I thought that you guys liked me. :'( Been gone almost a whole week and only five reviews?! *uncontrollable sobbing* Well, I see how it is. This story just took a very drastic turn. I had a different idea for the ending, but now...bwahahahahahaha! If Jack and I ever met in real life, he would probably freeze the crap out of me after what happens in the chapters after this. And it would be worth it!

But still, reviews make me feel all good and fuzzy inside. I don't mean to be a review-hungry author, but I would like more. Of course, it's all up to you guys!

I own nothing.


Tooth knocked on the door of Jack's ice house nervously, wondering if it wasn't too late to fly away. But the almost desperate need to know that Jack was alright kept her feet firmly to the ground, which felt strange after flying for so long without setting her feet on the floor.

Nobody had seen Jack in over three weeks, and even Bunnymund himself had begun to get worried when he had heard that Jack hadn't been having any snow days lately. Even though she knew that she wasn't supposed to know that the house existed, she was starting to get really worried. She was made even more so when there had been no word from Jack after North, Bunny, and, Sandy had went over and brought over housewarming gifts when he wasn't there. And that had been over week ago.

Then there had been the dreams...The fairy shuddered, her fathers ruffling in agitation. Once a night, for the past week and a half, she had received a disturbing dream about Jack. They had bled into real life, making her unable to concentrate on teeth duties. Because she always saw, out of the corner of her eyes or behind her eyelids, Jack dying in some terrible, gruesome way. At first, it had been Pitch killing him, stabbing him, breaking his bones. But then it had just been Jack alone, staring at her with red, hyper-realistic eyes as he just stood there, bleeding to death as she screamed and cried for him, unable to break between the barrier between them. The eyes almost looked exactly like Suicide Squidward's, except this time, they were pasted on someone she cared for dearly. The dreams and nightmares started becoming scary and frightening enough for her to agree to the idea to go and check on him.

She knocked again, and was truly considering if she should just fly away when the door swung open. Jack stood in the doorway, rubbing his eyes sleepily. Her heartbeat flew at the sight of him, then relaxed. He's okay. After not seeing him for days, almost weeks, though, the yearning to touch him intensified, to leap at him and encase him with her heat as she hugged him tightly. But she held herself back, only touching him with her eyes.

"Yes?" Jack yawned, then froze when he saw who it was. "Tooth!" His eyes, which seemed uncharacteristically cloudy, widened.

"Hey, Jack." She rubbed her arm, slightly embarrassed. Of course he was fine! There had been no reason for her to have gotten so paranoid and disturbed him. He wasn't a child. How long would he go without seeing the Guardians before October? Two months? And here she was, getting worried after just a few weeks.

"Um, not that I don't want to see you or anything, but what are you doing here?" he asked. His voice was barely above a rasp.

"Well, uh, you didn't come to the last Karaoke Night," she started, really thinking that this was a bad idea, "and then nobody's seen you in a few weeks and the rest of the Guardians were starting to get worried."

"Ah." He nodded. He hadn't moved yet to let her in.

She squinted at him. There were circles under his eyes and he seemed to move rather slowly. Well, slowly for Jack. "Are you okay?" she asked, concerned. "You don't look well." She reached out to touch his face. To her surprise, he flinched away from her hand. She blinked, and quickly withdrew her hand, trying not to feel hurt. "Did you get the music box that I sent you?" she asked, changing the subject.

He blinked, too, then grinned slowly. It seemed more like a grimace. "Yeah, it was a real life-saver. You have no idea how badly I need that."

She smiled back. "Thank you. I-I wasn't sure if you would enjoy Tar- oh my Moon, what happened to your face?!" she cried as her eyes saw the scabs across one of his cheeks.

He slapped his hand over it, but it was too late. And then she saw the cuts on his hands and wrists. "Jack! What happened!" She tried to grab one of his hands, but he yanked it away, though there was an apologetic look his eyes as he did so. "Come inside," he hissed, turning away and walking down the hall.

Tooth didn't know what to make of his strange behavior, so she just followed him inside and closed the door behind her as she looked around in his new house. She hadn't come with the other Guardians to bring housewarming gifts, worried that Jack would be angry at them if they found out his secret, so she looked around eagerly, trying to see what she had missed. It looked like a huge log cabin from the inside, with the old fashioned wood insides and the paintings hung up on the wall. There was a white-and-gray rug that stretched across the carpet in the hallway. She glanced up and saw an ice chandelier. So maybe he's just been interior decorating, she thought as she looked at a vase with little flowers in them on the mantelpiece on the wall. To her surprise, they weren't white or blue or frozen. She leaned over and sniffed. They were irises, to both her surprise and pleasure. They were one of her favorite flowers.

