"So where are we going first?" Diane asked as she looked around the snow covered forest, bundled up in Tooth's gift, North's in her pocket. The forest was quiet and calm, with birds chirping. 'It looks alot like the forest near the orphanage…'

"My lake. It's a great place to go ice skating, plus I told Jaime a while back that today,we could have a snowball fight there. After that we can go grab a bite to eat, if you want?" Jack said smiling, as he watched Diane's curious gaze flit around the forest, her earlier anger forgotten.

"Uh, sure, but who's Jaime?" Diane said, at attention as her interest sparked up.

You could literally see Jack's face light up at the prospect of talking about his first believer. A soft smile on his face, he began.

"He's my first believer, after years of having hundreds of people walk through me, and no one believing no matter what I did, he believed. He's the reason we were able to defeat Pitch last year when he tried to make the world 'Pitch Black'. Jaime's a really cool kid, and loves snowball fights. Though a little lazy when it comes to not going to school. Course I can't complain, I love making snow days." Jack said, ending with a smirk.

"He sounds like a cute kid… WAIT! You're the reason there where so many snow days this past year?!" Diane said, looking at Jack in surprise, not really understanding the first part of his speech. It was still odd thinking someone who looked basically her age could control the weather and was practically 300 years her senior.

"Well yeah, I am 'Jack Frost'" Jack said with air quotes as he said his name.

"I can basically freeze anything, make lots of snowballs, and snow. My favorite creations are my 'fun' snowflakes, they make everyone enjoy themselves." He said as he created a fun flake, then with a mischievous look he blew it towards Diane, watching as the snowflake burst in her face and blue light streaked in her eyes, quickly disappearing.

Looking confused as she brushed the remainder of the snowflake from her face, Diane turned to Jack, "Was something supposed to happen?"

"Er...yes?" Jack said looking both surprised and disturbed, no one was ever not affected by his snowflakes, even Pitch was affected!

"Your center is balance right? Maybe we can't corrupt you? Or in my case affect your decisions…" Jack said, thinking back to when Sandy had tried to put her to sleep.

"Hm" Diane said, more focused on the the clear blue frozen lake visible through a few trees ahead.

Just as she was about to run ahead, a group of snow balls flew through the trees and hit Jack straight in the face, knocking him to the ground.

"ATTACK!" A young brown haired boy screamed as he appeared from behind a nearby tree, at the sound of his yell, young children no older than 7 or 8 ran out from behind their hiding spots and continued pelting Jack Frost with snowballs, while he was 'played dead' on the ground.

Smiling and giggling at what she was seeing, Diane's eyes softened as she remembered all the times she had been in Jack's position while her kids had pelted her with snow balls.

As the children ran to get closer to Jack, the young brown haired boy and his younger sister unknowingly ran through the newly created sprit, reducing her to a gasping mess on the ground, causing Onyx to come out of her shadow when she felt her fear.

"Oh no." Jack said as the smile he had turned to sadness and alarm, as he saw Jamie and Sophie runaway in fear from the nightmare that had appeared near them. 'How could I forget!?'

"Jack!" Help!" "Freeze it!" the children yelled as they ran to hide behind Jack.

With tears in her eyes, Diane gasped shock on the ground, she could tell the children were panicking because of Onyx, but for the life of her she couldn't focus. Confusion, fear and dread ran rampant through her emotions as she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that two children had just run through her!

As Jack flew to her he called in a clear voice,"Diane, you need to calm down, your agitating Onyx and she's scaring the children!" He tried to float closer to her but Onyx refused to let anyone near her.

"Whats wrong with me?" she gasped, completely ignoring jack as she tried to calm herself, the feeling of panic finally ebbing.

"Jack?What's wron-" the brown haired boy said as he walked closer to Jack, feeling safe enough near Jack to be closer to the nightmare.

"No over there, it's not safe-" Jack said in a serious voice.

"Who are you talking to? There's no one there." Jamie said as he followed Jack's eyes and only saw the nightmare.

Flinching at the child's words, Diane finally looked at Jack with worried eyes, "They can't see me? Why can't they see me!"

At that moment Jack knew what to do as he slowly floated past the overprotective Onyx and landed by Diane, hugging her close as he tried to soothe her.

