A/N: It's cliffhanger time! Dontcha love it? XD But don't worry, chapter eight is on its way. But right now Dinogeek's brain is a little on the 'fried' side so she should probably go to sleep. You know what would be a wonderful present to wake up to? Some reviews. They are lovely, lovely presents. Hint hint. ;) But anyways, enjoy the chapter!

cycloneninja: Sweet baby Jesus. This will stab your feelz, revive them, and then toss them off a cliff headed towards a jagged ravine. Why, dinogeek, did you have to be such a sadist?

A/N: Just because I can. :P ^-^


A ripple of discomfort stirred through the other Firelings when the two in New York were put in the temporary shed. Hate noticed it, eyes narrowing as he was forced to rethink his plan yet again. Those blasted Guardians had to have something up their sleeves, there was no other way they could possibly have defeated his Firelings that fast. Not even Love had figured out how. Truth be told, Hate himself didn't know either. It was simply a pleasant side-effect of their existence.

The Guardians had access to North's magic portals, he knew, and there was no way to stall them further. He would have to step up the pace if he were to make his plan work. The boy was asleep, and currently seemed to be dreaming about nothing. Maybe it was time to change that.


Jack twitched and rolled as his dreams began to disturb him. Fire flickered up at the edges of his mind, spreading and growing until Jack's head began to swim with the heat. The fire formed a ring around him, trapping him, until he could feel it licking at the edges of his skin. He tried in vain to form a shield of ice around him, or snow, or anything at all to stop the heat, but he couldn't.

Welcome to my home, Jack, Not-Jack's voice taunted him as it swam around him, hidden by the glare of the fire. Do you like it? I suppose you thought you could get away from me while you were asleep. Well, no such luck; Pitch Black's not the only one who can spread bad dreams.

"Go away," Jack growled as he struggled to stay on his feet. "I hate you." Not-Jack laughed.

I know you do. That's why I'm here, after all. Suddenly a creature lashed out of the fire, like a wolf but crouched and misshapen. Jack leapt backwards, raising his hands in defense, but the heat had drained him too much to do anything. The wolf-creature leapt, pinning Jack underneath him with a growl from low in its throat.

"No," Jack muttered fiercely. "No, you're not real. This is only a dream."

This may be a dream, Not-Jack told him, but that doesn't mean you can't be injured in real life. The more you fight back in the dream the more your physical body is injured. But if you don't fight back, you'll die, and I can assure you that will pass through as well.

Jack held up with all his strength as the wolf-creature tried to bite at him, pushing it away from his head and neck. It scratched at his arms, and Jack flinched with the pain. He was going to keep fighting; he had to, but it was so hot. The heat was draining the willpower out of him, and the thought crossed his mind that it would really be easier to just give up, right? As if he had read Jack's thoughts (which of course he probably had), Not-Jack laughed at him again.

Giving up again, are we, Jack? Just like after Easter, when you ran off to Antarctica.

Not-Jack, despite his intentions, actually gave Jack the strength to keep pressing back, just to show him up. He drew up the last well of his power and froze the wolf-creature's front legs, but not before it lunged down, its strong jaws catching him on the shoulder. Jack yelled, overwhelmed by pain, and as if in sync with his yells winter magic flooded out of him, freezing the wolf-creature in its place. Not-Jack roared with anger and the fire slowly crept away.

You've won this round, Jack Frost, he called from the edges of Jack's mind, but there are many more to come. Suddenly, Not-Jack, the wolf-creature, and the ring of fire all swept out of Jack's mind like the wind had blown them out itself. He awoke with a shuddering gasp, pain lancing through his body, especially from his shoulder.

He looked down carefully. Because of the heat, he had previously removed his hoodie, tossing it in a corner, which left him with only the plain white t-shirt he wore below. Now, that shirt was half white and half red, and Jack was bleeding from a number of cuts on his arms. Fortunately, the bite mark on his shoulder was relatively shallow, but it still hurt like nobody's business. He reckoned he was going to have some impressive bruising come tomorrow.

He shifted himself into a more comfortable position, avoiding his injured shoulder and battered arms, but no way he positioned himself relieved the pain entirely. He was honestly a little glad about that; the pain kept him awake, and he couldn't go back to sleep. Next time, he didn't know if he could find the strength to fight.


