A/N : Woaaa, thanks for all the new reviews / favourites and follows! You guys are great! ^_^

The butt-kicking will happen in the next chapter, you have to put up with the guardians being worried and trying to get some information out of Jack for the time being.


Jack was mildly confused. When had he gotten in this room? Who had patched him up? Why was a yeti sitting at his desk doing paperwork and rushing out of the room right after noticing he was awake? And why the hell wasn't he wearing his hoodie?

More questions were spinning in his head but he had no chance to mentally articulate them as the door was ripped open. The teen almost jumped out of the bed at the loud bang of wood against the wall and looked at the familiar large man who had entered. Two pairs of equally wide eyes stared at each other until Father Christmas blurted out in sheer happiness.

"Jack! Finally, you surely have taken your time!"

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked uncertainly.

As soon as the words had left his mouth he coughed and flinched about how hoarse his voice sounded. His throat felt dry and sore after not having used it for a while.

"Easy there, my boy. You have given us quite a scare."

Again the white-haired teen shot a questioning look at the Russian Santa but he ignored it and turned to a yeti who had just joined them. Jack didn't understand everything which was being said because he went through another coughing fit. What he could hear was "Activate Northern Lights" and "cold drink". After the furry creature had left North took a chair and sat down next to the bed.

"Would you mind telling me what happened?" Jack whispered to not strain his voice more than necessary.

"I would like to hear that from you, but we will have to wait till the others arrive. I promised them." the old guardian explained calmly, looking like a weight had been taken off his broad shoulders.

"Uh, okay..."

Jack slowly shifted into a sitting position and rested his back against the fluffy pillow. The burns were still stinging unpleasantly, but he could deal with it. At least it didn't feel like his skin was being ripped off anymore.

"North?"

"Yes?"

"Can you give me back my shirt? I feel kinda naked without it." the teen explained and blushed faintly.

"Oh, well, I have good and bad news about that."

Jack raised an eyebrow at the statement and sighed.

"Alright, I'll take the bad ones first."

"It was ruined beyond repair, even yetis didn't manage to fix it."

Great, that was his favourite, not to say only, shirt. It might have sounded stupid, but since he never had much he got very clingly to the few things he called his own. And he had worn that hoodie for decades, it would be pretty annoying to get used to something else.

"But they re-produced it, so you have a new version of your old shirt." North winked.

When Jack had moved to the Pole the Russian had filled his wardrobe with all kinds of different clothes, but the teen had refused to wear any of them. After he had tried in vain to persuade him he accepted that the winter spirit didn't want to change his outfit. So instead of taking the chance to force him to wear something new now he had told the yetis to copy the damaged hoodie.

The famous crooked smile graced the young man's face and North had to grin as well as he made his way towards the dresser and took an exact replica of Jack's hoodie out of it. He walked back to the boy, handed it over to him and took his seat next to him again.

Jack examined the garment, it had the same colour and the same cut, but didn't look worn out or old anymore. Without further hesitation he pulled it over his head and adjusted it, immediately liking how soft the new fabric felt on his skin.

"Do you like it?"

"Yeah, it's great. Thank you!" Jack smiled gratefully and leaned back against the big pillow behind him once more.

A jingle coming from the floor alerted the two guardian's of an elf's presence who held out a mug to his master. North grabbed it and the little helper saluted before he dashed out of the room again.

"Here, you need to drink." he explained and pushed the mug into Jack's hands.

"Thanks."

The frost teen took a small sip to check the content. It tasted sweet with hints of herbs so he assumed it was a kind of ice tea. Liking how the cold fluid felt as it flowed down his sore throat he emptied the rest of the mug in one go. When he was done there was a short awkward silence hanging in the room.

"So...any idea when the others will arrive?"

"Shouldn't take them long anymore, I bet they will show up here any-"

North wasn't able to finish his sentence as the door was slammed open ( Jack really wondered how it was still hanging in its hinges by now ) and a flash of green feathers was shooting towards the bed-ridden guardian and capturing him in a tight embrace.

"Jack! Oh we were so worried about you, don't you ever dare to scare us like this again, you hear me?! How are you feeling? Are you still in pain? You look paler than usual, has North already offered you something to drink and eat? You need to gain strenght to heal and-"

"Tooth, I'm fine, really. Sorry for...worrying you guys." he said and gently pushed the fairy away from him.

At the moment he felt overwhelmed by all the attention, concern and pity he received during the few minutes he had been awake. Bunny and Sandy had joined them barely five seconds later than the hummingbird-hybrid and were currently eyeing him with the same look everyone had blessed him with so far. Torn between shock, worry and relief.

"Oh, sweet tooth, there's nothing you have to apologize for." the only female of the group assured him and tried to smoothen his hair which was even more messed up than usual.

