Jack bit his lower lip, nodding in acceptance. It hurt a lot, but he accepted it because this was reality. And even if it may not go with the way he wanted, it was the truth. He couldn't escape from the truth. Rapunzel sighed, feeling bad about it. She took a tiny step away from Hiccup and a bit closer to Jack. He saw that she wasn't looking exactly at him, more at his injuries. She looked concerned.

"Does it... still hurt?" she quietly asks which prompted to Jack touching the wound again. He knew right after that that it was a very bad idea because it stung with his touch and the pain started up once again.

"Aggh... uh... no?" he tried not to worry her but it was too obvious to hide.

"We should probably treat that." she told him and looked over at Bunny and Tooth. They nodded in understanding, rushing off to get some things. After only a while Bunny returned with a small stool and Tooth came back with another glass of water and a dry cloth. Placing the stool down Rapunzel had Jack sit and once he did, began wetting her hands with the water. Once they were soaked she placed the wet hand on his wounds, making him wince. Tooth patted his white head to calm him down, which helped. He ended up just staring at her, while Rapunzel used the dry towel to gently pap the damp places. Hiccup smiled, glad that she was helping. Merida rolled her eyes at this, but spoke up.

"So the big guy says we used to be... I don't know... 'friends'?" she questioned, arms still crossed and her asking was apparently for Jack. The frost boy looked at her, lips pursed slightly.

"Yeah... that's right."

"And he says we were like you, having no memories of who we were in the past?" Hiccup added and Jack just nodded to the query. The brunette and redhead turned to each other, both with the same thought in mind. "Then if that's the case, how come you know who we are and we don't?"

"Oh. Because I got my memories back from my teeth." the utter confusion on all three's faces appeared together in unison.

"Your teeth?" Merida was the one who questioned it though.

"Yeah, my—" his eyes suddenly widened and they shined with realization. He sat up while Rapunzel was still treating his burn. Doing so left a streak of Aloe Vera across his face. He wiped it off with the sleeve of his hoodie and continued to turn to Toothiana. "Teeth!"

"Uh." feeling a tad bit uncomfortable, Tooth and the other Guardians already knew where all of this was going.

"Tooth! You got to give them their teeth! You have to give them their memories back!" Jack told her, almost shouting. His hands firmly gripped her feathered shoulders and he shook her gently. She saw his eyes gleam with the belief that things could go back the way he wanted it to be.

"Jack... I'd love to do that. But the thing is... you have to ask for their consent first. Whether or not they want their memories."

"Ask them?" he turned quickly and back to the three, who remained silent still. "Please tell me at least you guys want to know who you are and who you used to be."

"Of course we do. Who wouldn't want to know who they were before being a Spirit?" Merida answered, huffing a piece of hair from her face as she did.

"It's just that... when we talked about it we kind of... well... we decided that..." Rapunzel fumbled, tugging a lock of her hair, trying to make sense with her sentence. In the end, she decided to just past it on. "Hiccup...?"

"We agreed we'd earn them." the autumn spirit said simply. The rest looked at each other, each a different look on their faces.

"Earn?"

"I'm not the patient type but I'm gonna have to do something big if I ever want my memories back." Merida told them, her hair flaring once again but only for a split second. It was to show how determined about it she truly was.

"I don't understand... Hiccup?" again the clear explanations had to be made by the dragon boy. Hiccup didn't look too bothered about it though.

"Listen, what we're trying to say is that we promised each other, and the Man in the Moon, that we'd prove to him we deserved to learn about our past and how we came to be. Which meant we had to do something quite grand that deserved some kind of recognition." he informed with everyone nodding in understanding. Well, almost everyone, that is.

"You mean what? A prize?" Jack asked, summing it up as he did.

Hiccup tilted his head left and right, pursing his lips. "More or less."

"But... you have the free chance now." he pointed out. "Why won't you take it?"

"Let me answer that question with a question of my own." the summer spirit suddenly said, stepping towards Jack again. Instinctively he reached for his staff with his foot, lifting it up quickly so he was holding it now. Merida rolled her eyes and raised the end of her bow up to almost touch Jack's bruised chin. "Did you get yours with a free chance?"

"Me? Well... I... uhm... no, I didn't." he finally said.

Merida nodded, an accomplished and smug look plastered on her face. "Then I rest my case." Afterwards, she moved her weapon away from his face and walked back to her previous position.

"Jack, I think you got to respect their choices." Bunnymund voiced, sauntering towards Jack. "I know you're upset, we all know. But I think its better if you just..." he exhaled. "...let it go."

Jack glanced at him, the expression on his face meant to show how he was burdening the heavy heart he had. "It's just a little hard to."

