Yaknowwut. I said this chapter would be dark. I lied. Again. I don't know what I was even remotely thinking when I said this would be the dark chapter. It's either the next chapter or the one after that. I'm not even sure anymore. But it's coming soon. I PROMISE.

Bunnymund's long ears popped out of the rabbit hole irritably, followed by the rest of his body. He jumped out, closed up the hole, and whirled on North, who was standing no more than ten feet away. "Crikey, North! Haven't ya ever thought about how I might be busy when you summon the lights?!"

North spoke, and for once, there was no jolliness to it. "Do you think I would summon you here if it was not important?"

Bunnymund's agitation faded into concern. "What happened? Is it Jack?"

North's blue eyes shifted off to the side. "It may or may not have something to do with Jack."

"What is it?"

"My belly tells me that Pitch was just here earlier today," North explained. "He left trails of nightmare sand."

Bunnymund, knowing better than to question North's theory especially after what happened last time, pressed on, "Mate, I need details. Yer bein' too vague."

"Earlier today, Phil came bursting into office saying that there was disturbance in gift room," North began. "I went to examine, and I found black sprinkles of sand scattered all around." He held up a jar that Bunnymund hadn't noticed he had been holding. Inside was a fair amount of nightmare sand. "If this is not Pitch's doing, then I do not know who else can make this sort of sand."

"Well then, what were ya sayin' about how this might have somethin' to do with Jack?" Bunnymund interrogated. "The last time I checked, the Boogeyman and that infuriating sprite-turned-human were not the same person."

"I meant that Pitch's reasons for coming here might have something to do with Jack!" North exclaimed. "He probably heard about Jack's temporary mortality and is seizing advantage of it! If it were not for Jack, Pitch would have won last battle. Jack now out of way, so Pitch has perfect chance."

"...So what do we do?" Bunnymund asked, after a slight pause. "We tell Frostbite to watch out for Pitch? The boy has been stressed out already, North. Both you and I know that. He's already on the lookout for that bloody immortality blob. Knowing about Pitch won't help him at all."

"I do not want to tell him either," North admitted. "But it is not like we have a choice. There is already so much going on that he still does not know about. Nobody has seen the poor boy for weeks, Bunny. It is time to start communicating again, no?"

"...Okay," Bunnymund reluctantly grumbled. "If ya say so. So now what, we wait for Tooth and Sandy to show up?"

North nodded. "We cannot just go over to Jack without them."

Jack just didn't get it. He really didn't get it. Cici could see Baby Tooth? That was the last thing he had ever expected from her. If she could see, then that meant she believed. She just had to. There was no other explanation for her capability to see what was supposed to be invisible to her. But the question that truly perplexed Jack was why Cici still believed. He seriously doubted she ended up having a similar experience to Jamie's own adventures. So believing because of a personal run-in with a Guardian could safely be crossed off of the list of reasons.

His mind had been focused on this sudden revelation all day yesterday and certainly all day today. Maybe he should've gone back to Starbucks when he first realized Cici's being able to see one of the Tooth Fairy's helpers...

"Jack? Jack? Jack!"

Jack snapped out of his daze and looked at Jamie. "Oh hey, you're back. Couldn't you tell I was having a deep train of thought?! You just cut right through it and now I'm having trouble going back!"

Jamie frowned, offended. "Hey! You looked troubled, so I just decided to snap you out of it! Caleb and Claude are here again, by the way."

"Hiya!" Caleb declared cheerfully.

"Hello, Jamie's-friends-who-always-seem-to-like-coming-ove r-here-but-never-invite-Jamie-over-to-their-own-ho me," Jack greeted. Then he turned to Jamie. "Kiddo, I'm gonna have to go out for a while. Make sure your twin friends don't end up going into my room again."

"Where are you going?" Jamie asked curiously.

"To a friend's place," Jack answered cryptically. "I need to ask her about something. And beg her for some more chocolates." And demand answers from her. He decided that if he was going to spend all his hours pondering about this shocking truth, then he might as well go ahead and speak up about it.

"Oh, so it's a her." Caleb raised his eyebrows. "Going over to her house too."

"And you want chocolates from her," Claude snickered.

Jack gave them a deadpan look. "Guys. Imply something dirty and I will implant knives into your guts. Same thing for you, Jamie."

"What!" Jamie cried. "What'd I do?!"

"Be an accomplice." Jack smirked evilly and got up off the couch. "Anyway, see you guys around." He went over to the door, opened it, and left.

Claude hesitated, then started, "You know, about Pippa's crush on him—"

"DON'T. Just...don't bring that up," Jamie hissed. "It's better if Jack doesn't know about that."

