A/N: So, I've been wanting to do this for a while, but honestly, I don't know if I like how it turned out... I just seem to be having a hard time getting down what I want the way I want, if that makes sense.

Regardless, here it is. Thanks to everyone for your reviews, favorites, and follows :) It always makes my day when I get those emails in my inbox. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians

~~RiseOfTheGuardians~~

Wind felt exhilarated as she carried North's sleigh back towards Santoff Claussen. They had done it. They had defeated Pitch, sent him back to the nightmare world under the bed. And now Jack, her Jack, was a fully-fledged Guardian. And he had gotten his memories back. Wind smiled as she remembered Jack's excited babble as they flew towards Pitch's lair to set the tooth fairies free. He had regaled her and Baby Tooth with many stories about his childhood, his family, his sister, and Wind was glad that he finally understood just how special he was.

To make matters even better, Jack now had a small group of children who believed in him, who could see him, and Wind had never seen her boy so happy. He had everything he had ever wanted: friends, family, a place where he belonged, a purpose in life. Wind felt so proud of him.

So she was surprised when she felt his slight weight shift off the sleigh without any help from her or her winds. Jack had moved around quite a bit at the beginning of the sleigh ride, so full of energy and adrenaline that he couldn't seem to sit still until Bunny had finally snapped at him to settle down before he "tipped them all out of the blasted death trap."

So Jack had settled on one of the sleigh's runners, enjoying the winds whipping through his hair as he watched the landscape pass below. They were getting closer to Santoff Claussen and Jack watched as the scenery changed from green to white and the temperature drop.

Feeling more relaxed now that he was surrounded by his snowy element, Jack began to doze. His adrenaline rush was fading fast now and all the aches and pains of the last few days came crashing back on him.

It started slowly at first, the slight dizziness, a fuzzing around the edges of his vision. It seemed to be harder to breath every time he inhaled and it wasn't fun watching the landscape pass below him anymore. No, it made him feel disoriented and sick. His stomach churned and Jack turned away from the passing scenery to clamber into the sleigh when everything around him went black.

Jack! Wind exclaimed, letting go of the sleigh to race after her boy as he tumbled, unconscious, from his perch. The sleigh jerked in the air and dropped several hundred feet before Wind's winds grabbed it and steadied it, but Wind didn't care.

She caught her boy, whose fingers were still loosely wrapped around his staff, and drifted him gently into a snow bank. Jack's eyes fluttered open for a second as Wind gently brushed the hair from his face.

"Thanks," Jack, who knew Wind well enough to know it was her who had helped him, mumbled before darkness claimed him once more.

Of course, Wind whispered to her boy.

Back on the sleigh, Bunny let out a cry of alarm as they suddenly plummeted. Sandy put his arms up in excitement and Tooth fluttered up nervously from her seat before settling once more in the jerky movement.

"North, you bloody trying to kill us?" Bunny demanded once he was sure they weren't going to die.

"Sorry, happens sometimes," North chuckled before urging the reindeer on. He didn't know why his sleigh occasionally almost dropped from the sky, but this wasn't the first time it had ever happened, and North was sure it wouldn't be the last.

"Jack, you best get in sleigh for entry into tunnel," North called as his reindeer circled once before heading for the tunnels that would lead them home. "Jack?"

North turned around to see both Sandy and Tooth peering over the sides of the sleigh.

"Bloody show pony, just get in here already so we can land and get off this thing," Bunny whined, gripped the seat nervously. The ride had not been as smooth after their 200-foot plummet earlier.

"He's not here," Tooth said, looking back at North, worried. Sandy shook his head as well.

The four Guardians shared a look.

"We best go look for him, then," North said, a frown now marring his features. He tugged the reigns, pulling the reindeer around to retrace their flight.

"He's probably just joking with us," Bunny said.

Images flashed above Sandy's head of a fight, then a bed, then a lot of zzzzs.

"Yeah, after the adrenaline wore off, I was tired after my first big fight," Bunny admitted, the fear of the sleigh being replaced by worry for Jack.

Tooth nodded too, understanding. North flicked the reigns again, urging his reindeer to fly faster as the others peered over the sides for any sign of Jack.

~~RiseOfTheGuardians~~

Jack burrowed deeper into the snow, letting the cold ease his aches and pains. There was only one other time he had felt so awful, and that was when he had stopped Tommy Rawhead from killing a group of kids. At the time Jack hadn't really known how to fight, and it was only thanks to Wind that he was able to send Tommy packing. But he hadn't escaped unscathed, and he was experiencing that same type of pain now: broken ribs and bruises everywhere. And to top it off, there was an overwhelming exhaustion crashing through him from not only all the battles so close together, but from having fixed his staff so recently without time to recuperate afterwards.

Wind watched her boy, worried for him. She, too, remembered the shape he had been in after the Tommy Rawhead, aka Bloody Bones, fight, and she could tell he was in just as bad, if not worse, shape this time around. Then it had taken all of Wind's strength to get Jack to Groundhog in time for their meeting.

