Author's Note: Hello, people! Welcome to CHAPTER 10 of Believe It! I can't believe it (no pun intended)! I'm actually on my TENTH chapter! This is so exciting, and I have you guys to thank! Your support and kind words about this story have given me more motivation to get this story up on the site! So thank you! And now for the replies!

SaiyanPrincess: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! No problem! Thank you for reviewing!

Andipandi5: Yes, very exciting! Haha! I would be pretty confused too!

Monkeybaby: Thank you so much! Glad you liked it!

Breyannia: Yeah, I have a feeling it's going to both help them and hurt them in this fight. Guess we'll have to see. I hope you like what's next!

ShawnaCrazyGirl: Thank you! I hope so too!

Peppapig11: OMG! Really?! I'm glad you love it! Well, we'll just have to wait and see! Thank you!

Higuchimon: *APPLAUSE* Exactly! That's exactly what I was going for! You really nailed it to a T! They need to be able to step back and think for a while about how they're going to go about this, and like Bunny said, they won't be able to do that if Jack's coming after them. But it also gives Pitch and Jack some advantage as well! So yeah, in a way it works out for both sides.

Moira Colleen: Well, it's like I said in the above reply. Yeah, they weren't smart to just leave them, but it was all they could come up with in the heat of the moment. Bunny and North knew they had to be careful as to how they go about this with the very limited information they have. But you are right. It will come back to haunt them.

TwiliCuckoo: Yeah, poor Jack! And thanks! That makes me feel a little better. Thanks! Glad you liked it!

Justrockzyxxx: YES! That's what I was going for! LOL!

NorthernMage: Haha! I knew it! Well, not exactly. Remember, Sandy's dream sand doesn't have an effect on Pitch either. It just knocks them out. And even if it did, it wouldn't exactly "cure" Jack. He needs to realize for himself that Pitch is lying. Plus, like I mentioned in the previous replies, the Guardians don't exactly know what Pitch did to Jack. So, at this point, they don't think the sand would work. And like Bunny said, they can't take Jack back because he would probably just see it as a sign of aggression and try to attack. Hope that makes sense!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to Rise of the Guardians.

Chapter 10

The tension was thick when North, Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy travelled through the portal to return to the Pole. Neither of them bothered to say anything as they found themselves back in the Globe Room. How could they? It was bad enough knowing that Pitch was back after being absent for a month, but what made it worse was that he wasn't alone. Jack, their newest member, was with him. Thankfully, thanks to his new appearance, they all knew that Jack definitely did not join Pitch willingly this time. No, something happened to allow Pitch to manipulate and brainwash Jack into doing so, but the million-dollar question was…what? The only one who had an idea was North because Jack mentioned something about being kicked out of the Guardians, but he had no idea as to what the boy was talking about. So, overall, the original Big Four were clueless, but that didn't stop any of them from wanting to get to the bottom of this.

After a few more moments of silence, Tooth finally looked up at three of her four fellow Guardians. The Guardian of Memories couldn't read minds, but just by looking at her best friends, she knew they felt the same way she did…upset…confused…shocked…all of the above.

They retreated to their own spots in the Globe Room as soon as they stepped through the portal. Bunny stood by the fireplace watching the dancing flames. North was sitting at the table, where they had their meeting last night…the last time she, Bunny, and Sandy saw the Jack Frost they grew to love. Sandy was looking out the window probably debating whether or not he should go back for Jack. Meanwhile, she was observing them from her spot near the globe. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't. Not now when Jack desperately needed their help. This was one of those times where they really needed to pull together, and she had to make the first move.

"Guys, I know what we saw was upsetting," she began, "but we really need to get down to business here. What happened before Sandy and I got there?"

There was more silence. No one answered. Tooth was just about to try again when Bunny suddenly turned to North, who had his face buried in his hands. The Pooka sighed and walked over to the ex-Cossack.

"Mate," he said as he placed a paw on North's shoulder getting the man's attention, "you know she's right. We need to tell them what happened, and we both know who should be the one to do it."

North thought for a moment and realized that Bunny was right. He couldn't just sit there and mope. He had to keep the two promises he made to Jack: the one where he promised that they would always be there for him as a family and the one where he promised that they would save him from Pitch's thrall, and to do that, like Tooth said, they needed to get down to business…starting with their briefing. He sighed and stood up.

