Hello everyone. I'm just going to go ahead and make this short because there will be a small but important announcement at the end of the chapter. Sorry it took me so long to post this by the way! I was having a bit of trouble with it but I finally figured everything out. :) Thanks to all of you who have reviewed, fallowed and favorited the story so far! You guys are all awesome and you keep the story going! Please keep it up! :D A big thank you to all of my awesome friends who are reading this as well! You know who you are!

AS always for this story I would also just like to do this before we begin: WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! THIS IS NOT A YAOI OR MPREG STORY! THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO BLACK ICE IN THIS STORY THAT IS A PROMISE AND I AM NOT CHANGING MY MIND! Sorry for any disappointment.

As always I do not own Rise of the Guardians or The Guardians of Childhood book series, they belong to William Joyce and DreamWorks. Please enjoy and again there will be an important message at the ending AN of the chapter!


Frozen Tears and Nightmares

Chapter 3: At the Center of the Ice

Large waves rose and fell upon one another in the center the freezing waters of the Atlantic ocean far below a night sky darkened by ominous storm clouds.

The sound of distant thunder and the flash of lightning that fell from the air and pierced into the water like a blade signaling the approach of a distant storm. The darkened waters of the sea far below the blanket of thick, gray clouds were as black as an oil slick, almost looking as if it were the night sky that lacked the thousands of beautiful glowing diamonds that were stitched into the fabric of the heavens above.

The wind howled and lashed out in the sky like invisible whips before suddenly vanishing and then reappearing once more, acting as yet another prelude for the storm to come. Playing the opening act before the curtain of nature rose for the thousands of dancers that would fall through the air as if in a beautiful pirouette.

The slashes of the air's invisible claws however, went completely unnoticed by the spirit of winter as he shot over the Northern Atlantic and flew in the direction he somehow instinctually seemed to know was the way to his frozen lake. The claws themselves didn't even reach out for the boy as he flew through them, instead seemingly to recoil back as he approached on the North Wind's command.

Jack held tightly onto his staff as he was carried hurriedly through the air, willing the wind to take him faster to avoid being poured on and pelted with bullets of falling water that would soon begin to fall.

It was likely the water would freeze solid once it touched him in his highly agitated and uneasy state and cover him in an armor of unmoving ice and at the moment he really didn't want to deal with having to chisel himself out of that right now.

His eyes were narrowed and set into a state of determination as his mind shifted through all of the information, or rather, the lack there of, that he had on the situation and everything he had just seen. Only to come up with exactly no explanation, or even a probable guess as to what the hell he had just gone through.

The pain had completely left his body now, leaving behind only a kind of numb, tingling sensation and the desire to throw himself into the nearest snowbank and sleep for the next four centuries.

The North wind cooed softly, whispering in his ear and running her hands playfully and comfortingly through his hair as she took him back home with no little amount of concern and anxiety about the situation. She wanted to take him back to the North Pole, she wanted him to go and get some help and rest and not to go chasing after moonbeams that she just knew were going to lead him directly into trouble.

Something was wrong, she could feel it. Both of them could. She had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on or what she had just seen happen, but all she knew, and all she needed to know was that it scared the hell out of her. And it was not simply because Jack had suddenly screamed out in total agony and fell to the earth from a good three miles up-thank MiM above for the deep snow he landed in- or even the fact that he had just narrowly been impaled.

It was because she had felt something as well.

She had no possible idea what that had just been. One moment she was hanging onto the boy for dear life and trying to ease his pain in whatever way she could and the next it felt like she was being ripped in half.

She couldn't remember the last time she had actually felt pain like that. She had felt emotional pain many times before. Pain for Jack and the fact that he was all alone in the world, pain for the fact she could not do anything about it other than to take him away from people when it became too hard for him, and pain for only being able to whisper comforting words into his ear that he was only half able to understand when the aching loneliness darkened his eyes and despair managed to overtake his heart before he could push himself forward again.

However, the pain that she had just felt was like nothing she had ever experienced before. It was not emotional pain. It was not the pain she felt when she worried over her friend's wellbeing or happiness as 300 years of isolation turned him to complete depression on more than one occasion. This was different, this was something else entirely.

This pain was physical.

This was supposed to be impossible, she had no body. No heart, no lungs, no breath. She had nothing that could have possibly felt the effects of the physical world. And yet for a moment she had been sure that she was about to literally be ripped in half.

