A/N: I love ROTG and I watched it so many times in order to make this little piece of fiction. I was inspired to write this story by my own little theory as to what happened before ROTG and after the book series so this takes place in between the two canon sources.

This is actually a prologue for another fic I'm planning to write. I hope you all enjoy and please leave a review! It would be much appreciated if you did.

Rise of the Guardians does not belong to me.

Of Bargains and Prices

By ATimeForEverything567

The world was blurry. Well to MiM it was, blurriness of vision was a side affect of astral travel he could not escape no matter how many times he tried. It was odd to him, for he was not physically there, but his consciousness was and it seemed that his bodily faculties reacted the same way it would as if he had just experienced traveling at the speed of light.

Colors were all he could see at this point and though his mind was slightly disoriented he moved. He could have directly ported to the village up the hill, he had all the magic at his fingertips to be there in the blink of an eye, but he chose not to. Earth was different up close. He never had that many chances to venture to the world below to see it up close and personal. On the trips that he could he took his time savoring each detail. But he couldn't absorb much at the moment; after all, as of the moment the world was just a big blur with pigments bleeding into each other.

The world was a harsh white, he could not feel the bite of winter and he was glad for it but he could not escape the sense of isolation and desolation that the cold season was known for. Winter made the world silent and still, it had undertones of danger. It was harsh and unforgiving. He came upon the hill and soon his feet touched the weathered ground of the village he sought out. The houses were pale browns with mounds of snow covering the roofs. People trudged silently through the sloshing snow with their cloaks and bonnets in muted colors with every breath of theirs forming small clouds that dissipated as soon as it left their bodies. He could see clearly now and there were no smiles in sight, just frowns and the occasional scowls from those who seemed to find the very existence of everything an abomination. Some wore no expression at all. Blank faces devoid of any emotion held eyes that looked like glass. They were lifeless. They were tired.

He stood in the center of things. He had watched this particular spot of the world for years now, however it was always watched from afar within the safe confines of his home on the moon. It was not the most interesting place to watch, but he was drawn to it like his lunar moths to his moonbeams. He would've been content to remain on the moon as a silent spectator of things down below, but circumstances made him want to travel down to the blue planet, no, it was a need. He was a single bright spot of yellow in a desolate landscape of still white, dead grey and muted brown. The humans passed him; their eyes did not see the brightly colored man in the center of their town. Then again he didn't want anyone to see him. But even if he didn't conceal his presence, belief was low in these parts of the world.

The humans shivered as the cold bit through their cloaks. Doing business at the center of town was a battle all on its own. Meat was sparse for the village. The men rarely came back with good game; on other days they came home with cold guns and empty hands. The children were eager to get inside. They were given threadbare blankets that did very little to shield them from the harshness of winter. But they endured and they clung to this life in this so-called "New World".

The Man on the Moon did not need to possess a physical body to feel the biting cold of winter's wrath. He could see it in their eyes. That hollowness that everyone had as they concentrated on surviving and enduring the winter. The children didn't play much. Mothers feared for their health and even if they had the urge to play it seemed this winter would be the harshest of the year. He couldn't stand to see such empty looking eyes in those young faces. He stood at the center of the village looking through the poorly covered window of a wooden cabin that was the farthest away from the square. The family within sat hunched with heads bowed low. A fire was blazing in the hearth with the people surrounding its vicinity with sullen and tired expressions on their faces. The children sat closest to the fire with blankets to add to the warmth from the brightly glowing embers, hands were outstretched and for a moment a tiny tired smile formed on the smallest child. It was the first he had seen since he landed and the sight of it reminded him of the resilience of humans. Fire, it seemed, was the only treasure they had now.

Though the village had his attention it was not the reason why he was here. It was simply a stop over for the real destination. He had taken his time in the village. Observing it had been interesting but just as disheartening as well. It had been a while since he could actually see them up close and by the time he was finished traveling up the path, the moon was high in the sky and all was quiet. He had reached the border with view of his destination peeking through the forest edge.

The pond was fully frozen by now. Gone were the gaping hole and the cracks that decorated its fragile surface, but the child still floated underneath. Preserved because of the cold but still because of death. Large rocks protruded from the icy surface on its western half looking like dulled spearheads. Thick fir trees that were sprinkled with heavy piles of snow outlined the eastern part of its body. A solid wall of limestone that appeared grey in the soft moonlight shielded its other half. Children used to climb the trees like squirrels, fish along the banks and swim if their parents would allow it. Now it was desolate. What was once a place buzzing with joy and activity was now a place devoid of such things that made it welcoming in the first place.

His thoughts drifted to the memories of a child, bright and strong, with brown eyes that held a promise of a prank or two. His laughter still rang in MiM's ears like the sound of a ghost. He had watched with amusement as the boy hid behind the trees scaring the little ones with clever schemes, the children would cry out in protest but others laughed with him. His laugh was a lovely sound, it was contagious and it made even the sullen-faced break out into a grin. His antics and jokes were much needed relief for the young ones of this settlement, but it was the adults who appreciated it the most. The laughter and easy contentment of children made living more worthwhile. Manny smiled and slowly that bright expression dimmed as his thoughts progressed to the present, with aching realization that sound of his laughter would forever be lost to his world and neither he nor any of his loved ones would ever hear it ever again. That is, if he failed tonight.

