Okay, so I read a fanfiction called "Broken Glass to Sweep Away" by Asidian and I absolutely loved it, but it was also heart-breakingly SAD. No, seriously, it is really sad. And I just couldn't bring myself to leave it where it was, so I couldn't help but scribble out a bit of a "happy ending" just to make myself feel better. Well, a couple of my friends (who also read "Broken Glass") really wanted me to share my happy ending because as much as they loved the fic, I guess we all just couldn't stand how sad it was. So! Here's my unofficial, inspired-by continuation. It won't make any sense AT ALL if you don't read Asidian's fic first, though. It's supposed to pick up right where that one left off. Oh, and I draw in a bit from the books (the third book "Toothiana") by the way. If you don't get it, you can PM me and I'll explain.

.oOo.

He stood there still, ready but not daring to move yet. No, he would wait to act until he was told. He wanted to do a good job, after all.

He was too frightened to think of what would happen if he didn't.

When the green and blue figure sped ahead of the red sleigh, Jack got a nudge at his back to give him the go-ahead. Even more, the electric thrill of the touch served as a tempting reminder again before he nodded and leapt into the air. The wind gusted around him in delirious joy, having at last found its frost child again. It had searched searched searched for him and here he was!

At least someone had looked for him. It was a sad, escapee thought that had no place in Jack's mind now. He had a purpose and he readied his staff to fulfill it. He could hear the hum of wings as she got closer, violet eyes wide with expression, but it wasn't one he could put a name to anymore. He hoped it wasn't hate, but he didn't hope too much.

"Jack!" she wailed as she got close enough, but that was just too close.

With a grunt, he swung his staff across his body, blasting a wave of ice at the fairy. She was impossibly quick, though, darting above the freeze and coming down at him before he'd even finished the swing. No, he was just too slow.

There was a flash of silver and Jack saw two long, thin swords gripped in the fairy's hands. This shocked him for some reason he couldn't remember and stilled him long enough for her to tackle him in the air, wrapping surprisingly strong arms around him, pinning him and dragging him backwards.

If a nudge to the back was a shock, this was a bolt of lightning. But it couldn't last, not here, not them, but if he didn't-

He wasn't fast enough he wasn't strong enough he wasn't doing a good job.

It was with a panicked shout that he flexed his will around his staff, bursting forth a wave of chill that loosened the feathery hold long enough to slip out of it, to drop down into the wind's embrace once more.

But his pathetic lapse of concentration cost him. Charging antlers nearly gored him before he could spin upwards out of the way. Still, the tips of bone nagged his clothes, dragging him in their wake and giving someone the chance for an even stronger, more sure grab at blue fabric.

Faster than he could believe, he was yanked from the wind-

How hard would it search this time?

-and brought shockingly close to large green eyes.

Jack panicked again but before he could even so much as tighten his grip on his staff, it was brutally yanked away. He cried after it, forgetting he was already held in a grip. No! He had just gotten it back!

"Oh no, none o' that now," a deep voice reprimanded, hauling him farther from where the wood was held in golden hands. Again, arms wrapped around him and he just didn't think he could handle it.

Warm, hot, burning-

"Jack. Jack! Frostbite!" the voice was shouting for his attention, but his eyes were transfixed in horror behind the gray fur and beyond the jostling sleigh.

The storm clouds of snow, brought on by his panic, darkened further with clouds of black sand. Jack's eyes widened with terror. He needed to – he needed-

"I warned you, Jack," the velvet and rot voice hissed.

"No, please," he whimpered, struggling again against the touch-

-but it was a touch, how much could he really struggle?-

-that held him firmly. There was something in it that Jack thought might be familiar, but he had forgotten what that might be.

"Yer not answerin' to him anymore, mate," the voice holding him growled, angry.

And Jack had known not to hope too much.

And there Pitch was, reaching for Jack, reaching-

With an angry shout, the man holding the reigns of the sleigh jerked them hard, sending the frost child out of reach of the gray touch when suddenly the blur of blue and the hum of wings was back. Silver flashed in the air, striking out as she let out an angry cry. Pitch jerked back, eyes wide with surprise when blocked by the ferocious fairy.

The surprise didn't last long as black sand formed into a massive scythe to wield. The sleigh was leaving the scene behind even as the man of gold jumped off the top to go back and help her of the blue feathers.

Jack couldn't stop frantically looking at it all, the terror at the realization that he'd failed and now he couldn't even hope to be lucky enough to be looked at, much less-

Then his eyes fell on the staff. It was right there-

He lunged without even thinking. He could make this right!

