Broken Center

by fireyouko

Jack was ignored for 300 years. For 100 years he was made a slave by Pitch. Takes place after the movie. The others realize that Jack isn't well physically or mentally. He is taken to a spirit doctor. Found to have a hole in his heart due to a broken center, Pitch broke him. Surgery is the only way to save him but Jack doesn't want it. Lots of medical procedures and mention of rape

I do not own rise of the guardians or the guardians of childhood. I do not own any of the characters either

So just a few things to say, this is pretty much my first fanfic ever. I am not really a writer. I like to draw mostly but I came up with this idea and decided that it would take less time to write it out then to draw it. This story is does not have a beta? I think that is what you call the person that edits your work for you? There is lots of medical procedures done in this story and mentions of rape. If you are sensitive, please do not read. I do not wish to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Reviews, criticisms and suggestions are all so very much appreciated. I hope I at least did a decent job with this. I am still writing and do not understand how to put up chapters, so this work will probably be re-uploaded again with more writing. I apologize in advance. With all that said I really hope you enjoy the read. Thank you so much!

Broken Center

The guardians were all gathered at the north pole enjoying what their newest member jack frost nicknamed "family time." North sat in his oversized armchair drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies. He observed his fellow guardians, Bunny was sitting close to the fire drinking some spiked nog and sanding some boomarangs he had recently carved. Sandy and tooth were engaged deep within a conversation about plants. It seemed that the toothfairy had recently become interested in decorating her palace with a hopefully lucious garden to give her and her girls something else to do besides collecting teeth, as well as give her little fairies a place to hide should the need ever arise. The only one North couldn't seem to find was jack.

North looked around a sense of panic breeding in his chest at the absence of their youngest member. Only when he noticed the frost forming on the carpet did his eyes follow the frozen pattern towards the couch and the one who had created it. There was jack sitting on a couch by himself as far from the fire as possible. It made perfect sense that a winter sprite such as jack couldn't sit too close to an open flame. North observed his sleeping form. "Ah", his voice low and soft as to not wake the boy, "no wonder it had been so quiet."

At the mention of quiet Bunny looked up from his craft " Well it was quiet till you said something."

At this the other two other guardians stopped their conversation and looked up. Tooth spoke, expressing a question that they all seemed to have on their minds "what are you talking about North? I don't think it's that quiet."

North motioned to the sleeping boy and whispered "It not as loud as it could be." Tooth only nodded, " he seems to be tired quite often, more so than I thought for such an active sprite." Sandy looked to her and started forming pictures over his head, one of a snowflake and a clock. Bunny was confused but Tooth seemed to understand as she translated for him, " he is saying that we don't really know if jack sleeping a lot is normal because we haven't known him for long." Bunny thought hard on this statement which everyone knew to be true. It had only been about a month or so since jack had become a guardian and they had defeated pitch.

Now Pitch Black was someone none of them could ever forget. The poor boy had been kidnapped by Pitch about a century before and had been enslaved and made a pet. They all knew that Jack was fearful of everyone and everything which is what gave rise to the "family time" to try and gain Jack's trust. North let out a sigh, " I fear there is much we dont't know about Jack Frost, for one thing I do not believe that he is well. One does not simply leave Pitche's clutches without injury but I haven't been able to get near the boy. Even asking if he is well sends the boy running."

"That's true" said Tooth " he looks so skinny and I hardly ever see him eat. I've tried to ask him if he is alright but he only seems to shut down and will no longer talk or even look at me before just flying off again." Sandy formed pictures of a snowflake with Zsss with an x over it showing how he rarely found the boy to sleep other than at their "family meetings." Bunny too found he needed to voice his opinion " the boy is more nervous than I am and that is a surprising feat to be sure as I am a rabbit, we are as nervous as they come. I also know by the way he carries himself he must have broken ribs or at least bruised and i see him limp a lot. I'm about to carry the gumby into the infirmary myself and check over him even if I have to restrain him to do it. In fact i think I will, he is asleep so it is the perfect time." North stood up to stop Bunny just as he was about to approach Jack's sleeping form. "Bunny, we don't want to force the poor child, it will only ruin the progress we are trying to make with him." Bunny gave out a bit of grunt, turning around glaring at north, " and just what can we do then? Obviously frostbite doesn't seem to have the sense to comply with us and we can't force him for fear of scaring him, so what are we going to do, stand around and talk about it hoping he will heal on his own in a couple of months?!" "Bunny, quiet down" Tooth said as she motioned over to jack who was starting to sit up rubbing his eyes. Blue eyes opened slowly as they blinked the sleepiness away. Jack looked up noticing that all eyes were on him which started making him feel very uncomfortable as he curled in on himself bringing his knees close up to his chest. Jack stared at them all until finally clearing his throat and quietly saying " I I'm sorry I f fell asleep on you all, A am I in t trouble?" Tooth was quick to reassure him " oh no, of course you are not sweet tooth, we were just discussing that it looked uncomfortable for you to sleep in a chair." Sandy piped in forming a picture of the north pole and a bed with a snowflake in it, but Jack seemed to not understand. Bunny translated for him, " Sandy says you should get some rest in one of North's spare bedrooms."

North thought on what Bunny said as he watched Jack consider what they were offering when a thought occured to him. Maybe North thought, he could take Jack to see a doctor, the spirits did have a doctor you see, one that was appointed and who had treated Manny himself and he was a great doctor to be sure. However, going to a doctor could be uncomfortable for Jack but perhaps better than one of the guardians examining him due to shear akwardness of the situation. Only problem was if none of them could convince Jack to be examined by one of them or the medically trained yetis, what makes them think they can convince Jack to see a doctor? North then decided to voice his thought and see how it goes. "Jack the others are right, perhaps you should rest here for the night, you look worn out son." Jack slightly flinched at the new fatherly way that North had begun to address him but then gave him a smile and whispered " maybe, I do suppose I feel a little tired and a bed might feel better than a tree," he laughed lighlty. North nodded, " Indeed, I was also curious jack but I thought I should say that you don't look to well my boy." There it was, Jack was going to here what was on everyone's minds about his health again, something he really didn't feel like sharing nor did he think it was anyone else's business. Jacked gave the best smile he could, " guys I'm fine, I'm just a little tired is all but I'm sure I am not the only one." "But sweet tooth you are so thin and don't eat or sleep much," said Tooth "and I know you are injured" said Bunny. Sandy just nodded in agreement with them. Jack stared down at the ground " I really don't see how this is anyones business but besides that I really just don't want to talk about it, what happened with Pitch is over and I just want to move on." That is when North decided to make his move, he looked at Jack in the eye and said softly " I know you don't want to talk about it or let us examine you but you still need to be treated so I have another solution for you. Have you ever been seen by a doctor before?

"A doctor?" said Jack feeling a little surprised, that was not what he thought North would say. North only nodded to him but Jack looked a little confused. Bunny made to clarify " A medical professional mate, he can look at your wounds and treat ya and will only ask you medical questions, don't worry, he won't judge you." Sandy nodded to Jack and showed the moon and a stethoscope above his head. Tooth translated for Sandy, " he says this is the doctor that treats all spirits including the man in the moon, Manny appointed him as doctor to us all." Jack stared at them all wide eyed and started shaking his head rapidly "No, no, no, no, I will not go, I don't want to see anyone," "But sweet tooth" said Tooth. " No buts" said Jack "I don't need anyone, I can take care of myself!" he cried then flew out the open window into the frozen landscape of the north pole.

Tooth layed a hand on North's shoulder as Sandy formed a clock and a window with Jack sneaking inside. Bunny looked to North, "Sandy is right, I'm sure Frost will be back, we all saw how tired he was, he will probably wait till the coast is clear then slip into one of the guest bedrooms to sleep." North thought on this for a moment as he studied his abandoned drink, "perhaps I will wait up for him then, maybe I can convince him if it just us." Bunny got up and poured himself another glass of the spiked egg nog " I need some more of this seeing as I am going to stay up with and wait for the little ankle biter." North gave Bunny a stern look, "No Bunny, you will only scare the boy off." Bunny returned the look to North then spoke up " oh hell I'm not going to let him see me and neither are you." North looked at Bunny is surprise "What?" Bunny made to clarify " you and I will wait for snowflake to sneak back in but we will make sure he doesn't see us, we will watch to see what room he heads to and wait for him to fall asleep, then we will take his staff and hide it so he can't run" Tooth looked at them wide-eyed, " I guess it is a plan that works but it seems sort of extreme? and a little mean to be honest," Bunny placed a paw on her shoulder "look sheila I know it is but that boy has a rock head and he is hurt, sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures." Tooth nodded to him " I suppose but even if your plan does work, what will you do? I doubt any of us can convince Jack to go, so will carry him there kicking and screaming?" North nodded to her "she has a point Bunny, that does rather go against us being the guardians of children." Sandy looked at all three of them and formed a moon. "You are saying we should ask Manny what we should do?" said Tooth. North nodded and decided to give it a try "Manny, old friend, we are in need of your assistance. Your new guardian is hurt and is deeply troubled, he needs help but refuses it. What should we do?" After about a minute or two they all heard a voice in their heads and Manny made to reply with his answer "Do as Bunny suggested and hide the staff while Jack sleeps. If you must carry him to the doctor then do so. However, you can tell him that it is a direct order from me, and you have permission to get him there however you can." Tooth piped up in worry "What if Jack doesn't come back here tonight?" Manny laughed lightly at this "Do not worry my child for I have cast a sleeping spell on him, it won't be long now that he will return, make sure to hide yourselves well. Good luck my guardians and do not worry for I shall be with you, always watching."

"Looks like I got my answer" said Tooth. Bunny hugged her as he could see she was visibly upset about Jack possibly being carried against his will to the doctor's. "Don't worry Toothie, it is all for the best, he will get well again. Now how about you and sandy go get some sleep while you can, North and I have got to figure out where best to hide." With that they all broke off.

Here it was a few minutes to midnight as Bunny and North stood in the shadows in the corner of a room they knew jack to frequent. Although, just to make extra sure they closed all the windowns but the one to this room forcing the little winter sprite to enter and stay where they wanted him. Soon enough Bunny's ears perked up as he tapped North's shoulder to alert him to the winter spirit's presence. They could see the exhaustion in Jack's eyes as he landed in the room, a corner of his mouth went up as he eyed the bed before placing his staff beside the bed againt the night stand. Then with a big yawn he slowly crawled into the bed and pulled the covers over him. He layed there for a few minutes whispering to himself about pain in the ass guardians always in his business and scary doctors he wanted no part of. But the one last thing he said caught the two older guardian's attention the most "at least they care about me." That was all that was heard from the child as rolled onto his side and snuggled up in his blankets slowly drifting off to sleep.

North and Bunny waited for about half an hour more to be absolutely sure that Jack was asleep, they slowed started to inch forward as they heard the boy snoring sofly. Bunny motioned to North to close and lock the window while he himself was in charge of grabbing Jack's beloved staff. Bunny held it gently, aware that it was very much a part of Jack. Bunny and North both took one last glance at the winter sprite before leaving, as North slowly closed and regretably locked the door, officially caging Jack Frost in.

