I do not own Rise of the Guardians.

Jack laughed as the wind pushed him along, his staff stretched out, trailing behind him. Snow fell in his wake as he made it across Pennsylvania's rural hills and heavy woods on his way towards his favorite place, his home, Burgess. It was about time for a visit. He had been so caught up in Europe's large scale blizzard that he hadn't had time to come visit his first and favorite Believer. He was planning on plenty of snow days to make up for the lack of snow so far. It was nearing Christmas after all and the only thing was a slight flurry that hand't even accumulated on the ground. The pond most likely needed a good once over to strengthen the ice to protect the children. He couldn't imagine how thin the layer could possibly be.

In fact, the pond would be the first to experience the effects of winter. Jack smiled. As soon as the pond was frozen he would then start the true festivities by visiting Jamie. He hadn't seen him in months due to the blizzard and his Guardianship and couldn't even fathom how much the boy had grown since last winter. Hell, the last time he had seen Sophie painting Easter eggs, he couldn't believe that she had been the small toddler that had first wandered into the Warren. It was during her last trip to the Warren that she had let it slip that Jamie had been having problems with some boys at school "but he can handle his own" she had reassured them with a shrug, not too concerned. So in turn, Jack wasn't.

There were screams in the distance followed immediately by peals of laughter that snapped the winter spirit out of his thoughts. Jack stopped in mid-air and whirled around. His grin growing as he realized the elementary school had dismissed a large amount of students to recess. Recess that was outside thanks to the milder than usual winter weather. Though, that would change quickly.

With a quick look into the direction of the pond, Jack froze. Torn from his two duties. Fun and protection. School would be letting out soon for the older kids and what were the chances of them going to the pond? He always kept up on the pond and the kids knew to be careful around it, Jack made sure of that. And he was the Guardian of Fun. Another bout of laughter from down below. "What are the chances of something bad happening?" Jack mused with a mischievous smirk as a snowball formed in his hand and he spiraled downward to join the kids playing.

Fourty-five minutes or so later, Jack waved goodbye to the few kids who could see him as they filed back into the school in a single line.

Snow now littered the ground with grass still clearly visible. But he was getting somewhere with his Winter Wonderland goals for Burgess. Before he could focus on the feet of snow to layer on the ground though, the pond had to be taken care of first.

The pond wasn't that far from where the he had been. As Jack left the town's area, the sound of children playing after school grew faint. Though soon enough he picked up on the familiar laughter of two siblings and Jack couldn't help but smile. Two birds with one snowball. Seemed fair enough to him.

The wind pushed him faster and soon the pond was in view and he could make out the forms of Jamie and Sophie walking along the clearing. Sophie was tossing a ball up and down and Jamie was trailing what looked like a makeshift hockey stick across every object that passed him.

Jack hovered for a bit, wondering how he would make a grand entrance for the two of them when he saw Jamie knock the ball out from Sophie's waiting hands. It tumbled down the gentle slope and onto the still iced over pond. Jack was surprised that his ice had lasted for this long.

"Jamie!" Sophie cried out and crossed her arms across her chest. Not before pushing her still ever-so-messy hair from in front of her eyes. "Why'd you do that?"

Jamie dropped his stick and looked between the ball and Sophie. "You weren't listening to me! Look, if it'll make you shut up I'll get it. Just stay here."

This caught Jack's attention. "Jamie! Stop! I've got it!" He dropped himself through the air closer to the pond.

The boy ran after the ball and tentatively tried the ice. It was still well supported near the shoreline. "Jamie!" The winter spirit called as the wind lowered him. Maybe he was too far up for the human to hear?

He was now crossing the ice. To anyone else, it would seem as though the ice was fine. After all, there had been plenty of still near freezing days even without snow and it was winter after all so far that it was plausible for the ice to still be intact. But Jack was uncomfortable, maybe because he hadn't given it another once over when he should have.

"Jamie! There's a reason why we didn't go skating!" She yelled at him and that's when Jack noticed the tied up skates that were now discarded where they stood before. So the ice wasn't strong enough for skates. At least they knew that.

"It's a good thing I'm not skating then, right?" Jamie looked back and smiled at her as he tested out another step on the ice before deeming it safe.

"Be careful, Jamie!" Sophie called from the edge with worry. She eyed the pond with mistrust.

"Jamie! Listen to me and go back! I've got it!" Jack called again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sophie look at him with a grin. The boy still didn't respond though as he finally reached the ball and held it up triumphantly to his sister. The winter spirit let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding in. Jamie was a slight boy like himself, even though he was getting older. Maybe the ice was stronger than Jack had thought. Afterall, he didn't expect it to still be in one piece.

He didn't know why he hadn't taken that time to give a heartier support to the ice around Jamie. That was why he had went to the pond in the first place, anyway.

Jamie laughed. "See? I'm a big boy, Soph! You don't need to worry a—"

There was a bone-shattering crack that seemed to break the entire world in half. But it didn't. Not the world in its entirety but enough for the three present. The rest happened so quickly. Jack and Sophie screamed Jamie's name—their screams rivaling the crack just seconds before—and Jamie fell into fresh hole in the ice without enough time for him to even scream, unless he did have the time but didn't want to scare his sister any further, and then Jack rushed the few feet between them with all the speed he had in him and with the force of the Northern winds pushing him. A determined smile broke across his face as he realized he'd be able to catch the boy before he was fully submerged. Arms outstretched, Jack went and looped his arms around the growing boy.

And he passed right through him with only a painful shiver wracking his own body. He landed harshly on the pond and through the horror of what just happened; he scrambled to the ragged edge of the hole. Time seemed to lag as Jamie was still there towards the surface, thrashing.

He grabbed and missed again. Not missed, went through.

"Jamie!"

Don't tell him I told you, but he's been having problems with some of the guys at school.

The boys at school say that's stupid. They're the stupid ones.

Jamie is so stupid sometimes.

It didn't stop him from still trying to pull the sinking form up back onto the ice. He tried to grab onto Jamie's collar. And then arm. His sleeve. His hand. But each time his own hands just slid through and grabbed onto nothing.

Until there was nothing left to grab onto.

The boy sank with no help to save him.

Jack should have seen the signs. He should have visited more this winter. Blizzard or no blizzard. He should have hung out with Jamie more. He should have iced the pond more. He should have iced it in the first place. He shouldn't have waited.

"HELP!" Jack cried. His muffled sobs joining the shrieks coming from Sophie. "HELP."

Most importantly, he should have been there for Jamie. As a friend. As a Guardian.

Maybe then this wouldn't have happened.

Maybe then Jamie would still have believed in Jack.

Maybe then Jamie would still be alive.

Help. It's nothing but a mumble, a long dead hope.

Sophie's wails of grief and cries of terror numbed the winter spirit. He vaguely registered her begging him to save her brother. But Jack's mind was a numbing blizzard of what if's and should haves and could haves as he sat and stared into the dark waters, hoping to see Jamie smiling back up at him. He only saw his own awful reflection staring back up full of regret and guilt.

Because after all, what were the chances?

So, I have to make at least one death-fic for each fandom I write in. I don't feel like this runs as smooth as it should no matter how much I edited it and I'm not sure all the themes are as strong as they could be.

I would love to know what you guys thought though!