The battle between Pitch Black, the Nightmare King, his Nightmares, and the Guardians of Childhood, also called the Big Four, plus one winter spirit, waged in the night sky of Burgess. Sanderson Mansnoozie, the Sandman or simply Sandy, stood upon his cloud of golden sand, forming constructs of it to combat the dark horses made of tainted dream sand. Toothiana or Tooth, the Tooth Fairy Queen and Jack Frost, flew about dispatching Nightmares while Nicholas St North, known the world over as Santa Claus and called North by most spirits, and E. Aster Bunnymund, the Easter Bunny or Bunny to most, fought while riding on North's flying sleigh.

Landing on the sleigh, Jack glanced up towards the golden glow of dream sand to find the silent guardian surrounded by Nightmares. "We have to help Sandy?" The spirit launched himself upwards even as North yanked hard on the reins to turn his reindeer. Delving head first into the cloud of Nightmares, Jack swung his staff, cutting through each dark horse it touched while releasing a short wave of ice that turned them back into the dark sand. Rocketing through the remains of the Nightmares, he was greeted by the bright light of the full moon, time seemed to slow down around him and the corners of his lips quirked upwards. However it only lasted a moment before he caught a glimpse of Sandy's face, his horrified stare at something behind the winter spirit. Then Jack felt it, it dug into his back between his shoulders and crept further into his being. He felt his own power rush to combat the intruder, but it was forced out of his body like an explosion, filling the night sky with an icy light as though he were a second, blue sun.

The explosion of power destroyed nearly all of the Nightmares, and those that weren't, fled in terror, their master disappearing as well. The Guardians watched in shock as the light slowly faded and were only broken from it when they saw Jack start to plummet. They each rushed to catch him in their own ways, but weren't fast enough and he slammed hard into the ground. Even Bunny winced at the impact, but each let out a small sigh when they heard him groan and saw him attempting to get up.

As the four reached the downed spirit, three of them gasped and Sandy looked an equal amount shocked, sad, and guilty because as Jack rose to his feet, they saw a hole clear through where his heart should be and the rest of his body slowly losing color. Seeing them staring, Jack looked down at himself, gaining a pained expression before a strained grim smile appeared on his face. "I guess what you said is coming true Kangaroo." Bunny turned his head away in shame letting the jab at him go.

Tightening his grip on his staff, the wind picked up around him and he lifted off the ground. North took a step forward and raised his hand towards the boy. "Jack, where are you going?"

Jack looked towards the moon. "If I'm going to die, I want to be the only place I ever really felt wanted. Wind, take me home."

Tooth and North yelled for him to wait, but if he heard, he wasn't listening. Tooth turned to the others. "We have to go after him!"

North and Sandy nodded and the three looked towards Bunny, who wasn't facing them. "I can't."

The three looked at him shocked before Tooth became angry. "Why not?!"

"Look, I feel for the kid, really I do, I may not like him much, but he doesn't deserve what's happening to him. But tomorrow's Easter, and I'm not ready."

Tooth's face turned red and her mini-self Baby Tooth flittered around her angrily. "He just saved Sandy, how can you be so selfish?!"

Bunny turned and glared at her. "Selfish?! You and Sandy have no idea how much easier you have it than North and I! If either of you forget to do your job for a day, sure a lot of kids stop believing in you, but if either of us miss our one day, they all stop believing in us."

North sighed and moved beside the Easter Bunny. "I must agree Tooth. Pitch has already taken much ground with the capture of your fairies and Jack's condition, we cannot afford him to gain more."

Tooth looked shocked by what he said and turned to the silent guardian. His eyes were shut tight, his face said he was in pain, and his hands were clenched, but he moved to stand beside the other two. "Sandy?" The Sandman refused to look at her and she clenched her fists as well. "Fine, I'm find him by myself." She and Baby Tooth took to the air, hoping to catch up with the winter spirit before they lost him.

