Sandy was giving dreams about dinosaurs and fairy dust one night when the sky was lit up with blues and greens. The emergency Aurora Borealis. He raced to the pole.

XXX

Tooth was cooing over a perfectly flossed left incisor when she saw the emergency Aurora Borealis. She slipped a two dollar coin over the little boy's pillow and flew off.

XXX

Aster was painting eggs, as usual. The sky lit up, and he tapped the ground twice, opening up a hole in the ground. He reappeared a minute later at the pole.

XXX

North had been making toys when Mim shone in his window. North speed-walked towards the globe room. He called the others to the pole using the emergency Aurora Borealis. The guardians assembled in the globe room minutes later, in silence.

Mim shone and image down. Jack.

"Is something wrong?" Bunny asked.

"Jack is back to normal, but there may be moments when he isn't himself. Sometimes… Well, you'll cross that barrier when you get to in." Mim telepathically told them. Then, Jack came swooping in the window. The others whirled around. They were totally unprepared, and stared at him in silence for a minute.

"Uh… Hello? Is this the right address?" He asked. Silence.

"Tooth? Sandy? Aster?" he asked, waving his hand in front of each one of them in turn.

"North?" he asked. Before he could react, North had scooped him into a giant bear hug. Jack let out a strangled yell.

"Jack! You're back!" He boomed. That broke the silence, and soon everyone was saying hello, and patting him on the back and even the elves looked happy to see him.

"Whoa, it's good to see you too!" He backed slowly into the wall, preparing for the next wave of hugs.

Silence, again. The silence was broken by Phil rushing in and yelling something at Jack in yettish.

"What is he saying?" Jack asked North.

"He is saying that if you ever do something like that again, he will personally force you to repaint and entire stack of airplanes blue." Jack hugged the yeti.

"I think that's a little harsh." He said in mock horror. Something in his face changed.

"So, how long have I been away? What's happened, why is it so warm? What happened to Rosie and Jamie?" He asked. The guardians exchanged looks again, wondering how to approach this.

"How long do you think you've been away?" Tooth asked. Jack considered her.

"Well, it was late spring when I… left. It's really warm now, so I'm guessing… A season?" He guessed.

"It's been a bit longer than that." Bunny said.

"A year?"

"Even longer than that."

"Not more than two years, right?" He paled, seeing Bunnys expression.

"Tell me. Please." He asked.

"Frostbite, you've been gone… a hundred years." Jack gasped and turned even whiter.

"No, you're joking right?" North nodded no. They weren't joking.

"A hundred years…" He repeated hollowly.

"Does that mean… Jamie and Rosie are dead?"

"No, they are very old, but not dead. They have adorable grandchildren!" North was happy to be finally able to give Jack some good news.

"Who did Jamie marry?"

"You'll never believe this, but Jamie married Rosie!" Tooth blurted. Jack started laughing.

"Ok, this is insane! I need to go see them, where are they?"

"Jack, before you go, there is some other things you need to know. A lot has gone on while you were away." North shouted, as Jack took off across the room.

"Like what?" Jack froze mid-leap, and looked like he was doing ballet. Bunny cast about the workshop for a camera.

"World war 3… Global warming, oil shortages, and Pitch's nightmare sand has managed to get to very many people. "North answered reluctantly.

Jack walked back across the room towards the globe.

"To think that I could of-"

"Prevented it, yes?" Pitch's voice cut him off. The guardians whirled around, looking for the source of the voice. Pitch was casually leaning against the side of the open window. His grin spread wider when it hit him who had really spoken.

"Well, I came to just pass on a message to the guardians, and what do I find? A nice little family reunion, but best of all, Jack! I hope you're happy when you see how much damage your failure has caused. But really, I'm getting ahead of myself. I just need to pass on a quick message." Pitch continued to grin, letting the silence stretch out. That grin is really getting to me.

"Get on with it then!" Bunny snarled.

"As North probably recalls, I'm still going after the last believer's. But it's taking far too long to destroy their minds. So now… I'm aiming to kill." Pitch disappeared into the night.

Well, this chapter isn't particularly long or well written, but I hadn't updated in forever. (Or so it felt like.) So, now we finally get to the prelude to the epic battles! Yay!