A/N: hey you guys :3 i just realized that this is the 25th chapter meaning that there are only a few chapters left D:

oh yeah and i seriously dont know if the plural of 'yeti' is yeti or yetis :I

Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.

Chapter Twenty Five

Sandy was at Jack's side in less that a second. He had heard the boy scream out in pain and then he went silent. When the guardian saw Jack, his eyes widened in fear when he saw Jack's stomach bleeding. Then his heart skipped a beat as a gash was cut down the side of Jack's leg ending at his knee. The wounds didn't seem that deep but they were still a major priority. With his heart racing, Sandy applied pressure on the stab wound while looking around for options. He wanted to wake up Jack and get him out of his nightmare but he also didn't want to worsen his condition. If he laid a finger on Jack's cold skin the boy would suck in as if Sandy's fingertips were a threat.

Jack's face was twisted in agony and pain and his teeth were clenched while his eyes were squeezed shut. They were still flying above the city, which meant that they were nowhere near the infirmary at the North Pole. There wasn't a hospital around which meant that Sandy had to fly everyone's sleeping body back. His decision of bringing the sleeping guardians with him was now proving to be foolish because Jack would have to wait hours before he could receive any medical help.

Knowing that he had to stop the bleeding somehow, Sandy got creative with what little he had. Jack's pants were already torn, it wouldn't matter if they became ripped right? They could always make Jack a copy of his pants like they did with his hoodie and besides, it was for an emergency.

Sandy carefully pulled Jack's pants off and using his dream sand to form scissors, he began to cut the cloth into strips. He discarded the blood stained fabric and used the clean ones to wrap around Jack's leg and stomach. It didn't seem to be affective since blood was still seeping out of Jack staining everything around him, but it was the only thing he could do. Sandy didn't have any medical supplies with him and he couldn't wake up Jack no matter how hard he tried. It pained Sandy at seeing Jack like this. It seemed like every few days the young spirit would go through his own personal torture ans no one could help him.

He didn't want to look away from Jack for a second, but he knew that he had to. Sandy turned his back on the injured spirit and rummaged through the pockets of North who was unaware of the events unfolding. Pulling out a small magical snow globe, Sandy had to face his next challenge. How could he command it where to go if he couldn't talk?

/

North scanned the area with his eyes. He was concerned about what had happened to everyone after the fog had separated them and then vanished. Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, he noticed that his body began to flicker like a light bulb about to die. "Hm?" he said looking at his hands in front of them as they began to fade. "Am I waking up?" he wondered to himself. Why would he be waking up? He was sure that it was early in the day where they were sleeping and they were all supposed to be in the dream helping out Jack where ever they could. Well, they weren't much of a help to him right now but they still had to try to look for him.

Did something go wrong? Is he just waking up on accident? What does Sandy need?

In the blink of an eye North disappeared from Jack's dream and woke up lying on a bed of dream sand floating high above a small town. The sun was up and the other three guardians were still asleep.

"What is it Sandy?" he asked. Sandy thrust the snow globe into North's hands and a picture of Santoff Clausen formed above his head as well as a few exclamation points.

"What happened is something-" North became silent as he looked over to Jack's body. He was becoming paler every second while his teeth and hands were clenched as if he was fighting back tears. Fresh blood was gushing out of a thin opening in Jack's leg and there was a small pool of blood under him as if someone had twisted a dagger into his stomach. His half healed burns were nothing compared to this and his breathing was slowing down while his clothes were being tinted with his blood and what happened to his pants? North whispered something in Russian under his breath as he looked over to Sandy.

"Right, to the North Pole!" North commanded into the magic snow globe as he opened a portal in the air. Sandy wasted no time in transporting the clouds of dream sand they were on through the rift and into the infirmary of the North's workshop.

"Move him onto one of the beds but be very careful."

Sandy nodded and gently rose Jack's sleeping body onto a bed. Jack seemed to wince in pain when his body was moved but his head turned left and right as he was trapped in his nightmare. North had been anxious about Jack ever since they found out that Pitch was torturing him, but now he was feeling a concoction of emotions. There was fear, anxiety, worry, sadness,shock, and anger. How dare Pitch do this to Jack. How dare he harm the newest and youngest guardian like this.

