(So this is a five part story based on a kinkmeme prompt, but since fanfiction doesn't like me, I can't post the link. Suffice it to say that the prompt is basically: I would like an AU with a Darker Jack who is not the guardian of fun but the guardian of Death, who acts as a reaper for children. He comforts the children before their death and then after they pass, he leads them to the after life. I don't want him evil, just darker than the movie character was.

That said, this is an AU with a Jack who's nowhere near as fun-loving as the Frost we all know and love. Also, people die in this story. No beta, sorry if my proofreading missed any errors.)

Under the accusing light of the moon and through the freshly fallen snow, someone quickly ran through near-deserted streets. She was a young woman - a young mother. She held her infant child in her arms as she darted into the shadowed back alleys, making sure no one saw her. When she was sure she was all but invisible in the darkness, she unwrapped the shawl from her child and quickly deposited the baby in the dumpster.

She didn't want to, but the child was a girl, and the woman couldn't shame her family with a female. She needed an heir - a male. She ran her fingers across the baby's cheek before quickly pulling her hand back and darting out of the alley.

The abandoned girl wailed as hunger and cold set upon her, but no one heard or answered her pleas. It was, after all, late Christmas Eve. Everyone else was inside enjoying the festivities or sleeping in hopes that Santa would come.

The infant's cries echoed uselessly until one snowflake, different from all the rest that gently drifted around it, landed on the girl's nose. She giggled weakly once before falling asleep, never to wake up again.

Jack stood next to the dumpster, a half-transparent baby resting in his arms. He gave one glance at the body - now merely an empty vessel - in the garbage before he began to gently rock the stirring child.

"Shh, it's okay. You won't ever be cold or hungry again I swear. Shh,"

The nameless soul looked up at him with eyes far too intelligent and innocent. She trusted him. Despite the fact that the only things she ever experienced were cold and dark and hunger and betrayal, this infant trusted Jack. He choked up slightly as she closed her eyes and fell back into slumber.

"It's not fair, North," Jack whispered to the jolly red man standing behind him.

Except he wasn't so jolly as he came up to Jack's side, "Is sad, yes,"

"She never even had the chance to make any memories or have any dreams," Jack continued, "she was just born! Why does she have to die now?" Jack asked, whispering as to not wake up the sleeping spirit in his arms, even though he wanted to scream out and rage. At the world. At fate. At the supposed mother who abandoned her. Jack shoved the urge aside. It was his job to comfort spirits passing on, not be comforted because of said spirits.

Instead he turned to North and requested, "This is her first and only Christmas. Do you think you can...?"

For a moment, the big man merely stared at Jack dumbly before blinking and replying, "O-oh, yes of course. One present for child. Yes, here," Reaching into the sack slung over his shoulder, North pulled out a small quilt. It was finely made, obviously crafted by the deft hands of the yetis. It was split into five sections, each one containing a stylized picture of one of the Guardians along with their various color schemes. In the center was a silver circle representing the moon.

North held the quilt out, and Jack gratefully accepted, wrapping it around the once bare child. It immediately gained the same half-transparency of the soul.

"There," Jack said softly. "Merry Christmas, little one. Hopefully you'll have many more if you choose to come back," The infant smiled in her sleep before slowly dissolving into little orbs of light and shooting toward the sky and her own little piece of heaven.

"I should be getting back to delivering presents," North said gruffly after the orbs had all vanished.

"Right," Jack said, step up onto an air current, "Merry Christmas, North, see you around,"

That said, Jack took off, not waiting for a response. After all, someone somewhere needed him, and it wouldn't do to keep them waiting.