Hey there, peeps! Long time, no see!

I started writing this story over a year ago (I think?) but didn't want to publish it for whatever reason. And so I just kept writing it. And writing it. And writing it. And then somehow finished it. All without posting a single chapter on this site. *scratches head* That at least means that you guys don't have to worry about this story never getting finished. It already has been. I'm just going to post it chapter by chapter like a normal fanfic, but I can post the chapters pretty quickly considering that they're already written. It just might take me a while to edit them. Editing is a pain. :P

An important point I need to make here: While I prioritized the lore from the movie, I also included a bunch of lore from the books, though I picked and chose which lore I wanted to keep and which lore I wanted to ignore. Figured I should warn you guys in case someone started up with me because, "That's not how the books went!" XD Since the books and the movie are in slightly different worlds, I had to pick and choose in order to portray them as a single world. I did my best! *chuckles*

Anyway, without further ado, I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or the Guardians of Childhood books or the characters therein.

Other disclaimer: There's a mild amount of blood in this chapter. It's not severe, but if you're squeamish, here's your warning.

Curiosity was pretty dangerous at times.

If it weren't for Jack's strong sense of curiosity, he wouldn't have that niggling feeling that something was amiss. And he definitely wouldn't have felt it the entire time he had been in his spirit form. He'd tried to drop hints to the others to see if they'd noticed, but thus far it seemed he was the only one who had felt this. It was possible that he was going crazy.

But he still couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen something once upon a time. Well, that was a silly thought. Of course he had seen something. He had eyes. He saw things every day. But there was something he was sure he had seen in the past that he couldn't recall now, and it bothered him. What was it? And was it anywhere near as important as he was making it out to be?

These thoughts were nothing new to Jack. He continued about his days as if he hadn't a care in the world. That was what everyone thought was the case, anyway. Letting on that something bothered him frightened the pants off of him. So he swallowed the feeling and pasted a smile on his face as usual. It couldn't be that bad, could it?

Of course, these events all came before the incident with the polar bears. They had already been getting agitated as it was since the humans' search for oil killed a lot of them. He guessed the next logical thought in their minds was to attack the guy who kept it so cold up there. How that would help their cause though, he had no idea.

Normally a polar bear attack would have been a non-issue for Jack, but he had other things on his mind that day. Jamie was going through puberty now. The Guardians had warned him that he was in for a rough ride. Even one's first believer rarely maintained their belief through puberty. Jack didn't know what to make of this, and he wondered if he could avoid losing Jamie... but this only made him drop his guard around the polar bears.

Before he was aware that the critters had snuck up on him, a large paw slammed into his back, knocking him off his feet. His staff flew out of his hands and skittered away, beyond his reach. The polar bears were lucky for that, but now Jack was at a disadvantage.

Seeing their prey pinned to the frozen ground, the polar bears pounced into action. Everything happened too fast for Jack to be aware of what was happening, but he knew he was in pain. How much pain, he had no idea. His brain didn't have time to process the extent of the damage. All Jack knew was that he had to get out of there. He thrashed and kicked at anything within reach, but the attack continued on.

Things began to get blurry, and Jack couldn't tell where he ended and the polar bears began. He could have sworn that he kicked himself a couple times in the scuffle. Things became more confusing and disorienting until Jack stopped recognizing shapes at all. The sounds of the growls and scuffles faded from his ears, and his eyes drifted shut.

He wasn't sure where he found himself next, but he was no longer in the Arctic. He could tell that much, but he couldn't open his eyes, couldn't move, couldn't do much of anything. It felt like someone had drugged him. Was that a benign attempt to help ease the pain? Or was there a more sinister reason behind drugging him? He knew he was being paranoid, but his heart raced at the thought all the same.

Something started beeping in the distance. Further confirmation that he wasn't in the Arctic. Then some strange thumping sounds followed by something higher pitched and... desperate? If the sounds hadn't been so muffled, he'd have assumed that some panicked people had run into the room where he was. But that couldn't be the case, right? It sounded like they were underwater. Or like he was.

He had to move. He could barely feel his limbs, but he had to move something. He was never going to get out of this situation if he didn't move again. So he focused every bit of his will on trying to move the fingers on his right hand. The only reward he got for his efforts was a slight twitch, but at least that proved he wasn't entirely paralyzed.

The muffled sounds increased. Were they excited or scared that he was coming to? Until Jack knew where he was, he wasn't sure that either explanation would make sense to him. The only solution was to fight past this weird haze and wake up. Focus on moving the other hand... focus... twitch.

The voices reacted again. Jack knew they were voices now. He didn't know how he knew that, but somehow he knew. They still sounded like they were filtering through water. Someone was watching him wake up, and he couldn't tell whether they meant him harm or good.

Focusing on his right hand again, he managed to make it clench into a fist for a second before it went slack. Still didn't have much control, but it was progress. He tried kicking his leg, and found to his surprise that his leg came in contact with something hard.

This caused his eyes to snap open for a split second before they went shut again. That split second of information was enough to know for sure that he was no longer in the Arctic. He was also not anywhere he knew. And it looked like he was standing up.

But that didn't make any sense at all. He couldn't move. Why would he be standing up? Jack's leg twitched again, and he realized that the air moving around his leg was awfully thick. Being Jack Frost, he knew how the air felt in any given condition, and this air felt strange. It didn't feel like air. But if it wasn't air, how was he managing to breathe?

He opened his eyes again for a longer moment, causing some of those present to panic. Jack couldn't see well yet, but he had finally seen the people before him. And he was right. He was upright, but he was floating. What was he floating in?

Regardless of his drug-induced haze, he forced his eyes open again to take another look. He touched the hard surface once again, and his eyes widened in realization. His foot had come into contact with a pane of glass.

Was he in some kind of display case? No, that didn't make sense. Who would keep him like that? He had been in a battle with polar bears and no doubt looked an awful sight. That thought drove the curiosity even higher, and he looked down at his own body. An action which he soon regretted.

What should have been uninterrupted flesh was all bloodied and scratched up. His stomach lurched, and he closed his eyes to rid himself of the sight, but the vision only persisted in his head. How was he still alive after that? Why did he not feel much pain? Maybe it had something to do with whatever they'd drugged him with. But he hoped whoever had captured him didn't plan on keeping him here forever.

He popped his eyes open again, clenched his fist, and pounded on the glass in front of him. The people startled at his response. What did they expect from someone they'd trapped in a glass tube?

Jack hadn't tried to use his voice yet, but he was going to try. "Hey! What's going on?" His voice came out scratchy and almost inaudible, but that didn't matter. The people scattered like cockroaches after you flick on the light. Jack sighed, letting his hand fall beside him. Where was he? This wasn't fair.

That was when he started to whimper. Whatever all this was, it was terrifying, and he was pretty sure it couldn't get any worse.

So, there was that. I'll upload the next chapter once I get through the editing of it. In the meantime, let me know what you think. I can always edit future chapters to explain things I didn't explain well, so definitely ask me questions or give me suggestions. Also telling me if you liked it and what you liked really helps boost my confidence, since I'm a bit of an anxious cinnamon bun. ;)

Take care, and see you next time!