Disclaimer: I do not own ROTG, it rightfully belongs to DreamWorks. I only own the plot and the OCs, details of whom can be found on my profile.

Links to all the songs/pieces/videos I have mentioned and information on all the OCs are on my profile.

Hey.

Okay, I'm really sorry... I know it has been a while since I last updated... And I'm sorry if the chapter isn't very good... Please don't kill me!

Just as a warning, I'm in my GCSE year, which means lots of revising for exams... Which means less free time... Which means less writing... So what I'm basically saying is that I may not be able to update as much as I'd like... Sorry about that. :'(

Talking of GCSEs... The piece Tara will be playing on the piano is one of the pieces that I have to study for my music GCSE... Just a fun fact for you ;).

Anyway, thank you to Twilight-lover106 and BadassEri90 for favouriting the story, thank you to ColdSnowGirl for following it. Also, thank you to the following people who reviewed:

Cat Lunanoff: Don't worry; Tara will get out of the nightmare... this time! Mwa ha ha ha ha!

Froster: I won't say if you're right or wrong... Sorry ;)

FantasyInfinity: Don't worry, Tara wakes up - Pitch can't keep her asleep for longer than she would normally sleep, so she'll wake up of her own accord in the morning. I'm glad you found the Google comment amusing ;). Just so that you know (I don't think I explained it very well), Pitch doesn't actually know about the Guardians' plans - Tara distracted him.


Chapter 29 - Dilemmas

Jack's POV

I awoke to the sound of piano playing, and realized that Tara must already be up. I checked the time - eight o'clock in the morning. I had slept for that long?

I leapt out of bed, and then yelped in pain and sat back down on the bed. I had trodden on something sharp. I looked to see a cut on the sole of my foot, and embedded in it was a piece of... Broken glass?

I removed it with a hiss of pain, waited a few minutes for the cut to heal, and checked the carpet for any more pieces. I found and picked up a couple more small shards.

After I disposed of them, I quickly had a shower, got dressed, and then left to see Tara. I found her, as I expected, in the piano room, playing the piano.

She was playing a piece that was rather low in pitch, with a heavy melody right at the bottom. I squinted and read the title of the piece - 'The Raindrop Prelude', by Chopin. I could see where it got its name - the low melody sounded like thunder, and higher up, a single note kept being repeated over and over, reminding me of raindrops.

Sensing me, she stopped playing and turned round. I noticed that there were faint shadows under her eyes - she looked tired. There was something about her... Something that told me that something wasn't right...

"Are you okay?" I asked her, concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine." She sounded cheerful, but her smile gave her away.

"No, you're not okay - you're giving me your 'I'm-pretending-that-I'm-okay-but-I'm-not-really' smiles."

"My what?" She looked rather confused.

"It's the smile you always use when you're trying to convince me that you're okay, when really you're not. So, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing," she said. "I'm fine - really. I'm just a bit tired."

"Did you get any sleep last night?" I asked, thinking of the shadows under her eyes, which had most definitely not been there when I'd last seen her.

"Yes, I slept all night."

"Then why have you got shadows under your eyes? If anything you look more tired than before."

"I just... Didn't sleep all too well."

I looked at her, skeptically. "Really?" Then a thought occurred to me - one that sent a chill down my spine. "Wait a second... Pitch uses you as a power source - what if he's doing that right now?"

"He isn't," she replied. "Not at this moment - I'm too far away."

"How can you be sure?"

"I just know. Trust me." She paused, and then said, cheerfully, "besides, we're not supposed to be worrying about any of that today - we're supposed to be having a 'good day', remember?"

I nodded. "You're right."

Clearly, whatever was wrong, she didn't want to talk about it. I was reluctant to let the matter drop, but I didn't want to push her.

She picked up her crutches and stood up, careful not to put any weight on her ankle.

"How is it?" I asked her, gesturing to it.

She shrugged. "No better, no worse."

"Eros was right then. You really aren't fully immortal yet."

