Author's Note: Hey, everybody! I'm back, and I have a new chapter! Welcome to Chapter 11! Sorry, this is sort of late! Had a very busy weekend last weekend but then got sick this week and was never able to write it until now, but I was finally able to sit down and give you the next chapter. Now, without further ado, here are the review replies:

Silvia Moretti: Thank you very much! I'm glad you love this! I hope you like what's next!

SaiyanPrincess: Thanks! I hope you like what he has planned! No problem! Thank you for reading and reviewing.

ShawnaCrazyGirl: lol! Thanks!

Monkeybaby: Yeah…this is getting intense.

Andipandi5: Thanks! LOL! You'll have to wait and see what's next!

Higuchimon: Thanks! Glad you like it! That's exactly what I was going for! If there's one thing I learned while writing fanfics and other stories, it's that you make the characters "earn their happy endings" if you will. That's a really great idea! I haven't gotten to that part where it could fit into the story, but I will definitely consider it when I get to it. Thank you for your idea!

TugLover98: LOL! Don't worry! I try not to keep you guys waiting for too long! I'm glad you like it! I wanted to try something a little different from other dark!Jack fics, so I'm glad you like it. Hahaha! That's okay! I'll admit that that was one of my favorite parts as well.

NorthernMage: SUCCESS! Lol! Yeah, maybe. You're right, though. Pitch's reassuring words in the last chapter aren't really enough, especially when he's totally against the Guardians now.

Justrockzyxxx: Yeah…the Guardians might be in BIG trouble. Thanks!

Seryyth: Thanks! Glad you like it!

Breyannia: You'll have to read on and find out! Maybe MiM will do something…maybe he won't… We'll have to see. Hope you like what's next!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to Rise of the Guardians.

Chapter 11

North, Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy had done nothing for the past two hours except rack their brains to come up with ideas on how to save Jack from Pitch's influence. Unfortunately, it was proving to be a lot harder than any of them had ever anticipated. Mostly, it was because of the lack of information they had. It was extremely difficult to come up with the perfect plan when they still had no idea on exactly what Pitch did to Jack. One thing they did know was that Jack wasn't turned into a fearling or a Nightmare stallion because as far as they could tell, Jack's form was not changed completely. It was only his hair, eyes, and skin, which gave him somewhat of a resemblance to Pitch. Plus, he was able to talk and think for himself. Pitch just put certain ideas into his head. The Guardians knew that this piece of knowledge was helpful because they would be able to talk to Pitch's Nightmare Prince…if he was willing to listen that is.

However, that still didn't help them figure out what Jack was referring to when he claimed he was kicked out of the Guardians. No one had said anything that would probably make him believe that. North remembered very clearly that they just agreed to talk before their sleigh ride. He never said anything that could lead Jack to believe he was losing his title as the Guardian of Fun. Neither have Bunny, Tooth, nor Sandy. Not only that, but what really boggled their minds was that Jack claimed that this whole scenario happened this morning. So, they went over everything they did this morning. Sure enough, no one had been anywhere near the winter teen before the brief encounter at Jamie Bennett's house. Not even North. The closest he got was in the guest room after Jack's disappearance, so how could Jack claim that this horrible event happened when…it didn't? That was the one question on all their minds as they sat at the table in the Globe Room.

"Well, I don't know about you guys," said Tooth, "but I'd say our stories seem to check out. None of us talked to Jack since last night."

"But that still doesn't answer the question as to how and why he came to believe that he lost his Guardianship and winded up with Pitch," North interjected.

Another moment of silence descended upon them before Bunny suddenly had a thought as he stared at his reflection in the mahogany table.

"Do you think it's possible…that what Jack said was true?" the Pooka asked as he finally looked up at his fellow Guardians. They all turned to him with surprised looks on their faces showing that they weren't expecting him to ask such a question, but he continued. "I mean what if Pitch somehow brainwashed us into kicking Jack out and messed with our memories so that we wouldn't remember it?"

Sandy shrugged and then created a sandy image of Pitch hunched over and supporting himself on a cane. He then added the four Guardians to the scenario only to have Pitch try to control them but failing.

