, and Jack jumped in at the part where they met on the bike trail.

"I was so happy that Jack was real because he was the last Guardian that I still believed in, and without him, the only thing I had left to believe in was the Boogeyman…wait, Jack what did you call him?" Autumn asked finishing the story.

"Pitch," Jack answered.

"Wait, kid," Bunny's eyes went wide. "You believe in Pitch?"

"Well, yeah," Autumn said as if it were obvious. "Who do you think has been the cause of my nightmares every other night? I can sometimes see him hiding in the shadows, and all I can see of him is his amber eyes and this sinister smile."

"You've seen him?" Bunny asked. "Describe what he looks like?"

"Bunny, you already know what he looks like," said Jack. "We've fought him."

"I want to know if she's actually seen him, yeh rango," Bunny retorted. He then looked to Autumn expectantly.

"Well, I never really got a clear look at him, but as I said before, he's got amber colored eyes. He looks like he's made from darkness, all fluid like a shadow. I've seen his shadow flit across my room so I sort of know his profile." At this, Autumn bent down and drew the image in the dirt below her feet. The drawing had sharp features and a narrow frame with the hair spiking out towards the back of the head.

"Crikey," Bunny whispered staring at the image. "She's seen him alright. This ain't good, kid."

"Why?" asked Jack, surprised. "There are loads of kids out there who have seen Pitch, like Jamie and his friends."

"No, mate, they can't see him anymore, they can't see any of us, even Jamie," said Bunny ominously. "All kids grow up, and all kids stop believing someday. And good thing, too, cos if they still believed in us, they would believe in Pitch, too."

"I don't understand," Autumn broke in. "Why is it a bad thing that I believe in him?"

"Because, kid," said Bunny. "Adults never believe. When an adult believes, their belief is worth a million kids' belief!"

"A million?!" Jack exclaimed. "But that would boost our power… no!"

"What?" Autumn asked.

"What's worse," said Bunny. "You said we missed her; her whole life, not one of us came?"

"Yes," said Jack. "She only believed in me like I said, but it was hard to get her to see me."

"This isn't good, kid," Bunny ran his claws across his boomerang absently. "We need to call the others together."

"The others?" Jack asked alarmed. "But surely this isn't that big of a deal? So what if Pitch's powers are boosted by her belief, our powers are boosted as well because she believes in us too."

"That's not what's important anymore, Frost," said Bunny distractedly. "We missed a kid; that's a problem."

"What?" Autumn was getting tired of being out of the loop. "What is going on?"

"Why is that a problem?" Jack was also confused.

"Not right now, I'll explain at the Pole," Bunny said. "We need to tell the others."

"The Pole?" Autumn asked. "The North Pole?"

"That's right, kid," Bunny said smirking. "How would you like to meet Santa Clause?"

Autumn's eyes went wide. She had stopped believing years ago and now she was about to meet Santa in person, and not just some man at the mall. She grinned excitedly and nodded enthusiastically.

"Right then, off we go," Bunny finished his sentence with a thump of his foot.

Autumn gasped as a tunnel opened at the point where Bunny had thumped. She peered into it nervously. "Is it safe," she asked apprehensively.

"Of course it's safe," said Bunny.

"And one hell of a fun ride!" said Jack with light in his eyes. "Geronimo!"

With that, he jumped into the hole and his whoop of excitement could be heard echoing back. Autumn grinned. If it was fun enough for Jack, then it must be okay.

With one last look around the Warren, Autumn jumped in after the Winter Spirit, followed closely by Bunny.

Jack was right about one thing; the tunnels were one hell of a ride, but Autumn wouldn't exactly call it fun…well maybe a little. It was like those rides at amusement parks that are so wild that they're almost terrifying, but even though your legs are shaking like mad at the end, you can't wait to do it again. So Autumn wouldn't call the tunnels fun, but they were definitely exciting, even if she wanted to throw up.

As suddenly as the ride began, it was over. She was unceremoniously shot out of the tunnel at top speed and would have hit the ground hard if Jack hadn't caught her.

"Th-thanks," she said, blushing at how close their faces were.

"No problem," he said with a smirk. He taped her nose gently and it instantly went numb with cold.

"Alright kids, pull yourselves together," Bunny interrupted them. "In case you've forgotten, there's a serious matter at hand."

"Except you haven't told us what this serious matter is," Jack retorted, putting Autumn back on her feet.

"In a minute, Frostbite," said Bunny. He turned to the room they were all standing in and called out. "Hey, North! Where are you?"

It was then that Autumn noticed their surroundings. They were standing in a huge room with vaulted ceilings and workbenches around the walls with various half-formed and broken toys, and right in the middle was the largest and most impressive globe she had ever seen. All over its surface shone little yellow lights, and as she watched a few lights dimmed or brightened, some went out while new ones lit up, and way up at the top, something shone so brightly, that it reflected off of the sky lights above it.

"What is that?"Autumn asked in a hushed voice taking a hesitant step towards it.

"That is Globe of Belief," came a voice from behind her.

Autumn turned to see a large man wearing furs with a white beard and bright blue eyes. He stared at her for a moment in confusion, and then looked at the light at the top of the globe, and comprehension seemed to dawn on him.

"Your belief is strongest of all," he said with a thick Russian accent. "Each light represents a child who believes. That light at top of globe is you."

