Author's Note: And now presenting Chapter One of "Unknown Foray!" Yayyyyy! =D

I hope you enjoy it! =)

Chapter One: A Snow Day and an Anniversary

One Day Earlier

Jack laughed as the Wind ruffled through his hair. He whooped and flipped in the air, bringing with him a trail of white snowflakes.

"Snow day!" Jack shouted happily as he flew through the streets of Burgess. Frost webbed across the streets and sidewalks, making some pedestrians slip. Jack smiled impishly as he slid across his lake-thickening it with another layer of ice—and flew into his tree home.

It had been a year since the battle with Pitch and things were returning back to normal. The other Guardians of Childhood were able to recover after a few months of hard work. Believers had increased and children were returning to their happy, childlike selves. No more fear lingered and Pitch was sealed up in his twisted lair.

Jack had taken his new role of the Guardian of Fun seriously. Now that children believed in him, he was noticed for his work. It made his heart swell when kids would wave to him while he flew above them in the air. Jamie and his friends had snowball fights almost daily. The children didn't even care if they woke up with a runny nose the next morning. They had so much fun, a stuffed up nose didn't ruin the feeling for them!

Jack flopped down on his couch. Winter was almost over, so he decided to give the children of Burgess one more snow day and let Mother Nature begin to bring in spring. Emily Jane did not like to be delayed and Jack did not want to deal with an upset elemental spirit.

"Might as well visit Jamie and the others and have a snowball fight while we still can," said Jack. He was about to leave when he caught sight of the Northern Lights dancing across the sky out his window.

"Or I can go to Santoff Claussen and see what's up," said Jack. He grabbed his staff and took the air and flew toward the North Pole. The last time North had called a meeting, it was for a party to celebrate the defeat of Pitch. Jack chuckled to himself when he remembered how everyone brought their weapons thinking that Pitch Black had returned. He never knew Tooth had swords.

Jack entered through an open window and saw that the other Guardians were already there. Jack landed nimbly on his feet and slung his staff on his shoulder, putting his hand in his pocket.

"Hey, guys," greeted Jack with his signature smile. "What's up?"

Some of Tooth's mini fairies swooned at the sight of his white teeth. Tooth's fingers twitched, itching to pry open his mouth and stare at them. Tooth restrained herself and smiled at the winter spirit.

"Hello, Jack! And I actually don't know what's going on." The Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies turned to North. "What's going on, North?"

North clapped his hands together. "Tomorrow iz the day we defeated Pitch!"

Bunny raised an eyebrow. 'And that's excitin' why…?"

"It is one year anniversary! It calls for party!"

Jack smiled. He never said it out loud, but North's parties were the best. But that was because North's parties were the only parties he's ever been to.

"Didn't we already have a party for that?" asked Bunny.

"Yes, ve did, but vhy not have another?" said North.

Tooth smiled. "I can't believe it has already been one year. The children are no longer fearful."

Sandy put up an image of a child sleeping with his dreamsand weaving over their head. The children are having sweet dreams.

"And no sign of Pitch!" added Jack. And I'm no longer alone, he added silently.

"And Jack is Guardian!" bellowed North happily. "This is his anniversary too! So this calls for party!"

Jack turned a light shade of purple. "North, you don't have to…"

North shook his head. "You deserve it."

Tooth fluttered over and ruffled his hair. "You did help defeat Pitch, Jack. So this party is yours just as much as it's ours."

Sandy and Bunny nodded in agreement, smiles on their faces.

Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "I...Thanks, guys." he said.

North bellowed orders to begin preparing for tomorrow's party. The Guardians were going to meet around nine to celebrate after everyone's jobs had been taken care of. Jack and the others helped pick out decorations and set things up. North let Jack pick the menu.

"That's a lot of food," said Jack in awe as he looked over the options.

North patted his back. "Just pick the ones you vant. Yetis can cook anything!"

Phil and a group of other yetis nodded. Jack grinned and made a list of food for the celebration. Jack had never tried some of the things he picked. Since Jack and the other Guardians were immortal, eating wasn't necessary, but that didn't mean they couldn't eat something if they wanted to.

