Finding his way to the action, if it could even be called that, was far easier than Jack thought it would be. The winds were still ragged and unstable, and Jack was tossed around like a rag doll as he flew over the roofs of Burgess. He definitely didn't have as much control over the as he usually did, which likely meant that Eve was still around. She had more control over the wind than he did, after all, and would likely lead back to her. So, in the end, he decided to just let it take him whereever it was headed.

He narrowly avoided crashing into a few chimneys and solid walls as he hurtled through the air, tossed to and fro by the wind. It briefly passed his mind that maybe he ought to keep out of sight if he didn't want to be stabbed again, and noticed he was nearing the center of town. For a moment he was curious about the silence, when a bloodcurdling screech nearly knocked him out of the air. Jack bit back a holler of shock as the winds suddenly lightened, sending him in a dead plummet down towards the rooftops. As he fell he positioned himself properly with his staff (he'd fallen plenty of times before; he knew the procedure) and managed to get just enough control to cushion his landing on a sloped roof.

Jack grunted softly as he hit and nearly rolled off, but spread his limbs and eventually slid to a halt right at the edge. He allowed himself a small sigh of relief and shook himself to get rid of the lingering disorientation. He'd been lucky. A straight fall to the ground wouldn't have been good for him.

He took a few breaths and looked around.

"What was that scream?" he asked himself quietly. "It was somewhere close to here..."

The skies were clear, apart from snow being whipped around by the wind. The streets were empty and dead silent. That was strange. Even though it was past midnight on Christmas, there were bound to be at least a few people stumbling out of bars or something. The stillness was unnerving, and Jack had expected it to be a bit noisier, if only because Eve was wreaking havoc. He frowned. Did this mean she wasn't really around? Then why were the winds so difficult, if she wasn't? Maybe it was just him. He had only just gotten his powers back, after all; it wasn't a bad bet to assume he just hadn't gotten full control over them yet. Still, the paranoia wouldn't leave him alone.

He stood up slowly, taking care to not topple off the roof. The winds died down a bit and, when he strained his ears, Jack could faintly hear voices. He crawled up to the top and looked down into the street. The darkness made it difficult to see anything, but he could just barely make out two silhouettes outlined by the moonlight. Jack squinted, and found that one of them wasn't touching the ground and the other had long rabbit ears. Suddenly feeling much more optimistic about his situation, he silently jumped into the air and hurriedly flew to a closer rooftop as to hear what they were saying.

"-thought we were supposed to keep our bloody voices down," Bunnymund whispered. "Who knows what's around here right now?"

Jack smiled to himself and scooped up a handful of snow.

"I couldn't help it!" Tooth insisted. "I'm just really on edge right now. And we haven't even seen anything! No Eve, no Jack, nothing!"

Bunnymund let out a long breath. "I know, I know. But we have to keep our heads. We could get attacked out of the blue or-"

He was cut off by a snowball flying out of the darkness and hitting him in the face.

Bunnymund swore loudly and stumbled back, wiping snow out of his fur, and Tooth shrieked and looked around in bewilderment. Jack burst into laughter and dropped down from the roof.

The two other Guardians let out identical yells of shock when they saw him, and that amused the winter spirit even more. He knew everyone's reactions were going to make him laugh.

Jack grinned cheerily, "Hey there!"

After a long moment of silence and gaping, the two shook themselves and made a heroic effort to get their minds in order.

"You're late," Bunnymund snapped finally, crossing his arms.

Tooth looked very worried. "You're covered in blood!"

"Where the hell were you?"

"And...and you're back to normal!" Tooth's eyes widened and a bright smile spread across her face. "You're back to normal!" she said again, with more excitement. She moved forward to hug him, eyed the dark crimson stain on the front of his hoodie, and backtracked so quickly it was almost comical.

"We'll save that for later," she laughed nervously. "Are you alright?"

Jack stared flatly at the Easter Bunny. "Hey, see, Tooth has her priorities in order. It's nice to see you too, kangaroo."

"Can it, Frostbite." Bunnymund rolled his eyes, then moaned, "Fine, fine. Nice to see you. I don't suppose you're going to answer the question, though?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely..."

Tooth sighed as the two fell back into their usual banter. Nothing had changed at all.

"Jack," she said tiredly, and the winter spirit cut off and had the decency to look sheepish.

"Sorry," he apologized with a small smile. "I'm fine, really. Just a little sore here and there, and I'm really tired, and also kind of feel like I'm about to explode."

"Explode?!"

"Not in a bad way!" Jack raised his hands defensively. "I swear, it's not bad! I just feel like how I do when I bottle up my magic for a long time. Which I have been doing, I guess, in a way. I need to go out and make a blizzard or two, and then I'll be completely better. Promise." He rubbed his eyes. "It'll probably have to wait, though. I'm worried-"

"Jamie and his family are fine," Tooth interjected, seeing where this was going. "We found them in the woods and took them to North's place."

