Hello again! To apologize for my delay, I bring to you another chapter RIGHT NOW! Yeah, you heard (read?) me! Here we go with this next chapter, chapter six. Don't forget to review, and thank you all for the support you don't stop showing to me all the time. Enjoy!

Chapter Six

The children arrived back to the globe room, happy and excited to see the rest of it. All of them had a slight sense of déjà vu, although the only one to actually notice it was Jamie. When he saw the stage again, right after being in that empty room and having thought about the play closely, he did seem to know where that lake actually was, although he couldn't quite pinpoint it. The children sat down and waited for the second act to begin. What happened in the room affected, not only Jamie, but Jack too.

o-o

When Jamie saw him even for an instant, he fell all his being been tugged, lifted away from the darkness, relieved of an invisible weight he had been holding. He felt alive once again, and even in the darkness of his unconscious, he could feel it very well: the heartbeat of Jamie and his own beating in the same rhythm at the same time. Jamie, Jack breathed relieved before falling back into the darkness and again with Pitch Black.

I hope you enjoyed that, because I doubt it's going to repeat, Pitch told him nonchalantly.

What do you know? Once a child believes, he never really stops, Jack spat back at the King of Nightmares.

Then what do you tell me about the grown-ups? They can't see you, none of you, they don't believe, Pitch told him, trying to open a wound or to say something, anything, that would make Jack weak enough for him to control and manipulate once again. Jack stayed silent a few minutes, thinking about his reply.

I know that the grown-ups can't see us and that they believe we aren't real, but it's because they had the right development as children, believing in us when they had to, he simply said. I also believe that adults can believe if they want to, but it's just far easier to go along the current and not fight to defend the beliefs deemed as childish.

Pitch rolled his eyes and made a face. Don't include yourself in that statement please; you weren't part of the guardians until a year ago.

They fell silent for a long while, with Pitch recoiling back into the shadows the more Jack's glow brightened while thinking of Jamie. He'd love to crush him, manipulate him, make him quiver in fear for the rest of his days, but his domain was really limited to the deepest parts of anyone's hearts… and Jack was snapping out of it.

o-o

On the meantime, the show was starting back in North workshop. It started with the celebration of being a guardian for a year, the party and the gifts. Then, when Jack had to do his test back in the past, where he met his sister and family once again. Tooth was an excellent narrator and the play was going extremely well. Everyone was coordinated, moved by the same thought of returning the belief in Jack. "Back with his family, Jack didn't know how approach the situation, and even when he was happy to be with his family, he knew something was off," Tooth was saying, and kids were once again wrapped up in the story, the magic and everything around them. For a minute, Jamie forgot about the room he had seen Jack in without knowing it was him and he let his belief be nurtured by that play.

o-o

Jack felt himself growing stronger and stronger, suddenly he felt the weight being lifted off his shoulders and he felt the darkness going away if even bit by bit. Something, I don't know what they are doing, but it is working.

I'm going to gag Pitch spat at Jack.

That's because you know nothing of friendship and love. You tried to get the children to see you by fearing you, of course you wouldn't know, Jack told him, not really afraid of him anymore. Pitch rolled his eyes.

Well, for desperate situations, desperate measures; Pitch didn't like the way the strength of Jack was coming back, and yet he could do nothing about it. He despised the teen and always would until the end of his days, even if that was getting near by the second.

Those are just excuses, Jack retorted while smiling; there was no need to pay attention to the depressed spirit when he felt so good once again. I pity you, Pitch, Jack declared after a while of silence.

Oh I'm not taking that from you, the Boogey Man told the teen annoyed. You don't get to tell me that you pity me.

Just look at you, reduced to the irrational fears of a teen spirit… Jack spaced out and didn't finish the idea. You were never really here to… harm me, were you?

Woopie, give the boy a price, Pitch said sarcastically.

So… what are you doing… here? Jack asked, clearly confused.

Did the Man in the Moon ever tell you what did he do with me? Pitch asked, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Jack shook his head 'no', though and the Boogey Man just rolled his eyes.

In case you haven't noticed genius, this is my prison.

o-o

Back on the workshop, everyone was enjoying the show. When the sand figure of Pitch appeared again, the kids shivered, again with that feeling of déjà vu no one knew the origin of. The children all booed when Pitch captured Jack and the guardians, also when he tried to make the teen choose between his family and his fellow guardians. Many of them covered their eyes, even when the scenes had been minimized and censored. Pippa and Cupcake were hugging and crying when Jack finally got it together and saved the day. Everyone got sad when they saw the goodbyes between Jack and his family, but when he approved his test and went back they somehow cheered again. The play came to an end and the actors received a standing ovation. The play finished without including the part where everyone forgot about him because of the mistake of defeating Pitch in the past.