Autumn thought she was going to faint; Jack said he was real, and she believed him, but believing and seeing were two completely different things. She was looking at Santa Claus, the Santa Claus. She felt like she had to say something.

"You're Santa!" she exclaimed.

"Call me North," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "What brings you to North Pole?"

Autumn couldn't articulate a response, so Bunny stepped in.

"North, she's the kid we all missed," he said urgently. "She's never had a visit from one of us her whole life!"

"What?" North seemed suddenly distressed. "No, is not possible! I check my list twice!"

"Believe it, mate," said Bunny. "We need to call Tooth and Sandy."

"But is almost Christmas," North whined. "Can it not wait until New Year?"

"She's seen Pitch," Bunny said simply. "It can't wait."

North's eyes went wide at this. Bunny's word seemed to send a sense of urgency into him as he went to a machine near the globe while Jack and Autumn shared a look of confusion.

"We must call them immediately!" With that, he pressed a few buttons and threw a lever, and suddenly, a great burst of light shot out of the machine and into the sky through an open skylight. The light shone about a hundred indescribable colors and spread like waves across the sky.

It took a moment for Autumn to understand what she was seeing.

"The aurora is your messenger?" she whispered in awe.

Before anyone could answer however, an air plane made of golden sand suddenly flew in through the open skylight and suddenly disappeared, leaving a small little man that seemed to be made from the same sand. He looked around in confusion and a little question mark made of sand formed above his head.

"Just a minute, Sandy," Bunny replied. "We're still waiting on Tooth."

Autumn walked up, eyes wide. "Are you the Sandman?"

Sandy looked at her with curiosity and nodded. He held out his hand and smiled.

Autumn shook the offered hand. "I'm Autumn Aki. You don't speak do you?"

He shook his head.

"Are you deaf?"

He shook his head again.

"Then, you're just mute?"

He nodded.

"How do you communicate?"

He pointed above his head and a series of sand pictures appeared.

"Wouldn't it be easier if you knew sign language?"

Sandy's eyes went wide with excitement and his hands moved through the air at top speed. Autumn followed his hands closely and realized he was asking her a question in American Sign Language. 'Do you know ASL?'

"Yes I do," she replied. "I study it in school."

'Really?' he asked 'How good are you?'

"I like to think I'm nearly fluent."

'What made you interested in taking ASL as a subject?'

"I want to be a teacher for deaf children."

As Sandy and Autumn had their discussion, Jack, North, and Bunny watched in confusion as they could only understand what Autumn was saying.

"Did you know he knew sign language?" Jack asked Bunny.

"Nope."

Just then, they were interrupted by the sound of many fluttering wings and a distracted chattering.

"…and don't forget the little boy in Cambodia, he just lost another one, and there's a girl in Maryland who just lost her first… Oh! I'm so off schedule!"

In came the most colorful person Autumn had ever seen her whole life surrounded by what appeared to be equally colorful hummingbirds, to which she was giving instructions. Upon closer inspection, she realized they were little bird-like fairies.

"Yes, Tooth, we know you're off schedule," Bunny grumped. "We're all off schedule, but this is important."

Tooth was about to give Bunny a piece of her mind about the fact that he was probably the least thrown off by this meeting, when she was interrupted by a gasp.

"You're the Tooth Fairy!" Autumn cried. "You're beautiful!"

Tooth was halted in her tracks. She stared at the young woman before her and couldn't help but be pleased with the complement.

"Thank you," she said warmly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Autumn Aki," she replied, still staring at the Guardians surrounding her, the wonder of her surroundings only now just reaching her.

"Autumn Aki…" Tooth commented quietly. "I remember every tooth I've ever collected, and I don't remember any belonging to an Autumn Aki…"

"Neither have I seen her name on list, Naughty or Nice," North confirmed.

"That's because we missed her," said Bunny.

Tooth and her fairies gasped and Sandy did a sort of silent gasp as what appeared to be firework made of golden sand exploded above his head.

"Okay, I'm still not understanding what it means that we missed her," Jack said.

"Yes, can someone please explain?" Autumn asked, desperate for some answers.

Everyone settled down a little and prepared to explain.

"It was long time ago," North began. "When Man in Moon first recruited Guardians to protect children of Earth. Destiny told Man in Moon that we four Guardians would one day miss a child."

"This was long before you were made a Guardian, Jack," Tooth explained gently. "Destiny said that because we would miss this child, the child would know only the cold and the dark."

"The cold must be Jack," Autumn put in. "And the dark must be Pitch. That makes sense."

"Destiny said that this kid would be the strongest believer of all," Bunny added. "She said that this kid would bring together all the things that are good in the world and bring about a new age, an age of peace, because this kid would have a connection to an inner strength that none but Mother Nature herself could understand."

"But we must also be careful," said Tooth. "For as strong as this child would be, they would also have an inner darkness fueled by the absence of the Guardians."

"And that darkness could mean the end of Guardians forever," North finished.

There was a lull for a moment as Autumn tried to understand.

"Let me get this straight," she said. "I'm either supposed to bring about world peace, or send everything back into the Dark Ages?"

"Pretty much," North shrugged.

"Hmm… I think I like the sound of that." There was suddenly a voice that didn't belong to any of the Guardians or Autumn. It came from the shadows and sounded like dark velvet laced with a British accent.

A/N: (3,892) I hope you all enjoyed all that! More to come soon! R&R!