He approached the edge of the pond and with a small mournful voice he uttered two words.

"I'm sorry."

Silence enveloped the area as Manny clasped his hands together and bowed his head. Conflicting thoughts and emotions swam within him, but he trained his face to remain still for he was being watched. But without turning away from where he stood he called out to his unseen guest.

"You do not need to watch from a distance my lady, I have only come to pay my respects."

Manny turned his head from where he stood to see thick tree trunks bending towards each other to create a makeshift arc. He could hear the wood creaking under the force of unseen magic. Piles of snow fell from the thick boughs of fur that covered the branches and icicles fell to the ground in broken heaps. Magic resonated within the space of the arc and soon a tall willowy figure emerged.

The lady was tall compared to him and Manny would never admit it to her face that he felt small around her, even though it was the truth. She moved gracefully and silently through the snow covered ground as if she were floating. Leaves of dark emerald clung to her upper body like a second skin save for the valley in between her breasts. The material flowed from her waist to her ankles like a green waterfall and seemed to shimmer in the moonlight. Heavy green sleeves of the same material touched the ground and the edges were decorated with tendrils of frost. A girdle of small delicate silver colored branches cinched her dress at the waist accentuating her shapely figure.

Her tanned fingers had thin sliver vines wrapped around them and Manny could see them retract from her skin to wrap around her wrists as she approached him.

"It has been centuries, Lunanoff."

Her oval-shaped face was framed by a thick mass of loose black curls that reached her ankles. It was unbound and stray strands moved with the wind. Her eyes were the color of storm clouds and although she didn't out rightly show it, they were analyzing him. Under her calculating gaze he gave a soft smile. He bowed low in her presence and she did the same albeit not as low as him, for even though he was not physically present, he was in her territory.

"Well met, my lady."

Her tanned face held a neutral expression as she came to his side. The snow cleared at her bare feet and small plants burst from the ground in her presence. She gazed at the frozen surface of the pond and without a word turned to him.

"I do hope my presence here was not the reason of your awakening, my lady."

Her eyes narrowed at the mention of her slumber, and he met her gaze with his trademark bright grin, but the woman couldn't help but notice that it was dimmer than his past smiles, despite having only a slim regard towards the moon man. She noticed merely out of curiosity and nothing more.

"I will get to the point, Lunanoff." Her voice sounded neutral, but he could feel power resonating from it. "Why are you here?"

Manny gave a wan smile and gestured to the lake before him. "As I said before, I am paying my respects."

The tall woman looked unconvinced. She regarded him warily and she shifted her gaze back to the pond and with a quiet voice devoid of any warmth she said, "So it's the body beneath this icy surface that you seek."

He winced at the word 'body'. It was as if the child had become an object, merely a vessel for a soul that was violently ripped apart from its home and reduced to something equivalent to a rock or a stick lying on the ground or in this case a mere 'thing' floating in the water.

"The family couldn't retrieve the boy." He mirrored her neutral expression on his face and through he didn't outwardly express it, this man was grieving. "The ice was too thin and the water too cold. Anyone who would have jumped in to save him would have suffered the same fate as the child."

She turned to him with her grey eyes analyzing the man on the moon's expression. She narrowed her eyes again but not in contempt but more in laziness. She tilted her head in curiosity and regarded him like a cat appraising her prey.

"Countless children have died similar deaths all over the world and some more gruesome than this. What makes this boy different from the others?"

The Man on the Moon was silent, perhaps in contemplation or maybe in pain the lady knew not. He kept his gold colored eyes trained on the scenery before him. His home, the moon, was shining just as bright as usual but there was something missing. It was not as cheery as the nights before. It wouldn't be, not with his mood so low.

"He didn't need to die."

Wordlessly she turned to the pond, scrutinizing it curiously.

"The humans say that all the time, yet death still claims them. Whether he needed to or not does not apply to death's reasoning."

He remained where he was, choosing not to show how her cold reasoning fazed him.

"You rarely come down from that floating rock of yours. It seems the human boy must have been special to coax you down here."

He turned to her, watching her expression, but her face was as even as his. He let out a sigh, and for a split second his golden eyes dimmed from it usual brightness. In that moment the Man on the Moon no longer looked like his usual self. He looked just like a man stripped of all magic, he looked tired and in his gold colored eyes she could see the millennia of years behind them. It was the tired look of an immortal man tired of what life had to offer him, but despite those thoughts the irrepressible urge and the need to live on was there. She had seen that look many times. Because she herself had that look and she above anyone else including this man before her knew it better than anyone.

"I have watched many children die, my lady. Countless children, young and old, even before they had the chance to walk have died similarly, but all I've ever done is watch as death claimed them from their families. I have watched children cling to their dead parents, watched mothers beg for their still babies to breath, heard the cries of children in pain and much more I cannot say..."

He sounded helpless but his face was twisted in an expression of frustrated anger.

