The girl was twelve...only twelve...

Dressed in black, Colleen and her Dad were at the cemetary, hearing the priest saying the funeral rights, which sounded like mumbles. Soon bagpipes played 'Amazing Grace'; the sonorous wailing melody echoed in the damp air. People huddled under umbrellas as the freezing rain poured down, gathered around the coffin that was covered in flowers. It was her grandmother's funeral. She lost her friend today, the only mother figure in her life. Colleen couldn't stop crying after her grandmother passed away. It wasn't fair. First her mother was taken from her as a young child...and now her grandmother...

Jack Frost sat in the tree as he observed the funeral occurring, how sad she was, knowing that she was very close to her grandmother. Colleen held a white rose in her gloved hand, her green eyes were glassy. She approached the coffin and placed the rose on the smooth wood. Her Daddy was dressed in his dress uniform, placing his hands on his daughter's shoulder and led her away. She took a few glancing looks at the coffin as she was led away, her eyes were red and wet.

Jack floated on the wind towards her house, finding her sitting on the porch...

"Hey, Snow Angel," he said.

Colleen looked at Jack. Her face crumpled completely and burst into tears. He held her, comforting her as she wept into his sweater. He wiped her tears away, freezing, feeling her body shake as she cried into him...the smell of her favorite winter things on Jack enveloped her. He shushed her like her grandmother would've done so long ago.

"Promise me you'll never leave me, Jack," Colleen pleaded tearfully. "I can't...lose another friend. First my mom died a-and now my gramma. Please!"

"I promise," he said. "I would never leave you, Snow Angel, Even if you can't see me." he said smiling trying to make her feel better.

Sniffling, she looked at her Frostbite. "I promise to believe in you forever."

Jack smiled when he heard this.

Lt Frank heard his daughter talking to herself again. That was it! He was tired of this girl acting like a child, living in a fantasy world. The parent-teacher conferences about this. The trouble she got into for throwing snowballs at her classmates. She needed to grow up. She was too old for an imaginary friend.

"COLLEEN SIOBHAN O'SHEA!" he shouted. "GET IN HERE NOW!"

Colleen looked towards the window, seeing her angry father's face.

"I'll be back, Frostbite," she promised. "Dad needs me."

He nodded, watching the girl go inside. Jack glared at her dad and followed her, watching the scene. Colleen and her father were always arguing. Jack felt he was harsh on her. She didn't need this. Not now.

The two O'Sheas began to argue; her father ranted about how embarrassed he was, having a daughter who still had an imaginary friend at her age.

"I'm SICK of it!" shouted Lt. Frank. "Talking to thin air! I want this shit to stop, Colleen! NOW! You need to grow up!"

"Dad, the chaplain said..." Colleen countered.

"I don't give a shit what the chaplain said! This ends NOW! There is no Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy...and there's NO Jack Frost! None of them are real!" he shouted, shaking her.

"That's not true! You're a liar!" the girl said with a look of defiance.

Lt. Frank had it. The girl needed to be taught a lesson. He stormed up to Colleen's room; she didn't like where this was going when she saw where he was.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Colleen said uneasy.

She watched in horror as her childhood pictures were torn down from the walls viciously and grabbed up her doll that her grandmother made.

"DAD!" she screamed in protest. "Stop it! No! What are you doing?!"

Ignoring his daughter's protests, he headed towards the fire place...

"Dad! Don't!" she said, her eyes widened. He wouldn't! "Please!"

...he tossed her beloved things in the hearth. Colleen blanched as she watched in horror as her things were consumed by the flames: crayon drawings of her and Jack having winter fun. Her doll turned into nothing but a pile of black material, splitting at the seams and the blue button eyes blackened and melted.

"NO!" she screamed in horror. "No! No NO!"

Tears streamed down the girl's flushed face, unable to watch anymore as her childhood was destroyed. Her heart was bursting with a mingle of anger and sadness.

That was IT!