North couldn't let his emotions get the better of him right now, Jack needed all of the medical attention he could get. Calling in specially trained medical yetis, North barked orders to them. Sandy watched as his makeshift bandages were removed from Jack's body. He may have just wasted Jack's pants, but Sandy had woken North up and he did inform him that they needed to get to the infirmary. Sandy didn't even think about Tooth and Bunnymund who were still asleep. They were completely unaware as they slept in a corner on the floor where Sandy had landed the dream sand.

Jack's wounds were still bleeding and he wasn't waking up. All they could do was wipe away his blood unless they patched him up in the dream. Even if they did that there was no telling what would happen to him.

/

"Pathetic." Pitch said tossing Jack's bleeding body onto the ice. It would take a few days for Jack to recover and he only had a few days until his mind was weak enough for Pitch to control. Jack grunted as Pitch gave Jack a swift kick in the ribs.

"Oh and here's a message for the other guardians, tell them that they must remember that I control your fate now."

Jack was in too much pain to speak. His stomach felt as if someone had shoved a smoldering hot railroad spike into him and his leg felt like it was being stabbed by a thousand needles. He could feel his sticky red blood cover his clothes like paint. The sky turned black and the waters became angry. Pitch ascended as the piece of ice Jack was bleeding on was struck by a wave. His body was like clothes in a washing machine as wave after wave of water thrashed around Jack. In all of his suffering, Jack did his best to keep a hand on his staff. He clinged onto it for dear life as Pitch made his dream torture him.

Jack cringe when his body slipped off the ice and into the water. He could only move one leg and his arms were sore and tired. His blood mixed with the ocean and Jack could feel the salty water sting every inch of his injured body.

Up above him Pitch was smirking as he watched Jack's body being thrown around in the ocean as if he was nothing. He out did himself this time. Jack was completely defenseless while tumbling through the ocean and there wasn't a guardian in sight. The guardian of fun was at the mercy of the nightmare king. Still, Pitch didn't want to antagonize Jack that much. He still needed Jack in one piece for his plan and if he killed him now it would be ruined. Besides, Jack only had twelve days left. That was a little bit over a week. With a snap of his fingers Pitch made the waters calm again. Blood dissolved into the deep blue as Jack floated on the surface like a piece of driftwood.

His entire body ached with each breath and he was too tired to panic so Jack was just laying in the water. Funny, he'd never thought that the only time he would be calm in such a vast amount of water would be after an attack by his enemy in his own dream. Jack barely had enough energy to even keep his fingers curled around his thin wooden staff. It was a miracle it hadn't snapped yet.

Blood continue to seep through Jack's clothes as he drifted away. He didn't even know where the current would lead him, but he hoped it would lead him to one of the guardians. Jack didn't care which guardian found him as long as they would help him. Still, Jack didn't want any of them to see him like this. Half of the blood was probably drained from his body making his skin as white as the snow he would bring.

Lost in his thoughts, Jack didn't notice that his staff was being carried away in the water.

/

Toothiana flew aimlessly through the dream. "Jack? North? Bunny? Can anyone hear me?" she yelled out. She had never been so frustrated in her life. Why did Pitch have to ruin everything? Tooth swore that the next time she saw Pitch, she would have to bring more quarters for all of the teeth she would knock out of him.

Flying over the endless ocean, something caught her eyes. Flying lower, Tooth gasped as tears formed in her eyes. Floating alone on the surface, was Jack's wooden staff.

She snatched it up out of the water. It felt so limp and weak and fragile as if it would shatter if it was dropped. If his staff was here, then Jack couldn't be that far right? Her heart felt like it would burst as Tooth's eyes looked around for any sign of Jack. She looked for a hint of his blue hoodie or for a sliver of his silver white hair or for a sign of his tan pants.

Tooth felt like she was about to cry over how worried she was. Her heart had shattered and the more she searched for Jack the more he was without his staff.