~!~

Meanwhile, somewhere miles away from the North Pole, a tall shadowed figure walks with precise movement in a dark room with no light at all but the one coming from a large crystal ball sitting on a stand in the center. The crystal ball features those at the Pole, talking it out and discussing about the three. Pitch Black's gray hands hover around the ball for a moment until he touches it lightly and it immediately focuses on the winter spirit.

With an evil looking smile, he says. "Ah, Jack Frost. It's been such a long time since I've seen you this upset. Why, and this time for such an entirely different reason."

He walks around, circling the item with his hands behind his back as he continues. "To be haunted with the pain of one of the simplest yet most complicated things is much a burden." He stops, yellow eyes shining with malevolence. Looking out the only window there is nothing but darkness out there as well. "You make my planning for revenge much easier Jack. Much, much easier."

He turns around, facing the shining white ball once again. He waves his hand over it as the screen shifts its focus at the people it was looking over at. "I was going to make this plan up to your kind of level, but with this turn of events and your little 'scene', it has convinced me otherwise." The focus on the crystal redirected from the Guardians and then to the three newcomers.

"I'm going to take away the things you hold most dear to your cold little heart." changing its view from Merida, Hiccup, and then Rapunzel, Pitch's smile ascends to a malicious smirk. "I will break them in the worst possible way thinkable."

He looks up and away from the object, this time his attention towards something else occupying the dark room. Two giants blocks of ice stand on top of two separate pedestals, keeping both frozen in the right temperature. The one on the left kept a large black bear with many lethal injuries on it while the one on the right was a woman in a red robed dress. Pitch walk over to both frozen objects and places a hand on the one on his right. Nightmare Sand crawl out of the sleeve of his coat and start surrounding the ice that held the woman. Slowly it encircled it and as it did, began chipping and melting the ices away bit by bit. Pitch watched with a grin as the woman is thawed out of the ice and is left to fall right into his arms. Holding her properly, he steps out of the room and into another to prepare.

"And I know just the way to start it off." he says as the crystal ball's image fades to see over the Tooth Palace.

~!~

Toothiana sighs and leans her cheek on her hand, still flying. She listened attentively to the conversation the four young ones were sharing. It truly was a puzzling thing to work out, but in the same way it wasn't. She was just worried about Jack and how he was feeling about it. Tooth remembers those good moments she shared with him where they'd end up talking to each other about their past and their memories and just generally having a good time. He never told her about these three though, and she wondered why. She admits that at the beginning she may have developed a crush on the winter spirit, but in the end it was just a crush that never really evolved into something important. Now, they treat each other like siblings and she was the older sister in that sort of relationship. So, as an older sister figure, Tooth was uneasy with Jack being so troubled like this.

She was abruptly pulled out of her thoughts by her fairies chirping urgently at her. She looked at each and every one of them, taking the time to listen to what they wanted to tell her. Afterwards, her purple eyes widened. "Oh no."

Everyone else paused their discussion and turned to the floating Guardian to see what was up. "What is it Tooth?" Bunny was the one to ask.

She spun in her place in the air and her face held a devastated look. "The fairies. Something's happening at the Tooth Palace again." she informed them, struck by the sudden dilemma. The four Guardians widened their eyes just the same and exchanged knowing looks.

"Pitch?" Jack asked.

"Most likely." North answered and they placed a determined look on their faces. And as always, for now that is, the other three were completely left out of it.

"Pitch? As in Pitch Black?" Merida questioned and Sandy nodded to her. His facial expressions and hand movements started up and the two looked like they were sharing an actual and normal conversation. Merida nodded at everything he's trying to say, almost like she was listening to him talk. "Ah, so he's a bad guy you once fought. I understand."

"How did you...?" Bunny was about to ask but when he saw that Sandy shook his head to him he decided not to question it anymore.

"The Bogeyman huh..." Rapunzel murmured, staring at the ground and thinking deeply. Hiccup shrugged.

"Never liked the guy, but I haven't met him yet. I still don't like him."

"You don't need to meet him to know what he's like. All you need to know is that he chose the wrong move messing with my fairies again. This time, he's not getting off with just a punch and a missing tooth anymore." Tooth scowled, now angry. Without another word she flew off and out of the always open window, her small fairies tagging along. As always, Baby Tooth remained with Jack, only silently wishing Tooth well.

"We cannot let Pitch do what he did before. We must head to the Tooth Palace immediately! Prepare the sleigh!" North announced, clapping loudly to order the other Yetis. Bunny's ears twitched at the thought of riding on that death trap once again. Sandy looked ecstatic.

