(A/N:) Yo! I cant really say long time no see since this is a different fandom I'm writing for but, followers of me, I guess you can understand this statement. Anyway, I've got a new story I wanted to write. It's an interesting idea.

Summary: Burgess is an isolated town that used to be the hope of its people when it was founded, situated where they had fertile land and lots of woods to hunt in. There are two paths that can take you to Burgess but when they become terrorized by wolves and other beasts, the people become trapped in their homes and no one could make the several day trip in each direction to escape. But what can they do when they're sandwiched between packs of ferocious wolves dwelling in the forests and a monster that has made the mountains its home?

Anyway no more to the summary because I don't want to spoil too much.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians nor the books the movie is based off of. All rights to William Joyce and Dreamworks. No money is made from writing this but I'd love reviews.

Pairings: Jackrabbit (eventual), Jamie/Jack's Sister? (Unconfirmed), and other unconfirmed pairings as well. Hinted Tooth/North.

Warnings for this chapter: Character Death, mentionings of ferocious attacks, and inaccurate background story.

Legend tells of a monster, something ferocious and dark that roams the mountains above Burgess. The small town was situated in a large valley opposite of the looming earth formation, surviving on the edge of the forest. It was placed between the forest and the mountain so that the townspeople would have less fear of the unknown.

A river ran through the forest, past the town, and cut through the valley where it flowed from somewhere in the mountain range. Some travelers who'd once dared each other to travel along the river discovered that it ran between two mountains but they hadn't dared to follow it past the valley for there was the beast living among the peaks.

It was fiercer than any wolves that lurked there and there quite a lot of wolves at that. The villagers of Burgess didn't dare leave their homes at night unless in the company of others and only then when in large groups. The small portion of livestock they had in Burgess never spent the nights outside for in the morning they were either gone or a carcass on the ground at the edge of the woods or in their pens.

Horses, pigs, goats, sheep, they were all kept in the barns at night. They were locked away behind the wooden doors so that hopefully the wolves, or worse, wouldn't attack them.

The people of Burgess were very cautious. Many times people had gone missing, believed to be eaten by the packs of wolves or the ferocious beast in the mountains. They couldn't leave the valley either, not when the closest village was days away through the woods and the animals in the forests dared to attack travelers. The only other place was over the mountains but no one had a chance to survive with the appearance of the beast.

The people prayed for those traveling to the other towns and villages through the forest path and it was often that a lone horse would be found running about outfitted with all their tack and luggage, completely spooked and no rider nearby. Anyone traveling the on the forest path would find the remnants of carts or the bones of some poor fellow. It was a grim sight.

Yet, surrounded by peril and no escape from the danger that moved in around them, the people of Burgess thrived during the day time. The children lived like children, careless when in the presence of the village or several adults but never were they allowed out at night. The men grew strong and burly and the women watchful and strong. But no matter their strengths they all feared the night and what came with it.

Jackson Overland Frost was one of the few who thought to question the fear he'd been raised in. He was a very spirited boy and he didn't worry all too much about the things that others did. He only worried for his sister's safety. Some of the villagers thought he was stupid for acting as such and thought he'd be a victim of the beast for traveling too far or daring to go night time ice skating like he always spoke of doing.

Other villagers played it off as the result of his lack of biological parents. Jack's parents had been coming to Burgess in the days when people hadn't known so much about the wolves and the beasts. He was around seven years old when they were traveling and his little sister had just been born a few weeks before which was the exact reason why the family was traveling. Jack's mother had a brother who had helped found Burgess who had often boasted in letters about the perfect village and she had been determined to move their after her daughter was born.

Unfortunately this led to one of the most tragic of accidents and one of the first attacks of the unknown beast that had been occupying the mountain range.

Jackson lost his parents when the monster had crept up on the family and snatched away his mother. His father quickly went to her rescue and all Jack could do was listen as his mother screamed for mercy until she died with the last request that Jack run with all his might and protect his sister.

To this day, all Jack could remember of the event was screaming and the feeling of his sister in his arms. He remembered a dark grey blur and being chased. But nothing more than a few flashes of memory where he was defending himself against something with a stick he'd picked up.