"Alright," North finally said motioning for Tooth and Sandy to come over to the table. When they did, they all waited as North took a deep breath and began, "After Bunny and I checked the Warren to find Jack, we both agreed that it would be best to split up to find him. He went to Tooth Palace, and I went to Burgess. I first checked Jack's lake, but I still couldn't find the boy. So, I went to Jamie's house to see if maybe he went there, but both he and Jamie were gone."

"Where was Jamie?" Tooth asked clearly worried that Pitch had gotten to him as well.

"Well, it's pretty early in the day, and the house was quiet," North replied. "So, I'm assuming he's in school. Anyway, when I couldn't find Jack there, I was just about to leave when…" he sighed, "Pitch…and Jack showed up, and before I could even blink…Jack attacked me…"

Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny all stared in disbelief. Even though they knew Jack was somehow under Pitch's control, it was still shocking to hear that the Guardian of Fun would actually attack any one of them…his own friends.

"Did he hurt you?" Tooth asked.

"No, no, he didn't," North quickly said, "but…uh…he made it very clear that he wanted to kill me first before going after the three of you."

Sandy put his hands to his face and created a sandy image of an exclamation point above his head. Tooth gasped while Bunny just stared in shock.

"But…why?!" Tooth asked frantically. "Why would he suddenly want to kill us?!"

North sighed. "Because…for some reason, Jack thinks that we took his Guardian title away and kicked him out."

"What?!" Bunny shouted. "Where did he get that idea?!"

"I have no idea!" North cried. "All I know is that Pitch is back, somehow convinced Jack that we had been lying to him about wanting to be his friends and kicked him out of the Guardians just this morning, and turned him into this…Nightmare Prince." He exhaled in frustration as he walked past them over to the Globe to put some distance between them and give himself some room to breathe.

Sandy created a question mark over his head followed by a sandy figure of North frantically looking around for something.

"Sandy's asking how that could be when you and Bunny spent the whole morning looking for Jack after he disappeared from the Pole," Tooth translated since North had his back to them.

"I don't know," North said running a hand through his hair, "because Jack actually thinks that something happened this morning. He wouldn't tell me much, but he did say something else about me grabbing him by the hair and throwing him out of the Pole."

"Well, then let's get Jack back and find out," said Tooth. "Maybe, once we're alone with him, he'll feel comfortable enough to tell us what happened, and we can help him figure things out."

Sandy smiled and nodded excitedly creating sandy images of each of the Guardians sitting in a circle, talking things out, and coming together in a group hug.

Bunny sadly chuckled at his friends' enthusiasm. "I wish it were that easy, mates," he said, "but if there's one thing I know from when I got there, it's that there's no way Jack will go for it. He thinks we're just pretending not to know what happened to manipulate him into trusting us again."

North hated to admit it again, but he knew that Bunny was right. Pitch's hold on Jack was just too strong meaning that Jack didn't trust them anymore. It was definitely going to be difficult to save him, but North was willing to do whatever it took and knew for a fact that the others felt the same way. They all silently agreed to never give up on the boy. The only problem was…how could they save the winter teen when he wouldn't let them?

It didn't take Jack and Pitch too long to wake up from their short nap. Sandy's dream sand quickly wore off allowing them to pull themselves together, to get angry with the Guardians retreating, and to go back to the lair to come up with another plan that would bring the four Guardians to their knees. Pitch didn't show it, but he was internally dancing in joy. So far his plan was succeeding. Jack had fallen completely under his influence. He was completely distrustful of the Guardians.

He had to admit though that he was worried that North and Bunny's lack of knowledge about the nightmare he gave Jack would ruin everything. He wondered if he should've just brainwashed the other Guardians as well. He had considered it, but decided against it knowing he would've been wasting energy that needed to only be focused on Jack. So he was thankful when Jack proved that he would only listen to the words of his Master. North's words were meaningless to the corrupted winter teen.

However just because Jack listened to Pitch didn't exactly mean that he wasn't still thinking about what North and Bunny said to him. He did find it strange that neither North nor Bunny seemed to have any kind of knowledge of what occurred that morning. Were they just really great actors and pretending they didn't know what he and Pitch were talking about? Had Pitch really been messing around with him? North really did seem like he didn't know, and so did Bunny.

Had it been a trick, wouldn't North have given it up the minute Jack said he knew he was lying? Then again, like he figured before as he pointed his staff at North, the Guardian of Wonder was probably refusing to give up the act to get Jack away from Pitch and attack him when he was vulnerable, but…a small part of him deep down found that really hard to believe. This was all so confusing. He was so focused on the situation that occurred on the surface that he didn't realize that he and Pitch returned to the main room in the lair until the Nightmare King finally spoke.

