I followed Mother Nature to where we first arrived and I noticed that North, Sandy, and Tooth were all talkin'. It seemed that North was givin' them all a rough explanation of what happened. Once we made it to them and stopped, North looked at us with expectant and worried eyes. "Have you told them what happened with your side of the story?" Mother Nature asked and North nodded, still looking back and forth between us.

"Do you know...if that black sand is..."

"It's become a part of him..." She told them as she looked to the ground.

"No..." Tooth whispered out with tears streaming down her face.

I looked at Sandy and he lowered himself to the ground with a heartbroken expression, and then there was North. The color was gone from his face and he looked every bit defeated as he did when Jamie was the last light., but this time was worse. There was nothin' left in him. No will, no wonder, no hope, this was all a nightmare for him, and he was already trying to hold on to the good memories of Jack as if her were already gone. "W-What..." He finally spoke and staggered back. "...no...not Jack he...perhaps you are wrong?"

Rage and heartbreak swam in her eyes as she walked closer to him. "Do you really think I don't know the energy of my father's influence!? How dare you!"

"N-No...I...I just...I don't want..."

She calmed down as she let out a shaky sigh. "I don't want it to be real either, but the fact is...that's what we face right now...and Manny has decided it's time to let you know who Jack really is. I have told Bunny not too long, and he made a blood oath to never repeat it until it was decided that all of you should know...and because of the circumstances that time is now."

"What do you mean? Jack has always been Jack...hasn't he?" Tooth questioned with confusion laced in her voice as she looked at me for an answer. "I mean...He was a human before but even then his name was basically the same."

"He wasn't always Jackson Overland Frost. He was someone before that." She finally admitted.

"But...I have his baby teeth...that's impossible..."

"I interfered with the teeth...I created ones that would look and feel real to you, and placed memories inside them. Real ones, but also...fake ones. That's why his memories would be fuzzy as a child, but clear at the age of fourteen."

"Y-You...but why!?"

"Because it was necessary."

Sandy held up a question mark askin', 'Well then who was Jack Frost before he was human Jack?'

She smiled softly at Sandy and then to everyone else, and finally, she turned to me. "Aster, how about you tell them. He's basically entrusted you with his own name after all...even though he doesn't know it."

"He what!?" Tooth shouted in shock and excitement.

"Jack's staff holds the same strength and power that his own real name would have if someone were to use his real name...but Manny had changed the rules for Jack, because Jack was not to know who he was before being human. So...his staff holds it all...He gave Aster his staff...look at it. He's holding it after all."

I looked at the moss covered staff and let out an embarrassed chuckle as I heard the the gasps of shock and astonishment from my friends. "Well uh..." I tried to start, knowin' how important it was to tell them now, but my problem was, I didn't know how I was supposed to tell them. "Uh...well...you're not gonna believe this...I mean...at times I'm still havin' a hard time believin' it...but um...do any of you remember Nightlight?"

"Of course we remember Nightlight! He was guardian of Manny and inspired Manny to be first guardian for children of Earth...but what does this have to do with Jack?" North asked with confusion risin' in his eyes.

"Well...Jack...was originally Nightlight."

"That...cannot be..." North whispered out as he staggered further back. He tried to steady himself but his butt landed on the fresh green grass, and I wasn't aware Sandy's or Tooth's eyes could get any wider. "That would mean...we..."

"That would mean that we had fought alongside Nightlight in the most recent fight against Pitch..." I told them. "...but it also means that Nightlight was alone this whole time, and we had no idea. He had been alone for three hundred years as Jack Frost...and we don't really know how long as a human."

"We...how were we to know...?" North asked with a look of regret.

I placed a paw on his shoulder and shook my head. "We weren't supposed to know. This was Manny's doin', and Mother Nature had promised she wouldn't tell anyone until Manny gave the okay...but...right now...the reason that it's important that we all know is..." I started to choke up a bit at the sudden memory of the ice getting worse around Jack's body.

"The reason it's important now..." Mother Nature started. "...is because he is fighting four things at once."

"How do you mean?" Tooth asked, and I was glad that I wasn't the only that had to ask that.

"He is fighting Pitch's influence and his other three identities. Nightlight, Jackson Overland Frost, and Jack Frost. I don't know how this will play out for him, but he and Bunny will need to remain here until he is well again. If he is still here towards Easter...I will have Bunny choose one of you to stay with him until his Holiday is taken care of."

"But...Easter already past...you mean you think he'll be out for whole year?" North gasped in shock.

"I don't really know for sure. What I do know is that he will not be himself for quite some time...even if he does wake, he will likely still be battling on the inside and be extremely confused...and when he gets to that state...he will likely be dangerous...and under the circumstances...even I will be seeing him rarely...Bunny on the other hand...Jack quite literally placed his life in his paws."