No one quite knew why he and his sister had survived when his parents were so brutally murdered, but the villagers guessed that the beast had had enough with fighting more prey. With Jack's arrival to the village, he was welcomed into the loving arms of his uncle Nicholas North. The husky man gladly took in his nephew and niece at the loss of his sister and brother in law.

Otherwise, Jackson and his sister were raised on occasion by Miss Tooth, or Toothiana by the local girls who claimed she looked like a princess with her foreign golden jewelry. Tooth was often the mother figure to Jack's little sister.

In reality though, with how busy North and Tooth were, Jack and his sister never really had any parents and while Jack had no real fear of the monsters in the woods, his sister did. She had heard of how her mother and father died because of the beast and she wanted nothing more than for her brother to listen to the elders of the village and stay inside at night where it was safer.

Nothing could quite get Jack to take care in his actions and most of the time when he did. It was only to calm his sister or the other children who'd begin getting upset which was often whenever the kids decided to spend the night together in one house.

There were never many kids in Burgess, not since people were prone to disappearing. At the time there were only ten around the age of eleven and below. There were two infants and two teenagers between the age of thirteen and fourteen and then another four teenagers that were Jack's age. Jack was seventeen but his birthday was in a few months during December.

Generally most of the pre-adolescents spent their time together, even the older ones. It was like they were their own band, looking out for each other and protecting each other.

-o-

The night a few days before the full moon, the kids were all gathered together in North's workshop. It was a common meeting place for the kids since the man was one of the fiercest in the village and because his workshop was the only place where all the kids could fit together for one night and tell scary stories about the angry beast living on the mountain and the wolf packs in the woods. It was also one of the only places where they could smuggle candy to from Sanderson Mansnoozie, or Sandy, the local push over towards the children. In other places, Miss Tooth would hunt them down and tell them how bad sweets were for their teeth.

North let them get away with everything in his workshop and there, they got to play with the few toys he had lying around. Before Burgess had been isolated from the other nearby towns, North had made special toys for children and gave them away on Christmas, selling them so they could become gifts as well. But after the monsters moved in, North stopped making so many and just made prototypes in case Burgess would ever be freed. Otherwise he spent his time watching the kids and hunting.

The burly man was upstairs, away from the direct sight of the kids so that they may think they had privacy when really he was at the ready for any signs of trouble. His niece and nephew were among those children.

Jack Frost was sat on a pile of burlap sacks while all the other kids were piled around in a circle of makeshift beds. There was a lamp in the center of them and several in the corners of the room. Their circle gave them the false sense of security that they were safe huddled together.

"When do you think the next attack is going to be?" Jamie Bennett asked. He was always very wary of the wolf packs because he too had lost his father to an attack. Almost every kid had lost a close family member to the attacks or at least the starvation in the winter.

Most kids had lost a father and others a mother. Some even lost a sibling. Jamie luckily still has his little sister Sophie and his mother Mrs. Bennett.

"Who knows? Winter's coming in hard this year…I bet more people will die of starvation than attacks." Pippa chimed in, a good friend of Jamie. She lay on her stomach next to her friend Cadence who was drawing horses in a small notebook of parchment paper her parents had given her for her birthday. It was one of the few collections of paper that would ever be given to a child. The other stacks were used by adults.

Monty nodded his head from on the other side of the circle. "We've only got a few more weeks left of fall…hopefully there's enough food saved up." He spoke in his normal negative tone. He was never the brightest of children, though ultimately, no one was except Jack.

"Don't worry Monty. I'm sure we'll be fine. We made it last year." Jack's sister chimed in hopefully. She barely missed Monty's response of 'barely' under his breath. They all remembered the previous year. They remembered being able to count their ribs and looking like bare skeletons of human beings.

Claude and Caleb Jenkins both shook their heads. "Hopefully someone can make it out if it gets too bad." Claude said, speaking both his brother and his own opinions in one statement.

"I don't think they'll let someone go at this rate. When was the last time anyone made it? It'll take days!" Pippa responded. They all looked to Jack and his sister when they mentioned it, causing Jack to roll his eyes and scoff. He was the last person known to survive an attack from the beast and no one knew how he did it.