"He has a point," North said. "There's no way Pitch would have enough power to control us. He's too weak, and he would definitely be trying to save his energy for Jack."

"And there's no way he could be messing with our memories, Bunny," Tooth added. "Only I have the power over memories, and I definitely would've noticed something if that happened."

"Hey, I'm just tossing around anything I can think of, and that's pretty much it," Bunny retorted defensively. "There's no way this was because of some nightmare because I'm pretty sure Jack is smart enough to know the difference between what's real and not."

North groaned in frustration and buried his face in his hands feeling a headache, sneaking up on him. Whenever it seemed like they were taking a huge step forward, it always ended with them taking 20 steps backward. Whatever Pitch did, he knew what he was doing in his obvious intentions to lure Jack to his side. They were stuck and didn't even know what they could do to get out. He wished they could just ask Manny and get to the part, where they would figure out how to save Jack, but unfortunately, it was only daybreak. Manny wasn't in the sky at this time, and there was no way they were just going to sit around and wait for their leader to give them the answers. No, they needed to figure this out for themselves quickly. There was no way of knowing what Pitch was lying to Jack about now. Their friend needed their help now!

"If only Jack would just tell us what he thinks happened," the Guardian of Wonder finally said.

The four Guardians were silent again for a few more minutes until…someone finally gasped. North, Bunny, and Sandy jumped out of their deep thoughts and looked up to see that it was Tooth with her eyes widened and hands over her mouth. The three male Guardians looked at each other and then back at the female Guardian.

"Uh…Tooth? Are you okay?" Bunny carefully asked raising a furry eyebrow.

"I know how we can figure out how to save Jack!" she cried as her wings fluttered at lightning speed carrying her out of the chair.

"How?!" North asked as he jumped out of the seat knocking the chair over when he stood up.

"It's a bit of a long shot," she replied holding her hands out to calm North down, "but I might be able to look into his memories to find out what happened."

"How is looking into his tooth box supposed to help us bring him out of Pitch's thrall?" Bunny asked.

"No, not his tooth box," Tooth replied while making a mental note to ask Jack if he still had it because she hadn't been able to find it. "I meant that since I'm the Guardian of Memories, I might be able to access the memories through the teeth that are still in his mouth. If I can do that, we'll probably find out what happened and how Pitch turned him into his Nightmare Prince!"

North's look of shock slowly morphed into a huge smile. Of course, why didn't he think of something like that? If Jack thought that something actually happened, then he would likely remember it, and they had the Guardian of Memories on their side. So, Tooth's center might actually be the key to saving Jack.

"That's brilliant, Tooth!" he cried. "If Jack won't tell us what happened, then his memories will!"

Sandy beamed at Tooth and gave her a double thumbs-up while nodding enthusiastically. Tooth smiled at her two friends overwhelmed by the praise. However, she was beginning to notice that a certain Guardian of Hope hadn't said anything yet.

"That is a good idea, sheila," Bunny suddenly said standing up as well, "but what's with all the 'if's' and 'might's?' You sound like this is something you've never done before."

North, Sandy, and Tooth's faces all fell when Bunny spoke. The Guardian of Hope had a certain way of bringing someone back to reality and preventing their hopes from rising too high. North and Sandy looked at each other and then at Tooth, who had her head and her arms crossed while slowly descending back to the chair.

"Well, that's because I haven't," she said as she rubbed the back of her feathered neck as she looked up at her friends through her eyelashes. "I never had to access someone's memories that way before…until now. This might be the perfect opportunity for me to try it, and given that we were just sitting here for two hours, it could be our only chance to save Jack."

The Guardian of Wonder thought for a moment. It was a little unsettling that Tooth had never viewed memories through teeth that weren't lost yet, but she did have a point. They didn't have any other options at the moment. As much as he hated the idea of turning Jack into some sort of memory experiment, he knew that they had to take what they could get their hands on regardless of the "what-if's" and "might's." Besides, a father did whatever it took to protect his son. He finally looked back up at Tooth.

"Do you think it'll hurt him?" he finally asked the Tooth Fairy.

"Oh, no, of course not," Tooth replied. "It'll be as if I was viewing his memories through his tooth box. He won't feel a thing."

