Again, I can never say enough, how FUCKING SORRY I AM FOR TAKING SO LONG TO UPDATE. Oh, excuse my language as well. For those that are curious or care, I'm moving up into management for a fast food restaurant. Not the dream job for everyone, but hey, I like it. That's all that matters. As long as you're happy then do whatever the hell you want. And don't look down on people for it. I have terrible nervous habits and a complete mess, but somehow I managed to move up to manager in less than a year. Well, not officially. I take the board next week. So, wish me luck.

As for the story, still have no idea where it's going. I sort of have to force it out now. Simply because I haven't been able to get around re-watching RWBY as well as the new episodes and the information I did have is growing vague. Pretty sure it's been at least half a year since I watched it. Dayum. That and it just super sucks that the creator of the series died. Like, shit. Again excuse my language, I've gotten a bit vulgar.

I think I want to end this story soon, though I probably said this a million times, and start a continuation in another one.

Time period wise, they're in the RWBY verse.

Toothiana only blinked in response to what everyone had told her. North was a bit amused at her expression and the fact that she was caught off guard by it that she had no words to say. In truth it was hard to comprehend. That, and all these things happening to Jack in this short amount of time was getting ridiculous. The poor boy just couldn't get a break, could he?

Team RWBY had come in an hour ago, soon followed by Toothiana, wondering why it was everyone looked so on edge. So the others had told them what had happened as well.

"So, do you feel any…different, Jack?" Ruby tilted her head in curiosity.

"Actually, I feel great." He spoke, pushing up the sleeves of his hoodie. Black tendrils stretched out under his skin like veins.

Aster huffed in disproval of that statement. He clearly didn't trust his judgment. He was a teenager after-all. Plus, anything involving Pitch meant only trouble.

Ruby jumped closer and grabbed his arm, looking over it curiously. "This is so weird!" Nonchalantly she poked at the skin, prodding at the sand underneath.

"It's a bit strange. If something was going to happen to you, surely it should have happened already." Blake mused, her ears twitching beneath her bow. Aster eyed it carefully. He had been watching the certain girl for a while now and knew something was off.

"Maybe you can…use it." Yang suddenly spoke. She was leaning against the wall, standing close to Toothiana, who was still deep in thought on the matter.

"Use it?" Jack questioned, raising a brow.

The golden girl nodded eagerly. "Yeah! I mean, it seems to be, y'know, flowing inside you. Maybe instead of damaging you, it's actually…"

"Protecting you." Weiss finished. She went to his side and held her hand out. "Give me your arm." She snapped, startling the winter sprite.

"What?" Jack spluttered.

"Your arm. Oh here," She took it in her grasp, her blue eyes narrowing at the lines beneath his skin. "I have to agree with Yang on this one. Sadly." She traced her fingers over the pattern, raising a brow at Jack. "This…Pitch. Is he your enemy?"

North and Aster nodded in answer, as did Jack, though he hesitated on the subject. He was still getting used to the idea of having enemies. Weiss hummed, laying his arm back down. Then she took his chin between her hands, turning his face this way and that.

"What are you, a nurse?" Jack remarked.

Weiss huffed and tightened her grip. "Hold still or I'll give you something to complain about." Without a beat Jack stopped his squirming.

"Weiss, are you thinking what I think you are?" Yang questioned, jumping to stand next to the girl. Without missing a beat Weiss simply nodded. She leaned in closer, uncomfortably close, and the boy's cheeks frosted over in a blush at the proximity. Her blue orbs held his in her own as she carefully examined every line and color.

"Alright, could you guys let us in on this secret here?" Ruby huffed.

Sandy remained standing, well, floating where he was. Tooth and himself had nothing much to say, and Jack was worried by their unusually quiet natures.

"I have heard of some instances where a person was supposedly cursed with another power. Rare, but true," Weiss began, indicating the thin lines in Jack's face. "But there are even rarer occasions where a person's body will accept a curse, and even go as far as to absorb that curse, leaving it permanently embedded into them."

Jack's eyes widened. "So…I can't…get rid of this?"

"As far as we know…no. It might be possible, but if it is, we don't know how." Yang answered, shrugging indifferently. She acted as if they were talking about what to have for dinner and the tone slightly infuriated a bristling Bunnymund.

Weiss indicated his eyes. "You can see the sand flowing in his eyes even. It's calm.

"Considering all that's happened, it could have been worse Jack. A whole lot worse." She spoke matter-of-factly, crossing her arms in thought.

"Perhaps we should see if you can use any of these powers." Tooth voiced

The others' said nothing, having no answer, but Bunny had no interest in seeing what these powers had to offer. He huffed, standing at his full height. "Now listen here. We dunno what this power as' or what it'll do if he does use it. I think it's a bad idea til' we know what it is we'r dealin' with."