"Children would be playing and laughing in the field one day and the next on their backs still and unmoving from plague or pointless violence. These children that have died, they were supposed to be under my protection. But they died anyway, and I am not allowed to intervene with death. Sometimes I ask myself why I care so much for such ephemeral yet beautiful beings."

He turned to her fully now with his eyes wide and desperation clear in his voice.

"We are old, my lady. I tire of watching people die."

A span of silence filled the area as he turned back to the pond. It was finally broken by the sound of bitter laughter tinged with anger.

"One would think that with our age we should be used to the sight of death, but I am not." He wore a pained grimace with eyes burning into the pond's surface. "He was a bright child. Incandescent, some of them say, that was what he was. He was not strong, too thin to be considered healthy but he laughed and he cared and he loved to his limits. He tried so hard to live in a new world that seemed to shut him and his own people out. He wanted to live not survive and he fought harder than anyone else for a better life."

"But he died."

He walked towards the surface of the pond until he was standing on the very spot the boy was in.

"Yes he did, and I watched. Just like all the others and I just felt the need to actually see this pond in the only way I could, because I couldn't do a single thing to save this boy."

He looked down towards the spot with his face stricken with loss. The woman curiously followed suit, the fabric of her dress flickering in the pale moonlight and the plants at her feet left the ground. The ice hardened under his feet as the lady approached. Patterns of frost danced underneath her lithe form. He could feel the heavy aura of magic even though he was only in his astral form. Nature itself was standing right next to him.

"You cannot save them all, Lunanoff. Humans were not meant to live forever. We are no the gods they call out to at night."

Her voice was steady, it always was but he could see that some part of her was wavering. It was a part of her that she fought to hide but after years of knowing each other he could see it, that fragile part of her beneath the fortress of magic and tightly bound emotions. There were not many left of their kind, for all they knew they were probably all that they had left of what was once a thriving culture now gone and lost. The woman looked uncertain as she turned to him. She wasn't the type who could comfort easily but he appreciated her effort. Her mere admonishment of painful truth was simply her way of reminding him that he was not a god, but a person who had faults but also happened to have great responsibilities that often felt more like burdens than anything else. And there was no shame in that. Nonetheless he still felt pain.

"No, but I cannot help but feel that I could have helped in some way. We have so much power at our fingertips but we cannot do everything we want."

"Whimper all you want. It won't bring the child back." Despite her cold choice of words there was no poison laced in her words. Instead her voice returned to its steadiness and slight boredom. "I grow tired of you self-persecuting of yourself. It's starting to irritate me. You know why we cannot directly interfere."

The frown on his face morphed into a sheepish smile but it was not as bright as it should be and that burden was still there on his shoulders.

"Even the strong mourn and it doesn't make them weak."

Her voice was soft. She did not look towards him; her eyes were trained on the boy. She could see the child through the ice. His face had a look of peace as if he was merely sleeping with his mind in a sweet dream, but he was pale and his lips were bloodless. He was still as he remained suspended within his watery grave with his cloak billowing and some of the longer stands of his brown hair swaying gently with the internal movement of water. This was the boy that Lunanoff cared immensely for. He didn't look like a boy to her; he looked too close to adolescence hence the lankiness of his form and the maturity in his jaw that was just breaking into his face. He was on the cusp of leaving boyhood forever, now, it seemed, that he will never have that chance. She fixed her eyes on the short man. Lunanoff did not meet her gaze this time, instead his eyes were closed his head bent and his hands were clenched behind his back. He was deep in thought, much like when she first saw him when she was abruptly awakened by the aura of his magic. She kept her grey eyes trained on him and after a few seconds she turned around with the intention of leaving him. She had no more words for the Man on the Moon and she was sure he had no more for her. But she was wrong. He had much more to say to her. And the burden of what he was going to say made his tongue feel heavy. Phantom sensations of a restless stomach gave him discomfort but he pushed onward. He was here for a reason.

The paths of frost followed her as she walked across the icy expanse of the frozen pond. Manny opened his eyes watching the dancing ice patterns retract from where he was, confliction burning within him.

"I have news for you."

She stopped in mid-step. She didn't even turn around but Manny knew that she heard him.

"Whatever it is you need to tell me, I assure you I will find out myself in my own time."

Hesitation, that was what he was feeling at that point and she didn't even need to turn around to see that he was uncertain. She could here it in his voice and she could feel it in the air.

"I have other reasons for being here."

The unspoken request for her to turn around to face him once again was there and she obliged him by cocking her head to reveal one grey colored eye filled with her trademark nonchalance but laced with slight amounts of carefully concealed impatience.

"So the death of your tragic immigrant child was just a sad coincidence to your venture into my territory."

He shook his head.

"No, he was the catalyst."

Her eyes widened slightly and for a miniscule of a second her face let go of its tight control to reveal the suspicion she had growing inside her.

"And, pray tell prince, what exactly is that floating carcass, in that pond you are standing on, the catalyst of?"

He took a deep breath, more so out of habit than out of necessity. The instinct to calm his nerves was there and he needed it, but he didn't know if it was enough.

"When the both of us came down to this universe it was just like our world, thriving with sorcery and a home for more than just humans."

