Author's Notes: Hey guys! I'm back, and I have a little something known as…CHAPTER 25! Sorry for taking so long on this one too! I promise…I really promise this time that updates are going to be more consistent now, especially when this story is almost close to ending. Anyway, let's move onto the chapter, but before we do that, let's look at REVIEW REPLIES!

Guest: *shrugs innocently* Guess you'll have to wait and see what happens?

Monkeybaby: Thanks! Glad you liked it!

WEast: Yeah, sorry about that…I have more free time on school breaks, so that's when I update if I haven't had the chance to get to it. But I promise I won't keep you waiting too long and try to give you guys a heads-up when I know it will take a while. But you'll just have to wait and see what happens! And yes, it's good that Jack figured out what Pitch was up to, and hopefully he will be okay!

Kitty.0: Lol! It was an emotional roller coaster alright, but it keeps you wanting more!

Story Stalkers: No problem! Will do!

Ninjagofangirlrb: We'll just have to wait and see what happens!

Booklover2000: I don't know…you'll have to wait and see what happens! Aww! *hugs* It will be okay!

NorthernMage: We can only hope…

Brenne: We'll find out what happens with Bunny and Pitch! I'm glad you're sticking with me and the story! I really feel bad for not updating in time, but I'm glad you and the other readers are sticking around! Let's hope North can be! Hope you like what's next!

Mystiquemagic152: I promise I won't! Thank you so much for sticking with me and the story! I'm really glad you liked it!

Moira Colleen: Well, yeah, he said so himself in the movie. He can't be killed because he's the embodiment of fear, which strengthens him, so killing him would be pointless. Besides, the Guardians are not like that, so they would never do that much like other heroes. Umm…they worked get Jack back. They ran over to North and Jack to try to help, and Bunny was making sure that Jack was alright. They have priorities, and so does Jack. He was enraged and acted on impulse by chasing after Pitch.

Justrockzyxxx: Thanks! Glad you like it! More to come!

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

Chapter 25

Jack flew down the dark tunnel leaving Bunny to deal with Pitch not paying attention to anything at the moment other than getting back to Tooth. A part of him wanted to believe that maybe…somehow…Sandy and Tooth managed to bring North back to them, but that was extremely unlikely. Like Pitch said, North was dead, and there was nothing any of them could do. Not even Sandy could probably save him. It was clearly too late. No, Tooth was probably just worried and went to look for them. Yeah…that was it, and Sandy stayed with North's body. He couldn't blame them for doing that. It would be strange if they were to leave North's body in the middle of the Warren.

Soon enough, the winter teen came to the end of the tunnel, and there was Tooth waiting for him. He smiled sadly, but as quickly as that smile came, it just left as Jack studied her. She didn't look like there was any danger, but she did look worried. Maybe, she did go to look them, which meant that Sandy was probably taking care of North's body. As soon as the Tooth Fairy saw the winter spirit, she beamed causing her wings to flutter at top speed.

"Jack, you're okay!" she said hugging him tightly before she quickly released him when it turned out that he was the only one to emerge from the Pooka's tunnel. "Wait…where's Bunny? Did Pitch—?"

"It's okay, Tooth," he said holding up his hands calming her down. "He's taking care of Pitch right now. He knocked the guy out before anything could happen. What's wrong? Is everything okay?"

The Guardian of Memories sighed sadly as she looked down taking Jack's hands into hers. "Well, for the most part," she replied. "We were just worried about you guys, so I came looking for you while Sandy stayed with North."

Tears brimmed in Jack's eyes. Even though he knew it was impossible, he hoped with all his heart that Tooth had some good news about the Guardian of Wonder. "So, North…" he began trying to find the right words, "he's really…"

Tooth sadly nodded. "Sandy's doing everything he can to save him right now," she said gripping Jack's hand tighter, "but he's never been known to use his sand to revive someone before especially when Pitch used his nightmare sand. There's no telling what the results could be."

All Jack could do was stare at Tooth in utter disbelief as he tried to process what he was hearing. None of it was making any sense. How could Sandy not be able to save North from Pitch's fatal nightmare sand? Sure, he was killed by Pitch's nightmare sand arrow himself, but he was able to come back when they banded together against Pitch. Then again, that was thanks to Jamie and his friends helping the Guardians, but even then, it was when Pitch was at full strength. Now, he hardly had any power. How could Sandy not be able to fight against the brink of death to save his best friend?

Thankfully, Jack didn't have to say much to express his thoughts. Tooth was able to read his face. When the boy stayed silent for the next few moments, she took a deep breath and gripped onto his shoulders slightly harder. She had a feeling this wasn't going to be easy, especially when Jack was making it as clear as day that he saw the old man as a father just North saw the boy as a son. "Sweet Tooth, you have to understand," she said. "We don't want to lose North either, but Sandy's sand is only meant to give good dreams. He wasn't created to bring people back from the dead. The sand would definitely get rid of the black sand, but…it might not bring North back."