"In here!" he called softly to her from his room, his quiet voice. She whirled around, guilty of being caught, though her act hadn't been at all bad. He laughed as he beckoned to her. "It's only flowers," he reminded her as she came into his room. He closed the door behind her before gesturing for her to sit down in one of the plush armchairs.

"You know, for Jack Frost, you don't have a lot of ice," Tooth commented as she sat down.

He shrugged, then noticeably winced as he handed her a steaming mug that she guessed he had made for himself, raising her alarm. "I want my friends to be comfortable when they come over. It's only really cold in the workshops." His voice was terrible. He sounded like he had been screaming for hours. She nodded before glancing curiously into the cup. "Don't worry, I'm not going to poison you," he chuckled. "Yet," he added playfully as she took a sip, though the laughter didn't quite seem to reach his eyes. She rolled her eyes as she swallowed. It tasted like her own SleepyTime tea, though noticeably sweeter.

"So what happened to you?" she asked as she set down the cup on the nightstand beside her, eyeing the slashes that mauled his pretty face.

"Had a run in with a leprechaun," he replied as he grabbed a cup from behind the dresser, which was probably from North, behind him, and drank from it. "Remind me to never follow one to its gold again," he joked, his voice more full from the tea as he leaned against the dresser. Tooth noticed he didn't sit down.

She narrowed her eyes, but then it caught something else. "Jack, what's that?" she asked, pointing to his neck as spotted something black on his throat.

He tugged up the collar of his hoodie, trying to hide it. Tooth opened her mouth, but then was interrupted by Jack's unusually soft voice. "It really did help me," he said, looking not at her, but at the music box on the desk against the wall. It shone in the light shining in from the window. "When I slept, it was the only thing that kept me sane."

"What do you mean? Have you been having nightmares?" she asked.

Jack didn't say anything for a while, then nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess you could say that," he replied, still staring at it.

"Have they gone away?"

"Yes. And no," he sighed as he put down his mug. "I don't have dreams anymore, period. But believe me, it's better than the alternative," he added, his blue eyes glancing at her.

She couldn't help herself. "What are they about?" she blurted.

He didn't seem fazed by her question; instead, he whispered, "The worst things in the world to me."

"Oh, Jack," she whispered, standing up and lifting her arms to embrace him. He flinched violently away from her. She let her arms drop and tried to fight the tears stinging behind her eyes. Why doesn't he want me to touch him? "I, I-I should probably get going," she stammered, turning away.

"No, please don't leave!" His voice came out oddly desperate, something she never thought to hear from Jack. She whirled back around to see that his eyes were wide and pleading, making the circles from underneath his eyes even more pronounced.

"Jack, what's wrong?" she whispered as she reached up to touch him underneath the eyes. She could see that it took all of his willpower not to duck away from her as she traced the lines around his eyes. "Jack," she whispered, as her fingers outlined the gashes on his cheek. She didn't know why she said his name again. But saying it made her feel...funny. Like tiny fairies were fluttering in her chest. They were rocketing inside her now as their eyes met.

Jack took a deep breath, then caught her hand and pressed it gingerly against his cheek, like the last time they had been together. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I just….." He trailed off.

"It's okay," she assured him. "You don't need to tell me."

Something flashed in his eyes, something dark, but then it was gone. He gently lifted her hand off of his cheek, but still held on to it. "I guess I should have told you guys I was going to be gone for a while," he sighed, playing with her fingers, gently running the tip of his own along the edges. She watched, wide-eyed, as she saw the scratches coiling around his own. Tooth tried not to demand for him to tell her what really happened, but it caused an ache in her stomach.

"It's okay," she replied, trying to keep her eyes from crossing. "I mean, you're technically not a child, and it was only a few weeks, you've been busy doing your—ah!"

She gasped slightly as he pressed her fingertips tips against his lips. They were soft and smooth, like a carved Cupid ice statue. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. She swallowed, and went on, trying to keep her voice from trembling, "You've been busy doing your house and things, and I totally understand that you can't always run off to do the stupid stuff like Karaoke Night—" she babbled.

"Karaoke Night isn't stupid," he interrupted, flipping over her hand, and began to smooth the feathers down on the back of her hand, which had raised in aggravation without her noticing. "I actually did want to go but I…..had other things to worry about." He smiled playfully at her as he traced her fingertips along the outline of his lips, though the smile seemed strained. "Did you miss me?"

"No!" He raised a white eyebrow at her. "Yes," she admitted.

