Why hello there! Sorry this took a bit; school started again yesterday and I really need to get the lead out here if I want to finish this before school really gets moving. The original goal was to finish before school began, but I'm pretty close so I can make it work. As always, Thank you to the reviewers: iMusicMonstrosity, SummerAngelz, Lady Minuialwen, Anon-e-mouse, and Silver Eyed Slayer! I always love to see a review XD

Also, Anon-e-mouse brought up a good point; she asked me if you can be a guardian without being dead, and honestly I don't know. I just assumed because Jack died that you had to. So I want to clarify that for the sake if this story, in order to become a mythical being you have to die. Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention! I don't want to confuse anyone!

The rest will be explained in this chapter I hope, because I know you have more questions than that ;)

ALSO I have this weird habit where I proofread the previous chapter before I go to write the new one, so if you ever reread previous chapters and see differences that's what happened :) Alright let's get this show on the road!

Of Soft Breezes and Wintry Nights

Chapter Eleven: Believe in Me

Putting aside all of her new anxieties about what she may have become, Claire hurriedly dialed his number to assure him that she was alright and unhurt. However, as soon as he picked up the phone, Claire almost immediately realized that something was wrong?

"Hello? Claire?" she heard her brother say anxiously. "Are you alright? Where are you?"

"Hunter!" Claire exclaimed, "I'm all right! I'm so sorry I hung up so quickly the other day; things have been kind of crazy lately and—"

"Claire? Claire?" Hunter continued as if he hadn't heard her, his voice frantic.

"I'm here!" she all but shouted into the phone. The other end suddenly went silent.

"Listen," Hunter said in a low voice, so calm it was threatening. "I don't know who you are or why you have kidnapped Claire, but please let her go. I've filed a missing persons report, and the police will find you shortly."

"Hunter, listen to me-"

"You can have anything you want; just give me back my sister." He hung up the phone.

"He couldn't hear me," Claire said in disbelief, sitting down in the chair in shock.

"Let me try," Jack said, reaching for her phone, "you believe in Jack Frost, so he must too, right? I'll talk to him, and—"

"No!" Claire shouted, snatching the phone out of his reach before he had a hold on it. "No," she said more calmly. "He thinks I've been kidnapped. If he talks to anyone on this phone that isn't me it'll just make it worse," she said forlornly.

The room was silent as the guardians allowed Claire to make sense of what has happened.

"I don't understand," she said slowly after a moment. "Why couldn't he hear me?"

"He doesn't believe in you," North supplied, trying to explain gently. "Now that you're a guardian-"

"I know how that works!" she yelled, cutting him off. She looked up apologetically. "Sorry," she said. "It's just…how did this happen?"

"Here's my guess," Jack said angrily, bitterly. "Because I was going crazy and needed to be stopped, the Man in the Moon decided to give my powers to you. You saved me from losing all of my powers by defeating me before he could complete the process. But because you died, if the Man in the Moon returned my powers to me you would be dead. So he left them, and now you share my powers and can't see your brother or finish school. All because of me," he finished, clearly upset with himself.

"This wasn't your fault Jack," North said rationally, "you were brainwashed by Pitch!"

"That doesn't make it right!" Jack said angrily, gripping the covers in his hands.

Claire covered one of Jack's hands with her own, but was still confused and felt the need to ask more questions. "So…I share Jack's powers of wind?" she asked.

"It seems you have more control over it than he does," Bunny pointed out.

"Am I a guardian?" she asked softly.

"We will swear you in," North said definitively. "Jack needs you, and you need Jack. Under the circumstances, I think it would be wise for the two of you to work together as guardians." Bunny agreed.

Jack still hadn't said anything since his outburst. "Are you okay?" Claire asked softly, squeezing his hand.

"We're going to see your brother tomorrow," Jack stated. "You may not be able to go to school anymore, but we can still salvage this," he said, determined.