Bunny and North returned to sitting room as they waited for Sandy and Tooth to wake up from their naps to continue with their plan. Sandy was up first as joined the other two guardians sitting down with a hot cup of tea, knowing he would need it as the rest of their plan was going to be the hardest thing any of them have ever done. Tooth came next as she sat down with baby tooth in her lap, enjoying the silence for the moment as they knew from here on out come morning, a winter child's world would be shattered as he woke up to realize he had no staff and was caged in. They all looked at each other and finally it was Bunny he broke the silence, "Hey Toothie, I've got the staff, I want you to take it to the tooth palace, it would be safest there and as far away from Jack as possible." Toothiana nodded as tears began to form in her eyes "I hate that we have to do this." Sandy gave her hug and Bunny placed his paw on her shoulder, "I know sheila but we all know none of us are intending to cause him harm." "We all want what is best for him" said North "even though we have to go through extreme measures to do it, but man in moon has given us his orders and we must follow them if we ever wish for Jack to get better." Bunny sighed "Tomorrow is going to be the worst day of our lives and honestly Jack will probably hate us all for the rest of our lives" he paused "North and I have closed and locked all doors and windows and now you" he pointed at Tooth "have his staff, and for extra measure, North locked the door to his room." North looked at everyone "we mine as well get some more sleep while we can and perhaps we should all stay in this room together so we are ready, remember Jack is an early bird so we won't have long to wait." With that they all settled down on their couches for a few more hours until morning would bring a very distraught and angry winter spirit.

It was early in the morning, about 6am and the sun was shining, coaxing the frost child out of deep sleep. Jack slowly blinked the sleep out of his eyes as realization finally hit him about his outburst at the guardians last night. He remembered his ecape out the window after the fight, only to finally come back due to his sudden exhaustion after the others went to bed. Jack sat up whispering to himself "man I really screwed up, I didn't mean to be as harsh as I was, I really hope they can forgive me." He sighed as he thought back on his words, he knew they were only trying to help him but he honestly never had been to a doctor and truthfully the thought of going to see one terrified him. If he was to be honest with himself he knew he needed help but he would never admit to it out loud to anyone. Admitting he wasn't ok was a dangerous thing for his health at least when he was with Pitch. The Boogeyman only gave him injuries and of course never cared to treat him, not that he really would want Pitch to, he would rather do it himself if it came down to that. Besides that he really didn't want anyone to see the extent to which he was damaged. He knew he looked like hell and anyone being so close to him, touching him in ways that would be considered intimately made his heart race and his skin grow paler. Speaking of intimacy he also didn't want anyone to figure out his deepest dark secret of what Pitch did to him. He shook his head trying to dissipate those thoughts from his head, it would not do to head down that dark path. He decided to focus on something else like for instance his stomach as looked down at himself hearing it growl. "Hmm, guess it's time to go get some breakfast, maybe if I'm lucky there will be pancakes and hopefully the other guardians are still asleep." Jack swung his legs over the side of the bed and let his touch the floor, he stood up stretching then went to reach out for his staff. His staff? He looked in horror, where was his staff?! Maybe he had dropped it somewhere he thought. He looked under the bed, along the floor and along all the walls but his search turned up nothing. He even moved furniture to climb up to the window only to realize that it was closed, odd he hadn't remembered closing it. He tried to open it but realized it was locked and he cou'dn't unlock it. How was that even possible, unless it was locked from the outside? Increasingly becoming upset he decided his best course of action would be to leave his room and go look for his staff in case he slept walked with it and dropped it somewhere in the hallway. He did that sometimes when his nightmares became real intense but he hadn't recalled having any nightmares last night so that was weird. But as he approached the door and went open it he found he couldn't. In alarm he tried to turn the knob harder in case maybe it was just stuck? After a minute of struggling it became clear that it was locked. He began to hyperventilate at this point and starting banging on the door and shouting. "Help! Please someone help me! I'm trapped in here and I can't get out! My staff, I need my staff, it's gone, I can't find it! Phil the yeti quickly ran to the door with a key as his sensitive ears caught the winter spirit's distress. Phil garbled in his language trying to calm Jack down. Just as he was about to slide the key into the whole wondering how it got locked in the first place, did he feel North put a hand on his furry shoulder, stopping him. Phil dropped his hand from the lock as he looked at North confused. He garbled at him in his language asking why Jack was locked in his room and why not let him out? Jack continued to scream and bang on the door, frost creeping its way up the door and across the floor. North made to answer him but was stopped by the entrance of the other three guardians into the hall as they were woken up due to the petrified screams and loud banging coming from Jack's room. The guardians all gave a sorrowful look towards the door but noone made a move to open it. North turned to Phil "we can not let Jack out of room, he is not well and man in moon has ordered us to take him to doctor by any means necessary." " Even if it's by force" Bunny chimed in. Phil sighed but nodded at North, he just had to trust him and if it was ordered by man in moon then there was nothing he could do for the boy, relenting he handed the key to North and backed away from the door. He stood in the back waiting at the ready just in case Jack tried to bolt out the door which was more than likely. The guardians had a silent argument with each other until it seemed that North had won out.

North placed his ear up to the door but only heard soft sobs, he slowly unlocked the door with the guardians waiting at the ready to stop Jack from running. North stepped into the room and quickly closed the door as he heard it being locked again from the outside. The sight he was met with made North's heart ache. Jack was laying on his side curled in to the fetal position up against the wall crying. North hated doing this to the boy but he knew it was for his own good. He walked over to the winter sprite and knelt down, slowly reaching out and placing his hand on to Jack's shoulder. Jack jumped up at the unexpected contact and stared at North. North braced himself for what was coming, he knew it wouldn't be good. Jack opened his mouth and started yelling "what the hell North?! why am i locked in my room?!" North tried to reply but was cut off by Jack "and where is my staff?! I can't find it anywhere, did you take it?"

North decided that the truth was the best way to go, lying to Jack would only make the situation worse. "Yes, Jack, I did take your staff, but don't worry it is safe I promise, in a place where it won't be found, not even by you." Jack opened his mouth to say something but North beat him to it "all of us guardians know that you, Jack Frost, are not well regardless of what you say or how hard you try to hide it we still can see it." Jack started to protest but North started walking towards him before backing him into a corner. Jack tried to move away but quickly found that he was pinned to wall but North's massive arms wrapped around his small frame. North spoke softly to him "we have asked for man in moons's help, he has ordered us to take you to his doctor for treatment." North lowered his mouth to his ear to make sure his point would get across to Jack but said softly so as not to scare him, "by any means necessary." Just then Bunny and the others walked into the room and watched as North held Jack in his arms. "yea that's right, even if we have to carry you there kicking and screaming. Though if I were you I would just come quietly" "Bunny" Tooth warned. Sandy formed pictures of windows and doors and a lock. "He is right Jack, everything is locked up and there are yetis at every window and door as well just to make sure you can't leave," Tooth said quietly with her eyes downcast not looking at Jack as she spoke. She just couldn't bare to look at Jack's angry expression.

Jack formed frost around himself and slipped through North's grasp. Bunny caught the movement and quickly grabbed Jack as he bolted to the door. Bunny held him firmly in his grasp effectively pinning the winter child to his chest. Jack flailed his arms and kicked as hard as he could but Bunny's grip was just too strong for him and he was starting to tire himself with all the screaming crying and banging on the door that he had already done. Bunny held him close in a hug that was much too tight and softly whispered to him in his ear "it's over mate, there is no where to run. We have to do this snowflake, it's an order and you need help." Jack burried his face into Bunny's shoulder and cried "I hate this, I don't want to go." Bunny held him and rubbed circles into his back not bothered by the way Jack flinched at his touch " I know frosty, I know."

North walked back into the room and told them that the sleigh was ready and they could depart as soon as they were ready. Jack hadn't realized that North had even left. Bunny held Jack tightly to him as he and the others started walking through the halls. It was clear that Jack still had some fight left in him as went to upper-cut Bunny in the face who had just narrowly missed the blow. Tooth looked over and seen the scuffle, even though Bunny had missed the punch to his face Tooth could see Bunny was having a difficult time with Jack. She tried to get close to see if she could calm Jack down but Bunny lightly pushed her away, apologizing roughly saying something about the ankle biter being in a mad craze to get away and he didn't want her to get hurt. They were almost to the door that led to where the sleigh was when Jack started screaming, and grabbed on to the door frame for dear life and refused to let go. Bunny managed to pry him off but got a kick in the gut that managed to knock the wind out of him, he had almost dropped Jack until Sandy moved in front of Jack blocking his way. Jack tried pleading with the guardian of dreams and even though it hurt Sandy to no end he was having none of it. He gently dusted some dream sand over Jack and watched as Jack's eyes started to blink slowly, desperately trying ward off the sleep that was trying consume him. In the end the sand won as Jack drifted off to sleep.

"Thanks mate" Bunny said as he lowered Jack into the sleigh. Bunny jumped in next to Jack and held him steady so he wouldn't get thrown around. North got into the driver's seat and took up the reigns. He gave an apologizing look to Sandy and Tooth. It had already been decided that only Bunny and North would go with Jack since neither of them had a holiday at the moment unlike Tooth and Sandy who worked around the clock. Besides for that, they all knew that Jack would want as much privacy and space as was allowed. Not only that but it was decided by the male guardians together that this was not a mission meant for the Toothfairy. Not saying it was because she is a woman, of course not, they weren't sexist like that and knew Tooth was a fierce warrior. No the problem lied in the fact that if Jack was as bad as they all feared then it could be too much for Tooth emotionally. Everyone was aware that Jack's injuries were probably extensive and the examination would be grueling. It would also probably involve a fair amount of Jack being exposed which they all knew Jack would not want her to see him. Jack wouldn't wany of them to see him naked but especially her. With one last wave goodbye and a whispered good luck from Tooth, they were up in the air. North pulled out a snow globe whispering the words spirit doctor and threw the globe, they flew through the portal that was created.

The realm they landed in was a warm and sunny climate with a nice breeze as they soared through the sky passing white puffy clouds. At the top of a cliff stood a building that seemed to buzzing with all sorts of spiritual activity. Spirits flying or walking in and out, conversing outside in the gardens in front of the building, some going out for a stroll. It seemed tranquil and peaceful. The only thing that began to break the gentle facade was on closer inspection you could some spirits with bruises, others with casts, some with stitches and bandages, or those that looked unharmed simply here to provide emotional support to a fallen spirit. North landed the reighndeer and parked the sleigh under a shady tree.

Bunny got out of the sleigh holding Jack in his arms who was beginning to stir, figures Sandy's dream sand would only last for the trip here in thought. He followed North who was already a few steps ahead of him. Realizing he was behind Bunny walked just a little bit faster to catch up. As they entered the building Jack started to stir and began to try to push Bunny away. Bunny looked down at him with concerned eyes "it's alright mate, we are almost there, everything is going to be fine." Jack however continued to push Bunny, "put me down, I am not a baby, I can walk you know?" " Are you going to try to run?" Bunny said in response. " I will put you down but trust me when I tell you, you won't be going anywhere, I will make sure of that." Bunny lowered Jack to the ground but kept a firm grip on him. Jack of course being himself decided to test the waters and shot out frost over Bunny's paws but Bunny didn't react, it was only then did Jack notice that Bunny was wearing winter gloves on his paws. Bunny quirked a smile as he saw Jack's face "they protect up to -40 degrees frostbite" he chuckled.

