AN: Thanks again for the reviews and and the new follows and faves! Things are starting to happen in this chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.

Chapter 3: The First Believers

Up at the North Pole

Far north of the raging blizzard in North America, there was a large red building, invisible to the mortal eye. Within lived one of the most powerful immortals in existence, Santa Claus. Normally, the workshop would be abuzz with the sounds of yeti creating new toys or the elves making mischief. Right now, there wasn't a single yeti on the working floors or elf in the kitchens.

They had all made their way to the Globe Room with the big man himself to watch in horror as lights across North America started going out. What was truly frightening was that not all of the lights were going out due to lost belief. Some of the children in those areas were dying. Although the number of those dying was small, it was still troubling.

Nicholas St. North stood at the front, having already sent out the signal for the other Guardians. He waited impatiently for the others to arrive, pacing back and forth and occasionally mumbling to himself any idea he had that could have caused such a disaster.

The Pooka warrior, Bunnymund, was the first to arrive. North had not expected this as Easter was tomorrow and he approached the agitated Easter Bunny with caution.

Bunny was over by the fire melting snow off his fur and warming his paws, scowling darkly into the flames, when North approached.

"I did not expect you so soon, my friend," North started cautiously. "I had thought you would hesitate to come with Easter so close. And why are you covered in snow? It is not snowing here at the Pole."

North was confused by his friend's appearance. As he had said, it was not snowing at the workshop and Bunny was covered in huge chunks of snow. He would have had to dive through mounds of the snow outside to achieve such a look, which the Russian knew was very unlikely.

The rabbit stopped in his ministrations long enough to look at North, ears folded back in anger.

"I was running through my tunnels, as I do every year, to make sure that none are blocked for when my eggs run through," Bunny began. "When I got to North America, it seemed that every tunnel I had ever made was blocked by snow. When I finally got to the surface, I found a blizzard that could have heralded the end of the world if I was prone to thinking of such things."

At North's confused look, Bunny continued growing more agitated as he went.

"The storm had covered the ground in over four feet of snow and ice. The wind was tearing trees apart. I saw damage to buildings that I had only ever seen after tornadoes and hurricanes. Tree limbs had broken through windows and roofs allowing the cold and snow into the homes of most of the town that I was in. This was no normal storm North."

Bunny wiped his paw across his face to calm himself, waiting for the Cossack's response. Before North could formulate one, however, a green blur flew through the ceiling window closely followed by a small golden man on a cloud of golden sand.

Tooth went right up to Bunny and North looking frantic. She was wringing her hands together while zipping to and fro. The mini Tooth Fairies that were usually flying around her head to relay orders to the others were missing. She was covered in snow and her feathers were in disarray.

"The storm! Have you seen it!?" She was talking so fast that the others could barely understand her.

North gave Sandy a pointed look and the little man through a touch of sand over Toothiana, just enough to calm her down. Bunny went over to her and grabbed her upper arms, holding her in place to calm her down.

"Calm down, Tooth. I just came from the storm. What's wrong?" They all had a good idea as to what was bothering the Tooth Fairy so much, but Bunny needed to ask.

Tooth, finally calming down, fell to the floor covering her face with her hands. Soft sobs shook her shoulders as she told the others what the blizzard was doing.

"My fairies! The fairies that went there to collect the teeth. I haven't been able to find many of them. What few I have found are hurt and unable to fly because the wind blew their wings out."

North placed a hand on her shoulder to show his support. This was when Sandy started signing his own findings. North saw and understood what the Sandman was saying and connected his story to the disturbances on the Globe.

The large man sighed before answering Sandy. "Yes, Sandy. I know that some children have died in that area."

"What!?" Bunny whirled around to stare, shocked, at North.

"Yes. The lights on the Globe are going out in the areas affected by this blizzard. It is possible to distinguish which lights are going out from loss of belief and which are going out from the death of a child. Although most of the lost lights are just from losing belief, there is still a small portion of the area's children that have died."