None of the three remaining guardians spoke as Bunny tapped the ground a few times to open a tunnel to his warren. He and North jumped in but Sandy turned back and made a ball of dream sand form above his hand. Shaping it into that of a dolphin like the ones that had lead them to Jack in the first place, he released it in the direction Jack and the fairies had gone. Even if he couldn't go, he did want to, but he'd have to settle for knowing he would help Tooth find him, for no matter how far away Jack was, his dreams would always follow him. Giving the barest hint of a smile, Sandy entered the tunnel. "I'm sorry."

Some distance away. Baby Tooth started chirping rapidly and Tooth looked behind her to see the sand dolphin gaining and soon over take her before continuing it the direction Jack had gone. The larger fairy allowed a smile to form on her face as she sped after the dream construct. "Sandy, thank you."

-ROTG-

Jack landed on the edge of the lake he was born from, his body see trough enough to be able to make out objects on the other side of him. As he went to step on the ice, a horse's whinny sounded out of the dark forest on the other side causing Jack to raise his staff in caution. Out of the darkness strolled Pitch, a Nightmare at his side, strangely unhappy considering the winter spirit's state, and stopped at the opposite shore. Seeing that neither the Boogyman nor his steed was advancing any further, Jack lowered his staff, but kept it at the ready. "Come to gloat?"

"On the contrary, your situation brings me no satisfaction." Jack looked at him with doubt. "It's true Jack, I never wanted this and was more than happy to leave you be, but you decided to side with them and took the hit intended for that idiotic dreamer."

"Did you really think I would just let you make Sandy of all the Guardians fade away?"

Pitch laughed at him. "You really think if I had the power to simply make them disappear I'd waste my time attacking their jobs and sanctuaries? I'm the King of Fear Jack, all I did was make your worst fear reality, that no one will ever believe in you, that you would be invisible to everyone, unseen, unheard, unloved. Had that arrow hit the Sandman, North, the fairy, or that annoying rabbit, the results would have been different, each uniquely suited for them." Jack said nothing, he just cast his eyes down at the ice. "Don't you see Jack, we're not so different. We both just want to be believed in."

Jack kept his head down. "There is a difference though…" Jack's head snapped up and he glared at the Boogyman. "You don't want anyone to be believed in but you!"

Pitch growled. "And why should I?! For longer than you've been around, I've been forced to remain under beds while even most of the lesser spirits had believers, why shouldn't I force them to feel as I have?!" It was several long minutes of silence before Pitch calmed enough to notice how slowly Jack was fading, and his eyes widened. "You're not fighting your fear?"

Jack shrugged. "Why should I, even if I could somehow fix this, I'm still stuck with an eternity of being invisible, and no matter how things end with you, the Guardians only sought me out because they needed my help. Win or lose they wouldn't want me around afterwards, and do you know of any other spirit that wants me around them, cause I don't?"

Pitch actually looked sad as Jack spoke. "I had hoped you would have seen that fact before and joined me, but once the fear has taken root, even I cannot stop it." Pitch reached beneath his robes and pulled out a golden tooth container. "I may be many horrible things Jack, but even I am not without compassion. One of my Nightmares was spying on the five of you since I left Tooth's palace and told me of your memory problem." Pitch smirked at Jack's shock and tossed the container to Jack's feet. "How else did you think I found you?" Jack stared down at the container that bared his face, albeit he had brown hair and eyes, but his attention was jerked away by the appearance of a dream sand dolphin swimming down from the sky and circling him. "That's my cue, goodbye Jack." With that, Pith and his Nightmare faded into the shadows of the forest.

Jack bent down and picked up the container, debating on whether or not to open it, when he heard the fluttering of wings. He was facing away from her as Tooth and the little fairy landed by him, the dolphin still swimming around him. He was completely transparent now, though they could still make him out, and through him they could see the tooth container in his hands. "Jack, where did you get that?"

"Pitch. He was here not too long ago, actually seemed sorry about what's happening to me and returned this."

Tooth looked surprised, but that was overtaken by her curiosity. "Have you opened it yet?" He shook his head and she was confused. "Why not, not too long ago, it was all you wanted."

