To Awesome as Annabeth:

Chapter 8- There needs to be a second movie and quickly! That was so cool! Pitch didn't kill Jack outright- might have mentioned it somewhere- he made them think Jack was dead, waited for the funeral and *poof* got Jack back and brainwashed him into being his minion or something. PJO AND ROTG CROSSOVER! I NEED ONE! And thank you!

Chapter 9- Mood is a very important factor, I hadn't thought of that. If I'm happy, mint choc chip ice-cream or something, or maybe I'll just have chocolate flavour ambrosia all the time. Either way, I'm happy. Plot twists are amazing, what are you on about? ;)

To vivi-rose: Aren't you just lovely? :D

North had decided that carving some toy ideas from ice would help relax him as he thought how to help his two kidnapped friends, Jack and the world.

He winced at that.

The new villainous duo had made it their mission to see the world in dark, eternal winter. Human news reports were going mad; their 'scientists' baffled about how this came about. The only ones who made any sense were the children, but they weren't being listened to. Honestly- Jack Frost? That was just a myth!

Elves ran around his feet, sparking his irritation further.

"Go get me some cookies!" He ordered. They scrambled into a line, saluted him and hurriedly left.

North grumbled to himself. Elves were absurd creatures- how had he even got stuck with them.

Chipping off a final bit of ice, he stepped back to admire his new handiwork. The doll jumped from its podium and danced about the desk, singing pleasantly, although it was opera. Kids didn't really like opera.

North reached to fix that problem when blinding pain exploded across the back of his head and everything went dark.

Jack stood back as North collapsed, shattering his ice project beneath his bulk and then slumping to the floor in quick succession. The Guardian of wonder was a lot heavier than the other two and Jack didn't feel up to flying nearly a hundred miles lugging this dead weight.

Not that North was dead. He was just out cold, as planned.

A yeti barged in, having heard a mysterious thud. He jolted to a halt upon seeing Jack and was about to raise the alarm when Jack cut him off, slashing the air with his staff and freezing the yeti in a heartbeat.

Gathering a snow cloud beneath North's unconscious form, he blasted the windows open with a chilly wind. Sighing, he floated up and began the hundred mile flight; North and the cloud trailing along behind him.

Bunny was trying to find a way out, having given up trying to chisel open the door after hours of fruitless work. Tooth was sitting quietly in her corner, her eyes closed and her lips moving soundlessly. Bunny had a hunch she was checking up on her fairies, glad that she had found something to do that calmed her.

He sat back on his heels, placing his paws against the ice and smiling at the cool relief.

The door was thrown open, startling him and knocking him back. Tooth gave a surprised exclamation, rising from the ground and taking a defensive stance.

A cloud floated in, deposited North and then vanished. Bunny pounced up, his anger returning at the sight of Jack's smirk.

The door swung shut before Bunny could strangle Jack, a series of clicks locking them in yet again. Bunny yelled in frustration, giving the door a solid whack for good measure.

"Bunny!" Tooth scolded. Bunny sighed, his ears drooping. Tooth's expression softened slightly towards him and she knelt next to North. "North? Can you hear me?" She called, shaking him by the shoulder. He mumbled something about cookies.

His eyes fluttered open.

"Oh!" He smiled. "Hello Tooth! And Bunny! Hello! What is meaning of party?" He laughed.

"Well then…" Bunny looked at Tooth. "Must have whacked him round the head." Tooth nodded in agreement and Bunny helped her sit the bigger man up.

North sat and hummed merrily to himself, twiddling his thumbs and taking in his new surroundings with a childish wonder. What were they going to do?

Cal knew something was wrong when he saw that there weren't any yetis on guard patrol.

Sandy landed in the entrance and they saw yetis and elves frozen everywhere. There were angry yetis, scared yetis, somewhere-in-the-middle yetis and then there were elves doing… whatever elves liked to do. It was hard to tell.

Ice cracked and creaked over the walls and they hurried to the workshop.

It was a winter wonderland, minus the wonder. Sandy shivered as a blizzard howled around them. Cal tried to deflect it, but he only added another handful of snowflakes.

An idea slammed into him, bringing dread with it. He sprinted across the hall and up the stairs two at a time.