"But Jack, your injuries—"

"I'll be fine," Jack said sharply, trying not to yell. "We're going there tomorrow," he said with finality, and Claire couldn't help but agree, despite her concern for his injuries.

-((The next morning))-

By the next morning, Claire was well and officially a new guardian known as Claire Breeze. She stood outside the workshop with Jack getting ready to fly to Hunter's home. Jack seemed to be doing well, but if he was in pain he wasn't about to admit it.

Stubborn man, Claire thought, seeing Jack wince as he straightened up before the wind. We can figure out this problem without him killing himself over it. Jack saw her looking at him and smiled encouragingly.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," he reiterated. "We can come back here after we talk to Hunter and I will rest until you deem me completely healthy," he said, trying to appease her. "For now, we really need to go," he said as he took off into the air. Or at least, tried to take off into the air.

Jack hovered a few feet off the ground, slightly irritated. "I think I need your help, O Ye that Has Most Power over the Wind," Jack said sarcastically, slightly frustrated about his inability to fly with ease.

Claire sputtered. "I don't know how to fly! Even if I command the wind as you guys keep telling me, it can't be that simple! I can't just say 'Let's go wind!' and woah!" She was cut off as she was abruptly whisked high into the air by the wind.

She screamed before steadying herself in the air.

"Actually it is that easy," Jack said from about ten feet below her. "A little help?"

"Sure," Claire said but just continued to stare at him. "…How?"

"Hmmm," Jack thought, "if you controlled my entire flight there that would be too difficult for you," he agreed, "Technically we are of the same powers, and I still have some control over the wind. Why don't you focus on allowing me to fly?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, clueless as to how to do so.

"Just try it!" Jack pressed, "It could work!"

"Alright," Claire said, not totally convinced. I allow Jack Frost to have full use of the wind, she thought before pausing to see if it worked. Seeing nothing happen, she sighed. "This is stupid," she said, turning away from him, slightly pacing in the air. "What else should I try?"

"Nothing," she heard from a voice beside her, and she squeaked in surprise at seeing Jack hovering right next to her. "Whatever you did worked," he said before reaching out and wrapping his arm around her waist.

"You know," he murmured as he moved steadily closer to her lips, "since you're a guardian, you get to live forever with me now," he pointed out before kissing her softly. "How does that sound?"

"Frightening," she said honestly, "And yet exhilarating at the same time. I can't imagine what it's like to live for centuries," she continued, "but I'm willing to try."

Jack smiled, kissed her again, and reluctantly let go. "Let's go talk to your brother. Think he keeps his windows unlocked?"

-((Here we go!))-

Hunter paced the floor of his living room in the late hours of the night, unable to do anything. Unable to sleep, unable to eat, unable to breathe—

Abruptly, he sat on the couch with his head in his hands. "Why is this happening," he whispered to himself, "How could she not have told me something was wrong? I could've—"

"You couldn't have done anything," a male voice said from right in front of him. Hunter jumped, lifting his head from his hands to see a barefoot teenager about Claire's age in brown skinny jeans and a blue hoodie, holding a strange stick-thing. His hair was a frosty white, and his eyes were a startling shade of blue.

"Who are you?" Hunter asked, standing and reaching for something to use as a weapon. Finding none, he reached for the boy. "What have you done with my sister—"

"Woah, calm down!" Jack said, hovering a bit to evade his grasp. "Claire is safe! She's here!"

Hunter calmed slightly at this information. "Where is she?"

"In this room."

Hunter's eyes narrowed. "No she isn't. Where is—"

"Listen!" Jack exclaimed, trying to get him to understand. He looked at Claire beside him, whose blue-green eyes held an unspeakable pain at being so close and yet so far from her brother. Determined, Jack's gaze held on Hunter. "You have to understand what I'm about to try to explain to you."

"Why should I?" Hunter said harshly.

"If you do, you'll get to see Claire—"

"Is that a threat?" Hunter said, moving to attack again.