"Does that bother you?" She asked.

"It worries me," I answered. "The fact that you heal at the same rate as a mortal makes you vulnerable - and Pitch will exploit that vulnerability, if he should get the chance."

"There's a lot of things Pitch is able to exploit, several of which he has exploited already," Tara pointed out. "One more isn't much to worry about."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"Well... He can read my mind, and he's used that to his advantage several times... Though he doesn't know any of our recent plans, so that's good..."

"How do you know that he doesn't know our plans?"

"I... I may or may not have taken a small trip into his mind to check..."

I looked at her worriedly. "You did what? Tara... What if he sensed that you were there?"

"Given the circumstances, he wouldn't have sensed me."

"Really? How could you be sure?"

"I just... I just was, okay?"

I was going to pursue the matter, ask her what 'circumstances' she was referring to and why she was so sure, but we were interrupted by a knock on the door.

North came into the room. "Ah, you two are up. I was going to ask if you wanted breakfast."

"Breakfast sounds good, thanks," Tara replied, looking relieved at the change in subject.

"In which case, come this way," North beamed.

He turned and walked out the room. Tara and I followed as quickly as we could without risking doing further damage to Tara's ankle.

Talking of damage... I suddenly remembered the broken glass I found in my room.

"North, I found some broken glass in my room," I told him, "only, I don't remember breaking anything."

"Ah... Well after your little 'encounter' with Pitch, your room was in quite a state. You had a glass of water in there, and that was smashed," North explained. "Sorry, I thought all the glass was cleared up - clearly a bit was missed."

"That's okay. I was just a little confused, that's all."

I thought about what he had said. I remembered that when Pitch had come to make a deal with me, he had thrown the cure, and I had thought it had smashed. I had heard glass smashing - yet the cure had been undamaged. The smash that I had heard - it must have been the glass of water all along!

We sat down to eat breakfast. It was already on the table, and we helped ourselves.

"North," Tara said between mouthfuls, "I've been thinking... I'm very aware of the fact that due to my ankle, I am unable to fight as I would normally. I'm aware that, should Pitch attack, this will make me vulnerable. I'd like to be able to, at the very least, defend myself, and... Well... Jack suggested that I asked you about learning to fight with a sword." Tara looked nervous and apologetic. "I'm sorry, I know it's really close to Christmas, but I don't mind if it's only a small amount of basic training, and if there's anything I can do to help with your preparations then I would be glad to do so, and-"

North's booming laugh interrupted her. "Tara, no need to worry or apologize. I think that it is an excellent idea, and it will be my pleasure to teach you all that I know."

Tara's face broke into a wide smile. "Thank you, thank you so much!"

I discreetly gave North a grateful look. I knew that the problem had been worrying Tara a lot, and being able to fight again would give her back some of her self-respect - though she had never mentioned it, I knew that not even being able to look after herself made her feel weak and I knew that she hated depending entirely on other people to protect the things she cared about.

After a few moments silence, I asked North where the others were.

"Sandy's off delivering dreams, Bunny's off checking that the Warren is in good shape, and Tooth is checking things are running smoothly at the palace." North replied.

It reminded me that I hadn't done my own duties in a while. Apparently this though had occurred to Tara too, as she said, "Do you need to go and make it snow in a few places?"

I shrugged. "That can wait until tomorrow."

"Really?" North looked doubtful. "Jack, it's been six days since you last brought snow anywhere."

"Four," I corrected. "I made it snow in my way to Burgess when I was looking for Tara."

"It's still been a while - you should probably go out. We need as much belief as we can get."

I looked at Tara, but, of course, she was being her usual self, thinking of others before herself. "North's right - you're only making life easier for Pitch by not giving the children a reason to believe."

"But what about you?" I asked, thinking of our plan to spend the day together.

"Don't worry, Tara will be kept occupied - training someone to use a sword takes a lot of time," North said. "If you come back mid-afternoon, you'll have time to visit Jamie and Christopher in Burgess as well."