Jack's shoulders visibly relaxed. "Good. Thanks a lot, you guys. I owe you one. I have some questions of my own now, though."

"Figured you would," Bunnymund replied. "What is it?"

"If the Bennetts are fine, where's Eve? Did you find her at all? I heard a scream as I was coming down here and thought someone was dying or something."

Bunnymund and Tooth exchanged a glance, then Tooth said, "It's really strange. We thought we saw her earlier, and the Bennetts thought definitely thought she was coming after them when they ran into the woods, but we've been looking around for ages and haven't caught a glimpse of her at all. It's like she just vanished into thin air. And, uh..." She coughed awkwardly. "That scream earlier was me. I thought something was sneaking up behind us, so..."

"So your solution was to scream?" Jack struggled to contain his laughter as Tooth's face flushed pink with embarrassment. "It knocked me out of the air. That's pretty shrill, don't you think?"

"Be nice," she muttered, swatting his arm.

Jack cleared his throat and fell back into concentration. "Why is Eve gone, though? That doesn't make any sense. Are you sure you didn't just miss her along the way?"

"Pretty sure, mate," Bunnymund answered. "I have a feeling she wouldn't just give up the chance to rub her 'victory' in our faces. And you know, it might be a good thing that she's not around for you to get in a fight with. You're practically swaying on your feet." He raised his eyebrows at the winter spirit, who looked exhausted and was tilted visibly to one side.

Jack blinked and immediately stopped leaning on his staff for support. "Am not. I'm just tired, is all. I did want a fight though. This all seems too easy and anticlimatic."

"Anticlimatic?" The Pooka grinned. "You clearly read too much, using a word like that. Not everything is going to end with a bang, not even situations like this.

"Hey, I got stabbed. I think I'm entitled to one good hit at her. Just one. After everything that's happened, it really seems like this is ending too fast." Jack rubbed his eyes. "I dunno, I guess I just keep expecting Eve to pop out of the shadows and do me in again. God, I want to punch her."

"Maybe someone else stepped in and took care of her?" Tooth suggested, ignoring the last comment. "I don't know who it might have been, but I think it makes things easier for us. Nobody's going to get done in," she added with a small smile.

Jack shrugged and mumbled, "Still wish I could hit her..."

"Who knows? Maybe you will be able to," the fairy smiled. "For now, should we head back up to the North Pole? Jamie and the others are probably worried."

Jamie was worried. Very much so, in fact.

It had been over an hour and a half since they'd been dropped off at Santoff Clausen, and he was getting very restless and jittery. What was taking them so long? Baby Tooth had flown in earlier, looking extremely irritated and put out. Jamie guessed aloud that she had been sent back for some reason, and she'd nodded moodily in confirmation. He wanted to know why she was back, but her inability to speak or write put their attempts to communicate at a standstill. It was frustrating beyond belief, and Jamie felt like he was about to die from the anticipation.

The other members of his family seemed to be faring better than him, at least. One by one they had succumbed to the wonders of Santoff Clausen, wandering around and taking in everything they could. Jamie wondered why he was not doing the same; after all, he was the one most known in his family and among his friends for loving magical things and believing in them with all his heart. But for some reason, he was still sitting in the same armchair he'd slumped down in upon arriving at the workshop. He wasn't marvelling at the massive tree in the globe room with his uncle and David, nor was he having fun bunting the elves around like Amy and Chris seemed to be doing with Sophie. He just sat, twisting the hem on his nightshirt as he watched Baby Tooth snuggle in with Brianna, who hadn't moved from her seat as well.

It was a funny thing, the way Baby Tooth had latched onto his older cousin. None of them could explain it when the little fairy had flown in, cast a dark look around the room, and immediately made a beeline to Brianna. Brianna herself was absolutely bewildered and she'd gotten a large amount of teasing from Amy, but Baby Tooth had refused to move from her spot on the teenager's lap. Jamie suspected it to be the reason why Brianna hadn't gotten up to look around the workshop with the others. She didn't want to disrupt Baby Tooth, who had fallen asleep in her hands. As he watched, Brianna softly stroked the fairy's green feathers with a thinly-veiled look of wonder on her usually frowning face.

Jamie sighed heavily and looked out the window for the millionth time, suppressing a groan when all he saw was, as usual, the snow swirling in the darkness. He believed the Guardians when they said Jack would be fine, but that didn't make the wait any easier. He thought about getting up to go ask North if he'd seen or heard anything, but the large Russian had all but vanished. Eventually a yeti hurried past the door, but North was nowhere to be seen. Had something happened? Jamie felt apprehension curl in his stomach. Maybe something had happened and North hadn't told them? A thousand possibilities swirled through Jamie's mind and he dropped his head into his hands. His imagination was just making things worse.

He sat like that for a while, listening to the crackling of the fire and the voices of his family in the main part of the workshop. Jamie wanted to join them, he really did, but he knew he wouldn't be able to make himself enjoy anything until Jack was there.