"Don't worry." He handed her back her hand, which she took in almost disbelief. "I missed you, too," he said softly.

Tooth stared at him, unsure whether to throw her arms around him and kiss him, or to fly out the house before she could make another mistake. She just didn't know what to do with this new romantic, mysterious Jack. He was being teasing and playful, but his eyes were dark and misty, as if he was unsure if she was real or not.

"You know, maybe you should come back up to the North Pole for a while," she suggested. "Tell everybody you're okay."

"Yeah, I have to thank them for the stuff they got me for my workshop. I know you guys came in here and decorated it, don't even try to lie," he added when she opened her mouth to protest.

"You're not angry, are you?" she asked anxiously.

"No. I'm flattered." He smirked. "How did you even find this place?"

"Um, I, uh, saw you working on it, one night," she answered truthfully. She wasn't sure how he would react if she told him what else she saw that night. And at the moment, she didn't want to find out.

He nodded his head, not pressuring her for more. "Well, thanks. And sure, I think I'll go up there."

"Okay, well, let's go!"

"You go ahead," he said, resting against the wardrobe. "I think I'm gonna have a bit more of my tea. I'll catch up with you later."

"Alright." She stepped back to leave, then frowned. "Is that a new hoodie?" she asked.

He looked down, surprised, then nodded. "How did you know?" he asked.

She shrugged. "It doesn't look as dirty or ripped. Oh, well! See you there." She turned back around to, then hesitated, then whirled back around and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before hurrying out of the house. She almost flew into one of the trees, her head cloudy. She shook her head, and tried to rid herself of the fog that Jack created in her head. It wasn't until she was passing over Canada that she had considered the idea that Jack had been distracting her, and that he was not being completely honest about his injuries.


Jack waited until he heard the door close behind her before groaning as he fell into a heap on to his bed, his arms and legs sore from standing so long. But it was almost worth it compared to the pain in his anus if he had sat down. Six days had passed since he had been freed, and still it was impossible to sit down. He had to stuff toilet paper in the back of his underwear to keep the blood from leaking into his pants. He was lucky that none of his wounds decided to open up with Tooth had been visiting.

He sighed. He remembered how his mind went blank after seeing her there on his front porch. She wasn't supposed to be there. She wasn't supposed to have known it existed in the first place. But he had to admit, it was nice for some actual company once in a while. Especially Tooth. He let himself daydream about the soft touch of her fingers on his lips and his cheek, soothing away all the pain. He was glad that he had decided to take the chance.

He scratched absent-mindedly at one of the gashes in his hands; those were beginning to heal just fine. But the more serious stab wounds, especially the one that ripped across his chest and the other that went down into his butt crack, were starting to look pretty bad. The last one he was terrified to look at, while the other was simply a matter of stitching it up. Jack knew that Tooth would have a heart-attack if she saw all the bandages around his torso and arms and legs. Which reminded him…..

Jack sighed as he pulled off the hoodie and shirt, both gifts that had appeared on the chair at his desk the morning he had been freed, and laid them on his bed before walking up to his floor-length mirror. Yep, they needed to be changed. He was surprised a couple of them didn't bleed through.

As he changed the old bandages and replaced them, he fought hard to keep from laying down and falling asleep. Because the last time he had done that, it had taken a sharp stab of the beak from Baby Tooth three days later to wake him up from his nightmare. He was afraid that the next time, he wouldn't wake up at all.

Throwing away the old bandages in the trashcan, Jack suddenly began to cough. He immediately grabbed a napkin and started to cough up blood. By the time he had finished, the whole napkin was red. He sighed and grabbed another to wipe away the blood that was around his mouth before tossing them both in the trash.

There was a sudden creak outside of his door. A sudden jolt of fear shot up his spine, and he found himself pressed against the far wall of his room. Jack didn't even realize it until his ankles and back screamed out in pain. Jack shook his head and collapsed back on to the bed. He had been as jumpy as a cat for the past few days. He couldn't quite remember how long it had taken him to stop him from blowing off a corner of his house with his staff whenever he though he saw a shadow move. I need to stop being scared all the time, he thought with a groan. Pitch is gone now. He is gone, and he is not coming back. He will never hurt me again.

But his heart still thudded loudly in his chest and the back of his hairs were still raised. He groaned and pressed his head into the softness of his pillow. He felt dizzy, and reached for his cup. Greedily, he downed the tisane in mere seconds, feeling the herbal tea soothe his inflamed throat and raging insides and throbbing head. When the last drop had been drained, he set it down on the dresser again, then reached for a box of gauze and wraps that he kept under his bed to change his bandages. He finished redressing his wounds and grabbed his staff, and was about to head out when he caught a look at himself in the floor-length mirror.