North stopped at reception and the secretary pointed them the way to go. As they walked down the hallway Bunny could see that the winter spirit was becoming more agitated with every step. His face clearly showed how freightened he was but Bunny couldn't think of a way to comfort him and so continued pushing Jack along in silence. That is when a door at the end of the hall opened to reveal a tall, thin man with very short almost buzzed white hair, he wore glasses over his kind green eyes. The man, the doctor, as Jack slowly started to understand just who he was, wore a white lab coat over gray scrubs and black sneakers. In his hand he held a clip board with papers on it and wore what Jack assumed was some kind of medical instrument around his neck. He had high cheeck bones and a thin face, nice looking for a man who seemed to be in his early fiftys. "Dr. Darus," North's voice boomed as he shook the doctor's hand "it is nice seeing you again though I wish it was under such circumstances." Dr. Darus only nodded then greeted Bunny as well until the doctor's eyes finally landed on Jack. "Welcome Jack Frost, it is nice to finally meet you, we have been expecting you." Dr. Darus reached his hand out to shake Jack's but the boy only stared at his hand like it was going to bite him as he shook like a leaf. Jack's eyes made their way up from the doctor's hand up to his face, "you've been expecting me?" Dr. Darus smiled down at him "indeed I did, man in the moon said that you would come." Then the doctor gave him a stern but gentle look "I hear you like to run too, we will be keeping an eye on you." He stepped aside and ushered them all in to the room. North and Bunny sat in the two chairs along the wall near the door while the doctor sat in a rolling chair. Jack stood there akwardly unsure of what to do until the doctor motioned for him to sit up on the table. Jack paled, he made no move to get up on the table. The doctor only smiled and decided not to force the child yet. "So Jack what brings you here today?" Jack motioned to the other two guardians with a look that said duh on his face. "Well yes I can see that, perhaps that was the wrong question to ask. How are you feeling today?" Jack rolled his eyes "I'm fine, damn why does everyone ask me that?" "Well it was Manny who has told me that were not feeling so well." Jack growled at that, how dare this man in the moon create him only to abandon him, let him be taken by Pitch to be freed by the guardians and find out he was one, then now dragged to this doctor's office by his order to get treated for something he could fix himself like he has been doing his whole damn life. "Fuck Manny" he whispered. Dr. Darus asked him to repeat himself. "I said Fuck Manny" he said it louder this time and North visibly flinched. "Jack" he warned, to hear such hard words come out of the frost child's mouth, those were words usually only said by Bunny or North himself. Dr. Darus sighed, he knew this would have to be done the hard way. The doctor was not detered by the harsh words, he knew to expect it, he was told to expect it. Dr. Darus was told by Manny of Jack's time with Pitch Black, the Boogeyman but what he didn't know were the extent of his injuries and if there were any lasting effects, for this is what the examination was for. But the doctor was hoping for Jack to tell him some of that himself, but he can see now that this kid will not budge. "It looks like I will have to rely on your friends and your exam then. I am truly sorry that this is being forced upon you child but this is an order and even I can see from just looking at you that you aren't alright." Jack stared wide-eyed at the doctor. The doctor's eyes softened slightly at the sight of jack's frightened stare, mine as well get the show on the road he thought. Dr. Darus went over to a tall cabinet and pulled something out bringing it over to Jack, who looked over the clothing in confusion. It was then through Jack's confusion that the doctor was hit with the realization that Jack was not only scared because of what Pitch had done to him but also that he had never been to a doctor before, well this will be interesting.

"Let us begin then, I'm afraid that we have a lot to do today Jack. I hope you men are prepared, this is going to be a long process, a couple hours at most so I hope you all have nothing else planned today" Jack felt his eyes fill with unshed tears as he heard what the doctor said and frost slowly crawled down his legs to his toes and jutted across the floor. North only nodded in understanding while Bunny voiced for them both "Nah mate, we knew this was going to be long and we are here for our snowflake as long as we are needed." "Alright then first I will need you to strip down to your under wear and then you will put on this gown, can you do that for me Jack?" Jack looked down at the frost forming around him and whispered "you mean take off my clothes? like I will be naked underneath?" The doctor nodded then added " but you can keep your underwear on." Jack seemed to consider asking one more question "but I don't have any underwear." North looked up in surprise but Bunny just laughed "what are you free balling it all the time snowball?" North smacked Bunny upside the head, when Bunny was about to yell at him for it North pointed out Jack's face. Jack just turned to him with solemn expression, no mirth was found in his eyes. The doctor understood and went back to the cabinet and brought back another article of clothing, Jack looked down at them and realized they were underwear, still this did not comfort him much. Jack's hands clenched and he breathed heavily starting to understand that he would be mostly naked for this exam, they hadn't told him that he would be naked! Frost continued to crawl across the floor and now up the walls, as all the men in the room turned to look at the young man who had tears in his eyes. Jack quietly voiced "but I don't want to take off my clothes, I won't take off my clothes." The doctor shook his head "Jack I'm sorry, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable nor do I really want you undressed but unfortunetly you have to be so i can properly examine you and know what we are dealing with, do you understand child?" The temperature in the room suddenly dropped and the two guardians knew something big was about to happen and they had to be prepared to make a move. Ice shot out of the winter child and covered the walls as the boy started to make a run for it the ice being only a distraction. Not a moment too soon Bunny grabbed Jack around his middle before he could make it out the door. North moved quickly to close and lock the door while Bunny placed jack on the table and held him down. Jack was openly sobbing and shooting out ice everywhere but Bunny held him firmly down against the table. " Let me go Bunny! I don't want this! I don't want to be treated or be naked! I hate you all!" That last comment hurt North and Bunny to the core. North came over and helped Bunny hold jack down while his powers exploded everywhere. North tried to whisper soothing words and pat his head but to no avail. Bunny yelled over the mini-storm "we have to try something else."

That is when man in the moon himself spoke out to them. "Jackson Overland Frost, you will stop this nonsense at once! Do as you are told or I will come down there myself and see that you do" Jack knew a commanding voice that meant business when he heard one after all his years with Pitch and was conditioned to obey. The storm instantly stopped and all the ice melted, the boy was left panting, out of breath. "Well now that was quite the display of power" said Dr. Duran. "I do so love working with the elemental spirits the most, their powers are so interesting and I can honestly say I really haven't had the pleasure of treating a winter spirit yet so I at least must thank you for showing me your power. Thankfully that also takes care of part of the exam now seeing that your powers are still in working order. But i fear you have overworked yourself, I'm quite sure that even winter spirits shouldn't have blue lips nor be flushed. Now we really need to get you changed so we can see what is going on here, something is not right."

"No problem I'm on it, I will get the bloody show pony in his gown and his underwear myself" the doctor nodded and left the room to give Jack his privacy. Bunny started to pull Jack's hoodie up when North interviened. "Bunny I don't think we should go about it this way, I think that maybe you should wait outside and let me try to talk to him alone" Bunny stared at him in disbelief but then slowly seemed to understand and started walking out of the room. "Thank you" North called out "And for the record I am glad I went with your suggestion to leave Tooth behind, she shouldn't have to see this." Bunny nodded and walked out of the room, now is was just North and Jack. North scooped up Jack into a hug whispering in his ear "it is going to be ok my little snow spirit, i know you are scared " Jack was about to protest and say he wasn't scared when North put a finger to the winter sprite's lips. "No Jack we all know you are scared but I promise that nothing will happen to you, I swear it on my holiday and my title as Santa Clause." Jack nodded and hugged North back. "Now how about this I alone with stay with you in this room but first we must get you changed, I will let you change yourself unless you won't do it then I will be forced to, please don't force me to ok?" Jack nodded his agreement but then timidly asked "will you leave the room so I can change?" North sighed "No snowball I can not but I can turn around and I promise not to look at you, can you deal with that?" "You promise you won't look? Not even a peak?" "Not even peak I swear on my yetis" "o okay" North turned around and smiled when he heard the sound of clothes being moved around, he knew he could get the boy to cooperate if it was just him. Bunny meant well but was just too forceful which only scared their little guardian of fun more making him combative. What they had to realize is that Jack is still a child, a teenager yes but still a child and just as teenagers often do the more you fight them the more they fight you and boy was Jack fitting that pattern.

After a minute or two North heard Jack whisper "you can turn around now." North smiled at him, proud that Jack had finally done what he was told. "There you go Jack, that's a good boy." Jack flinched at that but gave North a weak smile. "Are you ready to call the doctor in?" Jack shook his head but one look at North told him there was no room for argument, so he only nodded and hung his head low. "Alright, I'm going to open the door and call for him." North gave him a hard look "don't get any ideas." North opened the door and called out for Dr. Darus. The doctor walked back into the room followed by Bunny but North stopped him and stepped outside. "What 's the deal mate?" Bunny growled "why are you taking me out?" "I am sorry Bunny but I believe it is better for Jack if we are not both in the room." "Well why do I got to leave then? I'm sure I could hold him down tighter." "Bunny you are kind and caring, and I hate to say this but also brutish at times when you know something needs to be done. I believe Jack needs a more understanding and perhaps even fatherly approach. Also I promised him only I would be in the room. Besides I think it would be good if you were out here to guard the door, I don't doubt will make a break for it again. He is too freightened to truly listen to Manny." Bunny hated to admit it but North did have a point, at least they could be honest with each other. "Fine then, I will wait out here but just yell for me if he becomes too much to handle, alright?" "I will thank you Bunny" with that North walked back into the room.

"All right Jack, are you ready this time?" North heard Dr. Duran say as he re-entered the room only to fine Jack backed in to a corner. "What is the matter?" Dr. Duran shook his head "Jack is just having some anxiety, nothing to worry about." Dr. Duran assured "come Jack, it's alright, everything will be fine," he motioned Jack to stand on to some box looking thing with a long stick running up it. "Let us get your height and weight shall we? Height is 5' 4" and weight is 100 pounds, that is much too light boy. Next the doctor motioned for Jack to get up on the exam table. North gave him a kind look "get up there Jack, I am right here, I won't let anything to happen to you." Jack nodded and made his way to the exam table. He got up on the table and waited, shivering slightly, but not from the cold. "That's good Jack, we will just take it easy." Dr. Duran took slow, deliberate steps over to Jack, keeping his hands visible at all times. He took out a pen light out of his pocket, "ok Jack I want you to follow this light for me with your eyes without moving your head." The doctor watched as Jack's eyes followed then wrote something on his note pad. "What are you doing?" Jack asked with mild curiosity. "Just writing down notes, nothing to worry about." Jack watched as the doctor's hands moved to his throat. Dr. Duran could see the fear that passed through Jack's eyes, "Just relax and tell me if anything hurts." After feeling around for a few minutes he removed his hands then reached in his pocket and brought out a traingle shaped instrument towards Jack's elbow then hit it twice. "Ow, what did you do that for?" he said as his arm jumped. "Testing your reflexes" he said then did the same thing to the other elbow and both his knees. Next he took out a small light with a cone at the end of it. He then inserted it into each ear, changed the cone, and checked Jack's nose. He then took off the cone and pulled out a flat wooden stick. "ok Jack, open up your mouth and say ah." "what?" said Jack looking confused. "Just trust me, ok?" with that Jack opened his mouth and the doctor inserted the stick and held down his tongue while Jack made the noise. "Hmm, a little red but not too bad" he whispered. "What's red?" "Your throat, does it hurt Jack?." Jack just shrugged his shoulders. Next the doctor pulled out a glass stick and placed it in Jack's mouth under his tongue and held it there until it beeped. Dr. Durdan whistled "55 degrees, that is high for you, you have quite the fever." North got up to look at the thermometer "what should his temperature be?" Dr. Duran shook his head " 45 degrees or just a bit lower for winter spirits, that's a 10 degree difference, that is concerning and dangerous." North placed his hand on Jack's forhead "you do have a fever, in fact you feel warm to the touch, as if you weren't a winter spirit." "Well before we continue, I am going to get you some medicine to bring that fever down." The doctor called out the hall, "Gwendolyn?" That's when a young woman with long blue hair held up in a high pony tail and purple eyes, wearing a white scrub material dress walked in. Gwen waved at Jack then turned to Dr. Duran "yes sir?" "Will you please bring me some tylenol to bring down our winter sprite's fever?" "Of course sir" she turned to leave but the doctor stopped her at the door and said quietly so only she could hear "and please bring the special medicine that we talked about? It looks like we may be needing it." Gwen walked out of the room to fetch the medicine.