"Wow! That was awesome!" Pippa explained and everyone agreed. Jamie also agreed, but he was still thinking about the ending.

"Did he go back?" he asked, startling everyone with the serious look on his face.

"Yes, he went back," Tooth replied, not really knowing where that was going and fearing that the most important kid of the group hadn't liked it. But Jamie was a smart kid and knew that something had gone wrong.

"What happened with the kids?" Jamie asked again, knowing unconsciously the way his questions were going but seemingly having no idea.

"What do you mean?" North asked him but was interrupted by Pippa.

"Why do you even care Jamie? It was just a story; it's not real," she and the kids didn't really notice the pain that crossed the featured of all the guardians, and even Leonora. If they didn't believe that what had they been doing?

"That's what they said about Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny yet here they are, standing in front of you;" Jamie replied slightly pissed and stated he actually believed. Well, not just yet, but he wanted to know if it was real before saying that Jack Frost didn't exist, then he addressed to the guardians. "What happened to the kids?" he asked again.

The guardians exchanged a confused look. "Tell him the truth;" Leonora intervened when they seemed lost. "He is Jack's first believer, isn't he? He will understand." The four visible guardians sighed and looked at Jamie and the kids.

"They were fine, nothing happened to them," North told him.

"But that's not all, isn't it? Those kids were us," Jamie didn't just asked, but he firmly stated that fact, leaving everyone in the room stunned.

"Don't be silly, Jamie," one of the twins told him.

"Yeah, we would remember an adventure like that," the other completed.

"No we wouldn't," Jamie exclaimed getting angry. "If we had by any chance met Jack Frost and everyone else in a fight with the Boogey Man, when Jack defeated three thousand years in the past in the present there was no need for a fight and so we never met them."

"I see why he's Jack's favorite;" Leonora said in delight, almost laughing at the dumbstruck expression the rest of the guardians have.

"A kid figured out in minutes what we took almost a week to accomplish," Bunny said when he snapped out of his awestruck trance. "I feel like an idiot."

"So it's true? What you just showed us?" the little kid with glasses asked.

Tooth nodded. "Yeah, it kind of is."

"Wait a second, if you claim that everything was real, where is Jack Frost right now?" Pippa exclaimed, not quite believing any of it. Irony of it all is that she was in Santa's workshop.

"That's the thing," Tooth started but was cut off by Bunny.

"I don't think we should tell them, it's something way beyond their understanding."

"Listen children, we brought you here today and made that play so that you could believe once more in Jack Frost, that's all we can tell you," North explained them. "We need your help. Do you believe in him or not?"

"I do," Jamie immediately yelled, and then Sophie seeing her brother like that also yelled "Do, do!"

The rest of the kids shared a look; Cupcake was the next one to talk. "I do too," she said.

Then the twins said the same at the same time and the kid with the glasses, and everyone turned to look at Pippa, who couldn't hold those accusatory glares.

"Fine, I do believe in him too," she finally said with a huff, accepting defeat. Everyone smiled and cheered.

"It worked!" Tooth exclaimed.

"Not just yet," Bunny added and everyone grew serious.

Tooth was the first one to move, followed by the rest of the guardians, and all of them went up to the room where Jack laid. The children were retained by the yetis in the globe room, and they were blocked from the stairs, much to their annoyance. The guardians opened slowly the door to the room of the guardian of fun, but he was still unconscious, or asleep, they didn't know. Tooth near the boy and touched his forehead, his temperature was normal, and his color too looked much better. Now they just had to wait for him to wake up.

o-o

Your prison? Jack asked, not really understanding.

Apparently the Man in the Moon considers you are a courageous young spirit that has the power to always overcome your fears. At first I laughed, I thought that I could easily escape. I was proven wrong when you found me here and suddenly you are telling me you pity me, Pitch stated clearly bored to have to explain that, and disguising his shame on that statement.

Jack didn't know what to say. I don't fully understand this, he simply said before falling silent.

It means that you will never let me out of here because you have the courage to fight against your fears; you would die before you let me out of here, again Pitch sounded annoyed.

Right then Jack was fully healed, he felt well once again, but he didn't want to leave with things like that. But somehow he wasn't allowed to be there any longer, and he felt himself being pulled back to wherever 'back' was. At the same time Pitch was fading, merging into the darkness that inhabited the deepest corners of Jack's heart. A place so tiny and out of reach that Pitch would never escape, precisely because Jack cared too much to let that happened; he would always be able to fight his fears as long as that meant keeping someone he cared about safe, and he had plenty of them.

