A/N: I. AM NOT. DEAD!

Ehehe, yeah. I'm so, so so SO sorry for the hiatus, but it isn't just this story. I had literally been off of the world of creative writing for a very long time because of certain stuff. Some things are still going on and as much as I don't usually vent into my writing I thought writing itself was a form to let steam off. Today was a particularly bad day, which meant that I pulled this chapter out of nowhere.

NOTE: Wind is technically a character, and its name for Jack is Snowflake. If you want some background on this, go check out my story A Snowflake in the Wind (don't worry, it's a oneshot so you won't have to read a completely different chapter story in order to get the nickname)!

Enjoy, and I swear this won't end in a cliffhanger!


The four (five, five, there's still five) Guardians stood there in shock as Jack - Jack who was not dead, was never dead, is still alive - stared at them. There was a moment of anxiety, a second where nobody out of the five could believe what was happening. Was this Jack real? Was it just a mirage, created from their hopeful minds and wishful thinking?

"Uh." The sound flew from Jack's lips in shock before he could keep it from getting out.

That one simple sound, however, was enough to convince all of them that this was not an illusion.

"Jack! Oh, sweet tooth, you're back!" cried Tooth, and all of them were suddenly rushing over to hug the teen, who took a startled step back.

"D-don't hurt me, please!" Jack blurted out, stumbling backwards. The Wind, who he thought was his friend until now, pushed him towards the Guardians. "What are you doing?!" he hissed to the breeze, which only earned him another push, this one making him land on his hands and knees in front of the four others. He was about to stand up when he saw a petite hand reach out to him. Jack blinked and sneaked a look up to the owner of the hand, gulping when he saw the face of the Tooth Fairy. He immediately put his face back down and brushed her hand away. "N-no thanks...," he mumbled, standing up shakily. He examined the shocked faces of the quartet in front of him. Probably assumed I was dead, he spitefully thought in his mind.

North was the first one to analyze Jack's words. "Jack, vhy vould ve hurt you?" A shuffle of feet was his answer. "Y-you did it before. Why wouldn't you do it again?" Jack shot, on the defensive and fighting the wind current, "And don't bother tricking me. Pitch and Elly told me everything." Aster's eyes widened, understanding a little of what was going on. "Fros'bite, ya gotta listen ta us-" The winter spirit scoffed. "I don't have to do anything," he said, his grip tightening around his staff. "So if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking my leave now." He knew the Wind wasn't going to listen to him, and he knew he had no escape route, but he wasn't going to let these people lie to him.

And as a plan formed in his head, the Sandman floated five inches forward.

That was five inches too much for Jack, and he swung his staff in front of him harshly. Sandy was blown back a bit by the snow flying his way (with no help of the Wind), along with Tooth, and North and Bunny winced as they shielded their eyes from little particles of ice. The Wind flew around its Snowflake frantically, tugging at his arms, legs, hair-

His hood.

With a final gust of air, the hoodie fell back and revealed the winter child's hair and new appearance, shocking the four other Guardians. Oblivious to their expressions, Jack's panicked state grew.

IneedtogetoutofhereIneedtogetoutofhere, he repeated inside his head. Every time he tried to fly off, Wind would first lift him an inch off the ground, and then forcibly drag him down again. As if it was reminding itself something. Frustrated, and in a jolt of panic and adrenaline, Jack did something he had never done before - and would never have had dreamed of doing a few minutes ago.

He commanded, forced the Wind to carry him off.

Forced the Wind, his only friend for three hundred years.

Stunned, Wind could only be dragged along by the teen's staff, carrying him off into the sky and away from the Guardians that tried to follow him. By the time it had recovered from the unexpected action of betrayal, Jack was already in the air in front of the cave where Pitch and Elly were waiting for Jack. The Wind tried to pull him back, but he shook it off and turned around, facing the Wind (and that way, it was clear he was talking to it).

"Look," he began after a long pause. "I... Why would you do that?" The Wind was shocked. What had it done? What had Snowflake been doing? Wind had seen that the Guardians only meant well, and its dear frost child had acted like they were the cruelest people on Earth! The Wind attempted to tug him back, but his feet were planted firmly into the ground. Wind saw him grit his teeth, and eyes darting everywhere as if he was a caged animal. Then he did another thing he had never, ever dared to do;

He threw his staff.

It landed not too far away, him still being shaken from his encounter with the Guardians (but why was Snowflake scared?), and the Wind cried out as the connection between both of them were severed. "I don't know what's making you do this, but I'm going to leave that there," Jack said, although the trembling in his voice was evident. "I'm going to leave that there, until you learn your lesson." With that, Jack walked into the darkness of the cave, but he couldn't help but stumble slightly.

Wind curled around the staff helplessly.

This was not going to be good.


Tooth, surprisingly, was the first one to speak. "What... just happened?" she choked out, fluttering to the ground with a soft thump. She felt someone grab her shoulder and turn her around, and she stared at him with a blank look.

Bunny had looked as shocked as any other one of them, but the shell-shocked expression had soon given way to a determined one. "We've got ta stop daydreamin', mates!" he said while looking around at all of them (minus Jack, his subconscious provided, to which he replied; Shut it.) "While we're busy bein' confused, who knows what kind o' lies Pitch is feedin' him?! Y'all saw his face! Somethin's wrong here, an' if we're not goin' ta get ta the bottom of it, nobody is!"

Sandy was the first to snap out of it, closely followed by North. Sandy nodded, floating upwards and sand regaining the jubilant golden glow that had dimmed with sadness. "You are right, Bunny. Ve vill get our Guardian boy back from holding of darkness!" the Russian exclaimed, sabers pointing upwards in energy.

Bunny facepalmed. "It's clutches o' darkness, mate."

"Vatever."

They looked to the female member of the group, who pursed her lips. "Tooth? Are ya' in?" Bunny asked, Sandy and North behind him.

Finally, Tooth looked up, her eyes a shade of deep violet. "If we're going to find Jack, we're going to have to find where Pitch's new lair is, and finding out who this Elly person is would be helpful," she spoke in her rapid-fire way, making everyone smile.

The Guardians were back in business.


Aaaand, done! It's surprising what bad days can do to encourage your imagination. So yay! Happy end to a chapter for once! I'll try to post the next chapter whenever I can!