Chapter Six

Life was officially unfair.

When I was so close to finding out who I was—so freaking close!—something always got in my way. It was like the Moon was trying to prevent me from finding myself. If I didn't know who I was, how did he expect me to be a Guardian? I needed some kind of closure.

The last person I expected to lead me to it was Pitch.

He wasn't lenient about it. He taunted and teased and led me on until he finally handed over the decorative cylinder holding my old baby teeth, my precious memories. Then I realized he was only trying to distract from what was really important: Easter.

I found myself back in the tunnels of Bunnymund's Warren. Behind me were thousands of shattered eggshells, the eggs the Guardians, Kat, Sophie, and I decorated before they were sent out. This was their doorway to the outside world. They didn't even make it. I could only imagine how the other eggs were, and the Guardians…

"Oh no…" What had I done?

I found them outside where an Easter egg hunt was just ending. All the kids had given up, not able to find a single egg. I saw Bunnymund crouching down in shock and sadness. The kids had stopped believing in him. He was invisible, just like me. Seeing him like this only made me feel worse; I had never felt so sorry for the guy.

"Jack!" North and Tooth Fairy approached me. "Where were you? Pitch's nightmares came and we were outnumbered!"

"And where's Baby-Tooth?" Tooth asked frantically.

I completely forgot about the little fairy. Thankfully she was still with Kat… I hoped.

"Jack," Tooth flew up to me skeptically. "Where did you get that?"

I forgot I was still holding my teeth. I didn't know how to explain myself. I was still overwhelmed by the disaster. "I was… Pitch came and—"

"You were with Pitch?" North inquired.

"I'm sorry! I mean for this to happen! I was just—"

"We should have never had trusted you!" Bunnymund yelled at me. I took it this time. I deserved everything he threw at me. "Easter… Easter is hope. It's new life. Without Easter, the children have nothing to look forward to."

After that, Bunnymund left. The other two slowly began to follow him, but not before they gave me disappointed looks. I didn't see how I could make things worse, so I secluded myself to the last place on the planet that was actually fit for me.

Antarctica was nice this time of year. Even though it snowed 24/7 and it was as cold as the dickens, I enjoyed it. This place was perfect for someone like me: cold, frosty, and most importantly, isolated from all the people I could possibly hurt. No one would notice I was gone, and I doubted they would even care. The Guardians had already decided they couldn't rely on me anymore. I had ruined Easter. Now there was no hope. Pitch had already won. And it was all my fault.

MiM was wrong; I was never meant to be a Guardian.

I stared at the container that held my precious memories. It was partially at fault for all the trouble. I was tempted to throw it away. Even if it held my memories, it had just given me new, terrible ones. I ran towards a cliff, ready to throw my memories over the edge. But then I hesitated. I tried again. My hand held it tight. I couldn't do it. As much as I wanted to get rid of them, I just couldn't. They still meant something to me and as much as I wanted to deny it, I still wanted to find out who I was before I became a part of all of this chaos.

"We really need to stop running into each other like this."

I held out my staff when I saw Pitch. "You!" I swung at him and he easily dodged it. "This is all your fault!" I took a few shots at him, which he also dodged until finally, in a spout of anger, I blasted my full ability at him just as he threw his black sand. The reaction created a giant spike of ice and black sand.

"My fault!" Pitch cried. "I wasn't the one who abandoned my friends! And I know what it's like to be ignored too, Jack! You're not the only to be cast in the shadows of the Guardians. To be invisible." I stood slightly erect. Pitch actually looked… sad. Genuinely sad. I almost pitied the guy. Almost. "But that can all change. We can rule the world, rule over the children, together."

"No way."

"Jack, you know as well as I that the Guardians don't want anything to do with either of us. We could make an exceptional team. I mean look at what we created." I looked at the terrifying structure of ice and darkness. It looked impressive, but it was also intimidating. "What goes together better than cold and black? Together, we can rule over the children and make the world—!"

"Pitch Black?"

