Heat! Even more heat! Wasn't the temperature supposed to go down as month went near September? That's what Jack thought, but find out that his predictions were completely false. If it was hot in the house, he didn't even dare to go outside. This time, he had the chance to double Nick in speed to get his place near the refrigerator. All of the frozen vegetables would be his and to no one else. Anyway, everyone was out upon request of Ana who absolutely wanted to go to the swimming pool at least one time in the summer. The guardians having a lot of pressure on their shoulders and tormented thoughts for a couple of months, they decided to change their minds and go refresh themselves. Jack had said big no to this, giving the excuse that he would totally melt on the way to the pool. They all knew how though it was for the winter mischief to survive through this summer that no one asked for more. The real reason was that Jack didn't know how to swim, and since he had been a spirit every liquid he touched became ice, so he never had the time to learn. Water wasn't really his best friend considering the fact the he died because of it, resulting on why he never wanted to learn to swim. So today, it was he and the frozen bags of vegies. Oh dear MiM he was in paradise! But his little date was cut short by a knock on the door. Who in the world was putting an end to his peaceful time by deciding to pay a visit? Jack knew he wasn't expecting anyone. With a lot of effort, he decided to stand up, leaning by the fridge to help himself and bringing one of his friendly freezing bag with him as a hat, flattening his brown hair. A second pack of knocking was made.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming", Jack said arriving at the door, opening it to reveal a short blond teenage girl wearing extravagant clothing. Jack was pretty sure he had seen her somewhere, but where? Maybe she went to the same school as him and the rest of the gang. After a moment, he realized that the girl in question was staring at him. He frowned, leaning on the frame door, not noticing that his frozen peas bag was still on his head, he grew accustomed to it really quickly.

"Can I help you?"

"Oh!" she said in exclamation, getting out of her trance, "Sorry, it's just that you look awfully familiar…and that you have a pea bag on your head", pointing at Jack's head.

"Yeah I know", he answered, "I can't stand heat, so this is my new best friend for the day, and about the 'how familiar I look', it's the same here. Haven't we met somewhere?"

"I guess it would be at school", she said, "Anyway, is Aster here?"

"Nope", answered Jack getting the bag off his head because the vegetables inside were starting to melt, "but you can leave a message, I'll give it to him when he…get…back", slowing down when his eyes noticed the change of face in front of him. It's like if she suddenly realized something very important, like if her life depended on it.

"Are you…oka-"

"IT'S YOU!" she suddenly shouted pointing her finger at Jack's face.

"Yeah, it's me...why is it me?" asked the prankster totally confuse by what was happening.

"It can't be true", she continued, not listening Jack at all, "I mean it's you! You look exactly like him, except for the hair." Then, she took him by the shoulders and started to shake him violently like if doing so would make him answer faster, "Did you bleach it? How is that possible? Are you a ghost? His twin? An alien coming from another dimension?"

"Woh woh woh!" Jack said trying to stop her saying insanities by separating himself from her, "Calm down! You're not even making sens-WOAH!" he wasn't even able to finish that the blond girl put both of her hands on his cheeks and pull him very close to her face. She started to examine every detail of his head, twisting it like if he was only a mannequin.

"You're exactly as I remember", she said letting him go for two seconds, but pulling his head back into a hug, plunging the winter mischief's face into her breast. "This is wonderful! I knew it wasn't a dream!"

Under the pressure of the arms and the deep contact with the girl's boobs, Jack was beginning to suffocate. He tried in vain to separate himself from that crazy girl without hurting her. As his air was running short, he started slapping the sides of her shoulders to warn her that she was killing him slowly. Fortunately, it seemed to wake her up and let him go. As soon as he was out of the deadly grip, the brown haired teen stumbled behind, catching himself on the ground with one hand, the other on his chest waving up and down rapidly. He didn't quite knew if he was out of breath because of the suffocation, or because that girl was creeping him out. While wondering for that and catching his breath, the strange girl crouch down at Jack's level and crossed her green eyes with the lost blue ones, smiling like if her deepest dream had just been fulfilled.

"It's been a while", she began with the nicest tone that seemed to calm Jack a bit as his brain computed that face that he knew he had seen somewhere, "hasn't it…Jack Frost."

It's at that moment that the information uploaded.

