Why Me?

Jack stood gazing at the faces Manny revealed in the mirror-like surface of the Tooth Palace floor with curiosity. The faces of the teens were fuzzy but that didn't mean he couldn't make out basic features like hair colour and the like. For once in his life...both of them...Jack fell silent as he frowned, deep in a thought many would have considered strange for the often wayward hellion of the Guardian of Fun.

"Do you think these kids could be linked in with everything?" Bunny suggested. Jack was hardly listening – he'd crouched down on the floor to examine the images of the three teens more closely and he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen them somewhere before. But where?

"They may well be," Manny replied. "Which is why I want Jack to keep a close eye on them." Jack started.

"What, me?" he blinked. "Where do I come into this?"

"I thought we just clarified that you're one of these Earth Guardians, mate," Bunny pointed out. Jack glared at him.

"I get that but if you're thinking of putting me in the role of babysitter you've got another thought coming," he huffed.

"I never said you'd be 'babysitting', Jack," Manny sighed, his pale eyebrows furrowing together. "You know of the new arts school set up in Burgess, I take it?"

"Moonstone Arts Academy?" Jack clarified. "Sure, building was finished last month. Why?" The Moonstone Arts Academy was an arts specialist school that had recently been built in Burgess. It had hired some of the best teachers in the country and students were coming in from all over the world to attend.

"As I understand it, these three will be starting school there next September," Manny explained, waving his hand so that the images on the floor vanished. "I want you to keep an eye on them there." Jack suddenly clicked as to what the Man in the Moon wanted him to do.

"Okay, first off, I don't sing, dance or any of that stuff," he protested. "Second, I've never been to a proper school in my entire life!"

It was true – the closest Jack had ever gotten to an education was learning to read and write at the parish school back when he was a human until he turned thirteen (he'd started work as a shepherd after that to help support his family). He'd never learnt anything else apart from that given that he enjoyed having fun too much to bother listening in on classes during term time as a Winter Spirit.

"Thirdly, how in the name of the constellations am I supposed to attend a flipping school when no one around that age and above can see me?!" Jack finished, the temperature dropping a little bit as his temper flared. Tooth shivered so Jack quickly calmed himself down – he made a mental note to talk to the Snow Queen about keeping his emotions in check, she was an expert in that field.

"Alright, first off..." Manny replied cynically. "Don't give me the singing and dancing excuses – from what I remember you were quite the King of the May when you were sixteen." Jack flushed redder than North's coat as the memory suddenly came back to him when Manny prompted it. Bunny snickered, Tooth giggled, Sandy chuckled quietly and North burst out laughing.

"My, my, Jack! You never said!" North boomed.

"You have to show us some time!" Tooth laughed, clutching her sides.

"Oh, shut up, guys!" Jack snapped, waving his staff angrily at them. Manny wasn't finished.

"Second, I suggest you spend the rest of the school holidays studying up," he smirked. "I've got some books for you to look at." Jack groaned. Brilliant... "Don't worry – I've enchanted them so you'll remember enough to pass off as a hardworking student." That didn't exactly make Jack feel any better.

"Well, better late than never," Tooth grinned. "Who knows? You might actually find studying fun!" Jack made a face at her – he begged to differ.

"Thirdly..." Manny cut across. "I've spoken to Mother Nature and she'll take care of the whole 'seeing' thing."

"You couldn't have done that sooner?" Jack asked dryly, still irritated at why Manny hadn't explained why no one could see him for three centuries straight.

"There will be a condition, though," Manny warned. "As long as people can see you, you will not be allowed to use your winter powers."

"What?!"

"You are supposed to be a normal human boy," Manny pointed out at Jack's protest. "Father Frost, Old Man Winter, Snow Queen Elsa and Yuki Onna will take care of winter whilst you're out of action."