"… And Jack Frost, too. Children will finally love us."

"You mean children will fear us, and that's not what I want."

As I turned to leave, Pitch made another offer. "How about an exchange? Your staff for information on your long lost Alba."

I stopped, reconsidering his offer. He knew my weakness. I would have given anything to find out what happened to Alba, to find where she was, if she was even alive… "What do you know about Alba?"

Pitch snorted. "All of the magical beings know of Alba, Jack. She was a wonder, wasn't she?"

"Was?"

"Ah, yes. It was a terrible tragedy, but something had to be done about her."

I was suddenly engulfed with rage. I pointed my staff at him again. "What did you do?" I growled.

"Why don't you ask your friend, Kat?"

"What did you do?!"

"Jack!"

My heart stopped.

No. It couldn't be.

But unfortunately, it was.

"Kat? Baby-Tooth? What—how…?" My friends were standing mere feet away from us. They weren't supposed to be here. And as much as I missed the sound of Kat's voice, this was just the wrong time. But according to the smirk on Pitch's face, this was what he had planned.

"Glad you could finally join us, dear."

"Get out of here, Kat!" Before I could do a thing, Pitch had appeared behind Kat, holding her captive. "Let her go, Pitch!"

Just as I was about to give him another taste of my wrath, Pitch's grip on Kat tightened and she writhed in pain. From the look on her face, she had already had an encounter with the king of nightmares. I had never seen her so frightened before. I was afraid this would happen. I had failed to be there for my best friend just as I had failed to be there for the Guardians. Now Kat was in danger again and I didn't know what to do. "Jack…"

Pitch's smirk grew. "The staff first, Jack."

"Jack, don't—!"

"Quiet, you!"

I looked at the source of my power. My wooden staff had been a part of me ever since I became Jack Frost. The thought of separating from it was unfathomable and I had no idea what would happen once I did part from it. There was no telling what Pitch would do with it once I handed it over, either.

I hesitated, but then I saw the fearful glint in Kat's eyes. Even though she was scared out of her mind, Kat didn't want me to submit to Pitch. But I wasn't going to let her suffer at the expense of my powers, not again. Without another thought, I handed my staff over to Pitch, who began inspecting it with interest. "Okay, you have my staff. Now let her go."

"… No."

"Pitch!"

All of a sudden, Baby-Tooth flew out and bit Pitch's hand (or did she use her nose?). "Ow! Why you little…!" Pitch hit Baby-Tooth, and the poor thing went flying. I caught before she hit the ground.

"You okay, Baby-Tooth?" She nodded. She was shivering feverishly.

"You want your little girlfriend, Jack?" Pitch sneered. He harshly shoved Kat over to me and I caught her as well. "You can have her! And you both can freeze out here together!" Before I could react, Pitch blasted us with his black sand into a deep crevice. I quickly turned over so Kat would land on me. I heard a crack and, shortly after, the two broken pieces of my staff joined us.

"Is everyone alright?" Baby-Tooth, who hid in my hoody before Pitch blasted us down here, nodded in that cute little way she did. Kat didn't respond. "Kat, you okay?" When I lifted her up, I gasped at the traces of black sand on her coat. Pitch had hit her. Now Kat lain unconscious in my arms. "Oh no…"

There were so many terrible things I wanted to do to Pitch at the moment. Taking my staff and destroying my one source of power was one thing, but hurting someone as innocent as Kat, my best friend, was taking it a step too far.

But as I thought of all the terrible things I wanted to do to Pitch, I couldn't help thinking of all the things that I couldn't do for Kat. She was out cold (no pun intended) and being in Antarctica was not helping her. I patted her cheek. "Kat! Kat, wake up!" She didn't stir a bit. "Kat, please…" I held her closer to me, putting my head into the crook of her neck. I could feel her pulse. At least she was still alive. She needed something to warm her up, but all I could do was keep her cold. "I'm so sorry, Kat."