She moved towards him. With every step he could feel the palpable aura of her magic.

"No need to recount such things. Get to it."

He paused in his words taking a second to meet her gaze after she spewed her words with irritation, then he continued. As if the woman before him never said a word in the first place.

"I fear for the worst."

As he said those words he expected devastation or a shift in that dispassionate expression of hers, but nothing changed. In fact she stood there looking unaffected and unconcerned.

"Are your Guardians waning?"

"No, they are not."

"Then what is problem?"

A wan smile was shown on that face of his and it did nothing to tell the woman of what exactly was plaguing this man, but it was a weak smile and that small attempt or mechanism for comfort for himself melted away from his face. He was solemn. She furrowed her brow, impatient for an explanation.

"The battles in the east have waned down." He held her gaze and he could feel the static pulse of her magic in the air. "The shadows have retreated, but I don't know for how long."

"Is the Man on the Moon losing faith in his own guardians?" She smirked. Her voice was taunting and cruel.

He closed his eyes and took another deep breath.

"I have come to request for something."

"Have you now?" Her expression was sinister and Manny had to strengthen his resolve. This woman was not his enemy and he did not fear her. Though it was troubling to know that she was not exactly his ally either. She moved once again, this time moving with deadly grace like a predator. Her eyes were amused, the boredom was gone from her eyes and it was replaced with something else, something dangerous.

"I have the need for one more person."

She scoffed with derision. He paid no mind to it and made his way towards the surface of the pond. She followed him in suit with snow parting in her path and, the icy surface hardening once again with her presence. They had returned to the pond.

"If you have come to convince me to offer assistance in battling your enemies, you know I will not offer anything."

He took a step towards her taking mind to walk around the spot the boy was in. She stayed where she was and faced him with her eyes once again appraising his every movement. He came at arms length and he met her eyes. For once her towering frame did not make him feel little, he felt like he was her equal.

"There are other things you can do. Things that don't necessarily mean your active participation."

"The earth is neutral, Lunanoff and will shall remain so for centuries to come."

"I am not asking you to partake in this battle, my lady. What I ask of you requires a different price."

His body was untouched by time but his golden eyes faded and revealed just how old and tired he really was. He clasped his hands behind his back. A cautious expression appeared on his face as if he was both reluctant and determined all at once. The little man before her was so conflicted.

He looked towards the spot of where the boy was and immediately the neutral expression that he was so accustomed to seeing upon her countenance melted away. Realization dawned upon her then and the whole thought of what he was implying with that one simple glance made her see red. The howling winds of winter echoed what their mistress felt and began to whip around them. The snow fell piling upon mound on mound and ice began to grow out from the pond like icy claws grabbing any surface available. His thoughts momentarily went back to the settlement down below, this unexpected blizzard was partly his fault and he dearly hoped they remained safe.

"You ask for the forbidden and the unnatural."

The Man on the Moon shook his head with golden eyes turning hard in the moonlight.

"I ask for the necessary."

She scoffed at the word with bitterness.

"Such a thing goes against my mandate and everything that I oversee! It goes against laws!" She glowered at him. The bored lilt was gone and was replaced by wrath and it was cold as winter itself. "I do not mock you're mandate. So do not mock mine."

She turned around with every intention of leaving him and his frozen child to rot. He watched her go and felt his phantom stomach lurch and with determination he began to reiterate with great speed, racing against the dangerous aura of magic that would have prickled his ears with the sound of static. Her hair billowed with the wind as her power weaved a devastating storm in her wake. She was almost near the protruding rocks, a few more steps and she would be enclosed by her beloved trees allowing her magic to blend with her surroundings making her untraceable to all she didn't want to see and in that moment he was one of those people.

"He will be the last to fall and with maybe winter on his side-"

She stopped in her tracks and with devastating slowness leveled her gaze at him.

There it was a mere slip of tongue and it would be one that he would regret. At the mention of one of her seasons time seemed to slow down. The grayness in her eyes seeped out covering the whites and dissolving the pupil and with a flick of her hand the ice came alive and the surface rumbled. Her beautiful face twisted into an expression that promised pain or something more. She closed her fist in one quick motion and stalagmites of ice erupted from the ground upon which he stood. Acting only out of instinct, Manny leaped out of the way. But he was not fast enough. The tip of the ice should have pierced his foot a good few inches, but instead it phased through him bringing no sensation with it. He landed without sound a good feet away from the monstrous lances of ice. Pupil-less grey eyes gazed upon him with contempt and time began to move. Now he remembered why he traveled here through astral projection. His astral form could not feel pain but it was a slim defense for she was capable of doing more than just manipulating the landscape.

What infuriating audacity for him to ask for a part of nature for himself. From where he was the man looked like a flickering light bug, a mere insect. One she could easily squash with ease with just a single thought.

