Author's Note: Thanks to all the people who favorited, followed and reviewed! An especially big thanks to the guest who gave me a little background info on Pitch. I feel bad that I made Lillian die now, but her character was already established and I wasn't sure how else to make her a spirit.

To answer a few reviews: I wasn't planning on having a Mother Nature. I want the seasonals to kind of work things out for themselves, and Lillian can have a little help with her powers from someone else then. :)

Also, you might want to punch Bunny now, but remember it took a long time in the movie for Bunny to even tolerate Jack, let alone be friendly with him. So Bunny's going to be a jerk for awhile. And the Guardians are well meaning, but they just.. don't understand things, so they think they're doing a good thing by talking to Jack. And there's a little bit of Lillian interacting with Jack.

Anyway, on with the story!

Edit: I fixed a few typos that were bugging me in all three of the chapters. So sorry if this sends out an alert. No updates yet! The next chapter will be out sometime on the weekend or on Monday at the latest.

Chapter Three: Ultimatums and Explanations

The day passed by quickly and as soon as the sun set, the northern lights appeared, sending out the call for the Guardians.

As usual, Bunny was the first to arrive. He entered the globe room complaining about the cold.

"Paws are freezin'.." he muttered, looking around.

In the center of the room sat the globe which had many golden lights shining on it, each light representing a child who believes. Some of the lights were flickering or dim, indicating that some children's beliefs were wavering or not that strong.

Bunny noted with a pang that many of the flickering or dim lights were around Burgess, the town that got hit by that awful blizzard.

As he was studying the lights, Bunny blinked. There, near Burgess was a blue light. It wasn't as bright as some of the golden ones but it was there. His eyes roamed around the globe, and he spotted another blue light in.. Antarctica?

Bunny remembered that over two hundred years ago, the first blue light appeared on the globe. Now there was another one.

"North!" Bunny called as Tooth flew in with some of her fairies.

"Sector Two in Seattle! One incisor in a freak canoeing accident!" she told a fairy who flew off as North entered the room.

"Ah, Tooth! Is good to see you!" North said happily as he spotted her.

"North, Tooth! Look at this, mates!" Bunny said impatiently as he gestured at the globe. "That blue light is in Antarctica again! And there's another blue light here," he pointed it out, "near Burgess."

North and Tooth went over to check it out. They had noticed the first blue light a long time ago. At first it was very bright, and they were excited that maybe it was an extra strong believer, but quickly changed their minds when the light stayed on the globe for more than a hundred years.

Each of them had kept an eye on that light over the years. Sometimes it glowed brightly and sometimes it was dim.

The first time they saw that it was in Antarctica and flickering, they panicked. North had been busy with the aftermath of Christmas, so Sandy had gone out to see.

Hours later he returned to say (or sign) that Antarctica was having a terrible blizzard and he could barely see anything, let alone if there was a person in trouble.

They fretted until a few days later when the light moved from Antarctica to another part of the globe. They noticed that it tended to travel all over the world, but none of them could figure out how it moved around so quickly. And now there was another one!

"It's so dim," Tooth noted sadly as she studied the new blue light. Then she looked at the light in Antarctica and sighed sadly. "That one is dim too," she pointed out. She was relieved that it wasn't flickering again, but knew it was only a matter of time.

She turned to North, who was looking at the lights in consternation.

"You still haven't figured out why that light is blue?" she asked.

North shook his head.

"Is big mystery," North said. "Blue light cannot be child as it is on globe for over two hundred years now. And yet only children appear on the globe!"

"What if – " Bunny started, but was interrupted by the arrival of Sandy in his sand plane.

Sandy pushed his sand goggles up on his head as the plane changed back into its usual golden cloud.

He floated over by the others who were still gathered around the large globe. They quickly filled him in on the new blue light and that the other one was in Antarctica again.

A big, golden question mark appeared over Sandy's head as he looked at the globe, puzzled.

"What if the blue lights are for spirits?" Bunny asked.

North waved this aside.

"There are no children who are spirits! Man in Moon would have told us."

"Then how do ya explain a two hundred year old light?" Bunny asked impatiently.

