A/N Yay another story! I'm a little nervous about this one. But I'm on a major Rise of the Guardians streak right now, so I needed to start on some. Expect some delay in updates because if I get stuck I'll probably jump around and I can't keep up with all of them. That plus school plus the fact that I'm a dedicated night owl and get better ideas late at night plus the fact that I'm prone to writer's block and don't have the movie may make this a bit tricky.

Speaking of which does anyone know where I can watch it online for free?

But on the bright side, there were two hour early releases all last week due to heat! (What do they expect making us start so early in the year?!)

Oh, thanks to kittylove12, Can't Stop Fangirling, samathab322, Uchiha no Kaori, .7, Thomas-Michael, tainted-lily, Zorua Illusion, starskulls, and Irishlovergirl, for following, favoriting, and/or just plain helping and supporting me along! It means a lot.

Enough of my blabbering and on with the story!

One last thing: I do not own Rise of the Guardians. Just my OC.

Enjoy!

Edit: Jeez guys, sorry, long A/N, I know. But to the people who have stuck with me from the beginning, I just wanted to let you know I changed the beginning of this chapter. Hope I didn't mess up too badly and you still like it, but I got a great idea and had to use it!

Jack heard the bell and swooped down, searching for a now familiar girl named Faith in the sea of kids streaming from the school. The it's-finally-Christmas-break excitement and chatter made it even more difficult than ever to find her.

He smiled as he found her in her typical outdoors winter outfit: fur-lined cream colored hood covering most of her head, a bit of hair sticking out, cream colored winter jacket, cream colored snow pants and black winter boots.

She was walking home with her friend as always. She had long, dark red hair, bright blue eyes and tan skin, and was wearing a light blue coat with snowflakes on it, her matching hood lined with white fuzz, dark purple snow pants, and black boots.

Jack had instantly recognized her as his friend Gwyneira, or as he called her, Gil. She had noticed him following a few days ago, but when he walked home with her the first day, he told her what he was planning, and she agreed to pretend he wasn't there.

He followed closely behind Faith and Gil as they walked home, chatting. Before too long Gil had to head off in a different direction. Before she left, Faith stopped her and gave her a small box, neatly wrapped in metallic red paper. Then she looked down, put her hands behind her back, and rocked back and forth slightly. Gil opened it slowly and brought out a necklace. The string was lavender and it had tiny, see-through dark purple and frosty blue glass beads. She gasped, undid the clasp and put it on immediately.

"Thank you! It's amazing!"

Finally the giver looked up with a shy smile. "You really think so? I thought you wouldn't like it."

"Are you kidding? I love it!"

They hugged and after some goodbyes and see you laters Gil left and she stood watching her for a second before she shook herself and kept going the way they had been.

Jack raced after Faith, wishing he could cheer her up, but throwing a snowball at her wouldn't help; she couldn't see him and she'd think it was another bully trying to make her feel miserable. He had seen it happen, all because she still believed in Santa Claus, though when she argued that he was real, it sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

Jack followed the now familiar path to Faith's house; he'd been doing this since she got back from Ohio. He didn't want her to be alone.

Before long, they both became deeply lost in thought.

A week earlier:

Jack and Sandy were at the Pole. Bunny had ran to the Warren the second Jack had shown up; he was not in the mood for the winter spirit's wild jokes. Tooth was out in the field and North was really busy with Christmas coming up in a few weeks.

Both Jack and Sandy, however, had found a break and were talking in the Globe Room. Jack had been casting his eyes around aimlessly and they fell on a certain light on the globe, somewhere in Ohio. His eyes were fixed solidly on it, his expression one of disbelief.

The light was flickering like crazy, sometimes dim, other times bright as the others, sometimes so dim you couldn't really tell it was on at all.

Sandy snapped his fingers in front of Jack's face, snapping him out of his reverie in the process.

Jack shook himself and looked at Sandy, who formed a question mark over his head with an expression that very clearly asked, "What the heck was that about?"

