So this is my first story/fanfiction on . Please, no being mean even if it is bad. Which it probably is. Oh Well. If you have any suggestions, please review and tell me how you liked it and if you would want me to write more ROTG stories. Enjoy!

The day started out normally. Well, at least as normally as a day would be for the 5 guardians. Jack made a wonderful breakfast at the Pole of bacon and pancakes, and then everyone went out to do their busy jobs. Except North, because Christmas had just passed a few months ago and he was trying to relax due to the amount of stress preparing for Christmas he had had to go through.

But for Jack, things were quite different. Because a group of hikers had gone hiking in the Appalachians during avalanche and landslide season, he was extremely busy trying to avoid letting the hikers get killed and maintaining snow almost everywhere else in the world.

"Ugh. Humans are just so stupid so much of the time. Why can't they think for themselves and decide it's probably not a good idea to go hiking in the middle of March… They could have frozen to death or gotten killed by an avalanche!" Jack Frost mumbled to himself, annoyed at the hikers and the effort they made him exert to keep them safe.

Jack sighed with relief as he saw them near the end of the dangerous part of the trail, where avalanches were most common.

"Well I guess it's fine now and I can leave them alone…" he thought aloud to himself while hovering a few hundred feet over the hikers.

If this had been a hundred years ago, he probably would have just left the hikers to fend for themselves and pay for their stupidity of hiking in the middle of December. But being a guardian had changed him. He hadn't even noticed himself changing until Bunny made a comment about how Jack might return to his old heartless self, when Jack told them what he did about a pair of hikers stuck in a blizzard on a mountain in Northern Utah. He at first had wanted to let them die, but then realized that doing something like that would be unfit for a guardian, seeing as guardians were supposed to protect the children and people of the world.

Jack started as he heard rumbling from above the hikers and sharply looked up, worried an avalanche would form and crush the hikers. Apparently the hikers heard it too, and had to prove their ignorance about hiking even more, because one of them yet out a yelp and started running down the mountain as fast as she could. And then of course the two others had to scream at her to stop running and make even more noise, causing the rumbling to get even louder. Because Jack had a connection with ice and snow, being Jack Frost, he knew that an avalanche was imminent and his reflexes started to kick in as he rushed to swoop up the hikers with the wind.

But all of a sudden, he was surrounded by nightmares, Pitch Black's evil creations. He looked up and spotted Pitch laughing atop a craggy outcrop and cursed himself for not noticing sooner. But as his vision focused to farther away, (he had rough-legged hawk1 vision, thanks to being the spirit of winter) he noticed there were two figures at the top of the mountain. He squinted trying to recognize the second person, and noticed that it was actually Broken Shadow, a night spirit friend of his. Broken Shadow was actually his first real friend, and although they didn't talk much, they were as close as brothers.

"Stop being a coward and come down and fight me yourself, Pitch!" Jack furiously yelled at the figure dressed in black.

"Oh, but this is just so much fun, how could I possibly stop now?" Pitch yelled back, adding an evil cackle for effect.

Pitch thrust an apparently unconscious Broken Shadow outward over the edge.

That was the last straw for Jack. With a yell, he froze all of the nightmares he could, excluding a few, which had the sense to dissolve and reform next to Pitch.

Pitch frowned but soon started smiling when he realized that although his plan hadn't gone according to, well, plan, it didn't matter because he still had a hostage. Four hostages, actually, if he included the hikers, which still weren't out of the way of the incoming avalanche.

Speaking of the avalanche, it was now roughly half a mile away and gaining ground fast. Jack flew as fast as he could to face the avalanche. He was planning to stop it, a trick he had used before but had knocked him out cold (hehe… bad puns da?) for a few hours. He was betting on the fact that he could stop it and still have a bit of energy left to ensure Broken Shadow's safety.

But being Pitch, he had to make it even harder for Jack, so he decided it would be funny to watch Jack attempt to save both Broken Shadow and the hikers. He dropped Broken Shadow off of the small cliff he was standing on. After seeing the look on Jack's face, he vanished and appeared a half second later riding a nightmare a few hundred feet up. Pitch laughed gleefully and rose even higher, only staying to watch the havoc that ensued.

When Jack saw Pitch drop Broken Shadow, everything seemed to go in slow motion. These were his thoughts: first stop the avalanche while simultaneously creating a soft bed of snow for Broken Shadow to land on. As Broken Shadow got closer, Jack realized there was something strange about him. First of all, Broken Shadow never wore gray or purple… always black. Second of all, his hair was blonde. (Strange enough, being a night spirit.) Third of all… spirits don't fall apart and crumble into grains of black sand! Sure enough, who Jack had thought was Broken Shadow was actually a dummy made out of nightmare sand!