He became wary of her then. His stance was stiff as she coldly regarded him. He could hold his own just fine against her but he didn't come here for that. He came for a purpose that was bigger than them. She shifted her arm, maneuvering it in his direction to attack once more. Her pupil less eyes looked ready to eliminate anything in their path and if he wasn't careful enough, they very well could do that. She had seen the ice phase through him. She would not make the mistake of trying to apply physical attacks on the little man before her, no, not a second time. Manny stood his ground wary of any onslaught she might pull against him. This was getting out of hand. He needed to speak as soon as possible and he needed her to listen

With voice low and rough and seething with her leaking rage she said, "Winter is not yours to give, little prince. Not only do you ask for me to raise the dead you ask me to bestow a volatile and dangerous magic on a child, and a dead one at that."

"ENOUGH. Please I beg you." It was not in his nature to shout, but it seemed to do the trick. She lowered her hand and the killing intent dissipated from the air. "Everything I do, I do for the sake of everyone in this world! Everyone, including you."

She sneered. "Of all the people you have chosen to protect, I am the least who is need of such a thing."

"That's not up to you to decide."

"Then start making wise decisions."

Her fierce expression did not fade.

"Dark days are coming. Instead of light that peeks through the horizon it will be shadows. There will be no sun, no moon, no hope." Wild desperation was written all over his face but he remained rigid as his mouth spewed words dripping with foreboding. "It will happen again! But I sense that the consequences will be two fold of what it was in our time."

Her eyes twitched as his voice escalated but she remained silent. Her hands shook with rage and she defiantly kept then still with every intention of not showing that his words unsettled her.

"A hybrid contract. Both of our powers combined within him will restore this child to something else entirely."

She said nothing and gritted her teeth. She watched him.

"And I believe there is more to this particular season of yours." A smile returned to his face albeit a small one. "And maybe even show the humans that even something as harsh as this can give them hope and maybe something else."

Her eyes narrowed, thoroughly unimpressed through his efforts to appeal to her through his own private sentimentalities.

"A human child powered by my magic but in your care and in your control. How lovely." She replied back waspishly.

"I don't control my Guardians, my lady."

She sneered.

"Ah yes, they have faith in you. You give them orders and they faithfully carry them out. Do you think this boy will do the same when he learns that your initial intention was to weaponize him?"

"He will not be a weapon." He calmly said. "He will be the last defense, a fail safe. When the guardians fall and belief fails them he will be the one to rekindle the ones who have forgotten. That is why I need you. This cooperation between ourselves could help change the tide and maybe we will be able to regain what we lost."

"Lost things remain lost and sometimes they do not need to be found." Her voice was trembling, perhaps in fear, perhaps in anger. Looking at her now perhaps it was both. "I know you, Lunanoff. You abandon your guardians! You merely float on that giant rock of yours, silent as they endure this immortal life you bestowed upon them. The same will happen to the boy."

"I never abandon the people I care for! And the reason I don't impede upon them is because I have faith in them, just like how I have faith for this boy."

"And who, pray tell, told you this will come to pass."

Those golden eyes of him closed off from her.

"No one. Because I believe."

Silence followed and she kept her gaze upon him with her brow slight furrowed in slight annoyance.

They were calculating those eyes of hers. She always had that ability to pin those within her gaze yet still have a look that suggested her mind was elsewhere.

"All this time you were speaking about magic, you talk as if you actually know what it could do and what it could entail."

"I am aware of it—"

"No you don't, not all of it. That or you have simply forgotten—"

"Does this mean…that you have agreed."

She held up a hand to silence him, with her eyes holding warning. He felt the tension melt away and he gave her a sheepish smile. The lady however was not amused. He wanted to take something from her, but in return she would be getting something in return. She would make sure of it.

"There is always a price for everything and everyone. You cannot freely give magic."

"I know." He said it all the while trying to still his shaky resolve.

"Do you now?" He felt as if he had said something foolish, which he probably did judging from the way she looked at him. "And are you willing to pay the price? Are you aware of what it would entail?"

It was then and there that he realized that she was silently waiting for an answer and without a word he solemnly nodded. There was no turning back now. He knew what she meant and even though it went against everything his own mandate, it was all for the greater good. Maybe someday he would be forgiven, after all, he was not a sinless being. When she realized this the smile morphed into a smirk. He nodded.

With his answer the woman's face became placid once again. The grayness of her eyes seeped back into their normal state revealing the whites and the pupils it once overshadowed like dark smoke. She raised both of her hands and closed her eyes as if in deep concentration. Unconsciously he stepped back silently making his way out of the ice, but before he could fully remove himself from where he was, her voice reached his ears.

"Be prepared, Lunanoff. For now and for everything that is to come."

She let out a breath and lowered her hands and he felt her magic seeping out through her fingertips. The icy lances melted back into the surface and the claws that reached out from the edge of the pond did the same. She moved towards the surface, the train of her gown shimmered in its wake as the clouds unsheathed the moon and he felt the moonlight again. Its gentle glow reassured his wracking nerves.

She stopped at the center, the boy only a few feet away from her. She raised her hand and he saw the air vibrate around her palm, distorting the image of it as unseen power flowed through her dainty long fingers. She took another intake of breath, this time to steady the amount of control contained within her fingertips. With one swift movement she brought her palm down and slapped it against the ice. The impact of her hand of the ice was great enough to cause the icy surface to ripple as if it could still move like water despite its hardened state. He heard the ice crack. He heard it groan under the magic's forceful pressure, but he could see no blemish upon the surface, in fact he couldn't see anything.

