Author's note: Hey guys! I love you all so much! Like wow, I'm just so freakin happy you like it! Also, quick question, should I change the rating to M because of the cussing and innuendos?

Disclaimer: I do not own the Guardians, I only own my OC and the plot

Ugh, what the hell is this guy's deal?!

Blue eyes mixed with warm tones glare at icy light blue counterparts. Jack Frost reaches a helping hand out to the fallen teen, a playful smile donning his pale face. Astrid huffs and moves his hand away. She stands up and brushes off the back of her pants. While she does this, the winter spirit continues to look on in amusement, the smile turning into a smirk. She takes notice of this and she clenches her fists, her eyebrows make a V, and her face heats up from anger.

"Hey, chill out will ya?"

"Real punny, Frosty, "she says with a wry smile, "but I'm not really in the mood for stranger danger fun." She walks away, intending that to be her dismissal, unfortunately for her, the icy teen floats after her. "Leave me alone, stalker."

Feigning offense, Jack throws his hand to his chest, gasping and exaggerating his facial expression. "Stalker?! I call hypocrisy on you! You stalked me first." He flies to sit on a phone booth.

Her nose starts to twitch a little and she let's out an aggravated growl, trying to avoid the snow spirit, to no avail.

"Soooo, does my stalker have a name?"

Sighing, she turns towards him, "If I tell you my name, will you leave me alone?"

"It's a possibility." He says with a shrug.

Hesitant at first, she finally gives in. "Hi, I'm Astrid. Okay, buh-bye." And with that she takes her leave again.

Jack follows her and fully takes in her appearance, "I'm curious, what's with the getup? I mean I know everyone is unique and all but isn't the glitter a bit much? Did you just come from a party or something, cause you seem a little young to be staying out late, or in this case, early."

Astrid gives him a look up and down, "Well you're not exactly traditional yourself. Starting a new trend?" She motions to his bare feet.

Giving a one-sided shrug, he nonchalantly replies, "Oh don't you know? It's the latest in Paris."

"Oh har har."

The city is starting to wake up, people emerging from apartments, hailing taxis or heading to the nearest coffee shop. Slowly, the streets get busier. Astrid tries her best to not get caught up in the crowd, avoiding others shoulders at every chance she got. Jack took notice of this, is she a germaphobe or something...?

Astrid spots a big crowd approaching, heading for the Amtrak. She braces herself for the oncoming stampede. She gasps as the first person goes through her, remembering her ghostly state. She holds her breath as everyone passes through her, a familiar empty sensation with each person. Feeling alone once again, she ducks her head down to hide her face from Jack.

Jack stares in shock at the girl, she's...she's a spirit! He sees her flinching a little and then curling in on herself. He is still in shock, not thinking to help her move until after the crowd moves on. He touches her shoulder, she jumps as if she was electrified. She looks up at him and he notices her eyes are glassy from unshed tears. She looks away and wipes her eyes with the edge of her sleeve.

"I'm sorry, it's uh, it's still new to me...I shouldn't be...i-it's stupid." She chokes out as many words as she could at the moment.

Knowing how she feels, he comes to the only thing he could think of to comfort her, to help her feel. He wraps his arms around her petite form, rests his head on top of hers, tilting so her bun isn't in his face and hugs her. He tightens his hold on her as she stays motionless and breathes out a sigh, accidentally frosting her hair a little. Oops, my bad. Seeing this, he lets out a small chuckle, the vibrations of his mirth rumbling into Astrid.

Clearing her throat a little, she shifts under him and he takes this as a sign to release her. She pulls back from him and looks up. "Hey, thanks..." she trails off, a small, grateful smile on her face.

"No problem, I've been there before." He then looks at her hair again and tries his very best to not laugh. Unfortunately for him, his poker face isn't exactly the greatest.

Astrid quirks an eyebrow at him, "What's so funny?"
Coughing to seem nonchalant, he covers his mouth with his hand, muffling his words. "I uh, I kinda froze your hair..." He tries to hide his sneaking smile but his eyes betray him.

Astrid blinks once, twice, three more times after that, then she explodes. "YOU DID WHAT?!"

He steps back from her fury, "I-I just frosted it on accident! It'll melt after a while...just don't touch it for now, it might break off."

"Jack!" She makes a move to grab him, only to grasp onto air. She looks up to see him floating. "When I get my hands on you, I'm gonna take that stick of your's and shove it up your ass when I'm done with you!"

"Kinky. Didn't peg you for the dominant type."

Astrid's face immediately felt hot as she furiously blushed at his assumption.

"God dammit Frost, you're a dead man walking!"

"Quite literally." He smirks at her, lazily floating about.

