Summary: Jack Frost sacrifices himself to save the rest of the Guardians from a preemptive strike by Pitch Black. Rather than kill the Guardian, he locks the Jack's memories and corrupts his soul instead. Two years later, the world is slowly falling into darkness. The Man in the Moon chooses a new Guardian but can she save herself from Pitch Black's new right hand man and her fellow Guardians in the process? Jelsa.

A/N: Last chapter before the epilogue! I should probably clarify that this is meant to be a short story. I won't be venturing too deeply into the Guardians at this point in time. I guess you could say this is a beginning of sorts into a lot of future Jelsa and Guardians stories that I may or may not write depending on the mood. There are definitely a lot of possibilities out there, but this should be the end of Pitch for now! Anyhow, enjoy!

Glacial

Part VIII: Mending

After Pitch was gone, the Guardians stood in what was left of North's workshop.

With the surrounding darkness gone, it was bare and empty, devoid of children's toys and childish delight.

"Well," North perked up happily as he noticed his elves and yetis cautiously wandering in. "Let's make toys!"

"I need to check on my tunnels. Who knows what's left of them." Bunnymund muttered.

"And I need to take my babies back to the castle so we can check on the children!" Toothiana said, her Baby Teeth flitting in the air behind her.

Sandy didn't say anything, but his golden sand swirled around him, tendrils already shooting out to bring sweet dreams to children.

Before the rest of Guardians could make a move, Jack held up a hand, his head bowed. "Wait a second guys."

They all stopped, exchanging brief looks with one another and then Elsa, and then turned their attention to Jack.

Tooth was the first to speak up, her voice soft and understanding. "You don't have to apologize, Jack. We're not angry with you."

"But I hurt you guys. I betrayed all of you! I don't deserve to be a Guardian-!"

Bunny cut him off, irritation on his face, "Oy, mate, ya think this is the first time we've dealt with Pitch? We know what he's capable of." The Easter bunny shrugged and added, "If you really feel bad about it, you can help us re-build our domains. I don't know about you guys, but Easter's coming up."

North stepped up, his face solemn. "Jack, you did not choose to be Guardian. Man in Moon chose you. You are Guardian. It is our job to protect the children of the world, and you did that. Pitch could not completely control you because you were too strong. You knew something was wrong."

"But I still hurt you!" Jack burst out, clearly upset. "And I didn't care that you were hurt!"

Elsa moved to comfort him, but a subtle shake of head from Toothiana held her back. This was between Jack and the other Guardians. They needed to let this play out.

So they watched as North placed a hand on Jack's shoulder and simply said, "We are better now. Past is past, Jack. Past is not present or future."

Bunny rolled his eyes. "Just come with me, mate. I need help re-building those tunnels. Then we can check on the rest of those guys afterwards. I wasn't kidding about help for Easter, y'know."

"Besides!" Tooth piped up, wagging a finger playfully, "If you keep drowning in guilt and misery, you're letting Pitch win, and we just kicked his butt!"

Tendrils of golden sand floated over their heads and formed a huge hand above Jack's head. The hand moved downwards to slap Jack across the back of the head, turning the Guardians' attention to the Sandman, who was grinning as he shook a finger in imitation of the Tooth Fairy, his message clear.

At that, Jack cracked a grin and commented, "Snap out of it, huh? Got it Sandy. I think a couple more of those ought to do the trick."

And at that, the rest of the Guardians cracked matching grins of amusement.

They knew things weren't completely back to normal just yet, but they would get there.

But for now, the mend in the rift was closed.


TBC.