The winter teen was still speechless. He just continued to stare at Tooth with his big blue eyes trying to figure out how to properly respond to this. Should he just accept that North might be dead? Or…should he just go over to where Sandy was waiting with the man's body and help North fight death? There was no way on how he could do that, but surely he could figure something out. Then again, what could he do? Scream in North's ear until he opened his eyes? No, that was impossible. There was no way that would even work.

That was when he remembered. North was probably in the exact same position when he was under Pitch's control. For a while, it must've seemed like all hope was lost when the Boogeyman turned him against them, but North didn't give up on him. He did everything in his power to get him out of that situation never once thinking about calling it quits, so Jack shouldn't either despite the obvious differences between the two scenarios. Determination flooded into Jack's body. He might not have been sure what he was going to do, but he knew that one thing was for sure. They were not losing North today. He was not losing the man, who became his father.

He looked up at Tooth with his determined look. "Then we'll just have to give the little man a helping hand, won't we?" Without waiting for an answer, he suddenly pulled away from Tooth and ran in the direction she came from to get to Sandy.

Tooth didn't have much choice except to follow the winter teen to where Sandy was. She didn't want to say anything that could hurt Jack even more than he already had been today. How could they possibly bring North back now? Manny wasn't around to help if even he could do anything, and there was not much they could do. They were lucky that Sandy managed to find his way back to them, but North wasn't like Sandy. He was not immortal. He only aged at a slower rate than a normal human, which technically made him vulnerable to fall into the abyss that was death. She still followed Jack but only to comfort him and to not raise his expectations any further.

Jack ran as fast as he could to get back to Sandy and North. He would've flown at top speed, but they were underground. So, Wind wasn't as strong as it was on the surface. As soon as Jack reached the spot where North was hit, he stopped short and gasped when he saw that no one was there. North's body was gone, and so was Sandy! At first, the winter teen thought he was at the wrong spot. Maybe, he went too far and somehow missed them, or perhaps, he just panicked for no reason and simply didn't reach them yet. No, that couldn't be it. He looked around the area. He was at the exact spot he was in when Pitch shot that arrow at North. So…where were they?

"Sandy?!" Jack shouted as he looked around. "Sandy, where are you?!" No answer came from the Guardian of Dreams, so Jack tried again. "Sandy!" Again, there was no answer. What could've happened? Did Pitch trick them again? His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard the wings of a certain Guardian of Memories behind him. He turned around to face Tooth. "Where are they?"

"I'm not sure, Sweet Tooth," she said as she surveyed the area as well only to confirm that Jack was right. Sandy and North were nowhere to be found, "but it's alright. I'm sure Sandy got North out of here. Maybe he took him to back to the Pole to help him. Some of the yetis are trained medical professionals. Sandy probably figured that they could help North."

Jack looked down furrowing his eyebrows together. He actually remembered North telling him that one thing about the yetis. It made sense since North and the abominable snowmen worked with dozens of machines that could cause accidents. They would need a place for treating injuries. He didn't doubt that Sandy would do that for North. Of course, he would, but what could the yetis do if the Guardian of Dreams himself couldn't do much? "You…you're probably right, Tooth," he said. "That's got to be where they are."

Sandy hated the idea of leaving Tooth, Bunny, and Jack hanging in the Warren like that, but something had to be done to save North. He managed to purify the nightmare sand that injured the Guardian of Wonder, but for some reason, North still wouldn't wake up. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get North to open his eyes. So, he had no choice but to get their leader back to his yetis in the Pole's infirmary as soon as possible. Thankfully, Sandy didn't need to try to explain why their boss was on his sand cloud not moving and unconscious. Phil quickly got a few of his colleagues to bring in a stretcher for the man, and they all made a run for it into the infirmary.

The little man sat on the stretcher with North holding a rag on the gash on his stomach to stop the bleeding. The whole time, all Sandy could do was stare at his best friend sadly wishing that he could speak, so that he could tell North how much they cared about him and wanted him back, especially Jack. That boy needed him most of all, and now there was a possibility that he just left them for good. Sandy then shook his head as determination flooded back into his body. No, North was not going to leave them…not today. They were going to do whatever it took to save the Guardian of Wonder.