Another yeti stood, iced in immobilization, in the doorway to North's office. Cal ducked under its outstretched arm, hope shrivelling into despair at the empty room.

North would have come to great them, but if he hadn't, he would have been working. Any work he had done was now in haphazard, ice chunks scattered over the desk and floor and the window was wide open, letting in even more Artic conditions.

"Sandy!" He yelled, rushing out and leaning over the banister. Sandy was trying to start a fire in the grate, but it was a stupid idea as everything was ice, ice and more ice.

Cal vaulted the banister, landing a yeti's head and neatly hopping down. "North's gone." Sandy looked round then, a question mark appearing above his head. Cal shrugged, studying this new wintery hellhole miserably. "What do we do now?"

He really wished he could speak Sandman. All those pictures blurring together made his brain hurt.

"Oh, now this is easy." They whirled round, Sandy summoning long lashes of dream-sand. Sat atop the globe was Jack and his new best friend.

"We thought we would have to find you, but you've come straight to us." Pitch smiled. "How thoughtful." He vanished into the shadows and Jack slid from the globe, landing on his feet and ice erupting across the floor from his drop.

"Three Guardians down. Just you now, Sandy." Jack grinned.

Cal would have given anything to help, but when he tried to control the blizzard to distract his father, he couldn't. He couldn't even bring up those snowflakes.

A cold hand clasped his shoulder and forced him round. He stood face-to-face with Pitch. The nightmare king lifted him easily from the ground, hand at his throat. Cal tried to kick him, but his foot passed right through Pitch.

Clashes and whooshes of magic furled into the air and joined the racket of the blizzard as Sandy and Jack battled it out. Sandy was a bit more defensive, not overly keen on hurting his friend even though Jack had every intention of obliterating him.

Pitch throttled Cal.

"I take it you don't know anything."

"About what?" Cal choked, pulling on Pitch's fingers to no avail.

"You." Pitch replied, as if that made everything so much clearer. "How were you born?"

"Um…" Normally, Cal didn't mind talking about himself jokingly, but the where do babies come from conversation? No thanks.

Pitch shook him again, his fingers digging into his skin.

"Guardians can't have children! How were you born?!"

"How do you expect me to know?!" Cal countered angrily. Pitch ground his teeth and shot up on a column of dark sand, taking Cal with him. He drew his hand back and nightmare sand coiled about Cal tightly, a cocoon of sorts.

"Answer the question!"

"I don't know!" Pitch threw him with such a force; Cal crashed through the globe entirely and struck the floor heavily on the other side.

Pitch towered out of the shadows and hauled him to his feet sharply. He struck Cal across the cheek with his knuckles, sending Cal staggering. Pitch advanced mercilessly and kicked Cal to the ground.

Cal met Pitch's gaze defiantly. "It's not like you to lose your cool."

"My patience is wearing thin." Pitch growled.

"Why do you want to know where I come from anyway? Not thinking about parenting, are you?" Cal shook his head, but didn't get to finish his sentence as Pitch tossed him aside again, flinging him about like a rag doll.

This time he crash-landed next to Sandy and Jack, who were still locked in mortal combat. Cal kept his head down and tried to move back, but he was picked up again by Pitch's power and left to dangle dangerously close to the fight.

Sandy glanced up at him and backed up a few paces. Jack advanced just as quickly and Cal saw that there was something new about his staff- something sharp and glittering had attached itself to the crooked end. Like a scythe, but a more Jack-Frost-Pitch-Black scythe with an angry immortal wielding it and freezing everything in his path.

"You can't win!" Pitch called to Cal, lowering him a fraction. Cal was being used to encourage Sandy to retreat. He struggled to get himself free or use his powers or anything, but anything he tried was pointless.

Dark sand started gnawing into his sides and slithering over his stomach to reach up and strangle him.

Jack looked up then, frowning. He paused for a second too long, Sandy ensnaring him with a golden lash and dragging him to the ground. Jack shook his head and reengaged with the fight, but Cal had stopped. The main reason was that he couldn't breathe straight, each breath sharp and ragged. The other reason was that, just for a moment, Jack had looked worried for him.