"Jack, you've been very quiet," he said as he stared at his Globe with his back to Jack. "Are you alright?"

The Nightmare Prince blinked coming back to reality as he walked up the stairs leading to the globe to join Pitch. "Uh…y-yes, Master, I'm alright," he said. "I just…I was just…lost in thought."

"May I ask about what?" Pitch asked.

"Well, it's…" Jack sighed, "it's just that I couldn't stop thinking about our brief encounter with North and Bunny just now. I find it really strange how they acted differently from this morning." The corrupted winter teen failed to notice Pitch clenching his fists behind his back and continued, "North—he…he really sounded like he didn't know what was going on or why I want to kill him, and so did Bunny."

If Pitch had eyebrows, he would've been raising one as he turned to look at Jack. He mentally kicked himself for not seeing this coming. Of course, Jack would have some doubts after their first encounter with the Guardians of Hope and Wonder. He couldn't get angry with the boy though. He had to keep it together unless he wanted to push Jack further away. It would be his own fault for losing this fight.

"What are you getting at, my boy?" he asked.

Jack turned to look at his master in the eye allowing Pitch to see the golden eyes. "What if…somehow…we were wrong about the Big Four?" he asked. "What if they really didn't know what I was talking about? That would mean that they never did plan on kicking me out."

The Nightmare King sighed. It wasn't because he felt bad for the boy. It was because he was still trying to keep his anger in check. While he was glad he didn't waste energy on the other Guardians, he did see the decision to not do anything to them was coming back to haunt him. They had no knowledge as to what happened to turn Jack into his Nightmare Prince, but as soon as they would find out, there was no doubt they would try to convince Jack that the things he saw and heard weren't real. If he wanted to keep Jack on his side, then he had to play his cards just right.

"Jack, I understand that you thought very highly of the Guardians and are still hurt after what happened," he said, "but you must understand that anything they say or do cannot be trusted anymore. How can you know for sure that they were unaware? You were there. You saw them with your own eyes and heard with your own ears. It's so obvious that North was only messing with your head to regain your trust. He's already done it once and clearly wants nothing more than to keep on making your life miserable by hurting you over and over again. Besides, if they really had no idea, then explain how you were thrown out of the Pole or how you ended up at the lake in Burgess before I found you."

Jack stared at his grey bare feet. He knew Pitch was right. There was no other explanation other than that North and Bunny just loved the thrill of throwing him out and hurting him emotionally and physically and wanted nothing more than to make it a routine. They would try to gain back his trust, make him think he was welcomed back, suddenly turn on him again, and kick him out again until they would need him to be their tool like the first time or maybe even until they lose interest.

"I guess…" he finally said not looking up at Pitch.

"And…if they did truly care about you, Jack, then why did they just leave you with me when they had the perfect opportunity to take you back to talk things out like North said you would?"

Jack was now boiling with anger as his look of confusion turned into a look of realization and then a glare. Pitch was right. North could've tried to help him like he said he would, but he didn't. They could've taken him back to the Pole, but they didn't. They abandoned him just as they did far too many times throughout his 300-year isolation. Jack Frost really meant nothing to any of them, especially North, and Jack wasn't going to lie. That hurt him the most. Just as he had been hoping to have some kind of father/son relationship with the Guardian of Wonder, said Guardian turned on him and went back on that promise he made on Easter Monday one month ago. How could trust just be handed back to someone like that?

"You're right," Jack said turning back at Pitch. He knelt down and bowed his head. "I apologize for doubting you, Master. For a time I had been so sure that the Guardians were my true friends, but I was blinded by the thrill of ending my 300-year isolation that I never once saw their true intentions until now. I failed to see that you're my true friend, but I can promise you that it will never happen again. I know now where my true loyalties lie."

Pitch smirked as he placed a slender hand on the boy's black hair. "You are forgiven, Jack," he said, "and what you said is true. The Guardians are dangerous manipulators. They must be dealt with immediately."

Jack stood up and smirked. "Lucky for you, I already have an idea."

Author's Note: Uh-oh…I wonder what Jack has in mind. Hope the Guardians can figure something out fast because it looks like the clock is ticking. Well, hope you all liked this one. Don't forget to leave reviews! Thanks, guys, and I'll see you in Chapter 11!