Jack took a deep breath and rang Cici's doorbell. Time for a giant confrontation and lots of explaining to do on both sides. Yes, both sides. While strolling, Jack had ultimately decided to simply confess his side of the story. That is, if Cici really believed like he suspected her to.

Cici answered the door and seemed surprised at who it was. "Oh, hey Jack. What's up?"

Jack looked away. "Can I come in, Cici?"

Cici stepped aside to let him in. "What's the problem?"

Jack stepped inside, and asked bluntly, "You know about my hummingbird?"

Cici frowned in confusion. "Huh? Of course I do. She's always sitting on your shoulder. How can I not notice?"

Jack didn't realize that he had been considering the possibility that he had only imagined Cici's remark yesterday until he let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in.

Cici grew concerned. "Jack, what's wrong?"

"Could you make a fresh batch of chocolates?" Jack asked abruptly. "We can talk while the mix is heating up. I think Cody would enjoy your truffles on Monday. Judging from how he seemed to be feeling yesterday, he needs some serious cheering up."

Cici nodded. "I can do that. But it might be a while before I get the chocolate ready to boil."

"No need to hurry. I've got all the time in the world."

Nearly half an hour later, when Cici's chocolatey goodness was being heated on the stove, the girl led Jack up to his room. She closed the door behind her. "Okay. What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Jack motioned towards Baby Tooth, who flew off of her perch on his shoulder and chirped. "This isn't just an ordinary hummingbird, Cici. This, to make it straightforward, is one of the Tooth Fairy's helpers."

Cici was silent, then tentatively questioned, "Did... Did you just say the Tooth Fairy?"

That set Jack off onto a ranting spree, and he rambled as quickly as possible, "Youseeshe'srealandshe'spartofthisgroupcalledtheGu ardiansandthislittleminifairyisjustoneofmillionsof helpersshehas—"

Cici tried to listen intently at first, but soon found Jack incomprehensible and gave up. "Jack, talk slower. I'm not picking up one word you're spewing out at me."

Jack took a deep breath to calm himself. "Sorry. I just got way too excited. Anyway, as I was saying..." He started over, clearly this time, explained everything about Tooth and the rest of the Guardians except for himself.

"...So they're the Guardians," Jack summed it all up. After a brief moment of hesitation, he added, "And there's also a fifth member, Jack Frost. But I'll talk about him later, once you've soaked the rest of it in."

Both of them had sometime sat down on Cici's bed during Jack's explanation. Unsurprisingly, Cici was staring unblinkingly at him by this point. Her mouth was somewhat open, as if she wanted to drop her jaw but decided against it. "So what you're saying is that...all those childhood legends we believed in as kids are real? Except that they're...not exactly the way we envisioned them to be?"

Jack nodded in confirmation. "Especially the Easter Bunny. You picture him as a fluffy, tiny, cheerful rabbit, but he's the complete opposite of that."

Cici's shock finally wore off, and she closed this particular topic. "Okay... Let's talk about other matters now."

"Other matters?"

Cici gave him a knowing look. "Jack Frost. Or should I say, Jack 'Overland.'" She inserted finger air quotes around Overland.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you've pretty much caught on to the rest of the truth."

"Of course I have," Cici smirked. "It doesn't take a genius to do that. I may be a gullible person, but I'm very observant. When you brought Jack Frost up, you had that distant look about your face and you weren't doing a very good job at hiding your reluctance to bring him up. It doesn't help how you're both named Jack either."

"Jack is one of the most common names out there," Jack defended.

"That doesn't exactly help your argument, considering I also brought up your hesitation and whatnot," Cici pointed out. "Besides, why are you even trying to cover yourself up? You already admitted that I'm right."

Jack opened his mouth to retort, but realizing that Cici wasn't exactly lying, he shut up. "Alright, I'm Jack Frost. I admit it. I was going to tell you anyway, but it seems you beat me to the punch."

Cici was smug. "I knew it. So what happened? I mean, shouldn't Jack Frost be...you know, immortal and stuff?"

Jack sighed. "He is. It's sorta a long story..." He gave her a terse description of what had happened to him and why he was temporarily stuck as a human. "So I somehow convinced Jamie's mom to house me for the time being. I'm not sure how I managed that, but I did."

"Does that mean Jamie also knows?"

Jack nodded. "Yup. He's the only one too. Well, except for his friends and the rest of the Guardians, obviously." He shot a side glance at her. "And now you. You're actually taking this better than I thought you would."

