This is a heads up now: this story will probs not be updated in a long time. This is because I have other fics to be finishing, but mainly because I'm curious to see what people think of this story before I start to seriously work on it. I actually quite like the idea but (another heads up) I must warn that I know nothing about ice-skating. At some point I will look up rules/regulations/moves but if anyone wants to help out, feel free. I love comments and feedback (so long as its constructive for you flamers).

Right, now that's over with I hope you enjoy the rest of this fic. I enjoyed writing it and I hope that you will all enjoy reading it. P.S. This is my first rotg fic- please don't judge for anything that might seem OOC. It is AU.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The film Rise of the Guardians belongs to Dreamworks, which is where I got the idea from (for those of you who have read the Guardians of Childhood books).

The snowball hadn't been intended for Mr Handel's window. The snowball hadn't been meant for coating the windowsill of Mr Handel's pictures of his dead wide, knocking her picture onto the floor and breaking it. No, Jack had meant the snowball for his sister, who had finally reached the height that, when ducking out of the way, her head, was in the exact place the snowball had broken the window. They hadn't meant to upset the neighbour, especially so close to Christmas, but, as always, Jack's plans tended to go astray.

And that was how Jack had found himself in court being told that if he didn't stump up the money to fix the window and buy a new frame for Mrs Handel's picture (as if anyone cared about her anyway- all she had done was terrorise the local kids by making them clean up her garden every time a ball flew over the fence) by the end of the year, he was in big trouble. Bigger than anything else he had been in before. Well, almost.

Mrs Overland was infuriated, later shouting at Mr Handel about how he could force them to pay for the damage when he knew they were barely getting by, still paying for the hospital bills from three years ago (a topic which was taboo in their house). My Handel had simply replied that she should be keeping a better eye on her children otherwise unfortunate accidents wouldn't occur. That had sent Mrs Overland into a flood of tears and Jack had to drive them home (rather illegally since he didn't have his driver's license and his mother was in no fit state to be keeping an eye on him).

"There must be a way to pay for this ridiculous fine. Anyone could see it was an accident!" Jennifer Overland snapped when she had recovered at last. They were all sitting around the kitchen table, as they always did, steaming (or not in Jack's case) mugs of hot chocolate in front of them. This was usual for the Overland family when they fell into trouble. It seemed to be happening a lot in the past five years, ever since Christopher Overland had left for his new girlfriend in San Francisco.

"We could ask Uncle North," Jack suggested. His mother shook her head, sniffing a little and blowing her nose.

"No, we've asked for too much from him already." She sighed and looked down into her mug. She had stopped asking her son if everything was ok a long time ago, but Jack still felt that sometimes she wanted to check that he wasn't burning up or scalding his insides or anything like that (and having done it once by accident Jack really didn't want to do it again).

"What about skating?" Pippa piped up from her seat. "You can win lots of money from skating." Jack tensed at the mention of skating. Ice cold, too cold, couldn't breathe, couldn't move, need to escape, please, please, please…

"You need to be good to win at that," he muttered, looking at the floor. He ignored the pictures on the fridge, in the living room. Jack didn't look like he once had anymore and he never would. Not after the accident. Ad they never mentioned it in the house, not once. They never would if jack could help it.

"Aster could help," Pippa said, a little quieter as if thinking about the accident too. Aster was Pippa's instructor, had been ever since Freud had kept making jokes about the accident. Pippa wanted to be like Jack had. She idolised her brother, and therefore completely understood his aversion to the ice. After all, she had been there too.

"Sweetie, Aster will only help if you win something and you're not at a level yet where you can compete," Jennifer said, not mentioning that there was someone in the house who was but it had been three years since the accident and he hadn't set foot on the ice since. Nobody would if they had been through the experience Jack had.

They sat in silence a little longer before Jennifer began to make tea. It was early for dinner but since the accident, cooking early had calmed her down. She had taken Jack treats all the while he had been in the hospital, the only thing that had probably stopped him from dropping half his body weight since the food he was given there had been cold, bland and, in Jack's opinion, inedible. At least his mother made nice warm food. Not that he hadn't been in hospital since the accident, which was why he wished that hospital food was so much better.