She had felt her powers spike and drop like some kind of demented roller coaster as invisible knives pierced into her nonexistent flesh and she screamed out in agony along with Jack.

It felt like she was being ripped apart and one half of herself was suddenly separated from the rest of her only to seemingly vanish into the storm. Even now, a small piece of herself somehow felt like it was missing which, once again, was not at all supposed to be possible.

Half of her wanted to leave the situation alone, wanted to take Jack and turn right around to go back to the Pole and forget this whole damn thing ever happened. But the other half was filled with burning curiosity and confusion that was winning out over her desire for caution.

Jack was exactly the same.

To be completely honest he wanted nothing more at that moment then go back to the Pole and ask Tooth or North if there was any sort of weird sorcerer magic crap or something that could destroy the last 24 hours' worth of his memories.

The image of those horrible golden eyes and that fanged smirk in his own reflection flashed through his mind and sent a shudder down his spine.

Oh yeah. Every single ounce of his rational mind as well as whatever part controlled what little sense of self-preservation he had was seemingly being drowned out by his more stupid and masochistic self. The current result of this being him carried on the Northern trade winds at approximately 200 miles per hour after a bloody moonbeam that could very well be taking him to a second inevitable death if what he had just felt or seen had been any sort of precursor.

But no matter how hard he tried he couldn't help the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that was slowly making anxiety pool in the pit of his stomach.

Flashes of the memories of staring at his darker self in the reflection of the pillar of frozen nightmare sand shot through his mind and he was starting to feel sick to his stomach. Again those piercing golden eyes and that grin of sharpened teeth made his lungs feel like they were full of water and his vision go foggy with a cross between fear, disgust and about a hundred other emotions that even a professional psychologist couldn't decipher.

Out of everything though, it was the horrible crushing sensation in his chest that was by far the worst of the pain. It was nothing like the torture he had experienced before, it was different somehow. It wasn't a physical pain that he could describe in words. It was just this aching, suffocating sensation surrounded by numbing emptiness. It felt like he had a piece of metal stuck in his chest.

And the sensation was growing with every passing second he flew towards his lake and away from the Pole.

Jack kept his hand clenched tightly around the frozen wood of his staff that was still covered in a thick layer of solid ice, this little fact only serving to set him more on edge then he already was. In 300 years he had lost control of his powers a handful of times for various reasons. Mostly by losing control of his emotions when the loneliness of isolation just got to be a little too much.

However, not once, in all those times he had lost control of I powers had his staff ever been completely frozen in ice. No matter how out of control his powers got when his emotions let lose because he couldn't hold them back anymore.

Yeah, a seasonal having any kind of emotional meltdown never ended well. At all. Ever. For any reason. The Easter of 68' was a testament to that. At least partially.

Jack shook his head harshly to banish the surfacing memories of that little incident back into the depths of his mind. He was already dealing with the visions of that black ice pillar and his bloody doppelganger as well as trying to forget the feeling of his body being set on fire and then dipped in acid. He did not have the mental sanity to be remembering those kinds of past incidences right now.

Every second his anxiety seemed to multiply tenfold and he felt like the weight of the lead that was somehow stuck into his chest was going to make him fall right out of the air and into the freezing ocean miles below him.

This of course only added to the anxiety and fear he was desperately trying to push away as the thought of plummeting into the freezing water combined with memories of that day 300 years ago flashed through his mind and repeated over and over again in a seemingly never ending circle of pain and depression.

Again he shook his head harshly as he tried and failed to clear his head before looking up to the sky and locking his eyes with the luminous orb above him that stood against a sea of gleaming stars. The radiant light of the moon seemed to be following him as he flew over the ocean, covering him in a silvery veil.

In truth though he was only made more nervous by the cover of pale light.

"Wind!" He yelled to the air around him. "We need to hurry! Get me there as fast as you can!" He didn't have to say anything more before he felt himself exponentially picking up speed as the North wind responded to his request.

He shot through the air, attempting to avoid the building storm just a ways off to keep from being struck by lightning. He could honestly say first hand that it wasn't a fun time. The wind rushed through his hair and lightly tugged at his clothes as she pulled him forward, feeling his distress and completely being able to relate in the emotion.

The dark clouds and the fog that covered the sky around him hindered his already only partly focused vision as the sound of thunder grew louder and more ominous. However, he soon felt his eyes widen as he was able to make out something through the dense fog in the distance ahead of him.