Jack tried to back away but the fairy continued to ran her tiny fingers through his white locks.

"Crickey, Tooth, stop fussin' around him, he's alive and will stay that way unless ya wanna smother him ta death with affection." the pooka eventually blurted out and was met with a pair of offended but also embarassed purple eyes.

The telling-off had accomplished its purpose though and and the Guardian of Memories floated a few feet away from the winter spirit, suppressing the urge to also check if his teeth were alright.

Sandy watched the scene from the background, silent as ever, and formed a dreamsand snowflake, a checkmark and a question mark once Jack glanced in his direction. Another sigh left the teen's mouth.

"Yes, I'm really alright, never felt better actually."

He lied and everyone knew it. The four ancient guardians exchanged suspicious looks with each other, unwillingly increasing the aggravation which slowly started to build up inside of him. All he had wanted to do was sleep and give his damaged body time to heal and not wake up to be stared at like an animal in the zoo. It was nice that they cared about him that much but...he just wasn't used to it and he was at a loss at how to deal with the situation.

"Riiight." Bunny replied with dripping sarcasm and ignored the grumpy glare he was receiving.

Just as he wanted to propose the question which was haunting everyone of them Jack beat him to it by requesting answers to the things spinning around in his own mind.

"Does anyone care to tell me what happened? I don't quite know how I got here..."

North stared at him in suprise but that glint of concern was still apparent in his eyes.

"You don't remember at all?"

"Not really...all I can recall is that I arrived at the workshop and stumbled upon Bunny and you and then..." the winter spirit lowered his gaze towards the blanket covering his legs, "there was so much pain and suddenly everything went black."

There it was again, that awkward silence he seriously dreaded by now. Finally the Russian Santa cleared his throat and started explaining.

"Well, you collapsed in globe room. Bunny carried you to your room and we took care of your injuries. You passed out during the process and have been asleep ever since."

"Oh." the frost teen remarked lamely.

"How long have I been out?"

"Today is third day."

"WHAT?!" Jack shouted and immediately regretted it when he felt his throat ache.

"No way I'm gonna stay here any longer, I have snow and blizzards to spread!"

He began getting up even though his body protested against it but was pushed back into his sitting position by two huge beefy hands.

"You won't leave until you have recovered completely." North stated firmly.

"Ugh, for the hundreth time, I am fine!"

"Oh, really?" the Cossack challenged.

Even though he didn't want to hurt the boy, desperate times called for desperate measures. Jack gasped as a big finger poked his semi-healed back.

"Ouch! Hey, was that really necessary!?"

"Apparently it was."

"North!" the tooth fairy hissed in dissapproval.

"Sorry, but I think I made point clear."

The Guardian of Fun, who was currently in no funny mood at all, humphed and had to admit his defeat. With crossed arms he leaned back against the pillow and glared daggers at noone in particular.

"Enough of the blabbering, mates, it's time for a straight talk." Bunnymund interjected when he had finally gotten fed up with the smalltalk and stared at the sullen winter teen.

"Jack, who did this to ya? I think it's about time ya tell us what happened."

Sapphire blue eyes softened and the grumpy expression changed into what seemed like pure discomfort with a hint of fear. The young man bit his lip and wished he had his staff in his hands so he could hold onto it for comfort but it was leaning on the opposite side of the room. Unreachable for him right now. Even though he didn't look at them he could literally feel their expectant gazes burning a hole through him.

"It doesn't matter, can't make it undone and I'm alright so let's just go on with our lives."

"Jack..."

"Telling you wouldn't make a difference except you guys worrying for no reason at all so really, just forget it."

"No reason at all? Mate, ya were burned and beaten up until ya collapsed, I really don't think that qualifies as 'no reason at all'!" Bunny shouted as he lost patience with the reluctant teen.

"Still, it's my business."

"Oh I don't think so."

"Then you're wrong."

"Has anyone ever told ya what an annoying stubborn lil' brat ya can be?"

"Yep, rings a bell."

Furry arms where thrown in the air as a very frustrated Guardian of Hope walked a few steps away from the source of his upcoming headache and tried to calm himself down before he would do something he might regret later. Why did the kid have to be so damn stubborn?!

Just when the young winter spirit was sure he had successfully gotten out of this the other three guardians were closing in just a little more. Several pairs of eyes were focused on him, though a lot gentler looking than the aggravated kangaroo, and he realized this wasn't over yet.

Tooth was the first to speak.

"Jack, please...I know you feel uneasy about telling us but we would be even more worried if we didn't know what happened. You trust us, don't you?"

North and Sandy mentally clapped their hands. The only female of the group really knew how to play her cards right and judging from the look on Jack's face she had hit a nerve. The white-haired boy had no idea what to do or say, except of telling them what they inisted on hearing. Any rejection would result in them feeling hurt and that's the last thing he wanted. He was trapped in a tight corner with only one way out. North seemed to notice his inner turmoil and put a comforting hand on the frost teen's shoulder, careful not to touch the still healing injury.

