It should have been a good day. Perfect weather, clear skies slightly tinged with a winter chill, the sun slowly creeping up over the trees. The pond was still frozen through and through, nothing showed any sign of impending disaster. And yet, it was there.

The pond hadn't been as frozen as they had thought.

Dread had settled over the siblings, brother and sister, as the ice snapped threateningly under the sister's feet. Both were terrified and took very little care to not hide it.

The brother, kneeling on the ice, held out a hand to reassure his younger. "It's okay, it's okay!" he rushed. "Don't look down, just look at me."

"Jack," the girl whimpered, clearly terrified. "I'm scared."

"I know, I know." He put one foot out front, towards his blood, only to have cracks spread from the point of his weight. More adrenaline coursed through him and his calm was now hanging by a thread.

"But you're going to be alright." Trepidation filled the air with this forced calm that was his tone of voice. ""You're not going to fall in…Uh…" he then broke into a clumsy grin. "We're going to have a little fun instead!"

"No, we're not!" she cried, seemingly on the verge of tears.

"Would I trick you?" he asked her playfully, trying with all his might to ignore the sound of their barrier between safety and certain death breaking.

"Yes! You always play tricks!"

The elder chuckled weakly; there was no denying that she had a point. "Alright, well not, not this time. I promise, I promise, you're gonna be…" his breath trembled as he drew it in. "You're gonna be fine."

She looked at him, still terrified, yet still, well, hopeful.

"You have to believe in me."

The girl now had at least a shred of confidence within her. She believed. Her brother would get her out of this and they'd go home shaken, but otherwise okay. She believed that will all her heart.

She gulped.

A mischievous spark ignited in his chest and he grinned every more broadly at her, an idea springing into his head. "You wanna play a game?" he invited. "We're gonna play hopscotch! Like we play everyday."

"It's as easy as one…" he planted a foot a few inches away and the ice snarled at him with cracks that made one's heart race. He winced but covered it up quickly by losing his balance and flailing comically. His sister laughed, and a brief shadow of relief crossed the boy's face.

"Two…" the boy was edging towards his shepherd's staff with utmost caution, making sure his way was solid.

And with a final leap, he made it. "Three!"

With the wood in his grasp, he held it out to his younger for her to grab, seeing as ice skates were not easy to walk in. "Alright… now it's your turn."

The girl's face screwed up with determination, though it was lined with a trace of fear, and took a small step forward. With a malicious snap, the ice created a few more small cracks. She held back a squeak.

"One… That's it, that's it…" he encouraged.

She inched forward a little more with another nerve snapping crackle.

"Two…" her brother whispered.

Another step and…

"Three!" exclaimed he and, with a lung, he looped the crook around her waist and flung her over the ice, her limbs splayed out at uncomfortable angles. Yet, she was able to rise, smiling at her brother. He let out a small laugh, thoroughly relieved and the victory of his saving his sister's life just sinking in.

And as the brother made a move to stand, there was a horrible cracking noise. The boy's world then suddenly went reeling skyward, as he managed to catch a glimpse of his sister reaching for him, screaming his name. And in the next instant, he saw the sky, saw the fait imprint of the moon above, felt the freezing cold water rush in his ears and swirl around his body, sapping his energy as he clawed at nothing but sub-zero liquid until-

He woke up.

Jack was sitting up right, as he had jackknifed into said position, breathing heavily. If he could sweat, he would have been coated in it.

For a minute, the boy had very little idea as to where he was and had to look around. He had to make sure he wasn't in the pond, that his sister wasn't there, that the event of his death had already passed. To his relief, he was still where he had been before; sitting next to a trash can by an old hobo who, he had learned, had a magnificent ESPN voice. The contents of the can must've been lit earlier, as the air was very slightly tinged with the smell of burning rubber, or socks, or whatever that street smell was. Jack was used to it, so he didn't care; it wasn't as if he could complain about it anyway. But the dream… did one normally dream about their death from 300 years ago after remembering it for the first time since?

Of course not. That was a stupid question. Why would anyone besides Jack even remember such a thing?

His breathing slowed gradually, feeling himself begin to calm. If the nightmares he kept having were Pitch's fault, Jack was going to smack him when he saw him again. But the thing was, it technically wasn't a nightmare. It was a memory. A really bad one, but still.

He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling rather loudly, taking notice, for some reason, that he could not see his breath in the cold night air, though it was nothing new. But it bothered him now, for some reason.

He hadn't always been this cold.

"Remind me why I'm here again." Jack sighed.

North had once again taken the poor boy captive and was holding him prisoner at the Pole and had not even once bothered to tell him exactly why, not in terms that Jack fully believed anyway. Sandy was there, dozing in a corner, and from what Jack knew, Tooth and Bunny were scheduled to arrive as well.

North looked at Jack with a very blank expression. "Bonding."

Jack stared at him.

"Bonding." he repeated his senior.

"Why is this concept so hard to grasp?" North frowned at Jack.

"Uh, because, you haven't said what with." the teen pointed out dryly, staff finding a perch across his shoulders.

"The others, of course, who else?" North huffed, arms crossed.

Jack arched a brow. "Dare I ask why?"

North shook his head, his eyes rolling behind his closed lids as two fingers kneaded against his brow. "Because we're family now, Jack."

"I get that, sort of." The whole family concept was still foreign to him. "But what exactly are we supposed to bond over? You do realize that we don't have too much in common."

"Because we don't know if we do." North replied cheerfully. "We have not taken time to find out."

Jack groaned. "Do I have to?"

North deadpanned. "Yes."

"Damn it." Jack cursed, a rarity.

"Jack." North eyed him sternly. He didn't exactly approve of people swearing, regardless of age.

