Sorry about this being late guys! The semester is wrapping up down here (1 week left) and things have gone INSANE! I've been running around trying to get stuff done and not all of it is finished. More notes at the bottom that are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! But you'll get to those. First, you have a late chapter to read.

"Jamie!"

Jamie looked up from his conversation with Katherine and Cupcake at Jack's call, shocked as the boy stormed towards him with determination. A strange, dark-skinned girl in a dress of orange and red leaves followed behind him.

"Why didn't you tell me? Tell us!" Jack said as he stopped in front of Jamie. "I mean, I understand that you may not feel the need to contact us," Jack started to pace in front of the group, too wound up to stand still. "I mean, Pitch is not longer a threat, but kids are still our priority. We try to help kids in any way. So why did I have to find out from Anona that there are kids going missing in the forest? My forest nonetheless! And on top of that, she thinks it is Spirit related-"

"The energy doesn't feel human at all." Anona clarified quietly.

"So why didn't you contact any of us!"

"I have no way to contact any of you!" Jamie exploded, making Jack flinch, but he didn't stop. "Elizabeth hasn't lost any teeth yet and the fairies won't come in if the children are not asleep. Bunny only visits my sister. We only see him on Easter. And even if we could talk to him, the disappearances didn't start until late summer. Sandy always puts us to sleep before we can try to talk to him and the postal service doesn't exactly send letters to Santa until after Halloween. I am sorry that I did not contact you, but I had no way Jack! I can't exactly pick up a phone and call you."

"I'm just going to leave now..." Anona said. She didn't wait for a response, knowing she wasn't going to get one, before she shot up over the roof and disappeared. Katherine and Cupcake were not far behind her, slipping into the house to get away from the argument.

"What about Katherine? You couldn't ask her to deliver a message?" Jack shot back.

"This is the first she has visited since the disappearances began! She just pops in before going to see North! So don't, Jack. We had to wait and hope and pray that this was some twisted psycho while we waited for winter." Jamie growled. "I know you are a guardian and everything Jack, but I have a daughter that can fall victim to this thing. Elizabeth... She is the most important thing to me." Jamie said with a glance over Jack at her lonely snowman. "She is my first priority, Jack, and she always will be." With that, Jamie turn on heel and walked inside. Jack slumped his shoulders and sighed. It was the first snow of the year and there was already tension between them. Granted every other time there was an argument it was because Jack had snowed them in for a week. Even then Jamie managed to go to work somehow. The Winter Spirit stuffed his hands in his pocket and kicked up some snow as he walked to the where he left Elizabeth.

"Jack!" There was a loud 'bang' and Jack turned, taking in a wide-eyed and frantic Jamie. "Is Elizabeth out here?"

Jack paused and quickly looked around. Surely enough, the yard was vacant of any little girl.

"Jamie wha-"

"Elizabeth is gone."

Elizabeth stumbled deeper into the woods around Burgess. Her feet crunched in the snow as she jumped over downed trees. She knew she wasn't supposed to go into the woods without Mommy or Daddy, but something green in the woods caught her eye while she was building her snowman. She only wanted to see what it was! It was so shiny when the sunlight hit it! Maybe it was something she could give Mommy! So now the four year old struggled to keep going as her little legs grew tired.

The sky had darkened considerably by the time Elizabeth reached Jack's home on the pond. Everything was white and silent, a common occurrence with Jack's first snow of the season. She stood still, just like she had learned in her books. She listened and looked while trying to make no sound at all. The seconds ticked away slowly and barely half a minute passed before the impatient four year old huffed and crossed her arm. She had lost it! She was really wanted to see what it was! It was getting late and she couldn't see that well anymore. Maybe she could come back tomorrow with Mommy and Daddy and look for it again. Maybe they can bring nets! And flash lights and oh! Maybe they can camp out in the woods!

With her mind set, Elizabeth put a smile on her face and turned to go home, disappointment completely forgotten, when there was a soft rustle in the tree line. She froze. Things were silent for a moment until branches rustled and snow fell from the trees with a 'plop'. Elizabeth turned to look at the disturbance and gasped. At the base of one of the trees, covered mostly in snow, was her shiny, green... thing! With an ecstatic giggle, Elizabeth ran over to the tree and crouched in the snow at the base of the tree. The four year old raised a gloved hand and, cautiously, poked it. It was hard! She giggled and poked it again. This time, Elizabeth let out a startled yelp as the thing shifted and began to move. It slid behind the tree with a 'hsss' and left a trail of green in the snow. She gasped as the trees shuddered, as if something was ramming into them. Elizabeth scrambled and stood and turned to run when she collided with something hard. She fell back onto her bottom with a 'thump'. She whimpered in pain as a large shadow was cast over her fallen form and looked up. Above her was a snake, bigger than any snake she had ever seen or read about. Its head fanned out like a cobra's, but it was black. In fact, its whole body was black including its teeth; black and shimmery in the fading light. The snake reared back and readied itself for a strike when Elizabeth screamed.

