Hello everyone! This will be my very first fanfic for Rise of the Guardians; I just saw the movie yesterday. It was kinda amazing, but then I had to escort my little cousin to the bathroom and ended up missing the part right after Jack gets his memory back. But no worries - I definitely plan on seeing it again! Anyway, here is my little rant... Enjoy!

PS- sorry if the dialogue doesn't match the movie exactly, but I tried my best here. It shouldn't be too different.

...

Jack Frost's icy-blue eyes narrowed as the snow billowed around him, enveloping him in the familiar cold he barely felt. A man, tall and foreboding, stood in front of him. A cruel smile was painted on his face, and in one gaunt, gray hand held what most would assume was a tiny hummingbird. It chirped and locked its green eyes with Jack, silently pleading to be saved.

"Give Baby Tooth back," Jack demanded, raising his staff. It pulsed with frost, almost as if it were alive. Baby Tooth shook its head violently as its lower lip slightly trembled.

But Pitch only sneered and tightened his grip. The tiny tooth sprite cried out in pain, eliciting a hiss from Jack. He crouched, prepared to explode forward, but Pitch only raised a single hand. "I wouldn't do that," he warned, a smile twisting on his face. He cast Baby Tooth a glance boarding pity. "After all-" the smile returned, "-who knows what would happen to this one."

Jack's hand trembled as he fought to control his emotions. He should have listened, listened for once, and not have gone down the hole beneath the bed. He should have just gone to Bunnymund, and Tooth, and North, and should have listened.

But the voice, the voice was so familiar. He had to find it, has to make sure...

His hand tightened on his staff, and the trembling stopped. "Give Baby Tooth back," he repeated. He felt weak; he hated feeling weak. He hated feeling powerless, but right now, what else could he do? He messed up once... he wouldn't mess up again.

"How about a trade," Pitch proposed. Baby Tooth's eyes widened, and she glanced at Jack. He saw, and returned her hopefully, trusting gaze with a thin smile that said, I'll make everything okay.

Jack's sapphire eyes snapped back to Pitch. "What kind of trade?" he asked, glaring all the while.

Pitch's smile broadened. "This thing," he sneered, raising Baby Tooth, "for your staff."

Jack's breath caught in his through. My staff? He glanced at it; the familiar dark wood, the graceful curve at the end. Icy cold frost gathered at the tips, pulsing like a heartbeat and warming his pale hands. He had this staff from the very beginning, from the start, from before he even had an idea of who he was. With this staff, he went on many adventures; the blizzard of '68 was only the tip of the iceberg.

And yet...

He glanced at Baby Tooth. She was violently shaking her head no, her lower lip trembling. He could see the hope wither and die in her tiny green eyes. Baby Tooth was willing to give up her life for him.

Jack glanced at his staff one more time before taking a deep breath. "Fine," he said, and quickly handed it to Pitch just in case he changed his mind. "Now, for Baby Tooth." He held out his hand expectantly.

But Pitch only sneered and tightened his fist. "How about..." His smile broadened, "-not."

Jack heart seemed to freeze solid inside his chest. Never before had the cold been so menacing. "NO!" he shrieked, jumping forward. Pitch smiled -

- and cracked his staff in half.

Pain blossomed in Jack's cold chest and seared him like a fire. He gasped, struggling to breathe. He was dimly aware of Baby Tooth crying out and Pitch shouting in pain, and suddenly he was falling, falling, falling...

Crunch. Pain lanced up his back as he landed on a particularly hard snow patch. He winced and opened his bleary eyes; Pitch was staring down at him, staring down at him with the awful smile of his. "Here," he said simply, and dropped the two broken halves down the crack in the snow. With that, he turned away.

Jack felt numb, and not the cold-type of numb either. He felt dead inside, like all of his smiles and laughter were permanently put out. He managed to crawl to one of the broken halves and curled his fingers around it. Nothing; it was little more than firewood now.

Jack's icy-blue eyes pricked and he felt them water up. He sniffed, feeling all of the helplessness weigh down on him, until he saw Baby Tooth. She was half submerged in the snow, with her tiny little wings poking out in all directions. Jack carefully scooped her up in his hands.

"Are you alright?" he whispered, trying to keep his voice light-hearted.

Baby Tooth shivered, nodded, and sneezed.

Jack laughed; it felt dry, dead, hollow. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I can only make you c-cold." Baby Tooth glanced up at him, eyes widening when she saw Jack's teeth chattering. Something was wrong, she was positive. Jack was never cold, never ever ever ever.

Suddenly he began to shiver. "Wh-what's w-wrong with m-me?" he asked Baby Tooth, though he wasn't expecting a response. Baby Tooth's lower lip began to tremble again and he fluttered towards his face, rubbing her soft green head against his cheek. Jack laughed, even though it hurt, and idly brushed some snow out of her feathers.