"I mean, darn it, sorry."

And so the awkwardness continued, as the other two Guardians failed to show up for quite a while, for whatever reason. And of course North had wanted to light a fire. And of course it made Jack feel like he was going to turn into a puddle and retreat to the other side of the other side of the room. The nasty thing about fire was that it sapped his energy pretty darn quickly, and when ever he was close to it, he needed to crash, thus explaining his nodding off back on the city streets a few days ago. Immortal entities were not required to sleep, and they didn't do so. Sandy and Jack were probably the two who slept the most, as it still wasn't very much. And yet, the fire was so warm, that Jack's eyes just… they just had to droop. And of course he found himself feeling rather woozy.

"Hey, North?" he finally asked.

North, who had been inspecting a wooden model train as they waited for Tooth and Bunny, looked up. "Hm?"

"You, uh, you got a place I can bunk down for the night? The, uh," he gestured lamely at the fire. "The heat's kinda getting to me."

North's eyebrows shot up; he suddenly felt rather ashamed and rather stupid for lighting a fire when a winter spirit was present. He had figured if Jack was not particularly close to it, he wouldn't be affected by it. But this was not the case, it seemed.

"I'll put it out, if you like." North offered hastily.

Jack shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I'll just get tired anyway."

North was already closing up the fire with its outer glass covering, but he nodded nonetheless. "There are spare cots in the infirmary, if you like."

"Great, thanks." He smiled weakly, rubbing his drooping eyes and left North to his own devices.

A couple turns and twists around the walkways, a few lift rides and a few near incidents of stepping on a stray elf, the spirit of the coldest season walked into the lukewarm infirmary. There was only one yeti there; Phil. Jack didn't even know why Phil was there, but whatever it was wasn't important. At the moment, sleeping was his top priority.

Until Phil was eyeing him suspiciously.

"Hey, Phil." Jack smiled feebly. Phil gave him a glare as a response, and then garbled something in Yetish. Jack believed it was some sort of comment of the yeti's suspicion.

"What? North said I could bunk down here." Jack protested, absentmindedly scratching the small patch of skin just above his left shoulder blade.

Phil let out a growl and began to stalk out of the room, but not before taking a bottle of aspirin and giving Jack an "I-am-watching-you" stare.

"Nice to see you too, Phil. " said Jack dryly. When the yeti had finally made his exit, Jack was left alone, and took this moment of freedom from company to sprawl out on a cot. A part of him really wanted to just doze off, but another told him to stay awake. If he stayed awake, he wouldn't have to see the distorted replay of his death. But, alas, he was just too tired. His eyes began to drop slowly, slowly downward, his world going fuzzy and black.

It was funny how much falling asleep was like dying.

The pond again.

But this time, Jack was not with his sister. He stood upon the brink, and for some reason, he was scared. Something told him that he should not go out there. Something was warning him, screaming at him to listen. But he… he had to. He had promised his sister he would teach her to ice skate, and she had been waiting al month for the right conditions, both weather and schedule wise. Or that would have been the case if he could find her. But she was nowhere to be seen.

And the ice… the ice was… odd. It was dark, lined with small dark pieces of what appeared to be sand. But it wasn't sand, Jack knew that. Sand was more of a light brown, and this was blacker than the night sky.

He kneeled down, so as to inspect the pond and its odd glittering black particles. They had almost this kind of allure to them, but at the same time, his body yowled for him to run, to get his sister, to never take a single glance back. The tingle of adrenaline pulsed through the boy's thin frame.

Next thing he knew, the ground had given way and he found himself splayed on a hard stone surface. Nothing could be seen. He subconsciously felt around for something. Something he had brought with him. But what was it? All he could remember was that it was made of wood. Whatever it was, Jack was unable to find it.

And then, the voice.

"Jack?" a little voice called fearfully out of his inky surroundings. It sounded distant, but he didn't have a hard time hearing it. And he knew who it was.

"Jack?" his sister called out again. And suddenly, he was afraid. Afraid for his sister.

"There is nothing wrong with being afraid, Jack." said an awfully familiar voice. Its tone was oily, almost seductive, and utterly befitting of the dark. But Jack didn't even heed it. He was terrified, and he didn't need that voice to tell him what was obvious. Where was she? Where was his sister? If he lost her… well, it was unthinkable. If she was in trouble, he had to find her. No other thought was present in his mind.

He began to run.

The passages twisted, and the boy stumbled constantly as he could not see their roughly curving turns, stairs, and archways. But whenever he tripped he always got back up.

"Jack?" Was that his sister? It didn't sound like it, but he had to follow it. If it was hers, then what choice did he have?

The sprint continued. Jack felt water growing around his feet. It started as a few puddles, but then turned into an area not so different from the shallows of a lake. This was only an encouragement to run faster.

"Jack."

Where was she? Where was his sister? Where was the water coming from? Was it higher where she was? Where was she?

"Jack!"

The water was rising far more rapidly, slushing around his waist with menace. He had to wade slowly now. Not as if he had any other choice. But damn it, it wasn't fast enough! And it was getting far more difficult as the murky liquid continued to rise…

The other voice again. The terrifying one. "You really don't like water, do you?"

The sheer volume shook him roughly by the shoulders. It was level with his neck.

Not again… he pleaded to any god who would listen. Please, not again…

He had to save her.

"JACK!"

He couldn't hear anything other than the screams.

AN/: This is two parter, fear not.

So yeah, I've been busy with comic stuff lately, and I finished at 12:15 yesterday, so I now have time to write some more. Lucky me.

And, yes, that other voice was Pitch. I couldn't resist describing it that way. Jude Law's voice is yummy and everyone knows it.