AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is dedicated to HarunoYuki and Hitsugaya Aiko

DISCLAIMER: Rise of the Guardians is owned by Dreamworks. I own my OC Annabelle.


Chapter 3 – Awkward Glances

I landed on the ground next to Jack who was still grinning like an idiot. I punched his arm multiple times.

"You! You knew I was gonna get asked to come up here and you didn't tell me!"

Jack started laughing, and jumped into the air, starting to fly around the massive globe covered with little lights. I sped after him, chasing him round the globe to the chuckles of the rest of the guardians on the platform below us. Eventually I managed to catch him on the side of the globe that the others couldn't see, grabbing his arm and spinning him around to face me. There was only a small space between us and Jack's smile slowly faded as we looked at each other, his face turning serious as he looked into my eyes. I held his gaze for a few moments, before looking down and dropping my hand from his arm, a blush rising in my cheeks.

"You two alright back there?" Bunny called.

I glanced back up at Jack, and he cracked a small smile. "Yeah, we're fine," he called back. "She caught me."

I heard a deep laugh. Santa.

"Shall we go?" Jack asked, being strangely polite.

I nodded, and we flew back over the globe, landing next to the others. Santa Claus was smiling down at me.

"Annabelle, the Spring Spirit," he said in his deep, friendly voice.

I smiled back and curtsied respectfully, "It's an honour to meet you sir."

He held his hands out and shook his head, "No need to be so formal."

I looked round at the familiar faces of Toothianna and Bunnymund, and grinned at them. I realised that someone was missing.

"Where's the Sandman?" I asked, looking around.

Santa glanced behind him and rolled his eyes, before stepping aside to reveal Sandy asleep upright, floating just off the ground. Santa nudged him and he slowly woke up, stretching and yawning silently.

I bit my lip. "Sorry," I whispered. "I didn't mean that you had to wake him."

Sandy seemed to realise then that I was there, and he floated over to me, holding his hand out to me. I smiled and shook it.

"It's lovely to meet you too Sandman," I smiled.

He kissed my hand, ever the gentleman, making me giggle. I swore I heard a huff from behind me, but when I turned my head, neither Jack, Bunny nor Tooth was pulling a face or anything.

Santa clapped his hands together, "Right, let's get down to business."

I turned to him. "I was wondering about that. Why am I here anyway?" I asked.

"We have problem," Santa sighed. "A problem that you have special expertise in."

I frowned, having no idea what he could be talking about.

He looked at my confused face, and presumably the confused faces of the others. He sighed again.

"It's the pixies. They've escaped," he announced.

I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. "How? I thought some of your Yetis were keeping an eye on them?"

"They were," Santa said. "They do not know how they got out, but they did."

I turned away from the others, walking over to the railing that Santa looked over to supervise the Yetis when they were making the toys. "Damn pixies…." I grumbled.

"How long's it been?" Tooth asked.

I looked up at the huge globe, thinking. "Must be…60 years," I mused.

The pixies were tiny little grey creatures, fond of mischief with powerful magic for their size. They were fond of messing about with the guardian's work, as well as the work of other spirits like me and Jack before he was a guardian.

The pixies didn't seem like a big threat at first, so they had been allowed to stay roaming around the earth, traveling in small groups. But 60 years ago, all the small groups had joined together to cause major havoc. They'd scoffed most of Bunny's Easter eggs, bullied the little fairies the Tooth sent out, messed about with Sandy's dreams, ruined Jack's snow days, chased my robins, and tore all of Santa's wrapping paper for the presents. They had nearly ruined that year in every way they could.

The guardians, then without Jack, all came together and decided to banish the pixies. I was tasked with locking them someplace safe and far away from where they could do anything. Where were there hardly any people? At the South Pole.

Santa had sent some Yetis to guard them, and Jack and I had worked together with Bunny and Tooth to round them up. Jack and I had then combined our magic to lock them away inside a huge icicle that wouldn't melt and was practically unbreakable. The only way it could be unlocked was if Jack and I did it together, which we definitely hadn't done.

I turned back to the others. "What can I do to help?" I asked, and they all smiled.

"Well," Santa started, "the reason we find out about this is because Man in Moon tell us. At the same time he tell us you are to become guardian."

My mouth dropped open. "W…what?" I stammered, and Jack and Bunny laughed.

I closed my mouth abruptly, but shook my head. "You're kidding right? Why would he want me to become a guardian? All I do is help spring along. I don't bring joy to children like the rest of you do."

Santa, Tooth, Sandy and Bunny all looked at Jack and smiled, rolling their eyes. He grinned at me. I sighed, remembering him telling me that he'd said pretty much the same thing when we was asked to become a guardian.

I didn't join in with the smiling though. "I'm sorry," I said, "but I can't. I'm no guardian."

To be honest, I expected them to protest, but they didn't. Santa just nodded understandingly.

"You go home and think about it," he said. "The threat is not imminent. You come back tomorrow and give answer."

I rolled my eyes, certain that my answer wouldn't have changed, but I nodded anyway.


I was flying back home as fast as I could, anxious to check that Nibbles and Dolly had gotten home safely. I was over Norway, shivering from the cold, when I got whacked on the back of the head with a snowball. I squealed as the snow slid down my back. I whipped round to see Jack doubled over in fits of laughter.

"Jack!" I yelled, but I couldn't hide the grin forming on my face.

He sped off and I chased him, both of us now laughing. After fifteen minutes of playing tag through the clear Scandinavian night sky, we both plonked down on the roof of a house in a tiny village near the Skagerrak coast, both of us panting and still giggling.

"So," Jack started, "what's with you stealing my lines?"

I sighed. "Jack, there's no point to me being a guardian. I don't have a holiday like Christmas or Easter. I don't help children all that often, like when they lose their teeth or when they dream. I don't do something they especially look forward to, like snow days. I just bring spring. That's it. I'm not important."

Jack just looked at me. "You're joking right? Anna, if it wasn't for you, Easter wouldn't happen. Bunny would be out of a job."

I knew he was trying to make me change my mind, but it wasn't happening. When he saw I wasn't looking up he grabbed hold of my hands, and I looked up at him automatically.

"Anna, spring brings new life," Jack started, sounding more serious than I'd heard him before. "It brings hope. Yeah, kids love winter for snow days and Christmas, but they love spring too. Spring brings beautiful flowers and baby animals; the warm sun comes back and the days get longer. Kids get to go back to school to see their friends."

He placed one hand on my shoulder and kept his other one laid over my hands, ensuring that I didn't look away from him. "Don't ever say you're not important, okay? Promise you won't say that again."

I nodded slowly, not looking away from his icy-blue eyes. "I promise."

Our eyes stayed locked for what seemed like a lifetime, before we both dropped our heads at the same time.

"You…you want me to fly you back to the tree?" Jack asked me, sounding a bit nervous.

I nodded, glancing up at him and smiling, "I'd like that."

I stood up and held his hand out to me. I took it and we leaped off the roof into the crisp, night-time air, flying south back to Germany.