Upon witnessing the scene, Jack felt rage fill him. He hurt her. Maybe not physically, but he hurt her...and he was gonna pay. There was a powerful blast of cold wind and snow, making all of the windows and doors in the house opened, causing the fire to go out. Glaring, his blue eyes glittering slightly as he caused ice and snow to start freezing the man who made her cry.

Seeing ice spikes build up and her father beginning to freeze, Colleen stared in shock at what Jack was doing. She may have hated her father, but her friend interfered when he shouldn't have. She wasn't some little kid. Would her best friend do this? She couldn't believe it!

"JACK! STOP IT!" she shouted. "What is wrong with you?!"

"He hurt you," he said, his voice shaking; his eyes never left the man.

Colleen was beyond angry. Her best friend did a terrible thing.

"I DON'T CARE! He's my dad. It was none of your business and I could've handled it myself!" she continued to shout. "Now let him go!"

Jack wanted him dead...he wanted him gone, out of her life. But he wasn't about to take this girl's last family member away from her. He wasn't that kind of guy, no matter what. Sighing, his rage settled and obeyed his friend's request to stop the assault on her father. She continued to glare at her friend. He realized what he had done. It was a terrible thing. Was he that capable of something?! He couldn't believe it himself.

"How could you?!" she said disgusted.

"I-I'm sorry," he said remorsefully.

"Just go," she said, shaking her head.

"Colleen, I...I just..."

"JUST GET OUT OF HERE, JACK!" she screamed angrily. "I DON'T BELIEVE IN YOU ANYMORE!"

Jack was shocked upon hearing those words. Having been invisible for three hundred years, but to actually be told this especially by his best friend hit him where it hurt the most. If it was possible to hear one's heart break, it would've. Tears formed in his eyes as he just turned and flew off quickly.

Colleen realized what she had said. She was unable to look at her best friend, ashamed. She could only imagine how hurt he was. Why did she say that?! Upon turned around, he was no longer there. Where did he go? She had to tell him she was sorry, that she didn't mean it. Colleen wanted to scream Jack's name, begging him to come back and that she was sorry, but it was stuck.

What had she done?!

Jack was gone.

Snow began to fall from the steel grey clouded sky. It was colder than before. The wind sounded like a child crying.

She slumped onto the porch, feeling her throat tighten. Her heart shattered. Her face crumpled, tears flooded in her green eyes. She hitched a few breaths, in a series of whimpers. She curled up into a ball, burying her face in her knees, weeping softly at first...then let go and sobbed. She raised her head up, her eyes were soaked and wet streams trailed down her freckled cheeks. She covered her face and cried some more, racked with sorrowful regret...

He flew as fast as he could as far as he could until he felt he was safe: Antarctica. Yelling loudly, he lashed out, destroying huge icebergs with ice. It was all his fault!

He hated himself. He ruined everything. Colleen hated him and what's worse is she didn't believe in him anymore. He continued to hear those harsh words echoing. He also remembered those of Pitch:

You make a mess wherever you go. You have a bad habit of intervening.

And he was right.

Jack Frost looked for a deep crevasse and floated down towards the bottom. With a whimper, he curled up into a ball, keeping a tight grip on his staff. His thin body shook as he heaved some breaths. Lowering his head, he buried his face in his arm and began to cry. Frozen tears ran down his face; icicles stuck to his eyelashes and fell from his eyes, tiny little ice spheres clinked on the ground or stuck to his sweater. His loud sobs echoed throughout the crevasse. Crying just seemed to be the only thing he could think to do. His whole body hurt. His heart was broken.

His best friend didn't believe in him anymore.

After hours of crying, eventually he flew off to the North Pole into the spare room where North allowed him to stay.

North saw the shape of the teenager just swish into his shop and went right to the spare bedroom. Concerned, he would check up on him. Jack just laid there on the bed, curled up in a fetal position, not moving. He stayed there for days...weeks...

North approached Jack, worried. The big Russian sat down on the bed, looking at the despondent teenager. There was a sorrowful mask: his eyes were hollow with trails of frost on his cheeks. The boy had been crying.

"What is wrong, Jack?" he asked.

