Mean Seasons 27 Broken Spirit 6

Tooth flew through the Pole, having done her rounds for the night. She was eager to see Jack after having been busy for two days. She went immediately to his room, opened the door slowly, so as not to disturb him if he was asleep, and peaked inside.

The shriek of the Tooth Fairy sent everyone else on alert.

North burst into the room, followed by Autumn, Sandy, and Bunny. The four had looks of horror plastered on their faces as they also gazed wide-mouthed at the site before them.

Jack's bed lay empty, with no sign of the winter spirit, and the soup by the table was gone, not a drop left.

"Search every inch of Pole!" North roared as he stomped through the Globe Room. "Every inch high and low! We must find Jack at all costs!"

"He couldn't have flown away could he?" T/ooth asked nervously, fluttering behind the giant globe.

"No way." Bunny pointed out, ducking and searching the door to the kitchen "His staff is still in his room. Snowflake can't fly without it."

They looked for a solid hour, and then, just when they were ready to rip up the floorboards and search Bunny's tunnels, a delighted squeal reached their ears.

"I found him! Come quick!"

They rushed to Autumns side, and to everyone's astonishment, the little Overland was pointing to where North kept the sleigh. Curious, the big man peered inside the favorited mode of transportation. When he looked back at the others, a gaze of wonder filled his eyes. "How did he get here?"

Tooth shoved him out of the way and took a look herself. "Oh Sweet Tooth..." She all but cooed.

Jack lay curled up in the bottom of the sleigh, surrounded by a small coating of ice, and moaning occasionally. He was awake, his stormcloud gaze shifting everywhere, not focusing on anything.

"What is he doing in sleigh?" North whispered. "More important...when did he get into sleigh?"

"Does it matter mate? The point is he actually got up and went somewhere, instead of lying in bed dying ta everything!"

"Now he is in sleigh dying to everything." North pointed out.

"You're missing the point, North." Bunny said "He wandered. He actually got up out of bed, gave us the slip and wandered. I don't know about you, but that is an improvement."

Tooth took this time to try to gather Jack into her arms "Improvement or not, he really shouldn't be out here."

Suddenly the air was pierced by a bloodcurdling scream, and Jack went from being dead weight to struggling against Tooth with all his might, screaming and hissing, biting and clawing until she dropped him. He then curled up in the snow, wimpering and hooing like a wounded animal, his dead eyes darting around until Sandy knocked him out with dreamsand.

Tooth picked him up again, and baffled but somewhat encouraged, the Guardians took him back inside. Autumn followed, and tucked him in when they laid him down in his bed again.

"We need to keep eyes on him always." North whispered.

"We can't. We all got jobs mate." Bunny said.

"I can." The little season said "My responsibilities don't start until next year."

She slipped her hand into Jack's limp one, cringing at the cold that encased her skin. Her brother was not in control of his powers right now, so they were stronger than ever. "Staff!" she squeaked. Tooth handed the staff to the little girl, and she touched it to Jack's hand. On instinct, he grabbed it, and some of the cold left her hand as his powers balanced out.

"He's awake." She said as the staff clattered to the floor. The little girl went to retrieve it, and North stopped her.

"Walk in front of bed." He whispered. Puzzled, Autumn did as he asked.

"Walk to right of bed."

Again she obeyed.

"Bunny, now you."

The pooka complied. North smiled widely. "All look at Jack. Now Autumn, walk to left of bed."

As Pippa walked to the other side of Jack's bed, all the guardians nearly cheered. As the small season moved to the right and left, the dull eyes of Jack Frost followed her pace for pace. No matter where she went, he followed her movements.

"Now Bunny."

The opposite happened. The eyes became dead, following nothing, seeming to stare into oblivion.

"Amazing." Tooth said "First he wanders, now he acknowledges Autumn's presence but doesn't respond top anyone else."

"Um Tooth..." North said "Move away from Jack."

The Tooth Fairy looked puzzled, then realized that her Sweet Tooth was looking right at her and his mouth was open in a feral snarl, his whiter than snow teeth bared, like he was going to bite her. His throat vibrated with a noise that can only be described as a growl of warning, and he curled up, as if to protect himself.

Pippa suddenly smacked him, making her brother veil his teeth and shrink into himself "Stop that!" she scolded, "Tooth isn't going to hurt you now be nice!"

Jack whimpered and closed himself off from them again, but his eyes never left Pippa. She smiled at him, the others funneling out as North called a meeting to discuss shifts for watching their youngest.

"You are in there somewhere, aren't you Jack." The little girl said with a grin, again gripping her brother's limp hand, then lifted the sheets and curled up next to him, like she had done many times before during storms or after nightmares. The only difference was that he was freezing, and she even got a layer of frost all over her. As she started to fall asleep, Autumn noticed shifts in the body next to her. She snuggled closer and fell asleep with a sigh.

Ever so slowly, Jack's arm curled around the small bundle huddled next to him, like it had done countless times before, pressing her close to his heart. Above his head, a spark of Dreamsand formed into an image of the siblings playing, before once again falling into golden specks of nothing.