"North, we're not at the North Pole, we're in a prison cell."

"Why?"

"Because Pitch and Jack threw us in here." Bunny grumbled, irate with explaining this so many times.

"But Jack would not hurt us!" North laughed again, placing them back at square one. Even Tooth, the patient one, was getting annoyed.

It wasn't North's fault though. That whack to the head had given him a concussion, of sorts, and he appeared forgetful with a tumble of emotions, most of them positive.

Bunny pressed his back against the wall and slid down, holding his ears tightly as if he was ready to rip them off in frustration.

"Bunny…" Tooth warned. Annoyance flared through his eyes, but he did noticeably try to calm himself. Tooth watched him for a few seconds and then twisted to examine her wings. They were still frozen, regretfully, and she could not move them at all. She had tried picking the ice off, but she had quickly learnt there was no point in doing that.

"Visitors!" North exclaimed happily, pointing at the door excitedly just as it burst open and struck the wall with a resounding thud. Tooth caught a glimpse of Jack, but was more concerned about their new roommate he threw to the floor.

"Cal!" She scrabbled to her son's side and wrapped him in her arms. He was covered in bruises and blood trickled from a split lip, his eyes half-open in delirium. She glowered at Jack, who stood triumphantly in the doorway, obviously monitoring her reaction to a beaten son. "How could you?!" She demanded.

"It wasn't all me. That one is." He tapped his cheek, indicating the large purple bruise covering Cal's. "And that one." He touched his forehead. "But the rest was Pitch."

"I don't care! You still let this happen to your own son!" Jack scoffed, shrugging it off carelessly. Tooth gritted her teeth, on her feet and tackling him in a heartbeat. He grabbed her forearm and wrestled her back, but she wasn't going to give in easily. "Your son!" She repeated, throwing as much venom into her voice as possible, tears blinding her. "Your own son and you've hurt him!" She smacked him sharply in the chest and he reeled back, losing grip on her arm.

Raising his staff, a look of murderous determination crossed his features.

"Tooth, no!" Bunny called from the cell, but she didn't listen, lunging at Jack again. He stepped back, smirking, just as a tornado of raven sand roared to life between them, hurling her back into the cell. She landed flat on her back, the force of the impact rushing the air from her lungs. She choked and tried to breathe, her head swimming.

Pitch materialised and his power died down.

"Pitiful." He sneered, pulling the door closed. Tooth ran to it, but it had shut firmly before she got a chance for further action. She screamed at the pair of them- Jack mainly- for hurting her son. Bunny pulled her away and she instantly started fighting him.

"Tooth, stop it! Think about Cal!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. Not a violent shake, but a warning one, as if trying to shake some sense into her.

Her anger dissipated instantly and she fixed her teary eyes on her son. She pushed Bunny away and dropped at his side again.

"Cal?"

"Five more minutes…" He mumbled, feebly pushing her hand away. She tucked her arm around his shoulders and sat him up. "No, it's early…"

"Open your eyes." She urged kindly. He did so, blearily, and squinted at her. For a few seconds, he did nothing but stare at her, but then he brightened.

"Mam!" He hugged her tightly. "You're OK!"

"I'm fine, Cal." She laughed, her eyes falling free as she returned his hug just as eagerly.

"I'm sorry, Mam."

"What for?"

"Should have gotten here sooner."

"Cal…" She warned, holding him at arm's length. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"Yeah." Bunny chuckled in agreement. "Giving ya dad the old one-two." He shadow-boxed the air. "But it's the screaming that really gets them." He made a face at Tooth. "My ears still hurt." Cal snickered. Bunny kicked him half-heartedly, but retreated at Tooth's glower.

"No picking on her baby, remember?" Cal grinned. "Ow." His hand went to his bruised cheek and Tooth's worry instantly returned. She prodded his jaw, feeling for breakages. He squirmed and she suddenly remembered how ticklish he was.

Cal looked for a distraction as his mother got a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "What's wrong with North?" He asked, watching North as he made his hands 'talk' to each other, babbling in Russian.

"Oh… Jack hit him on the head."

"With what?"

"His staff maybe, but he's been a bit cuckoo since he woke up."