The moonbeam that he had been following back from the Arctic tundra was shining in the distance, flickering rapidly like some sort of siren.

Jack's eyes narrowed slightly in question as he again felt the wind around him pick up speed and he flew forward towards the gleaming light, only for it to again shoot off before he could reach it, almost as if it were beckoning him to follow.

As if I needed another reason. He thought in irritation while rolling his eyes. Once more feeling the piece of metal imbedded in his chest grow in size and weight as the realization of just how completely wrong this situation continued to feel.

Jack quickly follow after the beam of light as it would stop and flash, waiting for him to catch up before taking off again in the direction of his lake.

This pattern continued to repeat for what felt like an eternity of mental torture and more than once Jack nearly told the wind to just turn around and take him back to the North Pole. However, every time he still was unable to do it. He couldn't bring himself to stop now no matter how much he wanted to and he was cursing himself, the moon, and pretty much everything else there was to curse the entire damn time.

It didn't really make any sense but it sure as hell made him feel better.

Eventually though the seemingly never-ending game of 'follow the moonbeam and pray to don't get hit by a bolt of lightning and fall to your second watery death" did actually come to an end as the view of Burgess forest finally appeared in the distance.

Jack didn't even bother to remain in the air as the forms of the hundred dead trees darted past below him. With a silent request to the wind he was quickly lowered to the ground in the center of the forest, choosing to run the rest of the way to his lake if only to rid himself of the anxious feeling of the weight in his chest making him drop out of the sky.

Though much to his disappointment, the lack of that particular bit of anxiety did little to make him feel any better. It was actually replaced with the feeling of his legs nearly buckling beneath him and sending him passed out into the snow which he was just barely able to ignore.

The landing was rough and nearly sent him falling flat onto his face as he was unable to slow himself down enough to avoid almost running headlong into the trunk of a tree. He was only able to avoid that painful fait because the North wind was in a just slightly more conscious state at the time and was able to catch him before he was able to give himself another concussion.

Yes, that wouldn't have been the first time he had been sent flying painfully into a tree.

North wind had actually found herself grateful on more than one occasion that Jack was already dead. It made it much harder for him to die a second time since the moon made him an immortal, but it sadly didn't mean he was completely immune to head injuries and nearly being impaled on multiple occasions by sharp branches.

Quite frankly the list of injuries he had sustained over the years just because of those kinds of incidences would likely make any medical doctor go into cardiac arrest.

Jack staggered forward as the wind helped him catch himself, a burst of sharp pain shooting up his right leg from his ankle as he broke into a fast sprint through the trees. He ignored both the aching in his leg and the stinging in his lungs as cold air shot in and out of his throat, his chest heaving up and down heavily as he ran and his hand continuingly tightening in a vice-like grip around his staff.

The only thing successfully making him cringe from the pain being the stinging sensation of sharpened needles of ice piercing into his palm that were nearly sharp enough to draw blood.

Jack ran, weaving through the bare trees of the forest as he easily navigated his way quickly towards his frozen lake at the edge of the small town just outside of the forest.

This place had been his home for the past 300 years. After all that time he had come to know every single detail of this forest and thus had absolutely no trouble finding his way, even in the dense, foggy darkness of the night that was lit up only by the small amount of moonlight breaking through the thick clouds that covered the sky.

Jack wasn't really thinking as he sprinted forward, only unconsciously ducking and dodging low hanging branches of dead trees and bounding over large exposed roots as his bare feet hastily made prints in the freshly fallen snow below him. He had absolutely no idea what to expect to find when he arrived at his lake but with every quickened step the feeling that what he was going to find was not going to be good became more and more real to him.

The wind rushed passed him and he could feel his heart pounding painfully against his ribs as if it were trying to break its way out of his chest. He could only see what was in front of him as the rest of reality seemed to disappear into the background of darkened shadows as if he were in some kind of dream.

Jack suddenly shook his head and he seemed to pick up another burst of speed as a sudden realization slapped him across the face. This isn't a dream. He thought.

This is a nightmare.

Or rather he found himself almost wishing it was. If it was a nightmare then at least he'd know he was going to wake up. He'd know that this madness would eventually come to an end and that it wasn't real. He'd be able to at least try and forget the whole damned thing as soon as it was over, or rather, right after he went and kicked the Nightmare King's ass for the tainted dream that would likely be burned into his mind for the rest of eternity.

