1772

Over the years, Jack had several encounters with the other spirits of the world. None of them ever came close his first with the summer spirit – thank god, Sera hadn't let him out of her sight for months after that, both in an overprotective frenzy and a form of grounding for disobeying and getting himself into that situation; it was hell – but none were overly pleasant, either. And in sixty years, he'd only met Nature spirits. It was only when he heard some of the children speaking giddily of 'Santa Claus' on what they called 'Christmas Eve', that Sera told him of the other half of the spirit world: Moon spirits.

Spirits of the Man in the Moon, the Tsar Lunar, who had given Jack his name and assisted in his creation. They were well known in the human world, holiday and childhood icons, whereas as those of Nature were unknown forces behind the weather. And she told him how the popularity often made Moon spirits rude and arrogant; and the lack of attention made many Nature spirits jaded and cruel, which explained the summer spirit encounter.

She told him of the Guardians. The Guardians of Childhood; Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman. It was like magic to hear of these fairy-tale protectors, and made Jack's eyes sparkle with wonder. So he set out to find them.

Santa was the best choice; his location was the only of the four that was well known. The Tooth Fairy and Sandman traveled every night, and the Easter Bunny only showed up on Easter.

So he went north. He spent days scouring the tundra of the North Pole, until he finally found the workshop, sitting grandly in the ice. He flew to the nearest window, peaking in, dazzled. Inside were piles of beautifully wrapped packages, stacked all the way to the ceiling in an explosion of color. Jack's grin nearly split his face in half as he pressed his face flush against the window, trying to see as much as possible.

He slipped through the window, gazing at the gifts as he wandered through the hall. He was so captivated by the gifts that he didn't notice he wasn't alone until he ran face first into a fall of fur. Before he could comprehend what was happening, he was lifted off his feet and thrown over a broad, furry shoulder. He spit out the stands of fur on his tongue and tried to glance around as he was carried off, at the workshop and at the thing that was carrying him, but he was tossed into the snow before he saw much of anything. The furry thing that had tossed him outside was a gigantic thing and it wagged a finger at him as it garbled at him before walking back inside.

What was that? He wondered for a moment. Then he smirked, and a game quickly took root in his mind. The workshop was even better than Jack thought if they were that determined to keep him out.

It was on!

After months of failed attempts of trying to get into the workshop, Jack decided it was time to move on. Not give up – because he was going to get in there, those yetis were going down! – but he wasn't getting any closer to Santa by trying to break in, fun as it was. So, he moved on to the next Guardian.

He decided to try the Tooth Fairy. Easter was still several months away, and staying out every night for the Sandman was out of the question—mom would have a conniption if he tried it. Besides, a little girl in the village near his lake had lost a tooth, so it was ideal.

He camped out by the window, determined to wait as long as it took and kept an eye for the Sandman, since he was there anyway. He saw the first signs of golden streams trailing across the night sky and was almost willing to chase after those in favor of sitting at the window when he caught sight of a tiny green and blue blur out of the corner of his eye. He whirled around and saw the same blur zip out of the girl's window. He immediately raced after it. After a few second he caught the little blur and gently cupped it in his hands. Peeking into his cupped palms, he saw a tiny bird-like woman clutching a tooth, glaring up at him in defiance.

Huh. That was not what he was expecting. Didn't mom say the Tooth Fairy was a full-sized woman? Yes. That's exactly what she said! So what was this? It had a tooth, had collected it from under the girl's pillow, so, what—

"Ow!" he shouted when the tiny thing stabbed the flesh of his palms. He let it go in shock and pain, and then dashed back in front of it when the little fairy tried to fly off.

"Hey, I'm sorry," he said for comfort, smiling. The fairy stopped her frantic buzzing and just stared at him, almost like it was in awe. Jack took it as a good sign and went on, "I just—ah!" he garbled when the little fairy proceeded to pry his jaw open and crawl into his mouth, cooing at his teeth.

He stayed perfectly still, partially stunned and mostly because he was sure he would end up swallowing the little thing if he made even the slightest move. When it – she, he corrected, getting a good enough look to determine the gender—crawled back out he coughed and spit out stray feathers, and eyed her warily. Okay, that was defiantly the weirdest encounter with a spirit ever.

"So, are you the Tooth Fairy?" he asked. He kept a hand partially covering his mouth and a close eye on the little fairy.

The little bird woman looked shocked and shook her head. He furrowed his brow and eyed the tooth in the little hands. Then why…?

"Oh! So are you, like a helper?" He got an affirmative nod and cheered with a happy smile. The little fairy pawed at his teeth one last time with a happy sigh and then zoomed off faster than he could blink.

"Wait!" he called even though she was gone. "Can you take me to her?" Came a dejected whisper. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

So much for the Tooth Fairy.

That only left two, and to be honest, Jack was starting to lose the wonder of the subject. It was becoming more of a chore than adventure or game. And absolutely no fun. But now it was a mission and he had to complete it, misery or no.

He watched the night sky for months for signs of the Sandman. And every night only got the streams of dream sand. At least they made fun pictures when Jack touched them.

Then Easter arrived and the magic was revived. After all, the Easter Bunny was just as exciting as Santa. He hid throughout the day, watching children hunt for and find the eggs – and he had to admit, the holiday had to be something very special to cause the children such joy – watching for any sign of the Easter Bunny. It was well into the afternoon, when the children had filed away, that Jack saw him.

He was starting to dose off when he felt the earth rumbled ever so slightly. Peeking up he saw a long pair of ears rise from a newly formed hole. He gapped in wonder, watching the rabbit – big. giant, huge, humongous!—emerge from the ground.

