Alaia Skyhawk: Major plot reveal in this one, sort of. Hehehe, you guys are going to like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

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Chapter 8: A Family Tie is Made

Jack peered through the gap in the shutters, choking on the spear of terror that ran through him. He'd watched as the rest of those first seven children to believe in Jack Frost, had grown up and forgotten him. Emily was the last of the original group, and he couldn't help the fear that this change in her life had made her forget him as well. For none of the rest of those youngsters had believed past the age of fourteen, and Emily was now seventeen.

His denial set the wind rattling the shutters, causing Emily to turn and open one slightly to look out into the dusk light. She saw that it had started to snow, the first snow of winter, before she closed it again and turned to her husband.

"Albert, I'm just going outside to bring some more wood in. It looks like it's going to be a cold night tonight. It's snowing."

Albert glanced at her from where he worked on mending a plough harness, and nodded.

"Be careful you don't slip. We don't want you hurting yourself."

Emily smiled softly at that, and headed out the door. She then walked around to the back of the cabin, and called out quietly.

"Jack?"

With a rush of relief, Jack swooped down to land in front of her before hugging her tight. Clinging to her, almost.

"I.. I thought for a moment that..."

Emily held him comfortingly, as if she were the elder of the two of them and not the other way around.

"Don't worry, I could never forget my brother. I could never stop believing in you, and I'm going to make sure my child will never forget you either. All my children, and grandchildren. On and on, through every generation from now on. Your family will never forget you."

Jack stared at her in dawning realisation.

"Emily, you're?"

She smiled, and put a hand to a stomach which was just beginning to round.

"Going to be a mother. The child will be born in late spring, if you think you can stay that long."

Jack's fear had turned to elation, and he looked as eager as a child.

"I'll stay even if it means Ariko yelling at me! So long as I don't leave later than one week before Southern Winter is due, there won't be a problem." He glanced towards the house. "On another matter... You married Albert?"

Emily put her hands on her hips.

"Albert Bennett is an upstanding member of this village, and the brother of my best friend. Why shouldn't I marry him?"

Jack raised an eyebrow in mirth.

"Because he's a bit stiff? Any stiffer, and people will think he walks around with a broom-handle up his-"

"Jack!"

At Emily's reprimand, Jack's expression became the picture of innocence as he twirled his staff in one hand. He then glanced at her, grinning unrepentantly until she too began to smile at his teasing.

"Emily, are you all right?"

The moment was broken by Albert's concerned call, and Emily frowned.

"I'll be right there." She turned to Jack, sighing. "I should go back inside."

Jack reached for her shoulder, making her pause before she could head to the woodpile.

"Wait, I... I know he's stopped believing, but he used to. You're proof that an adult can believe in me, so maybe, just maybe, we can help him remember." His expression became pleading. "If he remembers, then I won't have to hide my visits to you. I can visit you both, and your child once they're born."

Emily looked at him, uncertain, and then took a deep breath before calling out.

"Albert, will you come here?"

Albert came around the house, frowning when he saw her standing amid the falling snow.

"What is it?"

Emily went to him, and held him by the arm as she led him towards where Jack stood.

"You know the village legend, about the spirit that protects us, Jack Frost?" Albert nodded, and she continued. "Do you remember the day I introduced you to him? By the pond, when he jumped through the trees shaking the snow loose. Unseen because you didn't believe in him."

Albert's frown deepened.

"We were children then. It was just a game, a child's imagination."

Emily was earnest.

"Albert, I know you love me, and that love started before we gave up our 'childish imagination'. If that love can carry forward, then so can belief."

"Emily, neither you nor I are children anymore." His tone was firm, and faintly disapproving. "Accept reality, that whatever spirit may watch over us, it is not one that we can see. Look at the world with clear eyes, Emily. Not ones that are clouded by foolish imaginings."

Emily let go of his arm and stepped back from him, hurt. Her expression then became determined, as she raised her head high.

"It is children who truly see the world as it is. It is children who know and accept the true reality." She regarded him with what could almost be described as pity. "It is children who look at the world with unbiased eyes. Eyes that have not been clouded by the expectations of others, and that which is considered 'acceptable' for adults to believe in or not. Who is it that passes on the Spirit of Winter's warnings, about storms or bears or wolves? It is the children of this village, and you were one of them once. You cannot tell me that you do not remember the times you spent with Jack Frost."

Albert continued to frown at her, puzzled.

"Why are you telling me this? Why ask this now?"

She took hold of his hands again.

"Because Jack Frost is here, with us. I can see him, but you cannot, and I want to change that. I want you to remember. I want you to believe in him again. Forget your doubts as an adult, and for this one thing, embrace the memories of the child you were."

Albert remained silent for several moments, and then tugged his hand free from hers.

"Emily, if or not he is really here, is not for you to concern yourself with. You need to get back inside, into the warm, and stop with this childi-"

His words were cut off by a snowball slamming into his face, and Emily spun round to face her brother.

"Jack!"

Jack shrugged, leaning on his staff casually.

"What? It worked the first time around." He smiled. "And besides, what better way to revive the memories of childhood, than to gift to him the very essence of childhood fun? No one who has been hit by one of my special snowballs, ever fails to start smiling at the very least."