Dinner was quiet too, all of them wondering what to do. It wasn't as if they could just come up with the money on their own. They were going to have to think about this very carefully if Jack was to stay out of jail. The food, which would have been hot had Jack been able to eat it, was as delicious as always but it didn't stop Jack from feeling extra guilty. They had been sitting in a freezing cold auditorium all day, which was fine by him, but for those people who couldn't stand the cold like he could, it would almost be unbearable. But his mother and sister insisted that it was fine and Jennifer always came up with new ways of making warm food taste nice without it going cold too quickly.

"Now you're sure you're not too cold?" Jennifer said later on her way past to bed. Jack just grinned at his mother and shook his head.

"I'm fine Mom. I'll call if I need anything." Most kids would have been mortified if their parent had come to tuck them in but Jack knew that wasn't the real reason she was there. The attacks happened the most often at night, his body getting too cold and shutting down. Innumerable trips to the hospital had meant that his mother had become super protective of him, checking on him before bed every night, setting an alarm so that she checked on him in the middle of the night too and waking him up in the morning and asking him the same questions comforted her that her little boy was still alive and breathing. And Jack was grateful, even if it was a little annoying at times but she had gotten good at not waking him up with her in the night.

"All right," Jennifer said, sweeping down to kiss his forehead. Jack scowled as he heard a slight giggle from the doorway and stuck his tongue out at his sister. Pippa just laughed until their mother went after her too. "Goodnight Jack!" she called as she chased Pippa down the hall.

"Night Mom," he murmured before switching off the light and turning over onto his side.

The skate club opened at ten o'clock, but Pippa always wanted to be there at nine. Jack didn't know why, only that it was something to do with the fact that her coach, Edmund Aster Bunnymund (known to everyone as Aster or Bunny, depending on who it was. Jack loved to call him kangaroo just to piss him off) was always there super early and, lo and behold, when she dragged him down there that next morning, there he was, bag on the floor and keys in the door. He glanced up and, as always, frowned when he caught sight of Jack who couldn't tell if it was because he looked familiar to the Australian or because he thought that Jack was a born troublemaker.

"Hello Aster," Jennifer said, smiling as Pippa hopped out of the car to run over to her coach (or more likely the bag in which all the equipment for that day was kept). "How are you today?"

"I'm fine. I see the snowflake finally got out of bed to come watch," Aster said, making reference to Jack's snowy white hair and pale skin. Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he followed his sister out of the car. Aster was under the impression that Jack couldn't skate and was therefore unimportant- or at least only important enough to come up with inappropriate nicknames. The truth was, Jack wasn't feeling his best and he had a bad feeling about the day.

"Actually, Jack's here because I need someone to keep an eye on him. You don't mind do you?" Jennifer said, glancing at her watch. Today had to be the day his mother had to work a Saturday, and Jack wasn't feeling up to Aster's wise-cracking nature at the moment.

"No problem. Anything specific I need to look out for?" Aster asked, noting that the family didn't look particularly happy that morning. Jack, feeling more than anything the need to sit down, just scowled at him.

"Oh, no, you'll know it if something happens," he muttered as he pushed past him into the building. Aster frowned at his back and turned to look at Jennifer who just shrugged.

"I'm sorry. He's a bit tired this morning. But if anything does happen…" she trailed off, watching Jack as he swung Pippa around a bit by the counter. It wasn't as energetic as normal and she hoped it wasn't a sign of another body failure. He was doing pretty well on that front so far. She turned back to Aster who was watching her keenly, one eyebrow raised. "Call an ambulance before you call me." And with that cryptic comment she got into her car and, after honking a goodbye to her children with the horn, drove away to work.

Jack watched his mother go wishing that he could call her back. This was the first time in three years that she had been forced to leave him here and Jack had been thanking his lucky stars for that. And yet, here he was now, standing outside an ice rink, something he hadn't done for three years and it wasn't something he had envisioned doing for a long while yet. He had promised himself that when Pippa reached competing level, then and only then, would he enter a skating rink. He never thought that he would be able to get back onto the ice though.

"So," Aster said as he shut the door against the ice cold of winter (not that it was much warmer in the rink). "You're the famous Jack Overland." Jack resisted the urge to squirm away from his direct gaze. He didn't like being judged for his white hair and blue eyes, nor for the almost blue shade of his lips (being perpetually cold did that). So he just shrugged. Pippa watched the exchange warily, quieter than usual.