It melted on his fingertips.

Jack could only stare. Melting? He didn't melt snow, he made snow. He was The Spirit of Winter, Jack Front, bringing of cold and snow and...

He shivered again and huddled against the wall, shaking, with Baby Tooth curled up in his warming hands. He felt weird, like he couldn't feel his fingers or face or feet anymore, and with a start he realized that he was cold. He shivered again; he was so, so, so cold. His feet ached from the cold, his face felt raw and numb, his fingers felt fat and stiff.

An tear ran down his face and froze there. Help, he thought silently to himself, and closed his eyes.

. . . . . . . .

"We should look for him," North scowled.

Bunnymund turned to him, glaring. "Why should we?" he spat. Tooth didn't want any part of their argument. After all, they had been at it ever since Jack left. True, she had been shocked at first, but the more she thought about it, the more she should have known it would happen. Pitch is cruel, true, but he is also cunning; he would have tempted the young Guardian with the one thing no one else could give him - memories.

Tooth closed her eyes, trapping the tears. She should have known.

Something smashed against the floor. "It's his fault!" Bunnymund shouted. "It's his fault that no one can see me, it's his fault that Easter is ruined. If you want to search for Frostbite, fine!" he spat. "But leave me out of it!"

Tooth cast them a wry glance before looking out the window. Bunnymund was just upset. She would be too, if Jack had ruined the teeth she painstakingly collected. But deep down inside she knew that Jack didn't mean it; she saw his face when he saw them. His icy-blue eyes were wide, filled with shame, doubt, and fear. Her face skewed. But why would Jack be afraid of...?

A tiny cry for help broke her concentration, and with a start she realized that it was Baby Tooth. The tiny cry for help echoed in her mind again, along with a mental picture of where she and Jack were. But not Jack, Tooth frowned. The boy with Baby Tooth had brown hair, not silver, but he was deathly pale and freezing to death. Just a few more minutes, and that would be the end.

"Guys!" Tooth shouted, halting North and Bunnymund's argument. "It's Baby Tooth, and she's in trouble!"

That instantly snapped them out of their fight and they both stared at Tooth, wide-eyed and shocked.

North was the first to recover. "What?" he bellowed. His loud, booming voice echoed in his workshop. "Where?"

"In... in the South Pole!" Tooth cried out. "Oh North, we have to hurry! She's with a boy, and he's gonna freeze!"

Bunnymund frowned; what was a kid doing in the South Pole? But then again, if the kid ended up there and needed help, it was his duty to help. "Alright, let's go," he frowned. "For Baby Tooth."

Tooth clapped her hands in excitement, and all three of them dashed to the sleigh. "South pole!" North shouted, throwing his snow globe. It shattered on the ground and released a portal. Colors and blurs of white swirled inside its mass, reminding Tooth of those black-hole pictures she once saw in a child's room. With a rush of wind and a slight pop, they flew through the portal.

Baby Tooth, Tooth thought, squeezing her eyes shut. I'm coming!

...

Jack couldn't open his eyes; the lashes had frozen shut. Baby Tooth shivered in his hands, and he stroked her head with his thumb. Well, at least he thought he did. His fingers had gone dead-numb long ago, but at least his feet had stopped hurting. But he wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

"B-B-Baby T-T-Tooth, w-we're g-gonna be o-okay," he managed. The cold was unbearable, weighing around him. He wasn't sure how much longer he would last, but he hoped that at least Baby Tooth would make it.

Jack laughed, but it came out more of a harsh wheeze. In a million years, he never would have guessed that it would be snow that killed him. But that again, he thought Guardians were immortal... guess he was wrong.

He wasn't sure how long he had laid there, or how long he shivered in the dark. Everything seemed blurred into one. He wasn't even sure when he was awake or when he was dreaming.

In his hands Baby Tooth squirmed slightly. She was cold, but her feathers kept her warm. Something was wrong, very very wrong, and Jack wasn't moving anymore. He wasn't shivering, or talking, or murmuring. Instead he had gone deathly pale, more pale than he was before, and cold. His hair was brown too, but the snow and ice laced through it to give it a silvery sheen. But she knew that Jack was cold. So cold. Jack Frost had turned into Jack Icicle.

Baby Tooth chirped slightly, and lightly brushed a wing against his cheek. No response. Her panic intensified and she chirped again, more fervently this time, and slapped her wings against his face. Still nothing; he didn't even moan.

She felt tears well up in her spring-grass green eyes. Something was wrong with Jack, very very wrong, and...

Suddenly a voice, warm and wonderful, echoed through the crack. "Baby Tooth! Baby Tooth, where are you?!"

