Nearly three centuries after the awakening of Jack Frost, was when the Nightmare King's plan was set in motion. After centuries of planning and biding his time, all the pieces were in place. The Moon had been planning, as well.

Wind could feel the world around her hold its breath in anticipation. A war was coming, that much was clear. What worried her was that she couldn't tell where her and Jack fit into it.

At the North Pole, the Guardians of Childhood had gathered at North's workshop, summoned by suspicions and rumours. Four solemn faces gazed at the shadowed figure that stained the tiled floor of the workshop, dread filling them as they realized what the Moon was showing them. The rays of moonlight cast the shadow of a foe they had believed long gone.

"It is Pitch," one of them, the Easter Bunny, breathed grimly, eyes wide as the over-sized rabbit glanced at a large man with a large white beard. The man patted his belly and raised a brow meaningfully, a silent 'I told you so'.

The bearded man then stepped forward and and turned his searching gaze towards the Moon, blue eyes trusting and patient.

"Manny," he spoke, his voice thick with a strong russian accent. "What must we do?"

The moonlight shifted, triggering a tile to sink and disappear into the ground. In its place, a large blue crystal rose up, beautiful as it sparkled with refracted moonlight.

"Uh, guys, you know what this means?" the feathered fairy spoke up excitedly, wings buzzing as she flew closer to the crystal.

"He's choosing a new guardian," the Russian answered for them all, voice soft in wonder as eyes fixed on the crystal.

The rabbit frowned. "What? Why?"

"Must be big deal, Manny thinks we need help," he replied as the crystal began to refract even more light, washing the room and its occupants in a soothing blue glow.

"Since when do we need help?" the rabbit laughed in disbelief.

"I wonder who it's going to be?" the fairy piped up eagerly.

The Sandman, the fourth guardian, had remained a silent observer until now. He lit up and a four-leaf clover appeared over his head as a suggestion, made up of golden sand.

"Maybe the Leprechaun?" the Tooth Fairy voiced curiously.

In his corner, the rabbit muttered to himself, fists clenched as he chanted, "Please not the Groundhog, please not the Groundhog-"

As each of the Guardians waited in anticipation, the moonlight in the crystal seemed to channel itself upwards until it formed a vague figure. Concentrating itself, it eventually took a clear form.

A moonlit figure grinned mischievously back at them. It was a boy, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and leggings, barefoot as he held a crooked staff in one hand, the other hand shoved into a pocket. Only half of his face was revealed, the rest hidden by his hood, but his identity was no mystery to them.

"Jack Frost," the bearded man stated in surprise, blinking a little bewilderedly.

Some of the tiny fairies squealed in delight as the rabbit stared in growing horror, slack-jawed.

"Uh- I take it back, the Groundhog's fine," the rabbit groaned.

The fairy shook off the dreamy look on her face. "Well, uh, as long as he helps to-to protect the children. Right?" she stammered.

"Jack Frost?" the rabbit snapped in outrage. 'He doesn't care about children! All he does is freeze water pipes and mess with my egg hunts! All right? He's an irresponsible, selfish-'

"Guardian," the red-suited man cut in, gazing at the blue figure thoughtfully.

"What? Come on-"

This time he was interrupted by the fairy. "Hey guys, what's that behind him?"

Everyone examined the light and found that there was indeed something behind Jack Frost. It was faint, only shown in weak light, but it was there.

"What is that?" the rabbit muttered distractedly as he squinted.

As they focused, it seemed to become brighter, only slightly, but enough so as to make out a girl, her hands rested on Jack Frost's shoulders. Long, curly hair trailed down her back and she wore a ragged, sleeveless dress. Her legs were only partially formed, the lower of which faded into nothing. Thin, freckled shoulders were hunched forward and her face was obscured by Jack's own.

Almost as quickly as it had appeared, it seemed to fade into a pale haze once more.

Tooth Fairy gasped. "That wasn't…?"

"Impossible," the man dismissed hesitantly, still not sure what he had seen.

"You don't think that-that all this time…" the rabbit trailed off, sharing a look with the others.

The sandman remained thoughtful and silent, not offering anything.

"Well, I guess we'll find out, won't we?" the fairy offered after a solemn silence.

"Yes," the man agreed. "Jack is to be Guardian. We will know soon enough."

"Huh? Hang on, you're not still considering this are you?" the rabbit interjected. "Jack Frost is many things, but he is not a Guardian."

