A/N: This is a novelization of the film, but it has a very special meaning to me, which I would like to share with you.

Two years ago, my mother lost her eyesight due to complications from diabetes. As a result, she wasn't able to see a lot of new movies, among many, many other things. When I first saw "Rise of the Guardians", I knew my mother (a lover of sweet children's stories) would adore RotG just as much as I did. I wanted so badly for her to experience every little nuance of this amazing film-something she could only have gotten through sight. So I decided to novelize the film for her, and then create an audiobook of it for her to listen to.

My mother's health took a turn for the worse early this year, and she passed away at the end of March. She was able to hear the first few chapters of this novelization, however, and she loved it dearly. In her memory, I am continuing to write the novelization, and I post it on this site in hopes that whoever sees it will enjoy it.

And so:

The following novelization is written and published in loving memory of my beloved Mama. Thank you for supporting me in my writing, and for always being there to listen to numerous drafts and character ideas. I only wish you could have heard this story to the end. But maybe, from where you are right now, you can read it, and if you do, I hope you like it.

Prologue

Darkness. That's the first thing I remember; it was dark, and it was cold. And I was scared. I woke surrounded by icy water, my limbs numb and stiff, and my lungs burning for air.

The next thing I remember was the light. It shone pure white in the water above my head. And I had the strangest feeling about it-like it was beckoning me.

Then I found myself moving through the water, being pulled up toward the light by unseen hands. I saw a spiderweb of cracks appear above me, and before I could wonder what was happening, I felt cold, hard chunks of ice slide accross my face. I was pulled into the open air, coughing and gasping as I filled my aching lungs with oxygen.

I looked around for the light I had seen in the water-and found it in the clear, dark sky, nestled among the twinkling stars.

It was the moon. For a timeless second, I looked up at it, mesmerized. It was so big and it was so bright, and it seemed to chase the darkness away. And when it did, I wasn't so scared anymore.

I heard a crackling sound beneath me, and I looked to see the ice shimmering and rippling, the broken pieces fusing back together as I was gently placed on to the ice. Had I just been floating?

I stood unsteadily on the slick surface, studying my new surroundings. Nothing looked familiar. I was standing on a large frozen lake, and all around it grew tall, ancient-looking trees, their branches heavily laden with sparkling white snow. Why I was there, and what I was meant to do, that I didn't know. I wondered if I ever would.

Then I looked down at my hands, pale and cold, and I realized that I didn't even know who I was. Nothing about me was familiar; not the rough woven shirt, the worn leather cape. Not the reflection of the round boyish face that looked up at me from the smooth, glass-like ice. And certaintly not the hooked staff that lay beside me on the frozen water.

Curious, I prodded it with a toe. Frost immediately stretched across the twisted wood.
That was strange.

I crouched down, picking up the staff to study it. The moment my fingers closed around the wood, it leapt violently in my grip. I yelped in surprise as a sparkling cloud shot down the length of the staff, accompanied by a sharp crackling sound behind me. I turned to see a curling pattern of ice blooming out from the end of the staff. Wow; that hadn't been there before!

I wondered for a second where the pattern had come from, then I crinkled my eyebrows in confusion. Did I do that? There was only one way to find out.

Slipping and stumbling across the ice, I managed to make my way over to a large tree on the shore of the lake. I tapped the crook of the staff against the bark. With a faint shimmer and a crackling sound, ice blossomed out from where the staff touched the wood. I ran my hand along the ice, amazed as I felt it, freezing, smooth and very real, beneath my fingers.

I whirled around and tapped another tree trunk. Again, ice curled accross the rough tree bark.

Excitement bubbled up in me, filling my chest until it overflowed into laughter. I could make ice! I broke off into a run, touching with my staff anything and everything within my reach. In a matter of minutes, trees, rocks, and patches of ground all grew a glassy layer of ice. Dragging the crook of the staff along behind me, I leapt back on to the lake, creating curling swirls of frost on the surface as I slid around. This was fun! My laughter rung in the crisp air, and my heart soared into the night sky.

All of a sudden, a gust of wind rushed around me, picking me up into the air. It lifted me higher and higher, tumbling me head over heels. The world became a blur as I spun crazily around, still desparately clinging to my staff. I stretched my arms out to be sure I didn't crash into anything-and then I stopped tumbling. I was hovering above the treetops, looking down at the swirls of pale ice I had created on the lake. The wind still rushed around me, supporting my body. I'm flying! I realized, and began to laugh sheepishly...

Then the wind suddenly died, and I began plummeting downward. I sailed right into the trees, crashing through branches that clawed at my clothes and scratched my face. The snow on the branches that was disturbed by my fall exploded into shimmering clouds around me. Finally, I landed face-first on a thick, sturdy branch.

When the world stopped spinning, I picked myself up...

...and I noticed a flickering orange light in the heart of the forest.

My cloak snapped around me as the wind carried me through the forest and toward the strange light. Using my staff, I clumsily navigated through the trees, barely missing some and crashing into others. In a short time I had recieved a large collection of bumps and bruises, but I didn't stop until I reached the source of the light: a small settlement in a large, open clearing.

My second landing wasn't much better than the first: I ploughed into the hard-packed earth on the outskirts of the settlement. I recovered quickly, however. Scrambling to my feet and brushing the snow off my cloak, I raced into the settlement, hoping to find someone who could tell me where I was.

The settlement was a collection of dark wood buildings built close together, as if huddling together for warmth. A few large bonfires were burning here and there, illuminating the settlement with a warm orange glow. A handful of people were still lingering outside, and a soft buzz of conversation wafted through the cold air.

I marched into the settlement, casually greeting the people I met. I waved to a man carrying logs for a fire, who just kept on walking. "Good evening," I said to a woman who was heading into a house. She passed me by without even looking at me.

"Good evening, Ma'am," I said to another woman who sitting outside a house, talking to a gentleman. She continued talking, completely ignoring me. The man she was talking to didn't seem to notice me, either.

Why is no one was paying any attention to me? I wondered.

Then, I noticed a small boy running in my direction. Well, at least someone saw me!

As the boy approached, I squatted down so I could meet his gaze. "Excuse me," I said with a smile, "could you tell me where I am?"

But the boy didn't hear me, either. He just kept on running, straight towards me. For a moment, it looked as if he was going to crash right into me.
And then, the strangest thing happened.

He ran straight through me.

He passed through my body as if it were no more than air. I gasped in suprise, scrambling to my feet just as another person came in my direction. They walked through me, too, tickling a little as they passed through my body.

My heart began racing, and for the second time that night, I was scared. I stood in the middle of the settlement, calling out desparately to people who were deaf to my cries and and blind to my exsistance.

I retreated back to the forest, back to the lake I would call home for years. My powers were momentarily forgotten, as well as the joy their discovery had brought me. I was so scared, so confused, my mind filled with too many questions I couldn't answer. Why couldn't anyone see or hear me? How could they walk right through me like that? Who was I?

That was when I first heard them. Those two, small words, that I heard as clear as day, though nobody said them and I didn't think them myself. Jack Frost.

I crinkled by eyebrows and wondered: Who is Jack Frost?

Then it came to me: That's my name. My name is Jack Frost.

How do I know that? The Moon told me so. But that was all it ever told me.

And that was a long, long time ago.