Well, it is wonderful to be out here instead of in the sidelines. This is my second fanfiction posted on this site, but I'm pretty sure this one is a lot better. There are a lot of other authors out here that have such great inspiration (shoutout to Dolphy and KitoH!) that helped me to actually write this. Just a head's up, I've not read the books, so don't get mad at me if I get something wrong. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own RotG. If I did, well…it wouldn't be a kids' movie.

Jack slid across the ice, coming to a painful stop at the wall of rock. Before he could fully right himself, a hand grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against the rock. He pushed uselessly at the hand.

"You know Jack, this has become quite troublesome for me. I've grown quite tired of your 'early snow-days'. If this was a first-time offence, I would've let it go, but you've been doing this for 300 years. Your early snowfalls have caused many men to die. Men that were either about to get something grand, or had just did. It has become so frustrating that I've decided you should be punished." Lady Luck sneered and revealed a broadsword hidden in the folds of her cloak. Jack's eyes widened.

"Oh, don't worry; it's not infused with magic. It shouldn't kill you." She thrust the sword into his abdomen. Jack's mouth filled with blood and his struggling stopped. Luck purred into his ear as the blood started to pour.

"At least not right away." She extracted her sword and released the dying Winter Spirit, leaving him to bleed out on the ice. She only paused to glance at the broken staff before flying off to continue her work.

"Be sure to be back by seven! I should be finished shopping by then."

"Got it Mom!" Jamie shouted as he ran out the door to the early snow-day. He was going to meet his friends and Jack at the lake for some ice skating lessons. Technically, they weren't supposed to meet for another hour, but Jamie couldn't wait. He wanted to see exactly how early Jack showed up, since he always seemed to be waiting for them. He had almost cleared the tree line when he smelled it: the overwhelming stench of blood. He stepped into the clearing and saw Jack lying in a pool of it on the ice.

"Jack!' Jamie, being careful so as not to fall, ran across the ice to the gasping Guardian, who was clutching his stomach. Jamie, being the naïve child that he was, turned Jack over so he was lying on his back. What he saw instantly made Jamie regret turning him. Blood covered the entire front of his hoodie and some of it was spilling from his mouth. Someone had stabbed him with something big.

"S-stay here, Jack. I gonna go get my sled and some help!"

"Jamie? What are you doing here? We're not supposed to meet for another hour." Cupcake said as she rubbed her sleepy eyes.

"I need your help. It's about Jack." The tiredness vanished in an instant and she quickly wrote a note to her parents saying she'd be at Jamie's house.

"Let me grab my first aid kit."

Bunny paced the globe room, growing more and more anxious with every passing minute. Jack was an hour late. Jack was never late to their Guardian meetings.

"Bunny, you're making me dizzy."

"Well can ya blame me Tooth!? Jack's never been a minute late and he still hasn't shown up after we've waited fur an hour! What if somethin' happened to him? I'm goin' to look fur him."

"And where will you look?" North's question stopped the Pooka cold.

"Exactly. We must wait for Jack to reach out. Let us begin meeting for now."

"He looks horrible." Cupcake said needlessly as she closed the door. Jamie and her had used the sled to help carry the wounded spirit to Jamie's house, where they laid him in one of the guestrooms' bed.

"Yeah, but I think he'll be okay. At least I hope so." Jamie said as he twirled one of the pieces of Jack's staff in his hands. The other two pieces lay in front of him in the snow.

"Is that what I think it is?" Cupcake asked. Jamie nodded, but still said it out loud so it was confirmed.

"It's Jack's staff." He said, his voice barely quivering. Cupcake didn't seem to hear it as she sat down on the step next to him. It was quite funny to see her towering over him if you just glanced at the pair.

"What happened to him?"

"I don't know. I just found him like that. Someone must've stabbed him or something. I just want him to be okay. I don't want him to die alone." Jamie's voice clearly quivered this time with fear for his immortal friend. Cupcake wrapped her arm around the boy's shoulders and pulled him in to comfort him. It was at that time all their friends decided to show up and see them.

"Aww, you guys are so cute together!" Pippa awed as the twins, Claude and Caleb, make kissy faces. Both groups ignored Cupcake's glare. They stopped teasing once they saw Jamie wipe away tears.

"Jamie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, you'll have to go sledding instead of ice skating. Jack had to call in sick." The others didn't even question him. They just ran off to get their sleds. Jamie collected the shards and handed his sled to Cupcake.