"Well – " North started, then stopped. How do you explain that?

"New York, hockey! Two molars!" Tooth called out. She looked at the others. "Is this why we were called here?"

North shook his head, indicating that they had other problems.

"Jack Frost is up to old tricks," he said.

Bunny interrupted, fuming again.

"Old tricks?! He made a blizzard in Burgess! On Easter!"

He pointed at the globe.

"Look at that! He seriously hurt the belief of so many children!" he said, his face angry. "Not to mention the danger he put them in!"

"Bunny wishes to explain to Jack Frost that making blizzard is bad on Easter." North explained.

"I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it," Tooth said as she looked at the globe anxiously.

Sandy looked over at the window to see the moon rising. He waved his hands and pointed, but nobody seemed to notice.

The moonlight that was shining in from the window went down to some symbols that were carved intricately into the floor.

As it moved towards a particular spot, Tooth gasped and pointed.

"Look! It's Manny!" she said as they all turned to look at the shaft of moonlight as it made its way across the floor.

North looked at where it was headed and his eyes widened.

"Is moving to seasonal symbols!" he exclaimed.

Bunny looked around at them smugly at this.

"Even the Man in the Moon agrees with me," he said, his tone a little arrogant.

Sandy rolled his eyes.

Surrounding the 'G' that stood for the Guardians, were four smaller symbols carved into the floor.

There was a flower, a sun, a leaf and a snowflake. The moon beam went straight to the flower, illuminating it.

The Guardians stared at the flower. What did this mean?


Meanwhile, deep underground Lillian sat up suddenly in bed. She looked around sleepily with her curls all tangled. As she yawned, she looked around again, trying to figure out why she felt strange.

She felt a little tingly and could have sworn someone had been calling her name.

As she began to wake up more, she could see she was in some sort of cave. It wasn't too big or too small.

Lillian felt cool sheets under her and wondered what a bed was doing in a cave. Or was it a bed? Looking around more carefully, she saw that while she was on a child-sized mattress with sheets, a pillow and what looked like a hand-stitched quilt, there was no bed frame. Instead, the mattress was in a big half-moon shape that looked like it was carved out of the stone wall. The mattress rested on the bottom, which was flat.

She peered over the edge of the bed to see it wasn't too high off the floor, and thanks to the lack of a bed frame, there was no dark and scary space under the bed.

Lillian looked at the walls more closely and saw that there were smaller spaces carved into the wall, to make shelves.

There were some longer shelves low to the ground on the opposite wall of her bed, tucked into a corner that seemed to make a little bookcase as they had a few books.

Directly opposite her bed was a tall, rectangular shelf that had an oil lamp sitting on it. It seemed to be high off the ground purposely so that little fingers couldn't reach it, but an adult could.

Next to this, was a space that could only be a closet. It was a big square that was low to the ground, with a metal beam for hanging clothes near the top. Under the square were a few rectangular shapes carved into the wall that must be shelves of some sort for other clothes or shoes.

There were also a few empty shelves here and there and a small boulder sat near the bookcase with a flat top, as though it was a substitute for a table.

As Lillian took in all this, she couldn't help but feel this cave-room was a little sparse, as though it had been waiting for an owner to give it some personality.

Judging by the faded quilt and the age of the books, it had been waiting for a very long time.

Lillian couldn't help but like the room. Everything in it was the perfect size for her and with the oil lamp burning away merrily, it was very cozy.

As Lillian looked around the cave-room, she wondered how she came to be there. She examined her small amount of memories and remembered sitting with Pitch and she was upset because –

Her face fell. The Guardians. They never came for her.

North only came for good kids, so did that mean she was bad? And where was Pitch?! As she started panicking, a dark figure stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the room. He stepped forward and immediately hit his knee on the table-rock.

He let loose a few choice words before he quickly stifled them.

The sound drew Lillian's attention and she smiled happily.

"Pitch!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw the figure.

Pitch hobbled over to her with as much dignity he could muster.

"You were expecting someone else?" he asked.

Lillian blushed, looking embarrassed.

"I thought –" she started.

Pitch cut her off.