"No!" that deep, accented, angry voice shouted. The strong touch he had nearly given up for the staff tightened its hold around him, pinning his arms and pulling him tight to the burning touch of a chest.

Jack was shaking. He couldn't help it; it was all too much. Light and sound and failure and touch but stupid and remember and touch.

The touch that pinned shifted – but not to let go, he suddenly clung onto fur not to let go - gentler and around the back of his ribs and the other cradling his head and pulling him close until he could smell-

It was too much. The light of the sun, the feel of wind and touch and touch, the sounds of his name, the look of people staring at him and now the smell of almost-forgotten spring flowers and sharp paint and wet fur, wet from tears, the taste of salty tears.

"We gotta get outta here, North!" Vibrations against his face and he clung tighter.

"Tooth! Sandy!" another voice bellowed and a ringing sound. Buzz of wings, tinkle of sand and an indescribable whoosh-

-indescribable, but not forgotten. He knew that sound what was that sound?-

-followed by an inarticulate howl of rage, abruptly cut off.

It was that sound, the sound that meant he had done wrong so wrong that jerked him out of his comfort inside the encircling touch.

"No!" he shoved away from soft gray fur. "No! I can't! He'll take me back! If I go, he'll take me back!" Jack was struggling against the arms still trying to hold him – hold him – "I didn't do a good job and now he'll never-"

"Jack! Sweet Tooth, he'll never get you back!" she assured, but she didn't know that!"

"Jus' calm down, mate!" Still he struggled. "Crikey! Sandy, he's goin' into hysterics!"

Jack blinked and stilled as gold grains filled his vision. The strength in his limbs, wan though it was, drained out and he could only protest weakly as he collapsed.

"I don't wanna be alone again…"

He didn't see the look exchanged by the Guardians as Bunny collected the sleeping boy closer to him.

.oOo.

"He's challenging us?" Bunny repeated, not sure what to make of North's statement. "It doesn't make sense! Last time he tried crossing us we wiped the floor with him!"

"But we didn't win," Tooth reminded him softly.

The Pooka looked at her, hovering somewhat forlornly at the reminder of their last battle. "Yeah, but…"

"Pitch has been getting stronger," North reminded them all. "We just didn't notice at first because…" he stumbled, not sure how to continue.

"Don' matter," Bunny jumped in before there were more painful reminders. "Pitch is prolly up to something, but it doesn't matter what. We have to go out to meet him or there's no telling what he'll do."

They discussed it a bit more, but really the matter was already decided. Before long they piled into North's sleigh, grimly prepared to face the Nightmare King again.

It was Tooth who spotted them first. She had the sharpest eyes in the world of man or beast.

"I can see Pitch!" she declared to the others as she stared ahead. "I don't…I don't think he's alone."

"Are there Nightmares with him?" North demanded over the rush of wind.

"No, it's not black," she responded as she squinted, trying to make out the second figure against the glare of bright white snow.

"Who on earth would help him?" Bunny asked, incredulous.

Then Tooth gasped, delicate hands flying to cover her mouth. She murmured something that only Bunny with his extraordinary hearing understood, causing him to first stare at her, then dash to the fore of the sleigh, leaning over North's shoulder to stare as hard ahead as he could. The rabbit was practically on the back of the reindeer he was leaning so far forward.

"What?" North demanded, looking at Bunny, then twisting to look at Tooth. They were still much too far from the speck of Pitch Black for his eyes to see. "Who is it?"

"It's Jack," Bunny whispered next to him, disbelieving.

"It's Jack!" Tooth shrilled with joy at the same time. Sandy looked at her, startled, then immediately conjured a spyglass to peer ahead. He, too, confirmed the frost child with a glimmering snowflake above his head.

"Using Jack as hostage!" North growled.

"No mate," Bunny contradicted. "I don't…I don't think he's tied up."

"He's got his staff with him," Tooth confirmed, confused.

They were quickly approaching the pair, but there was something very off about the way Jack stood before Pitch. The Guardians needed answers and fast, so Bunnymund did something he'd never used on his peers, as they were the only ones who knew of this ability. He tended not to shout about it, since people are generally pretty touchy about someone poking about their private thoughts.

But he really needed to know what Jack was hoping for, and he needed to know now.

It helped that he was still a child in a great many ways, so when Bunny reached out to find that touch of rainbow-winged hope in his heart, it was easy enough to find, weak thing though it was. It had clearly changed many times and had been weakened over the long, long years since they had last seen their lost Guardian. Now, his hopes were few and almost pathetically simple.

The Pooka gasped when he understood what the boy was feeling, the emptiness wrenching his already pained heart.