"Well then while we wait for her we will continue." The doctor held up is hands in front of Jack, "I want you to push my hands with your hands as hard as you can, please, it's to test if your body is responding to your will." "Well alright if that's what you really want." Jack pushed his hands as hard as he could against the doctor's until the doctor pulled away. "Good, good, now I want you to push my hands down at hard as you can." Jack did as h was told until the doctor pulled away again. "Alright, now I would like you to touch your finger to your nose, do this for each hand, like this" Darus touched his nose with his pointer finger on his right hand then did the same thing for his left hand. Jack copied his movement though it seemed he had a bit more trouble doing it than the doctor had. "Now I would like you to walk towards me in a straight line, one foot directly in front of the other." Darus demonstrated for him then Jack followed his movement but stumbled over his own feet. "Hmm, alright" Darus turned to write something then turned back to Jack. "You may sit back up on the table. Now I would like to remember three words for me, can you do that?" Jack nodded. "Ok then, your three words are dog, blue and cookies." Jack went over the words in his head wondering why he had to remember such random words, another test he firgured. Just then there was a knock heard at the door, it was the nurse Gwen who had returned with the required medicine. The doctor thanked her and she left to check on her other patients. "Here you go Jack, it's nothing scary I promise, It's just to help with the fever." North could see Jack hesitating a bit and decided to step in "take it Jack, it won't hurt you, doctors are meant to heal not harm. He wouldn't do anything to harm you, especially not while I am here." Jack drank down the medicine with no fuss. "That was easy, I figured I would ask you some questions, get to know you. How old are you?" Jack looked to North who only nodded encouraging him to answer his question. "Well I am three hundred years old in spirit years." "How old are you then physically?" "Um, I was human once an died when I was 16 and I woke up as Jack Frost" "Ah I see, so what is it you like to do for fun?" Jack's eyes lit up and started rambling about snowball fights with children, eating snowflake cookies made just for him by North, and lastly sitting by the fire drinking hot or in his case cold chocolate at the north poll. The doctor smiled at Jack's sudden enthusiasm. "Now Jack, do you remember those three words I told you?" "Um I remember the word blue and um. There was a word that started wit think? I'm sorry I'm not sure." "That's alright keep talking through it, tell me what you do remember?" Jack tried to remember, what were those words he thought? Then he looked up to the doctor "I am sorry but what did you ask me?" Darus was a bit startled by this but quickly recovered, he didn't want to show Jack his concern "That's alright, it wasn't important." The doctor turned from Jack and went to desk behind him to grab out what Jack thought was some sort of sleeve looking thing with a pump. He walked over to him started to wrap the sleeve around Jack's upper right arm. Jack looked down at his arm and back up at the doctor feeling uneasy. "Don't worry Jack, this will feel a little tight but it won't hurt, ok?" He took the stethoscope off his neck and placed the the chest piece of it under the cuff and the ear buds into his ear then began to pump the blood pressure cuff up then released the pressure. Jack was uncomfortable with the pressure of the cuff around his arm but felt relieved when the pressure was released. "Hmm pressure is low" said Darus, "110/80."

North looked worriedly at Jack, that pressure was low though he didn't know what was normal for a winter spirit but if Darus found it low then it wasn't good. "North, I will require your help for this next part." "Of course" said North, "what would you like me to do?" "Just stand here next to Jack, I may need you in a minute." Dr. Darus removed the stethoscope from aound his neck again and placed the ear buds in his ear then he came near to Jack who tried to back up but only backed up into North. Jack finally understood what the doctor needed North's help for, to keep him still. "Easy Jack, this won't hurt you. I promise." To show it wouldn't hurt the doctor placed it on his own chest. "It's just a tool that I use to hear inside" Jack was still trying to move even though he was backed up against North who whispered into his ear "I've got you Jack, It will be alright, please let him do what he needs to do, for me?" Jack stopped struggling and the doctor took that as his permission to procede. Dr. Darus pressed the chest piece just under Jack's gown near his collar bone on the left side. He listened for a minute then moved to another part of his chest, but Jack was beginning to fidget, he got more agitated by the second as the doctor moved the stethoscope across his chest. It was beginning to get harder for North to hold Jack still. Jack's breathing became harder and his heart rate sped up. Dr. Darus held the stethoscope to Jack's chest as he looked up to look at him in the eyes "Easy Jack, you need to calm down." Jack growled at him, a low guttural sound that resonated in the doctor's ears through the stethoscope. "That's easy for you to say when your chest isn't the one being fondled by an old man with a weird metal object that's attached to his ears. "Jack" North warned "please don't be difficult." Dr. Darus moved the chest piece down further under Jack's robe down his chest just under his left nipple. Jack made to snatch the stethoscope out of the doctor's ears but North grabbed his hand in time. "Jackson you need to stop child. I'm trying to listen" said Darus.

It was that statement that sent Jack over the edge and that is when everything went to hell. The temperature in the room dropped again and snow began to fall from the sky. Jack began screaming, North tried to calm him down but Jack started kicking and punching. The doctor was forced to back away from Jack as icicles shot out and crashed into the wall. Bunny ran in at the sound of Jack's screams filled the hallways only to make it in time to see the icicles impale themselves into the wall and North get a punch to his side. In a flash Bunny was on Jack. He and North held Jack down against the table as the kid thrashed and bucked. The boys eyes were filled with tears in his eyes and he started wimpering and moaning seeming to be lost in another world. The boy was out of it. Jack yelled out "no please! please stop! I don't want this! stop! stop! stop!"

Jack was lying naked, restrained to the bed by nightmare sand, each arm and each leg tied up to a bed post. His wrists and ankles rubbed raw from hours of him trying escape. Pitch Black was also naked lying next to him on the bed stroking Jack's penis. Jack cried and moaned. Pitch looked down at Jack, he was panting and he could see his visable heart beat just under the skin. That is when an idea crossed his mind. "What would it be like to hear that little heart of yours beating rapidly?" Pitch whispered in Jack's ear. Black sand swirled in Pitch's hand until it formed a stethoscope. "This ought to do, I don't usually do medical fetishes but your heart just looks so enticing and putting my ear to your chest hinders me from playing with you. Pitch put the buds in his ear and placed the diaphram to Jack's chest. "no, no. I don't want it" Jack tried to move away but Pitch held him in place. Pitch moved the stethoscope across his chest, as he listened he continued to fondle Jack. "Please stop" He placed his hand over Jack's right nipple and started pulling and rubbing the little nub as he heard jack moan through the stethoscope. Pitch then moved his hand down to Jack's penis and stroked him. Pitch heard Jack's heart quicken, enjoying the sound. He moved the stethoscope to Jack's left pec and placed it over his nipple pushing on it harshly into his skin, the sound was incredible there and the added touch to the boys's sensitive nipple drove Jack crazy. "Pitch please stop, please. I don't want this. stop!" Pitch covered Jack's mouth "you need to stop child, I'm trying to listen." Jack's heart was beating so hard that Pitch could no longer stand it. The moaning and the sound of jack's heart drove him mad and he entered the boy pushing in and out "stop stop stop!" making the boy scream out.

Dr. Darus quickly grabbed a syring off the desk, the special medicine he had asked his nurse for earlier. "I didn't want to have to do this unless it was absolutley necessary but it seems I have no choice" He drove the needle into Jack's arm and pushed the plunger down. It took a few minutes but Jack seemed to be losing steam. Every movement looked like it was becoming harder. Jack's breathing slowed and his eyes became unfocused and glassy. North and Bunny slowly backed away from Jack but stayed close by in case he struggled again. "Hey mate, what did you give him?" asked Bunny. "Just a little something to calm him down, it won't put him to sleep, just make him a little more malleable. I was trying to avoid using this but the boy was just too scared and combative." "Damn, well that's helpful. wish we could a had that earlier." said Bunny. "Yes well it's not something i prefer to do but clearly Jack wasn't going to calm down." North rubbed the winter sprite's back trying to comfort him as he saw Jack try and fail to move properly. "What exactly does the medicine do? I am not sure I like the look in his eyes." Bunny agreed with North " yea, it seems like he isn't all the way with us here" "The medicine isn't dangerous I assure you, I would never harm Jack. It will keep him calm, sorta puts him in a bit of a fog, makes his limbs feel heavy so it's harder to move and supresses his power a bit. It's almost like when you are starting to get tired and are falling asleep but just laying there waiting for sleep to take you. I promise I only did what was necessary."

Dr. Duran walked over to Jack and picked up one of his arms and let it go, when his arm fell against the table with no resistance he knew the medicine had fully taken affect. "There we go, he is ready, no more resistance should come from him. For the record, this next part, you are going to be happy that Jack isn't all the way there." Dr. Duran moved Jack so that he was lying on his back. "Now, with your permission" he looked to North, "I am going to remove his gown." He waited for North's approval and when he received a nod he pulled the gown off of Jack. There was a gasp by all three men followed by complete silence. They all stared taking in all the bruises and cuts that littered his body. Some were healing, some weren't. The scariest injury of all so far were his ribs, they were a mess. The doctor felt around them and confirmed that four of them were broken, the rest were bruised badly. Jack's arms and legs looked much like his torso. He had a broken collar bone and a dislocated shoulder. The doctor poked, prodded, and felt all over the injuries, being sure to be as gentle as possible and write everything down. Jack squirmed around on the table clearly not wanting to be stared at like this but unable to do much about it, only a light dusting of snow fell and thin frost spread beneath him across the table. " North, can you sit Jack up for me and hold him steady? I need to listen to his lungs." North slipped his arms under Jack's and sat him up. He let Jack lean against him and held him firmly, still fearful that Jack was laying low and would spring to action at any moment. But Jack made no moves other than the widening of his eyes as the doctor came towards him with the stethoscope again. He placed the diaphram to to his upper back on the left side, then moved it to the right. He kept moving the diaphram lower going side to side for a few minutes then removed the scope from his back. He moved towards Jack with the stethoscope in hand to show Jack exactly what he was doing when he touched it to his neck, bell side down and listened. Then he flipped it over to the diaphram again and placed it just below his collar bone, he instructed North to tilt Jack forward just a little bit. He moved the diaphram across his chest, listening for a minute at a time to each spot he placed the scope, the pulmonary, aortic, tricuspid and finally the mitral valve just below his left pec very close to his nipple. Jack visbly flinched, he seemed to be very uncomfortable but even more so as he moved the scope lower. "You can lay Jack back down on the table." North lowered him and backed away as Dr. Duran took his place. He placed the scope back onto Jack's chest and repeated listening to all the valves. When he got to the mitral valve again he rolled Jack forward onto his side, he listened there for a good long time then he returned Jack to laying on his back. Next he placed the scope onto his stomach. He moved it acrosss his stomach moving lower and lower until he reached the band of Jack's underwear. Jack began shivering but the doctor continued on and placed the scope beneath the band. Finally he placed the stethoscope around his neck again and placed his fingers onto Jack's chest feeling the mitral valve open and close. Then he moved his hands across his stomach "tell me if an of this hurts Jack." He kept pressing around and Jack made no moves or sound other than his shivering until the doctor moved his underwear down a bit and pressed his hands down and around his groin, Jack gasped in pain. "Ah, I see," the doctor removed his hands. "North, Bunnymund, I need you to trust me in me for what I am about to do is quite intimate but please believe me when I say it is need." Bunny decided to speak for both of them "What are you planning to do?" "I am truly sorry for this but I am going to remove his underwear, normally for any physical I would just lift the band and take a quick peak underneath to make sure all the parts are where they should be but I've got a bad feeling about Jack's." "What do you think it is?" asked North. "I would rather not say it out loud around children's ears" he nodded towards Jack who's eyes were filled with unshed tears and a terrified look on his face. Duran put on a pair of latex gloves, "we will know in a moment, I apologize in advance for this Jack." The doctor started to pull the underwear down but Jack mustered as much strength as he had left and went to slap his hand but Bunny was quicker and caught his hand mid swing. "No snowflake" he said softly and patted his head. Dr. Duran pulled Jack's underwear off and it became very clear why Jack had just attempted to hit him. All three men gasped and Jack lowered his head in shame as thick tears spilled over his cheeks. Jack's thighs were bruised and so were his genitals. The doctor lifted and examined his penis and testicles and saw old and new cuts on those too. "Bunny I need you hold Jack on his side for me very firmly, he isn't going to like this." Duran spread the cheeks of Jack' butt apart and found what he was looking for. The skin inside of his butt was all torn and was an angry red. He placed a gloved finger inside feeling for Jack's prostate, it was swollen and clearly painful as Jack screamed out. Duran removed his hands from Jack and threw away his gloves. "How dare that mother fucker Pitch rape Jack?! who the fuck does he think he is?!" Bunny screamed "and what's with all the cuts and bruises on his genitalia?! He sodomized him!" Bunny please calm down for Jack, he pointed to the boy who had curled in on himself and was sobbing. "We can be angry at Pitch and curse him all we want later but now is not the time, now is time to comfort Jack."