"Of course I wouldn't have abandoned you there. You don't have to be afraid that I would leave you all alone." He said reassuringly.

Lillian looked confused.

"How..?"

"I always know people's greatest fears. It's a talent I possess." he answered her.

"Oh," Lillian said. "So this place is your house?"

Pitch looked a little uncomfortable at that.

"This is one of many rooms in my underground domain. I made this room several years ago in my more optimistic days."

Lillian had no idea what he meant by that but she nodded anyway.

Pitch sat down on the edge of the bed and lightly brushed his finger tips along the edge of the quilt.

"I was thinking perhaps since you have no place to call your own, that you would consider staying with me."

Lillian's eyes went wide.

"This room would be yours and you could decorate it however you like," he continued. "But before you make up your mind, there are a few things you have to know."

Pitch kept tracing patterns on her bed, not quite looking Lillian in the eye.

"As all spirits do, I have a job I must do. Mine is to spread fear. All children need a touch of fear growing up. Without fear, they wouldn't be able to grow and become stronger," he explained, not quite sure if he was rationalizing things for Lillian or himself, "I do this by giving children nightmares. If they believe in me, they can see me as well. I travel through the shadows and they would sometimes see me appear under their bed. That's why children today are afraid of the monster under the bed."

He risked a glance up at her.

"I understand if you don't –"

Lillian looked thoughtful.

"So you help kids get over their fears by giving them nightmares?" she asked.

"That's one way of putting it, I suppose." Pitch said, surprised.

He thought she would be cringing away from him by now.

"And I can really stay here?" she asked excitedly.

Pitch nodded and was surprised to find himself with an armful of spring spirit as she had thrown her arms around him.

She smiled up at him.

"We'll be like a family."

A family. The one thing he had always longed for. A family to call his own and to not be alone.

He pulled Lillian close in a hug, hardly able to speak.

"A family," he agreed.


"I know!" North finally said. "Manny is saying Spirit of Spring take care of blizzard and not to worry."

If a moon could face palm, it would have by now.

"Maybe if we paid Jack Frost a visit and gently explained about how making blizzards on Easter is bad," Tooth said hesitantly with a look at Bunny.

"Then is settled! We will go in sleigh!" North cheerfully exclaimed.

Bunny appeared to be having second thoughts.

"Whoa, whoa! Wait a minute!" Bunny said while following the other Guardians to the sleigh.

"Won't my tunnels be safer?" he tried, as he always did when North tried to get them all to take the sleigh.

"Nonsense! Sleigh is quickest," North said.

Sandy patted the seat next to him with a grin and Bunny very reluctantly climbed in and sat next to him.

North grabbed up the reins, then paused.

"Where do we find Jack Frost?"

It took two hours of searching before they finally realized how much they know about Jack Frost: absolutely nothing.

They all knew he was a trouble maker because of the fact he was always on the naughty list and because the other spirits were always complaining about him.

If they had stopped to think about it, only children appeared on the naughty or nice lists and Jack Frost always seemed to cause the most trouble after Christmas.

But they were always too busy with other things to really notice this.

It finally took them two days to catch up with the winter spirit. Two days of searching cold places for Jack Frost's home and coming up with nothing.

They finally saw the spirit lounging around in a tree near a lake that was still frozen over, despite the fact that the weather definitely had more of a spring feeling to it. In fact, most of the deep snow had gone and now only a few inches remained.

The Guardians would never know that it was a combination of Lillian's spring magic that she set in motion in the forest that one day and Jack's, to help make the snow disappear that caused so much of it to vanish in such a short amount of time.

Nor could they realize that Jack was in the tree because he had exhausted himself. It took little effort for him to make snow, but making it disappear was another matter. It took all the concentration he could muster, since it was difficult for even him to have such control over his powers.

But all Jack could think about was Bunny's disappointment and disgust, so after spending several hours in Antarctica, he returned to Burgess to set things right.

He had been surprised to discover that the snow in the forest had already melted and his lake was starting to thaw out. With a tap of his staff, he quickly froze his lake over and thickened the ice. He didn't know why, but the thought of thin or no ice on his lake made him nervous.