"We...understand...we must go then, yeah?"

"It would be wise...we will let you know of any changes, we promise. Even if it's minuscule."

"We'd appreciate that and..." Tooth looked at Sandy, and it was then that I noticed that he seemed to have tears streaming down his face, and if possible...his face seemed pale. "Sandy...are you alright?"

He held up various symbols and we understood them because of the depth of emotion they held. 'Nightlight's been alive this whole time. We all thought he died, but he didn't...he became a human boy...who gained a family...only to lose it all. Then, he wakes up with no memory of...anything. He has basically been on his own for...forever...and we didn't know...we ignored him...I know it was Jack Frost...and I know that that is a real person and that is him...but even then...we should've been there...he's an immortal child...and he was Manny's protector...we didn't even bother searching for him...we just assumed...that he had died, and now...he very well might do something worse than die. He may become a fearling, and it's because of something that happened between you all at Easter while I was dead...and I still have yet to hear the full story. I am...I am afraid. I am afraid to lose a very good friend. When he was Jack Frost...we would fly together and visit children together...but other than that, we didn't spend nearly as much time as he and Mother Nature did...I don't want him to become a fearling...and if he does choose one or the other of the personalities...I don't want to lose Jack Frost either. I miss Nightlight...I do...but...I honestly think I would miss Jack Frost more.'

"Mate, I can promise ya, if I can help it, we at the very least will not have to worry about Jack turnin' into a fearling. Now, I can't make any promises, but I can certainly try and prevent it with all I got." He nodded and smiled at me, but I knew for a fact that he wasn't willin' to get his hopes even a little bit up.

"We must leave so they can tend to Jack. We hear from you soon, yeah?" North asked with about the same amount of hope that Sandy had, and I just nodded my head and gave them a sympathetic smile. He turned around and took out three snow globes. He gave one to Tooth and Sandy, and all three of them used their snow globes sayin' where they wanted to go. In about five seconds they were gone, but their crushin' hopelessness still remained.

Without sayin' a word, I turned around and headed straight for Jack's room, but Mother Nature stopped me with a gentle hand on my arm. "Aster...are...are you alright?"

"Am I alright? My brother may turn into a fearling, and if he doesn't turn into a fearling he may lose everythin' that made him my brother."

"So...officially admitting that he's a brother to you?"

"I admitted it earlier if you'll remember correctly."

"If you'll also remember correctly you said you thought I may be right." She stated with a smug grin. "Now you have officially said I was right."

"You enjoy bein' right don't ya?"

"Why yes...yes I do."

We made our way back to Jack's room, chattin' away about how Jack was like a brother to me, and how she knew it, and how she was revelin' in the fact that she was right about somethin' that involved emotions for such a stubborn person as myself, and then we finally made it to Jack's room. I opened the door and had to immediately shield my eyes, as the light in the room was practically blindin' me. "Mother Nature...what is goin' on!"

"It must be the Nightlight side of him. Nightlight could control his brightness against darkness and foes if you'll remember correctly." She told me as she too was havin' to shield her eyes. "It's likely that Nightlight is trying to fight against the darkness like he did so long ago."

"Well, do somethin'!"

I felt her walk past me and I heard Jack practically growling at her as she got closer. "Aster, I can't get close to him. The light along with the ice coming out of him...you're the only one out of the two of us that might have any luck.

"Me!?"

"Yes you, Aster!" I could hear her gasp in shock, but I couldn't see anythin'. "You need to get over here now, and try something!"

I let my feet guide me towards the bed using muscle memory that they've acquired over the day and a half I had known about Jack's room. As I got closer the light seemed to dim just enough to where I could see him, and he was in pain. "H-He's in pain!"

"Alright, so do something, I can't see anything. The light is blinding me. I will be just outside the room if you need me!"

I heard the door close, and I tried to focus on Jack who was writhin' in pain, clutchin' at his sides and dragging his nails across his arms. "Jack, c'mon, mate! You can fight this!"

"Bunny!" He screamed in pain as he turned his head towards me.

"That's right, Jack. I'm right here and I'm not goin' anywhere 'till you're okay."

"W-Who...Who is...Jack!?" His word echoed painfully in my mind and I felt as if my heart shattered, but I had to be here for him. No matter who he was at the moment.

"What's your name?"

"You should know it...My name is...Nightlight...Although...that...doesn't...seem entirely...right...nor...does it seem...entirely...wrong..." He grunted and growled in pain in between his words, and every word cut me like a knife, but he said it felt wrong to call himself Nightlight, so there was a glimmer of hope for all of us who have grown to like Jack.

"Nightlight..." I whispered out painfully.