Face still red from her blushing, she takes off after him. Startled, Jack fumbled a little before he regained his balance. She didn't tell me she could FLY!

He wags his finger at her, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. What did I say about your language. So unladylike, so naughty."

Zooming after him, she shouts out, "I'm gonna wipe that smirk off your smug face!"

The wind rushing in her ears, her bun coming lose, stray hair whipping about, her bangs splitting in unruly ways. Though this chase started in anger, with them winding between buildings and twisting between streets, she can't help the big, goofy smile from appearing on her face.

Their game of chase turned into a game of hide and seek, one hunting down the other, trading turns. Hiding around corners, in the market place, behind buses. As she's soaring down an open street, she closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and let's go.

Her momentum slows down but she still continues on forward. Her other senses heighten, she feels the wind, she hears the seagulls cawing, she can smell the familiar mixed musk of the city. Every time the sun breaks through the buildings and the clouds, she feels the warmth on her face, caressing her with its rays. She feels at peace.

Jack waits for her at the end of the street, ready to surprise attack her. He peeks from behind his hiding spot, and stares as she closes her eyes and relaxes. He can't help but stare. Her hair, messy yet it gives her a wild streak. The way the sunlight glinted off her golden glitter-like freckles and the ends of her clothing, also littered with sparkling multicolored dust. She lets out a laugh, a laugh so full of happiness, bliss, freedom.

Yes, freedom. Free from a caged life, from a time limit, from mortality. But then her face changes, her eyebrows furrow and he sees a small, almost unnoticeable tear streak down her face. He would've missed it if it were not for the sunlight reflecting off of it. Figuring that now would be a good time to cheer her up, he brings his right hand up to his face and blows into it, a snowball forming.

Jack raises his arm and aims for the girl. He releases it with a swing and a flick of his wrist, the snowball spinning towards its target.

SMACK

She falters in her flight from the offending snowball. The familiar icy cold sensation jolts Astrid out of her daze. The minuscule crystals melting down the side of her face, the rivulets dripping down her neck and under her collar. Goosebumps arise on her tanned olive skin. As she regains her balance, she sees out of her peripheral that a certain winter spirit was sitting on his staff, one leg up, one leg swinging. Jack...

She playfully glares at him as she moved over to him. "Hey, what was that for?" She yells at him, though she was glad he did it. She was starting to think about how she was given a new start but that she could probably never be with her family again.

"Come on."

"Huh?" She tilts her head in confusion.

"Let's go, I want to introduce you to some friends of mine." He waves her over as he prepares to take off.

Butterflies stir within her, "F-Friends? There's more? More like...like us?"

Jack snickers, "Well of course there is. You didn't we were the only ones did you?" Getting no reply from her, he continues. "I'm a Guardian, a protector of sorts. There's five of us: the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and me. There are other spirits too but—you know what, I'll let the others explain it to you. I'm still kinda new to the job. So I bet if we leave now, we can make it there byyyy I don't know, eight o'clock."

"Eight?! How fast do you plan on going?"

"How fast can you go?"

"I don't know! I kind of just barely got the hang of this whole flying business!" She waves her hands about, mimicking the flapping of wings.

"Hmmm..." Jack holds his chin in contemplation, then he straightens up, his face alighting with an idea. "Take my hand." he offers his left hand to her.

She looks at him quizzically, "Uhhh what?"

Jack thrusts his hand more towards her, and when she doesn't take it, he grabs hers. "Just hold on and don't let go."

"What do you mean don't let go?"

He shouts out into the open air, "Wind, take us to the North Pole!"

"Wait, did you just say the North Po—OHHHHAHHHHHHHHH!" Her inquiry was interrupted as they took off, she lets out a high pitched scream as a powerful invisible force pushing them up and out of the city.

*:.｡. .｡.:*

Pitch Black is standing in the darkness over a child, his sinister smile sickly sweet. He looks affectionately at his "creation", a perverted, dark version of the Sandman's golden sand. He then looks over to the teenager next to the child in the bed, the older sister. She too has a Night Mare prancing about. Their faces are contorted in pain, shining with sweat and mingling with tears. "Ah, yes. Feel the pain and loss, suffer. With each whimper, each scream you make, I grow stronger. I feed off your pathetic fears."

The moonlight pouring in the room stretches out over the minors, the shining ever so slightly brighter. They relax slightly, both breathing a sigh of relief. Angered, the Boogeyman stalks over to the window.

"You took what should have been mine once again! Your pathetic Guardians think they defeated me for good. Ha! Fear can never be fully destroyed. Do not think I am done with you, with her. She is still within my grasp. When I finally have her, her power, her entire being, will be mine to control. You may think she has no quarrel with me, even after all you've done to protect her, but she will remember me. After all, you cannot hide from the dark."