"Who could do such a thing? That was no normal storm, so someone had to make it." Tooth was just as shocked as Bunny and had pulled herself back into the air, readying herself for battle if need be.

Bunny crossed his arms over his chest, his anger becoming more apparent as the discussion progressed.

"Well, of course it will be some sort of winter spirit. They are always destructive and unforgiving. Although, I wasn't aware of one that had this kind of power."

Sandy was waving his arms to get the others' attention again. He started signing that in his travels through the storm to assess the damage, he had heard a wail that was not caused by the wind. He followed it to the source near a town called Burgess. He could not find whoever was causing the sound because they were in the clouds and Sandy could not get through the ice, snow, and wind.

North was looking thoughtful now. "Over Burgess you say? If I remember correctly there is a new Spirit of Winter that resides their over the winter months. I wonder if this is his doing? He has been on the Naughty List almost every year since he was made immortal, but it is usually for something mischievous and nondestructive."

After a short, thoughtful silence, Bunny continued. "You don't think this has anything to do with Pitch, do you?"

Tooth gasped in shock. "You think that this winter spirit is creating such a damaging storm to empower Pitch?"

It was a valid thought. The Guardians hadn't seen Pitch Black since the last time they defeated him almost four centuries ago. They believed him to be near powerless after his sound defeat and unable to return to the surface. However, with the fear that the blizzard was causing, it would only be a matter of time before the Boogeyman returned to power again.

Bunny had started stomping off, ready to confront whoever was messing with his holiday and terrorizing North America.

"Where are you going, Bunny?" North asked.

"I'm going to go have Easter," the Pooka began, looking over his shoulder at the others. "And then I'm making a visit to Burgess."

That said, he tapped his hind leg twice against the floor to open one of his tunnels to the Warren.

The remaining immortals looked at each other worriedly.

"Should we go after him?" Tooth asked, quietly.

Sighing for the hundredth time that day, North shook his head. Bunny would take care of this. From what Sandy had said, the storm had already by going for two days. By the time Easter was over tomorrow, the winter spirit would have no energy left with which to fight the Pooka warrior off.

Shortly after, Tooth left to continue her search for her missing fairies and Sandy to continue giving dreams of a happy Easter without snow and cold.

Back in Burgess

The storm outside had been going for three days before lightening up. The snow had piled over the front door, but luckily the back door had been protected from the wind and snow so this family could escape the confines of their home if only for a short time. The wind had died down to normal levels and the snow had stopped falling. It was still unseasonably cold, though.

The young Bennett family was huddled around the makeshift fireplace. The two boys were curled into their mother's side under a blanket, watching as their father continued to board up windows and search for things to burn.

The power had gone out on the first day, not hours after the storm started, and the cold had started seeping into the house. To keep the cold at bay, Mr. Bennett had hollowed out their box television to use as a fire pit. Their bookshelf was easily dismantled and now lay in ash as the last of it was burnt away. Everything wood in their house had now been torn apart and lay to the side, awaiting its fate.

Mrs. Bennett had been very imaginative with their meals. Having very little in the way of fresh food anymore, they had to resort to all their canned goods. This morning, they had had fried spam with a side of pickled carrots that had been hiding in the back of one of the kitchen cabinets.

The two boys, Simon and Michael, had been hoping that the storm would be over in time for Easter morning. It was, but now that the sun was out and they could see the damage done, they knew that the Easter Bunny hadn't come. Their mother tried to console them, to tell them that the Easter Bunny would be their next year, but the boys wouldn't listen.

Simon, being the older of the two, had begun to think of the old myth that surrounded the icy pond just outside the town's borders.

"Mom? Do you think that that old man at the pond is the one who made this storm?"

Mrs. Bennett looked down at her son to see him staring out the one window that had yet to be boarded up.