It was definitely tempting - I hadn't seen Jamie since the night Tara died, and that had hardly been much of a visit. I did want to see him, and I guessed I wouldn't be too much use here at the Pole if Tara were going to be training with North, so...

"Are you sure you're okay with it?" I asked Tara.

She nodded. "Of course I'm sure."

We finished breakfast, and then I kissed her goodbye and left to go and do my duty as the Guardian of Fun.


Several hours later, I arrived in Burgess, after having visited half of Europe. I landed in Jamie's back garden, and knocked on the back door.

After a minute or so, he opened the door.

"Jack," he greeted, solemnly.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

He nodded and stood aside. I entered the house.

"I... I heard about Tara," Jamie said. "I'm sorry."

At first I didn't understand what he meant. Then I realized - he must have heard Cassie and Mel's story, meaning he must have hear about Tara's death as a mortal.

"I managed to work out what Cassandra was trying to say," Jamie continued. "There's something you might want to look into - she said that Tara was killed by the boogeyman - but she can't mean Pitch, can she? You said that Pitch couldn't gain strength for another thousand years at least."

"Tara's not dead," I told him. "The Man in the Moon made her immortal."

"It would have been nice to know that," Jamie frowned, glaring at me. "You could have told me."

"I didn't really get a chance - We all thought she was dead, at first, and then Pitch attacked North's workshop and used mind control to force her to try to kill me, and then-"

"Wait, what?" Jamie looked extremely confused. "Start from the beginning, and explain everything properly."

So I did. I told him about how Pitch had revealed that Tara was his daughter, how the other Guardians had believed that she had betrayed them, how I had tried to prove them wrong but had been too late to save her. I then told him everything that had happened since. I briefly skimmed over what Pitch had done to me when I was in his lair, trying to make it sound like it wasn't that bad, but Jamie knew me too well. He knew that what had really happened was much worse than what I was telling him. I finished by telling him that last night the Guardians had discussed what to do next.

After I finished, Jamie didn't say anything for a while, taking everything in.

"Does Christopher know about what happened to Tara?" I asked, by way of asking if Christopher thought that Tara was dead.

Jamie shook his head. "I was trying to work out how to break it to him. He really likes her - hearing that she was dead would have really upset him. I'm glad I don't have to tell him, now."

"What about Mel and Cassie?" I asked. "How are they?"

"Both are extremely upset - they've both been rather quiet, keeping themselves to themselves," Jamie replied. "That's unusual for them, particularly in Melody's case."

"You know them well?" I noticed that, from what he said, Jamie knew what was and wasn't usual behavior for them.

Jamie shrugged. "I'm a doctor - I know a lot of people. Melody and Cassandra, they had to come to me for regular appointments." His tone returned to being serious. "Cassandra's taking it the worst - and who can blame her? After all, she saw it happen - she's been traumatized."

"Poor kid..." I murmured.

Just then, said 'kid' walked into the room. She wore an extremely downcast expression, and her entire body radiated sadness and grief.

She saw me, and her eyes widened. "Jack Frost," she whispered in amazement.

I gave her a smile. "Hey Cassie."

She flinched at the nickname, though I wasn't sure why. "Hi," she said, nervously. She then craned her neck to take in my full height. "You're taller than I thought you would be."

I laughed. "I take it no one thought to tell you about my height then."

She shook her head. "A friend told me about what you do and all that, but... not about your height."

"Friend... You mean Tara?"

She nodded sadly.

I made up my mind then to try to tell her what had really happened at the lake. "I know Tara - I care a lot about her. The thing is Cassie... She's not dead."

"She is. I saw her die!" Tears fell down her cheeks.

"But then she was brought back to life - she's like me now, she's immortal."

Cassie shook her head. "No, she's dead. I saw her die, there's no way that she could come back."

With that she left the room. I turned to Jamie and apologized.

"You did the right thing," Jamie told me. "If she had believed you, she would feel a lot better, it would help her a lot. It's not your fault that she won't believe you."