"If you don't mind, North, I'm going to go ahead and help Toothiana." Hiccup told the big man, already hopping on top of Toothless. "I think she might need some earlier back-up." Bunnymund was about to suggest to go with him but once he processed the idea of riding on top of something that actually had a mind of its own and could very well flip him off if it wanted to, he decided to stay quiet.

"I'm coming with you, Hic." Merida spoke up, tagging along as she jumped on top of Toothless with him. Hiccup nodded at her then looked at Rapunzel, to see if she wanted to come as well.

"Nah, I think I'll stay. It's not every day you get to ride on the legendary sleigh of the Santa Claus! I'll meet up with you guys there." she happily told them, and they both nodded. After Hiccup had set himself up, the dragon backed a bit before launching into the air and out the window. North clapped his hands again and gestured the rest towards the basement where the sleigh was at.

Once they were down, Rapunzel beamed in wonder as the vehicle emerged out of the room it was being kept in. Elves and Yetis were scrambling all over the place, making quick adjustments to the carriage and making sure the horseshoes were nailed in right on the hooves of the reindeer. North grinned, a large hand placed on the smaller girl's shoulder. "Amazing isn't it?"

"No duh!" she exclaimed. Jack watched her excitedly climb into the carriage, sitting beside Sandy who had got in the first chance he had. He looked a lot happier than he did just moments ago. And as Bunny was being dragged in by the large man, he noticed the look on the boy's face, and he knew what kind of look that was. It was a look of confidence and he knew right away what the confidence was for and he was not going to let that happen.

A few seconds of sledding through the ice caves and going through loops had already gone by, and Rapunzel had already been having the time of her life. She saw the ramp and would've squealed even louder if it wasn't already her loudest. Right when they took off, she stood up, her hair flowing into the air. Jack noticed her feet had very slightly parted from the ground and thought that she might actually fall off. Confidence still lingering, he was about to help her hold on by letting her hold on to him but before he could make a move, Rapunzel's hand was suddenly taken in by Bunny's furry paw. Both season spirits turned to look at him.

The Guardian looked like he was going to throw up on everything as he clutched onto the side of the carriage. "Ryllis! I think I'm gonna—" he covered his mouth right before he could finish his sentence, and Rapunzel ceased standing to sit beside him.

"Bunny I know you get sick easily but you look horrible!"

"I was hoping you were going to be a little less straight forward." and for the rest of the short trip before North had thrown the snow globe portal, Rapunzel focused on keeping Bunnymund okay. Jack frowned and sat down, leaning his head on the palm of his hand while he watched the two spirits interact. Sandy, with his hands still up while he feels the wind in his sand, quietly turned to Jack and smiled knowingly.

Seconds later they've arrived at the Tooth Palace. What the Guardians had expected as a thousand Nightmares flying all over the place was nothing more than nothing. Jack and Sandy had already been in a fighting position when they emerged out of the portal, but had put on looks of surprise when they looked around the place. North unnervingly led them to the core of the Tooth Palace, where all of the tiny fairies were apparently gathered at. At the gazebo-looking core, Toothiana was busily talking to her fairies while Hiccup, Merida, and Toothless were behind her, attentively listening. Once the sleigh had landed, everyone hopped off and hurried over to them.

"What happened? Where's Pitch and the Nightmares?" Bunny asked and Merida swirled her head to face them.

"Not here. When we came there was nothing. Nothing but all these little fairies tweeting around saying something I don't know." she shrugged, a fisted hand on her hip and her other holding unto her bow. Sandy formed a figure of her glowing hand over his head and Merida shook her head, telling him she can't do that here or something.

"Then what are the fairies so unnerved about then?" Jack asked, nearing Tooth while she nodded off to one of the small fairies. The female Guardian frowned in an unsure way.

"No, it's not that Pitch wasn't here. They said he was here. But he left right away after taking these specific sets of teeth." she notified, eyes drooping a bit. Jack saw the uneasy look she had put on.

"Tooth?" he quietly asked. Then a question popped into his mind. "You said specific sets of teeth, right? Whose teeth were they?"

She sighed. "That's the thing. It's whose teeth he took that's bothering me."

"Whose was it?" Bunny asked.

"It's Rapunzel, Merida, and Hiccup's teeth. He took their memories." she finally said, guilt clear in her voice. Hiccup and Rapunzel widen their eyes in shock; Merida shared the same reaction for a second before she started to angrily growl under her breath. Jack began filling his mind with anger as well.

"He took WHAT?!" Merida roared and for a moment, her whole physique had turned into a flame for a second. Everyone who saw simply thought of it as nothing but their imagination. Jack seethes then looks over to the girl.

"This enough of a challenge to earn your memories?" he asked. The summer spirit cracked her knuckles.

"What do you think?"