"It's not a threat, it's a fact!" Jack all but shouted. It was late, and he didn't want to cause a sensation. "Something has happened to your sister, and I need you to understand. Will you at least try?" Jack said, trying not to beg. He needed to understand in order for Claire to have her brother in her new life.

Hunter held his gaze for a moment, glaring. "Fine," he ground out, sitting down.

Jack let out a sigh of relief. "Great. First off, I'm Jack Frost." At this, Hunter stood up in surprise.

"Don't believe me?" Jack questioned with an eyebrow raised, gesturing to the ground at his feet that was already iced over. "I know you believe in me, or you wouldn't be able to see me."

Hunter slowly sat back down, surprise evident on his face.

"Shall I continue, or give you a minute?" Jack said patiently. Hunter nodded reluctantly. "A few months ago, I met your sister," Jack continued. Seeing Hunter's mouth open with a question, Jack cut him off. "If I explain how, it'll just confuse you more. Let's just stick with the basics for now. I met your sister, and because of me she was kidnapped by the Boogeyman."

"What?" Hunter said, amazed that Jack could say that with a straight face. "Is this a joke?"

"No," Jack said seriously before continuing, "she almost died, and in fact…." He hesitated before saying the hardest part. "She did."

"She what? But you said—"

"Let me finish!" Jack said, free hand up in a placating gesture. "She died, but she became a guardian." Before Hunter could even ask, Jack continued. "She gained some of my own powers, and has been given a new life as a guardian of children around the world. Her name is now Claire Breeze, and she can control the wind." As if to help, Claire summoned a winter breeze through the window they entered, ruffling Hunter's sandy blonde hair.

Hunter paused a moment, trying to absorb this. "So if she's a guardian, as you say, why can I see her and not you?"

"You believe in me," Jack said simply, "But you don't believe in your sister." Hunter made to protest, but Jack cut him off. "That is you don't believe in the mythical being Claire Breeze."

Hunter made a noise of disbelief. "So you say that if I believe in 'Claire Breeze,' a guardian of the wind, I'll be able to see my sister?"

"For the rest of your life," Jack said definitively.

Hunter leaned back on the couch, rubbing his temples. "For all I know, this could be a crazy dream I am having," he murmured to himself.

"It's not. It's—"

"I know what you're telling me to believe, but I just can't believe it on the spot," Hunter said as he stood. "I need to sleep on this…this 'guardians' thing. How will I be able to contact you?"

"Just call my name, and I'll hear you," Jack said. His eyes flitted to the left as he noticed Claire run up the stairs, disappearing in the house.

"….Alright," Hunter said, deciding not to question it. "I'll give this some serious thought. Thanks…Jack," he said, holding out a hand.

"You're welcome," Jack said, shaking it. Instantly, Hunter recoiled from the cold, and Jack smirked before disappearing out the window in a winter breeze.

Hunter shook himself before moving to shut the still-open window. Just before he did, he felt another strong breeze through the house. He shivered, shutting the window.

-((outside))-

"Ready?" Jack asked once Claire exited the house through the window before it was closed. "What were you doing?"

"Just giving him a little push," Claire said mysteriously before the two took off in the wind.

-((back inside))-

Hunter sighed, finally making it up to his bedroom and collapsing gently onto the bed, not wanting to disturb his wife. Just before he lay down, he noticed that his nightstand light was on.

Strange, he thought, I don't remember leaving that on. As he reached over to turn it off, he noticed that there was a note scribbled on the notepad on his bedside table.

Believe in me, he read in his sister's handwriting. He cried out in surprise, grabbing the paper in his hands and waking up his wife.

-((To Be Continued!))-

Yay! I daresay I have the rest figured out now! I think there will only be an epilogue left! Does everyone understand what happened? I want this to make complete sense by now, so let me know if you have any questions!

Let me know what you think!

~freaky-hanyou