The dazed winter spirit merely pointed at the flickering light and muttered, "I've never seen a light flicker so violently, let alone this close to Christmas."

Sandy saw what he was talking about almost immediately and a few exclamation marks replaced the question mark. That showed Jack that he'd never seen it either.

A smile grew on his face as a plan grew in his head. "Come on Sandy, let's go check it out!"

Sandy nodded in excitement and made several images above his head. Two flying figures going over to a child who saw them, smiled, then the globe flashed with a bright, unwavering light. Clearly he meant, "Maybe if we show up, he/she will believe completely again!"

Jack chuckled. "My thoughts exactly!"

The two guardians prepared for take-off, and Jack glanced at the light again. A split-second after he found it, without warning, it went off. And stayed off.

The Guardian of Fun gasped, both from shock, worry, and the jab of pain he felt the second it went out, quickly followed by a cold hollow feeling. Whoever it was must've been a huge believer, and they never even knew them.

Sandy felt it too, as had the other guardians. They oldest four sighed, they would never get used to that feeling. But that was worse than most.

After about 30 seconds of showing no sign of relighting, of Jack replaying the words We were too late in his head over and over, it turned back on and kept flickering, maybe a bit dimmer than before. The youngest and the oldest guardians sighed in relief, then looked at each other worriedly.

"We'd better hurry."

And with those words the two guardians shot off the ground, making their way as fast as possible to the source of the flickering light.

-A few minutes later-

Jack and Sandy arrived in the middle of a small park, where there was a stage set up for Christmas carols and karaoke. It looked like the whole town was there.

They flew backstage and hid behind a pile of crates by the curtains just as the announcer said, "And last but not least, Faith Coral Green singing Believe by Josh Groban!"

There was loud applause as a thin, pale, tall girl right next to them stood up. She had straight, but slightly messy, shoulder-length, white blonde hair so light that, if you didn't look closely enough, it looked as snow-white as Jack's. On one half it had streaks of dark purple and light blue in it, and all that, plus the pale skin, could remind people of winter.

On the other half there were streaks of bright red and orange and her cheeks were rosy, like she had just been playing outside in mild weather. She had a barrette with a few pretty fall leaves on it, obviously homemade. Those features were all fall-like.

Jack had been leaning forward to get a good look at the multi-seasonal-looking girl, and gasped as he slipped a bit and made a crate rattle. Faith looked right at him, eyes widening slightly before she shook herself and walked onto the stage, which made the applause louder.

But Jack just stared at where she had been. When she looked at him, he had gotten a good glimpse of her eyes. A warm, lush green with dapples of bright gold and brown, and, for just a second, the glint of a strong believer, then it dimmed again. They reminded the winter spirit of summer, the canopy of leaves in the woods.

As the chorusing and bells began, signaling the beginning of the song, Jack turned to Sandy and said, "Just me, or did she remind you of the seasons?"

Sandy nodded in agreement and put up a leaf bud in his sand.

"You're right Sandy, all that's missing is spring."

They were about to eat their words (or sand) as the intro ended and Faith started singing.

"Children, sleeping, snow is softly, falling. Dreams are calling, like bells in the distance..."

"I stand corrected." Jack said in awe, staring at the girl. Her voice sounded like a mixture of tiny, perfect bells and beginning-of-spring birdsong.

"We were, dreamers, not so long ago. But one by one we, all had to grow up.

When it seems the magic slipped away, we'll find it all again on Christmas Day,"

Sandy let out a whistle.

The two spirits listened to the rest of the song in awed silence.

"When it seems that we have lost our way, we'll find ourselves again of Christmas Day. Believe in what your heart is saying, hear the melody that's playing, there's no time to waste, there's so much to celebrate. Believe in what you feel inside and give your dreams the wings to fly! You have everything you need, if you just believe, if you just believe, if you just believe. Just believe. Just believe."

The outro ended and there were a few seconds of shocked silence, then there was a sound like a small explosion taking place as everyone clapped and cheered at the top of their lungs, Jack and Sandy included.