North covered Jack with a sheet that Dr. Duran handed him. He patted Jack softly on his head and whispered kind words of encouragement to him. "It's going to be ok now Jack, none of us will ever let pitch hurt you ever again." When Jack made no attempt to even look at him North scooped him up in his arms. "You are so strong Jack, you are doing to well, I am so proud of you." Bunny rubbed his back "yea mate, I admire you." Jack just burried his face in shame into North's coat. Dr. Duran came over to interupt them "I'm sorry to break this up but we have a few more tests to do and I would rather get them done before that medicine starts wearing off." He took a hold of Jack's arm while he was turned away, motioning to North to hold him steady while he checked for a good vein and inserted the needle. Jack hissed in pain and tried to move but Bunny helped North hold him and with the medicine coarsing through his veins he just could't fight them off. The doctor continued to draw blood for a few minutes, having to be patient as a winter spirit's blood flowed slowly, he got six vials of it before he finally pulled the needle out and place guaze and a bandaid over the punture wound.

"Very good job Jack, we've got just a few more tests to do and we will be all done. Now for the next tests we will need to move to another room, we can get a wheel chair for him and wheel- Bunny held up his paw, "naw it's all good I will carry him myself and that way I can make sure he doesn't go anywhere." Bunny wrapped Jack up in a blanket and picked him up, North carried his clothes and they followed the doctor out of the room down a long hall way to another larger room with big machines in it and a small seperate room blocked off by glass. " Place Jack on the table there please Bunny." Jack began to fidget and tried to roll himself off but North caught him. "I know it's scary Jack but it will be over soon." Dr. Duran laid Jack onto his back making sure he was comfortable and covered "ok Jack we will be right back, we will be watching from this room, this is an x-ray machine, it just takes pictures, nothing will hurt you I promise, just try to lay still." The three men went into the room while the x-rays were taken, after each picture the doctor would come out and move jack and the machine into different positions and then go back into the glass room again. It took a total of about 5 minutes in all but it felt like an eternity to Jack.

Bunny picked up Jack again and they moved to another machine in the same room. "This machine is an MRI, magnetic resonance imaging, nothing painful. It takes pictures just like the x-ray machine but this takes more detailed pictures of everything, not just bones like the x-ray machine." He turned to the two older guardians "though I have to warn you it does take rather long, it will be about an hour, I will give Jack a little more of that calming medicine, then I will restrain him and his head to the bed." "What ya mean ya gonna restrain him?! What's all that about?" yelled Bunny angrily. "Easy Bunny it's only for Jack's own safety, you see that tube there? That is where Jack will be and many spirits get claustrophobic. I am sure Jack will too as flighty as he. If he some how manages to be able to move enough to try and get out he could get hurt. Also, this machine requires patients to be as still as possible to get clear images." "We understand Dr. Duran, do what you must" said North. Dr. Duran lightly forced Jack back down. North help him down while he gave Jack another syringe of the calming medicine. After Jack's eyes started to grow heavy he secured Jack's arms and legs into the restraints than strapped his head down to bed as well with a metal cage over his head. Jack looked to Bunny and tried to call out to him but no words came out. "It's ok snowball, we will be right in that room there watching ya to make sure nothing happens alright? We will see you soon." North rubbed his head and gave him a hug. Dr. Duran picked up Jack's hand and looked for a good vein with a needle in his hand " This is only dye, it won't hurt him, it just helps make the pictures clearer." He placed the needle into his hand and pushed the plunger down. Once the dye was gone he removed the needle. The older guardians made their way to the room and watched as Jack went inside the tube. Jack started panicking, he did not like this one bit and he wanted out but he just couldn't move. Suddenly he heard a voice in the machine " Jack? This is Dr. Duran, the machine is very loud, don't wory, it is supposed to sound that way and it won't hurt you. I've left the light on for you and I am going to play you some music. You have a button right next to your right arm and if you need anything or get too scared, just push it and we will stop the machine. There is nothing that will happen and we will be right here." "o okay" Jack said weakly.

The machine started up scaring Jack but Dr. Duran and the guardians talked to him for a while until Jack made no more noise. "It sounds like Jack must have fallen asleep" said North. "Well that's good, poor little bugger is tired out" said Bunny. "If you want" began Dr. Duran "you can go take a break, get something to eat, go for a walk. It will be another forty five minutes and Jack is asleep, he should be fine. North shook his head "We appreciate the offer but we will stay here with our boy, we can rest when all this is done."

The three men talked the rest of the time while they waited. The talked of what all the different tests were for and what the doctor was looking for. Even talked about what Jack's mental state could really be at the moment. Dr. Duran thought now was as good a time as any to voice his opinion. "Well based on the psychological and neurological tests I've done on Jack I do not believe that Jack is in his right mind." "what do you mean?" Bunny asked waiting for the doctor to continue. "He is aware of his surroundings and who he is, what day and year. But he doesn't seem to to have a sense of self. He doesn't register how he is truly feeling, whether it be hunger, fatigue, or mild pain. He wasn't even aware that he is overheated which is the first thing winter spirits usuall know about themselves. I believe all his time spent with Pitch has shattered his basic understanding of these things. Also, he is in a constant state of panic, always ready to obey his fight or flight response. He has a very short attention span and truthfully, I am not even sure how much he really understands what people are saying to him. His short term memory seems to slightly damaged as well as he couldn't remember the three words I told him to remember after we talked for a bit and when I asked him to try again, he couldn't remember what I had asked him to remember." North rubbed a hand down his face in frustration "What can we do?" "Unfortunetly my findings show me that Jack is no longer capable of really taking care of himself and I feel he needs a parental quardian. Jack is still a child yes and eternal one at that but he is younger mentally than he should be, I do believe this is a direct result from Pitch's abuse. I feel it is in Jack's best interest if I had a talk with Manny and ask him that he make one of you his parental guardian." The two guardians were quiet, both thinking over the doctor's words. Then Bunny spoke up "Aye, who do you think out us should be his parental guardian?" Dr. Duran pondered this for a second "honestly, I have to say North would be the best candidate. You have a home that is cold enough for Jack and is his element. Also, I know you will be stern with him and make sure what needs to be done is done. I know Toothiana would love to be Jack's parent and indeed I'm sure she could co-parent with you but her home is to warm for a winter sprite and I feel that she wouldn't force Jack to anything he didn't want to do, maybe if it was truly for his own good but I feel Jack would put up too much of a fight for her. From what I've seen that boy is the strongest winter spirit I have ever seen, granted I don't usually have winter spirits come here. They usually heal themselves with their ice and it's too warm for them here so when I do see one they are pretty desperate. Though even though I haven't really treated one I do see them but I've never seen a power like Jack's. Being in such a weakened state that I see, he shouldn't even be able to stand let alone run away and fight. The bursts of power of seen from are incredible. I do believe that a firmer hand is necessary to keep him in check." North swallowed at the thought, to understand how much strength and power their child truly had was amazing. "So you will ask Manny about a guardian for him?" Dr. Duran nodded. Just then the machine finally stopped.

The doctor moved the bed out from the tube and started unstrapping Jack. North picked up the sleeping frost child and cradled him gently in his arms. They followed the doctor to another room and North places Jack on the bed. North looked around the room and recognized some of the medical equipment. An EKG machine and an ultrasound machine. "What are these for? Is there something wrong with Jack's heart?" The doctor nodded pulled down the sheet Jack was wrapped up in and started placing the stickers and wires onto Jack's chest. He started the machine but Jack was starting to come to and Bunny had to grab a hold of his hands to keep him from pulling the wires off. "I heard a disturbing sound while I listened to his heart and I think I know what it is but I need to confirm it." The test went on for another two minutes, then Dr. Duran stopped it and removed the sensors from Jack's chest. He looked over the paper in his hand, face clearly not liking the irregular peaks and valley's of Jack's heart beat. The doctor removed the stethoscope from his neck and placed the buds in his ear and he moved it towards Jack. Jack growled at him and tried to push away from Bunny but Bunny held him firmly. "Easy son, easy." Dr. Duran placed the diaphram onto his chest and moved it around a few times seemingly trying to find something. He must have found it because he nodded to himself and pushed the scope a little firmer into his chest, Jack squirmed at the pressure. The doctor tooke the buds out of his ear but left the scope on Jack's chest. He held out the buds towards North. "Come and take a listen for yourself." Jack struggled and shook his head at North but North put the buds in his ears anyways. He listened closely and seem to understand immediately what the doctor was talking about. Having some medical knowledge he at least knew what a heart beating should sound like and Jack's was off, though whether or not that was normal for a winter spirit, he didn't know. " Do you hear that?" asked Duran, North nodded. North listened for a few more minutes, he moved the scope across Jacks's chest too to compare sounds. "I do not like that sounds of that" he said as he pulled out the buds and handed them back to the doctor. Dr. Duran held out the buds to Bunny. North replace Bunny, holding Jack down while Bunny put the buds in his ears and placed the scope to Jack's chest. He moved it around but quickly found the aweful sound without the doctor's help, also having some medical background. All the guardians had at least some medical training at least to take vitals and patch up wounds but nothing really more advanced than that but Bunny could tell that his heart wasn't supposed to sound like that. Bunny kept listening making Jack really uncomfortable. What was everyone hearing? Why were they taking turns listening to him? He really didn't like it. Bunny handed the stethoscope back to the doctor shaking his head.

