"I can't believe you got us caught," Tucker accused.

"Me? You're the one who ran away screaming like a little girl!" Jack yelled back.

"I do not scream like a girl–Yowch!" Jack had promptly sent a nip of frost (the painful kind) at Tucker's arm.

"Frost is right, you do scream like a girl," Death absently noted.

"Even Death agrees with me, and he's our captor." Jack had obviously won that fight, so Tucker just crossed his arms and mentally wished for his PDA.

"Just don't try to escape again," Death deadpanned. "It's useless. Jack, you're already dead–"

"Don't remind me…"

"–So I can easily track you down. Tucker is too loud to not find, even if I wasn't looking for him." More sulking from the kid who liked electronics. "It's hopeless. I won't put you in cages again. Pitch did that, anyway, and I will no longer be working with him."

Jack looked up in surprise at Death. "Really? Why?"

"He wouldn't listen to my commands. He's an idiot with power, and they are the worst kind. I should've taken his soul all those years ago while he was in mourning."

"Mourning?"

"His daughter was far away while he had to guard the cages of Nightmares."

"I thought Death was the Nightmare King?"

Death snorted, but smiled all the same. "He is. However, the Nightmares have corrupted his soul. He had been a normal human, with a daughter, and a family. Only, that had been before Tsar had even come into existence."

Jack was overwhelmed by all the curiosity. "Who's Tsar?"

"You know him as Man in the Moon. His real name is Tsar Lunar."

"That's cool!" Jack suddenly paused as he realized the same thing Danny had noticed. "Wait, are you having a civilized conversation with me?"

"Depends. I'm holding you and your friend hostage. I'm planning on taking over the worlds, but I won't tell you or anyone how until it's too late to stop me. Oh! And I've confiscated your staff. Is that civilized?"

Jack blinked. "You haven't confiscated my–" His staff vanished in black smoke. "–…staff…"

Tucker sniggered. "See? This is why I'm sometimes glad I am fully, one-hundred percent human."

"Humans are easier to kill," Death mentioned, shooting down Tucker once more.

Jack bursted out laughing. "I never thought of that! All humans do eventually grow old and…die…" Thoughts of Jamie plagued his mind, old, withered, and dying. Jack shivered and pushed the thoughts away.

Death chuckled darkly. "Yes, they do. It's a glorious thing, isn't it? Death?"

"No."

Death frowned. "You don't understand how important death is. I wouldn't expect it from hopeless teenagers."

"I'm over three hundred, I'm hardly a teenager."

"You have the mindset of one, Frost," Death retorted. He could shoot down everyone…Why hadn't he been so open earlier?

Suddenly, Tucker asked, "Do you have MPD or something?"

Once again, Death chuckled. "No. I just…like humor when I am not the center of it."

"Oh," Tucker murmured.

Silence fell. It was a heavy silence. All of them (except Death, obviously) had liked it more when they had been talking. Talking like civilized people, maybe even friends. It had been…strange, yet enjoyable…

"So…Did you know Tsar before he was MiM?" Jack asked, finally breaking the silence.

Death shook his head. "No, I did not. However, I have collected his parent's souls. Many years ago, then they died. Nice people, they were."

Jack wished he hadn't asked. "Oh."

"Yeah."

Jamie Bennet was your typical nineteen-year-old. He attended collage, passed his classes, and had lots of friends. He had a little sister who was in fifth grade, and he loved her like a doll, but sometimes…Well, sibling rivalry did exist between all siblings, right?

Jamie was sitting on one of the benches outside of his Mythology class building. It wouldn't start for another couple hours, but he like to review the notes. Ever since the deal with the Guardians all those year ago, Jamie had taken up an even greater interest in the subject, believing in everything he came across. In fact, that was the only thing that made him incredibly different from other young adults. While mature, Jamie still had a child's heart.

A girl Jamie's age strolled over to him, her brown locks bouncing. She was wearing a beanie, but that was common in Maine, mainly because it was the beginning of winter and three inches of snow was already all over the collage campus. "Hiya, Jamie," she greeted before taking her seat next to him.