The shifts in movement along the ice ceased and the ice was as clear as glass. It no longer looked like a frozen pond now, it looked like a mirror reflecting the midnight blue of the night sky but it was an imperfect reflection. There were no stars to be seen and the moon was not there, but he could see the boy through the glass. His face poised as if in dreamless sleep but his pallor was like death. She moved soundlessly toward his side and she bent her head causing some of her hair to fall forward hiding the pensive and solemn expression from the golden man's curious and anxious eyes.

She stared at the boy feeling seeds of disdain being sown within her chest. She glowered at him. It was foolish. It was desperate. So instead of a sword, he was a shield. She almost asked him which one of the two took the most hits, but all thoughts of taunting him were gone. She had something else in mind. The scowl on her face deepened. There was nothing about this child that she found extraordinary and now she was giving him something dangerous to hold. Would he truly be able to control it? She glared once more and then she canted her head towards the Man on the Moon.

"Come forward, Lunanoff."

Manny made his way towards the woman in great haste while still somewhat bewildered that she had actually agreed to something such as this, but that worried him.

"I want the enemy gone. I want it destroyed and that thing.." She paused in mid-sentence. There was a flash of pain in her eyes and then like a strike of lightning it was there for a second and then gone the next. She spoke with ferocity with eyes burning and spat the name like burning acid from her mouth. "I want him erased. You must make sure this boy fulfills the tasks you have given him.

She had returned to having a calm look about her. She paced around the boy stopping mere inches from where the boy's head was. She kneeled and the fabric of her green dress pooled around her lithe form. Then without turning towards him she spoke.

"To restore this child back to life I must be given something of equal value to you, something that you protect and care for immensely." She flitted her eyes towards him and with great finality in her voice she said. " Or to put it simply… one child's soul for another."

This was what he was waiting for. The words hit him like individual stabs but he expected them. He studied the laws. He knew them well. He knew what the deal would mean.

The scales of magic must always be balanced not matter the cost or circumstance. It does not feel. It knows no morals it was only a tool and nothing more. She guarded winter. It was under her protection. He would have to give the same in equal value and his equal was children. One child's soul for another, those were the words that she spoke. One would live and the other would have a fate unknown. He didn't like that one bit.

"The fate of the other child…"

"Are you reconsidering, Lunanoff." There was challenge in her voice.

"No. I am not. But if we make this deal the other child must live and you need to protect it as I would…"

His eyes were hard chips of glowing gold. He narrowed them and at the sight of the glowing man promising threats to her. She huffed in her seat. So, even the man on the moon could make threats and mean it too. She felt the promise of retaliation in his words and she didn't doubt it either, but she could not help feeling amused by his antics. It was not everyday the jolly whimsical childlike Man on the Moon to make such hostile expressions.

"Otherwise there will be consequences."

She laughed. Her laughter did nothing to soothe the apprehension that Manny felt within himself.

"We have a deal then." He could still hear the mirth in that voice of hers but it faded back to its familiar severity. "Then swear to it in the old tongue."

She held out her hand with her grey eyes waiting and expectant. He looked at it for a moment then without further deliberation he clasped it.

"Say it." Her voice was hard.

He said the words. With every word he spoke with the binding tongue he felt weights being pressed upon him. She replied in turn, she spoke the words with ease and unflinching. She showed no signs of the new burden being pressed upon them.

"And so it shall be."

With her words the agreement was sealed. He stepped back as the woman sat back and her head was tilted towards the night sky. Her hair pooled at the back of her body as her eyes closed. She took a deep breath and he felt a rush of magic being pulled from her surroundings with her body as the focal point. He sensed the great concentration of energy within her body and she was absolutely still.

She opened her eyes, grey and unseeing and she placed her hand upon her chest as if trying to still the concentrated force within her. She languidly turned her head towards the child and with a movement that could have been mistaken for tenderness she swiped her hand across the ice that separated her from him. Energy seeped through her fingertips piercing through the ice and filling him.

"The magic will alter him." She placed her hands on his forehead with energy seeping through the ice. "He will probably not know who he is by the time I am finished."

"I know."

"As you have constantly said before." She scoffed. She looked unconvinced. Without turning to him she said. "You are fortunate that he is dead."

His eyes narrowed with sudden warning and she grinned, infuriating him once more.

"To accommodate the magic of such a season it is necessary to change his body. The sheer modification of his person would have had him wishing for death. I would know. After all I bear more weight than this boy will bear." She clarified. She cast her grey eyes upon him and he silently watched as the grey irises bled into the whites of her eyes along with the pupils. "Perhaps that is the only positive thing about this boy's death. This boy you care for will not feel pain but perhaps…such a thing will come after."

She sent a knowing smirk in his direction and he glowered back in response. He did not bother flinching when she said that, but he remained resolute nonetheless.

"Perhaps the pain will make him strong."

"We shall see, Lunanoff."

And with those words the smirk left her lips. For a moment silence filled the area and she did not move then without warning he felt large waves of energy being absorbed by her body. Whatever happened before was now happening two fold.