"But," Weiss began once more. "If he was to use it and find out later when he can't control it, he could cause unnecessary damage. If he tries when all of us are ready and here and not caught off guard though, it'll be easier." Aster huffed in disapproval but Weiss waved him off. As much as everyone hated to admit, it did make sense.

"I actually want to try it." Jack spoke. Aster's eyebrows scrunched in frustration.

"You dunno wha'll happen to ya if you use it, Jack!" He berated. He stopped over to him with a harsh glare. "You ain't usin it and that's final!"

"Do I look like a kid to you?" Jack stood up. Though he didn't compare in height to the rabit he easily stood nose to nose with him, reminding him of when they had first met and called the elder of the two a kangaroo. The Guardians could agree that the tension was ten fold of that previous incident.

"You are a kid, mate. You listen ta us now, you got that? We've dealt with Pitch much longer than you ave'."

"Boys!" Tooth shouted. "This is no time for fighting!" She fluttered between the two, glaring at each one in turn. However Jack wasn't quite done.

"I may be a kid but that doesn't make you the boss of me! I lived by myself for a while, remember?! Plus it's my body that this is happening to, not yours!" His voice had gone higher with each sentence, and before anyone knew what had happened, there was a screaming match happening. Aster's fur bristled dangerously, a low gleam in his darkening emerald eyes, and Jack was flushed blue from his rising anger. Tooth's voice has risen as well trying to reason the two over their own screaming. She was only worsening the noise in the room. North, so joyful and harmonious usually, finally had enough and shoved Tooth aside gently. She didn't argue, her own face twisted in annoyance at the behavior. Children acted with more manners sometimes.

"DAT IS ENOUGH!" With large hands he picked Aster up by his scruff and Jack by his hood, leaving the two dangling in the air. Bunny's face twisted into shock and mortification, his body instantly scrunching up and his arms pulling inward by instinct. He cursed silently at the habit he had from when he was a mere pup. Jack simply flailed around. He shouted at North to put him down, the hue in his face turning further blue, from either embarrassment or further frustration. Probably both.

"Thank God. Their voices were grinding on my ears!" Weiss puffed her chest out and rubbed an ear as if to soothe the ache.

"Now, it is hard to have conversation with you two bickering like child, da?" North huffed. He hadn't needed to speak loud. He always spoke loud. That and he had a dangerous gleam in those sparkling blue eyes of wonder, one Aster knew too well, and instantly lowered his ears. The jolly representative of Christmas wasn't one you wanted to challenge.

"I'm sure we are ready to behave ourselves now, da?" he asked, tightening his grip on Jack who had slowly stopped flailing, then finally stopped and crossed his arms in annoyance.

When neither answered North tightened his grip on both.

"Alright North, we get it! Can ya pu' us down now mate? This is emarassin'!" Aster pleaded. North chuckled, not waiting for an answer for a Jack and set both on the couch with a loud plop.

"Boys." Yang rolled her eyes. She skipped over to the armrest on Aster's side and placed herself up next to him. Sandy wasn't at all surprised at the behavior. He was quite used to it. He decided to look over Jack's skin, moving over the sand under his skin with nimble and quick fingers. This caught everyone's interest as well. Except for Aster and Jack of course, the former still pouting over being embarrassed and manhandled by his friend and the latter trying to squirm away from the sudden attention him.

"Sandy, can we do this later?" Jack huffed, trying to ignore all the stares focusing on his arm.

Sandy chimed in response and set Jack a hard stare. The boy sighed and muttered under his breath. "Fine…what do you want me to do?" More bells resounded and Sandy 's mind flew with ideas, but only a few images of his choosing appeared above his hand, one being Jack's staff and images of swirls blasting from it.

"Yeah…my staff is connected to my power. What's that have to do with anything?" Jack questioned.

More pictures flooded in, faster with each image, until eventually Sandy was waving around his arms to emphasize his point.

"Hey, easy there I can barely keep up! You think I can use the powers without my staff now?" Jack inquired. His face scrunched in thought and he pursed his lips in curiosity. "I…I guess it couldn't hurt to try. At least one time." He still looked unsure about it, despite arguing with Aster that it would be alright. He really wasn't sure. He looked down and traced the black veins in his skin. They surprised him by reacting to his touch and danced beneath the surface. A hand wrapped around the veins and they immediately calmed, Jack looking up to see Tooth there hovering as she usually did.

"Jack. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. If you decide to do this, we'll make sure you'll be okay." She grinned. "So it is up to you. No matter how protective some of us are, and how afraid of the consequences we are." She shot a look at a brooding Bunnymund then back to Jack. "It would probably be better to find out what it is. That way you know what your limits are, right?"

Jack nodded without saying a word. Usually Tooth was against these things. It seemed slightly out of character for her, but if she trusted such judgment, then it provided a little relief that it wasn't as serious as it seemed.

"Alright, then let's go ahead and get this over with. I feel like I'm going to have an ulcer just from how stressed all of you are." Weiss went over and wrapped her hand around Jack's wrist. The one Sandy had previously been holding. He was watching the boy carefully to make sure nothing was going to go awry. Her touch made the sand dance under his skin and he flinched, thinking the sand was going to react violently, but it did no such thing.