"Well, sweaty, it certainly didn't feel like a normal storm," she said slowly as she remembered the unnatural sounds that accompanied the wind's howling. She had thought that someone may have been caught outside, but that thought left when the sound continued through until the next day. "Maybe Old Man Winter was angered by something."

Little Michael, having been awakened by the quiet voices, voiced his own innocent ideas.

"Maybe he's lonely. Someone should go see him now that the storm is done and see if he needs anything to make him happier."

Mr. and Mrs. Bennett looked at each other before Mrs. Bennett nodded. Mr. Bennett spoke up then.

"We have snowshoes in the closet and enough clothing to keep warm. The back door can be opened and we are pretty close to the forest's borders. It would be good for everyone to get out of the house for a bit. We could even see if any of our neighbors need help."

The two kids were up and running to the pile of clothing in the corner before their father finished his last sentence. They were talking animatedly about finally getting to go outside after three days confined to the few rooms of their house. Mrs. Bennett helped them into their layers before getting their snowshoes. Mr. Bennett busied himself with putting the fire out so the house didn't burn down while they were gone before joining his family at the door.

Before he opened the door, he turned to the kids and said, "The snow outside is very deep, so you have to be very careful where you step. The snowshoes will keep you on top of the snow, but just in case you need to hold onto either me or your mother."

He opened the door, and the family started to make their way into the forest to the home of Old Man Winter.

Jack was exhausted. The storm had drained him completely. He wasn't really sure if he was over Burgess anymore or not, but he didn't care. He just needed to get back to the ground and sleep for the next two weeks.

The wind had calmed down with the end of the storm and was now under his control again. It brought him back to ground level and settled him into one of the many snow drifts in the area. Jack could see a few trees in the area, but no buildings.

"Must have drifted away from the town," he said to himself.

He began to close his eyes and relax back into the snow, when he heard crunching behind him. He grudgingly sat up and looked behind him just in time to see a wooden projectile coming at his head.

Jack gasped as the boomerang made contact with his forehead, holding his hand to the now bloody cut. Pulling his hand back, he noticed that the blood was freezing together to make red crystals in place of the pale blue that were currently covering him.

The Spirit of Winter lifted his head to see the large grey rabbit with his arms extended with boomerangs in each hand, ready to attack. The Easter Bunny started advancing towards him, standing tall with ears straight up showing his intimidating height.

Jack knew exactly why this immortal was here. The storm had been going for three days, and this morning was Easter. No one within the boundaries of the storm would be celebrating the holiday this day.

"Do you have any idea what you have done?!"

The advancing Pooka was waving his arms about and snarling in rage. Jack started to back away as quickly as possible, his drained body not responding.

Eventually, the winter sprite was able to stand up, leaning heavily on his icy staff.

"I'm s-s-s-orry," he stuttered in apology. He was bordering on terrified of what the enraged Guardian might do. "I didn't mean to…"

Before Jack could finish his apology, one of the rabbit's boomerang-containing fists made contact with his face, sending him flying back into another snow drift. He could feel his nose breaking at the force of the blow.

As the sprite tried righting himself, Bunny bounded over to him and grabbed Jack by his shirt, breaking parts of the frozen material off as he went as he shook the sprite around to get his point across.

"What is wrong with you?! That storm of yours killed people and ruined Easter! You're just as bad as Pitch." Bunny was right in Jack's face by now, screaming into the winter spirit's ears until they were ringing.

"If you ever do anything like this again, I'll be bringing the other Guardians to punish you more heavily. Do you hear me?!"

"Yes! It won't happen again." And that was the truth. Jack didn't want this to happen again. The storm had hurt people!

Growling, Bunny threw the petrified Spirit of Winter into a nearby tree, knocking the wind from Jack's lungs, before diving down one of his many tunnels.

Jack curled up around himself at the base of the tree, trying to lessen the pain, both old and new. He already had small nicks and scratches from the ice in the clouds. With the wounds sustained from the fight with Bunny, he was beginning to look like an avenging and evil winter spirit.

