Sorry for the readers of 'Poorly Written'. I hit a wall there and decided it'd take a while to finish. I found this old thing on my computer, though, and hope you all enjoy this! ( I know I did enjoy writing it! )

S.A.U.T

He wonders if maybe the moon had made him just so he could spiffen up the guardian's lives a bit more due to the odd lack of Pitch recently. Then again, Jack did happen to 'escape' from the moon not but two hundred years ago, and he was sure Tsar was wanting his little toy back (maybe. Jack never really had anyone who actually wanted him. But if he flew upupup and back to the moonclipper, he's afraid he'll be left alone in a cold dark cell like the rest of the faulted experiments that Tsar had worked with, again. )

Yeah, Tsar experimented on various living organisms. And Jack happened to be the only one to escape that strange, cold prison. He remembers how many evils were lurking, snarling, growling, cackling and clawing at the bars of their cages. Jack felt the urge to thank the moon for not letting him in another cell with those scary, terrifying monsters.

The guardians, on the other hand...Jack wonders if they were the working, perfect experiments. No faulty wires, no faulty thoughts. Just...perfection.

Of course, this small train of thought was what had made him become a sort of 'villain' to these guardians. He'd sometimes whisper to the wind dirty words, and let it shout them out in the Guardians home base at three in the morning. Or, he'd pile the city full of snow, deep enough to prevent someone from opening their car door.

But days like today? He scoffs. Today, he just wasn't feeling up to anything. He didn't feel like playing with the children across the park like he usually did, he didn't feel like asking the wind to pick him up and he certainly didn't even feel like eating, which was rare for him, as food was food and his stomach ached and whined despite his not wanting of it.

He had no money, actually. He had nothing to trade for even a little comfort such as a twenty-five cent soda. He figures he could survive this, as he hadn't eaten or slept in about a straight week now. Not even a little nibble off of someone's unwatched plate of french fries he'd occasionally see.

He just didn't feel like doing anything but relaxing. He closes his eyes, his large, crooked staff held leaning against his right shoulder, as his hands were stuffed into the safety of the pouch in front of his blue, frosted hoody. He had the look of any normal teenager, almost, wearing new-ish black jeans, the before-mentioned hoody, and some old, ragged-looking tennis shoes that were only worn for protection against various rocks or other things that should not be stepped on. All had been either stolen, or given to him by a kind person here and there.

He knew the hood came from a married couple at a ranch who had let him stay with them for about a few days, until they finally fixed their old vintage television set and saw the news, which had held a small 'fight' between the guardians and Jack. ( The teenager remembers that fight; He had been snowing down Burgess again, but this time made a very inappropriate statue of Bunnymund and Santa clause. It still stands in shambled blocks today, he guessed. )

They threw him out after a few short goodbyes. The woman, Ninna, had cried and cried for him to stay but her husband hadn't listened to her reasoning that Jack was 'just a child! He didn't know'. Jack wonders if time had eaten them up along with the other humans of that era. Maybe they had grandchildren, or maybe they were still alive and kicking. Jack wouldn't know, he could just barely tell the time of day, let alone what century it was or the important stuff.

He hated to admit it, but he did miss Ninna a lot. She was probably the only one who had gotten close to Jack, letting him view her as a mother-like figure. The husband, on the other hand...he kind of reminded Jack of those strange biker guys that try to run him over on occasion.

He idly walks by a few shops, cars parked out around him, and the occasional horn going off. people weren't as crowded in public today as they were last week or so. The weather was chilled, even without the pleasant breeze the wind blew their way. The nonsense chatter around him made him slightly agitated, as his stomach had knotted up again, feeling as if he had eaten rocks and they were jumbling around there, beating against each other, as his stomach flares in a dull, familiar pain.

He didn't care, though. Last night he had been flying around, and he finally recognized the first signs of the guardian of wonder's holiday. People were starting to decorate their homes, shops, and even sometimes he'd spot a cherry red car splattered with green paint and decorated with bells and fake snow.

Keeping himself as nonexistent as he could in this small crowd of people, he turns into a book shop. Hopefully a little bit of reading material would calm his stomach down and give him some kind of inspiration to keep walking. Every time Christmas even came around, Jack would feel a sense of loss somewhat, when he saw the guardian flying over the city.