She pushed aside all sensations of the other seasons within her body and made way for the giant influx of winter magic. The boy was not worthy to hold the majority of winter within his fledgling hands; it would consume him, thus rendering him useless to her and Lunanoff. And nature had no need for useless things.

She was completely still as she concentrated on pulling on the forces surrounding her. She called out and she heard the hum of nature in return. Nature came alive. Dormant from its winter induced sleep the trees hummed, the wind danced and the animals once sleeping scampered away all aware of the silent instructions of their mother. They were to hibernate somewhere else.

She silently called to the wind and it howled desperately as it obediently came its mistress, she remained still as she felt the painful impact of winter wind against her chest. The warmth of summer and spring left her body leaving her senses to feel only the decay of fall and even that began to cease leaving the chilling bite of winter's presence within her body. The ice clamored onto her dress like metal to magnets. It latched and it spread appearing like silver cracks along the expanse of her warm colored skin. It crawled along her neck and onto her jaw reaching her cheekbones finally stopping once it reached her unseeing eyes. Strands of her hair turned silver in the process and all the while Manny watched with awe. It was a picture of ominous beauty that she could not control. It was sporadic to say the least after all her body was no longer her own.

Manny stood by unsettled by the sudden absorption of energy from the woman before him. She could have had the decency to warn him. But she was lost to him in more ways than one. He had watched the winds howl around her and the sound of painful impact as she harnessed raw energy when she pulled the winds towards herself. The ice continued to spread across her skin like roots desperate for something to latch on. They moved fluidly with her skins and did not break when she raised her arms to stop too much magic to be absorbed. They glowed within the moonlight appearing silver and white to the naked eye.

As Manny kept watch she fought to keep winter at bay. A person couldn't tell that she battling to keep nature itself in a precarious balance due to the expressionless face she held.

She finally moved and with her ice covered palm she slammed it against the surface and forcefully directed her magic into the boy's body, willing it to change under her direction. His frozen heart was a stubborn thing and she coaxed it into beating once more. And it did, slowly and surely moving once again as it had when he had been alive, but he remained unresponsive.

That which made him human was no longer there and was cast out once the union of body and soul was severed. He was a hollow shell with a renewed beating heart that was only beating because she willed it to do so. She lowered her head with her eyes leveled with his closed ones casting upon him one last look of disapproval upon the frozen child. She moved once more stopping when her mouth was directly upon his bloodless lips. A second chance at living escaped from her mouth in the form of a single stream of air. From the depths of death a soul returned to its body and the union was made once more, bonded by nature itself and secured by a bargain.

The silver ice that ran across her skin like cracks streaming back into the surface of the pond returning the small body of water back to its original icy opaque state. Her hair returned to the color of starless night and her eyes were unclouded. She sat back along her haunches, clearly disoriented by the transfer of magic.

"Do you sense it, Lunanoff?"

She got up to her feet resuming her full height once more with her eyes glazed and face neutral. He nodded in response and felt the fluttering of life emerging from the body of the frozen child. From icy grave to womb, what killed the child was now giving him life.

"We are not finished yet."

He flitted his eyes back to her.

"He needs an object. Something to act as a conduit for the power inside him."

She looked at him expectantly and for a few seconds MiM stared back in confusion. It was when she began to glare with exasperation that he realized she was waiting for him to act.

"You want me to choose?"

"Is he not your chosen guardian?" She replied impatiently.

"Choose wisely, Lunanoff."

The man turned pensive making the lady wait in great impatience, but she understood the importance of choosing such an object. It would have to be made of something strong and sturdy. Preferably made of some kind of metal or stone, as long as it wasn't fragile. But anything would do at this point.

Her thoughts were disturbed by the sound of cracking ice and she immediately turned her gaze back to the glowing man. A crooked wooden staff floated in mid-air before his outstretched hand. He grasped it and held it upright. It towered over him his expression was neutral as he gazed upon it. She moved towards him with the broken ice repairing itself with her nearing presence. It looked like a shepherd's crook that had seen many days of hard work. It was old and looked incredibly fragile. But upon closer inspection, the familiarity of the shape invoked memories of starlight and impish smiles.

She gave a knowing glance at him and he replied in turn with a silent sheepish smile with the twinkle returning to his glowing eyes. She wasn't surprised as she held the gnarled branch in her hand. The fool was always prone to sentimentality.

"This was with him when he fell through, he saved someone precious to him with it. Will it do?"

He tentatively held it out to her with her appraising grey eyes passing over it. She felt slightly unnerved that he had chosen such a fragile material, but it would have to do. Although a part of nature was contained within the boy she had not a shred of care for the boy. It would be up to him to take care of it.

"It will have to do."

She took it and held it with both hands. She passed her palm over the staff with magic merging with the wood.

"He will have to touch it to claim it, the first contact is the most important part of the binding process. Once he touches it the spell that I casted upon this staff will claim itself to the boy. It will be the most significant thing in his life, an inanimate extension of himself second only to his body. "

She walked back to where the frozen child lay suspended within the water and placed it next to where he was. She turned back to him.