"Izzy?!" Jack yelled. She had not gone missing long ago, but in that short time, it felt as if years had passed. When they first noticed she disappeared, panic struck, or near panic. There was loads of yelling, mostly Cupcake, as to what happened. It wasn't until Katherine so rationally pointed out that they were losing time and evidence of where she went that everyone shut up.

"Elizabeth!" Jack looked back over his shoulder at Cupcake, strong as ever. He knew she was distraught, but since she was a kid, she had always been strong. The brawn to Jamie's brain. Not saying Cupcake was a fool, she was very bright, but she always had a strong heart. Probably why she became a lawyer. She had told Jack she was going to search for her baby girl, monsters be damned. That was her baby and she wasn't going to allow someone else look for her without helping in some way. She said it with such resolve that not even Katherine was going to speak against her about the dangers. Instead, she just nodded and walked outside, telling Jack she was going to fetch North and the others, in case this was bigger than they thought. That was about half an hour ago and there was no sign of them since.

"Princess!" Jamie called as he searched the woods, looking in every nook-and-cranny he could find. Though Jack stopped the snow fall, Elizabeth's tracks had still been covered, making the search for Elizabeth harder.

... Then they heard her scream.

Jamie looked up at Jack in terror. "Jack, that came from-"

"The pond." Jack cursed under his breath and shot off with the North Wind as Jamie sprinted after him.

Pleasepleasepleaseplease don't let her have fallen into the pond. Jack silently begged. I haven't had the chance to freeze it over fully. Please let her be okay.

Determined, Jack pushed the Wind to speed up, barely allowing the teen to dodge the forest trees. What greeted him when he broke the tree line wasn't any comfort.

Cornered against the rock face, Elizabeth cowered in fear as a snake, at least 30 feet tall, slithered towards her.

"IZZY!" Elizabeth looked up at Jack. But so did the snake, who hissed and bared its black fangs. "IZZY! RUN!" Jack yelled as he dived towards the snake, picking up intense speeds before crashing into the snakes side.

"JACK!" Elizabeth cried as the two connected. Jack quickly bounced back from his attack, jumped up onto the rock face, and took advantage of the high ground.

"Run Izzy! Run!" Jack waved the girl off as the snake shuttered and struggled to erect itself.

"PRINCESS!" Jamie stumbled through the tree line, chest heaving and eyes wide. The snake snapped to the side, looking at Jamie before its eyes flickered over to Elizabeth as she ran towards her father.

"PRINCESS!" Jamie yelled panicked as a shadow cast over her. Elizabeth stopped to look up, watching as the giant tail of the snake came crashing down.

Jack's heart stopped as the snake finally got up, not sparing him a glance. Instead laid on its side, tail shifting, as it stared intently at the four year old. Its prey was getting away. Jack could have sworn the snake grinned as it lifted its tail, sweeping it in a high arch aimed right at Elizabeth.

"PRINCESS!" He heard Jamie yell. Jack barely registered it as he jumped off the cliff. His focus was completely on Elizabeth who watched, frozen in place, as the giant tail fell overhead.

Jack rocketed under the snake's falling tail and grabbed Elizabeth. Once he cleared the tail, Jack rolled in the air and threw Elizabeth to Jamie. "Get out of here! Go!" He yelled as he pushed them back with a gush of air from North Wind.

He never looked at them, favoring the black snake who now had his eyes turned to Jack, baring his vicious fangs. In anger, the snake swung his tail backwards towards Jack, who jumped in the air to dodge the attack and sent out an attack of his own. A string of icicles shot from his staff, which hit the snake diagonally across the body of the snake. He watched as the snake thrashed in pain and rolled back into the trees behind it. The trees swayed under the force the snake crashed into them. The snow, which laid on the branches, was knocked loose and covered the snake in a blanket of snow. Jack gave an internal cheer, thankful for the short victory over the snake.

The boy wasn't without wounds of his own. Ramming into the snake like he did early on was stupid, he had to admit as he rolled his shoulder in pain. So he took the chance to ice over his shoulder while the snake was disoriented from the attack in hopes of numbing the pain. He sunk to the forest floor and slipped to his knees. Jack let out a soft hiss as he moved his shoulder to slip a hand in his hoodie and create a thin layer of ice over the wounded area.