Dr. Duran placed it back around his neck and pulled over a computer looking thing with probes on it over towards Jack. "You are doing great Jack, I know i have put through a lot today but I promise this is the last test and it won't hurt a bit. But it will be kind of sticky and it will feel gross, Just trust me ok?" The doctor turned to machine and turned the light off. North and Bunny and stood on either side of the bed and held Jack. Dr. Duran picked up a bottle of gel and squeezed it out onto the probe he placed the probe onto Jack's chest and moved it aroud pressing it firmly into his chest while watching the screen in front of him. Jack groaned quietly in pain. "I am sorry Jack, I don't mean to hurt you but I have to press hard to get a clear picture." He moved the probe over Jack's left pec in much the same way as he moved the stethoscope only gliding it across. He seemed to find what he was looking for as he held the probe in the same spot pressing firmer. "ow" Jack cried and the doctor gave a look that said he was sorry but kept the same pressure. He turned on a button and Jack's heartbeat became audible. Jack cringed as he listened to his own heart, it was creepy and it sounded kind of weird, not what he would have expected. The doctor pointed at the screen "It is just as I feared. Do you see that black space there?" North and Bunny stared intently at it and Jack tried to lift his head up off the bed to see it better but couldn't get a clear view. "That is hole" the doctor. Bunny and North's faces shared a look of shock. "A hole?" Jack whispered. Everyone looked at him then almost as if they forgot he was even there. "What does that mean?" Jack shook like a leaf and tears came to his eyes. "Perhaps it is best to talk about this in private" the doctor whispered to the two older guardians. Bunny put on a brave face for Jack and tried to act like nothing was wrong, "it's nothing you have to worry about ya little ankle biter, sometimes holes happen, no big deal." He patted Jack on the head but looked at North worriedly. He knew what this meant and how dangerous it was but there was no need to scare the child.

The doctor opened a cabinet and pulled out a new gown and underwear. "Tell you what we are going to do Jack, we are going to get you dressed and I am going to put you in your own room in the hospital wing." When Jack went to argue the doctor held his finger to Jack's lips. "Let me finish child, you are very dehydrated, and you still have a fever. I can't let you leave until we fix that. Do you have a headache Jack? please be honest with me." Jack only nodded but wouldn't talk. " That is from being dehydrated, I will tell you that it does involve a needle, it's an IV, a bag of saline solution the will be placed into your vein, but you will feel so much better, I promise. I will have Gwendolyn put it in, she is the best we have. Spirits don't usually feel it when she puts it in. It will take a while so we will put you in your own room with a bed so you can lay down and maybe take a nap?" Jack shook his head. "I know you are tired, I did a lot to you today, I know. You don't have to sleep if you don't want to though, but we will get you something to eat too, ok?" He turned to North and Bunny "you can help him dress now. I will go get Gwen and she will take you to the room" with that he turned and left the room.

North lifted Jack up so Bunny could dress him but Jack wrigled out of his grasp, "I can dress myself," he said pointedly. Bunny chuckled a bit "I don't know mate, you look out of it, maybe you should let me help." Bunny let Jack hold on to his shoulder as Jack stood up on shaking legs but Jack growled at him when Bunny bent down to help him put his feet through his underwear. Bunny was taken aback by this but also felt pride at the almost animalistic sound that came from the boy. When Jack bent down to put his feet through the room spinned and he fell to the floor. Bunny saw it coming and with his amazing speed scooped Jack up before he could collide with the floor. While Jack was still in a daze he quickly pulled his underwear up and North tied the gown around him. "You are something else frostbite, I will give you that. Not many can be in your position and still demand, let alone actually try to dress themselves." Jack gave him an angry glare but didn't fight anymore "shut up kangaroo." Bunny was about to argue with Jack for the millionth time that he wasn't a kangaroo when there was a knock at the door. "Who is it" asked North. "It's Gwen, I was told to take you to the room. Are you ready?" "Ah yes of course, please come in" North opened the door for her. "Thank you." She brought it with her a wheel chair. "Are you ready to move sweet snow?" Jack shook his head at the idea of a wheel chair. "I don't need that, I can walk." "Heh, yea says the bloody show pony who also said he could dress himself but almost kissed the floor." "Bunny what the hell?! Why would you mention that in front of her?" he pointed at Gwen. "It's embarrassing." "Awe, no need to worry about me Jack, I see and hear all kinds of embarrassing things here" Gwen smiled at him. "Jack, Bunny is right you shouldn't try to walk yet, you get one choice, you either sit in the chair or I let Bunny carry you." "Wow North, now you are getting bossy? Damn. I am not a child, I can do what I want." North picked up Jack and placed him in the wheel chair and held him there for a minute until he stopped squirming. "Listen to me son, you are and always will be a child to me, 300 year old spirit or not. No more games Jack, I will not let you injure yourself further." With that said Gwen pushed Jack out and headed down another hall, the two older guardians following closely behind.

when they got to the new room Jack took a look around, the wall wer painted blue, Jack's favorite color and the ceiling was also blue with white puffy clouds painted on it. It was nice enough Jack thought, at least it wasn't all white. Though, what really caught his eye was that the bed was next to a window, his eyes lit up like a christmas tree. Only problem is that Jack didn't have his staff to fly and it was high up. "Don't even think about it Jackson, I know that look, you aren't going anywhere." North stared down at him. How did North know him so well Jack thought? Gwen placed the wheel chair by the bed and made to help Jack get up on the bed but he blew a little frost on to her hand and she backed away. It wasn't to harm her, the frost wasn't dangerous, it was a warning. Jack gave her an apologizing look "I'm fine right here thanks." She nodded and backed away. North looked at him and pointed to the bed, "if you do not want to be treated like a child then stop acting like one and get in bed now. I can see that you are tired and wheel chair will be uncomfortable to sleep in" Jack looked shocked for a moment then shook it away and did as he was told. "I told you, no more games." If North was now going to be Jack's parental guardian then he was going to start acting like it and that meant being stern with the boy, it seemed to work. Gwen placed a metal pole next to Jack's bed and hung up to IV bags on it. She pulled up a chair and sat next to Jack taking his arm into her hands and looking for a vein. Jack looked to North to see if he would tell her to stop, when nothing came from the man, Jack resolved that he was going to get this IV whether he wanted it or not. "So jack, are you hungry? I can get all of you something to eat." Jack just shrugged, "Not really" but then his stomach betrayed him and growled. "Well your stomach says otherwise dear. There all done." Jack stared at her in disbelief. "You did it already" he whispered "I didn't even feel it." "That's right, I'm told that I am pretty good." She turned around and picked up a piece of paper handing it to Jack. "It's a menu, all of you can order whatever you want and it should be here in a half hour. My personal favorite is the chicken soup, it in one of the best items we have, it's ordered a lot. They will even cool it down for your wintery self. Anyway, for now just get comfortable, it's going to be a while for you to absorb all the fluids. I will check on you in hour to change the bag. Oh, before I forget." She went out of the room for a moment then returned with a blanket, it was dark blue with silvery white snowflakes emroidered onto it. Jack thought it was beautiful. Gwen layed it over him, it was so soft and he was surprised when he felt it made him cool rather than warm. "This is for you sweet snow, you can even take it home with you when you leave. It should help with the fever too, I will be giving you another dose of medicine for that in an hour when I change the bags. Bunny , North, you both order something as well, use the phone and call the number on the menu, just know it takes about a half an hour so you may want to order soon. Now, I'm sorry but I must go, I have other patients I need to tend to. Rest up snowy" she called out as she left the room.

North and Bunny each decided what they wanted to eat, they were just waiting for an answer from Jack but he was acting like he had no interest in food. "Come on mate, you got to eat something, we have been here quite a while and we know you are hungry, I could hear your stomach growl even if I didn't have these sensitive ears." Jack just shook his head "sorry, I'm just not really hungry." "What do you mean by you are not hungry I already told you that I know that you are." It was as Bunny and Jack argued about lunch is when North remembered something that Dr. Darus had said about Jack not understanding his own feelings which in this case must be hunger. North decided to try and test his theory. "Why don't you eat much Jack?" Jack seemed to be a bit surprised at the question but then brushed it off. "Please tell me Jack and be truthfull." Jack stared at the floor "Pitch never fed me much, sometimes I went for days or weeks at a time without eating. Sometimes even drinking if I managed to piss him off which was all the time so he had to punish me. He said he fed me just enough to keep my body going but not enough to use my powers efficiently and never to feel full. I guess I just got used to not eating so much that I learned to ignore my hunger, eventually it became just another pain like all the others. Hunger didn't mean anything and now I guess I don't really recognize it for what it is." Bunny's ears drooped and North gave him a sad look. "Well then I guess I shall order for you, maybe seeing food will make you hungry, I think the soup Gwen suggested is best, it will be easy on your stomach." North called their orders in to the kitchen. Then they just had to wait.

Bunny pulled out some eggs, paint brushes and paint out of the long strap he always wore. "I'm going to go nuts if I got nothing to do but talk to you for the next hour." Jack glared at him. "Hey how do you think I feel? I don't even want to be here, I keep getting forced into all this." North stood up and pushed both their faces away from each other. "That is enough, fighting does not help." "Settle down North, Jack and I aren't really fighting, just having a friendly go at each other. Isn't that right frosty?" "Yea North the the fuzzball is right, just for fun." North pinched the bridge of his nose "ah, give me break, I have two children to watch over then." He picked up a magazine he had found in one of the drawers and started reading. "Well he is boring, say Jack, do you want to paint one? Jack gave a small smile and accepted the egg, paint and brush. They painted in silence for a while until there was a knock at the door, the attendant brought in the trays of food and placed them on the bedside table, then she left. "Come on Jack, maybe now you will want to eat" but when North looked over Jack was asleep curled up in his blanket, the egg and painting utensils left neatly at the foot of the bed. " Poor little sprite, I knew the Gumby was tired. I'd be tired too if I went through all those tests." North nodded in agreement. They ate in silence for a few minutes, then Bunny whispered to North so as not to wake their sleeping snow spirit. "Frostbite is pretty beaten up, that's obvious but what of the other tests? How will the results be? What about his heart? The hole? Do you think Pitch did it? Maybe stabbed him?" " I don't know what the tests will reveal. I do think his heart has something to do with Pitch but I am not sure how. He would have died long ago if Pitch had stabbed him in his heart." They both finished up eating as they contemplated on each other' words.

It had been an hour and one of Jack's IV bags had just run out of fluid. A knock was heard on the door before it opened and Gwen stepped into the room. "Dr. Darus has all the results from Jack's tests and would like to go over them with you...in private" she motioned to Jack who was still sleeping comfortably. "Don't worry I will stay with him until you come back. I will watch over him." The two guardians walked out of the room and headed to the doctor's office. Gwen waved them good bye then got to work. She changed the IV bags and made sure the new bag was flowing properly. She lifted Jack's arm and inspected the needle itself to make sure it hadn't shifted. Everything seemed fine so she went about checking his vitals while he slept. She found his pulse on his wrist and pressed it whilelooking at her watch for a minute, then wrote it down. She took his temperature, it was 52 degrees now, better than it was but still not good. She had his medicine to give him for it when he woke up. She pulled out her blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around his upper left arm so as not to hurt the IV flow in his right arm. She put the buds of the stethoscope in her ears and placed the diaphram just under the cuff and pumped it, Jack stirred but hadn't fully come to yet. She released the pressure and he settled. She kept the buds in her ears and went to move the scope to his chest, she slipped it under his gown and listened in a few different spots until she found the hole. Yes, it was definetly a hole, it sounded aweful. Unfortunetly that is when Jack decided to rejoin the waking world and snapped into consciousness so fast is startled the nurse. She removed the stethoscope and watched him as his eyes wandered around the room looking like he wasn't fully aware yet.