I hope I don't have to see you here anytime soon, okay? Pitch called before completely fading. You're annoying. Then he was gone and Jack let himself be pulled out of that dark place.

o-o

Slowly, Jack's eyes fluttered open and he had to keep them close while they got used to the light. Around him he could hear noises and voices, although he couldn't make out what they're saying. He opened them again and saw he was in his room on the pole, and he had to wonder how he arrived there. The last he remember was passing out, telling North that Jamie didn't believe. He remembered in a flash everything that had happened until before he lost consciousness, and suddenly knew for sure that Jamie once again believed. Something inside him told him that.

He tried to sit down, but he fell down again and growled when he felt how sore and weak his body was. "Jack!" Tooth almost yell on his ear and was soon by his side helping him up.

"Not so loud Tooth," Jack managed through gritted teeth and turned his head to look at her. He saw she had tears in her eyes and bags under them, she look awfully exhausted, although relieved. She just chuckled; suddenly mute when all the stress caught up to her.

Jack looked around and he saw the rest of the guardians looking relieved, and just as tired as Tooth, if not more.

Bunnymund neared Jack, trying very hard not to look awkward. "If you ever decide to scare us like that, I'll personally snap your neck;" he told him in a serious tone which had frightened Jack for a second, just before he saw the beginning of a warm smile at the ends of Bunny's mouth. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Thanks Bunny, but don't worry, soon I'll be filling your beloved lair with white, cold snow," Jack told the huge rabbit and Bunnymund went pale. Everyone laughed and Sandy was the next to approach. He just put a hand on Jack's shoulder and without words (or images), just looking at him in the eye, the teen understood what he wanted to say.

"Thanks Sandy," he replied and hugged the tiny man. At first Sandy didn't know what to do, but slowly he returned it. They broke apart after a minute and the next one to greet him was North.

North wasn't a subtle man, and he wasn't interested in becoming one; not even for the sake of Jack's sore and stiff body. As long as he was in reach for Jack, he patted him in the back with the strength of a hundred men. Poor Jack almost falls off the bed, although he managed not to, he had to rub his shoulder. "North, be a little gentler," Tooth told him and Jack thanked her with his eyes.

"Please," the out of breath teen added when he saw that North didn't want to.

"I'm sorry Jack, I'm just so relieved you've come to. You have no idea what we went through, and how worried we were;" North explained, trying to keep it strong for the teen.

"Thank you North, I can't tell you how grateful I am," Jack truthfully told him.

Then, and only then, did he notice another figure in the room. A woman, one he had seen very few times in his life, so few that he could count them with one hand's finger. Of course he knew her, but he just never thought he'd seen her there of all places.

"Mother Earth," Jack whispered in awe before doing a small bow towards her.

Leonora, in all her might, neared the teen with all her regal air. It was a hard to ignore such a woman, she was imposing to say the least and Jack's first thought was: 'Was I that bad that she had to come?'

"How are you feeling, Jack?" She asked in an emotionless tone.

"I'm good, much better actually. You're the first one to actually ask me," Jack chuckled.

"Well, I've been around longer. You gave us a scare there, you know?" she told him while she sat down on the mattress next to Jack.

"I know… I'm sorry," he muttered.

"Why are you apologizing?" she asked him.

Jack shrugged. "I just… I made everyone worry, and I made you come here of all places, maybe even bothered you…"

"If you're worried about me being angry at you, you can rest assured; I'm not mad," she told him.

"But…" He tried to reply but she cut him off.

"Hush. I know I've never been very motherly and that I am a very hard person to deal with, but this time you almost died and I'm not going to just sit and wait for you to disappear. I'm just glad you're finally alright," she told him and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Wow, now I'm surprised," Jack joked and earned a smack from Leonora.

"If you ever do that again, you'll have to deal with me," she warned him and he paled.

"But it wasn't even my fault!" poor pale Jack claimed, earning a giggle from everyone.

Jack suddenly fell back into the pillow behind him in the bed, feeling very tired all of the sudden.

"Are you okay?" Tooth immediately asked.

"Yeah, I'm just tired," he replied calming Tooth.

"It's alright, just go to sleep and we'll be here when you wake up," Leonora comfortingly told him and Jack nodded, wanting to succumb to sleep. But before he could finally rest, he had to ask something more.

"Jamie…?"

"He'll also be here. He was a great deal helping us to get you back," Leonora affirmed while she stroked his hair, just like a mother would while lulling her kid to sleep.

"I know… he's…" he never got to finish the sentence because he gave in to exhaustion willingly and Sandy had already sent him a real nice and warm dream after all the problems he had gone through.

Just then did everyone sighed and fell to the floor, right on the spot they were standing. Everything in the last few days finally caught up to them and everyone went to sleep. Who cares about duties? For one night they didn't want them, for only one night they wanted to spend it with their beloved Jack, even if it was only in dreams.