Maybe this time he'll intervene. Maybe give the old bearded man a little bit of snow-blindness. Maybe then the man would try to find a Rudolph. Jack's always wanted to see the Rudolph thing. Maybe it was just him, though, as the guardian himself always laughed at the assumption of a red nosed reindeer, whenever he managed to bring it up during a 'fight'.

The book shop is large, like a library, but comfortable looking as well. Cinnamon colored couch, chairs and love seats all adorned one section of it, as if tempting someone to sit down and read a few books before buying them. Some people were browsing the shelves, obviously for a Christmas gift or two. The worker at the cash register is oddly dressed for his liking, though, Jack supposes. The person is dressed heavily, large coat trailing down to their feet, a scarf, mixed with a grey beanie. Jack could barely make out their face as the bottom half of their face was covered by the scarf and the beanie did a wonderful job of pulling off the image of 'I'm a walking pillow all warm and snug'. He giggles at the thought of the person having a blanket underneath the coat as well.

The person eyes him down as if they knew him. Jack wouldn't be surprised; he loved pranking this city when Burgess was already snowed in. He inwardly shrugs at the look he receives as he heads toward a shelf, not bothering in the least to hide. Let the person call the cops, then maybe today would be less boring.

'Let's see...' he puts a finger to his bottom lip in thought, looking over the various titles, ranging from 'secrets to the grave', all the way to 'medical dictionary'. Before he leaves he should suggest that they organize the books by type, instead of by page size. Not everyone cared if it was a quick read or not. He reaches out and grabs a random book named 'gatekeeper', before making his way to another isle.

Jack usually would go to the library to read a good book, but the book shop was a better deal, to him. The book shops around this city were technically like a library, but you were allowed to buy the books instead of borrowing them. You could read them in the shop, which was something not a lot of book stores in Burgess let you do, as Burgess' book stores would place the books in plastic, or placing them on a computer as an archive, only giving you a summary of said book.

"Excuse me?" a voice says to his left. He turns his head, only to view the extremely-Eskimo-like cashier.

He can only blink, and give a small lopsided grin. He was definitely NOT a people person, and he hoped that this person somehow left him alone to his own devices. Oh well, no backing down, now.

The cashier continues; "I was wondering if you were looking for a certain book? - I mean, I don't think you'd be into the gatekeeper, much. It's kind of a sad story, and you seem kind of the happy type?"

Jack smiles, looking at the books summary on the back for a minute. "Yeah. Been feeling down today, why not a down book?" He shrugs, then. "I really don't care what I read. As long as it isn't boring. Today is pretty boring, to me."

The person, a female by the sounds of it, giggles. "Today has been boring. No one wants to go outside and I can't blame them!" she laughs, then. "Anyway, my name is Liana."

"Nice to meet you, Liana." the name rolls off the tongue easy enough, he supposes. "I'm Jack." he offers up, despite the warning bells going off in his head about 'secret identity'. ( Secret? pht. The whole world knows who he is. I mean, come on, who else has white hair, a crooked staff, and never seems bothered by the cold? )

Liana's eyes seems to sparkle just a bit more as he graces her with a toothy smile.

"Are you from around here?" she asks, then. "I've seen you around..."

"No." Jack answers, thumb randomly brushing the pages of the book he held in a nervous tick. His staff had shifted to the side a little and so he pushed it back into his shoulder. "I kinda get around. Y'know, walk places, live places."

She gives him a sad look, which is impressive considering half of her face is hidden. "You don't have anywhere to live? No home around here?"

Jack looks to the ceiling in thought, of whether or not it'd be safe to tell her that no, he did not have a home. He considers not telling her for a good minute or two before going to respond.

"Not really." he smiles, unsure if that was the correct thing to answer. All well, already dug his grave, might as well go along for the sake of being honest, right?

"No relatives?"

"No." He quickly goes to look back at the books. "So, what titles do you think Id like?" he tries to change the subject, which earned him another look from Liana as she wrings her hands together. He wonders where she had purchased those colorful gloves she wore, as it certainly didn't match the rest of her bland attire, what with the gloves being a lime green mixed with purple. Kind of like the guardian of memories' feathers. He never did get around to pranking her yet to get a closer look. He should do that next time he felt the need to laugh.

"If you don't care about what you read much, I'd suggest The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, or Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. They're short, simple, and really special." She shrugs, the rustling from underneath her coat a strange sound, like claws catching on leather. "And if you have no where to go...I'll let you stay here." she offers. "There's a bedroom up in the attic where I used to stay when I didn't feel like going home. You can stay here and protect the store from evil-doers."