"A bit?" Tooth shot him a pointed look and Cal was instantly contrite. "Can't we help him?"

"We've tried." Cal held his hands up and Bunny pulled him to his feet. Cal stumbled to North, limping on every right step. Tooth followed him nervously, chewing her lip in worry for her son. Why was he hurt so much? What had Jack and Pitch done?

North beamed as Cal approached and he jumped to his feet, pulling Cal into a rib-breaking hug.

"It is good to see you!" He boomed happily. "Bunny and Tooth say you work with Pitch," North dropped him and shook his head profusely, "Bah! You are Jack Frost! You don't work with that durak!"

"Um, yeah." Cal decided to play along, massaging his ribs. He always needed more bruises. "Crazy bunch, aren't they?" North laughed heartily and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Let us get out of here!" He looked around the room again, hands on his hips as he surveyed everything. "You control ice! Get us out of here!"

"Oh, um…" Cal looked pleadingly at his mother. "My powers are gone." He mouthed. She looked startled, but North had grabbed him by the shoulder again.

"You can get us out, no?"

"Yeah, definitely! Just, um… give me a minute." North beamed at him again and sat back down. He started snoring a minute later. "Should we let him sleep?" Cal nudged North with his foot, but the Russian didn't even stir.

"What do you mean your powers are gone?!"

"I don't know! They're just… gone." His mother looked at him expectantly, mentally willing him to elaborate. "Well, Dad got the staff back and then I couldn't fly and I couldn't make it snow or anything. There was this blizzard and I couldn't do anything to get it away and-" He gasped suddenly. "Sandy! Where's Sandy?!"

"What?" Cal smacked himself on the forehead, grumbling several insults towards himself. "Cal, what happened?"

"There… was this big fight, but they got Sandy! Dad… he stabbed Sandy with the staff and just froze him, but only the outside so he couldn't move and then…" He frowned. "I don't know, it's all fuzzy. I just… woke up here."

"Where is Sandy now? Do you know?" Cal shook his head.

"But I heard them talking about some special cell thing for him. A… Sandman-proof one."

"Has to be in this place somewhere then." Tooth decided grumpily.

"I'm bored now." Pitch sighed. The only problem with having Jack Frost as his partner was the constant need of something entertaining- he had the world's shortest attention span, he was sure of it.

"Why don't you keep an eye on the Big Freeze?"

"Done it."

"Everywhere is frozen?"

"Well and truly." He smiled, proud of himself. "But now I'm bored."

"You could always see what the fairy knows."

"Oh yeah!" Jack didn't disappear down the hall like Pitch expected him to; staying atop his staff and looking at Pitch questioningly. "She keeps saying he's my son. I'd know something like that, right?" Pitch turned to look him in the eye.

"I'm sure you would."

"But if he is, how come I don't know how he came about?"

"Have you ever thought she's playing tricks? They're desperate and if they can get you on their side, they think you'll let them go."

"Why'd they think that?"

"Guardians." Pitch scoffed. "Always full of hope." Jack grinned in agreement. "Do you not have a fairy to question?" He flipped forward, snatching up his staff and flying from the room in a single, fluid movement.

Pitch shook his head and turned back to studying the globe in front of him. Bit by bit, lights were dying out all over the world.

Perfect.

Nothing did go together quite as well as dark and cold.

Jack bounced along the hall, examining his new fortress happily. He hadn't really intended to make it, but having seen the Guardians' palaces- or warrens- he felt the sudden urge to have one of his own. Of course, it had to be bigger and better than theirs and it most certainly was.

He was so distracted with his craftsmanship; he nearly flew past the prison cell. Backtracking, he stopped outside and eavesdropped for a moment.

"What do you mean your powers are gone?!" Tooth's voice protested.

"I don't know! They're just… gone." There was a slight pause and then Cal continued. "Well, Dad got the staff back and then I couldn't fly and I couldn't make it snow or anything. There was this blizzard and I couldn't do anything to get it away and-" He stopped abruptly, gasping. "Sandy! Where's Sandy?!"

"What?" There was a soft thud, flesh hitting flesh followed by somebody grumbling a handful of insults. "Cal, what happened?"