The boy's face screwed up as he looked up at North. More frozen tears formed in his blue eyes.

"MiM!" he sobbed. "I messed up..."

"What happened?"

"She..." he said. "Colleen doesn't...I made her so mad...and she doesn't believe in me anymore..."

North frowned with a nod. He and the other Guardians knew the day would eventually come when a child stopped believing.

"Children grow up, Jack Frost. That's the way it is," he said.

Jack only shook his head. "N-no. She said she didn't...it was my fault. I did a terrible thing and made her mad."

"What did you do?"

Jack didn't want to talk about it. He shook his head and turned away, pulling his hood over his head. How was he supposed to deal with this? His best friend didn't believe in him anymore. How did the Big Four deal with it when children stopped believing?

He let a few more tears fall on the pillow until he fell asleep.

Colleen had to find him. She didn't mean what she said when they fought that day.

She spent days looking for Jack. She would look in the usual places he would be: tree branches, the power lines, even the frozen pond.

She couldn't find him anywhere.

After days of searching for Jack Frost, Colleen decided to leave the window open in case he did come back. She had to tell him she was sorry. She'd even stay up at night, watching the skies, looking for the shape of Jack.

Though he didn't come, she continued to remain hopeful that he'd come back.

Days turned to months...Jack didn't come back. He never did. Colleen's hope began to fade. He was never coming back.

Perhaps he was so hurt over what she had said to him. Perhaps he was mad. She knew how important belief was to him. She still couldn't get over that she was so mean to him. She probably drove him away. He probably didn't want to be friends anymore. Colleen didn't want to give up on him. She didn't want to forget about him. It saddened her that he left...then again maybe her father was right. Maybe it was time to let him go.

He left her. He promised he wouldn't. Then this shit happened. He left...and he wasn't coming back. He was never coming back. Everyone that Colleen ever loved always left. Mostly it was from the constant moving, then her mother was taken from her at a young age. Then her grandmother who was the only mother figure she had left. And now her best friend.

Her best friend was gone forever. Jack Frost. Her Frostbite.

She reached for the window and shut it.

Jack Frost returned to the small town of Burgess. A lot had changed since he left. He went to look for Colleen. He found her house in Burgess. He sat in the tree where he would watch her window. It was unusual since usually the window was often open, plus the shades were drawn. He heard the door open and looked down and...

There she was. An older Colleen. She looked grown up since the last time he saw her. She wore glasses this time. Her skin had some blemishes. Still it was her. He floated down towards her; she looked sullen and miserable. There was a frostiness in her eyes.

"Hey, snow angel," he said.

She didn't seem to hear him. Jack frowned when he saw this. Was she still mad at him? He wouldn't blame her if she was, especially since the last time they saw each other. He stood in front of her and was about to speak when...

whoosh!

He was completely shaken when this happened. She walked RIGHT through him!

"She...she doesn't see me!" he gasped in shock.

Colleen paused a moment. She thought she felt something cold in that area. She furrowed her brow a moment, hearing a distant voice. She shook it off, thinking it was nothing.

Tears welled up in his blue eyes as the feeling began to sink in. Though he was sad that his best friend didn't see him anymore, he had a promise to keep. He floated next to her and whispered in her ear.

"I won't leave you, snow angel," he promised.

The years went by, Jack Frost watched Colleen. She didn't see him anymore, but he still cared about her. She grew quiet and withdrawn, often buried in her books. Her classmates still teased her for the whole 'imaginary friend' ordeal; they shouted at her, chasing her down the street, throwing snowballs at her. Jack played a few clever pranks on them. He did what he could to watch over his little snow angel.

He missed her. He missed the fun times they used to have together in the snow. Even talking was one of them. He would try to get her attention by blowing the wind at her and playing the usual pranks that he used to. He would make it snow lightly for her since she always liked that. He would even make a snowflake land right on her nose. Though it would make her smile at times, she still didn't see him.

Eventually, he had responsibilities as a Guardian to bring winter fun to other children. He kept his promise as well and watched over Colleen.

He hoped the day would come that she would see him again.