Baby-Tooth took refuge in my hoody pouch. She sneezed. "I'm sorry I can't warm you up, either, Baby-Tooth. I've never felt so helpless before." Baby-Tooth dug deeper into the pouch. "Hey! Cut it out!" I said with a laugh. She came back out with the container filled with my teeth. I took it from her and stared at it.

My picture was on both sides of the cylinder. The boy looked like me, except he had brown hair instead of white and hazel eyes instead of blue. What happened to me?

I stopped thinking for a moment to set Kat down briefly. I took off my hoody and folded it up so I could it use as a cushion for Kat's head. I still had my old shirt on underneath, and Alba's little token glinted off my neck once it was in the light. I laid back against the cold wall and thought for a moment. "I don't know what to do, Kat. Everything's all messed up because of me. I know if you were awake you'd probably say something just to make me feel better, but we both know better. What do I do now?"

Baby-Tooth tapped my memory container. She wanted me to open it. I hesitantly touched the flat surface, unlocking the archive that would lead me to the truth. When the case opened, I felt myself being pulled into the memories.

-X-

I saw myself playing, joking around, pulling pranks. I was so happy. I also had the same brown hair and hazel eyes as the boy on the cylinder. There were other kids with me. They were younger, like Jamie and Sophie and their friends. They were laughing, too.

"You're so silly Jack!"

I smiled. The scene looked familiar for some reason, yet I couldn't put my finger on it.

Then I saw myself with a little girl. She looked about Jamie's age. She was tugging on my arm. A woman approached me. She was my mother. The little girl was my sister.

"Be careful," the woman said to me.

"Don't worry. We will be."

But then we were on the ice. The little girl was in her skates, the ice underneath her cracking. I was barefoot, treading lightly as I tried to get to my sister.

"Jack…" She was so scared. The look on her face reminded me of Kat, when Pitch was holding her hostage. The fear in her eyes was just as painful to watch.

"It's alright. We're gonna have a little fun…" I watched myself hop on the ice like it was a game of hopscotch. I was able to reach the stick of wood, which looked a lot like my staff. The little girl followed my lead, the ice crackling with each cautious step, until I was finally able to grab her with the hook of the staff and swept her away from the cracks.

And then I fell.

"JACK!"

I was gone. My skin turned cold, my hair turned frosty, and my eyes, now crystalline blue, opened up as I arose from my slumber. From that moment, Jack Frost was born.

-X-

I gasped as I awoke from my stupor of memories. I remembered everything after that moment, from my childhood to my accident and the discovery of my powers to my meeting with Alba, one of the greatest things to ever happen to me.

I remembered everything now. I knew who I was! "Baby-Tooth, did you see that?" The little fairy shook her head, but I continued ranting excitingly, anyway. "I had a family! I had a sister! I saved her! I…" It was then I realized why MiM had chosen me. Saving my sister, bringing joy to children—that was my purpose. That was why I had become Jack Frost.

But looking at Kat, I realized that I still didn't have all the answers I wanted. Seeing myself with all those kids, pulling pranks and just having a good time, it all reminded me of Kat. She did the same thing with her cousins and their friends. Did that not make her any more of a Guardian?

Suddenly, my argument with Pitch came back to me. What he'd done to Alba—he said it was related to Kat. But how?

For years, I had convinced myself to believe that Kat and Alba weren't related in any way. They were both equally important to me, and I didn't want to think that I only liked one because of the other. But as manipulative as Pitch was, even I had to admit he might have been on to something…

"Do you think Pitch is trying to trick me again, Baby-Tooth?" She just shrugged. "Pitch is a no good, lying… but I'm desperate.

"You probably already know about Alba, right?" She nodded happily. "Yeah, she was the best. I know I didn't know her as long as the other Guardians did, but when I was having fun with her, it felt like we'd known each other for centuries. When I lost her, I didn't know what to do.