Wind hadn't trusted Groundhog at first, and didn't understand why Jack insisted on meeting, and then attacking, the herald of spring with a snowball that first year they met. But she had slowly grown to like the oversized rodent as he began to not only attempt to chase her boy off year after year, but play with him as well until Jack anticipated their meeting every year, excited because he viewed Groundhog as a friend.

So Wind had taken her injured boy to Groundhog as he was the only immortal she knew the exact location of (it was the day Groundhog and Jack were supposed to met and decide if winter was over or not), and that treated Jack like more than an annoying kid.

And upon arrival, Groundhog had helped Jack, binding his injuries, caring for him until Jack had gained enough strength to leave and recuperate the rest under the care of Wind.

Now, though, Wind was afraid to move Jack. He wasn't near as conscious as he had been the last time, and he acted as though he was in a lot more pain. But there was nothing Wind could do for him, not having any substance to care for her boy, so she covered him in a blanket of snow and promised she would be back soon.

After checking three times to make sure no one and nothing was around to find her boy and attack him, Wind rushed off to Santoff Claussen, determined to get the Guardians to hear her so she could get them to help Jack. She figured, after all Jack had done for them, he deserved their help. Plus, Jack was a Guardian now, so didn't that make him part of their family? Wind wasn't sure, but she hoped it was so as she rushed after the sleigh, following the trail of her winds.

It didn't take her long to cross paths with the Guardians as they retraced their flight to Santoff Claussen, looking for the very person Wind had just left. She swooped around the sleigh and reindeer, taking control back from her winds and forcefully taking control of the reindeer as she directed them where she needed them to go.

She heard North give a shout of surprise as he tried to redirect his reindeer and regain control of his sleigh, but Wind was having none of it as she rushed the sleigh and its occupants as fast as she could to her boy.

"Slow down, North!" Tooth cried out. "I can't make anything out at this speed."

"We'll all be overboard if you aren't bloody careful," Bunny shouted, his fear of heights warring with his worry for Jack as he fought to continue searching for the boy as the sleigh thundered on faster than it had ever gone before, shaking with the strain.

Wind spotted where she had left Jack, and pulled the sleigh down in a near vertical descent. Three of the four occupants shouted in alarm, but Sandy had seen the dark blue of Jack's hoodie against the white snow. Symbols flashed over his head as he thanked Wind for bringing them to Jack. He didn't know the extent of Wind's friendship with Jack, or how much Wind had gained since meeting the boy, but he knew from his nights, too far and few between, spent playing with Jack that the winter spirit had a special connection with Wind, and had learned not to long ago that it was Wind, and not the wind.

Despite knowing this, Sandy was still surprised to hear a faint chuckle ease past his ears as the sleigh landed with a heavy thump, the reindeers' eyes rolling in terror at having their control completely yanking away from them by Wind.

Wind dropped the sleigh and rushed to her boy. She circled around him worriedly as first Sandy, then the others, jumped from the sleigh and ran towards them.

"Jack!" Tooth cried out, coming to a stop beside the boy and dropping to her knees.

Jack mumbled something incoherent and turned slightly, burying himself more in the snow.

"Bloody show pony's just taking a nap," Bunny said, although Wind could detect a trace of worry in his voice.

"Jack," North said, kneeling opposite Tooth and placing a gentle hand on the boy's forehead.

"North," Jack mumbled, blearily opening his eyes.

"What are you doing out here?" North asked.

"Tired," Jack mumbled, closing his eyes. "Hurts."

Wind ruffled his hair, wishing she could take the pain away from her boy as the Guardians exchanged worried looks.

"What hurts," Tooth asked.

Jack mumbled something into the snow that no one understood.

"Jack?" North asked. No answer came from the white haired boy.

"Come on, mate," Bunny said, shivering a little in the chilly air and snow that surrounded them.

Sandy waved his arms, finally catching the attention of the others to point out that Jack was asleep and dreaming now.

"So what do we do?" Tooth asked.

He needs help, Wind said. Sandy glanced at the boy and nodded, but no one else gave any indication they had heard her.

"We take him back to North Pole," North said. "We can check him over there."

"Right," Bunny said. "Let's get out of this bloody snow world."

Wind watched as North gently picked up her boy. Jack groaned as he was moved, his face scrunching up in pain. Sandy sent a stream of golden dreamsand at him and his face relaxed once more. North and the others frowned at the display, but they brought Jack back to the sleigh, laying him carefully inside before North took up the reigns.

Wind guided the sleigh up more gently then she had ever carried it before, and with the help of the reindeer, brought it speeding back to Santoff Claussen so Jack could be cared for properly. And she knew her boy would be in good hands with the Guardians, that they would make sure he was all right in a way she could not.

And so, for the first time in 300 years, Wind found she did not have to carry the burden of looking out for Jack on her own. Instead, she found she now shared it with four others. And while part of her didn't want to share her boy with anything or anyone, the greater part of her was grateful.

After all, Jack was quite a handful to look after.