North looked up at the moon, and felt a familiar rumble in the lower bowls of his stomach.

Something was going on, something of concern. But the moon continued to gaze on innocently, there was no moon beam, there was no eclipse, nothing. So North continued to stand there, stroking his beard for something to happen.

Pitch has been quite for a while, around half a century, so it could involve him. There believers were still strong, including Jack's growing numbers, so it couldn't be that. Even though winter is here, St. Nick still had a few weeks left before the less-than-ideal pressure of the holidays. What concern is there to be anxious about?

North was still standing there when Jack came around. He had his own place near Burgess, but he liked to come and visit whenever the chance comes up.

"Hey North! What'cha doing there? Shouldn't you be checking your list, checking it twice? Finding out who's naughty or nice?" He chuckled at his own joke, hanging upside-down from his staff.

At a normal occasion, the guardian of wonder would have made some sort of jest about Jack still being on the naughty list, but he remained silent. This did not go unnoticed by Jack, he righted himself and looked at North. Without missing a beat, he turned to look at what North was gazing at. The moon was still there, shining in the rising night.

"Did something happen? What is going on?"

"Nothing, at least, not yet." The first words to leave his mouth in the hour made a heavy impression.

"What do you mean? How long have you seen him?"

"Not long, about hour, hour and half."

There was a silence.

"Has he told you anything?"

Even with the event passed, Jack has yet to hear another peep from MiM. The subject is avoided for Jack's sake.

"Rest assured, I have not heard of him. Manny has only shown himself here when there is emergency, but no message is here. Not even moon beam."

It was rather strange, Manny only went out of cycle like this when something is off. Before, he would usually tell us, send a moon beam, or show the Guardian gem to warn them of danger. This was the one and only time that Manny has come with seemingly no bad intentions.

"Do we need to put up the lights?"

"No, nothing yet. Unless something big has happened, then we use lights. Manny might only be here to warn us of his concern."

"Ok, but still, should we tell any of the other about this?"

"Of course! But only Bunny at this time, Tooth and Sandy are very busy around the clock."

"But if I run into them-"

"Then you may warn them! But Jack, please-!"

"Ok, I'm on it!" Jack left swiftly out the open window, drowning out the warning from North with his own voice.

Jack flew through with wind, taking the scenic route to Bunny's place. The man in the moon may not have said anything, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't tell the others about what was happening. Or rather, what wasn't happening.

The wind took him low, barely skimming over the tips of the houses. It was when he was passing a school that he made an abrupt stop. He looked at the school again, thinking that he had spotted a golden glow, but only seeing a light in one of the classrooms. He looked up, the moon shining well above his head. It was well passed any kid's bedtime, why was one still in school?

Looking closer, he realized that it was a high school he was looking at. Maybe some student was punished for something. Still, it was around midnight here, shouldn't a teacher have allowed the poor soul to go home?

He may have learned to take his Guardian title seriously now, but he was still a kid at heart, and his curiosity was very active at the moment.

A peek wouldn't hurt anyone…

Jack was then against the glass at a moment's notice, frosting the window pane at his touch. He peered in to see a boy at the far corner, reading a textbook, alone at midnight.

He looked like a normal teen, shoes, clothes, nothing out of the ordinary. He didn't look lost or confused, he just looked like a teen studying for a test the next day. But the fact that he was alone at this time of night seemed creepy.

He actually jumped when the boy turned his head to look at him.

Now this was strange, the teen looked about fifteen years-old, yet he was able to see him. Jack learned the hard way that children will eventually forget about the guardian, leaving their childhood to become adults. Jamie was that way, thought he impressed the Guardians by still believing at the age of thirteen.

But this boy, this boy, was looking at him with the same wide-eyed look as Jack. The teen stood up and moved left, never breaking eye contact with him. Jack was still looking when the boy reached the door, grasping for the handle.

Jack couldn't resist, it was too strange.

"Can you see me?"

The boy froze.

"Can you see me!?" He called louder, not sure if this was a good or bad thing.

Jack never got his answer, for the boy unfroze himself, turned off the lights, and bolted out the door. Leaving Jack with the open book as the only sign of the boy and what had happened.

Shell-shocked, hurt, and scared, Jack left the school far behind him. He was surprised that a teenager was able to see him, he was hurt that Jamie apparently gave up on him, and he was scared that he just didn't know what happened. Any kid that believed knew who he was at first sight, but this one seemed just as flustered as he was. Was this a sign of a kid being in denial? Knowing the truth but refusing it? It was weird.

But all thoughts left me when I saw something fly by me. It looked like Sandy's dream sand, but black.

Pitch.

I immediately struck out with my ice, the prospect of a fight starting up the adrenalin within me.

The thing cried out, then I was suddenly surrounded by the sand. Two different somethings started attacking me at once, one around my face while the other pummeled my mid-riff. Whatever it was, it wasn't Pitch's nightmares.

I let out a small shockwave, hearing them cry out and setting me free from their hold. I shot out a beam at one, relaxing slightly when I heard it stop mid-cry. One left…

The little guy gave chase, knowing that it would do no good in continuing the fight. But I was faster, swifter than it. The last one only managed to round the next two tree trunks before I froze it against the third.

With all three immobilized, I deemed it safe to investigate.

I kept my staff pointed towards the one on the tree, wanting it to stay down for me to see. Unfortunately, it was kept out of my mind when it processed what I was looking at. Twice in the same hour, I was left speechless.

The "thing" I was fighting, was me, but not. It was shaped like me, I guess I should say, it even had my staff in it's little hands. I couldn't have been more that three feet tall, and all the sand was loosely holding on to it's form. But the face was something else, while it mimicked my own, they eyes and mouth glowed an eerie, icy blue. Even with it's eyes closed, the cracks shone, and it's mouth was wide open to allow me to see the light.

Forget about Manny, North needs to see this…

Rise of the Guardians and How to Train Your Dragon belong to Dreamworks.

(Inspired from the minds of William Joyce and Cressida Cowell.)

Brave and Tangled belong to Disney.