"Then I met Kat. I couldn't help thinking how similar those two were. You see it, right?" Baby-Tooth nodded again. "Yeah, so do the Guardians. That's why they love Kat so much; she's just like Alba. But they're also different. Even though I felt like I knew Alba forever, the truth is I don't know her at all. I guess I thought I did because we had a lot in common." I fingered Alba's token subconsciously. "I've been hearing about all this stuff from the Guardians—I didn't even know she knew the Guardians!"

I laughed. "Man, am I getting tired of this! I've compared them so many times, trying so hard to find that one thing that made them different from one another, but I just can't. What I do know is that Kat… she's special. I've never felt this way towards anyone before, not even Alba. She'll always be my first friend… but Kat will always be my first love. My one and only love. And I'm not going to lose her." Baby-Tooth sighed like girls usually do when they hear something sweet and corny. And man, did I sound corny. "You have to promise not to tell anyone, Baby-Tooth, not even Kat. I'm not sure I'm ready to tell her, and I'm afraid of what she'd say once I do."

"Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Baby-Tooth and I quickly turned when we heard the voice. Kat was awake and smiling as if she hadn't just been attacked by Pitch. And she had heard everything.

"Kat, you're awake!" I went by her side as she tried to get up. "Whoa, whoa, take it easy, Kat. Pitch hit you hard."

"I'll be fine," she said. She hissed a little in pain and held her stomach.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. It's just a bruise." She gave me a reassuring smile. "So, did you really mean everything you said?"

Despite how cold I was, I was pretty sure I was blushing. "Um… you weren't supposed to hear any of that."

"You didn't answer my question." I turned away bashfully. "Jack, why didn't you tell me about your friend?"

"Because I was afraid you would think I only liked you because you remind me of her! …You know I don't think that way, right?"

All of a sudden, Kat pulled my shirt and brushed her soft lips against mine. I was so cold, I didn't think my face could heat up so fast. This was my first kiss. Ever. Words couldn't even describe what it felt like, but I would treasure this moment for the rest of my life.

When Kat broke our kiss, she hugged me. "Jack, Alba was obviously an important person to you. Sure, if you told me about her earlier, I probably would've been irritated. But after hearing what you said, I don't see why I should be."

I smiled and hugged her closer. "And that's why I love you."

I leaned in for another warm kiss, but I felt nothing but air. "Um, Jack. We still have to get out of here. Pitch, remember?"

"R-Right." I saw the broken pieces of my staff. I went over and grabbed them. I put them together, but they slipped apart. I silently cursed. "Come on…" I tried again, pouring all my strength and power into fixing my staff so we could get out of here. Once the wood fused back together, I felt the energy I put into my staff flow back into me. I was back!

I quickly put my hoody back on before carefully picking up Kat with my newfound strength. Baby-Tooth flew back into my hoody pouch. "Hang on!"

We went to Pitch's lair first. He didn't seem to be around. The cages filled with Baby-Tooth's siblings were still there, and I took this opportunity to free them. I set Kat down before flying up and opening one of the cages. "Come on! You're free!" None of them moved an inch. They were all perched. "You can't fly?" Baby-Tooth poked out my pouch and tried flying over to her sisters, but she was too weak and immediately fell. I quickly caught her. "Oh no…"

"Jack!"

I flew back down next to Kat, who was holding her side. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded curtly. "Look at this."

I saw a spherical metal statue. I remembered seeing this the last time I was here. It was a globe of the earth, and the lights on it were all the children who believed in the Guardians. And they were fading quickly.

"What should we do?" Kat asked.

"What can we do? Pitch practically has the whole world in the palm of his hand. Look, there's only five left." We watched intensely as the last lights slowly faded away.

"Now there's only four," Kat said.

"Three."

"Two."

"One…"

As we waited for the last light to fade, time seemed to slow down. After about 30 seconds, we realized the last light wasn't going anywhere.

"There's still hope!" Kat exclaimed.

"But where's it coming from?"

The light was in the US. It was towards the east, in Pennsylvania. And it was glowing especially close to Burgess…

Kat and I looked at each other in fear.

"Jamie!"