A/N: Hello! I just saw Rise of the Guardians like, three hours ago and couldn't help but think of a story! This is my first time writing a fanfiction so go easy on me, I don't know how this works very well. Anyways, I hope you enjoy and sorry if this has been done before, I might not be as creative as I thought I was *shrugs*. Let me know if you like it :)

The Sullivan family had only arrived at their winter cottage in Massachusetts five minutes ago and Ruby was already out the door.

"I'll be a while don't wait up for me!" she yelled before slamming the screen door.

"Wait!" her mother screamed running after her.

Ruby stopped and looked back at the woman. Her mother's face was melancholy, and longing. "What is it mother? I want to take pictures."

"You'll be cold-"her mother started.

Ruby wore her father's old worn beige north face fleece that was long enough to reach her knees, her oldest pair of dark denim jeans and rubber boots to go trudging through the snow. Her precious Canon camera was around her neck. "I'm fine." She turned towards the woods that flanked the cottage from the left.

"At least wear a scarf!" cried her mother.

She looked in her mother's direction, scowling. "Are you serious? You're smothering me."

Her mother disappeared inside and reappeared with a red knitted scarf, "We don't want Jack Frost nipping at your nose!" she said smiling.

Ruby rolled her eyes; "Goodbye!" she announced prying herself from her mother's grip.

"Ruby?" her mother said once she was halfway across the driveway.

"WHAT NOW?!" She almost screamed.

"Could you please take your brother with you?"

Ruby let out a cry of frustration before leaving into the woods, her five year old brother, Charlie, chatting away beside her.

"…And then I told Simon that he couldn't play baseball with me and Fred because he likes Darla, and I like Darla. So Simon told his mom that I was being mean to him! What a snitch! You wouldn't believe how annoying he is Ruby!"

"Oh I can imagine." Ruby mumbled, her focus was on her camera.

Ruby loved taking pictures. She had loved it ever since her father had taken her to see Apollo 13 in the cinema. Ruby had become infatuated with little things that were so amazing, leaves, trees, the sky, nature, everything around her, especially the moon. And so, on her fourteenth Christmas she received a nice camera, one that took high definition pictures and captured every element of what Ruby wanted to see. The sun's reflection painted onto the fresh fallen snow, or the cloud formation in the sky, or how big the moon had looked that night; Ruby could capture it all, and remember forever.

Everyone ridiculed Ruby for having such an unusual obsession, but Ruby didn't care. As long as she could see the beauty in nature, the hidden beauty that was overlooked by everyone else, and look at it until the end of time

And so she had brought her camera on her family's trip to Massachusetts despite her parent's reluctance. Ruby was sick of Florida, she was sick of school, and the sun every day, all the green, finally she could capture nature at its weakest, most beautiful state, winter.

Ruby had wanted to go on the walk alone, because not only was Charlie way too noisy, she liked being alone. She did things better alone. And after a three hour drive from the airport in a crammed car with her family, alone is what she needed.

"…I don't think Darla likes me, I called her a booger last year and she always sticks her tongue out at me when she sees me."

"That's unfortunate." Ruby said disregarding him. She took a picture of a fallen leave in the untouched freshly fallen snow.

"Why are you so mean to mom, Ruby?" Charlie asked.

"You'll understand when you're sixteen, like me." She explained as they walked further into the woods.

"Will I take pictures like you when I'm older too?" He asked, his brown eyes shining with curiosity.

"Who knows? It's up to you to find what you like and stick with it." She said looking at the sky. The sky was overcast, but you could just barely see the sun, it was beginning to set, and she wasn't ready to head back yet.

"Why do you like taking pictures of everything?"

Ruby smiled at her brother, Charlie was seventy five percent annoying, but there was still that other twenty five percent that was alright. "Because everything is so pretty."

Charlie looked around and the wind shook the trees, the forest moved in unison and blew a cold breeze through Ruby's hair. She breathed in the fresh scent of pine and snow mixing, the perfect combination. Snowflakes began to trickle down from the clouds covering the sky.

"Who's that?" Charlie asked pointing at a small snow bank a little ways ahead of them.