"Diane I know how you feel I had to go though this too. Look, I'll explain everything but you need to calm down. Onyx is worried and we can't have that, it's putting the little ones in danger. Don't worry everything will be okay I'll help you through this, you won't be alone..." Jack promised as he placed his head over her's. '...you won't be like me'

Taking a deep breath, Diane left Jack's comforting embrace and went to calm Onyx down, managing to coax her back into her shadow. However her face still showed her uneasiness.

"Jack what did you do, that thing just disappeared!" Jaimie said voice in awe.

"Look I just have to make them realise you're here and they'll see you okay?" Jack said reassuringly with a strained smile at Diane.

"Okay kids, I want you guys to meet the most recent member of the Guardians, the Guardian of Balance!" Jack said with a loud and dramatic voice as he pointed to toward Diane.

At the blank and searching looks on the kids faces, Jack's smile fell and Diane felt horror as she thought of the kids in the orphanage. 'they won't be able to see me either!'

"Jack Frost are you playing another prank on us" Pippa said, with a confused look, "cause' we're not gonna fall for it a second time…"

"No! Really! She's right here!" Jack said as he felt desperation flash through him, regretting pulling a similar prank on the kids a few weeks ago. 'Oh the irony!'. Pulling at his hair, he formed a snowball in his hand and threw it at Diane, internally hoping it wouldn't cause Onyx to come back out or make Diane angry again.

Too surprised by his action to react, Diane could only stare at Jack with wide eyes as she felt snowball hit her. Now there was snow covering the top of her head and front of her body.

By the sudden gasps from the children, it appeared they could see the snow too, even if to them it was just floating.

"See!?" Jack said with a satisfied grin.

Both the children and Diane were still shocked by his actions to really form an answer.

"Now do you believe she's there?" Jack said, with a smirk to the kids.

"Yeah, but why can't we see her?" Cupcake said as she got closer to the floating snow, surprised as it backed away when she got too close.

"I uh don't really know…" Jack said with a frown, as he scratched the back of his neck, looking disappointed.

"Maybe you should ask the other guardians Jack, they could probably help." Jaime said as he looked at Jack's sad face.

"Yeah you're probably right kiddo" Jack said as he messed up Jaime's hair.

"Do you want to come, or I could take you back to Pitch's?" Jack said as he looked at Diane, who had an unreadable look on her face as she looked at Sophie, whose unruly blond hair resembled a certain someone she missed dearly.

Before she could answer, she noticed something in her vision change. With sinking feeling beginning to pool in her stomach she noticed a dark grey aura seem to seep from the way they had come. Looking around she noticed the forest had fallen silent. 'Something's wrong…'

"Can you see that?" Diane said in a quiet voice, face unsure and breathing quick as she began to tremble.

"See what?" Jack said as he looked toward where she was staring, "There's nothing there Diane." He said, with furrowed eyes.

The grey smog was growing closer, soon overpassing some children that were further away. Clearly the fog didn't affect the kids, but Diane couldn't help but want to run away at the thought of it touching her. She could feel Onyx try to pull her away from within her shadow. 'I need to get away!'

"Can you take me to where I died? Please I need to get-I want to visit..." She said, voice wavering as a familiar feeling began to pulse at her core.

"I'm not supposed to leave you alone, Pitch will kill me if something happens, not to mention what Earth would do to me if something happened to you. Plus we should really see the guardians about-" Jack said with furrowed eyebrows, a clear 'no' in his expression.

"Okay, if you won't take me, then I'll go myself." She said as she began to back away from Jack and the creeping grey, whatever she could feel was starting to close in. "Take your kids home, something's not right here! I think it's them!" Diane said as she ran off trying to get away from the pulsing feeling she felt. As she ran, she could almost feel it speeding up towards her, almost as if it enjoyed the chase.

"Wait! What do you mean?!" Jack said, as he nearly ran after her, but stopped as he realised what she meant. If he chased he would be leaving the kids all alone, while there were three evil spirits that preyed on small children out and about. Blanching at the thought of them getting ahold of his believers he turned to the kids. 'I can't leave them alone, I have to get them home! But Pitch will, the Guardians and Earth would, oh i'm in so much trouble' Jack thought as one hand reached to grip at his hair, while the other griped his staff tight. Having no other option, Jack created a few snow animals to chase after her, specifically two pure white wolves; for extra protection. 'Please stay safe until we find you' he thought as he stared toward where Diane had run.