Jack laughs at that. Didn't this person know who he was? - He froze over Egypt only last year for pete's sake!

"I'll come back soon and let you know if I can." He quickly picks up one of the books the woman had recommended. Something with dragons? whatever. A good book was a good book, right?

"Oh." she says. "And are you planning on purchasing books?"

"No." Jack shakes his head. "I don't have any money with me. I was going to read a few chapters, though. Then maybe think about the endings of them. It passes the time way faster then sitting down, when you're waiting."

Liana tilts her head a bit, as if in curiosity. He knew that she probably felt the urge to force him to stay overnight at least, as she had that oh-so-familiar glint in her eyes that Ninna had when she found him in her barn with one of her homemade biscuits that he had stolen. Jack wasnt sure if he wanted to handle another case of that. Who knew if Liana had some kind of over-jealous boyfriend, or if she'd kick him out once she realized that, hey, this kid beat up the guardians with snowballs while skating around a baseball field during the game.

"What are you waiting for?" she then asks, turning her attention to the books, rearranging them by author, slowly, as if to give the boy time to think things out for himself. Jack would thank her openly for it, but he was sure she would brush it off and call him a social weirdo.

"Christmas eve, I guess." he chuckles. "You get to see Santa work. I wanted to see if I could throw a snowball at him."

"That's not good, waiting just to throw a snowball at him. He works hard, you know." she chides, shaking a finger at him, but not sternly, more like in playful gesture. "Why not stay with me this holiday? - I know, total stranger here, but..." she rubs her hand against her arm, looking down to the right. "Having no where to be and no one to be with on Christmas is...is like...a dentist without his tools!"

"I'll think about it, okay?" he smiles reassuringly, or at least he hopes so. He's not used to smiling for people, he's used to smiling for fun and laughter, or the wind. So he couldn't tell if he was in the norm of society or not. He assumes he's alright for now, as she hasn't told him he was weird yet. Score one Brownie point for him -

his stomach gives a short moan.

Liana and him stare at one another, contemplating what to say, before they both laugh.

"Have you eaten?" she asks, hand covering where her mouth would be, trying to stifle her giggle-fit.

Jack just chuckles along. "I had a shepherds pie for breakfast." he lies. "I guess I should have brought some gum or something, right?"

"Oh no," she gasps a bit. "do you want some sugar free gum? I have a few cases of it! You can have a pack or two, but!" she pokes him in the chest with her index finger. "You have to promise me you'll be back tomorrow for lunch!"

"Okay, okay!" he giggles as she pokes him one more time for measure - who knew he was this ticklish? - he follows her lead over to the counter, where she goes behind the strange, oval-shaped cash register, and pulls out a shoebox, which she then sets on the counter and opens to reveal various sugar free bubblegum packets, filling said box to the brim.

"Wow." he drawls, taking a pack out - Strawberry flavored, it said - and looks everything over. "You're really prepared, aren't you?"

"Yup!" she claps her hands together excitedly.

"Why are they all sugar free? - Are you dia...dialectic?"

"Diabetic." she corrects, giggling at the boy's mistake. "And no, I just read that sugar really destroys teeth. So, I kind of go all sugar free on candies and so on."

Jack takes a minute, and then grabs two packs of the Orange flavored packs. He stuck one of them into his hoody pouch, and opened up the other, taking out one of the silvery-covered sticks of gum. "Thanks." he says, before happily sticking the gum into his mouth, refusing to chew it for a moment, savoring the flavor before throwing the wrapper in the small bin by the door.

"You're welcome. I'll let you read for a bit, okay?" Liana says, closing the shoe box and placing it back underneath the counter. Jack wonders how she was even able to afford all that gum, as it seemed to be at least thirty dollar's worth. Imagine how many greasy dollar hamburgers one could buy with all that money. ( 'No,' Jack thought. 'dont think about food. Only Orange gum okay?' )

He flashes her another smile, when she turns to give him one of her own, before turning around and stalking off back to the shelf he was previously at.