"There… was this big fight, but they got Sandy! Dad… he stabbed Sandy with the staff and just froze him, but only the outside so he couldn't move and then…" Another pause. "I don't know, it's all fuzzy. I just… woke up here."

"Where is Sandy now? Do you know?" No, of course he didn't know.

"But I heard them talking about some special cell thing for him. A… Sandman-proof one."

"Has to be in this place somewhere then." Tooth didn't sound very happy.

Good.

Jack was going to make her even unhappier.

Booting open the door, he marched in, freezing the others in place and grabbing Tooth by the arm. She fought against him instantly, but he had learnt his lesson now.

He had ice bind her wrists and ankles together and cover her mouth to keep her quiet. Bunny and Cal struggled to free themselves to help her, but there was no point really.

Easily slinging her into a fireman's lift, he grinned at the rest of them and left, the door swinging shut behind him. Tooth resisted him anyway, but there was little she could do. He had the height and strength advantage.

He decided flying would be much quicker and leapt up. Tooth gave a muffled, disconcerted scream and stopped fighting long enough to just hold on.

She was alright a minute later, back to fighting once he landed outside one of the guest rooms that would never get used.

He dropped her on the bed made of ice- everything here was made of ice and snow- and stood back, letting her icy restrictions fall away, except her wings.

"So… a son, huh? How'd that one work?"

"I don't know." She growled. She was tense all over and Jack saw she was ready to jump up and attempt to strangle him again. He flicked his hand and icy shackles curled from her wrists to the headboard.

"Well, if you don't know, he shouldn't exist, should he?" She fumed silently. "You must know. Otherwise you wouldn't have had him."

"We wouldn't have had him and no, I don't know."

"I personally think you should."

"I personally think you should too."

"Why?"

"You're his dad!"

"Says who?" She coloured angrily and pulled the new restraints taut in an attempt to attack him again. "Not that I'm saying you're… promiscuous or anything, but," He paused, remembering his talk with Pitch, "but I'd know if I had a son."

"You'd also know that we're your friends and Pitch is the enemy."

"Yeah, OK." He sighed. "Anyway, how did that kid come about?"

"I. Don't. Know."

"Well, you should." And now they were back here. "You probably do, but you're doing that protective 'mam' thing." She bunched her fists and tried to break free again, her ire stirring into nuclear levels as he cruelly mimicked Cal's form of addressing her. "So, you can either tell me or," He reached into his pocket and withdrew his back-up plan, "this little one gets it."

Trapping fairies was easy- just turn them into ice-cubes with their heads sticking out and voila. Trapped fairies that were still alive. Piece of cake really.

Tooth was stunned at first and then that rage was back. He squished the fairy in warning. "It's OK. I caught about a dozen of these and they're all at risk if you don't answer the question."

"Leave my fairies alone!" Her ribs seared blindingly with pain and the fairy in his hand squeaked in pain. Her name was Emily and she was a right sweetie, a huge of fan of Jack Frost (obviously). Well, the normal Jack Frost, not this one.

"Oh, that's right. You feel their pain. Like voodoo dolls." He let the fairy's arm free and held her small wrist between his thumb and forefinger.

"Don't you dare hurt my fairies!" Tooth put all her strength into fighting against the restraints.

"I'll do it." He threatened cheerily. "I'll break her arm- and the rest of them- if you don't answer the question."

"I told you I don't know!"

"Last chance." He smiled. Tooth despaired, her fairy wriggling and peeping in fear. Both of them looked ready to cry.

"Ask the man in the moon!" She cried desperately. Jack frowned, lowering the fairy and letting her arm go. "Maybe he knows, because I don't!"

Jack contemplated her for a moment.

"Fine. But you're staying here." He let Emily go and she flew straight to Tooth, nestling in the curve of her neck and crying in relief and terror. Jack kicked up his staff and left, shutting her in another room.

"It's OK, Emily, it's OK." She mumbled reassuringly.

It wasn't OK.

It was far from OK.

I didn't update last night, 'cos I was working on this. I think this is one of the longest chapters I've done on this story, so if it's a bit :/ I'm sorry, but I'm trying to write with the ideas that I didn't forget!