But as much as he would have loved to believe it, he knew that this wasn't a dream.

If this entire thing had been a dream then he wouldn't have felt the searing agony of having sulfuric acid being injected into his veins or the stabbing pain of the ice cutting into his palm. Nor would he be able to feel through his trancelike haze the stinging of sharp rocks and broken twigs cutting into his now bleeding feet.

A fact that Tooth would probably scream at him about later after she had made him get medical attention from the yetis and crushed him to death in a hug while telling him how reckless he is. All the while happening with Baby Tooth clinging to him like glue with some other mini fairies asking if he was OK before joining in their mother's rant.

So, no. No matter how much he would have loved for this all to have been some sick and twisted dream, it wasn't. This was real. And that's what made it the most unnerving.

Jack felt his eyes widen as he finally was able to make out the break in the trees that he knew lead out onto the frozen water and the dim light of the sleeping town's street lamps glowing in the distance. His already Olympic runner speed suddenly increased with another burst of adrenalin as he ran through the trees, his long legs moving fluidly and vaulting him over large upturned trees, roots and boulders with impossible agility.

The pounding in his chest continued to drum against his ribs and his lungs burned painfully as they struggled to keep up with the gasps of freezing air that shot in and out of his throat in quick, staggered breaths.

His mind was only able to register that he was moving forward and the obstacles that blocked his path as he dodged and bounded over them. Not noticing the small patches of ice that suddenly began to bloom from the ground like beautiful, spiked flowers with every step he took and actually glowed a faint silvery blue.

The ice lit up the forest with a pale light below the few moonbeams that were able to break through the clouds. The air dropped rapidly in temperature as Jack's powers radiated off of him, growing stronger and stronger with every step he took towards the lake and his emotions lashed out and exploded from anxiety and something else he could in no way explain.

Winter magic seeped into the air and ground, the trunks of trees turning white with gleaming frost and icicles as he ran past them. It was only when a thick layer of frozen white fractals began to fall from the darkened sky that he was able to just slightly return to the edge of reality.

Jack's eyes momentarily glanced up in confusion and he silently cursed when he realized the sudden spike in his powers that he could feel radiating into the earth and sky unintentionally and he attempted to calm himself.

The ice spiking out of the ground finally ceased as he forced down his emotions. Sadly though, it did little to stop the falling snow that was getting heaver with every passing second.

At least it was close to Christmas and not Easter this time around.

Finally the break in the trees that lead out to the small cliff overlooking the frozen lake came into view in the distance. Jack felt his jaw clench tightly and his eyes narrow as his teeth ground together in a way that would likely have sent Tooth into a coma for the next century. His stomach twisted into tight knots as his lungs finally managed to receive a break as he choked on air and his breath was strangled in his throat.

Please let nothing be there, please let nothing be there, please let nothing be there! His mind raced as this one thought was rapidly repeated in silent prayers to God, MiM, the universe, to anyone or thing that could possibly make this nightmare end.

The high speed sprint that he had broken into nearly three miles back suddenly came to abrupt and nearly crashing halt as Jack finally burst through the trees and into the light of the pale moon that showered the ice of the frozen lake like a radiant silver veil.

The gleaming moonbeams shown down from the sky through the smallest break in the blackened clouds revealing the luminous orb above. The soft light glistening off of the sparkling and untainted snow that was slowly fluttering to the ground, that was already covered in an elegant white blanket.

Like beautiful ornaments, crystalline icicles hung delicately from the bare branches of every tree, catching the moon's light and reflecting it like mirrors to make each one glow like iridescent lanterns. That light only added to the immense beauty of the crisp and freshly fallen snow by making it sparkle like millions of diamonds scattered along the forest floor that was a sharp but enchanting contrast to the vast sky of darkness above. The soft breeze of the Northern wind's presence blew through the trees, gently caressing the icicles and making them lightly touch one another to create bell like chimes that echoed through the otherwise silent air.

The shadows of the night had been banished to the edges of the clearing's tree line by the moonbeams that danced through the air as if they were preforming in some magnificent ballet that was perfectly synchronized with the musical chimes of the sparkling ice and the lulling melody of the gentle wind.

Their stage being the frozen surface of the lake, which was surely the most beautiful part of the show.