The afternoon was coming to an end, but it didn't stop the sun from giving heat waves. It had been refreshing for the whole group to go spend the day in the fresh water of the public swimming pool. For some hours, the guardians have been able to get away from their problems, but reality was harsh and came back really quickly into their faces as the day went by. The walk back home was in complete silence. Sandy curse in his head for this awkward moment as he wished Jack would have come with them. One of the many benefits of being in company of the winter mischief was that he hates to die the silence. For him, silence equals loneliness, and that is not something that Jack wants to go through again. The little blond guy eyed Ana in hope she would translate his wish for a change of mood. She was down too, always thinking about the fact that she abandoned her little fairies for ten years, and that it was still continuing because they had no way to contact her mini-workers. But she pushed away he frown face as they arrived at their house.

"What do you say I prepare us a nice fruity salad with eggs in it", she proposed turning on her heels to face the other boys.

"Yeah…whatever goes with me", answered Aster who was definitely loosing hope as the days were going by.

It pained Nick to see his old friend in this mood. Aster couldn't loose faith. After all, he was the guardian of hope, and if he couldn't hope anymore, the Russian feared that the former Pooka would loose his centre. Even if the Australian was a big though guy with nerves of steal, inside he was a big sentimental that cared for his believers. They were all he had. Unlike Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny had no helpers, meaning he had no one with whom he could talk with or rely on if things were going wrong. Because of that, he had built himself an impenetrable shell that only severe cases, like their last Easter to their memories, could destroy the strong shield of hope protecting the guardian.

The Aussie passed Ana to enter their domain, leaving the three others looking at him sadly. Usually when they were home, Jack was doing all he could to cheer up everyone and make them think about something else. The guardian of wonder was happy that his chat with the one of fun had changed his mind. Fully accepting his fate of staying until death a human, Jack had decided to be the distraction of everyone in the house. Not all of them had been human in their past life, and to wake up in a strange body must have been quite shocking. The former winter spirit could understand how disconcerting it was to wake up somewhere you didn't know, but it was far worse to be alone and know nothing. That was why Jack had decided to not let his friends down. He didn't want them to experience what he had been through. So it was a relief to be back home, meaning that the gloomy spirit of Aster would go away in no time since Jack wouldn't wait long before beginning to bug the Australian like always.

They all stepped inside as dark clouds were beginning to cast shadows, covering the sun and threatening to let fall a flood. They all dropped their bags on the floor, getting their shoes off as they proceeded through the house stopping in the kitchen. It was awfully quiet. They would have expected Jack to come and greet them, but no one was in the kitchen or seemed to be in the house. That is until they heard someone climbing up loudly the stairs, like if he was climbing them four by four. When the teen arrived upstairs, they heard a second step noise, but this one faster and shorter.

"INCOMING!" Jack shouted to the others that looked at him weirdly, not really understanding what he meant, until a fuzzy blond tornado arrived behind him but continued her running toward the group. Although, she seemed to have targeted one person in particular and that would be Aster. The Australian hadn't had the time to process what he was seeing that the "thing" made collision with him, slamming him to the ground. The guardian of hope just blinked, registering the pain of his head colliding with the ground, the breath he was trying to get back, and that he had a leech stuck on his torso, hugging him with all of her might. After some time, Aster finally recognized the person sticking to him.

"Sophie?!" he asked lifting a bit his head from the ground to look at her totally glued to him, "Whut are ye doin' here?!"

"Sorry dude", answered Jack, sighing in his failed attempt to avoid the Aussie a rash tackle. He passed his hand on his forehead, continuing in his hair, walking toward the group slowly, "I tried to calm her down when she heard you arrived."

"I'm so happy to see you again Bunny", she said, squeezing more the Australian's chest.

"Hum…Ah'm happy t-wait! What?" asked Aster, his head snapping at the nickname he just got from the teenager, "What did ye just called me?"

"Bunny", she replied lifting her head to let her chin rest on his chest, all-smiling like a child, "It's what you are after all…no?"

All looked up to Jack, wanting answers, the last one just shaking his head in disapproval of what he just witnessed. He then explained to the others that Sophie had come to visit Aster earlier in the afternoon and that she recognized Jack. So, he had no reason to hide the fact that he was, or have been would be a better choice of words, the guardian of fun himself trapped in a human body. After learning that all the persons in this house were actually the spirits she encountered when she was younger, the extrovert teen became completely mad and couldn't wait to see her Easter Bunny again. So when they heard the group arrived, Jack had dash to try and warn them, but was too slow for the blond tornado. They were all surprised that she bought everything that the winter spirit had told her, but now that she was seeing them knowing who they really were, it wasn't hard to see the similarities.

