Chapter 1 - Friendship at First Sight

Jack Frost, the Guardian of Fun, was confused when he reached the workshop of Santa, or North. Everything was quiet. It was like nobody was there at all.

He hadn't been summoned by the Northern Lights, meaning he didn't have to worry about Pitch's return or any sort of dark horrible thing that threatened the children of the world.

Instead, a stream of golden sand had traveled to him, and as soon as the grains of glowing gold found the person they were looking for, they instantly took shape of North's home.

Jack had been a bit confused at first, having never been summoned by such a minor tactic before.

Although, it was rare that he was ever summoned to the North Pole. It wasn't every day that the guardians needed to be assembled for threats to mankind. Pitch was a rarity of his own.

However, when a mini version of Sandy popped out of the image and immediately began waving his little arms around to signal for Jack to hurry up and get there as soon as possible, he assumed it was for something important.

Quite suddenly, there were five Yetis there to greet him.

They mumbled a few words in their own language; something that he'd never been able to understand, before returning to their work.

He nodded to them anyway and once he passed them, he began leaping quickly through the workshop towards the floor surrounding North's giant globe.

Although this was a different case, he had still been summoned for something important, apparently, so he wasn't about to stroll through the place like he didn't care. All he could hear was silence in the place where he knew North and the other guardians would meet. Usually, North's voice was constantly bellowing out random arguments or statements towards the yetis and the elves working around him. It was very strange to hear the workshop peaceful or shrouded in an eerie silence.

Jack felt a little apprehensive about turning the corner to greet his friends. Were they even there? But long shadows darting across the floor in front of him answered his question. He stopped and listened carefully, trying to pick up any sort of sound with his sharp hearing.

When silence was all that met him, he finally huffed a bit and casually walked around the corner, allowing his presence to be known. Everybody was there, and they were gathered in one corner of the room.

"Hey, what's-" Jack started.

"Shh!" he was shushed by Tooth. He sent her a questioning look, and she gestured to the corner. Moving cautiously and slowly, Jack walked towards the corner, peeking over Bunnymund's shoulder to see a most peculiar sight; there was a small girl there, curled up against the wall fearfully, her eyes flitting from one guardian to the next.

"Bunny found her unconscious outside the workshop. She has been like this for many hours." North stated rather loudly, making the girl tremble again. Jack smacked a hand to his face.

"You guys, back up, you're scaring her even more." he quietly ordered. The little girl seemed relieved when they did so.

Jack studied the girl. She looked to be maybe -generously- eight years old, had dark red-brown hair, with eyes to match, both of which contrasted greatly with her milk-white skin. She wore a simple green dress with a lighter green leaf pattern on the hems of the skirt and sleeves, and white ballet slippers. There was a golden chain around her neck, and a bracelet on her wrist. They both had a name on them; Holly.

Slowly, Jack crept up to the girl.

"Hey, Holly," The girl's eyes settled on Jack fearfully. He smiled at her. "You don't need to worry, we're not gonna hurt you." he said. Now he was about four feet away, and the other guardians were baffled. Holly let out a small whimper as he reached out to her, and he drew his hand back.

"Careful, Jack." Tooth whispered. He nodded his head.

"Come on, take it easy... We're the good guys. I'm Jack Frost." he introduced himself. That seemed to strike a chord as the girl briefly smiled, excitement in her eyes. But soon after, she closed herself off again. But, at least they were getting somewhere.

"And that," he pointed to Bunny next. "That's the Easter Bunny. Do you know who that is?" he asked. Holly nodded. "Good. Now, this is the Sandman, but we call him Sandy." he gestured to the golden man next. "He gives good dreams to children. He's a good guy."

Before the introductions could continue, an elf stumbled in. A cookie was shoved in its mouth and it looked blissfully unaware of it's surroundings as it skipped closer to where Holly sat curled up in the corner. Jack smirked.

"Watch this." he whispered to the girl, before he tapped the elf with his staff, and the little creature froze, toppling onto its side. Holly giggled, hiding her smile behind her hands. The guardians smiled at the sound. Then suddenly, with the smallest of frowns on her face, she reached one hand out to the elf, pressing her palm into the ice.

Once again baffled, the guardians watched as the ice began to melt, rather quickly. The elf jumped to his feet, bolting away as quickly as he could, the moment he was defrosted. Holly looked back at Jack expectantly, like nothing had happened.

"Right. So, that's the Tooth Fairy over there, we call her Tooth. And that, over behind me, is-" he was cut off as the girl let out a wondrous gasp. She whispered one word.

"Santa!"

Jack grinned. "Yeah, that's right. That's Santa Claus. And we," he gestured to the five of them as a whole. "We're the guardians. We protect the kids of the world. We're not gonna hurt you." he said, reaching out again. This time, Holly didn't protest, and he gently picked her up in his arms, setting her on his lap as he sat on the floor.