Jack handed the list of food to a yeti and left to help with the rest of the decorations. It took about an hour since North wanted red and Bunny wanted green. North said that they should do just red since there was already green in the building and Bunny said that they should just green because Santoff Claussen needed more "spring." The argument ended when Tooth interceded and said that they should do every color. So banners and other decorations were colored with red for North, green for Bunny, yellow for Sandy, pink for Tooth, and blue for Jack.

After three hours of decorating and six arguments later (Tooth reviewed Jack's food choices and said that some of them were not good for his teeth which led to Jack promising he would brush well afterward. Bunny and North argued over how to set the table and Sandy vehemently declared that there wasn't enough eggnog) The North Pole was finally ready for the anniversary party.

"It took a vhile," said North. "But ve did it."

Jack shook his head. "I never knew that decorating could be so amusing."

"And tedious. That took hours," said Bunny with a frown.

"Well if you and North weren't arguing over banners and table set up, we probably would've gotten done a lot sooner," said Tooth.

Jack laughed and Bunny sent him a glare. The Guardians began to go back to their places and return to their jobs. Jack waved goodbye and flew through an open window and toward Burgess. Jack's smile never left his face the whole way there. He laughed with ecstasy; the excitement for tomorrow's party bubbling up inside him. He flew toward Jamie's house and tapped his window. The nine-year-old Bennet threw the window open.

"Hi, Jack!" Jamie said happily. "I thought you wouldn't make it. It's been hours!"

Jack ruffled his hair. "I wouldn't miss a day to hang out with you for the world, kiddo."

Jamie smiled and asked, "Where were you? Sophie threatened to come after you herself and almost went outside to find you."

Jack laughed. "Don't worry. I was at Santoff Claussen with the others. Tomorrow's our one year anniversary for defeating Pitch."

"Wow, that's awesome," said Jamie. "Does that mean it's kinda your one year as the Guardian of Fun anniversary too?"

"Yep," said Jack. "We spent three hours decorating the place."

"Three hours?!" Jamie gasped. "I may only be nine, but even I know that is way too long to take decorating."

Jack nodded. "Yeah...It only took us so long because Bunny and North were arguing about what color decorations they should use."

Jamie laughed. "Really?"

"Yup," said Jack. "Tooth said that we should just do our favorite colors and that's what we did. And then Tooth said that some food on the menu wasn't good for my teeth so now I have to brush for at least fifteen minutes after the feast."

"Whoa," said Jamie.

"And then Bunny and North started arguing over how the table should be set up and Sandy said there wasn't enough eggnog...Then we finally finished in three hours."

Jamie blinked and then grinned. "That must have been amusing."

Jack smiled. "Very amusing."

Sophie came barreling in Jamie's room. She jumped onto Jack and gave him one of her "hugs." After prying Sophie off, the trio went outside and played in the snow. Once the sun began to set, Jamie and Sophie had to go inside for dinner. Jack waved goodbye and flew to his lake. He settled in the snow and gazed up at the moon.

Jack smiled. One year after defeating Pitch. One year after becoming a Guardian. Jack couldn't contain his excitement. He made a light snowfall over Burgess and headed to bed for the night. Jack fell asleep with a smile on his face, full of elation for the next day.

…

A shadowy figure weaved its way through the trees. It reached its destination and a malevolent smile stretched across its face. It stalked toward the tree that Jack lived in and it dissipated into the shadows. The darkness weaved its way around the tree and burst in a cloud of black. An eerie wind that did not belong to Jack or Emily Jane blew, making the tree creak and sway. Dark clouds blocked out the light of the moon, leaving the world in darkness.

If only Jack had stayed awake.

Author's Note: To answer FrozenTinkerbellPotter-Lover's question: Yes! I was already working on "All In One" before you made the story suggestion that all of the Guardians get sick. I have a lot (like, a lot a lot) of story ideas written down in my notebook, and "All In One" was one of them so…yeah. X)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter one! =D

Until the next chapter!

-BeyondTheMoon1203