"If I'd said something different then maybe..."

"No. Nothing you could have said or done would have convinced her. Not after what she saw." Jamie paused, thinking. "I'll try to convince her myself, but... I don't think it'll do much good."

I nodded. "Thanks. I hate to think that she's suffering for nothing. I know Tara would say the same thing."

"Talking of Tara... How is she?"

"Recovering from all that she's been through, but other than that, she's okay."

"All that she's been through..." Jamie sounded thoughtful. Then, he laughed, bitterly. "She didn't exactly have an good life as a mortal - you would have thought that after becoming immortal things would get better."

"Things will get better," I told him. "Once we've dealt with Pitch, things will get better."

"I hope you're right. She deserves a good, long, happy life."

"I couldn't agree more."

It was then that I noticed the time. I cursed. I didn't have much time to get back to the Pole.

Jamie noticed this. "I'm guessing you need to leave."

I nodded. "Sorry, I wish I could stay a bit longer, but if I'm not on time the others will worry."

"It's all right, I understand."

We walked to the back door and into the back garden. Just before I leapt into the air, I turned to him. "Jamie... Look after yourself, and the kids. I don't want any of you to get hurt, and I'm scared that Pitch might try to target you to get to us." By 'us', I meant myself, the other Guardians, and Tara. "Don't go out after dark and just... be careful."

Jamie nodded. "You too Jack."

I turned and took off into the sky, heading back towards the North Pole.


I landed on the balcony only a few minutes later than I had originally planned to, having flown a bit faster than I would have normally.

I entered the Globe Room, and instantly located North, who was studying the globe. When he saw me, his face broke into a smile. "Jack! You are back."

"Yeah, sorry I'm a little later than I said I would be."

"Is no problem," North reassured. "I knew that you would probably be late, so I wasn't too worried."

"What about Tara?" I asked, concerned. "I haven't got her worried, have I?"

North shook his head. "She is asleep - training like she was takes a lot out of you, and she was quite tired by the time we finished."

"How's she doing with the sword fighting?"

"Very well," North replied. "Sword fighting is not an easy skill to learn, and she had all sorts of disadvantages, but she is doing very well."

"Disadvantages?" I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the ankle is one - she can't move as quickly as she could normally, and learning the footwork isn't easy. Though it's lucky she broke her left ankle - it means that she can have maximum support by using her left crutch, and she can still use her sword hand. It also means that it's less likely to be 'exposed', so to speak; a lot of the time, the foot corresponding to your sword hand - in Tara's case, her right - is in front of the other. That will make it harder for her opponent to get a shot at her broken ankle." He paused for a moment. "There's also the slight problem of finding her a sword."

"You mean you don't have a sword that she can use?"

"No, I have plenty of swords. But each sword is different - some are heavier than others. Different people need different weights for them to fight well - it can't be too heavy for them, but it can't be too light either - to maximise their fighting abilities, their sword must be balanced. Unfortunately, I couldn't find Tara a balanced sword."

"Right. Will that be a problem in the long run?"

He shook his head. "No. I shall forge her a sword that is properly balanced."

"Is there anything we can do to help you with your preparations for Christmas?" I asked. "You've done so much for us, I want to do something in return - and I know Tara feels the same way."

"Possibly," North mused. "How good are you at wrapping presents?"

"Okay, I guess," I replied.

"Well that's a possibility." He told me.

I nodded. "Thank you."

"No, thank you for the offer," he corrected. "You'll be helping me, not the other way round."

I shrugged, and then turned to look at the Globe. What I saw made my heart sink.

"The lights - they're going out. Kids are stopping believing."

"Pitch is getting very strong. The stronger he gets, the more Nightmares he sends out, and the more children stop believing."

"But the more the children stop believing, the weaker we get, right?" I had never personally been in this situation before, due to always having had believers since becoming a Guardian. "If that's the case, then that means that while he's getting stronger, we're getting weaker and less able to fight him."

North nodded. "Is true. But does not matter - we will still stop him. We cannot let him hurt the children."