"Hi, Emma," he responded with a smile. Emma had been his best friend since grade K. She, too, believed in the Guardians and everything they did. Though, she was sometimes a bit skeptical when it came to creatures like wendigo and ghosts. "What are you doing out so early?"

Emma attended the same campus as him, but she didn't take the same classes. She was a psychology major, or hoping to be. Emma just had that way with kids. Although, her class didn't start for another two hours. She was usually either studying or talking with Cupcake. "Oh, Cupcake had to go visit her aunt before she went to her Mom's for Christmas," she answered. "I was bored, so I decided to come meet up with you. That okay?"

"Of course. After all, this is the last day of classes…" True to that! It was Jamie's last class of the semester, and he didn't have to go back to school until early February. Maybe later, if Jack came for a visit like he usually did during the cold season along with his bundles of snow storms.

"Did you do well on your exams?" Emma questioned.

Jamie nodded, grinning as he remembered something. "Oh, yes, yes I did. I got the best score in the class, thanks to all the help from the various Guardians." Well, mostly North and Tooth. Jack wasn't all that great at school work. However, North had taken it upon himself to try to make Jamie the most educated person on the planet about the wonders of the magical world.

Emma sighed drastically. "Lucky bug. I got an A, but that stupid kid Nelson is always knocking away my perfect scores with his more perfect ones."

Jamie nodded slowly. "Ah, Nelson Hartie. He's a real jerk."

"That he is," Emma agreed, then moved a strand of her own hair out of her face. "So, any visits from Jack lately?"

Jamie frowned. He had noticed it, but had kept brushing it off. Jack hadn't visited in two months. While a month or a few weeks was completely normal, Jack usually would stop by for a two-second visit before he left on the wind again. Was something going on?

"Actually, I haven't heard from him since right after Halloween." Jamie never really hid anything from Emma, and she never really hid anything from him. It was just how things worked between them.

Emma frowned. "Do you think something's up?"

For the first time in a long while, Jamie lied. He didn't want Emma to worry. "Nah, it's probably nothing. I bet it's just that Jack is helping North with Christmas this year." Yeah. That's all it was. Christmas preparations…

Emma nodded her agreement. "Probably." She didn't think Jamie would lie to her about something like this. "So, um, Jamie… Are you going to your parents' for Christmas? My mom was wondering if you wanted to have Christmas Eve dinner at my house, if you want."

Jamie grinned for what seemed like the millionth time since Emma arrived. "Yeah, I'd like that. I'll check with my parents."

"Sophie can come, too," Emma offered. "I know she loves Rugga." Rugga was Emma's white rabbit she had gotten for her seventeenth birthday.

Jamie smirked. "Oh, you won't believe what I got Soph for Christmas!"

"A bunny."

Jamie pouted. "How'd you guess?"

"It's kinda obvious, Jamie." Jamie stuck out his tongue childishly as his response, only earning a laugh from his best friend. "Okay, well, you better get to class…"

Jamie nodded, closing his binder as he stood up. Emma did, too. Just as they did, a light snow began to fall. Snowflakes took their favorite spot on Jamie's nose, as well as Emma's, causing them both to grin.

"Jack Frost's nippin' at your nose…" They both sang lightly, and then headed their separate ways to class.

Too bad Jamie didn't realize the odd tinting in the snow. The snow that was falling when there were very few clouds over the sky. After all, it was hardly snow. The thing falling from the sky was ash.

The ashes came from a town miles and miles away. The town had been blocked off for the longest time. Amity Park's radioactive explosion had made it unlivable, despite all the government's efforts to bring it back.

However, there was a spark around a certain, demolished Fenton Works. The little green spark sent the entire thing, bricks and all, up to green flames.

Jack and Tucker have been caught again. We checked in with Jamie and Emma. And, on top of that, something funky is going on in Amity. Or, well, EX-Amity, as it will now be called.

I'm planning on making Jamie a bit of a more important person in this story. Maybe. If I can use him, I will. I plan on fixing somethings first and editing this and that. Just… from now on, keep your eyes peeled for foreshadowing, okay? Okay. XD

Anyway, go ahead and leave a review, alrighty? No need to be shy! Let's see if we CAN make it to three hundred soon~

~Jet