"W-Why am I...why am I covered...in...ice!? Why...am I...in so much...pain!? Where...where am I!?"

"Pitch attacked you, and...and you fought him back..."

"Pitch!? But...I thought..." His eyes shot open at me, and I couldn't help but gasp in shock at what I saw. It was no longer one blue eye and one maple colored eye. Now there was one that was an arctic blue and one that was as green as the purest spring leaf. 'It can't hurt to tell him...surely...' But before I could even voice the truth towards him he screamed in agony once more, causin' a bright flash of light and nearly the entire room iced over as the light dimmed down to normal levels. His breathin' was haggard as he started to open his eyes again and they were still green and blue, but the expression on his face didn't match Nightlight's from earlier. "A-Aster?"

"J-Jack!?" My heart dared to hope, even for a second, and the hope that had barely begun to rise had bursted when he gave me a confused nod. "JACK!" I rushed forward and I yanked him into a tight hug as carefully as I could while avoiding the ice spires.

"W-What happened? Why...am I covered...in ice...and who...who is Nightlight...also...Aster...can't breathe..."

I pulled away in embarrassment and laughed nervously. "Right, sorry 'bout that, mate...um...You um...I..."

"You can't answer me...can you?"

"I-I can. I-It's just...difficult to explain..."

"Okay...well...I'm gonna guess that this ice...and the black stuff in it...has something to...do with Pitch."

"It does...it's from when you knocked him out of the sky...apparently some of his nightmare sand made its way into your body. When that happens, usually someone changes into what's known as a fearling...but they always have the small chance of bein' able to fight it, and well...that's where you're at..."

"Okay...and who's Nightlight?"

"He um...well...in all honesty...he's you."

"Excuse me?" He asked me with a stunned look of disbelief. "Did ya hit your head, Cottontail? I'm Jack...I've always been Jack."

"No I didn't hit my head, and no...you weren't Jack...not always at least. You used to be someone called Nightlight. In a battle with Pitch an extremely long time ago, you defeated him. However, you fell to Earth, and we all thought you had died somewhere in the battle after he was defeated. That is not the case though. Manny knew who ya were because...you were originally Manny's guardian when he was a baby. When you fell to Earth, you had no memory of who you were, and so ya wondered around not knowin' who ya were...then a family took ya in. You had apparently admitted that you didn't know who ya were. So...since they saw that you were a good person...they accepted you into their family...givin' ya the name, Jackson Overland Frost. Mother Nature made her own version of a Tooth memory box and made artificial teeth that Tooth didn't notice weren't real. They held real memories, but if it's further back than fourteen...they were artificial. Mother Nature told me all of this, and I'm sorry if it's a bit of a shock to ya..."

"A bit of a shock!? Bunny...I'm either as old or older than Manny...If what you're saying is true...then...there's an entire life I don't know about...again!"

"That's true...but neither time was your fault...Manny just knew it would happen again the second time around."

"Manny...he made me like this...he made me unseen...he didn't speak to me for three hundred years!" His anger grew and in his arctic blue eye, I saw a flicker of a sickening silver mixed with gold just for a second, and where there was black sand in the ice...It seemed to increase in density.

"Mate...ya gotta calm down...Perhaps...perhaps ya can ask him later tonight, yeah?"

He looked at me with patient eyes and the anger began to die off. I looked to the ice spires and to my surprise as his anger died off, the black sand seemed to decrease. "I would love to talk with him...but Aster...I've tried talking to him for three hundred years! He hasn't answered me once! Also...I know nothing about Nightlight aside from what you told me...and frankly, he sounds incredible...so why didn't Manny just turn me back into Nightlight?"

"That...he really didn't talk to you?"

"Nope! I had tried and tried and tried I don't know how many times."

"Well...considerin' the circumstances, I have a feelin' he'll talk to ya now."

"Fine...but I can't exactly get out of this..."

I touched the ice, and noticed that it really and truly was nothin' but ice...just with black sand mixed in, but it was somethin' I could help him with. "Well...if ya trust me...I may be able to melt it. It just might be a bit painful for ya."

"How painful are we talking here, Aster?"

"It may burn...but it's nothin' Mother Nature and I can't heal."

He looked at his core, his legs, and his chest. All the places where violent and jagged ice spires were coming out of him and he let out a shaky sigh. "Go ahead."

I nodded at him, closed my eyes to focus, and carefully hovered my hands over the spires. I focused on the earthy floor and the warmth that surrounded me. I felt the power surge from my feet and to my paws. It filled me with a joyful and hopeful spring warmth. I opened my eyes and pushed that power even further into my paws, and was glad to see a soft warm orange glow that melted the ice, but unfortunately caused Jack a great deal of pain as it started to burn some of his skin. "Just hold on a little longer, mate." It took a while, and the screamin' would likely remain in my ears for all time, but I had finally melted the last spire, which was the twelfth spire. Once I pulled away, the bed he laid on made quick work to heal the burns, causin' me to sigh in relief that he didn't have to suffer for long.