"Because it doesn't matter anymore." Tooth raised her hand to try and comfort the boy, but he turned around and handed it to her before continuing to speak. "You shouldn't have followed me, you can't help me, and you should be more worried about stopping Pitch."

Baby Tooth flew over to him and tried to rub up against his cheek, but passed through and Tooth looked down in sadness. "You're right, I don't know how to help you, but you shouldn't have to go through this alone."

Jack shrugged and sat on a fallen log without falling through, where Tooth soon joined him. "I'm used to it, been that way for as long as I can remember. Course the first thing I remember was it being dark and cold and being scared, then seeing the moon and rising out of the lake." Both fairies looked at him in confusion, but he either didn't notice or didn't care because he got up and walked to the middle of the lake before looking around and moving a couple of feet to the right. "I think it was about here that I came out." He took his staff into both hands and smiled as he looked upon it fondly. "Found this a few feet away, had to use it to channel my powers for a long time to do even the smallest of things."

"But if you don't need it, why keep it?"

Jack smiled as he ran his hand down the staff, a frost like pattern of blue energy following his hand. "I never said I don't need it, just that I can do some things without it. I still need it to fly, and I use it to focus my powers when I don't have enough time to concentrate hard enough. Besides, it's the one thing I can truly call my own, it won't react to anyone else's touch." They sat in silence for a time before Jack let out a wistful sigh. "Some Guardian I turned out to be, maybe this is why he picked me, to get rid of his mistake."

Tooth looked up at him sadly. "Jack, he wouldn't have made you like this if he didn't think you'd be believed in one day."

Jack snorted. "Do you know what I am to people Tooth?" She shook her head. "I'm a one liner in a song about Christmas, and a character, usually the villain, in some two-bit children's movies, also usually about Christmas. What I'm known for is bringing a miserable, cold, often times deadly season, to the point that adults tell any kid who might believe that there's no such thing as Jack Frost, so maybe it's better to disappear instead of becoming like Pitch."

Both fairies looked at him with tear filled eyes. "You don't really think that do you? That the world would be better off without you?"

"Wouldn't it? No one believes in me, Manny's ignored me for three centuries, the other spirits all hate me for one reason or another, and the only Guardians that might miss me are you and Sandy. And it's not like there wouldn't be winter without me, Old Man Winter's had it covered long before I was around."

"I can see why you think Bunny wouldn't, but why wouldn't North?"

"It's just one less person on the Naughty List, not to mention his yetis would have more time to make toys without me trying to sneak in…" Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of laughter and the appearance of a young couple looking no older than Jack did. Said spirit looked over at Tooth to find she wasn't even attempting to hide before realizing it meant they no longer believed.

Looking back at the couple, Jack noticed he each had a pair of ice skates. The guy had black hair and blue eyes, he looked hesitant as he looked out over the ice. "You're sure it's safe, I mean Easter is tomorrow, so wouldn't the ice be thin at the very least by now?"

The young woman, a brunette with brown eyes, finished tying her skate's laces. "Quit being such a scaredy cat, with the snow storm yesterday, I'm sure it's fine. Still looking unsure, the guy put on his skates and followed her onto the ice.

Jack watched in horror as the brunette skated backwards away from her companion, laughing as he tried to catch her, towards what Jack could see was thinning ice caused by the spring thaw. Tooth floated not far from him with a sad but resigned look, believing there was nothing that could be done before she noticed Jack raising his staff above his head, his body all but gone as his staff shone light blue with his magic. "Jack stop! You're making yourself fade faster!"

"I'm going to disappear anyway! The least I can do is make sure they'll be alright!" With a shout he slammed the butt of his staff into the ice beneath his feet, sending out a shockwave of frost that thickened the ice of the entire lake just before the teen's skates slide over the once weak spot. Jack himself was on a knee panting heavily, his form just barely visible. He let out a humorless laugh as the two teens passed through him and looked up at the moon, not reacting as Tooth landed beside him. "Even now, he still won't tell me what it was all for." With that Jack Frost was gone, leaving only his staff behind, stuck into the ice and still glowing brightly, and the dream sand dolphin fell apart.