"You have no idea how happy I am to have you back", Sophie broke the silence by telling her joy to Aster who was still in her embrace, "I thought you abandoned me at first when you never came back at Easter."

A sharp pain stuck the Australian in his chest. Was it guilt for not being there to one of his most loyal believers, the one he had a soft spot for? It was also anger. Anger toward the one responsible for this situation: Man in Moon. If he had left Pitch where he belongs, this would have never occurred. It was true that Aster has been angry at Pitch at first, blaming everything on him since it was really easy to do so. But after thinking about it, it was Manny's fault and now it seemed that he didn't cared about their situations. After so many attempts to contact him, he never answered or manifested himself, and already four months have past. The faith of the guardian was fading slowly as time went by.

"…but I told myself that I wasn't the only child in the world you had to take care of", continued Sophie. The Australian didn't even know if she had spoken when he was thinking. "I just hoped that one day you would come back. And now you're in front of me…or more, I'm on you", she laughed.

"That's great", said Aster finding that everything was going really fast for his brain to assimilate everything, "but can Ah stand back normally please?"

Sophie just had told roll off from him, landing at the feet of Nick who helped her on her feet, leaving the time to the Aussie to sit up, rubbing his head that had a harsh landing. They all started chatting, most of it said by the youngest teen girl who was amazed to see the guardians so young, and alive. Only Sandy was left with a thinking that was bugging him. He started to type on his phone a question for Sophie. He went to her and showed the screen of his cell phone.

"Earlier you said that Bunny never appeared again for Easter, does that mean that the Holiday never happened again?"

"Well, yes, Easter still exist", she answered, bringing a smile on the other's faces, but were broke with the follow of her reply, "But since people didn't wanted that the event of ten years ago to occur again, the adults decided to take the holiday more seriously. They were hiding the eggs, telling the kids that it was the Easter bunny, but everybody knew who were really hiding the eggs."

All gaze felt upon the Australian who looked completely demolished. He was no more than a Fable to amuse kids now. The mystery behind the Easter Bunny had been broken, and now the children would believe in him until they would be wise enough to see that giant bunnies delivering eggs was a completely childish thought. They would grow up faster, and stop believing earlier, ending in a tradition that would disappear. It took a lot of effort to try and concealed the tears that threatened to flow down his cheeks. Sophie felt the awkward moment settling and looked at Jack who already knew the news, but didn't want to tell the other so that feeling wouldn't strike the group. Unfortunately, Sandy had doubled him and there was nothing Jack could do now to avoid more pain. The prankster stood apart from the others, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his eyes lost in the nothingness before meeting with the green ones of the youngest teen. It was as if she was asking if she could tell what was going on with the other beliefs. Jack sighed to the thought, but the others would asked at one time or another, so better get on with it as fast as possible. He nodded to the blond girl who then looked at Ana and Nick, biting her bottom lip.

"And…the same thing happened to Christmas and the Tooth Fairy", she said shyly, almost ashamed of her words.

The heads of Nick and Ana shot up to look at Sophie in disbeliefs, their eyes asking for more information, even if it was a hurting truth. She didn't know what to say, until Jack spoke, bringing up his own theory after what Sophie had told him in the afternoon.

"I think that kids never stopped believing in the guardians before", he started, the group now looking at him, "It's just that you wer- are guardians of childhood, so when they were getting out of their kid period, they were considered like non-believers. But think about it. Wasn't it strange for them to see a present appearing under their Christmas tree without them putting it there, or the tooth of their child to just disappear and leave a coin behind? They knew you existed. Unfortunately, that was ten years ago, and you never showed up again. Resulting in the parents taking your place and make up stories of what they remembered."

No one really knew what to say. Sandy was even more silent that he usually was, ironic for him being a mute. Nick had a look on his face as if a Yeti had struck him. Aster was completely destroyed. Ana was on the verge of tears, but managed to choke out a question.

"Does…does that mean that…we…that we", Ana wasn't able to finished her phrase. Jack sighed, never really wanted to spill out the truth that harshly, but he had no choice.