"Do you skate?" he asked as he threw the bag on a chair. Jack glanced at the ice before turning away. Cold, too cold, always cold…

"Not anymore." If Aster was surprised by that statement he didn't show it. A simple twitch of an eyebrow before moving on to the next topic.

"Well, as we're here early we might as well start," Aster said clapping his hands together. Pippa grinned and rushed off with her backpack to unpack her skates. Jack watched her go, a longing beginning somewhere in the deep recesses of his heart. Unsure of what exactly it entailed, he shrugged it off and dropped into the nearest seat, intent on simply watching his sister from the furthest point from the ice. He was not going for a trip down memory lane again. It led to the same thing every time.

Pippa was in an excellent mood after her ice skating session with her friends and Jack smiled as he watched her bounce her way down the street. Even at eleven years old and nearing the point in time where she could gain her Junior level in skating, Pippa could still act like the little six year old who would trail jack to and from the ice rink on days like this. After having an hour long nap in his seat by accident, Jack was feeling much better and the pair had decided to set off for the nearest café for hot chocolate and cake (Jack had discovered the money in his pocket, left over from some shopping spree or another his mother had dragged him on). Seeing Pippa in such a good mood made Jack's day a whole lot better and they even managed to evade Mr Handel on their way there.

But there was one thing that Jack couldn't shake off the whole way home. Pippa was happy enough, chattering away about her time with Aster and how she and her friend Amanda were going to attempt to get into competitions next year. Jack just nodded with a smile, some long abandoned want rising up in his chest. He could pinpoint what it was alright, he was just afraid of where it would lead him. Things like this tended to end with him in the hospital and Jack had spent far too much time there already.

"Jack? Jack!" Pippa shouted, jolting him out of his reverie to realise they were standing on their front porch. How he ended up here? "Jack you need to open the front door!"

"I know," Jack said, grinning down at her. "I was just making sure you were still with us to notice such earthly things as a front door." He stuck the key into the lock, turning it and shoving it open, away from the frame which it tended to stick to. Pippa giggled, running off into the house and throwing herself down on the sofa.

"Do you want to watch some TV Jack?" she asked questioningly as she pulled off her snowy boots. Jack paused in the act of doing the same thing but that feeling was back, stronger than before.

"Maybe later." He saw her shrug out of the corner of his eye and switch the TV on. In all honesty, Jack didn't watch that much TV. It gave him a headache, no matter whether or not there was nothing else to do other than lie there and be bored. Jack carefully placed his own boots under the nearest radiator and climbed the stairs to his room.

Jack loved his room. North, some time ago, had decorated it a pale blue with tiny, almost realistic, snowflakes dancing down from invisible clouds to settle on a layer of white above the skirting board. All the furniture was white, with a pale blue snowflake design duvet and comforter on the bed. But even here there were reminders of the accident and the terrible events of that day. The glasses that Jack rarely wore, the packet of contact lenses sitting beside them, the monitor (that his mother refused to admit that she bought in the baby section of the local supermarket) on the bedside table, as close to the pillow as it was possible to get. For a while these things had bothered Jack, but not anymore. He was now as blue and white as his room, most of his clothes along the same theme. Anything darker or multi-coloured just made him look like death.

Jack didn't take any of this in though. He simply walked over to the wardrobe, pulling it open and sliding to the floor. There was a pile of junk at the bottom of the wardrobe, as most people had, a jumble of unworn jumpers, broken toys and, right at the back, two simple shoe boxes. Jack stared at them a moment before pulling them out. In one lay cloth as soft and familiar as his favourite hoodie. He carefully pulled them out, laying them out on the bed. The clothes no longer fit him anymore, considering three years ago he had been half a foot shorter, but they remained the same year in, year out. The white shirt, brown waistcoat and cloak the trademarks of his old look. He smiled slightly before heading back to the wardrobe and the other box. This one he was even more careful with as he placed it reverently on the bed next to the old costume. Taking a deep breath, Jack closed his eyes and pulled the lid off the box. When he looked down they were as unchanged as the last time he had seen them three years ago.

Lying in the box, among layers of tissue paper, was North's last gift to him in the winter theme. A pair of white skates lay unused for the past three years. A pair of skates that he had almost died in.

Please tell me what you think in a lovely review. I don't mind if you say that you don't like it, so long as you suggest what to do better because I always looks for constructive criticism. And I am aware that Pippa seems a bit too young for eleven but I will sort that out in the next chapter I swear.