The ex-Cossack exhaled a breath that he didn't realize that he was holding. Hearing the confidence in Tooth's voice made him feel a little better. He had to trust that she knew what she was doing. "Alright," he finally said turning to look at all three of the other Guardians. "Like Tooth said, it may be our only chance to figure out how to save Jack, and if she thinks she can do it, then I have full confidence in her."

Tooth smiled at the leader feeling better that he trusted her with the well being of the one boy he loved as his own son. She looked at Sandy, who continued to smile and nodded. Okay, so Sandy still believed in her. All she needed now was…

"I do, too. I believe you can do anything, Tooth," he said giving his fellow Guardians giving his friends a smile, "but there's one thing we're forgetting."

"What's that?" North and Tooth asked in unison as Sandy created a question mark over his head.

"A certain winter spirit, who probably won't even let you get within two feet of him," he replied.

North, Sandy, and Tooth all let their faces fall again when they realized that Bunny for the millionth time had an excellent point. They knew that Tooth would be able to look into Jack's memories with little to no problems. However, they would be lying if they said that they didn't forget that while they were willing to do whatever it took to get to the bottom of Jack's situation, Jack might not be. There was no way he would let them get within a 5' radius to look into his memories. He'd probably freeze them before Tooth could even lay a finger on him. How could they possibly get close enough to the boy, who was too stubborn to listen to reason? That was when Sandy suddenly had an idea!

He waved to get attention from his fellow Guardians, and when they turned to him, he created a sandy scenario of the four Guardians standing across from Jack. The sandy version of Sandy stepped forward and sent streams of dream sand toward Jack causing the winter teen to fall unconscious.

"That's a great idea, Sandy!" Tooth said as she flew out of her chair again. "If you put Jack to sleep, I'll be able to look into his memories while he's asleep. That way, we can look for whatever we're looking for without worrying about Jack trying to attack us."

The Guardian of Dreams smiled even wider as he gave Tooth another double thumbs-up.

"Perfect," North said as he began to stroke his beard. "Now, we just need to plan out how we will confront Jack."

"Well, for starters," Bunny interjected, "we need to figure out how we're going to find him and how we're going to deal with Pitch because there's no way that ratbag will let Jack out of his sight. He knows we can convince Jack to doubt him."

"Clearly, the obvious place to start looking would be Pitch's lair," Tooth said after thinking for a moment. "If I remember correctly, there might be an entrance not too far from Jack's lake."

"Yes, we should sneak in through that entrance," North said as a plan began to formulate in his head. "Pitch has to be too weak to have any Nightmares running around. So, we might be able to sneak in without being noticed…at least until Pitch and Jack become aware of our presence. Once they find us, they'll want to engage in battle, and since Tooth and Sandy are the only ones capable of handling what we need to find, Bunny, you and I will distract Pitch long enough for them to pull Jack aside. Once we are sure Pitch is dealt with, we can join up with you and look into Jack's memories."

"Excellent!" Tooth shouted.

"I'm in," Bunny added as Sandy nodded and clapped his hands.

"Then, Bunny, let's take your tunnels to Burgess," North said. "We can't afford to waste any more time."

"Right," the Pooka replied. He and the other Guardians moved away from the table, and he raised his foot to form a tunnel. "Alright, buck up, mates. We're headed to—"

Before his large foot could even touch the ground, a strong blast of wind suddenly burst through one of the windows of the Globe Room. The blast caused everyone to flinch and shiver due to the intense cold. Even though North had his eyes closed and his arms blocking his face, he was able to hear the yetis yelling, the elves running for their lives, and toys being blown off the tables. He felt Tooth and Sandy grabbing onto him probably trying to prevent themselves from being blown away. Luckily, as quickly as it came, the wind finally died down allowing North, Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy to look up to see what…or who caused the windy blast. When they saw who it was standing on the window sill, all their jaws dropped while Tooth let out a gasp.

"Jack…" North whispered.

Author's Note: I believe I speak for everyone when I say…dun…dun….DUN! I wonder what's going to happen between Jack and the Big Four. Guess we'll have to wait for the next chapter! I'll see you in CHAPTER 12! (And I promise it will be out this weekend) Don't forget to leave a review! Thanks, guys!