"Where are North and Bunny? They are supposed to be here. They said they wouldn't leave me." Gwen could see he was clearly distraught that the other guardians weren't here. She had to get ahold of the situation quickly. "It's alright sweet snow, they just had to go talk to the doctor." "Why didn't the doctor talk to me?" "Because you were sleeping." "Oh yea guess that makes sense, I still wish they waited for me." He looked worried, Gwen decided she needed to distract him. "Oh hey look, you did get the chicken soup." "I did? oh yea, I remember. I must of been asleep when lunch got here." "She brought the side table over to him and handed him the spoon. "Why don't eat now while we wait for them, ok?" Jack or should he said he stomach did decide he was hungry and ate half the bowl before taking a breath. "My goodness, you were hungry. You should eat slowly." She handed him the crackers and he put them in the soup then ate the rest. She handed him his apple juice and he drank it quicly too. Feeling satisfied he allowed himself to lay back against the pillows with his new favorite blanket and blankly watched as the IV bag dripped. Then he turned his attention back to the nurse, watching her as she was writing. "What were you doing before? I thought all the tests were done?" "Oh sorry, they are I was just checking your vitals, just something we do often when someone stay with us for a while." Jack looked like he wanted to ask something else but was afraid to ask. "What's on your mind hunny?" "But I'm not staying here for a while right? I was just told I had to get fluids and then I can go home. I want my staff back, so I can fly, I've got places to make snow storms and such." She looked at him with a sorrowful look and he didn't miss it. "What? Why does everyone keep looking at me that way? Everyone knows something that I don't. What's wrong with my heart, I heard something about a hole?" Gwen knew she should try to difuse the situation. He shouldn't know about it just yet, it would make him too upset. Especially knowing what they would have to do about it. "It's nothing you need to worry about sweet heart, eeverything is under control. You just need to rest, that's all." Jack shook his head, sure he was an eternal chid but he wasn't dumb, he knew when things were being kept from. "I want to know, it's my body and I have a right to know. Something is up. Everyone has listened to my chest with that thing you wear." He pointed to the stethoscope "Including North and Bunny, they had the same look on their faces. I want to hear it too." "Jack I don't think that is good idea." "Please? I don't want to be in the dark. I'm scared. I don't want to be the only one who doesn't know." "Alright" She removed the stethoscope from around her neck and placed the buds into his ears. "First I want you to hear what a heart beat should sound like." She placed the scope onto her chest and let him listen to different areas for a few minutes, then removed it from her chest. "Now this is what your heart sounds like" She placed it onto his chest moving it to the spot where she found the hole. As he listened his eyes grew wide, it was weird enough to listen to the sound of his own heart beating but was worse was the sound it made, it definetly didn't sound like Gwen's. "Do you hear the difference?" "What does it mean?" She knew this was coming but didn't see a way out of it now so she figured she mine as well be honest. "A hole in your heart is not good, it will need to be repaired. Your blood isn't flowing as it should be and that is why you are fatigued. That is why it takes so much out of you when you use your powers." "How did you know that?" "Jack I'm a nurse I know what happens." "Well, how do they fix it." Now this was the part she really didn't want to answer but she knew if she didn't he would only push her. She couldn't just leave him, she had promised she would stay with him and someone had to watch him. So she knew she had to answer his question. "They will have to perform surgery, you will go to sleep and they will have to cut open your chest. They will then sew up your heart and then your chest back together." When she mentioned surgery and them cutting open his chest Jack lost it. He started to hyperventilate and his heart sped up. He was sweating and tears flowed freely from his eyes. Then his eyes rolled in the back of his head and his world went black.

Meanwhile, North and Bunny made it down several hallways before finally finding the doctor's office. When they entered they were surprised to see Sandy and Tooth there as well. All chatter stopped once the two guardians entered the room. "Ah, you are right on time, the others just got here" Dr. Duran said as he nodded his head towards Tooth and Sandy. "I felt it was important for all you guardians to be present to hear the results." Toothiana just couldn't hold herself back and just had to release a whole bunch of questions, probably all of which the doctor was going to answer if she would just be patient. "Where is Jack? Is he alright? Are his test results bad?" The doctor was clearly overwhelmed by her. Sandy placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down and let the doctor answer. "I have to agree with Toothy, lets get on with it, I think North and I have been here long enough" said Bunny. "Alright, I will answer everything but please everyone just sit down, this is going to be a lot to take in. Now first things first, North, I did ask Manny about what we discussed earlier and he did agree with me that Jack needs to be supervised at all times. He has officially made you Jack's parental guardian." What?" asked Tooth. "Jack may be a child, but he is a 300 year old eternal child spirit. Why Would he need a parental guardian and to be honest with myself, why not me?" Dr. Duran sighed "I knew these questions were coming, Tooth, you are welcome to become a co-parental guardian with North. North has been named main parental guardian because it is best if Jack stays with North at the north pole. Unfortunetly, your palace is much too warm for a winter spiri, he can handle it in short bursts but not for the length of time we are looking at. Second, based on my exam, it doesn't appear that Jack has all his mental faculties. Part of the exam was neurological and psychological. As I told North and Bunny, what I found is that Jack doesn't register his own pain or physical needs such as the need for food and sleep. He does seem to have short term memory loss at times as well. His body appears to have trouble following every demand Jack makes on himself as well. Not too metion he is in a constant state of fear, always ready to use his fight or flight response. Overall, I do not believe that Jack is capable of properly taking care of himself." Tooth and Sandy looked shocked, North and Bunny just stared at the floor. "What about physically mate? asked Bunny. "Honestly, the kid is a mess and I am not really sure what is worse, his mental or his physical state?" For starters, he has a high fever that is quite dangerous and I heard a touch of pneumonia in his lungs. He has 4 broken ribs and all of them are bruised. Cuts, bruises and burns are littered across every part of his body. His chest and torso are bad but the worst part, and I apologize in advance for this, is his genitalia." "What?!" Tooth cried. "What do you mean?! There is something wrong with his...private parts? Why would you even look there?" Bunny held back from smacking the doctor across his face. I am sorry but it is something that I do have to check as a part of a standard medical examination, please forgive me. Normally I would only briefly look beneath his underwear to make sure all parts were where they are supposed to be and looked normal but I had a hunch about something. Sure enough I was right, the boy was raped by Pitch Black." Toothiana looked like she was going to pass out "raped, by pitch?" she kept whispering over and over again. The doctor shook his head "actually I shouldn't say raped, I should say sodomized. His penis and testicles have old and new cuts, his thighs are bruised and his anus is torn. I honeslty don't know how the boy can even have the strength to stand let alone walk, but the boy runs and flys like it's no big thing. He is not registering just how bad a state he actually is in." Tooth was crying hard into Sandy's shoulder, he just held her close with unshed tears in his eyes as well. North and Bunny just stared at each other, concern and hurt in their eyes. Dr. Duran cleared his throat and waited for everyone's attention. "I am sorry but I have far more worse news to tell you." "Worse? How could it be worse?" Tooth continued to cry. The doctor breathed in deeply thinking of how to say his next words carefully but realized there was no easier way. "Jack Frost is dying." All of them gasped staring at him. "What?! You want to repeat what you just said and explain it?" yelled Bunny. "Jack has a decent sized hole in his heart and it is slowly killing him. The worst part is, the boy doesn't even know it. I believe it is because of Pitch. Jack was not stabbed or wounded in the heart, no this has to do with his center. He is the guardian of fun, fun is his center, but Pitch has broken the boy and he no longer sees fun. He is far too scared and hurt so his center is broken, which is literally eating away at his heart." "What can we do? How do we fix this?" North asked hopefully. "Jack requires an open heart surgery to fix the wound. Unfortunetly it is no light matter, it is very involved and is painful. It will require a lot of recovery time about six months to a year before he is fully healed. Much of his recovery in the beginning will require him to be on bed rest with round the clock care. This is not a task for the week at heart, sorry for the pun, but I need to make sure you guardians are up to the task or we will lose Jack Frost forever." Tooth looked up with determination shining on her face "of course we are up to the task, we are guardians, we can handle this." The doctor smiled at her "I am grateful for your enthusiam and I am glad to see you want to help. But there are some things we need to do first. Jack needs to be treated for his injuries and illness. Then must be given time to heal. He is too weak to have surgery now, if we were to do it right away he would die on the table. Next you all must brush up on your medical knowledge if you want Jack to come home from the hospital after surgery. If not then he will have to stay here. If he does go home afterwards you will not be alone of course, we would send Gwen, one of my nurses to live with you while Jack recovers. Though, I have to be honest with you. My personal opinion is with or without the surgery I don't feel that Jack will ever be the same again." "Why not?" asked Tooth. "Well, you see one is very depressed and becomes a shell of the person they one were when their center is broken. The heart surgery Jack will be put through also makes one very depressed. He won't be able to fly or spread snow for a long while and without being able to use his powers his spirits will be low. Whoever you knew as Jack Frost before is no longer Jack Frost."

The guardians all knew what the doctor was getting at. Having a broken center was like having your sould ripped out of your body, your reason for living gone. Surgery, while it may fix the whole in his heart was no guarantee to fix his center. They could only hope that the love, kindness, and caring they show him during his recovery will be enough to repair it. If not the kindest thing to do would be for Manny to take him home. Back to the moon with him, essentially death, their form of heaven. If not he would be doomed to wander the earth a souless doll for all time. Bunny shivered at the though of it. Speaking of Manny, where was he? Why isn't here? After all Jack was created by him, made into Jack Frost when the human fell through the ice and died protecting his sister. The guardians weren't created, they were all born and then chosen later in life based on their talents. Jack was the only guardian to have ever died to become a guardian. What would he say about all this?

"So then" Bunny decided to voice his thoughts and broke through the silence that was so thick you could cut through it with a knife. "Where the hell is Manny then? He must be knowin what's goin on if he gave his permission for North to be Jackie's new dad, not that I mind. But, I mean, he made Jack. You think he would want to be here for the lil' bugger." "That is good question Bunny" said North. Toothiana fidgeted nervously in her seat "um, I know we did too and we have no excuse for it, but didn't Manny abandon Jack? I mean I don't really think that. It's obvious that he cares since he made us bring Jack here and gave North parental rights over him. Though, Jack said that Manny didn't talk to him ever throughout his whole life except to tell him his name." Sandy saw the Man in the Moon materilizing in the room but the others didn't seem to notice. Sandy tried to get their attention, but they all seemed to content to ignore him. North had a sudden realization hit him "Why did Manny not tell us that Pitch had Jack then? Do you think Manny did not know?" They all pondered the question until a voice spoke the answer from behind North.

