Long time no see! (You know how life is, right?). This is my first Guardians adventure, so please let me know what you think! Find me on Twitter at TheOneWhoSparks, and as always, happy reading!

There was this…girl.

She was different. Odd, to some, strange to others. Unique to all.

A mystery, to Jack.

She knew him, somehow, or, at least she knew of him. She couldn't see him, Jack had quickly learned, but she knew him. She talked to him sometimes, especially in the winter. She said his name into the cold air, and smiled when she could see her breath.

He couldn't watch her all the time, of course. She went to school, and to work, and he often lived with North, who was the only one who would let him make it snow inside (the yetis didn't like it, but the elves always had a blast). He did have a job nowadays, and he did his best to keep it up. He did, however, prefer this area to most others, and when he was in town, he usually went to find her and make sure that she was okay.

He loved to watch her write, loved how the words seemed to flow out of her pen faster than she could think (he never got close enough to see what she was writing about – that, he felt, she deserved to have to herself). She spent most of her time reading and drawing, both inside and out, and rarely went to the parties that seemed to captivate the attention of her friends. She intrigued him, mystified him. He couldn't help but to wonder – did she really believe in him? Or were her conversations with the sky just another one of her odd quirks?

She talks to animals, too, you know. Maybe she just likes talking with things that she knows won't talk back. Jack quickly shook the thought from his head. She had to have some idea, some hope, that he was really there… right?

The bell rang, almost startling him off the flagpole he was crouched on. The doors of the school opened a minute later, releasing tired teenagers into the mild September afternoon. Jack waited, knowing that she often stopped at a classroom or two before leaving – she was a senior this year (making her about his age, give or take a few centuries), and she always had a project or essay of some sort to talk about with her teachers. He stood up as she walked out, his staff balanced across his shoulders and his arms looped loosely over the ends.

"There's this great party tonight, El! You have to come!"

She smiled and shifted the books she was carrying higher in her arms. "I can't tonight, I have that Calculous test on Monday, remember? Besides, we both know that my mother would never let me go."

Her red-haired friend sighed, then continued chatting away. Jack laughed. What did she expect? All that girl ever does is read. The odds of her going to a party on a Friday night are about the same as Bunnymund admitting that Christmas is more popular than Easter.

As though Jack had conjured him with his thoughts, Bunny appeared out of a nearby bush, meeting Frost at the base of the flagpole as he slid to the ground.

"It's still fall, you know. I don't need the yearly lecture about freezing Easter just yet."

The giant rabbit snorted and crossed his arms, scanning the area around them. "Yeah, right. As if giving you a lecture would stop you from doing anything. For instance, just because I'm here to tell you to stop leaving ice eggs all over the research station near the Pole doesn't mean you'll listen to a word I say about it. In fact, I bet you're planning the first 'snow day' of the year right now instead of paying attention to what I'm saying."

Jack nodded and pretended to look serious, crossing his arms and mimicking Bunny's pose. He soon started to laugh, dropping his hands and leaning against his staff. "You really shouldn't be here, you know. I might still be invisible to most of the world, but someone could see you." He let out a long, dramatic sigh. "Although, I'm sure that 6-foot-tall talking rabbits with lethal boomerangs and body armor just appear from the nearby shrubbery often. At least, they do when I'm around."

The Aussie scoffed. "This is a high school, mate. I think this might be the one place in the world where I am just as invisible as you used to be."

Ignoring the jab, Jack raised his eyebrows and nodded toward the sidewalk a few yards away. Bunny turned to find a young boy, no more than 7 years old, staring at them with his mouth open. He had walked from the nearby elementary school to meet his older siblings, and was now frozen on the sidewalk – and for once, it wasn't Jack's fault. Half-petrified himself, the wide-eyed Guardian of Hope tapped his foot rapidly against the ground and dropped into the hole that opened beneath him. Frost laughed as the long ears disappeared in front of him and the elementary schooler continued to stare. Jack, with his staff on his right shoulder and his left hand in his sweatshirt pocket, walked past the child on the sidewalk. When he looked back, he saw something incredible. The boy, mouth still agape, was no longer looking toward the flagpole, but was now staring directly at Jack himself. Pleasantly surprised, Frost gave him a small salute before shooting upward, his heart soaring higher than the clouds he was flying into.

I'm no longer totally invisible. I am a Guardian to them just as much as Bunny, and Tooth, and Sandman! I'm pretty sure that Clause still has all of us beat, though – mostly because he won't let any of us forget it! Now where did she go…?

Skimming through the air, Jack quickly caught sight of her light hair on the sidewalk below, braided down her back like it usually was. Her friend was still with her, and they had been joined by a pair of boys, who were both vying for the girls' attention (it appeared that the brunet was winning, but Frost knew that they both preferred the blond).

He walked home with them, jumping from lamppost to lamppost above them. He used to walk beside her, but it had shaken him worse than usual when she had turned once when he wasn't expecting it and she had ended up walking through him. Jack leaped from the post to her roof, landing on the flat overhang outside of her window. Tonight was the full moon, and she could usually be counted on to sit up here to watch it – and tonight was no exception. He stayed there next to her until almost midnight, then watched as the nightly golden sand wove its way through the city.

If only she could see this, he thought, watching her profile as she looked up at the moon, completely oblivious to the brightness around her. He sighed. If only she could see me…

Not long after, she went inside for the night, locking the window behind her. Jack, as he sometimes did, moved up to the power lines to watch the dreams take shape mid-air. Sandman smiled down at him from his cloud of sand, and directed one of the golden streaks toward the white-haired boy on the wire. As it moved, it twisted and twirled, moving in and around itself – a sea otter took shape before him. It circled around him several times, then continued on its way. Jack watched it go, then looked back up at the sky. It took him a moment to realize what he was seeing. Sandy, seeing the look on Jack's face, glanced up and froze, his sand spilling from his fingers and his cloud dropping several feet. Filling the sky above them were incredible shades of blue, purple, and green – Clause was sounding the alarm.

To be continued...