Once all of the burns were healed, he tried to get up, but apparently a dizzy spell had different plans as he fell back against the bed. After huffin' out a laugh, he carefully sat back up, and dangled his legs off the bed. "I guess...I guess I'm gonna need help. Hey, you still have my staff right?"

"Yeah, it's right here." I grabbed it from behind me up against the dresser, and tried to give it to him, but he held up his hand and shook his head at me. "What's wrong, don't you want it?"

"I trusted you with it...and..." He held a hand to his chest and looked at it, then he looked to me and smiled. "I trust you with my names. I may not have any memory of Nightlight, or many as Jackson...but I trust you, E. Aster Bunnymund with my name of Nightlight and Jackson Overland Frost. It felt like I did so by giving you my staff, but I wanted to actually say it." A warm feelin' found its way into my heart and it was accompanied by a sudden migraine. As the migraine increased, my hears began to ring. I looked at Jack and it was happenin' to him to. 'Ah! This fucking hurts!'

My eyes shot wide in shock as the ringing began to dim. 'Those...weren't my thoughts...and that sounded like...'

Then, his eyes opened in the same amount of shock mine held. 'Aster? Can I...can I hear your thoughts?'

'And I can apparently hear yours as well, mate. What's goin' on?'

"Oh and how the hell should I know?" He voiced with a mixed expression of amused and irritated.

"I can answer that." Mother Nature walked in, looked at Jack and her eyes widened, but she tried to stay as neutral as possible. "The two of you openly trusted each other with your original names. Your true names. So...now the two of you share a bond with a link of a sort. So far, the power of the link is that the two of you can hear each other's thoughts now. It won't matter how far away the two of you are, you'll be able to hear each other."

"That's um...that's interesting...but what the hell do you mean by 'so far?'"

"Well...no one really knows what else could happen. There's a bunch of possibilities."

"Did Manny discuss the possibilities with you?"

"He did..."

"Well...what's another possibility?"

She shook her head and let out a short sigh. "The two of you will have to find that out. I can't give you all the answers. Then, you never learn."

"Right...I forgot...ya like to educate and play games all at the same time." I remarked sarcastically, and another peach met with my face. "Dammit woman! Where are ya gettin' the peaches!?"

"I'm Mother Nature, you over grown rabbit! And you will not speak to me that way in my own domain."

"Hey!" I heard Jack shout and his face looked furious. I had thought perhaps he would defend me, but what came out of his mouth was both amusing and shocking. "Why is it you only throw peaches at him, but you send the wind, rain, and plants after me?"

"Because, my sweet little snowflake, I have personally raised you in a manner of speaking. I know that I taught you to act better than the tantrums you used to throw long ago. Not only that, but it would be incredibly foolish of me to try and send the elements after Aster of all people. He would just as easily be able to turn them around or make them halt entirely. Besides, I'm still cross with you about the time you destroyed my kitchen just because you didn't want me to go to North's New Year's part back in the 80's"

"Ah, but which 80's are we talking about? 1880's or 1980's?" He laughed out with a sarcastic look in his eyes.

"1980's you smart mouthed child."

"I had to get it from somewhere, Mother."

"Indeed you did, and I blame Manny."

"Speaking of which...how many hours until he's here?" I asked in an attempt to stop the amusing fight.

"In my domain he can show up whenever he pleases."

"Um...I don't see how that works." Jack stated, and I had to agree with him.

"I have a special type of globe. I call it the Manny globe. If he is on the other side of the Earth, then that side will light up, and he will talk to me from there. I could take you, but Jack needs rest, and you need to stay with him in case something like that happens again."

"But I don't have a bed in here." I stated as I looked around the room as if a bed would magically appear, and thanks to Mother Nature, a bed did magically appear. It was quite similar to my nest back home at the Warren. It was a lovely risen bed of grass that dipped largely in the middle with a heap of soft pillows and blankets. "Well, alright then."

"You're in my domain, Aster. I can pretty much do anything I want. Now, the two of you need to rest. I feel as if you will have a long day tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mother." Jack said fondly, and I couldn't help the smile that crept on my face.

"Goodnight, Mother Nature." I told her and she gave a polite smile to the both of us as she left the room and turned the light off. I crawled into my nest that was on the other side of Jack's room. Once I was comfortable, I felt compelled to look up and was in awe of what I saw. Almost instantly I was able to feel the tears stream down my fur. "J-Jack...the ceiling..."