Jack sat still for a moment and let the ice do its job as he stared at the snake. Since his last attack, the thing hadn't moved. He hadn't expected the thing to be out for so long, especially not out for the count. It was strong and smart, having avoided the Guardians' notice for so long, so why it went down so fast worried Jack. In his three hundred years, he had never killed anyone if he could avoid it and learned quickly that even though it was down didn't mean it was finished. It wasn't finished until it fled for good. He stared at the snow where the head of the snake was buried, expecting it to pop out at any moment, and crept closer. With a wave of his shepard's crook, the snow covering the snake was blown away and reveled the full body of the snake. Jack gave a quick glance for reassurance at the icicles that were still embedded in the snake's body before he went to inspect the snake's face. Its eyes were closed which comforted Jack as he crouched down in front of the things face and reached out to touch its nose. Hesitantly, the Winter Child ran his fingers brushed against the snake's nose before he quickly pulled his hand back with a startled gasp. Was this thing really- Black eyes shot opened and the snake shifted. Jack cursed and leapt backwards.

He watched as the snake struggled to right itself. It thrashed as it tried to turn over, knocking into trees as it did so. The cracked of splintering wood echoed in the clearing and trees swayed dangerously. The snake, though, was open to any attack, but its thrashing gave the attacker a chance to miss. A chance Jack was willing to take. He slammed his staff into the ground. Ice spikes erupted from the staff as it connected with the earth and quickly made their way towards the snake. The snake saw the attack and ducked into the trees. The large mass of the snake didn't keep it from hitting the trees as it slithered through the timber. He saw the attack before it even came and jumped back a good ten feet as the snake struck. The two watched each other, Jack stayed light of his feet as he copied the snake's swaying movement. Jack knew what the thing was, thought it helped little. This Nightmare was more powerful than the ones he encountered under Pitch's control, and bigger. With each of his attacks, Jack swore the thing was getting smarter, knowing not only when, but how, to dodge Jack's attacks, and it unnerved him greatly. He didn't think he could defeat it on his own.

As if the universe was on his side, a sudden 'jingle' of bells rang out. Jack looked up in relief and saw as the portal opened. Then things changed. The snake swung its tail and hit Jack square in the chest. His brain barely registered the 'oh shit' that crossed his mind as he dropped his staff and went flying backwards. His head cracked against the rock face behind him, pinned beneath the crushing force of the snake's tail. Jack's vision flickered before going black.

"GUYS! IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE AT THE END YOU NEED TO READ!"

A/N: And the bad parenting award goes to... Nah. I think Jamie and Cupcake would be wonderful parents, but I've seen a lot of parents pull this stunt. Its insane. Watch your kids people. Srsly. Goodness me, though. There is a lot of yelling in this chapter... Kinda reminds me of Rocky Horror... :D

I see Jack as being very acrobatic. He is lean and limber. He trapezes all over the place. He is an acrobat with the Wind as a best friend. And smart. After three hundred years alone, he would have picked up some tricks and smarts. I have head cannons planned out but I am not sure if I want to write them.

But anyways, I hate this chapter. It fought me. It took me two weeks to get to a place that I could accept it and I still don't like it, but that is what you guys get. I may come back later and edit here and there, but this is good enough for me for now. Now maybe you guys could help me... I have found one other, but (including mine) there is a veryvery small percentage of adventure fics on here that have NO ulterior romantic motive. That is one of the reasons I decided to publish this in the first place. I have found like, two and they have been abandoned. So if you guys know of any good, unromantic fics on here, I would LOVE to know about them! NOT one-shot drabbles... I have most of those.

ALSO! For the next, month or so, updates may not be on schedule. The semester is ending and finals are starting up. For me that equals TONS or studying and paper-writing. So I will try my damnedest to be on time, but you guys (those of you who actually give a flying flip) should get a weekly update! If not... Then this may force me to start writing my drabbles

AND THANK YOU MYTH. AND SAMSWIMMER FOR THE FOLLOWS! I LOVE YOU!

P.P.S. I have hit a dilemma guys. I started this story with the intent of add BOTH a new villan and a new guardian. BUT I, unlike most, have added the book characters as well as Elizabeth. This has added a LOT of focus points to my story. So, my ducklings, should I add a new guardian or leave things be? I can go either way and I like both, but I don't want to ruin the story. I really like my guardian, but if I have to cut him, I will. I may end up doing the drabbles and will add him in there instead. BUT the ball is officially in your court! Give me your thoughts. I would love to hear them!