Her head is pounding and she can't tell whose skin she's wearing. Her own human skin or the monster skin of Witiko. She can't even tell where her feet are as she stumbles through the groves of trees. The voices are too loud, both outside her head and inside. Memories float inside - screams of her sisters and the shouts of her family mixed with the screaming of today. The time doesn't seem to merge - make sense and the sun burns her eyes. She stumbles, slips and for a second she feels the cold. Dark shadows stretch over her face and she breathes a sigh of relief. She stumbles closer into the darkness - she doesn't know if it's a cave or a hole in the ground but she welcomes it all the same. Her head aches and her eyes fall shut and she welcomes sleep.

{}

The wind carries as swiftly as possible - almost as if it understands his worry. He tries not to worry, after all he's supposed to remind people of fun - it's his center. But he can't stop thinking of the beast - with it's grotesque long limbs and red eyes that bore no hint of anything human underneath.

Jamie, Sophie - not just the kids of Burgess but kids everywhere might be in trouble because of such a beast. The scenery underneath him changes, from forest to plains and tundras to finally the snowy slopes of the North. The wind howls - a low sound that chills Jack Frost before the air beneath him falters and he falls through one of North's windows.

Yetis are busy with the toys - he doubts they ever stop - and around him elves jingle and chime with the bells on their hats. He feels better - for North will know what to do.

Despite the fact he spent many a day and night in the toymaker's workshop - the wonder of it never stops filling Jack. Not just wonder but a feeling of safety as well.

"Jack Frost!"

Arms wrap around and he can barely breath through North's hug. "Hey!" He offers weakly as he drops to the workshop ground, staring up at the russian gaurdian.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be off spreading fun? I thought you enjoyed being a gaurdian!" He exclaimed, moving forward through the hoards of elves and off to his own room. "I am or I was. And I do enjoy being a gaurdian. But that's not the point."

"Oh, than what is? The point, I mean."

"Something came up in Burgess. Something big, something bad."

North stops and turns to look at the winter spirit. He pauses before speaking hesitantly. "Pitch?" It comes soft like a whisper, eyebrow raised. "No. Something else - I don't know what it was. But it had antlers growing out of it's skull and red eyes. It was white like snow and it smelled awful."

"One broken antler?"

"Yeah! And it had this weird grey mane with large claws and-"

"Oh no."

{*}

She feels something cool on her forehead, wet too. It drips down her face and on her lips. Her breath comes out in a rasp and her side aches and burns. She turns her head and through fuzzy vision, she can see a brownish blob. She blinks, reaching out and feels fur, short and rough.

"Snap?" She offers, rustier than ever and she coughs, racking her body.

"Aye, it's me. I found you all roughed up - barely even human. Your skull's on your hip - don't worry about it. What happened?"

She doesn't answer, not yet. She reaches down and feels the antlers and fingers run over the caribou skull - and she feels the heavy hum of Witiko.

"I was trying to find Jack, the Frostling. We thought it might be the reason why winter is so off, why he's messing with the boundries. Then, I found traces of the Sea Witches and the kids were playing by the lake and I was dragged under. He mistook as a threat and the water - and I nearly lost the skull - and - " The timeline blurs in front of her as she remembers the claws that dug into her side, threatening to drown her.

She can only let out a moan when the dark drags her under once more.

{*}

They all stand in front of him. Worry creases in North's forehead as he paces behind the other guardians.

"Why are we here?" Bunnymund asks harshly, foot beating against the ground impatiently. The sand above Sandman's curls into a question mark as Toothiana flitters between them - shouting commands to her companions.

"Well, Jack. Tell them what you told me."

"A thing came by the lake. It was white and it's ribs were poking out if it's side - and antlers growing out of it's head and one of them was broken. It had large claws at the front but it's back legs were hooves. It smelled rotten with this mane made of leaves, I guess?"

The beating of Bunnymund's foot stops and Toothiana halts in her command as they stare at Jack. Slowly above his head, sand floats and forms a picture - a skull with open jaws and two empty holes where the eyes would be. An antler pokes out from the top, curling forward as teeth grow from it's jaws. Just staring at the sand-made picture, he can hear the roar from before and he nods.

"Yeah, exactly like that."

Everyone is quiet now and Jack can't understand why the haunting silence. "What? What was that?"

{*}

From the haze of fevered sleep, struggling to comprehend nightmare from reality - she hears it. Deep and low, scared just like everyone who dares to speak her name.

{*}

"The Wendigo."

[ooc: so netflix has Rise of the Gaurdians... CAN I GET A HECK YEAH?]