"I was afraid you'd say that..." Jack mumbled. Father Frost had been the closest thing Jack had ever had to a father figure before meeting North – he was a gruff guy but meant well at heart (he was a bit like North without the jolly side). Old Man Winter...Jack tended to ignore him – the guy was a bit too grumpy for his liking. The Snow Queen, like Jack, had once had a mortal life on Earth as the Queen of an old kingdom and she was a nice enough lady – Jack had been lucky enough in the past to be let into her palace and, as mentioned earlier, she was one of the few spirits he actually behaved himself around – but had a stern side to her, although to Jack she acted like a mother towards a lot of the time despite being younger than he was in terms of spirit ages (physically she was at least four years his senior) and she did have a playful streak to her, as did her sister, the nymph Spring Princess who Jack had also met on a few occasions. Yuki Onna was a Japanese winter spirit (her name literally meant Snow Lady) who had a nasty tendency to freeze people to death in her blizzards – Jack agreed that she was pretty enough but her murderous streak had led to multiple conflicts between the pair of them. Most of the time Jack stayed out of her way.

Sandy suddenly put a hand up and began forming shapes above his head again. Everyone fell silent as Manny studied the flashing pictures carefully – Jack just about caught a snowflake (that usually represented himself), a house and a question mark. He guessed that Sandy was asking where he would stay during his stint as a 'human'.

"I appreciate your concern, Sandy, but I have thought of that," Manny smiled, looking at Jack who's bright blue eyes narrowed in confusion. "I know this may be more than a bit late in asking, but how would you like to see your family again, Jack?" Jack's eyes started shining with a light of their own.

"What? You...you're serious?" he spluttered, a shocked smile creeping its way onto his face of its own accord. "You mean I'm...I'm going to see my...my sister again? And...?"

"Can you even do that?" North asked, his eyes also wide with wonder.

"I've arranged things with Mother Nature and she's agreed to let your sister and mother's spirits to join you for as long as you take on this task," Manny explained to Jack who was now almost hyperventilating from amazement. "Like you they will take physical forms – you will live as a modern family in Burgess. They're already aware of their task – Mother Nature will be keeping an eye on you. She's taking the role of your aunt."

"I can't believe this..." Jack breathed heavily, barely registering that he'd have to put up with Emily-Jane of all spirits as his make-believe aunt for who-knew-how-long. "After all this time I...I finally get to see them again..." Tooth fluttered over and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, smiling kindly. She knew how much this would mean to Jack – he hadn't seen his mother since he and his sister had left to go ice skating and the last he'd seen of his sister was just before he went under the ice after saving her life. It would be a good chance for closure between them.

"It makes it worth it, huh?" Tooth smiled. Jack calmed down and remembered why Manny was asking him this in the first place – to watch over these unfamiliar teens.

"You're not just doing this to bribe me into accepting this, are you?" he groaned. Manny winked.

"Given your reaction I'd say it has a sound chance of working," he joked. "Your family will also be important in keeping up your guise. I will alter the memories of the Burgess citizens whilst you remain in a visible human state – to them it will be as if you've lived there with them your entire life. In this case, that would be eighteen years."

"You can do that?" Tooth blinked, her eyes shooting wide opened. Memories were her speciality! How comes she never got a say in this?

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," Manny apologised. "But it is necessary if Jack is to keep those three safe." Tooth sighed but accepted it – Manny knew best, after all. Jack still looked dubious.

"I still can't believe that you're asking me to act as babysitter."

"See it more as 'body-guarding'," Bunny suggested, a smirk still creeping onto his face. "Come on – they're only kids. They can't be that much trouble."

"That's the point I'm trying to make!" Jack snapped back in retaliation. "They're school kids!"

Manny, North, Tooth and Sandy all huffed and pinched their brows together in frustration. This was going to be a long night.

Summer flew by faster than anyone could remember, just as it had done the year before and the year before that. The sun was barely over the horizon as alarm bells started going off all over Burgess on the first Monday of the September after the Man in the Moon had warned the Guardians of Childhood of an unknown threat lurking in the Shadows. Today marked the official opening and the first day of teaching at the new Moonstone Arts Academy – students had flocked into Burgess from across the country and indeed all over the world to attend the brand new state of the arts specialist school and many were brimming with excitement. They'd had to fight through multiple rounds of applications and auditions to get there – only the best of the best were being accepted in all areas of art, whether that be music, theatre, dance or creative art work.

All across town students could be seen with large rucksacks taking bicycles, skateboards or walking to the Academy, which lay on the opposite side of town to the forest. A crowd of seventeen and eighteen year olds began to form outside the gates to the Academy, waiting for them to be finally opened and for the new term to start.

This is primarily a Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons story, but other Dreamworks and Disney characters will be making minor cameos here and there.