This was why he'd worked so hard to find these spirits. Totally worth it! He crept from the bush, making his way over to the rabbit, who was busy hiding more brightly colored eggs. He cleared his throat when he was a foot from the rabbit, and the creature to jump and whirl around to face him.

"Hi, I'm—"He didn't get anything further before he had a boomerang shoved under his nose. He looked up at the taller being, confused and frightened. Not this again.

"You best not be tryin' ta mess with my holiday, Winter brat," the creature warned.

"I'm not—"

"Ya lot always do. Always wantin' ta take a kick at Spring."

"I didn't—"

"But ya picked the wrong holiday, brat. Yer not kickin' at Spring through my holiday, so get."

"But I—"

"I said get!" The rabbit raised the boomerang in warning and then stalked away.

Jack stood in shock, blinking away hurt and angry tears. Why didn't anyone like him? What did he do? Then anger took over and he stomped away.

"Fine! Who needs you people anyway!" he shouted as he flew off.

He certainly didn't. Not at all.

It was another year before he ran into the Sandman. Not that he wanted to at that point; he was sick of the Guardians entirely. Not to say that he didn't still try to get into the Pole anymore, it just wasn't to see Santa. It was just a matter of pride.

He didn't need, or want anything to do with the Guardians. They were uppity, terrible, typical Moon spirits. Mom was right about them. Well, he guessed the Sandman wasn't too bad. He actually gave Jack the time of day and spoke to him, in his own special way. But still, it didn't give him much hope for Moon spirits.

And he still didn't need them.

#

The original four Guardians sat in the globe room, sipping at their champagne as they once more lapsed into their own thoughts.

Jack had left near an hour before, after a humiliating goodbye hug and kiss from Sera – which his elder Guardians very clearly enjoyed, far too much—saying he was headed back to his lake and then to the areas of the globe where Winter was on the way. He promised to be back for the scheduled meeting next week and dashed out the window.

Bunny had a feeling his frantic escape was due more to the Sera's smothering version of motherly care than any pressing duties of Winter. The thought made the rabbit Guardian smile.

North sent occasional glance to the window Jack used to make his exit. He didn't like having Jack out of his sight; it worried him. If Jack wasn't with him he couldn't watch over the boy, couldn't keep him safe, there were things out there, like Pitch or worse and Jack was all alone and vulnerable to all of them and he was so small—the man gave himself a shake. He'd hardly known the boy for three days; just because Jack was a Guardian did not make him North's responsibility. Or his son, as much as he may have wanted it to be so. The Christmas spirit sighed, brushed a hand through his beard, and went back to staring at the window.

Tooth shot the larger Guardian a concerned look – he was projecting too much worry as he glanced at the window not to trouble her – and glanced at the others as well. Bunny looked lost in his thoughts as he gazed down at his glace and Sandy looked on the verge of dosing off; neither anywhere near as jittery as North. She sighed, noted to ask the big man about it later and glanced down at the small golden tube in her hand.

Her throat closed up and tears stung at the edges of her eyes as she stared down at the small face smiling at her. The face was a shade darker, hair and eyes both a chocolate brown in contrast to pure white and shining blue, but it was still obviously Jack's face she was looking at on this tooth box.

The winter boy gave it to her just before he'd left, pushing it into her hands when she'd tried to object. It was his, he deserved to keep it, she'd insisted.

"I know," he'd assured, cutting her off, "I trust you with them."

The declaration almost had her bursting into tears, which she stubbornly forced down. However, she did zip over and pull the boy into a tight hug. It was such a beautiful display of trust. Trust she had no idea why she deserved and it made her so happy she was over the Moon. Until she felt how stiff Jack was in her arms. When she let go to see what was wrong he bolted, leaving shortly after, leaving Tooth worried and confused.

Now she just wondered what she did wrong.

"Something Sera said is botherin' me," Bunny mumbled, almost to himself, but loud enough the others still heard.

"Many things that woman said bother me," North snipped, still gazing out the window.

"Too true, mate. But I mean what she said about Jack. It's made me think…aside from him bein' a right pain, what do we know 'bout him?"

That drew everyone's attention. North and Tooth dropped guilty gazes. Neither had seen anything of Jack prior to his inclusion to the Guardians. Sandy, on the other hand, having jolted fully awake at the question, waved his hand frantically to get their attention. He signed a snowflake, dolphins, two figures sitting side by side with arms slung over each shoulder, indicating that he knew Jack before the battle.

"Yeah, but do ya know anything 'bout his life?"

Sandy pursed his lips, maybe in thought or pouting, and shook his head sadly. He signed a snowflake and held his hands a small distant apart. He didn't know Jack very long. They'd only had a few short encounters together.

"Right, so we know next ta nothin' bout' him." There was a sad, collective nod.

"So, how do we fix it?"

"You want to fix it?" Tooth asked, giving Bunny a playful look.

"So what? I'm gonna spend the rest of eternity with the brat. I wanna know 'bout him." He crossed his arms, defensively, and dared them to try any further mockery.

"You sure it was not because tall, pretty, scary woman told you to?" North put in.

"Focus!" He groaned with an eye roll.

"We could ask him." Tooth suggested.

"Tooth, kid's not gonna spill anything 'bout his life 'cause we ask. I know that much 'bout him," Bunny countered with a snort.

"Perhaps if we all tell stories, Jack will be more open," North added.

Tooth and Sandy perked at the idea, while Bunny deflated. They were going to do what now?

"What? No, no no no no," he protested.

"Aster, this was your idea," Tooth sang, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Bunny grumbled and pulled at his ears. What had he gotten himself into?