Cici shrugged nonchalantly. "All of my initial shock was used up when you first started that story about your fellow Guardians. How old are you, anyway?"

"Three hundred and eighteen," Jack spoke cheerfully as if that was perfectly normal.

Cici looked at him for a small moment, but then shrugged it off. "I shouldn't be surprised. You're an immortal, I didn't expect you to be any younger than that."

"Hey, did you just imply that I'm old?" Jack asked, pretending to be offended.

"Maybe." Cici stuck out her tongue.

Suddenly teeming with curiosity, Jack asked, "Hey, how were you even able to see Baby Tooth in the first place? You usually have to believe to be able to see. I've never met one person the same age as you who still believes."

Cici's playfulness disappeared completely as she flushed. "Well... You see..."

Sensing that he touched on a sensitive topic, Jack said hurriedly, "You don't have to tell me if you don't wanna. It's not like I need to know."

Relief became visible on Cici's face. "Thanks. Sorry about that."

Jack shook his head dismissively. "No, no! It's totally fine." The only other time I've seen her act this way is when I asked her about her dad...

Cici's normal attitude returned and she lay down on her bed. "So I'm guessing that you want this to remain a secret between you and me?"

Jack scoffed. "Of course. Even if you try to tell Zander and-or Spencer, neither of them will believe you and think you're cuckoo in the head." He thought for a minute. "Well, Zander will. I'm not too sure about Spencer." He got up and stretched. "Ya know, I never realized how much I wanted to tell someone about who I really am until I actually told you. It feels like a giant weight's been lifted off my shoulders."

Cici was about to reply when a giant portal suddenly appeared off to the side, and a fairy, a rabbit, a stout, golden man, and a bulky Russian tumbled out. Well, the fairy didn't tumble as her wings were fluttering and the golden man had landed gracefully on his feet. It was really the Russian and the rabbit who became entangled with each other.

Jack simply looked at the current scene flatly, while Cici's eyes were about to pop out of her head.

"Cici?" Jack asked, face still unreadable.

"Yeah?"

"You see the heap of misfits too, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Oy! Misfits?!" Bunny shouted from his giant coil with North. "Whaddaya mean misfits?! You're one to talk!"

"I'm not the one who's trying to play Twister with Santa Claus!" Jack shot back, then turned to Cici. "I'm sorry for the sudden intrusion of these four."

Cici tried to wave it off casually. "Oh no... It's okay..." She gave up on trying to act cool-headed. "Santa's in my room," she said stiffly as she continued staring.

"And the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman," Bunny added, finally managing to free himself. "E. Aster Bunnymund's the name."

"Hello!" Tooth chirped excitedly. "Are you one of Jack's friends?"

"What the hell are you guys doing here?!" Jack's fuse suddenly reached its destination and he exploded. "Can you not see that I'm at a friend's house?! And then you pop in like you're supposed to do that?!"

Bunnymund looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "You weren't at Jamie's when we went to pay ya a visit, mate. He said ya went out."

"So?! The least you could've done was wait until I got home!"

"We couldn't wait for ya to get home! It's urgent news, Frostbite!" Bunny exclaimed.

Jack's rage momentarily faded enough for him to question worriedly, "What happened? Is it Immo?"

North gave Bunny a triumphant look. "See? Jack likes that name."

"...I really don't," Jack offered the honest truth. "I'm only calling him that because I don't want to call him 'immortality monster blob' every time."

"That's not why we're here, Jack," Tooth piped up. "We've got a second bad guy to worry about now. Pitch is back."

"..." Jack was speechless, processing this new problem.

"Who's Pitch?" Cici asked.

Sandy was the one who explained to her, creating an image of Pitch's silhouette, followed by a bed, above his head. Luckily, he didn't need to create any more pictures.

"The Boogeyman?" Cici correctly guessed. She turned to Jack. "Good luck dealing with him along with Immo."

"...Fuck," Jack finally stated. "Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck."

Bunny looked at Cici. "Mind fillin' in for me what exactly you teenagers are learnin' in English class nowadays? 'Cause that vocabulary is horrendous."

Tooth's expression was something akin to horror. "JACK! Language! Do you speak to Jamie and his mother with that mouth?! Honestly, a person with as beautiful teeth as yours shouldn't be cursing so fluently like that!"

Baby Tooth, who had nestled herself on the top of Jack's head, shook with silent laughter. So her mother really disapproved of Jack's lingual habits.

Cici stood up awkwardly. "Okay... I think I let my chocolate simmer way too long. I'm just gonna...go downstairs..." She carefully scooted out of her room.