"Do you understand Lunanoff? The child may be your failsafe against that pathetic slip of a shadow but the staff is my failsafe. It will allow him precise control over the wild magic inside him. If it is destroyed your little snow-child will be rendered useless, or worse out of control."

Black looks were all he received from her. Her mouth was curled in annoyance as she turned around.

"Make sure that does not happen, otherwise... there will be others that will suffer."

As she uttered those words she paused in mid-step and without a word she turned back to him, this time with a different agenda in mind. With reluctance she flitted her gaze back to the Man on the Moon.

"Did you see him?"

He looked at her. Those grey eyes of hers betrayed the resolute expression on her face. She looked tired, withered in a way that required one to look closely to see it, maybe even sad. Her eyes changed. They toned down from the color of thunderclouds to the color of washed river stones. She took a deep breath waiting for his answer with the seconds feeling like hours to her.

He simply shook his head afraid that his chosen words would break the woman before him or worse, anger her.

"It was just a swarm attacking a village in Western Europe."

"Then…he has not appeared?"

"No he has not…"

She turned away from him keeping her distance from the astral projection. She did not feel relief at the sound of his words. But she did not feel pain either. What she felt was something dull, a scar as old as this planet and a pain that was only a phantom of what it was. It was time to sleep. Her awakening was not planned and she didn't like to be up for long. She felt too much, and she didn't have the heart for it all. At least not anymore.

"Don't Fail. Do not forget the deal, Lunanoff. "

"I wont."

She faded back into the trees, a part of her turning unfeeling and closed with his reply lost to sleeping ears. The glowing man bowed in her direction uttering words of farewell and peace.

"Rest well… Lady Seraphina."

He made his way to the where the child was and he placed his palm upon the icy surface uttering few words in the old tongue. He had chosen the words carefully forming not just simple words but a name, a name for a new life and a new person. His magic bonded with the volatile power of winter letting it form into something else entirely. He stood once more and with concentration sent his astral self across the plane back to his sleeping body laid upon his downy bed. He blinked and reacquainted himself with his body before getting up from where he was. Though he was physically there his sight remained the same as if he was still there on the pond.

He sensed the child stirring beneath. He was afraid. Manny could sense the boy's distress when at last dead eyes came alive only to see darkness. His fear was crippling as the Man on the moon reached out his magic to gently release the boy from his icy tomb like a chick breaking out of its shell his body pushed against the ice and the surface cracked like egg shells. Shadows were chased away from his features as moonlight touched his lean form. He gasped for air, practically swallowing his first breaths of his second life. The magic had changed him for sure, brown hair was now white and his eyes were blue instead of the warm brown it had once been. Those eyes of his were wide with confusion as Manny gently settled him back on his feet. He stumbled once he reached the ice but quickly regained his footing. The ice beneath him repaired it self and smoothed over at his touch and the boy looked over himself touching his brown cloak that had quickly frosted over.

The boy looked up towards the moon, obviously looking for answers. There were many things at that point that Manny had wanted to say, but he refrained himself from doing so. He only had to speak what he had to, and unfortunately those were very few words.

"Your name is Jack Frost."

The newly named Jack Frost tentatively smiled, with the fear and the agitation finally leaving his cold blue eyes.

He moved slowly at first with legs that were unused to movement. He slipped but quickly regained his footing. His icy blue eyes were alive and curious as he surveyed his surroundings. The ice child was so distracted that he never noticed the staff on the ground but thankfully, much to Manny worrying, he stepped on it and the wooden surface turned white at his touch. With eager hands Jack Frost held it and the staff surged with cold power with an abrupt burst of power that caused him to flinch. The anticipation was building within Manny as he silently encouraged his newest guardian to experiment with his powers.

The boy cautiously pressed the crooked part of his staff against an old trunk of and old tree. Frost flourished along the surface and his eyes widened as he bounced on his feet giddy and excited all at once. With laughter Jack Frost ran along the surface of the pond dragging his staff like a paint brush and like a crazed artist he painted the world around him white and silver.

The wind whisked him up into the air playing with him like a wayward snowflake. And as the child ventured farther away from the pond the Man on the Moon grew solemn once more.

The first step was over. A burden was lifted but another one had taken its place. It was time to work and although he was reluctant to cut his ties but he had to. It was time to take a second step and Jack would have to grow on his own, without any coddling. It was simply the way things were, but he was reluctant nonetheless. He had faith in the boy

He watched as a child phased through him. He sensed his pain and watched him take deep breaths. Jack Frost helplessly called out hoping for someone to see him, to acknowledge him in any form or kind, but nothing happened. He looked towards the moon for guidance but he heard nothing. With great regret and heavy footsteps Manny walked away.

The boy must succeed. He needed to.

He made the bargain.

And paid the price.

But there was more than one price to be paid.

"A deal was struck. One child's soul for another…"

A/N: Yes, I know that her canon name is Emily Jane, but to be truthful I thought the name was pretty bland compared to the austerity and mystic sound of her father's name "Kozmotis" and her family name "Pitchiner"

Plus the concept of the story was already made with the use of "Seraphina" in mind. So I can't change it now after all that conceptualizing.

Thanks again for reading. It means a lot to me :)