From high above I observed a small isolated village. It wasn't nearly as advanced as some other places I'd been to, compared to the cities that used wells or hand pumped water, these people made the long journey through the forest, that surrounded them at every turn, to get water from the river. All roads were dirt roads, and their houses were nothing more than huts, in fact they barely had enough of these huts to be considered a village.

Slowly the people finished their last bit of work for the day and said their goodnights to their neighbors then headed inside. One by one the lights went out. Darkness befell the land with silence quick to follow.

But the day was never over, not for me.

I leaped from rooftop to rooftop in specific order, while I dragged my staff behind to leave trails of beautifully detailed frost. When I felt satisfied that I had covered all that I wanted, I went back to hovering over the sleeping settlement to watch my work from a birds-eye-view. It turned out just as I'd planned, a giant wolf. With a wave of my staff the wind blow and ruffled the roofs of hay and the leaves of nearby trees, this made it look as though the wolf had come alive much to my liking.

My thrilled laughter caught the cold air and got carried by the wind. My amusement soon died down though and curiosity toke its place. I watched as streams of golden sand snaked their way into the rooms of sleeping children, which quickly came to cover up my art completely. I moved in closer to see what was going on. Through the windows I saw, hazy figures floating over the heads of the littler people, but they weren't in focus sometimes the shapes would disappear only to come back a couple seconds later. The expressions of the kids as they slept was anything but peaceful, their faces twisted into frowns, while curled into themselves they struggled to sleep.

I was leaning on my staff not expecting someone to start pocking my shoulder from behind. Of course I freaked out when they did. I wasn't imagining any of the villagers to be awake much less to see me it but when I regained my bearings I saw it was only the sandman.

"Oh, hey Sandy." I greeted, "Not you're best night is it." I say referring to the kids who resisted rest.

Sandy's little fist clenched up and started to shake, an explosion of images then irrupted at the top of his head. I had no clue what it all meant but he was not happy.

"Wow, Calm down." I urged. Thankfully he did. He pointed at the restless children then made sand shaped as a cloud start to pour snow down on him. He pretended to sleep even creating little Z's but then began shivering. When his act was all over he pointed at me.

"Whoa, whoa, you're not saying it's all my fault they can't sleep." I said feeling a bit offended. He simply floated in place giving me that look.

"Well, it's not my fault they don't realize the convenience of windows instead of holes, or stone rather than grass for walls. Honestly." Sandy reverted back into using his upset pictures, which I still did not understand.

"You know what Sandy you're really downing my mood." Sandy's left eye twitched from irritation. He balled up as much sand as he could and heaved it over his head. He wasted no time in throwing it my way.

I barely managed to dodge, and even still bits of sand drizzled down my hair. It wasn't enough to send me to dreamland but it bothered me anyway, so I dusted it off, "Hey, seriously lighten up." Sandy folded up his sleeves getting ready to throw another. I had no plans to stay any longer. I looked to the heavens and ordered, "Take me away wind, to some place fun!"

Aaand, of course I'm brought here, to the North Pole. This isn't what I had in mind. What's so fun about this place? A bunch of workaholic's getting fat on milk and chocolate cookies. This place may bring a lot of joy to all the children of the world but that doesn't mean the place itself was any fun. Heck, I haven't even been allowed inside… ever… not once.

I flew closer. I never did understand where the front door was so I circled around the first entrance I found. Just then one of North's yetis came bursting through the doors. The sack that burdened its shoulders, hurled into the air and crashed landed at my feet.

"Well, go on then, get back to your work and remember this time paint the robots red!" laughed a thick Russian accent. The yeti growled and slowly stomped back to his work place.

The abandoned sack read, "To Stephen Bridgette, apartment number 12 on Oldmills road in Vermont" I pushed it on its side with the tip of my toes, and out spilled dozens of blue colored robots, and buried in the pile of fallen toys was an arm.

"A manikin arm, really?" I murmured mostly to myself. What kind of kid would want that? After looking at it a bit more, I said, "huh, not bad, real… life-like."

"Yeah I'd expect so, because it's not a manikin part, but a real human hand." Came that same jolly tone from before. North stood in the doorway and blocked my view of all the excitement that was going on inside.

"Haha, very funny." I said, as I turned the arm in the light. It revealed the small stubs of fair hair, and the texture was uncommon, normally plastic, but... "You weren't joking were you?" I asked, North's smile grew small and that's when I truly believed his words. I freaked out and dropped it.

"It was little Susan in Massachusetts who wished for it."

"Really? The sack says to Stephen Bridgette."

"It was easier just to through it out with Stephen's messed up toys."

"Alright, but why in the world would a little girl ask for a severed hand?"

"Well, her mother was in a war and apparently her arm got blown off by a bomb. The little girl simply wanted to get her mom another hand I guess. So very sweet of her."

"Seriously?" I asked baffled by the whole idea.

"That what they want, that's what I give." North replied, "But honestly that's not even the worst of it. Tons of kids ask for me to bring their dead parents back to life. If wishes like that go unmonitored then the machines automatically create the empty shells of that said child's parent. The thing is though I normal check for wishes like that and make sure the machines don't do that, sometimes I miss some and that happens. Trust me those bodies are not pretty sight. But enough talk Christmas is in only three weeks away you know, very busy times, and I can't have you making a mess of things and distracting my workers."

"How can I distract your workers if I haven't even stepped foot inside and I do not make a mess of things." I said offended. While saying this I'd token a step and crushed one of the blue robots. "oops." I said, pointing a very apologetic smile his way, while his large beefy finger pointed me away. I got the message and left. It didn't even matter, because I wasn't bored anymore. That address on the sack was all I need. I'd gotten an idea.