She came backstage, fingering a leaf bud on her necklace. It was hardened and shiny, so it must have been coated in something to preserve it. It looked too real to be fake, and brought out even more fall in her.

Jack and Sandy stepped out, planning on congratulating her, but she only hesitated for half a second before shaking herself again and walking around them, as though she sort of saw them and shook it off.

They soon discovered why she just walked around them as she muttered, "Nice try guys, I'm not falling for that one again."

Jack followed her cautiously and caught another string of words. "I just wish I could believe, I really do, but it's really hard to sometimes, even around Christmas."

Jack flew in front of her. "But you should believe! Two of us are here right now!"

But Faith just walked through him. Jack called out, "I'll get you to fully believe again, I know it's not impossible, I saw that glint of belief."

Faith gasped and stopped dead in her tracks, whirling around. For a split second she saw a thin, tall form floating a foot of the ground. Then it was gone. She sighed and turned back around.

Jack felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Sandy.

He looked sympathetically at Faith, then jerked his head towards the Pole.

Jack nodded, then looked at Faith one more time.

"I promise." He whispered as he flew past her.

When they got back to the pole, they saw her light a bit brighter, a bit steadier, and a definite increase in lights around that area.

Present time.

Jack was jerked out of his memories when Faith started singing When Christmas Comes to Town. (A/N Not sure who sings it, but it's also from the Polar Express.)

He was so wrapped up in listening to her singing that he ran right into a tree. Jack scowled, muttering something about "stupid solid objects." (A/N reference to another one of my stories AMM. Just thought I'd mention it.) He giggled but suddenly stopped as started talking to herself glumly.

"I really, really wish I could believe. But it's impossible. Mum and dad have already fessed up to being the Easter Bunny, Santa and the Tooth Fairy or, if you prefer, which I do, the Easter Kangaroo or Bunny, North and Tooth, but they haven't fessed up to being Sandy. Probably because they don't know that I know about him, I didn't till I was about seven. But still, how can you explain the sand in your eyes when you wake up? Or dreams? Sure there are documents on it but I don't really trust them. It's dreams and scientifical stuff can't prove everything." Jack snickered at her made up word. She whirled around and looked in his direction, thinking she had heard something, but only saw a flash of white hair before it was gone. Jack sighed in disappointment as he saw her ability to see him for a split second fade. 'So close!'

She continued her rant to herself. "And of course Jack Frost, he's always been my favorite child legend, and if the Guardians are real, my favorite Guardian, along with Sandy." She smiled nostalgically. "I wish I believed. I could've sworn I saw someone by me for a split second at that Christmas thing, and just now, and every night I think I see Sandy's outline floating by my bed but I never really see him and rarely have dreams of any sort. At least, few that I remember." She shook her head sadly and Jack felt sorry for the girl. At least Sandy had given it his best shot.

"Then of course Pitch." She shuddered. "I found out about him even later than I found out about about Sandy. Mum and dad never told me, but I guess bad dreams came every so often and he's associated with that. But after hearing the story of what he was like before, I feel a bit sorry for him. He was only trying to help his daughter."

Jack was shocked. He made a mental note to ask North what she was talking about and why she would know when even he didn't. He hoped she would talk more but she was silent until she got home and said hi to her dad, who was working in the office. He smiled and waved before getting back on the phone. Her mom, he knew, was at her work too.

Jack continued to follow Faith up to her room where she changed from jeans and a semi-nice shirt to black sweats, a light blue t-shirt and a blue hoodie much like his. Jack looked away when she did this.

When she was done changing, she crawled into her bed and turned on her lamp, flooding the room with bright green light. She smiled, then propped herself up on some pillows, grabbed a book and started reading. Jack couldn't tell exactly what it was, but she had started reading it yesterday before he had to leave and had gotten pretty far on it.

She laughed a bit and Jack smiled. Her laugh was much like her singing and wasn't used enough. Being all the school bullies favorite target made it hard to find reason to laugh.

As Faith read, her expression became softer and happier and Jack saw the glint of belief in her eyes growing.