At a glanced, he seemed alright; all of his cuts and bruises were hidden, the ones along his hands and feet healing nicely. There would be, of course, the problem with the scarring on his cheek, but they resembled leprechaun scratches just enough that he could get away with the lie. But a closer look, and you could easily see that his face was hollowed out, that his clothes hung much more loosely on him. As he took a step back, his reflection winced with every movement. Then there were the black bruises on his neck that clearly matched Pitch's large hands, not small ones of a leprechaun. He fluffed up his hood around the collar to hide it. But he wondered how he was going to be able to hide anything from the sharp eyes other Guardians.


"Jack, my boy!" North boomed when he had hobbled into the jolly man's workshop. He opened his arms wide, expecting a hug.

"Uh, sorry. Not today, old man," he tried to joke. "Feeling a bit, uh, sore today."

Santa Claus rolled his eyes, but didn't pressure him, to his relief. "Why have you been away from home so long, old friend?" he asked as they continued through the workshop, the yetis' toys whirring above their heads and buzzing around them.

"I'm sorry, North," Jack said apologetically, wincing as one of the elves accidentally stepped on his foot. "I've just been busy. I've been working on my house and I went over to California to visit Jamie."

"And how was it?" he pressed.

"It was, um, hotter there than I thought," he lied. "But the hills and the mountains were nice," he added, using the information that he had gotten from previous trips before it had started getting warmer over there.

"Ah, yes. The great Sierra Nevada and Sacramento Valley and River are both wonders of universe," he sighed, a dreamy look on his face. "It is beautiful there, Jack. Remind me to visit there during winter, just you and me. We will go into forest and hike mountains! Then, we go see sunset together on beach!"

"That sounds great," Jack smiled, barely noticing the aching pain in him for once. "I'd love to."

"Then it is set!" He laughed as he patted Jack on the back. He bit his lip as he fought to hold in a cry of pain. He could feel one of his wounds reopening.

Just as they rounded a corner, Tooth flew into sight. "There you guys are!" she exclaimed. "I have been looking for you for hours! I looked in the toy factory and the train station and the chocolate waterfall—"

"Can't I and Jack have some alone time?" North grumbled. "You two always spend time together! When it be MY time to spend some time with the boy? We were just planning vacation to California!"

She gasped playfully. "And without me? Even though I've been wanting to go on a trip to California for years? Oh! I feel myself growing faint!" She put her hand to her head dramatically and began to fall. Acting on instinct, Jack darted forward, catching her in his arms. He stifled a groan as the impact stung on the cuts around his arms. She blinked open her eyes, then grinned and threw her arms around his neck. "My hero!" she declared, burying her face into his chest.

"Yes, yes, you have finally gotten your prince," North said impatiently. "Now when are baby prince and princess coming?"

Her face flushed red as she quickly flew out of his arms while Jack rolled his eyes, looking nonchalant while inside a flower of hope bloomed inside him. Maybe, just maybe, he could get past these next couple months without anybody knowing what happened. And maybe things would go back to normal.


As the days rolled on by, Jack started settling into a pattern, something he had never done before, though staying in more inside his house and charting his schedule than bringing snow and joy. But he planned to make up for it as he came up with the best way to bring joy to several countries in one night(or day), but until then, he would make short, little trips to areas nearby. The wind was too brutal against him if he went to places like Russia or Thailand.

Thankfully, his injuries were beginning to heal, the not-as-serious stab wounds and the "painting of his blood" now just silver lines. But the others were still opening up at the slightest touch, no matter what he did with them. He even feared that a couple were infected. His rectum would still bleed, and he would cough up blood so frequently that he had to carry around a crimson-colored handkerchief to cover up the fact that he was spurting blood. Not to mention the pounding headache that never seemed to cease, though that might have been due to never sleeping.

Jack had become so fearful of the nightmares that he would wind up the music box so that it would last for hours as he attempted to sleep. But then there was the problem of pulling himself out of sleep, and after once again being violently awaken by Baby Tooth, he realized that as long as he was still in critical condition, he couldn't sleep without falling into a coma, or worse: dying. So even though the pain of his whole body begged him to take a rest, he braved through the pain as best as he could.

The other Guardians began to notice, though, that something was wrong with Jack. They would catch him coughing violently, and although he would wave it away and say that it was only a cough, Sandy's golden eyes narrowed when he saw the red flecks from Jack's mouth one time. Tooth began to see that whenever Jack would come into contact with something, he would wince in pain, and flinched away from any signs of touching. North would notice that Jack wouldn't crack as many jokes as often, and that his laugh would contain strain under it. Not to mention that all three of them could see a fazed look in his eyes, something that worried them the most.