He could go through books pretty fast, actually, but he'd always stop toward a distressing part, or close to the end, to make small bets with himself about what would happen. He was never right, of course, unless it was the Hobbit, but that was a lucky guess on his part. So, sometimes he would grab as many books as possible, read as many as he could, and thinks about all of the adventures or information for a few days. Then he'll come back to see what was right ad what was wrong, if the books weren't sold out. ( He had that happen once, when he went to look through the Harry Potter book series. Everyone had all but taken every one but the first, and Jack had already read that one, sadly. )

He could practically feel Liana's eyes watching him when he happened to be reading the back of a book, or just minding his own business. He wonders if maybe she really was like Ninna, all belief that 'he was only a child'.

In all, wonderful honesty, he does go to 'attack' the guardians regularly, if he can, and on his own accord. He doesn't think looking young had anything to do with making fun of the main four heroes.

Of course, once, he ran into Mother goose and her master. He didn't know how he managed to escape that large feathery deathtrap, but he did. ( He flew around, being followed for three days straight after he ran face-first into the Goose. The bird had chased him all the way from Burgess to Burk, and back. Whenever it managed to get close, he'd be pulled in the most tightest deathgrip of the century. He's still terrified, whenever he sees the large Goose from afar. He can't remember much of the 'master', but he does remember the Goose being scolded, or, what sounded like scolding. He wishes it to be scolding, because it was kind of terrifying. )

He takes a seat on one of the table chairs near the employee-only door, nearly on the other side of the bookstore. Liana had taken to casting glances at him every few seconds, and idly reading a book of her own. Jack didn't mind the looks, afterall, he got a lot worse whenever someone on the streets recognized him, sometimes he had to use his staff for other things than throwing snowballs, but it was okay, he guessed. Let someone try to tackle him to 'become a guardian'. Pht, like that'll ever happen.

He opens the one book the cashier had suggested he read, only reading a few pages before slowly becoming morphed into the story. He thinks it's strange, when a book gives you almost the same visual as the television could. Maybe televisions were like brains themselves? Jack didn't know, he barely could get along well with technology unless it involved moonbeam charges or comet trackers.

Oh, yeah, comets. Jack had a strange fascination with shooting stars and their simple cousins, comets. He loved to watch the sky, staying up as late as he could, trying to spot them passing by.

He wishes he could do that; fly up up up to where no one had truly explored yet, to fly among stars, the planets, the suns as if they were his and his only. He would take different paths, each one looking for something new.

Adventure usually gave him a purpose, as adventuring was a lot more fun then trying to make a large statue of Sandman as a ballerina. ( Which, oddly enough, was still standing there in the middle of Corona, like some sort of trophy or something. He's heard Pitch had visited there last month, but yet the statue was left completely unharmed. Maybe the villain liked Jack's work. He silently giggles - he'd have to make one of Pitch standing beside it next time he visited Corona, see how the tall man liked being a ballerina along with Sandman. )

Though, he didn't know why, but whenever he'd try to fly up higher than he's ever had, he'd fall. and fast. it was like Tsar had cursed him, condemning him to stay.

Jack shoves that thought to the side, though. He really didn't want to feel like this world was some kind of larger cage for him, as that just makes him end up starting another mass blizzard. He remembers the huge fight he got himself caught in that day with a wince, and the tightening of his hands.

Bunny hadn't ever forgiven him for the incident, but then again why would he? - Jack wasn't very likable. Or, at least, Jack thought he was unlikable, because who would honestly say 'aw you poor dear' when Jack had frozen everyone's water supplies for months on end? - Burk was the only city prepared for such a thing, and so everyone had crowded in there like rats around a piece of cheese.

Shaking his head, he goes to reread the paragraph before him yet again, this time being the fifth time, as he had been lost in thought.

This was written back in 2012, when I was a horrid writer, so bear with this cruddy thing haha.

Also this was inspired by other fanfictions in this fandom. I cannot remember their names, but I'm sure one day I'll find them again. For now, please don't think I stole anything. This was a fiction I wrote for myself only, and so never really meant for it to be here.

Secrets to the Grave - by Tami Hoag

Seraphina - by Rachel Hartman.

Gatekeeper - I couldn't find the author name :c

The Alchemist - by Paulo Coelho

Mother Goose - I had decided that Jack is clueless about Katharine being mother goose, and assumes that the bird is actually the legend. A common mistake.

If you have a better summary let me know. I'm horrible at Summaries. Image cover not mine please note.

Also I have never read the William Joyce book series or whatever and so will constantly mess stuff up sorry oh so sorry.

X if you don't like O if you did.