"You go ahead. I'm gonna stay with Jack."

He felt like he was dying in a pit of fire. His pain…oh the pain…it was enough to kill anything that wasn't immortal. Unfortunately, Jack was. He was vaguely aware of someone calling his name. He felt himself being moved. It made the pain much, much worse. He wanted to scream, but to do that Jack would need excessive amounts of air. He didn't have enough to completely breathe, let alone scream, at that moment. He thought of everything he could to vent out his pain, but he would need the pain to lessen before he could. He called out to the first person that came to mind.

Bunny…make it stop!

Jack was lying on top of the blankets, gasping for breath and trembling in agony. Jamie wanted to help him so bad, but he knew better than to try this on his own. He needed Jack to contact the Guardians somehow. Reluctantly, Jamie decided it was time to wake him up. He touched his arm before shaking it.

"Jack? Jack, you need to wake up. Now!" He shouted. Jack stirred and his eyes slowly opened. Jack's breathing hitched hard enough that it stayed severely unbalanced. He wasn't entirely sure what he was seeing.

"J-J-Jamie?" He exclaimed in pain and shut his eyes again. Jamie started shaking his arm again.

"Jack, I know it hurts, but you've gotta stay awake. How can I contact the Guardians?" Jack opened his eyes to see Jamie about to break into a full-fledged panic attack. He moved one of his hands to the pendant around his neck. He was quick to snap it off and hand it to his first believer. At Jamie's confusion, he elaborated.

"O-open it. T-t-they sh-should come…" Jack couldn't finish before he had a coughing fit. Blood splattered over the already-soaked hoodie. A flash of blue light shot up from the open pendant and zipped out of the room. When it had disappeared over the mountains, Jamie turned back to Jack.

"J-Jamie…g-go back…to y-your r-r-room…until I-I…l-leave. Okay?" Another coughing fit as Jamie shook his head.

"No. I'm not leaving you alone. I'm scared I'll come back and you'll be…you'll be…" Jamie didn't finish his sentence due to the sudden lump in his throat and the tears streaming down his face. Jack was shedding his own tears, but of pain and desperation.

"J-Jamie…please…"

"North, what is that?" Tooth asked sarcastically. North stood up straighter in offense.

"Can't you tell? Is Pogo Stick with counting meter." Bunny glanced back at the globe while they argued. He turned his full attention to it when he noticed one of the golden lights was actually blue. It was the distress device activating. Every Guardian had something on them that when opened or touched a certain way, a colored light would appear on the globe. Red for North, Green for Bunny, Purple for Tooth, Orange for Sandy (since the lights were already gold) …

…and Blue for Jack.

"Mates, Jack activated his distress signal. He's in Burgess. I'll meet ya there." Bunny said, not really caring if they heard him or not. He just wanted to get to his adoptive brother as soon as possible. Since the globe didn't show exact locations, Bunny would have to track him down once he got to Burgess. He appeared near another spirit that was just walking through the woods. He recognized her immediately.

"Lady Luck, have ya seen Jack anywhere?" Bunny asked. The visually appealing spirit shrugged with fake disinterest. So, it had taken the Guardians three hours to notice. Jack would be dead by now, or at least very close.

"I thought I saw him by the frozen lake. Is he in trouble?" Bunny didn't even bother answering. He just ran toward the town, hoping with all his center that Jack was okay.

Now, three hours isn't enough time for blood to melt through ice, so you can imagine the Pooka's shock when he found way too much of it near the rocks. He got close enough to get four different scents. One was a male of pine needles and cookies; Jack. One was a boy of shampoo and hope; Jamie. A female of baked goods; most likely Cupcake. And finally, a woman of alcohol and money; Lady Luck. His blood boiled. She'd hurt Jack. He'd beat her to a pulp after he found Jack. Since he smelled Jamie, he decided to tunnel into Jamie's room. It was empty.

"Jamie, mate? Where are ya?" He smelled blood and Jack and salt, that meant there were tears. He could hear pained gasping and assumed the worst.

"Bunny! We're in here!" Bunny burst into the bedroom to see a teary-eyed Jamie standing over a bloody mess of the Guardian of Fun. Jack had blood dripping from the corner of his lips and gushing from a stab wound in his abdomen. His breathing slowed, which wasn't a good thing at this moment.

"Jamie, get out of here now!" The Guardian of Hope leaped to the spot the child had been and gently raised the Winter Spirit's shoulders…

…just in time to witness Jack release his final breath.