They wasted no time in going to find Hate's lair. They hopped into the sleigh (Bunny not even protesting once) and North opened a portal to the Pacific, sending them through as fast as the reindeer could move. Love had given them good directions, and the moment they emerged from the portal they could see Firelings in the distance- their destination was so close they could taste it.

"Let's get 'em," Bunny growled. The others shared nods as North wheeled the sleigh around and headed in for the island like the devil was on their heels. As they had expected, there was no element of surprise; the Firelings knew they'd been coming for a while now. Still, they hadn't expected the Guardians to enter quite this dramatically and were taken aback long enough for the Guardians to gain the upper edge. Then a long, hard fight commenced.

Tooth swept back and forth, nothing more than a blur of feathers and wings that none of the Firelings could move fast enough to touch. While she distracted them, Bunny threw his boomerangs and his egg bombs, knocking the creatures off balance while Sandy whirled his whips around their feet, pulling them out from under them. North put his new invention to good use, taking the icy water of the northern Pacific and pelting it at the Firelings one after the other.

One by one, the Firelings stumbled and fell, smoldering gently, and the Guardians formed a circle, cutting a path that moved almost painfully slow. The colder water put them out more effectively, as North had predicted, and though it seemed like an eternity they finally reached the doors of the building. Now they just had to deal with whatever they would find inside.


Jack slowly bundled his hoodie behind his head, movements careful and hesitant. He still hadn't recovered from his initial fight, and the dream fight was adding onto that in a big way. He could feel himself losing energy and going stiff, trembling from a mix of shock and blood loss. At first the commotion outside entered only vaguely into his head, a faint wonder as to what was going on, but he didn't have the energy to get up and try to see.

Then the clouds moved away and he saw part of the moon peeking in through the slit in the wall. "I could really use some help right now," he whispered, not expecting an answer. But suddenly the moon grew brighter, and for one of the few times in his three hundred plus years Jack heard the voice of the Man in the Moon speak- your family has come for you. Have hope. Jack felt his heart soar for the first time in days and a small smile crept onto his pained face. They were here. They had come for him. Hate was wrong.

"Thank you," he whispered before the moon was again hidden by clouds. Now he could hear the battle going on clearly, and the cards didn't seem to be falling in Hate's favor. The Firelings couldn't speak, but they could make noise, and right now they were howling with anger, and he could hear the Guardians calling to one another over the sounds.

"Watch your left, North!"

"Duck now, Tooth!"

The battle raged on until Jack could hear a crashing at the doors. Not wanting the other Guardians to see how badly he'd been injured, Jack forced himself into a sitting position long enough to slowly put his hoodie back on. He had every intention of making it as cold as possible when he got out of this place and he wanted to be ready. He could hear the fighting drawing nearer and wondered how the Guardians were finding him. But he knew he wasn't out of the woods yet. Hate was going to have a couple of parting shots up his sleeve, and Jack had a feeling he knew what one of them was going to be...


Once they were inside the building, Sandy extended a tendril of his dream sand to find the winter spirit, the golden line snaking out and leading the other Guardians to their youngest member. They went quick and dirty, dispatching Firelings as fast as they could before moving on, and followed the golden sand trail into the center of the building, more than a little apprehensive about what they would find. They held their collective breath and charged around the corner, taking out the Firelings guarding it before stopping cold.

"I'll kill him." Hate stood facing them, a nearly unconscious Jack in front of him with a knife held to the winter spirit's neck. Jack's bright blue eyes opened wide with concern, not for him but for his friends, and he looked at them all, willing them to run while they still had the chance. "Now, unless you want to see his blood spreading across the floor, lower your weapons."

"Don't! It's a trap, you guys need to run!" Jack managed to call out before the knife moves closer to his throat, cutting off all sound. The Guardians glanced at each other in a silent conference before they slowly lowered their weapons to the floor. They wouldn't risk hurting Jack, not for anything. Jack groaned, his microscopic energy sinking out of him. As he sagged towards the floor, the knife pressed against his neck, leaving a small cut that sent him jolting upright. Hate sneered at the Guardians, who stood helplessly, worried for their youngest member. Then he looked to his remaining Firelings, who had swarmed into the room.

"Kill them."