Chapter 2

"Nice to see that you woke up... So, you wanna play a game?"

"Wha-What?" Jack asked in confusion, "Who are you? What are you?"

"Aww... are you ignoring me? That's okay... Everyone ignored you for much longer, anyway. You'll come around." The doppelganger said with a venomous yet icy tone.

"What?" Jack asked, "Augh!" He grunted, as he felt pain rear up in his lower torso ('belly' area)

He looked down, and saw that he was bleeding. He had a piece of ice jutting out of his lower torso. Jack pulled it out, and then stared down in shock, before the voice spoke out again. He pressed his hands on the wound in an attempt to freeze it shut. He tried to hold his shaking hands in place, in a feeble attempt to plug the weeping wound.

"You should probably get that looked at. Wouldn't want you to bleed to death just yet, now would we?"

Jack shuffled backwards, grabbing blindly for his staff. Once he had it, he flew off while clutching at his wound.

The guardians had just made it back to The Workshop.

"So, Bunny is still going to talk to Jack, right?" Tooth asked no one in particular.

Sandy gave a thumbs up.

"An' why wouldn' I? He needs discipline. We all need to talk ta th' brat."

"Bunny!" Tooth scolded, "He is not a brat; he's just... Free spirited."

"And 'e 'as too much of it."

As they spoke, they could hear a crash upstairs.

Everyone looked at north.

"Yetis are downstairs, elves not loud enough to make such noise." He half whispered. "Maybe is Jack?"

Everyone awwed in understanding, and then Bunny sighed.

"Then we should check it out, right guys?" He finally said.

When they made it up the stairs, a shuffling could be heard. They could see that a light was on. It was the light to Jack's room. They crept closer (except sandy and tooth, who flittered and floated over to the door). "Jack?" North asked as he knocked on the door. He received no answer, except more shuffling and a click.

North signaled to knock the door open, but sandy flew over and twisted the door knob. It was unlocked.

North sighed. He really wanted to knock it down.

What they saw when they opened the door was terrifying. There was blood all over the room. There was a messy trail from the window to the bathroom, where shuffling could still be heard. Next to the bed, there was a shallow pool of the sticky red substance.

Bunny tiptoed closer to the room. The door was open just enough to see Jack frantically looking through the cupboards. His hands were covered in blood, and he was using his staff to hold himself up. They then took notice of the missing mirror.

"Jack? Jack!" Bunny called out, causing the other guardians to flood into the room. They all gasped in shock.

Jack turned around, his arms crossed over his stomach. As smile of relief appeared on his face as he forced himself to say, "Oh, H-hey guys... Looking for b-bandages... I can't find them... ugh...not-not even a first aid kit in here..."

North gasped again, before running over to Jack's dresser, and pulling out an emergency medical kit. When he returned, Bunny had already helped Jack to the ledge of the tub. He had to hold him up, but Bunny didn't mind. After all, the kid was hurt.

"Vat happened, Jack?" North asked, looking at the boy; who was looking around restlessly.

"I don't think you'd believe me even if I told you..." Jack sighed. "Are you trying to kill me?!" He hissed out as north stitched up the cut.

"Ve are family, yes?" North asked, as he sat an alcohol soaked cloth on Jack's injury.

"OW!... I- I guess..." Jack replied, suddenly finding the floor very interesting.

"No. You do not guess. We are. That means we trust each other. Now... Tell me: How did this happen? Who did this to you?" North motioned to Jack's bloody arms and torso.

Jack sighed, "I... I don't know, He had dark... Black hair and red eyes... He- he was in the ice... In my lake... He looked like me, but at the same time, he didn't..."

"Vat? In the lake; drowning? Under ze ice? Why attack you then?"

"...No... Not in the water... He wasn't human; North. Maybe... Maybe He's an immortal... H-Hey, Do you remember how Pitch travels through shadows?"

All of them nodded.

"He moves through the reflections... He-He wasn't in the lake; he was in the reflection... In the ice..."

North placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Vaat Happened, Jack?"

"I... I fell out of a tree... but I was fine then..."Jack said quickly, as he fidgeted with his hands, "I heard this... this scratching... It-It was coming from the lake. It was just under me. I looked at it, to see what it was; and he was there... He was speaking, and he reached though the ice... He-he stabbed me. He even followed me here..." Jack said, as he glanced around yet again, his gaze reaching the mirror that he turned around in his room so that the reflection was not visible.

Bunny shook his head, motioning for North to follow him outside.

Once in the hallway, he closed the door, leaving Tooth, Sandy and Jack alone in the bathroom. "He's loony, mate. Nobody lives in reflections. It's impossible. He musta his 'is head on th' way down. He said it 'imself, North. He did fall; must be hallucinatin'."

"Nothing is impossible, friend; but Jack is acting strange. We should check for any injuries or others, no?"

"Mah thoughts exactly, mate."

After a thorough check up, Jack was out quicker than Sandy at a meeting. Bunny carried him into the bed, muttering to himself about how he still had to clean the ice out of the Warren, not to mention that Jack's room was now covered in dried blood. When he had Jack laying in the bed, he noticed that Jack was holding onto him. He wrestled with his hands, eventually escaping the frost child's grasp. He smiled to himself as he wiped a stray bang out of Jack's face, "Ya lil troublemaker..."

I'm not sure what to call the doppelganger; i'm thinking Jeff, Erik Blaze, or something. I need suggestions. Review and leave an idea for a name for him. I won't post again until I can think of one. In the meantime, enjoy these ducks~

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(Sorry, deletes the less than sign... That's why the squiggly with the 3 isn't a heart :/) ~3

bye, my crimson garden :3 (I wanted to post a heart at the end, but fanfiction keeps deleti it )