"Yes." He hissed between his teeth as his wings broke the chains slightly more only for Sandy to tighten them yet again just in case; Jack looked like he was about to rip the guy's head off. Ombric nodded.

"I'll provide you with what you desire, but first." He turned to Sandy then.

"Let him go. He's as much a guest here as you and I'll not have you treat another guest this way." Sandy stared, uncertain; his symbols flickering so fast that even North had trouble understanding.

"Yes, yes. I understand your concern. Do it." With a sigh, Sandy did as he was told. Jack glared angrily at Sandy the most, his eyes darkening to a purple-black shade, close to how when he'd chosen to kill with Jakoul. No one escaped his hateful glare except Jamie, his gaze softened when it landed on him and Jack smiled.

"So how the fuck do we break this bond Merlin?" He said with venom. Tooth gasped yet again and fainted at his use of language. Ombric smiled a little.

"Follow me and we'll see to removing it." He led the way to a room up the steps, the other four watching in slight uneasiness. Jack glared at the man's head; for some odd reason he hated this man with a passion and a new mission was put into his head.

Kill Ombric now. Jack's eyes flashed purple briefly, something that went unnoticed by the Guardians, but not Jamie because he also heard the mission as well. Jamie sent over their bond the clear impression that if Jack did that they'd never be free... Ombric, unknown to the others, was more prepared than most for this. He knew what could happen, what would, what had been. Jack shook his head, glaring over his shoulder at Jamie like Death.

"Fine, if he can't I'm killing him." He said over the bond; all he felt was so much anger and hate, it was even leaking into Jamie's side of the bond and boy did the Guardians notice it when they looked at Jamie who struggled to fight against an anger that wasn't his. Ombric led Jack to a room that was perfectly blue in texture and seemed to have nothing else in it, not even a window.

"Huh?" Where the hell am I? Jack thought.

"Alright old man, what the fuck does an empty room have to do with freeing us." He glared, his anger was growing at a fast rate. The room darkened slightly in hue.

"Nothing really, but this room is very telling. It reflects the heart of those I bring here. It also affords some privacy as this room doesn't exist unless I make it. It is a place out of time. I brought you here because it affords me the magic needed to keep Death from being aware." Jack glared.

"Well, okay then." He clenched his teeth as the room reflected his heart and it looked impure as it became black and colder as the temperature dropped to zero.

"I see your other half is exerting himself. At any rate, this won't hurt as long as you trust that it won't." The old wizard murmured softly words that had not been heard by human ears in a good long while. A language lost to time. Jack huffed, but he felt pain because he couldn't think of anything else.

"What are you doing! Stop!" He glared hatefully, the room was turning blacker by the minute. The wizard didn't reply until he'd finished the spell that had taken the brand from Jack, dissipating the hold Death had over the former winter spirit.

"There now. Death cannot lord anything over you that you don't allow." Jack coughed, shook and then fainted from the process. Ombric shifted to make sure that Jack was comfortable and waited for him to regain consciousness, hardly concerned about Jack's other half. Jack awoke, feeling much more clear than before.

"Jamie... when did you get so old?" He said groggily. The wizard chuckled.

"Not quite right Jackson. Feeling better now?" Jack whined a little.

"Yeah m-much better." He looked around to find the group staring at him.

"Stop staring at me." Ombric waved away the illusion, the room shifting back to its blue hue again.

"The room is a bit sensitive to dreams." Jack shuddered.

"What?" He looked around, having had a strange dream of sorts.

"Come, I'm sure the others are wondering if you've recovered. Also, I'm guessing you don't remember me from earlier. So I'll introduce myself again. My name is Ombric, you are in a part of my home, in Santoff Claussen. The other Guardians and your ah... companion, are waiting downstairs." Jack shivered.

"How long have I been up here?" He asked curiously as he followed Ombric downstairs to Jamie and the others.

"A few hours, though to them, a few minutes. Time is funny that way sometimes." He said with a chuckle. Jack raised an eyebrow at the awful joke, but as soon as he saw Jamie he tackled him.

"Jaaaamie!"

"Ack!" Jamie toppled over, not having been expecting the tackle; his wings flared to try and stable him but it didn't work. Jack mmmed in contentment, he had missed him. The others seemed relieved that Jack seemed to be himself again, at least in terms of personality. Jack growled and purred, not letting go of Jamie; Jamie flushed a little.

"Ah... I'll be back after a few." Jamie wrapped his arms around Jack and flew off to one of the rooms upstairs, ignoring the soft laughter from the others as he shot into the first bedroom he saw.

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Downstairs Ombric entertained his guests, explaining what he'd done to help Jack and that the two would not only be fine, but that they were tired and wouldn't wake for a few hours. The Guardians were welcome to stay if they liked; there was room for them. Tooth and Sandy politely declined the offer while Bunny and North both opted to stay to keep Ombric company for a while. The next morning, when Jack awoke, he freaked out as he didn't recognize where he was at or that he and Jamie had wings. Jamie was pulled from his sleep by the sense of panic from Jack.

"Jack? What's wrong?" He murmured.

"Where are we? Why do we have wings!" He yelled, his wings flapping in fear and protection, tangling in Jamie's own; Jack screamed as he twisted a wing painfully. Ombric had said that Jack's memory might bounce and he might forget everything that had happened with Death.

"Whoa... easy Jack... stop panicking, you're only going to hurt yourself further. I promise things are okay now." Jamie murmured soothing as he shifted his wings to disentangle the pair and lightly worked out the painful twist he'd done to the one wing by gently rubbing it with his fingers. Jack winced, breathing out heavily, in and out, calming only slightly at the touch. Jamie gently worked through the wing until he was sure that the pain had subsided.

"There now. Feel better?" He murmured softly. Jack sighed.

"Y-yes." His wings wrapped around Jamie and himself self consciously.

"Good. I'm guessing you don't remember getting the wings." Jamie murmured after a moment of thought; he wasn't self conscious, but only because it was Jack... He wasn't sure he'd be less so around anyone else... it was just that some how he'd always felt so comfortable around Jack though it wasn't until he'd discovered their distant relationship that he'd begun to understand a little of the why. Jack nodded.

"How and when?" Jack looked at Jamie, confused about them mostly. Jamie sighed a little.

"A little 'gift' from Death when he meant to make us collect souls for him... you got yours first." Jamie didn't say anything about what Death had asked Jack to do before then, or the torture... he didn't think Jack needed to know and could only hope Jack didn't ever remember that.

"It doesn't matter though. You're free from his direct influence; he never bothered exerting direct force over me." Jack turned his head, unsure.

"What?" He didn't remember anything from the encounter with Death, it was as if it had been wiped clean from his memories.

"Don't worry about it. It's not important." Jamie said with a small smile. He was relieved that Jack didn't seem to remember, Ombric had reversed the time around Jack; making it as if the brand had never happened, but that meant that he had no memory of anything that had happened while with Death. Jamie figured it was for the best, there was no way he was going to admit that Death had forced Jack to cut him. Jack rubbed his head and looked down.

"Oh... um..." He blushed and slowly got dressed. Jamie chuckled softly, watching a moment before slipping into his pants and finding a blue hoodie waiting for him he slipped that on as well, stuffing the black robes into the pocket of the hoodie. Surprised to find clothes that fit him waiting in the room just as there were some for Jack. He figured the robe would come in handy later and he kinda liked the idea that came to his mind... but that would be for a later time when he and Jack were alone... He brushed the thought aside before it got too out of hand.

"Should we go down now and speak with our host?" Jack nodded.