Ruby squinted, but only saw snow. "What do you mean 'who' there's no one there."

"No that boy right there!" Charlie yelled pointing. "Hey over here!" he yelled, waving in the snows direction.

"Shut up Charlie, we probably aren't allowed to be in these woods anyways. Stop acting like a crazy idiot." She turned around and began to walk back.

"I'm telling mom you said that!" He gasped and ran ahead. "And I'm telling her about that guy I saw!"

Ruby rolled her eyes. Kids could be so annoying. She decided she would look at her pictures after dinner.

Jack hadn't expected work as a guardian to be so hard. He had to make sure it snowed everywhere it was supposed to snow at the designated time of the year? He would much rather fight Pitch again. But North had convinced him that the work was satisfying, and that he was doing good.

But all the responsibilities? Flying back and forth all over the world was tiring, and Jack didn't like commitment all that much.

He settled down in the snow of a town he had practically frozen over in the last hour when he heard voices.

"…I don't think Darla likes me, I called her a booger last year and she always sticks her tongue out at me when she sees me." Snippets of a small boy's conversation flew into his ear.

The voice of an older girl said bored, "That's unfortunate."

Jack laughed and threw his staff next to him in the snow; he lied down in the snow and listened quietly to the rustling of the branches.

"Why are you so mean to mom, Ruby?" he heard the little boy ask.

Ah. So the girl is a brat. And her name is Ruby? Jack thought to himself. Then he wondered why he had even thought about it in the first place, it wasn't his place to care about that.

"You'll understand when you're sixteen, like me." He heard her reply slightly annoyed.

"Will I take pictures like you when I'm older too?" The boy asked.

Jack perked up his ears; technically he was here first, so he wasn't eavesdropping. He heard her sigh slightly, "Who knows? It's up to you to find what you like and stick with it." She said wistfully, Jack thought she sounded a bit sad. But maybe it was just him being strange.

"Why do you take pictures of everything?" the boy chirped up again, obviously not noticing the girl's tone.

"Because everything is so pretty."

And at first Jack thought he had heard wrong. Because he had never come across a teenager her age that would even look outside and now here was a perfectly good example of why North was right. That he really should stick to making snow, and winter.

He peeked over the edge of the snow to look at the pair. The little boy had unkempt light brown hair with brown eyes looked in every which ways curiously. He really wasn't very tall and he looked like he could be about five years old. He looked at his sister as if she was a goddess, and then Jack looked at her and understood why.

The girl was tall, not as tall as Jack, but pretty tall nonetheless. Waves of long, chocolate brown tresses whipped around her in the cool winter wind. She was pale, and her cheeks were rosy, probably from the cold. She seemed to be shivering, but didn't act like it was bothering her. She held a camera in her right hand; her left hand was peeling bark off a birch tree. And right at that moment all Jack could think about was that he felt like he had just slipped on a flight of stairs and hit his head, he was dizzy, and she was stunning.

Another bout of wind blew snow flurries and pine into the air, he saw her breathe in and smile. The snowflakes landing in her hair and floating on the stray strands that blew around her face.

"Who's that?" her brother asked. Jack turned and saw the little boy pointing at him.

Jack smiled and stood up, grabbing his staff.

The girl turned to look at Jack and their eyes met for a split second, her eyes were a crystal clear blue. In that second he could see everything, and he felt something stir inside him and his heart pace quickened. "What do you mean 'who' there's no one there."

But he could have sworn they'd seen each other for at least a split second. He sighed discontentedly, although there was no reason for him to be disappointed, she was too old to believe in the guardians anyways. And he couldn't believe he was acting this way, thinking about her and such only after just seeing her. What business would he have with a shallow teenage girl?

"No that boy right there!" The boy grabbed her jacket and pointed to Jack. "Hey over here!" he yelled, trying to flag him down.

Jack smiled and winked at the kid before jumping into the wind and being carried somewhere else, he still couldn't shake the dizzy feeling that girl had given him though. And he wondered if he could see her again, he wouldn't admit it to himself but he hoped, actually.

Should I continue? I probably will regardless of the feedback *shrugs again* but do please leave me a review or something! :)

xoxo -your protector