A sharp gasp caught his attention and he glanced up at Brianna, whose eyes were wide, staring fixatedly at a spot on the floor. Jamie followed her gaze and let out a holler as a tunnel opened up in the sitting room carpet and Bunnymund hopped out, followed by Tooth.

"Agh," she grimaced, brushing dirt off her feathers. "Your tunnels are always so dirty, Bunny."

"Not much I can do about that," Bunnymund replied crossly. He glanced around the room and noticed Jamie and Brianna, "Hey you two."

"You're back!" Jamie grinned, bouncing on his heels. Oliver and the others poked their heads through the door, curious at the source of the noise, and hurried in when they saw who it was.

"Bunny!" Sophie squealed, scurrying forward to hug the Pooka. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too," he chuckled, patting her head.

Jamie craned his neck to look behind them. "Where's Jack? Isn't he with you?"

Bunnymund glanced back. "Oh yeah." He called down the tunnel, "Did you get stuck or something? Need any help?"

"Not from you," a irritated voice snapped from the darkness, and Jamie's happiness spiked dramatically upwards when Jack's familiar white head popped out of the hole.

A/N:

To anyone who might have been looking forward to a big fight scene: I can't write those, sorry. I can't write them at all. So I took the easy route and everything will be explained next chapter. In fact, part of the reason I had trouble with this chapter was because I was trying to write this big fight scene and it just wasn't working. Nope.

Okay guys. Yes, I'm a horrible person for not updating in so long, and I said I would update Saturday and I didn't. But only the Saturday thing was really my fault! The rest of the time I was ridiculously stressed out with school and other matters. (I won't go into the details, just know that I'm surprised I haven't been crushed by the pressure.)

I can't promise quick updates. Please just understand that my situation isn't allowing me a lot of writing time right now. You don't need to be worried that it's over, because I will say something if it is. Trust me, this is the first story I've ever gotten close to finishing. When it's done, I'm going to make it a hell of a big deal.

You don't have to message me about updates, or sell your soul, or stalk through my other stories. You don't have to do any of that, because I know. I read every single review I get, believe it or not. There's only like two or three chapters left, anyway.

On the plus side I finally figured out goddamn single-line breaks. It took me two years and instructions from another person, but I finally got it. I was furious when I found out how simple it is.

Replies!

HatchDesu: Yeah, I know I didn't give Jack much of a chance, but the point was that he wanted Eve to go away without any problems aside from, well, his own death. Just being all "Hey, here I am!" was easier than trying to fight her off.

AOIFanNCRM: Let's just say that Jamie's mom changed their names to Bennett after her seperation from their dad. It must have been a hell of a nasty divorce, huh? I mean, my parents had a nasty divorce but I never felt the need to change my last name, so...yeah. Bad divorce.

Luna Awesomesauce 1012: How very eloquent. I'm proud of you.

agent000: You're the nicest reviewer I've ever gotten, so yeah. I actually saved your review and now I read it whenever I'm having a hard time. Thank you.

darkryubaby: Brianna is a nice name! I like it. And I dunno why that is, but I happen to like my OC Brianna. She's fun to write, and it's not like she's a bad person.

RandomKrazyPerson: BobaAddict and I have decided that I am her non-Asian, much taller, blonde, two-years-older twin sister who lives in Montana. Yeah. We amuse each other.

azwolfe: Is Pitch's daughter's name Seraphina? I must confess, I haven't read most of the books. I've just spoiled myself enough to know that she is his daughter.

Thanks to the many Guests, HatchDesu, Moriviv, Nika Nicolette, Ironic-Sarcasm, VasHappeninTeam, StayGoneStayClean, Kaylee, Renegade, Cool Cat, Guest Fan, snowflake1814, Soshoryu, Empty Thoughts, Awesomegirl, Link Fangirl 01, Arielle, Yami's Devil, khoathkeeper13, Here To Annoy, SilverSlickRaindrops, karasu99, Dragowolf, UnitedKingdomrules, HarmonySoundown, Wisteria Moonseed, Reid Phantom, CelticGirl7, Random Reader 17, bug349, StarStreakedSky, GhostGirl58, Nicole Worley, AutumnHoneyTea, Camelot Emrys, JackFrost, LovingAnime97, MechaBunny, Megadracosaurus, Alaia Skyhawk, LiviahEternal, Dark Inu Fan, Minimuffin18, LunaTheLoneWolf, TeddyBear98, feathered moon wings, KaiFudo16, hellraven-ovo, Mystery Girl Who Writes, Lovepuppy316, Aurum Le Greyhound, readandwrite4evernever20, Silver-09, Sora Tayuya, Q-A the Authoress, Sandblasted-Kitten, eeveefairysparkle, daughterofthehunt, and art chic 99.

Like I said before, everything will be explained next chapter. Everything. Mother Nature will get to speak and all that. Please, nobody give me crap about the quality of this chapter. I already know.