"Er, wait!" Jack yanked his arm from Weiss. She sighed and crossed her arms, leaning in until her nose was inches from Jack's.

"The longer you wait the more stressed you're going to be."

"I know, I know," Jack raised his hands it defense. "I just rather wait til' Emily comes back."

"…Oh." Weiss blinked and roamed her blue eyes over everyone in the room. "Where did Emily go, anyway?"

"She is still in that room." Blake spoke. Her voice was muffled behind another book, one on agriculture, her yellow eyes not leaving the text scribbled into the pages. "Remember?"

"Oh! That's right! I'll go get her!" Weiss mused. A hand stopped her from going any further, finding herself staring over at a serious Sandman. The bells chimed louder, a soft expression on his face.

"She shouldn't be interrupted so suddenly." Tooth voiced. "She is handling precious cargo in there after all. When the time streams are being handled it is best not to interrupt the handler of them. However, if you take Sandy, he can shift himself in a way to get her attention without distracting her."

"Really? That's so cool!" Yang squealed, jumping up and down excitedly.

Tooth giggled at the girl's antics and nodded. "It is quite the power. Sandy, would you mind fetching Emily?"

The smaller man nodded, bells chiming loudly, and tugged on Weiss's white sleeve. Before she knew it everyone was smiling at her and she was being dragged away to the door.

Weiss tugged her arm out of the golden man's grip. "Hey now, why are you taking me, this is your job isn't it?" She glared but followed side-by-side with him anyway, her eyes taking in the area as they strolled up an elegant staircase. The sounds of bells from the guardian next to her were welcoming and she looked at him curiously. An image of an unhappy face appeared above his head.

"Unhappy? Of course not." She watched as more symbols appeared and her eyes widened. "I'm not stressed! Where ever would you get the idea I was stressed!?" Her hands balled into fists at her sides and she leered down at the man. Her reaction and his knowing stare said it all, and suddenly she burst into a fit of giggles. "I guess I am a little stressed."

Sandy shot another look.

"Okay, okay! A lot stressed! You would be too if you had to handle those girls all day! Sometimes they're such goofballs!"

Sandy laugh gently and nodded, pointing back as well, an image of an egg, snowflake, present, and tooth forming together above his head. They danced harmoniously together despite the differences. He smiled and pulled them together. The shapes took form of a large golden ball at first. Then the image took shape until an image of two hands holding came into view. Weiss smiled gently, understanding instantly.

"I suppose your right. They are friends, even if they do get on my nerves. They might as well be my sisters'."

They walked past large pictures of such random things. Some seemed to be of strange presents she couldn't figure out. Better yet, she couldn't figure why it was they were even considered gifts. They looked put together by dangerous electricians. The hall darkened slightly and she looked at a door. "She's in there, isn't she?"

Sandy nodded and pulled her a long a bit faster. Weiss followed, confused as to why he was even taking her. Shouldn't h be doing this alone? Considering the affects Emily had on time it should be a matter for him to deal with. Alone.

"Listen I'm flatted that you took me along but I think I should-"

He cut her off by pressing a finger to her lips, indicating in the politest and urgent way that she should shut up. She huffed in annoyance but nodded. Gently the door was open. The trim on it was different. Every door was different here, now that she thought of it, and the images on this specific one were of time-relatable things. The inside of the room glowed a warm and welcome light, and even she was caught surprise.

Things, like bubbles, were floating it seemed; strange orbs holding pictures and such that were from different places entirely. They each had an aura of a different color; one was yellow, one blue and so on. Weiss inched towards the nearest one. It was of Emily and Jack. He hung from a tree, closer to her, and she noted a young girl with brown hair yelling up at him to get down. Intrigued she looked at the next one, blue, with the same two heading out the door to go ice skating. Finally she came to another one. They were skating it seemed. Emily looked nervous. At first Weiss shrugged it off as nerves about falling. Until she saw the ice cracking beneath the girl's feet. Her eyes widened and she looked back at Sandy. "Are these memories?"

He looked a bit uncertain, waving his hand in an iffy expression. "Oh. They're memories but things of the timeline as well."

He nodded at that.

Weiss hummed in thought, her attention turning back to the bubble. In the time Jack had grabbed his cane and was yanking his sister out of harm's way. Only, he fell into it himself. She had hoped it wasn't true, that he died that way, but the way it portrayed it left no room for argument. The next bubble was black and split down the middle. In one scene Emily was tearing at the ground trying to find her brother and pull him out. In the other she saw Jack slipping further into the lake. If she didn't know better she would of that he was just sleeping, but the slight pained look spoke otherwise. The image blocked out and continued with Emily. She was running to the house and screaming. Her face was soaked with tears. She continued on with her life while Jack had died until becoming a guardian.