"But..."

Emily turned back to Albert, who was wiping the snow away from his face while a faint trace of glittering blue lingered for a moment after the snow was gone. He then shook his head as if disorientated, and opened his eyes.

Jack looked at him, still smiling.

"Can you hear me now, Albert? If so, do you recognise my voice? You should. I played with you for six winters, until you stopped believing and stopped playing with the other children who still see me."

Albert stiffened, turning slowly to face the figure a few steps away. His eyes then widened in wonder and recognition.

"...Jack Frost."

Jack's smile widened, and he walked over even as Emily looked as though she could scarcely believe the snowball had worked.

"It's been a while, Albert... You wanted to know why Emily was asking you, it's because I asked her to try help you remember. I didn't want her to have to hide my visits from you. I wanted to be able to visit my sister, and my niece or nephew who will born in spring, openly."

Albert looked between the two of them, his gaze eventually settling on Emily.

"The Spirit of Winter is your brother?"

Jack gave them both a nudge, and pointed at their cabin.

"Maybe we should finish this conversation inside, in case one of the neighbours comes out and notices you two out here apparently talking to nothing."

Albert frowned at him for the way he was practically ordering them into the house, but relented all the same. They headed inside, where Jack then retreated to the corner furthest from the fire. Albert frowned again at that, when he sat down by the hearth.

"Are you trying to avoid me?"

Jack gave him a flat look, and didn't move from where he leaned against the wall beside one of the shuttered windows.

"No, it's just that when I get too close to a source of great heat, my powers protect me by cooling the air around me. I didn't think you'd appreciate it, if my powers put out your fire and froze the wood."

The two men continued to stare at each other, until Emily moved a chair to a point exactly halfway along the wall between them. She then glanced at them both, and huffed in exasperation.

"Jack, will you kindly stop goading my husband? Albert, will you kindly stop glaring at my brother?" She folded her arms across her chest, as she pinned Albert with a stern look. "Do you have a problem with Jack continuing to be a part of this family? I know that his relation to us will have to remain a secret, but that won't be a problem. Other than the village children, only the two of us can see him. To everyone else, he is a local legend that is becoming part of this village's traditions. The spirit that protects the children when they are in the woods, and warns of winter blizzards by hanging ice down the pole in the village square."

Albert looked at her, then at Jack, and it seemed at last that the truth was starting to sink in.

"He really is your brother?"

Emily nodded, as did Jack when he answered that question for her.

"I am... I died that day nine years ago, at the pond, because I put myself in harm's way to save Emily from falling through the ice. Instead I was the one to fall, and my self-sacrifice didn't go unnoticed. I was chosen because of it, and was reborn as the Spirit of Winter. Of course, Emily told you and the other children that I was her brother, that first winter after I died. But then all of you forgot who I once was, until only she remembered."

Emily's expression became saddened.

"Jackson Overland has been mostly forgotten, and only stories of Jack Frost remain. Even our parents don't speak of him much now."

Jack sighed, and looked to Albert in entreaty.

"But I'm still here, and I don't want to be forgotten. Please, all I ask is that, even if it's just you and this family, don't forget me. Let me be a part of this family, because in my lonely life as the Spirit of Winter, where the belief of children is but a passing thing, this family is all that I have."

Albert pinched the bridge of his nose, unsure of what to say. But then he saw his wife's pleading gaze, and let out a sigh and started to smile.

"If this village is going to have the Spirit of Winter as its protector, then there has to be someone who makes sure that no one forgets who brings the warnings of bad blizzards, and who protects the children when they're in the woods in winter. I guess that can be us."

Emily started to smile as well, in joy.

"We could start a tradition! A festival, to greet the arrival of winter when the first snows fall upon the village each year. To welcome the spirit, Jack Frost, back to his home, and ask that he watch over us until spring."

Albert looked like he was honestly considering it, while in his corner Jack stared and started to babble.

"Now wait a second! I'm one of the Spirits of the Seasons, not a Legend Immortal! I definitely don't need a yearly festival in my honour!"

Emily grinned at him. The very grin he wore when he got one of his mischievous ideas.

"Are you afraid of what Ariko of Spring, Achieng of Summer, and Oisin of Autumn will think?"

Jack crossed his arms and hunched in his corner, shaking his head in emphatic denial.

"No, I'm more concerned about what Mother Nature will think."

Emily stood up, her hands on her hips.

"Well I don't care what she thinks! This village is your home, no matter what she says, and she has no say on what I do. And I am going to start that tradition, tomorrow!"

She turned to add another log to the fire, her expression saying more clearly than words that she wasn't going to back down from this.

Jack glanced at Albert and raised his eyebrows, before his brother-in-law raised his as well in resignation and defeat. When it came down to Emily getting her own way, they were as powerless as each other to stop her.

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Alaia Skyhawk: Yep! I'm going with the idea of Jamie Bennett actually being related to Jack. 1: It's just too cute a chance to pass up. 2: I am going to have SO MUCH FUN when I get as far as Jamie being born etc. Jack, after all, would be the best uncle ever!