"We can't-" he started. "We have to get Jack back, no matter what!" he shouted.

"But of course!" North said it like it was obvious.

"You don' understand!" the Easter Bunny shouted, horror and sorrow warring in his heart. "Pitch brought us here to fight Jack! He's broken-" he choked on the words. "Pitch has broken Frostbite."

"What?" Tooth breathed, eyes darting between the Guardian of Hope and the Guardian of Fun they had despaired of ever seeing again.

"We gotta get him back," Bunny repeated, seeming to draw strength from the words. "Tooth!" his address turned to one of a commander barking out orders. "You go ahead of the sleigh. Ya gotta immobilize him. Pin his arms, hit him in the head, something! Then drag him back to the sleigh. North! Keep us in the air and be ready with a snow globe to take us back to the North Pole! If Tooth can't handle Jack by herself, get me close enough to help. Sandy, we need you to keep an eye on Pitch. He's not gonna make this easy on us. And…" he didn't like what he had to say next, but really, there wasn't much he had liked about the day so far. "And we need to get Frostbite's staff away from him as soon as possible. He's ready to use it against us."

They stared at him, shock, horror and disbelief evident, but it seemed like Bunny was their leader today.

"Go on, Tooth," he murmured. "Let's get the show pony back."

It was with a determined set of amethyst eyes that she drew her thin sabers, ready to do whatever it took. That she even had her ancient weapons with her was a testament to what she was ready to do.

And then she took off, darting ahead of the sleigh and eight enormous reindeer while they watched.

To be honest, Bunny was frankly surprised at how quickly it was over. And not even because Jack didn't want to fight them – though that was part of it, whether the boy knew it or not – but because he just seemed too weak to do much. And by the time Pitch tried intervening, they knew to beat a hasty retreat.

They brought Jack to the Pole and laid him in a bed there, dreamsand still drifting around his head. It showed images that only confirmed what Bunny had felt Jack hoping for. The small golden figure of the frost child standing attentively while someone indistinct first looked at him, then approached to touch his face. The hand dropped away, though, and the sand began to turn black as the figure turned and walked away from dream-Jack. He raised his hand to stop them, a moan coming from the sleeping Jack, but made no steps forward. Still they walked away, turning darker and darker as black sand crept upward to begin forming a cage around the boy.

Sandy had seen enough, though, and furiously reworked his sand, sending fresh gold to banish the obsidian grains of the forming nightmare. Jack relaxed as similar scenes of contact formed for him before turning dark. Each and every time, though, the dreamweaver brightened the dream, a frown of concentration on his face. He even went so far as to sit directly above Jack's pillow, one hand stroking his white hair while the other marshaled his medium. Tooth couldn't seem to help herself and drifted forward to hold his chilled hand. Touching him seemed to make the good dreams last long enough for him to finally drift deeper into a dreamless sleep.

The other three Guardians watched on, silent as their comrade while witnessing the terrible images form. At last, Sandy sighed and looked up at them, sadness in every line of his broad and expressive face.

"What…" North started before his voice broke slightly. He cleared his throat before starting again. "What was that?"

Bunny sighed, scrubbing his face with his paws before answering. "Before, his only hope…all he was hoping to do was to please Pitch well enough to get a little attention." He looked around at them, catching each of their eyes. "An' I don't mean it the way some kids'll act out in class. I mean all he was wanting was to be looked at once in a while, maybe even to be touched."

It seemed shock was the order of the day, because it was evident on all faces, despite what they'd already seen.

"What did Pitch do to him?" North growled.

"What about us?" Tooth asked fervently. "Didn't he hope that we would save him? He must have!"

The Guardian of Hope looked at her with eyes so full of sorrow that he might have been ready to weep at any moment. "Naw. There wasn't much about us he was hoping for. Jus…" he looked back at the sleeping Jack Frost. "Just that we might not be mad. But even then, it was such a weak little thing that I wouldn't o' sensed it if that weren't all that was there." He snorted, though there was never a more humorless sound. "And he even gave that up in the fight."

North was shaking. His fists were clenched and his eyes screwed shut.

"I will kill Pitch," he hissed.

They all stared, startled by both the vehemence and the words. They just didn't kill…

Before any of them could protest, however, the Russian strode out of the room and shoved through the crowd of yetis and elves in the hall, leaving behind a wake of slack jaws.

Bunny recovered first, shuffling nervously in place like he was battling the desires to stay with Jack or follow North. Sandy made a gesture indicating that he should follow, so he nodded and hopped to the door, pausing only to look back at Jack.