Leonora watched as they succumbed to their own exhaustion and smiled at the comical situation. She was also tired, but she knew better than to just drift off. Instead she went to check up on the kids, who had fallen asleep waiting. Only Jamie was awake and worried about Jack, he tried to remember some of the memories he was sure they shared, but how can you remember something that never happened?

"Phil;" Mother Earth called and the huge Yeti turned to her. "Take all the kids home; and tomorrow very early in the morning I want you to bring Jamie back, before Jack wakes up. We don't want parents freaking out because of this, so do me that favor."

Phil nodded and with the help of two other Yetis, he opened the portal and together carried all the other kids home. Only Jamie stayed behind. "Do I really have to go?" he asked, and Leonora took her time processing it was a question directed to her. She blinked in surprise.

"Are you talking to me?" she asked the kid.

"Duh, who else?" Jamie retorted.

"You… You can… see me…?" she asked a little in shock. That shouldn't be possible, not even in her wildest dreams.

"Of course, since the play was going on I noticed you were standing there. Just, who are you exactly?"

"Wow, a kid can see me but doesn't recognize me," she muttered before answering. "I am Mother Earth or Leonora for the close ones." Why she ever told the kid her name she'll never know.

"Wow! I always knew you were real!" the kid exclaimed before remembering the real topic of their conversation. "Do I really have to go?"

"What's on your mind kiddo?"

"It's just that… when I saw the play I knew we were the kids being projected there. I knew I had met Jack before and that he had watched me and I… just don't want to think that all of that never happened… I can't remember…" Leonora kneeled to be eye level with Jamie and pursed her lips, thinking what to tell the distressed kid.

"When I saw you for the first time I knew why Jack was so fond of you; you remind him of himself and because of that he wants to be there to protect you because no one ever was there to protect him. I know it's hard for you to fully understand what happened or why, to all of us is, but now you believe in him and you can create so many new memories. Jamie you just saved his life with your belief, so those memories you treasure so much will come back eventually, even if they're in the form of new ones. And just to answer your question, yes, you have to go. Just imagine how worried your parents will be if you don't get home tonight, and then imagine the grounding. We don't want that, right? So just go home tonight and tomorrow you'll come back. I promise," Leonora told him and she recognized the innocent spark, the same Jack held, in this boy's eyes. There was something more to this kid that she couldn't figure out; something more that kept the link between Jack and Jamie strong and growing each passing moment.

The kid nodded excited. "You promised!" he said lastly before going home through the magic portal.

"He's a nice kid, isn't he?" Leonora was startled by a booming voice behind her, only relaxing when she turned and found North looking at her with those eyes full of wonder. She blushed and looked away.

"He's… alright… I guess," was all she could reply. "Wait, you knew he could see me?"

"I might have happened to notice during the performance," the big man replied with a sweet smile. "He was watching you in awe when you were creating those amazing special effects."

Again she blushed and she hated herself for it. "Stop that, will you?" she snapped at him him, a little bit too rudely. North blinked and looked around, making sure they were the only ones away, and then pointed to himself with both his thumbs. "Yes you! You make me… feel weird, you make me blush and say stuff that… you know… ugh! Whatever it is; is frustrating!"

The second the words left her mouth she regretted them and her hands flew to her mouth. She couldn't have possible said that, it wasn't supposed to be known by anyone. She was supposed to keep it in herself and forget about it once she was gone and back to her home, but again, that man made her do strange things.

"I can't stop doing… whatever you think I'm doing, because I don't even know what I'm doing that's making you this upset," North tried to explain her that he had no idea what she meant.

"Just forget I said anything, okay? That way we'll save ourselves a lot of embarrassment," Leonora said and got out of the room, frustrated with everyone and everything, but mostly herself. North was left just standing there, not really knowing what to do and really confused about her attitude. On the floor where she was standing, he saw a beautiful Lilac* flower and took it in his hands, trying to comprehend its meaning; then he went to the library.

So, what did you think? Just so you know, I did choose the Lilac for a reason, but it will be told on the next chapter; so please bear with me until then. I think you already know what I'm trying to do, but I won't say it just yet. Please review, I especially want to know what do you think about the evolution in character of Leonora? It's a risky move this one I'm trying to pull and I just want to know your opinion in that respect.

Once again thanks for all the support you've been showing towards this story and towards me. I know I still have some stories to finish, I haven't abandoned them, but I just realized I can't write two at the same time, so as soon as I'm finished with this story I'll continue with the others.

Overall that's all and I hope you liked it,

See you soon on the next chapter

Clear Eyes