Baby Tooth glanced one last time at Jack before fluttering up through the crack, chirping wildly. Almost instantly she was wrapped in the warm, feathery arms of her momma Tooth. The tears came this time, faster and faster, but she ignored it and kept chirping.

"What's wrong with Baby Tooth?" North asked, giving the little tooth sprite a wry glance.

Tooth shook her head, cupping Baby Tooth in her hands. "She - She's worried," she confessed. "Baby Tooth, where's the boy you were with?"

Baby Tooth chirped again and buzzed over the crack, hovering over it. North, Bunnymund, and Tooth peered over the edge and gasped. The brown haired boy was down there, broken and battered, and more pale than human children were supposed to ever be.

Bunnymund skidded down the slope first; after all, with his fur he would be best suited to help the boy. He gingerly picked him up, wincing as the cold seeped to his skin. "You'll be okay," Bunnymund said. Nearby were two sticks; the Pooka figured it was a failed attempt at a fire and decided to leave them.

But it was strange; this kid was wearing the same exact clothes as Jack was. Maybe it's some sort of new fashion trend? It wasn't like he familiar with teenage fashion or anything. But the sticks... Bunnymund glanced at them closer, making sure to warm the human at the same time. The sticks, if you put them together, looked exactly like...

His eyes widened. Oh no. He glanced at the boy again; the shape of the face was the same, the bare feet, the pale skin. The exact same. The only thing different was the hair...

He glanced at the broken staff again. Oh no. "North!" Bunnymund shouted, all anger forgotten. "Get the sleigh!" In a single bound he was back on solid ground, and in a flash he was bounding towards the sleigh North and Tooth were already in. "Get this thing moving! Pronto! To North's place!"

Tooth's eyes widened. "Why? What's wrong? Shouldn't we go to a hospital?"

How could they not see it? Bunnymund thought, saying at the same time, "Look!" He moved his arm, exposing Jack's face. "This is Jack!"

"But... he has brown hair," North brilliantly pointed out.

"I know," Bunnymund growled. "And I don't know why, but we'll figure it out."

North and Tooth nodded, determined, and North threw the snowglobe. Baby Tooth fluttered out of Tooth's arms and snuggled next to Jack's head, looking absolutely pitiful. Tooth pet her sprite's head and, in a pop and blur of color, they all skidded to a landing. Bunnymund was out first, followed closely by North and Tooth.

"Get the fire going!" North shouted to a couple stray elves. They dropped their cookie platters and dashed away, bickering down the hall all the while.

"Will he be okay?" Tooth asked, flitting back and forth as she followed the pooka. "Will he? Oh, I hope so, I can't believe that...!"

"He'll be fine," Bunnymund nearly growled. He glared at Jack - the human Jack - in his arms. Such a troublemaker. "If it's Jack," the pooka repeated, "he'll be fine."

...

Jack was cold.

He groaned and rolled over, wrapping the covers around him. They were warm, and he could hear a fireplace crackling somewhere near him. A fire... he had only seen them through the window, never had actually...

His eyes snapped open. A fire. He got to his shaky feet and scrambled away from the infernal heat. The cold; he needed the snow, needed the ice, needed to feel the icy wind on his face. Then he'll go and...

His mad scramble stopped short, frozen in time. Cold? He glanced at his hands; they were nipped with red, and he pressed his fingers against his cheeks. They were like ice, and he instinctively jerked them away.

That stunned him.

Jack turned back to the fire and stretched his hand out to it. He could feel the heat flush against his palm, warm it...

To Jack's immense surprise, he liked it. He loved the feel of the heat, loved how the fire crackled. He swallowed and inched closer to the fire, wary of the warmth, but craving it anyway.

"Jack." His jerked his head towards the familiar voice. Tooth fluttered in the doorway, eyes wide but filled with care. He didn't deserve that; he messed up. Jack turned away.

"I'm sor-"

His apology was cut short as warm, feathered arms wrapped around his neck. "It is you," she whispered. Jack could feel tears soaking into his sleeve. "It is you. Oh, Jack, I'm so sorry, I never should have...!"

"You're sorry?" Jack laughed dryly. "I'm the one that should be sorry. I - I ruined Easter, and..."

But Tooth only shook her head and pulled Jack to his feet. "Follow me," she whispered. Jack frowned, but followed her anyway. His legs felt stiff and sore, his hands felt swollen and numb. Before long they came up to a long mirror that coated a wall.

"Look, Jack," Tooth said sadly. "What do you see?"

Jack's eyes widened. His hair was brown, his irises silver. But brown had crept into their icy depths like a virus. "Wh-what's wrong with me?" he asked. Then his mind flashed back to when Pitch broke his staff, and it all came rushing back.

"Jack." Tooth's eyes fell to the floor, almost guiltily. "You're turning human."