"You're one of us now so you don't have to keep things that bother you to yourself. You can tell us."

Jack watched as Bunny approached the group again, anticipation written all over his face while the others gave him reassuring smiles and waited for him to say something. The young guardian sighed softly.

Would be best to just get over with it.

"Well, I...had an unpleasant encounter with two other spirits. They never liked me and it was mainly my fault anyway that they got mad...so, yeah, that's it basically."

"Wait a second, it wasn't just one but two people who attacked ya? And what d'ya mean, it was yer fault?" Bunny blurted out.

His blood was boiling. Two against one was outrageous already, but two clearly more experienced and older beings teaming up against the youngest spirit of them all made his fur stand on end. And still the boy was blaming himself.

"Yeah... I interfered in their season so they were pretty pissed off and got me back for it."

"What did you do?" Tooth spoke quietly.

"Jamie wanted snow badly. The kid really can't wait for winter to start and I hated to dissappoint him whenever he asked me when it would finally be ready. So I gave Burgess an early snow day and spent it with him, Sophie and their friends. I know it's too soon but the snow will have melted by now so it shouldn't have mattered but...they thought I did it to irritate them and didn't believe me when I explained why I did it."

North's eyes narrowed in anger. He had seen the wounds on the teen's body and all that just because of a bit of snow? Were those spirits totally out of their minds?

"Jack...who are 'they'?"

There was a moment of hesitation before he replied.

"Why does it matter? What happened happened, I learned my lesson and won't spread snowfall outside my season again. Should have know it was a bad idea, after the blizzard of '68 and all..." he smirked to lighten the mood, to no avail.

"But I didn't beat ya into a bloody pulp, mate. So please, finally tell us who the bastards are." Bunny insisted, trying in vain to hide how furious he was.

It was clear as daylight that he wouldn't be left alone until he revealed the names of his attackers. Jack sighed and hoped he wouldn't regret this afterwards. He felt like snitching about how mean some bullies were towards him. With a deep breath he spilled the beans.

"Sam Hain and Flann MacHarvest."

There was a collective murmur going through the room. Everyone knew that the Spirit of Halloween wasn't exactly a nice fellow to be around and the Spirit of Autumn had a reputation of taking his job a little too serious, like a gardener who would kill snails in his beets with a machine gun right away. Jack surely had a talent for enraging the wrong people.

That didn't mean they would get away with it.

"Well, I think we gotta pay 'em a visit." Bunny decided and cracked his knuckles.

The young guardian totally ignored the uncommon protectiveness of the furry Australian and shook his head frantically.

"No! Just...leave it be, okay? You'll only make it worse, I've dealt with it in the past and I can deal with it in the future, I'll...I'll just stay out of their way."

Refreshed concern appeared on the four guardian's faces.

"You mean...they attacked you before?" Tooth asked, fearing the answer but needing to know anyway.

"Pumpkin-head did it the first time now but the autumn jerk...he's haunting me every 50 years roughly...guess he needs to blow off some steam once in a while." Jack shrugged.

"I've got to ask you something else." North said earnestly and the frost teen didn't like the sound of it at all.

"Bunny and me saw the burns and the scratch on your head but...did they do anything else?"

"W-what makes you think that?"

"Like I said, you've been asleep for almost three days and that speaks for more damage than the one which is visible on you."

"Mate, stop being so uptight and just tell us what happened." the pooka urged, being fed up with having to pull every tiny bit of information out of the kid.

"They tied me to the ground and broke my staff, okay?! I passed out and when I came back to my senses they were gone and I fixed it but it was a lot harder to do than the first time and I felt really really drained afterwards and barely made it back to the Pole. Are you happy now or is there anything else you need to know?"

The last sentence was more of a challenge than anything. He didn't know why he suddenly felt so angry, maybe it was frustration about the current situation or the simple fact that he was ashamed beyond imagination. Months ago he had successfully battled the Nightmare King and now he was being defeated by two ordinary spirits. This should have never happened, he should have fought back more, shouldn't have allowed them to break his staff, shouldn't have provoked the whole incident in the first place.

"I-I'm sorry guys..." Jack apologized as he realized that he shouldn't have talked to the other guardians like this and ran pale fingers through his messy hair.

"It's just that...no offence but it's none of your business. I can deal with this on my own."

"Well, apparently you can't." Bunnymund mustered him, not willing to give in.

"I always did!" the winter teen snapped back. "It happened in the past and it will happen again, but it's my problem. I'm no little kid, you don't have to watch out for me, alright?"