She started humming the song she had been on the way home, smiling widely. After a few minutes she chuckled lightly and Jack joined her, glad to see Faith happy and carefree for a little bit.

Her head snapped up as she heard the winter spirit and he instinctually froze. Then he moved and noticed that Faith's eyes followed him, and her mouth was hanging open slightly. He flew towards her, and she leaned back as though trying to melt into the wall. She actually looked a little... scared.

Finally she whispered, "No, you're not real, you're another cruel prank my older brother decided to play on me. Are you? Please tell me you aren't, I want to believe, not have my belief crumble even more."

Jack felt his heart break a little. She was scared of him, all because of her brother and his friends.

He flew closer to the teenager, who tried to lean back even further. At present, she looked like a scared little kid.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." Jack never thought he'd have to say that. Ever. "I'm not a trick, I'm real, see?" He touched Faith's hand and she shivered at the unexpected cold. Jack quickly withdrew it and showed her his staff. She examined it, the beautiful frost patterns and the ridges, every inch. Then he gave it to her, and the frost patterns stayed, shocking both of them.

Faith looked up at the winter spirit, her eyes wide and filled with belief. She suddenly lunged forward and hugged him tight, crying with joy. "You are real! I knew it!"

Once over the initial shock, Jack hugged her back, smiling. "I did promise I'd get you to believe again, didn't I?" He said, laughing slightly.

Faith pulled away and stared at the ground, rocking back and forth slightly and putting her arms behind her back. Jack had seen her do this earlier when she gave Gil her small, homemade present she was so scared she wouldn't like. It was her ashamed stance.

Finally Faith looked up, tears in her eyes and streaming down her face. "I'm sorry I didn't believe in you." She whispered in a barely audible, slightly choked voice.

Jack hugged her again. "It's ok, you do now. And from what I saw, I'm surprised you were able to hold on to it this long. Your belief is surprisingly strong, especially for a teen. Your light went out a few minutes before you went on stage, and I don't know about the other guardians, but I sure felt it. And when Sandy and I got back to the Pole, there were more lights in your area, and the ones that had been there already were even brighter."

"Really?"

"Yep. I bet if you hadn't started believing again I would still have the hollow feeling that came with it."

She pulled away again and grinned at him. Jack wiped away the tears that were still clinging on desperately to her cheeks.

"So how about we have a little fun with your brother and his friends?" Jack asked with a mischievous smile.

Faith's smiled mirrored his and her eyes had the light of revenge as she said in her melodious voice, "Let's do it."

A/N Hope you like it! I do. Sorry if this was a little long, when I wanted to stop and split it into two parts it was too short, then I couldn't find a good splitting/ending point. I may be stuck for awhile.

I do not own the songs mentioned in this chapter.

Explanation time!

First off, Faith was reading the first book of the Guardians of Childhood series. I actually haven't read it all, so I'm not sure if there are any funny parts.

Faith knows the Guardians nicknames because she's seen Rise of the Guardians, and she reads fanfictions about it, which is how she knows about Pitch. For this story, the movie was actually inspired by little kids that believed and the movie writers somehow got it right.

And she was in Ohio for a few days to see her family there, because they were going somewhere else during the actual holidays and they still wanted to see each other. So she got out of school for a bit, then had to come back and go to another week of school before winter break.

As for Gil, I got the idea to sort of connect my stories through the characters. So this will have mentions of Gil, AMM will have mentions of Faith and, possibly later, this and AMM will have mentions of a not-yet-used OC I decided to call Sally, and maybe more later on, etc. Pretty much, if you want to understand all my OC references, you have to read all my stories relating to the used fandom. Sooo, sorry about that, guys, but I loved the idea and besides, you can just stick with reading one, the mentions won't be anything extremely important until I do have some adventure with multiple OCs. I'll be working more on AMM until it catches up with this a bit, it'll make references easier.

Again, sorry for mistakes. Review or PM if you liked it! Anything that shows you liked it really means a lot.