Running away far enough, Diane realised that she had no idea where she was running off to, having just taken off in a random direction.

"Now where do I go?" she said out loud, the odd feeling of wrong pulsing at her core was getting stronger, falling to her knees in frustration, an odd noise was heard. Looking to her left coat pocket she took out North's nap sack gift, the source of the clinking noise.

Eyes lighting up in realization, she reached inside and plucked a marble out. Looking at the little crystal ball in her hand, she smiled as she realized she could finally visit her family. 'But wouldn't it be safer for me to go to Pitch? No, the grey fog seemed really dark near his home… I'll just pop by to check on Susie and then head back' She thought as she resolved her feelings, the pulsing in her core had increased. It wouldn't be long before whatever was near found her. Closing her eyes, she envisioned little Susie smiling. Thinking of the girl she whispered, "Take me to Susie" and let the marble drop to the floor.

As it fell and shattered a portal opened up underneath her and she fell through, just as a dark shadow reached out for her. Though it barely missing her arm as Onyx lept and pushed the figure away.

Turning as she fell through, Diane barely had enough time to see Onyx turn to sand as Krampus crushed the mare's neck before the portal closed.

Landing in a quiet room, Diane can't help but feel sad at the mare's death and unease as she remembered how he had looked at her. He seemed pleased to have founder her, almost like… 'had been looking for me?…'

Just as Diane's heart began to beat rapidly at the thought of those three after her, she heard a slight sob from within the room. Mind wiped of all other thoughts, Diane turned quickly looking toward the small figure that could slightly be seen from under a bed. Crouching down, she saw the one person who had never left her mind. "Susie…"

It was almost like any other problem or thought was unimportant as she saw tears falling from Susie's eyes. Almost by instinct, she reached out for the child, intent on comforting her. However her hand just phased through the child's body, Susie giving no reaction to having felt her.

"What's the use of being alive again if I can't even comfort you…" Diane said outloud, tired of the quiet sobs and silence that seemed to fill the room. Eyes seeming broken as she gazed at the crying figure in front of her, who she could not even hold.

Sitting on the floor near Susie, she leaned against the bed as she closed her eyes, heart hurting as the sobs continued throughout the room.

'It's almost time for your nap… Mrs. Hanes better come soon, it's not good for you too keep crying like this… '

Eyes closed, the sadness and unbalance was almost tangible in the air, 'kids aren't meant to be this sad…'

The children were sad at the loss of their home, and at the loss of a young woman whom they had all regarded as an older sister.

As the cries and sobs continued, it became too much for Diane to handle. Standing up she, deciding on visiting the rest of the children and while she was there.

The new home in which the children were at was a two story home with multiple rooms, it would have been a happy place if not for the mournful aura that seemed to surround the house.

Walking around and entering random rooms she found children ranging from ages 5-12 all either curled up on their beds hugging stuffed animals or watching TV without actually paying attention to what was showing. It was unsettling, watching children she knew very well could be hyper energy balls that never seemed to tire so without energy and smiles.

"How am I supposed to fix this If they can't see me?" She said out loud with an irritated huff. As she walked along the halls looking for , she couldn't help but think back to Krampus and the fact that he had actually found her.

'How did he find me, though? Isnt this supposed to keep him away?' She thought as she pulled at the thin chain around her neck, the little snowflake attached to it glittered in the light.

'What about that grey stuff? The kids didn't seem to be affected but...I hope Jack's kids are okay… maybe coming here was a bad idea, I should have just gone back with Pitch... He would know what to do.' She thought with a sigh.

Deciding on giving up her search for , she made her walk back to Susie's room, intent on spending as much time as she could with the little girl. Even if her tears and sobs pulled at her heart.

'Hopefully she's stopped crying.'


Wow its been a while since I posted...Heh sorry about that... anyways how are you all liking the story so far? Is it too slow on some points, does more explanation, etc.?

Comments, reviews, and questions are welcome, ill gladly answer, just please be polite, still starting off on this.

Also sorry for the small chap, me and my co-author have been a lil busy with all the hw the teachers are giving us, what with being so close to finals.

Agh the dreaded finals...