Jack screamed in frustration, which he very rarely did, and completely focused on saving the hikers. He tried stopping the avalanche, but realized one second too late that it was too strong for him to hold back, even if he used all his energy on it. He settled on shoving the hikers out of the way with a wall of snow and ice. However, because he was so focused on saving the hikers he forgot about saving himself. As the avalanche hit him, he prayed to MiM (for those of you who don't know, Man in Moon) for there not to be debris and other sharp objects in the snow hurtling toward him.

But no such luck. Apparently there were many sharp rocks concealed inside the giant wave of snow crashing down on him, and he heard rather than felt a spear-like rock thud into his chest. He gasped in pain, and began to think how angry Tooth would be at him for getting hurt like this before everything went black…

Meanwhile, at the Pole…

North was getting worried. Jack had been missing in action for a week, and while this was normal activity for Jack, he never just ran off without letting them know where he was going.

North had decided to use the lights and call all of the other guardians to the Pole for an emergency meeting to see if any of them knew where he was. None of them had come yet, but that was to be expected as both Bunny and Tooth were very busy. Especially bunny, seeing as it was right before Easter, the busiest time of the year for Bunny.

North started as he heard a knock on the door, and Bunny burst in, followed by Tooth and Sandman a few moments later.

"Okay, what's this all about?" Bunny complained as he settled into the couch in North's room.

Sandman made a few question marks above his head and pointedly looked at North.

"Okay, okay. Will explain soon, but first, elves will make tea." North wearily said.

After the elves ran in with tea, spilling quite a few cups, North finally agreed to tell them the problem.

"Well, to put it simply, I am worried about Jack. He has been gone a week and I have no idea where he is. He told me he was going to be back 5 days ago, but I haven't received word from him since he left."

"Crikey, what has the drongo done this time?" Bunny exclaimed, annoyed but worried.

"I actually heard something about an avalanche that nearly killed 3 hikers in the Appalachians around the time Jack was out doing his job. One of my fairies reported it to me after hearing it on a jumbotron in Pennsylvania." Tooth reported, looking extremely worried and close to tears. "Oh, Sweet Tooth, what have you gotten yourself into this time…"

North thought about this for a moment, then decided that it was the best lead they had.

"Did you hear anything Bunny?" North inquired.

"Nope. But to think Frostbite has gotten himself hurt somewhere in the back-of-bourke, sheesh. He really likes to scare us." Bunny commented, sounding rather stressed.

"And Sandy? Is he sleeping, and can you track him with your dreams?" North asked.

Sandy shook his head, then nodded, then looked confused. Finally he shook his head, signaling that he had tried to find Jack but couldn't.

"Alright then, that settles it. We have to go look for Jack in the Appalachian mountains near where the avalanche happened." North reported.

Everyone nodded their heads, agreeing in grim silence.

1 Hour Later…

Jack had woken up to a throbbing pain in his chest, and darkness all around him. Luckily enough, his staff was still in his hand, or at least touching his hand. It was extended horizontally to the left of him.

He concentrated on guessing how far under he was, and realized that he was only about 2 meters down, which was extremely lucky considering the size of the avalanche. He slowly moved and wriggled his way out of the snow, ignoring the intense pain in his chest.

Finally he broke through to the surface and was immediately blinded by the light that rushed into his eyes. He dragged himself from the snow and collapsed, feeling blood seep through his trademark blue hoodie. A wave of nausea passed through him and he fell unconscious for a few seconds before he opened his eyes again. He was now spread-eagle on his back in the snow. He could tell that his wound was bad and he really needed to get help, or he would most likely die. He worked up his courage to actually look down and see how bad his condition was.

3…2…1… He looked down and immediately wished he hadn't. There was a spear of rock, roughly 1 foot long, embedded in his chest, to the right of his heart. There was also another one in his left leg, but smaller. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe deeply, but realized that he was having trouble inhaling. He started to panic and began to think he was screwed and was going to die in a place like this, alone, when he heard his name being called. At first he thought he was imagining things, but then was startled to find out he recognized the voices as Bunny and Tooth. He tried to call out, but his vocal chords seemed to not be working. He passed out for the third time, but this time into a deep sleep that would last for days.