She stayed curled into the winter spirit until she fell into a relaxed sleep, courtesy of Sandy.

"Did you see that?" Tooth questioned in a whisper as Jack slowly stood up, cradling the girl in his arms and walking to his own room in the workshop. "How she unfroze the elf?"

"Yeah. She seems to recognize us now, but what I don't get is how she got here." Jack said as he set the girl on his bed, pulling the covers over her.

"Those questions will have to wait until she wakes, and one of us needs to stay with her." North stated. Everybody looked to Jack. He opened his mouth to protest, but Tooth was already persuading him.

"She trusts you more than us, for whatever reason she has. Plus, aside from trust, you're the most human-looking." she said, gesturing to the other guardians, then to him. He sighed.

"Alright, I'll stay with her." he agreed. The others nodded and began moving to the door, North with a call of, "Call us when she wakes up."

Jack nodded his head, and the door shut. He sat down at the foot of the bed, studying the sleeping child. There was something off about her. She really hadn't recognized them at first. She'd remembered North, though, at the end.

"But how did she get here?" he asked the air.

"North! The Man in the Moon, look!" Tooth exclaimed, pointing to the floor in front of the globe, where moonbeams shone brightly. The guardians -minus Jack- gathered, and the light slowly began to take a shape.

"He's choosing another guardian!" Bunny realized. Then he began to mutter "Not the groundhog, not the groundhog, not the groundhog." over and over again. They were all surprised though, when the moonlight took the form of a young woman, with flaming hair. She had what seemed to be two small fireballs in her hands. There was a small necklace on her neck, and a bracelet on her wrist.

The guardians were confused. None of them knew which Legendary Figure it was. North studied the figure closer, and his eyes widened when he looked at the bracelet and necklace.

"Holly!" he breathed.

"Holly's our newest guardian?" Tooth gasped excitedly, her little Baby Tooths twittering excitedly around her.

"How? She's just a kid! And human!" Bunny exclaimed, studying the image. Nobody had an answer. But The Man in the Moon made them guardians, with good reason. There had to be a reason for Holly being a future guardian as well. If the picture was any indication, she would have to be older.

"Man in Moon, why do you show us now, if Holly will not be guardian for many years?" North muttered. The image changed to a silhouette on the ground, of Pitch, standing in front of a little girl. Then the images faded away, the moonbeams disappearing behind the cover of clouds.

"You don't think... he's back, do you?" Tooth asked worriedly. The others didn't know how to answer that.

"If Pitch is back, and after Holly, then it is our job to protect her." North said firmly.

Jack looked to his bed when he heard the telltale signs of a child waking up. Sure enough, a few seconds later he saw Holly sitting up with a yawn, stretching her arms. Then she frowned as she looked around her, realizing she was in an unfamiliar room. Then, as if someone had called her, she whirled to face the window, where the moon was reappearing. She had the face of someone listening to something vitally important, before she nodded her head slightly.

"He talks to you too?" Jack couldn't help but ask. She looked to him, before shrugging.

"This is the first time." she said quietly. Jack mentally smiled at her soft, bell-like voice.

"What did he say?"

Holly thought for a moment before she spoke. "That I can trust you, and the others. And...he said the road to getting my stolen memories won't be easy." she answered. She herself seemed confused by the last sentence herself.

"Stolen memories..?" Jack questioned. Holly nodded.

"Yeah. Um...can we...maybe..." Holly trailed off quietly.

"Yes?" Jack prompted. Holly blushed a little bit.

"Can we...get something to eat?" she asked shyly. Jack chuckled and nodded, getting to his feet.

"Well we're certainly not gonna let you starve!" he exclaimed, and Holly giggled. He led her to the kitchens, and she instantly turned into the scared child she'd been earlier when she caught sight of the huge yetis.

"Don't worry, they're not gonna hurt you." Jack assured her. Still, she clutched his hand in hers, unwilling to let it go. He sat her down on a stool at one of the tables, and a yeti set a plate of sugar-cookies in front of her, varying in shape and decoration. There was also a glass of milk.

Holly just looked at both suspiciously. It all seemed...just too perfect. Jack laughed at her scrutinizing expression.

"Go ahead, eat 'em. They won't bite." he joked. Holly quietly giggled, before picking up a Christmas-tree cookie, taking a bit off the top. She grinned at the flavour.

"Good?"

Holly nodded at Jack's question, and continued eating. She had yet to let go of Jack's hand. Maybe this wouldn't be too hard after all, she decided.

A/N: So, anybody like it? Leave a review please. I don't own Rise of the Guardians, but Holly is MINE.