Jack ignored them, holding the large staff-like stick he'd picked up during that battle with the beast. He wasn't scared of the wolves or the so called beast. No one could actually confirm the thing existed. People said they'd seen a large grey furred thing which could have just been another deranged wolf.

He personally couldn't remember the events that took place when his parents died no matter how hard he tried. North and Tooth said he'd blocked the memories out because it was so traumatic but he wanted to know. Was the beast really there?

He looked back towards the kids who were all staring at him. He already had them staring at him all the time because their parents told them not to hang out with him, and now they were staring at him because he was the one guy who fought off the beast.

"So what? Do you want me to go out there through the mountain pass in the dead of winter?" He asked. All the kids stared at him, his sister specifically in worry that he might do such a thing. Monty was about to make a correction in his statement and say it was still fall, but Jack shut him up when he looked specifically at him with a warning glare.

The kids all refrained from saying anything at that point and returned to staring at the lamp before them. They were tired and scared and the oldest kid among them was doing nothing to help. Technically Jack wouldn't be a kid after long. He'd be an adult. He'd have to work with the other adults to make sure the people are protected and life is as normal as possible.

All was silent for a while until they heard the sound of a wolf howling outside, rather close. Instantly all the children whimpered in fear, turning to the person closest to them and giving them a scared look. Jack sighed once he saw the genuine anxiety wafting off the kids and decided it was best they listen to a story.

He got up from his seat on the burlap sacks, taking a small moment to glance out the window and when he didn't see any wolves, he still walked towards the kids and sat down next to his sister.

"A long, long time ago there was a shooting star." He started, smiling when all the kids looked at him again with interest. He couldn't ever treat the children badly. He always played games with them and tried his hardest to make them laugh. He couldn't ever understand how they could let go of their fun side, so he tried to put a smile on their faces and bring it back for them.

"This shooting star was one of the brightest in the sky and he had seen everything on the earth since it was born. He'd seen humans come to life and he'd seen the beginnings of many races." Jack continued, pulling his sister into his lap when she sat up beside him. "The star eventually became the light in children's eyes and whenever the children looked up at it, they'd make a wish."

Jack looked around at all the children and saw that they were listening, no matter their age. "Soon the star wanted badly to be with the people making wishes on him and he tried hard to visit them and eventually the star tried so hard he fell to the Earth and he couldn't return."

He then looked around at each of the kids. "Do you know what that star now does? He travels to each child's room at night and gives them wonderful dreams because dreams are what lead to wishes coming true."

All of the kids grinned at him until of course Caleb pointed. "Are you talking about Mr. Sandy? Cause he almost looks like a star with that crazy hair."

Instantly the room erupted with laughter and the children no longer felt so afraid of the dark, if only for a little while. They all laughed and talked about how Sandy would be an awesome wish granter and that must be why he never talks. He can't wake up the kids he's giving dreams to.

They were so distracted by their laughter that they didn't hear the sounds of howling in the night and canine monsters outside the front door. Instead they didn't hear it and remained blissfully ignorant to the danger just outside their door.

(A/N:)Short first chapter but I wanted to end this one here. I hope to make other chapters longer and with more plot, obviously. Anyway, sorry with Sandy's backstory. I'm pretty sure that's inaccurate because I couldn't find anywhere where it said it but I loved the shooting star wanting to see people thing. Not even sure that's his real backstory but let's roll with it. It was a filler story Jack needed to tell.

ALSO: Give me your names for Jack's sister. I didn't want to use my nickname for her (Rosalie/nn Rosie) because I didn't want to make you guys feel bad. If you like that name please tell me. But I couldn't use Pippa since she's being used in the story so...help? Anyway, other villagers will usually consist of the kids parents but there may be ocs. Sorry. They wont have large parts, I promise. Um...otherwise please review. I do really want your names for Jack's sis because I dont intend to call her Jack's sis. In the next chapter I'll use whatever is most prominent in the reviews if any patterns show up or whatever I like best. Maybe I'll stick with Rosie if you guys like it.

Thanks for reading guys! This is my first time writing publicly for the fandom and I want to contribute!

-memmy