Jack gave everyone else unimpressed glances. "Now she feels awkward. This is why you should always wait for me at Jamie's."

"You coulda scared her off anyway with that rotten language of yours," Bunnymund deadpanned back. "Besides, ya know deep down that we have completely justified reasons to be here."

"...Hey, I just realized that your friend sees us when she shouldn't be able to," Tooth said astonishingly. "How is that possible?"

Jack shrugged. "I, uh, told her the truth about me right before you guys popped up. B

Now before you yell at me for doing that, I had my own justified reasons. She was able to see Baby Tooth."

"What? Why? How?" Tooth shot out a flurry of questions.

Jack shrugged again. "Dunno. I asked her why she still believed, but she tensed up and I ended up dropping the subject."

"Jack, when typical teenager such as her still believes, it is almost always because of good reason. She cannot just keep on believing just because," North spoke.

Jack sighed. "I know, North. That's why I asked her. But for whatever reason, she doesn't want to talk about it. It's a touchy subject for her, I can tell. The real problem for me is how I'm gonna crack her open."

Tooth looked surprised. "Jack, are you saying you actually want to find out even though she doesn't want you to?"

"Why not? I'm good at getting people to open up apparently. There's this guy named Anton who I managed to befriend even though I was sure he hated me, and there's this other guy who's antisocial named Cody who I started becoming acquainted with until something happened yesterday. Don't ask what, because it's something I don't wanna be reminded of."

"Girls are tough nuts to crack, Jack," Tooth objected. "Are you sure you'll be able to pull it off?"

"Hopefully yes." Jack tried to act optimistic for a change. "I'm already good friends with her. Getting her to fess up shouldn't be too difficult." He began to look slightly troubled. "And one more thing. This involves me more than anyone else, but...is it possible for a Guardian to forget himself?"

"I do not think I understand, Jack—" North was cut off.

"Just a couple days ago, Jamie had to remind me that I used to be Jack Frost," Jack confessed. "I don't know what happened that made that fact slip my mind. When I remembered, I didn't really think it was that big of a deal, but then once I really thought about it, it seemed wrong on so many levels. And I was just thinking that...this shows that I might actually forget you guys and...myself. I don't want that to happen."

"Jack, I'm sure it was just a one-time thing," Tooth reassured. "It's natural for that to happen. You just can't have too much stuff on your mind at once, and judging from what I've heard and the way you reacted when we told you about Pitch, you've been pretty stressed lately. Besides, it was just momentary, wasn't it?"

"Yeah..." Jack pretended that Tooth's comfort convinced him that he was just worrying too much. Pretended. "Maybe it's not that important. I'm probably just being way too neurotic. Thanks, Tooth."

In general, this is a long chapter. However, when compared to the previous few chapters, it's kind of short. Whatever. We can all agree that this was one of the most important chapters yet, can we? Also, some major foreshadowing here at the end.

Also, IMPORTANT: Final part of my story poll is up on my profile. I took the story idea that had the most votes for each part and put them all together. Now let's see which one prevails.

Even though this review reply event was supposed to be a one-time thing, I'm doing it every chapter now. Whatever, people seem to like how I reply.

Hatsu Yukiya: no don't fight Cici she's a cheerleader so she must have a good kick in her and yes bad things are happening and I don't know what sorcery I'm using right now I'm just updating fast recently kay Yellowstone's awesome, by the way.

PuppetMaster55: I wear glasses too. My eyes are the worst. And sure, I guess we can go with how his phone is set to delete contacts, even though I have an iPhone myself and it doesn't have that sort of function. I've just noticed that Jamie's pretty miserable in this story himself. I thought Jack was the only one.

agent000: you reviewed you lovely person asdfghjkl Jack's not using logic in this story at all. Or at least, not for the most part. And I guess I might just have a skill at making my OC's interesting, judging from what everyone is saying. But thanks anyway!

Lovepuppy316: Spoiler alert: She's playing Tooth. Spoiler alert: Cody is Pitch. -cough- Yes, let's hope she doesn't read the paper ._. Yes, Wynter should do that XD

RandomKrazyPerson: Are you sure I'm not the meanest one out there? I still am doing that thing at the end of this story... -whistles-

Randomness: If you think the right way, it's really easy to figure it out. Here's something to get you started: What's the worst possible way I can end this story? Think of an answer to that, and it'll be like a chain reaction. You'll figure it out. By the way, if you find me, who's going to continue writing this? Ha!

Review again because I'm on some kind of updating spree and your reviews make me happy even though I frequently become emo and stuff like Cody... Hell, even this author's note is shorter than usual. Is that good or bad?