Alright, first update in a while...I'm sorry!

Class started up again and it's taking up way more of my time than I thought it would so I'm doing to my best to write when I can whenever more story dawns on me.

Oh, and, REVIEW BEFORE YOU FAVE/FOLLOW GENIUSES.

I swear you're doing this on purpose(some of you, obviously those who won't listen), would it kill you to just give some words of encouragement here? Shit happens and I lose motivation sometimes, and just reviews that say "update" don't count.

Maybe I'm asking too much here...no? I'm not? Thank you, just DO AS I ASK FOR ONCE ALRIGHT? Please.

Enjoy.

Chapter 10

Jump Ahead

Pitch watched with clenched fists as Jack and Taylor strolled along the sidewalk, smiling and laughing like no tomorrow.

He could feel his dark power dwindling ever so slightly. Thanks to that frostbitten fool, his best chance of getting his powers back was all but destroyed. The girl's fear and pain weren't nearly as strong as they used to be.

A wide smirk spread across his face and he waved his hand in the air, the dark nightmare sand swirling about elegantly.

"Perhaps it's time we spread a little fear."

I noticed Taylor shudder all of a sudden and I shot her a concerned look.

"Are you cold, Tay? We could just head back if you want." I jerked a thumb in the direction toward the house and she shook her head.

"No, I'm fine. I just got this weird feeling."

I raised a brow at this. "Like what?"

"Like...," She trailed off and seemed to look at something in the distance and blinked. "I'm not sure. Maybe we should just go back?" She sighed heavily and let her arms drop to her sides.

"Hm… Well, as good as it sounds to go back and have more hot chocolate," I smirked when Taylor groaned. "I say we stick around and have some fun."

Luckily nobody was around, so there wasn't anyone to freak out when I lifted Taylor off the ground as I willed the wind to push me up higher. She seemed startled at first but eventually relaxed when I pulled her closer to my body and I heard her giggle slightly.

"I swear I'll never get used to this." She breathed and I chuckled. Whether she meant the view, the fact that she was a couple hundred feet off the ground or that her boyfriend could fly, I'd never know.

My grip tightened and she flinched when the wind suddenly became a little stronger. "Don't worry, its okay. I got you." I glared at the wind as Taylor was breathing in and out slowly like it would calm herself, though the wind just continued to increase.

"Jack, I'm scared… What's going on?" She had to shout in order for me to hear her.

"I-I don't know! It's going to be okay, I promise!" I slowly started to descend, careful not to get too tossed around in the wild gusts. Though they only got stronger and pushed us back to where we started again and I growled.

"J-Jack…!" The panic in her voice was evident. My breath hitched as the wind seemed to be pulling her away from me. I fought it back as best I could, but the wind was so strong now.

Time seemed to slow down when her body was finally torn out of my grasp.

Her blood curdling scream was the first thing to register in my mind as I shot down like a bullet to reach her in time.

"TAYLOR! I'm coming!" I shouted, hoping my words might at least help her mentally somehow. Though over the wind and her own screams, she probably couldn't even hear me.

She had her eyes shut tight as she was falling with her back toward the ground, the hair band she had in already came undone and was long forgotten and her hands were clasped tightly at her chest as if protecting something.

Suddenly the wind seemed to cooperate this time, pushing me forward to reach her faster. I managed to just barely pass her and looped around to catch her and send the biggest gust of wind possible at our backs to lessen the impact. Thankfully it worked just in time and we landed lightly in the middle of the forest.

My knees buckled from under me and I dropped to the ground, sitting Taylor down just in front of me who was still wrapped around me as tight as possible and shaking violently.

"Tay? Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?" I felt the trembling in my voice and inwardly cursed myself. She just silently shook her head but didn't lessen her grip in the slightest. I sighed heavily in relief.

"We landed now, okay? We're on the ground, you can look. I'm not tricking you, I swear," I noticed her hair was covering her face as she glanced around to find that it was true. Though she still seemed rooted and shaking on the spot. "I'm so sorry, Tay. I… I don't know what happened. The wind, it- it just-" I laid a hand on her shoulder but paused when she flinched. "Tay…?"