"Yeah", he began sorry, "You-…no. We are now tales. We're useless now."

"NO!" exclaimed Nick with his loud Russian voice, "No such thing as useless! I will find way to go back, even if it take me all life!"

Nick's brave words passed in the butter as no one really reacted to what he had just said. The only person that seemed to be okay with that, but not really believing that it could be possible, was Jack. He had already put a cross on him going back to the spirit world, beside snow was still falling, whether he was there or not. Jack was just an elemental spirit that used the magic of Mother Nature, a bit like Pitch with his Nightmares. Seeing his friends so wrecked pained him, but there was nothing he could do.

Jack proposed to Sophie to escort her home. It was a good way of fleeing the awkward moment at home. MiM did he hate those situations. As they were walking, the sky was completely obscured with clouds, but there was no rain. The visibility was reduced and a strong cool wind began to blow lifting the hood of Jack on his head. He had long stopped to put it down for the wind always put it back up. For the entire walk, Sophie had said how sorry she was to have made them so sad, but the winter mischief just told her that one day or another, they would have known it. He knew that there would be no way of going back to the way they were, and Manny would stay silent until it would please him to speak up. Jack never put his faith in MiM, he didn't trust him and there was nothing that the Tsar Lunar was doing to make the winter sprite change his mind. First he had let him alone and amnesiac for 300 years, and now he was making suffer the other guardians that had work so hard for him. He was quite mad at the Man in the Moon for his inactivity, or more his silent on his doing, if he was doing something. Sophie noticed the angry look on Jack's face, and decided to cheer him up a bit.

"You know", she said with a smile, "my brother's at home. You should come and see him."

"Jamie?" asked Jack, turning his head toward the girl.

"Yes. I'm sure he would be happy to see you again."

He didn't know if he should be happy to see one of his first believers again, or if it was a bad idea. After all, the kid saw him once, and after that Jack disappeared for ten years. How would he react now? He had to be around twenty years old now. It wasn't for him anymore the fairy tales. Jack stopped in front of the Bennett's house, his head down with his hood over it. He then lifted his gaze to meet the one of Sophie who was a bit clueless. She would have thought that it would make Jack happy to see her big brother again.

"I know I would be happy", started Jack, "but I'm only a fragment of his childhood Sophie. I doubt he would remember me."

"Are you saying that my brother would not remember you, but that I, that only was four years old, was able to recognized you?" she asked with an eyebrow raised. "You're not making any sense Jack. This is my brother we're talking about. The one that always believed that Big Foot, Aliens and the Loch Ness Monster existed. I doubt he would forget you Jack, even if he wanted to."

"Did he ever mentioned me again?" asked the guardian of fun, a bit sad, but slowly cheered up by the other teen.

"In his writing, yes", she answered.

"Writing?"

"Yeah, he's writing stories for a film company. When he was in high school, he began to write stories about his childhood beliefs and sold his ideas to an animation company. Now he's a writer."

"You're joking right?" said Jack, surprised by the turning of events, his face translating all of his feelings.

"Jack", replied Sophie putting her hands on his shoulders, "He's making you live through his stories. A lot of people believe in you now, even if you're not a spirit anymore."

He couldn't believe it. Even after ten years, Jamie had never give up on him, and that was enough for Jack. With only on believer, Jack had become popular without even knowing it. He was so happy that he would have kissed Sophie right there, but he restrained himself of doing so.

"So", she continued, "Do you want to come in?"

"Maybe another time", replied Jack with a little smile, "I need to go cheer up the others. Even if I have accepted my condition, for them, their entire world is crumbling. They need me."

"I understand", she said nodding with a weak smile, "well at least you know where we are living."

"Yeah, I'll come someday and say hello"

They both said their goodbyes and Jack waited for Sophie to get in her house before walking back toward his home. The temperature was really weird that evening. It was like there was a tropical storm. The wind was blowing like crazy, it was darker outside as the day was coming to an end and the clouds were hiding the last rays of the sun. Jack was feeling good for once outside; it wasn't too hot. He was also happy to not have to see the face of the moon that night. Rage was building up inside the winter spirit. Not for him, but for the others who were suffering and didn't understand why it was happening. Jack guessed that Manny was a total jerk for staying this silent. He never knew what Sandy was thinking, but for Aster and Ana, it was clear that they were loosing hope, and fast. That afternoon, their last straw must have been cut, and they would have to make up their mind on what they would have to do next: accept their fate, or sulk until death would follow. He knew Nick would not give up. It was in his nature. So the guardian of wonder would have to work twice as hard to come up with a good idea. Of course, Jack would help him, but he didn't believe too much in the result.