Everyone was at a loss for words. Not because they agreed with him but because they realized further arguing would be useless. There was no way to convince a stubborn winter spirit that he was wrong. Especially not when his current physical condition contributed to his edgy mood. Maybe he would be more reasonable once he had calmed down and fully recovered again.

The sandman floated in front of the group and formed a golden sand snowflake followed by "Zzzzz" over his head.

"No, I don't wanna sleep. I'm not tired at all and don't you dare to sprinkle your dreamsand on me, Sandy."

The annoyance was clear as day in Jack's voice as he felt a headache sneaking up in the back of his head. All that arguing and explaining, he was sick of it. But he had been in bed for days already, the last thing he wanted to do right now was sleep even more. He wanted to fly off, throw himself in a snow bank or even better, visit Jamie. Have fun to get his mind on something else.

While Bunny stood at the far end of the room, trying to control his temper because he wasn't sure if he was angrier at Hain and MacHarvest or the frost teen himself for his blasted mulishness, Tooth flew forwards and tried to soothe the aggravated teen.

"Is there anything else we can do for you, Jack? Would you like something to eat? You must be hungry." she asked in a motherly tone.

The young spirit relaxed visibly. Thank Man in the Moon that the nerving interrogation was finally over and the topic changed to something far more pleasant. Food was definitely a good option.

"Now that you say it." he remarked and rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Some cookies would be nice. The ones with the sugar coating."

A cuckle escaped his mouth when the tooth fairy flinched and gasped in sheer terror, her eyes as wide as they could possibly get.

"Anything but those! Sugar is dangerous for your perfect white teeth, it will make them rot and cause cavities and oh my God, I don't even want to imagine that!"

"But, but..." Jack started and gave her the best puppy look he could come up with. "I'd really like those cookies now. I promise I'll brush and floss my teeth afterwards. Pleaaaase?"

Tooth cooed and the other three males in the room shook their heads in amusement. The Guardian of Fun really knew how to twist her around his little finger.

"Fine, but I'll check your teeth later."

"If need be...I'll do anything for cookies." he grinned.

Finally, they had longed to see that sincere smile on their youngest comrade's face again. North laughed and called an elf who was just passing by the door to bring a plate of sugar cookies as quickly as possible.

"Don't worry, soon you'll be roaming the planet again, but for time being you need to take it slow." the Russian explained.

"How long?"

"Hhm...I'll need to check how burns on your back are healing first. But I think three more days of confinement to bed and you'll be fine."

"Three more days! Oh come on, North, I-"

"No."

"But-"

"No 'buts'! Now you either accept my decision or there won't be any cookies for you."

That threat was enough to make the winter teen shut up and put up with his situation. He seriously wanted those cookies.


After Jack had devoured a whole plate of cookies in record time and was given another mug of herbal ice tea Sandy managed to sneak up on him and sent him into a peaceful slumber.

Together with the other three guardians he walked down to the globe room to further discuss what they were going to do now.

"We can't just let 'em get away with it! You've seen the burns, that's nothing ta be casual about! And they broke his staff, who knows what that did to the kid's body!" Bunny shouted furiously.

"You really do care about Jack, do you?" the tooth fairy stated with a gentle expression on her face.

The pooka felt like she had spilled an outrageous secret to the world. Maybe he really had been sloppy at keeping his emotions under control recently.

"No! Yes! I mean-...Crickey, the kid is family!" he blurted out.

Tooth smiled at him knowingly but the anthropomorphic rabbit just resumed his usual grumpy behaviour and crossed his arms.

"So, what are we gonna do now?"

"As much as I would like to punish those two for what they did, I think we should do what Jack told us. He doesn't want us to interfere and we should respect that." the hummingbird-hybrid replied.

"What do you think, Sandy?"

A golden scale appeared over the Guardian of Dreams' head, the weights on each side balancing each other. He wasn't sure what the best decision would be. On the one hand he would have prefered to beat the living daylights out of the autumn and Halloween spirits, on the other hand he feared it would only increase their hatred towards Jack and cause them to attack him even more.

"North?"

The big Russian seemed to be in deep thought when Tooth's voice snapped him out of it.

"Actually I have to agree with Bunny."

The confession was so suprising that he got the undivided attention of everyone in the room.

"Even though I understand Jack's worry I can't let matter rest. They will continue to attack him once they find another reason for it, we can't allow that. I don't want to sit here and wait for next time he'll stumble into the workshop and collapse. If we don't get involved they'll hurt him again. But if we get involved chances are higher they won't lay a hand on him anymore. Should they decide to punish him for it then they had their fair warning and we'll have to take more drastic measures. What is obvious is that we can't ignore what happened."

No one dared to question what those "drastic measures" would be. The determined and serious look in North's eyes said it all. Whatever it was, it definitely wouldn't be pretty.