A/N: Gah! I'm sorry this has taken so long to update. And I'm sorry it's short, but I wanted to get this up for you all. I promise I have not abandoned any of my stories - I just hate school work right now and want to cry cause there is sooooooo much of it that I don't have time to write! It's driving me insane!

Anyways, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians...

~~RiseOfTheGuardians~~

Sandy was sitting in quietly as he worked to assure the children of the world received the good dreams they deserved when he noticed something that set him on edge. He leaned forward, narrowing his eyes as he studied the winter spirit in front of him and then without hesitation headed for the door.

He waved down the first yeti he saw and sent it straight to North, before returning to Jack's room, a frown marring his features. He honestly didn't know what to think of this new development; he could only hope North did.

Five minutes didn't even pass before North stormed into the room, worry in his eyes and Bunny not far behind.

"What is going on?" North demanded. The frantic yeti who had fetched him had only known that Sandy wanted North now.

Sandy merely pointed to the youngest guardian, motioning towards the bandage wrapped around his neck.

North moved forward with a frown, leaning over Jack.

"What is it?" Bunny asked, trying to see around the large Russian.

"He is not healing," North said in way of answer, carefully unwrapping the bandages from around Jack's neck.

"What do you mean he's not healing?" Bunny demanded.

North collected the clean gauze that had been left on the bedside table, pressing a fresh 4x4 to the cut inflicted by Bloody Bones.

"What's going on?" Tooth asked, flying into a very crowded Jack Frost's room for her turn at sitting with him. Worry immediately consumed her as she caught on to the tension in the room.

"Jack is still bleeding," North said.

"Still?" Tooth asked, unsure she had heard right.

"Yes," North said, adding another 4x4 before taping the bandage down in the hopes of placing more pressure on the wound.

"But shouldn't that have stopped already?" Bunny demanded.

"Yes," North said, backing away from the bed slightly.

Sandy frowned, forming a question mark, not for the other guardians, but for Wind. Did she know what was happening?

I don't know why he's still bleeding, Wind whispered in answer to Sandy's question. I don't...he's normally a fast healer.

"Do you think its poison?" Tooth asked hesitantly.

No, it's not poison, Wind answered. I can tell that much. She sounded frantic though, and Sandy realized that while she had been with Jack a long time and was close to him, there was relatively little she could do when Jack was injured. He could sympathize with her; after all, he felt pretty helpless and lost himself.

"I do not know," North said, completely unaware of the silent conversation taking place around him. "What do you think?" North turned to Sandy.

Sandy shook his head.

"You don't know either?" North asked.

Sandy shook his head again, creating the symbol for poison above his head before slashing a line through it.

"You don't think its poison," North said.

Sandy nodded.

"Are you sure?" Tooth asked.

Yes, Wind said. Sandy nodded once more.

"Then what could it be?" Bunny asked.

North rubbed at his beard, thinking. "What he did, when he freed us and stopped Bloody Bones, that took lot of power, yes?"

"Well, yeah," Bunny said. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Neither have I," Tooth said.

"I wonder," North said, smoothing his beard.

"What is it?" Bunny demanded. Sandy formed another question mark above his head, this time for North.

"Well, his body is recuperating from use of all that energy, maybe it doesn't have strength yet to heal self."

"You think so?" Tooth asked, flitting over to sit beside Jack and brushing his bangs from his forehead.

"He used up a lot of energy if that's the case," Bunny said with a frown. "Maybe more than he should have."

"That's what worries me," North said.

"Is there a way to tell if his energy is recovering?" Tooth asked.

It is, Wind said. She could feel it, in the back of her mind, that icy power now linked to hers. It was dim, dimmer than her own, but it was there, pulsing softly and growing slowly, steadily stronger. Funny how she hadn't noticed it until just barely, but now that she knew it was there it was easy to see that it was the cause of his slow healing.

Using their combined powers when he had been as weakened as those awful cages had made him had taken a greater toll on him that Wind had first thought. It was probably extremely lucky they hadn't burned up in the process. Oh, what would her four brothers' have said if that had been the case!

"I don't know," North sighed, feeling frustrated. He wished there was more he could do for Jack. He felt so helpless, so useless.

Sandy nodded his head, trying to assure the others that Jack's energy was indeed recovering. Of course, none of them were looking at Sandy.

The guardians stood there for several minutes as Wind fell back asleep, working on recovering her own diminished energy. Finally North sighed.

"There is nothing more we can do than keep that cut clean and hope that he heals soon."

Tooth nodded, still brushing her fingers through Jack's soft hair. "I'll take watch now," she said. "You three look like you could use some rest yourselves."

North looked about ready to protest, but sighed. He did need rest, it was just hard when his thoughts were haunted with that awful nightmare he had had.

"You'll let us know of any changes?" Bunny asked as he, North, and Sandy headed for the door.

"You'll all be the first to know," Tooth promised.