She was biting her lip so hard it was bleeding now. I frowned and brushed some of it away with my finger. "Tay… Stop, you're bleeding." Her breath hitched and I lightly moved her hair away from her face and I fought back a gasp.

She looked like a wreck. Her face was beet red, perhaps from the cold wind lashing out at her face. Her lip was quivering and her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, overflowing with tears.

"Jack…," She whimpered, not even bothering to stop the tears. "Can we go home now?"

I didn't even hesitate to hug her as tightly as I thought possible. "Yeah," I settled for holding her bridal style with her hands wrapped tightly around my neck. "Let's go back home."

I felt my emotions beginning to work their magic as a light flurry of snow began to fall, it would've looked beautiful, had there not been something else in the mix. An unheard of hot anger rose within me at the sight of familiar black grains of sand hidden in my snow.

Pitch… You'll get what's coming to you.

I wasn't sure how long it took for Taylor to calm down enough to fully stop trembling; she'd barely said a word the entire time before exhaustion seemed to overtake her and she fell into a restless sleep.

I sat beside her sleeping form, lightly brushing her bangs out of her eyes and rubbing circles on her back in hope of easing her tension slightly. I sighed heavily when her eyelids seemed to squeeze tighter than before and she clutched her pillow like a lifeline.

I felt myself pull my Frost Staff closer to me at the memory that had surely traumatized the poor girl. Pitch… When did he figure out how to take control of the winds? How was it even possible? Sure the wind was its own being, but do they even have a solid form or mind for Pitch to grasp?

"Well, finding out how he did it won't help anything," I glanced at Taylor and stood carefully. "Or anyone."

I was shaken from my thoughts when I heard a familiar Australian accent outside. Sliding the window open, I found Bunnymund standing on the sidewalk, much like when the day he met Taylor.

"Hey, Frostbite!" He saluted with a smile. I sat on the window ledge and stared at the Pooka skeptically.

"What're you doing here? North didn't send you to spy again, did he?" I frowned and Bunny waved his paws about in a defensive manner.

"No way! I'm not doing any more of his 'spy work'," He air quoted "spy work" and I chuckled. "I just wanted to see how you and Taylor were doin'. Where is the Sheila?"

"Resting." He raised a brow at me and I gestured to the bedroom as a "Come inside" and he ducked into a tunnel, quickly reappearing on the bedroom floor. He frowned at seeing the tossing girl in her bed.

"What's goin' on? I thought the nightmare sand wore off already?"

"It did. She was getting better finally, but then…," I sighed and leaned against the wall. "Pitch decided to take us back to square one."

Bunny's once happy demeanor faltered into a shocked and angry one in mere seconds. "What did he do?" I sighed and ran a hand through my hair and unconsciously began pacing about the room.

"Bunny… I don't even know how he did it. I decided to take Taylor with me for some flying; it was fun at first… But then the wind started pushing her away from me. I tried coming back down and held on as tight as I could, but the wind only pushed up back up and got stronger and then I- she… I just-"

"Spit it out, Mate!" Bunny interrupted, obviously tired of me fumbling over my words.

"Bunny… I dropped her," His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "The wind got strong enough to take her away from me and I barely managed to catch her in time! She's scared of heights- dammit if I didn't make her fly with me this wouldn't have happened!" I was yelling so loudly it probably would've woken Taylor up by now. I was just so angry with myself; I just took my first chance to vent.

By now I had my head resting in my hands and was shaken when I felt Bunny's paw on my shoulder.

"It's alright, Frost. She's safe now, she's not even hurt." He gestured to her lying in her bed; safe and, well… Not exactly sound.

"Yeah? Well if she was just scared before she's sure as hell traumatized now!" I shouted and Bunnymund pulled back a little.

"Calm down. How do you even know if this was Pitch? What if the wind was just acting up a bit?"

"Because there were black specks all around us in the wind. When we landed it was practically raining nightmare sand out there. For all we know enough of it landed on her to cause more nightmares again. We'll see."

Bunny seemed to take in all the information slowly before nodding. "Alright Mate, I'll send word of this to North and the others. Maybe they can see if anything has changed to make Pitch stronger," He stomped on the ground to form a tunnel and glanced at me. "Need me to come back later to patrol while you're here? Or to help you with… her? I heard she got mighty wild the last time the sand got on her."