The clear and glasslike ice acted like one giant mirror surrounded by the smaller icicles that paled in comparison to its beauty. Silver light that was accented with pale blues and whites reflected off of the surface with a soft glow that lit up the forest around it in a pale light. The moon's form was also reflected, its image appearing in the ice at the center of the frozen water.

The light from the sky that was being shown off of the ice almost making it seem as if there were actually two moons, competing to see who was the most beautiful and who could banish the darkness farther into the cover of the trees.

The entire scene was like something out of the pages of a fairy tale, a winter wonderland that captured the true essence of winter's grace and beauty that so many turned their heads from for fear of the cold. Like a grand painting come to life, that no one would ever be able to imagine actually appearing before them in the real world and would leave the viewer gaping in awe at its immeasurable beauty.

Jack froze like solid the second he broke the tree line, his feet sinking into the crisp and freshly fallen snow below him as his eyes went wide. The scene before him was exactly the reason why he loved winter.

The elegant beauty and purity that came with everything covered in a thick blanket of gleaming white that could be seen even in near complete darkness. The beautiful music that was played with the simple touching of two small icicles in a gentle breeze that was like the melody of an old music box that such a trinket could never truly recreate.

The way the snow and ice shined and sparkled with even the smallest bit of light and gleamed like diamonds on the ground. The way the wind would kick up flurries of the white powder that would swirl and dance through the air in a waltz that was enchanting to the eye. The uniqueness of every single snowflake that fell from the sky that would never again be recreated, like billions upon billions of masterpieces descending to the ground that almost no one took the time to appreciate.

And all of this serving as the perfect scene for people in nearly all walks of life. From children playing together in snowball fights that would make the air vibrate with laughter, to couples that had been together for only a day to fifty years taking a stroll through the park just to be with one another and share in the sight of nature's beauty. Of winter's beauty.

Oh yes, this is exactly the reason Jack Frost love winter. This is why even after 300 years he still loved nothing more than trying to create works of art exactly like this one that was prefect in nearly every way.

Whether or not everyone took the time to even bother glancing at his work, he didn't care. Just as long as there were those few who would stop and stare, who would smile because of what he had made, and as long as there where children who could find happiness because of what he did, that was more than enough for him.

This was the kind of winter wonderland he would always strive to create, like a dedicated artist who put his entire heart and soul into every piece of work he created. And what was standing before him now was arguably the most beautiful he would have ever seen in 300 years of striving to create the ultimate masterpiece.

However, he was not staring at the elegant beauty of his own element that surrounded him. His eyes were wide, his breath had long since died, and he was unsure whether or not his heart had actually stopped beating.

But, it was not the breathtaking world of living art and beauty that cut his breathing short, nor was it the aweing beauty of it all that made his eyes go wide. And, it was not in pride that his heart felt like it had just been crushed in his chest.

No. This is because he was not looking at the magic. He wasn't listening to the music. He wasn't even able to notice a single piece of his work. And he was not staring at the immense beauty that surrounded him, no.

He was staring at the small girl lying still at the center of the ice.


And that's the chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it and if you did please let me know in a review!

As for the announcement. OK, so this AN will be posted with every single story I update today (and possibly tomorrow if I run out of time) I will be updating every one of my 4 stories within the next day or so. Again hopefully it will all be today but I'm not sure if i will have time. But anyway, I am writing this AN to apologize to all of you.

But I am afraid all of my stories will be going onto hiatus for the next three weeks until the first of June.

This is the last month of school for me and finals as well as final projects are currently getting underway. I need to have time to give all of those things my complete attention and focus for the next month until school gets out so that I can keep my 4.0 GPA through the entire year. I will also be hosting a Japanese exchange student for one of these weeks not to long from now and I wont have much time to write or post anything. On top of all of that I am also trying to apply for a job at my local preschool to work part time and am actually working on actual original stories I am trying to get published. (I write children's picture books/stories. I know right? You wouldn't really expect that with all the angst and crap I right would you? :P)

So anyways yeah. I'm really, REALLY sorry to all of you but until the first of next month I will most likely not be posting anything. Possibly something for the story 'Spirit -not so- Well High School' but probably not. :( I really am sorry and hope you will all understand. But I promise I will be back next month with all new chapters that will be awesome and will make up for my absence! XD

Until the 1st of June everyone! Please always remember: Practice safe snacks and always use a condiment!

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