"Wind, take me home."

His pond looked like an ice tornado went through. Spikes of ice were sticking out of trees, some having split some of the surrounding boulders. Some of the trees had been stripped of their bark and lower branches, more than a few having been ripped down entirely.

There was absolutely no snow on the ice that Jack slowly descended onto. He was used to his home taking the brunt of his power's wrath, but this was a little excessive.

A gasp to his right alerted him to yet another visitor. The sprite turned, wary of crossing another aggravated immortal. He certainly didn't expect the sight that was in front of him.

Just inside the circle of trees surrounding the clearing stood a family of mortals. The two boys were hanging onto their mother's hands, staring in fright as the winter spirit landed on the ice of the pond. To the family who now believed in Old Man Winter, Jack appeared as a winter spirit covered in the ice he commanded and the blood of his victims. They were terrified of his power that he had displayed in the blizzard, but needed to make sure that it wouldn't happen again.

Jack, unsure of what was happening, just stared at the family not daring to hope. He was leaning heavily on his staff, making him look even more like the old man the mortals believed him to be.

Mr. Bennett stepped in front of his family to hide them from sight as much as possible.

"Hello great winter spirit," the man started. "We wanted to ask if you were responsible for this storm that has been affecting us for so many days and if it is truly over?"

Stunned, all Jack could do was nod. They could see him! Not only could the children see him, so could their parents. He began to smile and tears of happiness escaped his eyes, but all the Bennetts could see was the cynical Old Man Winter creating more ice.

"We promise that the townspeople will honor your presence in these forests for as long as you reside here. No one will bother you again if that is what you wish."

With Jack's continued silence, the family began to make their way back into the forest, trying to get away from the spirit as quickly as possible.

Jack stood there, leaning on his staff, for minutes after they left. He was still shocked beyond words and he couldn't bring himself to move. Eventually, he came back to himself and started hobbling after them until the wind picked him up to carry him the rest of the way.

The tracks were easy to follow and led back to the town. He never made it their, though.

As he was passing a group of smaller trees that somehow made it through the storm, he heard small, pained squeaks coming from one of the branches. Looking up, Jack began searching for the injured bird. If what Bunny had said earlier was true, then there would be many animals that had been hurt by the wind and ice.

Flying up to one of the more protected branches, what Jack found was not a bird but one of Toothiana's little fairies. She appeared to have been batted about in the wind and some of her feathers were missing entirely. Her wings shredded in places, making her unable to fly back to her mother.

Jack leaned in to pick her up, catching her attention.

"Are you okay Baby Tooth?" She squeaked in response while continuing to shiver in both cold and pain.

The winter spirit gently picked her up and cuddled her to his chest.

"Were you caught in the storm? I'm really sorry about that," Jack apologized to the little fairy. "I'm sure your mother will be looking for you and any others caught in the storm. You can stay with me until then if you want."

At Baby Tooth's hesitant nod, Jack floated back down to the ground and made his way home. With all the snow and ice, he shouldn't have to worry about Hanako coming by again anytime soon. Although, he should probably be careful now that he has damaged so much of the local wildlife.

Jack landed in the snow near his pond and dug a small hole in it for Baby Tooth's temporary home. He lined it with some of the nearby leaves and a part of his cloak and placed her inside.

"Stay here," he told her. "I'm going to go find some warmer bedding and maybe some berries for you to eat. I'll be back in a little bit."

As he left, he thought back to his first ever experience with a believer. Well, actually, more than one. He would never have thought that the myth of Old Man Winter would allow any of the townspeople to see him. Maybe he could find more believers either in the area or maybe in other places that the storm affected.

If not, maybe he could make another storm with the same effect. He'll talk to Baby Tooth later and ask her for advice.

And with that thought firmly in place, Jack went off in search of something warm for the little Tooth Fairy he had recently adopted.

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AN: Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you guys think so far and review. If you guys want something to happen or need something explained better then I need to know!