I shook my head. "No. I can handle Tay on my own, thanks Bunny. But get North's take on it first. He is after all our 'self-proclaimed leader'."

Bunny laughed with a smirk. "Got that right, Frostbite. See ya later." And with that he was gone, off to the Pole.

"Right," I muttered, turning to Taylor again and shutting the window before lying on the bed once more. As if she'd somehow sensed my presence, she inched closer to me and whimpered like a sad puppy. I bit my lip and pulled her close to me with my face buried in her sweet-smelling hair. "I'm sorry, Tay." I felt my eyelids getting heavy as the world around me seemed to darken even more.

"I'm so sorry…"

Later that night an angered North came in through Taylor's window as I woke up. Taylor herself was finally beginning to stir as well.

"North…? What're you doing here?" She asked softly. He frowned slightly and folded his arms.

"Bunny told us what happened." She raised a brow in my direction and I scratched my head.

"He stopped by a little while ago." I whispered, her mouth formed an O and she nodded. North took our silence as his chance to continue.

"We are keeping sharp eye out for Pitch now, we all patrol different areas on routes," We both nodded in understanding and he turned to the tired girl. "Taylor, how are you feeling?"

She lowered her head and I laid an arm on her back as she bit her lip. North's frown deepened and he sat on the edge of her bed and lifted her chin to look up at him and he smiled.

"Child, it will be alright. We are Guardians; we will protect you and all believers." A ghost of a smile shown on Taylor's lips.

"Thank you, North." She sighed and ran a hand through her long hair. North nodded and stood from her bed and went toward the window.

"Alright! My business here is done." He clasped his hands together and made to go back out through the window again but I extended a hand to stop him.

"Wait, North! What am I supposed to do? Do I have a patrol route too?" He paused and blinked at me.

"Jack, of course not! Pitch is targeting Taylor; just keep doing whatever it is you couples do these days." He waved us off and jumped out, leaving me stuttering and Taylor blushing madly.

She shot me a flustered but annoyed look through her fatigue like she thought I told him something we did and I raised my hands in defense.

"Don't look at me! I didn't tell him anything! Why the heck would I tell Santa Clause of all people about us? What, would he give me condoms for Christmas?" Okay, that might've not been the best thing to say. Realizing my mistake, I bit my lip and kept myself from laughing at the squeak that rose from Taylor's throat along with a shaky gasp.

"Jack!" She cried. I couldn't help the grin that made its way across my face and she shot me a puzzled look. "What're you smiling about?"

"You're you again," I couldn't blame her for being confused at first. "I like it better when you're you, not scared."

She blinked at me for a moment and turned away, her hair falling over her face. "Jack, I…"

"Come on, Tay, I wanna see your smile," I reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear; she looked nice with it tucked away like that. She looked at me from the corner of her eye through the shorter, flailing strands of hair and smiled softly. "That's better." I pulled her toward me and kissed her fully.

She seemed taken aback at first, but as always she welcomed the gesture and returned the favor, wrapping her arms around my neck as I cupped her cheek lightly and the kiss deepened slightly.

After a moment we both pulled away, and Taylor laced her fingers with mine and she leant into the crook of my neck.

"Thank you, Jack."

I hugged her as tightly as I could without disturbing our position and kissed her forehead.

"It's what I do best." She giggled slightly and I could practically feel myself brighten at the sound.

"I love you." She whispered sweetly and she kissed me again as she pulled me back down to lay on the bed as we were before.

"Love you more." I smirked and lay beside her, pulling her close to me as our bodies seemed to mold together perfectly as they always do. She sighed softly and tugged at my hoodie.

"Impossible."

It's getting a little too hot in here to be a winter spirit huh? HUH? ehh...nah

Hope this was ok, TELL ME DAMMIT

I can't improve if you don't tell me anything! Do the one thing all authors ask of you before this story turns to shit!

REVIEW BEFORE YOU FAVE/FOLLOW OR I WILL HAVE AN ANGRY AGENT TEXAS ON YOUR ASS IN SECONDS. And she's not happy very often.

Please tell me there's some Red vs Blue fans out there who might get it. Oh god please.

see you next time