He then proceeded to call on the wind to fly him all around Burgess.

A few days later, the temperature was a little warmer and the snow significantly less. The people of Burgess had taken this all in stride. They were long since used to strange weather, especially around the winter time.

The wind had gently set Jack down in his favorite tree, ruffling his hair with a worried whisper that only he could hear.

"'M alright," he mumbled to the wind.

He closed his eyes and had a peaceful ten minutes before a big, red sleigh landed loudly near the lake. Jack was so startled that he fell out of his tree. As he used his staff to help himself up to his feet, he heard a familiar Australian accent that had him internally cringing.

Jack's eyes widened when he saw that Bunny had Santa, Sandy and the Tooth Fairy with him.

"Jack!" North said in a booming voice that had Jack jumping a little.

Jack was leaning on his staff in a nonchalant pose that to Bunny, looked very arrogant.

If Bunny had looked at Jack more closely, he might have seen that Jack was more pale than usual and he was leaning on his staff for support.

"At last we find you," North continued, "You are difficult to spirit to track down."

Jack looked at them a little guiltily.

"If it's about that blizzard.."

"'Course it is!" Bunny glared at him. "Ya can't go around causing trouble on other spirits' holidays!"

"But –" Jack tried to explain.

Tooth flew forward a little.

"Sweetie, we know you didn't mean to cause trouble, but you have to think of the children," she said. "A lot of them missed out on Easter and some of them could have been hurt, since the weather changed so quickly."

"Da," North spoke up before Jack could. "You see, is not good to always play tricks and be naughty. You hold record for naughty list!"

Hurt pooled in Jack's eyes, but he hitched a carefree smirk on his face. He looked at the Guardians. Tooth was wringing her hands and looking at him anxiously, while North looked a little disappointed. Bunny had his arms crossed and an impassive look was on his face. Sandy waved his arms to get Jack's attention. He made a lot of golden little snowflakes above his head followed by a sad face. After this he made a golden snowflake with an X through it followed by a happy face.

Jack didn't know what to think. First Bunny yelled at him for the blizzard, and then the Guardians show up to yell at him more and didn't even notice that he helped clean up all the snow. Not only that, but they were telling him snow is bad and not to play tricks.

Jack Frost is all about fun, snow and tricks. If they didn't like that, they didn't like him. The fact that the Guardians were telling him this, his secret heroes that he had looked up to for years, hurt.

"See, he's doing it again!" Bunny yelled, pointing accusingly at Jack.

Jack was surprised to see that it was snowing lightly. He smirked at Bunny.

"What's the matter, Cottontail, can't handle a little snow?"

Bunny saw red at the cocky expression on Jack's face and raised a fist, but was stopped by doing anything further by Sandy, who had a golden pair of boxing gloves crossed out over his head.

North saw the tension between Bunny and Jack and began to usher the others back to the sleigh.

"Remember what we tell you, Jack." He said. "We only have best interest at heart."

Jack looked at the ground as the sleigh took back off, his mop of white hair covering his face. He could feel his façade crack and frozen tears fell down his face.

The Guardians didn't even try listening to him. They thought he was bad. As he wiped tears from his face, he heard a young girl's voice.

"Boy, why are you crying?"


Author's Note: Whew! This chapter was long. At least if felt much longer than the others. Ok, a side note on Pitch. In the movie he hints that he was longing for a family when he's trying to convince Jack to go over to the dark side. So I had figured that before he ever gave up on having a family, he would have made a lot of rooms for them in his underground cavern. I had decided this before the reviewer gave me background info on Pitch and decided to keep it there. It gives Lillian an awesome cave room, anyway.

I'm also sorry for stopping on such a cliffhanger! I promise I'll try to stop doing that, but I felt like it was a good stopping point. The next chapter will feature a lot of Lillian/Jack scenes and maybe some with the other Guardians as well. I'll try not to make it super angsty, I promise. I was thinking about Pitch, and since he's sort of declared himself Lillian's guardian, should he meet Jack? Maybe take Jack under his wing too? I can't decide if I want him to or not, or how this will work out in the movie chapters.. Hm!