"Telling you wouldn't have helped, I could't find Pitch myself. There was no way you would have been able to find him then" voiced MiM. "I even tried to ask Mother Nature but she refused to help. She said that Jack may be a seasonal spirit but she didn't want to fight her father unless she absolutely had to. I had hoped that by making Jack a guardian, Pitch would let him go, not wanting to get tangled into a mess with the guardians. But Jack as a guardian seemed to only help his cause more and fuel his rage." "Why did you not try to talk to us? We could have helped you loo." asked Tooth. MiM looked defeated. "I know I should have, I guess I lost hope." He looked to Bunny. Bunny being the guardian of hope was saddened by this. "Either way mate, you must have had a different reason for not talking to Jack for so long before Pitch." "I do" MiM whispered, almost sounded ashamed. "Well, out with it then." Bunny was unwillingly to wait any longer. MiM sighed. "The truth is I've been avoiding Jack because I don't know how to talk to him. I can't talk to him knowing who he used to be." "Are you talking about Jackson Overland? The human Jack was before?" asked Tooth curiously. "No Toothiana it goes farther back than Jackson Overland." Sandy encouraged him with a smile to continue. "Jack Frost has had many lives even before Jackson Overland but each time he has been reincarnated he can no longer remember who he once was. Even the fact he was once my guardian." Everyone looked shocked. "You mean to say that Jack is?" asked Tooth. "Yes" MiM said softly. "Jack is my nightight."

"Nightlight?! He has been gone for centuries. We thought he had died" Tooth said confused. MiM ran his hand down his face in frustration "Please let me explain. You remember how Nightlight no longer stayed by my side after he and Pitch were accidently released from Pitch's prison the first time? Well, he didn't remember me when he woke up. He roamed the earth for a few years until the children at Santoff Clausen were attacked by fearlings. He helped them and that is how he met Katherine. I am pretty sure he had a thing for her and she for him. Anyway, you remember when Pitch attacked again and tried to turn Katherine into a fearling. Nightlight gave his kiss that would cure anything even death to her and was no longer a nightlight after that. He turned into a human child. But he has had many mortal forms since then. This last time though that he died, I turned him into a spirit again before he could reincarnate or go to heaven. I told him he was Jack Frost and watched him as he played by himself, learning about his powers. I watched over him always but I could never bring myself to talk to him, to answer his questions. I knew he didn't remember any of his other lives especially as Nightlight. I didn't know how to answer him so I avoided him."

Bunny was very visibly angry, Sandy tried to get his attention to stop the blow up he knew was about to happen but he didn't get the chance. "What the Fuck MiM?! You got some real nerve you know that? Ignoring Jack all those years and making him think no one cared about him because you couldn't deal with him not being Nightlight anymore?! Of all the selfish shit I've heard?!" "I know, I was selfish and that is no excuse for ignoring Jack. However, I'm not the only one who ignored him, you all did a fine job of that yourselves." They all knew is was true, and they couldn't forgive themselves for it. They ignored a child, a child who was so desperate for love and attention. They failed to see who the real Jack Frost was and let him fall to the hands of their greatest enemy Pitch Black. But what is done is done, they can't change the past. All they could do now was move forward and treat Jack the way they should have. MiM's words stung them all but Bunny wasn't having any of it. He knew what he had done and hated himself for it but he wasn't going to let anyone hold it over his head. Especially when Jack's own creator couldn't be bothered with him. "Well you know what Manny? What you said hurts and I deserve it but I say you are more in the wrong than I am. You made him and then ignored him. Jack Frost was your responsibility and you abanded him. You are the reason he was taken by Pitch. Sure we weren't welcoming to him and we didn't keep him from Pitch either. But even if you hadn't wanted to talk to him yourself you could have said something to us about him. I am sure any one of us, even I would have taken care of him for you. Now look at this mess you have made? I am not saying I don't take responsibility for my own actions, I do, so you should too." Bunny finished his ranting, he was seething but finally started to cool down. Being able to vent and say what he wanted to say really helped. Tooth and North were about to scold Bunny when Gwen barged in violently through the door, almost hitting the floor but Dr. Duran caught her before she could.

Dr. Duran held her shaking form, looking her over for injuries. "Gwendolyn, are you alright? what happened?" Gwen was panting, trying to catch her breath so she could speak. "It's the frost child" she managed to gasp out, clearly she had run to get there. "There is a blizzard in his room and it's heading out into the hallway. He snapped and I couldn't calm him down. I locked the door, hopefully he won't get out." The doctor nodded "I see. You did very well, thank you for telling us." He looked down to see her hand was covered with ice. "Why don't you go get one of the other nurses to treat your hand, melt the ice before it gets frostbite. We will handle it from here." They all left the room, walking down the hallway to Jack's room when Bunny stopped MiM at the door. "No, not you. You caused all this. You wait till we call ya."

When everyone got inside the room it was a mess, snow and ice on every last surface of the room. It was snowing violently and the wind was blowing hard. Jack Frost himself was in the middle of it all, levitating just above the ground. He was panting and sweating, his hair stuck to head. His arm was bleeding from where he had ripped the IV out. He was shaking at the force of his crying. He looked flushed, the fever must have gotten worse again. His breathing was ragged, you could hear the wheezing from the pneumonia in his lungs. Despite al this, the boy was in a fighting stance. Ready to make a move if anyone came near to him. How was he even standing, scratch that, how was flying? His staff was gone. "How is he flying?" asked Bunny "we took it away to get him here." North chimed in at that "I wonder how his powers are so strong? I thought staff held his power but he has been using an incredible amount of power since we have been here? MiM quietly entered the room without Bunny's permission and answered for them. "He isn't really flying, merely levitating. However, he can not truly fly without the staff. The staff does not contain Jack's powers, it is only a conduit, a tool used to focus his power. That is why it looks as if winter exploded everywhere." Bunny glared at MiM "I thought I told you to stay outside?!" "I had to come in, I have to help. I can make Jack listen." "You can make Jack listen?! I highly doubt that, he won't even listen to North and I can tell that kid loves North." "I can try at least."

Bunny and MiM were pulled out of their argument by Jack's yells. "I want you all to leave now! Let me go!" "Oh sweet tooth," Tooth tried to sooth him "we just want to help you, it will be ok, just come down from there." "No!" She tried to fly towards him but he shot out a light frost as a warning to her, she backed away slightly. Bunny tried to swipe him from the air with his massive paw, but Jack moved too fast. "Jack, please snowball, come down." Bunny looked at him hopefully. "You are sick, can't you tell? You are only going to make it worse. I can see using your powers is straining you." Jack shook his "What would you know huh? You don't anything about me." Bunny looked ashamed "you are right about that kid, but that is not going to stop me now." North could see that Jack wasn't responding to Bunny and stepped in to see if he could help. "Please, son, please come down here Jack, we want to help you." The storm around Jack intensified at that. "No! I won't let you cut open my chest!"

That is when Dr. Duran looked at Gwen he had stepped into the room just after MiM. "Gwen, what did you tell Jack?" Gwen looked at Dr. Duran then stared at the floor as she answered him. "He wanted to know what was wrong with his heart. He knew that we all knew something and he was persistent. I figured then being honest was the best thing I could do. But when I told him what was wrong and how to fix it he passed out. When he came to he became violent. Ripped out his IV, frosted me and started this storm. I am so sorry, I didn't know what else to do! I was all alone with him and I couldn't leave him, I had promised to watch over him. He wouldn't stop asking and could tell if I was lying!" Gwen had her hands covering her face crying hard. The doctor tried to calm her by rubbing circles into her back. "It's alright Gwen. I know why you told him, no one is mad at you."

Jack continued to shout and push his storm forward. "No, I won't let you cut me up. You are all just like Pitch, you want to torture me and then kill me." They all stared at him in complete silence for about a minute or two before Sandy starting forming images over his head. I plus sign and heart with a crack in it. Jack seemed to understand but shook his head. "I don't believe you, it's just to hurt me, I can't trust anyone. That is what Pitch told me. He said that no one would ever want to help me or would want me around. He taught me that if anyone did it was only to get something or to kill me." Tooth began to cry, she just couldn't handle the thought that Jack believed they were trying to hurt him. "Oh my Jack, I am so sorry that Pitch lied to you like that. We really do want to help you and we do want you around. That is why we are trying to save you not kill you." Jack floated around the room as Bunny and North tried to grab him. "How is he so damn fast?" Bunny yelled in frustration. "Jack be nimble Jack be quick. Come on cottontail, I am sure you have heard the ryme." Tooth and Sandy took to the air but were stopped each time with icicles. They were at a stand still.

Jack was visibly shivering as his fever got worse "no, Pitch said you would say that." MiM thought enough was enough. The guardians clearly weren't making any progress with the boy. He figured it was time he took care of it. "Jackson Overland Frost!" Jack went rigid and stared at MiM. "You will come down this instant, stop this storm and let us take care of you." At his authoritative command Jack got angry. How dare did MiM think he could tell him what to do after ignoring all these years. The room dropped in temperature by another couple degrees. The ice got thinker and the snow fell faster. Bunny chuckled at this "you know Manny it looks like you are getting really far with frostbite there. He almost looks like he wants to listen to you." Bunny laughed hard at his sarcastic comment. "I told you if the little ankle biter won't even listen to us, there is no way he will listen to you. Your guardians doesn't seem to like you very much." MiM shot Bunny a warning glare and decided to try again. "Jack, now! You will die if you don't..." That is when Jack could no longer take it anymore and punched MiM in the face with his fist covered in ice. Everyone watched as MiM hit the ground, knocked out cold from the attack. Bunny smirked "well that will teach him, serves him right I'd say." Bunny took the opportunity before Jack could float away and grabbed him around his waist, being gentle not to hurt his ribs but firm enough so Jack couldn't get away. "Let me go!" Jack screamed at him and ice shot out and crawled up Bunny's arm. Bunny flinched at the cold and pain but he wouldn't let go of Jack. "Naw mate I can't do that." Bunny moved Jack so he was facing him and held his chin up, making Jack look into his eyes. "Listen frostbite, I know we screwed up big time with you. I will admit that I have been a serious asshole. I blamed you for the blizzard of 68, thinking you did it on purpose without asking you the real reason. Then I blamed you for watch happened to easter when he fought Pitch. We but mostly I deserve whatever you've go to throw at us, ok? But please just listen to me. You are dying Jack Frost. Your heart has a hole in it because your center is broken, Pitch broke you. The only way to fix it is to perform surgery. I am not going to lie to you, it is painful and will take a long time to recover but it's the only way we have to fix ya." Jack was shaking in his grasp, no longer feeling strong enough to fight him. "Please Jackie, let us help you. I don't care what that rat bastard Pitch told you but none of it is true. You have to believe us frosty that we want you are around and want you well again." Jack stared at the floor in shame but Bunny held his chin again. "Listen, we love you snowflake, I love you." Jack couldn't believe his ears. Did Bunny really just say they loved him, that he loved him? It was more than he could ever hope for. He was overwhelmed, he caved in to his emotion, pain and sickness. He cried hard into Bunny's furry chest. Tooth chimed in "Bunny is right we all love and care for you Jack Jack." Sandy formed images over his head of Jack being in the middle of a group hug with the guardians. North walked over to Jack carefully, when he didn't flinch North placed his hand on top of Jack's head and began to run his thick fingers through Jack's hair. North watched as Jack lightly leaned into the touch though he would never admit to it. "I love you, like you were my own son." North debated on telling Jack that he was his son now in a way but decided against it for now. He would wait until Jack calmed down before riling him up again.

Jack stayed still and the room's temperature increased, the storm stopped, the ice melted and the snow receded. Jack practically leaned into Bunny as it was clear he wasn't able to to hold himself up any longer. He was exhausted from his show of power. Everyone waited patiently wondering what their next move would be, careful not to upset Jack. A few more minutes passed and Bunny found that the boy had become competely lax as he had succumbed to the call of sleep. The sandman came over to him and sprinkled sand over Jack, ensuring that he would have good dreams while he slept.