Whether Jack was suited to be a Guardian or not was yet to be decided, but for the moment the sprite in question had no such concerns.

"Hey, Wind?" the non-Guardian called as he hung from the spire of a tower, fairly certain he was somewhere in Russia. A responding cold breeze washed over him and he chuckled. "Take me home!"

In an instant the breeze became stronger and buffeted him off the tower, carrying him into the sky and beyond the clouds in the darkened sky as the winter sprite whooped and cheered.

Feeling himself rush through the air, Jack Frost righted himself and let out another whoop, feeling as light as a feather and as free as a bird.

Unknown to him, Wind watched him fondly as she carried him through the dawning sky, joining in his thrill as she allowed him to guide them in leaps towards their destination.

She felt that now-familiar tug on her heart and allowed them to drop as they reached blue skies, and what Jack often referred to as home.

Burgess was a fairly quiet town with nothing to really make it stand out from others, fairly quiet, nothing too special about it. Wind knew that Jack didn't really understand his attachment to the place, but she could understand it well. Once a home, always a home. She supposed that despite having no memories before Jack Frost, he still could sense some attachments instinctively.

Whatever it was, Burgess was home and Wind was okay with that.

Today was no different than any other day. They flew around the town, causing mischief and spreading frost wherever they went as they danced and twirled through the frosty air.

It wasn't long before they found a small boy with big brown eyes, rambling about bigfoot and other characters that his friends teased him about. 'Jamie' they called him in exasperation like they were so much more mature than him.

"The Easter Bunny is real," the boy insisted stubbornly in response. He grabbed a sled which had been propped up against the veranda of his house.

Following the kid had been another of Jack's whims, much how most of their adventures started off as, and Wind helped him balance lightly on the top of a fence amusedly.

"Oh, he's real, alright," Jack quipped as he hopped and swayed like an acrobat. "Real annoying, real grumpy and really full of himself."

Wind snorted as she hovered close to Jack, a tug making sure she kept him lightly balanced and ready to catch him if he fell. He didn't realise how on the nose he really was.

"C'mon, you guys will believe anything," one of his friends complained as they continued to bicker, the gang started to leave the garden.

A little girl with a mess of blonde hair hopped down the stairs of the house singing about the Easter Bunny only to trip and fall, catching the attention of her mother and their hound. The dog paused when it spotted Wind and Jack, ears pricked at attention.

"Boo," Jack spooked and the dog whimpered and ran back to his owners. Jack grinned and sat down on the fence.

Just before the boy and his friends had left the garden, his mother called out to him and stuffed a wooly-hat onto his head.

"You don't want Jack Frost nipping at your nose," she warned warmly.

"Who's Jack Frost?" Jamie asked in confusion, something unreadable flickering across Jack's face.

"No one, honey. It's just an expression," she replied before making her way back to the house and saying goodbye.

"Hey!" Jack exclaimed in resentfully as he leapt down the street-side of the fence and watched the boys run of with the sled to play in the snow in a park not far.

It wasn't unusual that the boy hadn't heard about Jack, not many had. In that aspect, the winter sprite was pretty similar to Wind. To everyone, Jack was just an imaginative figure or nothing at all, merely an echo. It was something that weighed heavy on the heart of the sprite who prided himself on his carefree nature.

"Who's Jack Frost?" He muttered bitterly, a wicked glint in his eye as he shaped a snowball in his hand and breathed on it, glittering blue frosten compassing it before he hurled it in the direction of the gang with a chuckle.

Hitting Jamie, the tell-tale sparkle of Jack's magic appeared briefly around the boy's face as he began giggling.

"Okay, who threw that?" he demanded with a grin.

"Well, it wasn't Big-Foot, kiddo," Jack smirked as they flew over but Wind couldn't bring herself to enjoy the excitement like she usually did.

Cupping her hands around her mouth, Wind let out a deliberate breath and watch as the wispy form of one of her anemoi took form.

Eurie grinned at her. "Thanks, Boss," the anemoi beamed and immediately flew into the fray as a snowball fight was started, Jack in the middle of it all unable to stay away. He swerved and slid across the battlefield, providing ammo and hurling shots of his own. Eurie cackled at his side, taking pains to topple kids over and blowing fistfuls of snow into unprepared faces.

That probably wasn't the wisest choice, Zeph observed.

Wind sighed. She knew that, but she had been feeling off today and she was reaching the point where she needed to sit out and think.