Soon enough, they made it into one of the rooms of the infirmary, and within seconds, the yetis moved North from the stretcher to the bed. As soon as he was on the bed, Phil gave Sandy a pair of scissors, and the little man knew exactly what to do. He ran the scissors up the shirt cutting it in half and opening it up. Another yeti placed two pads on North's bare chest while another powered up the AFib. Sandy backed away to let the yetis do their jobs. He hovered above them to get a better view since a few large yetis were already crowding North and attaching him to the AFib and an EKG and placing an oxygen mask on his mouth and nose. Once North was hooked up to the machines, one of the yetis garbled what sounded like a countdown and a "Clear!" and placed the paddles on North's chest. North's body suddenly jolted and fell back onto the bed completely still. The EKG showed nothing but a flat line representing North's still heartbeat.

Sandy crossed his fingers as he watched the yetis try again to bring North back. The yeti called "Clear!" and used the paddles again to shock the body. The body jolted again and fell back onto the bed.

Jack, Tooth, and Bunny all left Bunny's Warren after the Guardian of Hope restrained Pitch by tying him up and leaving him with the egg golems and rushed to the Pole. Again, Bunny wasn't too comfortable leaving Pitch alone in his home after what happened last Easter Sunday, but he knew he didn't have a choice this time. Sandy and the yetis were probably doing everything they could to bring North back to them, and they needed to be there for their friends no matter what. Jack and Tooth followed the Pooka through his tunnel all the way to the Pole. No one dared to speak a word as they dashed down the dark tunnel past a few of Bunny's walking eggs. After what felt like an eternity, the Guardians of Fun, Memories, and Hope finally came to the end of the tunnel and found themselves in the Globe Room.

The Guardian of Fun looked around the busy workshop only to see North's yetis still hard at work on the various toys. However, there was something different about them as they worked. They were hard at work, but he noticed every once in a while a few of them would look up at the double doors that led to the many hallways of the Pole as if they expected someone to walk into the Globe Room. It did not take rocket science to figure out that they were waiting for news on North's condition.

"Let's let them work," Bunny suddenly said. "Sandy had to have taken North to the infirmary. Come on!"

With that, the Guardians of Hope, Memories, and Fun took off and ran out of the Globe Room and down a few hallways to get to the infirmary. Jack and Bunny ran while Tooth flew right behind them. The winter teen's heart pounded as he raced with two of his fellow Guardians to get to their destination. There was no telling what they were going to find once they would reach it. Did the yetis succeed in helping North? Was North really and truly gone? Those were the only two questions running through Jack's head at the moment, and he could tell that Bunny and Tooth were thinking the same thing. It was written all over their faces.

He didn't have much time to ponder about it because next thing he knew, the three of them barged into the waiting room of the infirmary. Just as they went in, they saw the yetis walking out of one particular door that led to one of the many rooms of the infirmary. Jack absentmindedly took a step forward as he watched the little man and the abominable snowmen filing out of the room hoping to see a certain Guardian of Wonder behind them, but unfortunately, as soon as the last yeti walked out, he closed the door. Jack widened his eyes, felt his heart pound, and gripped onto his staff tightly. What did this mean?

"S-Sandy…?" he finally asked.

The little man turned around and saw his fellow Guardians standing there looking at him with fear and sadness, especially Jack. The poor boy actually looked like he was about to cry. Sandy sighed and created a series of symbols apologizing for leaving them so suddenly in the Warren.

"It's…it's okay, Sandy," said Jack, "but…where is he?"

Sandy didn't reply and instead gestured to the door the last yeti just closed. He didn't crack a smile as he pointed to it, which made Jack, Tooth, and Bunny more scared and worried.

"Can we see him?" Jack asked.

Sandy pointed to Jack only and nodded.

Bunny knew what Sandy meant and furrowed his eyebrows in concern. "Uh, mate, are you sure you want him going in there alone?" he asked standing next to Jack.

The little man solemnly nodded.

Jack was wary of going in there alone. There was no telling what kind of condition he would see North in. Sandy wasn't really giving any helpful hints as to whether he was alive or dead. So, it seemed like he had no choice but to go in that room and find out for himself. "Don't worry, Bunny," he said to the Pooka. "I'll be okay. I don't think he would want me in there if he didn't think I could handle it."

"We're right out here if you need us," Tooth said placing her hands on his shoulders.

Jack smiled and gently patted her hand before walking toward the door. After taking one more look at Bunny, Tooth, Sandy, and the yetis, he opened the door keeping his head down afraid of what he might see. It took him a moment, but he finally gained enough courage to look up. When he did, he gasped and let his staff slip from his hand and fall to the floor.

Author's Note: Alright! That was Chapter 25, guys! I hope you all liked this one! To find out what Jack saw, you will need to check out CHAPTER 26! But just a little forewarning, I'm going to be away this weekend, so I will try to get the chapter up before that, but if I don't, you will find it on Monday! Thanks again, guys! And don't forget to review!