"You're right." I gazed at the Globe and noticed, with some satisfaction, that the places I had visited today were keeping the majority of their believers. That meant that we still had some control over the situation. I pointed this out to North. "Think how many will believe after you've delivered the presents on Christmas Day!" I told him.

He grinned. "Pitch may be gaining the upper hand, but we still have Christmas up our sleeves! Talking of which, I must oversee the preparations - why don't you go and check on Tara? She's been sleeping for several hours now."

"I'll do that."

I walked swiftly down the corridors, looking forward to seeing Tara again, even though it had only been a few hours since I last saw her.

I reached her bedroom door and knocked. "Tara?"

No response. Quietly, I opened the door a little, and peeked in. Tara was lying on the bed.

I crept into the room and gave her a closer look. She had her back to me, but she was clearly asleep. She had taken off her jumper, but she was clearly cold now, as she had goose bumps on her arms, and she was shivering slightly. I picked up the jumper and placed it carefully over her shoulders.

I turned to leave, but as I did so, I heard a sob. I frowned and turned back to her. "Tara?"

No answer - she was still asleep. I carefully rolled her over so that I could see her face. Her cheeks were tear-stained, and her expression was one of fear, grief and sorrow.

I knew what was going on - she was having a nightmare, no doubt one sent by Pitch. For that, I was angry. I hated that he kept hurting Tara for no good reason, and I especially hated it when I couldn't do anything to stop him or to protect her.

But I was also afraid and worried for her - North had said she'd been asleep for several hours. Had she been trapped in her nightmares for all that time?

I didn't stop to think. I reached out and shook her shoulder. "Tara." No response. I tried again, more urgently. "Tara! Wake up!"

Her eyes shot open, and she sat up suddenly, hand flying to her mouth to stifle a scream or a cry - I wasn't sure which. Her eyes were wild with fear, and her breaths were ragged sobs.

"Tara, it's okay, it's over now," I told her.

She locked eyes on me, apparently not having realized before that I was there. She looked me up and down for a moment. Then she threw her arms around me and held me in s tight embrace. "You're okay," she whispered. "Oh, thank God, you're okay!"

I hugged her back, rubbing her back soothingly. I remembered what Tara had said about her worst fear being losing me. I was willing to bet, from her words, that Pitch had used it against her. I hadn't believed it possible to hate him more than I did before, but somehow, this made me hate him so much more.

"It's okay," I murmured, "it's all okay. It was just a nightmare - and it's over now."

"I... I don't think it is..."

I pulled away and frowned, looking into her eyes for some clue as to what she was thinking. "What do you mean?"

"Last night... I had the same nightmare," she admitted. "That's why I was tired this morning. I think... I think Pitch is going to keep sending them, every time I fall asleep, until they drive me insane."

"I won't let that happen," I told her.

"Oh Jack... I'm sorry, but... There's nothing you can do to stop it."


And... We'll stop there for today! Don't you just love my cliffhangers?

So, review, tell me what you think, curse me for my constant use of cliffhangers and tell me your theories! Please? Pretty please? *Puppy dog eyes*

Also, tell me what you think the ship name for Jack and Tara should be - Tack or Jara. I'll be counting votes, and the one with the most votes when I receive thirteen votes will be the official ship name. So get voting! :)

On a different note, have any of you heard of the band 'Lunatica'? I've just bought their album 'Edge of Infinity', and a couple of their songs made me think of ROTG/FoF - 'Who You Are' made me think of Jack before he got his memories back, and 'Song for You' made me think of Jack and Tara as a couple.

Anyway, here are the addresses for the songs/pieces mentioned in this update - type in the YouTube address, then copy and paste the following onto the end:

'The Raindrop Prelude' (the part I described is the middle section, which starts at 1:34):
/watch?v=y1_9vEnARNg

'Who You Are':
/watch?v=5InMgbXvu4E

'Song for You':
/watch?v=EVNw5pLJfYk

Till next time!

MS.