But it was the Easter Bunny who finally realized that Jack needed help.

Jack had invited him over for a cup of tea(actually, it was carrot tea for Bunny, Jack's own little joke) and he had went over to look at Jack's maps.

"What is this rubbish?" Bunny asked, gesturing the mess on his desk in one of the workshops.

"It is not 'rubbish'," Jack protested in a overdone Australian accent, pulling himself up to his feet with his staff, then continued in his regular voice, "it's my plan for the rest of the year. I'm trying to evenly spread out the snow time so that I can bring the fun to as much of the world as possible in one day."

"Wow, mate, that's a whopping goal you got there," Bunnymund whistled. "You sure you can do it?"

He shrugged. "How will I know if I don't try?"

The rabbit shrugged. "Hey, do you have a bathroom in here that isn't made of ice, mate?" he asked.

"Upstairs, first door on the left," Jack said as he sat back down in his desk chair and continued to chart his route.

"Thanks, mate."

A couple minutes later, he hopped back downstairs to find that the ice spirit had passed out on his desk. For a second, he just stared. He looked so peaceful, his arms folded neatly underneath his head, his mouth gently agape in his dream state.

He had no idea that Jack was watching him being stabbed to death by poachers in his dream while he slit North's throat.

"Poor little ankle-biter," the Easter Bunny chuckled as he took the young boy in his arms. "Tuckered himself out." He felt strangely lumpy underneath his clothes. He ignored it, though, and carried him to his room and gently tucked him in. Then he turned and spotted the music box. Curious, he opened it up and winded it back a bit. Tooth's voice came out, as beautiful as always.

Suddenly, Jack began to smile ever-so-slightly in his sleep as his nightmare was dispelled. Bunny grinned, and reached out to pet him goodnight when he saw something on his fur.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he lifted up his arm, then gasped when he saw the blood stains on his fur. He glanced down at Jack, then gently pulled down the covers and saw a huge red stain against the back of his hoodie that wasn't there a couple seconds ago. Holding his breath, he carefully lifted up Jack's sweater from behind.

Across what little he could see of Jack's backs were a series of bandages that were bleeding through, with dried blood around them. One that went vertically down his back looked the worse of them over. Bunny held a hand over his mouth to keep himself from hurling right there as he put back down his hoodie.

He stumbled back into one of the chairs, unable to comprehend what he just saw. Just then, the song ended. Suddenly Jack bolted upright. He blinked a couple times, then groaned as he put his face in his hands.

"Jack? Are you alright, mate?" Bunny asked concernedly.

The boy looked up at Jack to reply, and that's when he saw everything the other Guardians saw: the deep shadows underneath his eyes, the scratches on his cheek that had now healed, how he wobbled slightly even though he was sitting down, and that terrifyingly blank gaze in his eyes.

"Hmm? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he muttered distractedly. "How…..how long ago did I fall asleep?"

"Ten minutes ago at the most." Then he saw something that the other Guardians didn't notice: the purple swelling and scabs hidden in the white halo of his hair. The Easter Bunny took a deep breath. He had to get Jack up to the North Pole; he was seriously injured and needed help.

But he won't go willingly, Bunny thought. An idea came to him. "I just got, uh, a call from North. He said that his ice machine had broken needed some help freezing some of his toys. I told him you were asleep—"

"What? No, I'll come up and help him," Jack exclaimed, throwing off the covers and swinging his leg gingerly off of the bed. Bunny narrowed his eyes when he caught the sight of a gash on the side of his ankle that disappeared up his pants leg.

"You ready, mate?" Bunny asked, getting to his feet. His eyes wandered over his body, wondering what else what else he could have missed, then locked on to a set of yellowing bruises around his neck. Jack glanced up, then their eyes locked for a second. He longed for Jack to just spill everything to him, to tell him what happened, and felt an overwhelming desire to go over to Jack and take him in his arms and just hold him close, to tell him that everything would be okay, that he and the other Guardians could keep him safe.

Why didn't you tell me? he asked Jack with his eyes. Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you trust us? For a while, they just stood there, unsure what to say to each other. Finally, Jack fluffed up his collar, effectively hiding the bruises, and cleared his throat.

"Yep. Let's go."


I thought it would be nice to strengthen that bond between Jack and Bunny. NOT ROMANTIC, just a mano-a-mano thing. Brotherly thing, you know? You don't? Oh. Well then. ._.