From outside his purple curtains blocked my view. But he was there, the boy from apartment number 12 on Oldmills road in Vermont. The warm glow of the candles seeped through the cloth and made his shadow dance. With one wide swing of my staff, the winds grew strong and drummed ferociously on the glass, so much so that the window eventually flow open causing the light to flicker out and for the curtains to be blown away.

Then I saw the small boy sitting in his galaxy themed room at his desk doing his homework as good boys do. Except after the wind came and blow all his things away he wasn't anymore. I watched as the poor boy struggled to catch all his papers that danced on the winds. He realized this was getting him nowhere. He pushed the hair that covered his face to reveal the look of confusing then irritation. He pushed himself against the wind and managed to close the window. Just as he was about to pull the curtain together again I wrote the words, "all I want for Christmas this year if for Jack Frost to be human." all over the glass with frost.

He looked at it in wonder. Since I had his attention, I erased it and wrote, "Giving Jack Frost a body will make me the happiest kid in the world Santa!"

That freaked him out, he stumbled back in shock, and refused to look back at my messages after that. I made more noise even throw a couple snow balls at his window but he pretended like he did not notice, which was the understandable thing to do, but I would not give up. I entered his room and turned it into a winter wonder land. Written all over his walls, floors and each and every surface was messages from me, in ice and snow, to wish me a body for Christmas.

He shivered and turned blue in the face pretty quickly, terrified out of his mind he screamed, "MOMMY!" in a matter of seconds in rushed his mother who could not believe the state of his room. She hosted him into the hallway, down the stairs, then finally set him down on the couch and rapped in a woolen blanket. "Sit right there, mama, while make you some hot cocoa."

"but honesty is the heat not reaching you room, how long must you have been freezing up there for your room to reach sub-zero?' as she said that she dialed a number on the phone. Fixing it between her ear and shoulder she started on his hot drink.

"Yes, landlord, the heat in my son's room is absolutely dreadful, I demand something be done about this before he turned into an icicle… yeah… uh-huh…. Uh-huh… okay, by tomorrow you say… yeah." She put down the phone then added two spoons of sugar turned it and for a finishing touch popped in three marshmallows.

"Here hon." she set the hot cocoa on the clear living room table and headed back into the kitchen. The moment the mug touched the glass table I made frost spread all over the table. The cocoa went from steaming hot, to lukewarm, then frozen solid in a matter of seconds. The sudden change in temperature caused the cup to crack until the mug itself was broken into large pieces and the cocoa stood on its own, a brown block at the center of the frosted table.

Strangely enough that went nothing like how I'd planned it. I'd thought I'd mastered my powers by now but that was far more than I'd wanted.

The little boy started wide eyed at the sight before him, most probably traumatized, I had to keep him from call for his mom, "keep calm" I wrote, "keep calm and know this… you really, really want for the winter spirit, Jack Frost, to get a body this Christmas." Of course the he freaked out from that.

After that I followed the little boy around for a couple days doing the exact same thing, over and over again, I except describing how old I should be, skin and eye color, just general things he should have in mind for Christmas night. I added every detail as I could so North wouldn't give me something crappy.

It took a whole week but I was absolutely sure that I'd stuck the thought in the boys head, I only hopped his attention span was long enough to last 'til that day.

I headed to North's Workshop again uninvited, to see if Stephens gift was being made. Just as I was about to push the large doors open. I heard voices on the other side and stopped.

"Haven't you been following up on what Jack's doing to that little boy?" I heard the voice of the Easter Bunny say.

"I have." North replied

"And what are you going to do about it?!" bunny asked, "he's practically brainwashed the kid into giving him what he wants."

"Well, yes, I understand that quiet alright Bunny, but there really isn't no point in doing anything about it."

"no point?!" bunny exclaimed, "Sandy has had to use ten times as much sand to send that child to sleep thanks to Jack, and… if that kid really gives Jack what he wants what can be done? Yet even with all that you say there is no point in taking action now while we can still stop his ludicrous behavior!"

North patted bunny with his beefy hands, and said in his loud and jolly self, "there is no worries Bunny, because you see, it cannot be done! For such a gift to become a reality more than just one kid must wish for it, fifty, hundreds, no thousands of children all at once must wish for it at for enough magic to be generated to connect a free soul to a body of flesh and bone. Let jack parade around believing he can get his body with only one child to wish for it. How disappointed he will be!"

"But what if he figures that out, what if he does the same to more children just to make sure." A female voice spook up, it was Tooth.

"Impossible, it took him a whole week to change the mind of that boy, it will take much longer to convince other children!"

I clenched my staff so tight my knuckles lose all color (not like they had much to begin with.) My shoulders shack and in an attempt to conceal my emotions I punch the exterior walls thinking it would help but it just iced the stone some more, then a blizzard was created from my rage. The snow fell thick and heavy landing everywhere while the winds howled. "So this whole time it was useless. Jack you're so dumb. It was inevitable, I mean putting all your hope in one child… but every year every kid in the world put their faith in North to deliver their presents in time. Honestly what's a couple thousands to billions? I even have two weeks to do it…"

Just then the Guardians came rushing to see Jack standing in the middle of his own personal storm, which was starting to subside.

"Jack!" North shouted in surprise from behind him Sandy formed three exclamation points at the top of his head.

I looked at them, my old familiar grin slowly growing in size with every passing second. I arced my brow, "a couple thousand you say, not a problem." And with that I departed.

…

"North he heard us what will we do?" tooth asked.

"There's no way he'll ever make it in time." North answered, he then paused and rubbed his beard, "but what about the children?" he thought about it for a moment then finally decided, "We must stop him!"