After a moment of walking, Jack felt like he was being followed, like someone was spying on him. He turned around to see, but he was alone in the street. Everybody must have preferred to stay inside by this weather. That was weird. He began to walk again, backward to see if someone was really following him, but nobody. It was creeping him out a bit, so he speeded up. Then he felt it again, but this time it was all around him. He didn't like this feeling, never liked it. He already experienced this once and it was in Pitch's lair when the shadows were surrounding him, where the Boogeyman's words were playing with his mind, where he was alone to feel his sanity flying away. That feeling, he was beginning to sense it again. The same words as the one's of the Nightmare King playing in repeat in his head, but with a different voice. Those voices were full of lust and temptations.

"Why you?" where were they? "Why were you chosen?" there was no one there… "Why did you end up like this?"…Except the darkness and the shadows. "Do you want to know Jack?" It's like if the voices knew what he was thinking, "Everything you want to know…all the answers…" all he was feeling… "You want the answers so badly", all he ever wanted, answers. "You want to just fly off", yes! "You want to make things right", YES! "He will never accept you", was it true? "You're looking for a way…we have it", it is like they know what to do. "We do know…all you have to do…is to open your mind to us", open his mind? His mind to what? "To us…the darkness", no! He couldn't do that. "Only for a moment", he can't. "Just a short time"… "Let us breathe your rage and your dark feelings"… "He never believed in you", it's true. "But we understand your pain", really? "We know how it feels to be cast out"… "By the same man who left you alone", it's awful. "All those years in the shadows we thought no one else knows how it feels like…but we now see we were wrong"… "We don't have to be alone Jack" Something must be done. "We can do something, if you accept us, no one will ever feel the same again".

The offer was so tempting. It was like if his mind has been taken over by someone else. His hands were clutched against his head, hot sweating dripping down his forehead, breathing fast. There were too much people in his head. He wasn't able to take it anymore. Voices were becoming louder and more insistent, twisting his thoughts to make them bend in their way, to break it enough to be able to penetrate in it. Jack was still young at heart and so confused with the recent events that it would be easy. All he had to do was to let his mind blank for them to enter it. Closing hard his eyes, he repeated to himself:

"Stop it! Stop It! STOP IT!"

His vision began to blur from his head pounding hard. Just like if a fever had struck him. He just wanted to sleep, he wanted the pain away, and he wanted the voices to stop screaming. Conscious was threatening to fly off, but before it happens, someone grabbed him by the arm. The person pressed the brown hair teen again his slender body. This action seemed to chase the darkness away and to silence the voices. But it was as the mind of Jack had run a marathon for the past twenty-four hours, blacking out after the departure of the temptations, leaving the body of Jack limp against his saviour.

Sensing the weight on his person getting heavier, Pitch looked at his rival falling unconscious in his arms. He crouched down to place the prankster against himself so he wouldn't drop him. The Dark Lord had arrived just in time. He knew that the Fearlings didn't want his to be their master again. So if he was near on of their victim, they would leave. Someday, he would be able to get a hold of them again, but he would have to take them by surprise. This time they had flee, but the former Boogeyman had feared that the winter mischief would have been taken over because of his angry feelings. It was true that Jack was an easy target for him being moody for some times. He knew whom he had to watch over from now on. Pitch would not lose to Jack. Cradling the winter spirit in his arms, the former Nightmare King stood up to walk the remaining path toward their house. Now there was no way he could avoid a talk with the guardians. Although, it didn't mean he had to tell all of the truth. It would be a little secret between Jack and him; he would make sure of that.

A funny and sad chapter.

I had a lot of difficulties to come up with something good. But I think I managed well. I was like: "INSPIRATION NOOOO! COME BAAAACK!"

I'm happy that we're finally getting closer to some action. I'm still trying to figure out how I could make Jamie appear. I would like for him to make a little cameo, but I'm not as fond of him as Sophie.

Stay tune, because in the following chapter, I intend it to have some action, magic and tragedy. I like to be evil D

Thank you for reading~