Once again the large copper cauldron was simmering in the centre of Pitch's office. The poisonous brew belched out thick black clouds of noxious gas, and the fairies huddled in their cage in the corner, desperately trying to breathe.

"Hello, my pretties!" grinned Pitch, materializing out of the shadows. They clung to each other desperately. "I'm sure you want to go home; I can organize that for you." They didn't trust him, he could see that, but one of them broke away from the rest and began to hurl what he could only guess was abuse. "Thank you for volunteering," he purred, and snatched her out of the cage.

The tiny little fairy struggled desperately, but Pitch just laughed as he shoved her into the cauldron. For a second, nothing happened. Then the potion began to boil, and a high pitched screaming could be heard from within. Baby tooth fairy fear wasn't usually very satisfying, but this one was terrified. After about a minute, she shot out again, and Pitch clapped his hands in delight.

The fairy's wings were varying shades of grey, her once iridescent wings were black and ragged, and her large eyes were a bleak and hopeless blue. She was no longer scared. She was excited. She had a new master, a better master. She turned to Pitch, who was corking a vial of the black tar.

"Slip this into one of the yetis' drinks," he ordered her. "Preferably Phil. And then give him this," he handed her a small bag of stealth nightmare sand, "to give to Jack. Understand?" The dark fairy nodded, and whizzed out the window. Pitch smiled a sinister smile, and turned to the other fairies.

"Your turn," he whispered.

It was three days before the guardians were allowed in to see Jack: the yetis had been very clear on that point. In those three days the guardians did not leave Santoff Clausen, except for that one excursion to find the summer spirit. Finally, one of the yetis opened the door.

They quickly hurried in, careful not to make a sound. Jack was sleeping quietly, and he certainly looked much better. There was just a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks, and most of the burns had gone from his arms and face. His upper body was tightly wrapped in bandages, but the medi-yetis reassured them that he was healing quickly. His ice blue eyes blinked open, and he mustered a weak smile for the people he was starting to feel were his family.

"Jack," murmured North. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he muttered trying to sit up. "You should have seen the other guy." Tooth, Bunny and Sandy froze, and shot each other guilty glances. Jack hadn't done anything to Aestive apart from knocking his teeth out, but now...

"How did you find me?" he asked, snapping them back to the present. "How did you know to look?" Tooth flitted forward.

"I found Aestive's teeth, and he told me what happened. North knew you would be down by the lake, so we grabbed you and brought you back up here."

"Thanks," he murmured, sinking back into the sheets. "I owe you one."

"You don't owe us anything," said Bunny softly, but Jack was already asleep again. One of the medi-yetis hurried up and garbled something in yetish.

"He says Jack must rest now. We come back tomorrow," North translated. They nodded and left, the medi-yetis right behind them.

That night, while everyone else slept, Phil crept up to the Winter room. His normally green eyes were as cold and grey as frozen steel, and in his hand he clutched the small bag of nightmare dust. He knew that if he was caught he would be in serious trouble, but he didn't care. Who needed North? Phil had a new master now.

He crept into Jack's room and shivered, despite his thick fur. Half a foot of snow blanketed everything, and yet more flakes were falling from the ceiling. Phil snuck over to the sleeping boy's bedside table, and began to unwrap one of the bandages.

He hadn't liked the boy before. All those attempts to break into the workshop amounted to one big headache for the yeti head of security. But he'd thought things might change once Jack became a guardian. He'd thought they might even begin to get along.

Phil was grateful to Pitch for showing him just how erroneous his hopes had been. For showing Phil that the Frost boy would never, could never be anything but a nuisance. The wound was deep, and though the medi-yetis had done all they could, it hadn't yet had time to heal. He slowly tipped the bag of nightmare sand into the cut, and watched with fascination as the bloodstream carried it off. Jack whimpered and curled up, a small pucker of anxiety appearing between his eyebrows. Phil had to restrain himself from laughing at the sight, and he tiptoed back out the room.

"And then... wait for it, this is the best part! And then he thanked us! Like we had actually done it for him!" Tooth was surrounded by her fairies, all of whom were in hysterics. All the other guardians were there as well, chuckling to themselves at the memory of it.

"Almost wish that little summer spirit had finished him off," said Bunnymund, hopping forward. "Hey, North; why did we have to save him again?"

"Because," said North, "we may hate it, but there must be winter. How else would people remember how much they love the summer?" A pouty face appeared above Sandy's head, surrounded by drifting golden flakes.

"You said it, Sandy." Tooth flew forward. "It was bad enough when he was just doing his own thing by himself. Now the Man in the Moon has made him a guardian and we actually have to pretend we like the guy?!"

"Yeah," sighed Bunny. "It sucks."

Jack stood in the shadow of one of the columns, listening in horror. He was right. He'd been right all along. They didn't want him around: they hated him. Tears welled in his eyes, as he desperately looked round for his staff, wanting nothing more than to just leave, to fly away and pretend he hadn't heard this, pretend he didn't know, pretend he still had a family.

"You know," continued Bunny, oblivious to Jack's presence, "I sometimes wish that Pitch had won, just so we wouldn't have to be around him.

Jack's screams echoed through the rooms.

I'm sorry guys, I know this chapter is weird and choppy, but I couldn't seem to get it to work for me! I'd love some feedback as to how I could make it better.