"Keep an eye on 'im, will ya?" he said, rather unnecessarily. Of course Sandy and Tooth nodded, and then he was gone.

Bunnymund caught up to him at his office and shut the door behind. He got the feeling they didn't want an audience.

"What was that, huh?" he demanded. North replied something, but he mumbled it so terribly that even Bunny and his ears didn't understand, only hearing a kind of low rumbling noise. "Say again?"

"It was Katherine all over again!"

That stopped Bunny dead in his approach, ears falling behind his head. This wasn't what he had expected at all. It was true, in the years that Jack had been missing, the memory of their first child Guardian's kidnapping had crossed his mind, but the two were so different that he hadn't entertained the thought for long. Had refused to. Jack was so much more powerful than Katherine had been at the time, not as innocent and helpless and so Bunny hadn't thought they were the same at all.

This clearly hadn't been the case for North.

The Pooka shuffled forward carefully as the large man kept talking.

"When Jack first disappeared…" he inhaled a shuddering breath. "When we looked for him world over, I started dreaming about that night. Do you remember?" Bunny nodded as he still approached, but North didn't see; he was leaning over the end of his workbench, hands gripping the edge. "When we heard noise and Katherine's bed was empty…then seeing her tied to pole…I started to dream of Jack in her place. Jack turned into Pitch's Darkling Prince."

"But we got 'im back," Bunny reminded him. "We finally…Nicholas, we got 'im back."

With an angry shout, North swept his hands across the workbench, scattering tools, prototypes and blocks of ice. "Too long!" he cried. "He's alive, yes! He may not be Darkling, but we failed him!" He turned to face his old friend, tears flowing from his blue eyes into his white beard. "Aster, we failed him in so many ways. Every time we return without…" He wilted, slumping into his enormous, sturdy chair, but even it creaked with the weight of the man's sorrow. "Is not bad enough he was alone so long before, then he helps us so much and how do we repay?" He buried his face into his large, capable hands. "We let Pitchner steal and break him. Is too much. I can't…I cannot ever let this happen again. We must end him!"

"Oi, you know as well as I do that we did everything we could to find him," Bunny assured, and logically he knew it was true, but there had always been a part of his heart that whispered maybe there was something they hadn't tried.

Each Guardian had searched the world over in their own unique way. Tooth had directed squadrons of fairies not on collecting duty to comb every darkened crevice they could find, including the old lair they had once been held captive in. Bunny had dug new tunnels exploring parts he'd never had to go before, as well as old tunnels he hadn't used in ages, including going to the center of the Earth once more. North had utilized every child locating, watching and identifying magic he had, as well as creating new spells and inventions to find the lost frost child. When those failed, he went and searched himself, taking a full month to scour the globe when he and his reindeer were capable of doing the same in only one night. And Sandy's magic, so specifically tuned to finding and bringing the best dreams to children, he would focus on where those streams led him every night. He would go so far as to follow each and every stream to their destination, only to be crestfallen each time.

Sometimes, though, Sandy would tell them, he thought he could sense stray dreamsand trickling away he knew not where to bring dreams to a child he could not see or trace.

It frustrated them all, sometimes even to the point of tears, but all they could do was to keep hoping and thinking of new ways and wheres to search. They also strove to keep the memory and belief of Jack alive in those who knew him. Dreams of snow days, reminders of the best snowball fights, eggs painted with delicate whorls of frost, sleds and ice skates as gifts. It wasn't much, but they did their best.

Again, North didn't seem convinced, his shoulders shaking as he tried to smother his emotions. Bunny sighed, head falling forward as his ears drooped. He could see where the conversation was leading, but he also realized it would not do anything to help. He approached the large man and put a paw on his shoulder.

"Look mate, right now we gotta focus on what we can do. We got Jack here, so let's start with that, eh? And…I got a feeling we're not gonna need to go lookin' for Pitch. Frostbite seemed pretty sure he'd come for him, so we need to be ready in case he tries to come right away, when he thinks our guard will be down."

North's massive fists clenched and he growled, low, dangerous and full of dark promise, "He will be wrong."

.oOo.

One last author's note. I was only planning on putting this much up. It was more to create the brighter possibility of help and healing than to actually go in and explore how the Guardians actually get Jack to heal. The reason for this is because I know I wouldn't be able to write the psychological effects. Asidian did a beautiful job of gradually breaking Jack in such a believable way and I don't have the kind of experience or insight to even think about replicating the process in reverse. So this is the best I can do. I wanted to at least be sure to touch on the Katherine issue, though, because I was reminded strongly of it myself and couldn't help but think that North wouldn't take another kidnapping so well.