The other night, she had seen the Guardian's signal making its way through the sky, shimmering green lights from the headquarters in the North. While she usually ignored anything to do with the Guardians, there had been relative peace for a while now. For them to call an emergency meeting at a time like this, so close to Easter, only confirmed her suspicions. Something was up.

Wind desperately hoped it wasn't what she thought it could be, hoped that it wouldn't mean the trouble she had been dreading. She didn't know what she'd do if it was. She couldn't shake off the foreboding feeling.

An alarmed yell cut through her grim thoughts and she looked up just in time to see Jamie speeding down the street on his sled, Jack guiding the sled with his staff and a trail of ice with a grin as they navigated the traffic, Eurie by his side carrying him with a mischievous look in her pale eyes. They disappeared around a twist in the street before Wind or the other children could do or say anything.

So maybe choosing Eurie hadn't been the wisest thing to do.

Wind quickly took off after the troublesome trio.

Eurus was definitely the wrong choice, Reas grumbled

Wind hurriedly scanned the area and spotted them, shooting through the air to hover above Jack and Eurie, wincing as they barely skittered out of the way of cars and trucks.

Well, at least the boy's still alive, Nota reasoned.

Notus! Now is not the time for jokes. What if something bad happens? Zeph's sweet voice fretted

Then we'd have to deal with the Guardians, Reas groaned.

That would be troublesome, Nota agreed in disappointment.

That is not the point! Zeph cried, The point is that poor boy. He must be traumatized.

Through the bickering, Wind had been struggling to gain control of the sled and call back Eurus at the same time but her concentration had been wavering with the chaos in her head.

"Guys," Wind gritted as the window for her successfully taking control of the situation before someone died became narrower and narrower. "I would appreciate it if you would all kindly shut up while I try and prevent any of that happening."

Apologetic silence met her command. "Thank you," she breathed.

With no more bickering clouding up her mind, Wind was able to successfully call back Eurus and took her place at Jack's side just as a truck came in their way, causing them to swerve sharply and sending the sled flying off the street and out onto a field of snow with a monument in the middle.

As Jamie sank into a pile of snow, Jack and Wind followed the trajectory through the air and landed on the monument.

And homeboy sticks the landing! Eurus crowed as Jack whooped and Wind was positive she felt Zeph facepalm.

Shut up, Reas snapped. Just shut up.

Jamie's friends finally arrived, panting, and approaching warily. Suddenly, the boy shakily stood up and cheered in exhilaration.

"Did you guys see that? It was amazing!"

Wind shook her head and cracked a smile as the boy began enthusiastically describing what had happened to his friends. Jack leant back with a fond smile and Wind settled down next to him. She revelled in this small happiness. Moments like these came and went fleetingly, enough so that Wind treasure every moment as they came. She had spent a lifetime without moments like these and it had taught her to hold onto what she could get.

"No, c'mon," Jack protested as he jumped after them, dragging Wind with him. The children were already leaving and gushing about the Tooth Fairy and a tooth that had apparently been knocked out, the most recent exploit quickly forgotten.

"Wait a m- hold on, hold on!"

None of the children even paused.

"Jack," Wind tried weakly. Those kids could hear him as much as Jack could hear her.

"What about all the fun we just had? That wasn't the Tooth Fairy, that was me!"

"Jack."

They're not going to hear you, Reas stated bluntly.

Boreas, this isn't the time, Zeph chided, her usually soft tone taking on steel.

Jack continued to follow the group, desperate to not be brushed off, desperate to not be forgotten.

But there was no one but Wind to hear him and Jack found himself being walked through for his efforts.

Zeph and Eurie winced while Nota sighed.

Wind felt it, just looking at him. The contact, the chill that went through him, the empty feeling he was left with. He clutched his chest with a hand and blinked back tears.

"What happened to the you who believed that no one deserved to be forgotten?"

Wind frowned and clenched her fists. The words still echoed in her head, just like she knew that manipulative bastard had wanted.

When Wind felt the tug, it didn't have a specific destination. It was weaker than usual but she followed it anyway and swept him up into the sky. He went along mechanically, not seeming to care where she took him so she took him up, above the clouds where she knew he loved to spend time.

It wasn't much, but it was all she could do.

They spent hours drifting listlessly.

Wind spent a lot of time thinking. They both did.


So I am back, only slightly dead. Diving into the movie now, I hope no one minds it being quoted so heavily. I just love the movie so much and to be able to watch it again through the eyes of my characters is pretty awesome for me. Tell me what you think? :)