Heyyyyy! Next chappy is up! More of a filler chapter – it's not as short as the last one though! I'm just not really feeling this story – it's so hard to write about something/someone when all you have to go off of is a few minutes in a movie! At least with books you can get into their brain! So sorry for the OOC of all this; I tried.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Jack Frost

"So you're telling me," Bunnymund paused, brows furrowing deeper and deeper as he made sense of the information, "that Pitch is back."

On any other circumstances, Jack might have smirked at the expression on his face. "I don't know how, though." He winced slightly as a yeti swiped an alcohol wipe across a particularly nasty cut on his back. "Whoa, take it easy back there," he jested, trying to lighten the mood with some sarcasm.

The attempt failed miserably. He got a grumble in response and he was sure he felt the hard eyes of the nurse yeti boring into the back of his neck for a few moments.

"Are you sure it was Pitch, Jack?" North's deep Russian accent boomed from across the room. "I've known Pitch for a long time now. He specializes in fear, not pain." His blue eyes narrowed in thought. "I did not think he was capable of such…methods?" It was a question, and he glanced towards the others to see if they had thought the same thing.

"It was Pitch – I'm sure of it." Baby Tooth, who was currently hovering above Tooth's left shoulder, set off on a series of squeaks as if to confirm his statement.

"Well, did you see him?" Bunnymund asked.

"Yes…err...no. Not exactly."

"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?" North said. "Did you see shadow of Pitch?"

"No – no, I heard him. He was talking to me…and shadows were attacking me." He glanced down at his arm, newly bandaged with crisp white gauze.

"But that doesn't mean he's back," Tooth chirped from where she was beside Jack. With an angry look from him, she added, "I mean, maybe it was just a last ditch effort to save himself…"

Right before he commented on how ridiculous that sounded, he realized she had a point. But he still didn't think that was the case.

"Yeah, but if you'd heard him, you might think something else."

"Well, what did he say, Mate?" Everyone leaned closer.

Jack closed his eyes and brought the conversation with Pitch to the forefront of his mind. He told them how Pitch wanted him to remember fear – he specifically didn't say that it was his fear he had to remember – and that, "Pitch sends his regards."

Silence permeated the room. He looked at Sandy to see if he had anything to add – he was silently fuming with clenched fists by his side – but there were no signs of communication coming from him.

"So," Jack probed, tired of the silence, "What are we going to do?"

"I do not yet know," North grumbled. He placed one had on his brown leather belt while stroking his beard with the other.

"Let's get him while he's down! You said he sounded weak – why not find him and fry the whacker?"

"How are we going to find him?"

"We'll follow the shadows."

Jack took a deep breath. "I don't know…"

Bunny gave him a look that bordered accusatory. "C'mon! What's the problem?"

"Just think about, Bunny! If this is him when he's weak, what'll he be like when we find him?" He jerked his head down, gesturing quite clearly to his cuts up arms.

"That's even more reason to go now – before he gets any stronger." He had his boomerang in his hand, motioning with it as he spoke.

"But don't you get that this is probably exactly what he wants?" Jack scowled at the Easter Bunny. "He deliberately let me go – he told me to find you." The volume of his voice lowered. "We're more likely than not going to be walking straight into a trap."

Sandy chose this moment to pitch in (pun not intended). Golden sand flowed above his head, speeding through images that Jack could barely keep up with. The others, however, seemed to understand better. Maybe translating sand-talk gets easier the longer you're Guardian.

"Huh?"

"That is an excellent point, my friend!" North bellowed, clapping his large hands together in emphasis, ignoring the confused boy.

"What did he say?" He hated being the clueless one of the bunch.

"He says we should look to where he is getting his source of power from."

"And that would be–"

"The children!" Tooth yelled. "You don't think he'd hurt the children, do you?"

Jack stiffened. He hadn't thought of that at all…Pitch knows exactly who to go after to hurt him, and exactly where to find him.

Jamie.

Please, dear Man in the Moon, please don't let Jamie have been harmed; don't let any of the children be hurt.

"I need to go check on him," he announced. He got to his feet, ignored the huffed protest of the yeti who had just cleaned a cut on his bicep, and grabbed his staff.

North placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hold a moment, Jack." Jack tried to shake it off, but he just steered him back into his spot sitting on the edge of a bed. "We will all go – but you must rest for now and wait for your cuts to be cleaned and covered."

"I'm fine," he groaned in annoyance. A few stupid scratches and suddenly everyone treats him like a vulnerable kid. "But Jamie might not be."

"You're almost done, Jack. Please just wait a few minutes." Tooth was helping the yeti cut a strip of cloth.

"Stay here." North said, almost like a warning. "I'll go ready the sleigh."

North left the room without waiting for a response and Jack rolled his eyes in defeat.

He can't honestly say that he didn't somewhat enjoy their attention. Three Hundred years worrying about one-self can get boring. This was all new to him, though, and while the selfish, curious part of him (a really small part) wanted to kick back and let them dote upon him, the rational, more Jack-like side of him knew that there were bigger, more important things at hand and wanted to warn everybody with a threat to freeze them where they stood.

He sat there, watching the elves in the corner patching up his sweatshirt. They might suck at making toys…but this was no different. He was already grimacing at the bright red and green thread they used to sew up the tears in the blue fabric.

What he couldn't stop wondering about was why. He was obviously supposed to be a warning to the other Guardians – but why? Why warn them of his return to existence? Why not keep them all in the dark with a false sense of safety?

What was Pitch up to?

Jack was almost sweating in anxiety. Or maybe it was the almost suffocating warmth of North's workshop that had him fidgeting. Either way, he couldn't sit here idly much longer. The yeti finally finished wrapping the bigger gashes up and Jack yanked his hoodie away from the hands of the elves. He would definitely have to get a different sweater. Oddly enough, the moment it was over his head, he felt cooler.

Soon, North came crashing through the door, announcing the sleigh's readiness and they all made their way down to the stables.

First order of business: Burgess.

~ooooo~

Whacker: Australian term for an Idiot; somebody who talks drivel; somebody with whom you have little patience.