"Here, fire turns to water ((ice)); here, the dancing rain ((snow)) declares the sun. There is no opposition in existence, no contradiction; Everything supports everything else."

-Osho

Jack didn't leave Shine's bedroom that day. Night had fallen, the blizzard raged outside, and Jack averted his eyes as Shine changed clothes. When he knew she was done getting dressed, he looked back at her as she crawled into her bed. Jack hopped off of the desk he had been perched on and watched Shine shiver and curl into the blankets, pulling them up to her nose and covering her eyes.

"You don't have to sleep, you know," Jack whispered, chuckling to himself. "Immortals never do."

She's not immortal anymore, and Jack knew it. But he couldn't help it, he was stuck in denial.

He knew Shine was asleep when a trail of black sand crept through the crack of the window, swirling around beautifully before headed towards Shine's sleeping head. Jack jumped in front of the trail, causing it to stop in its tracks.

"Don't do this!" Jack yelled, knowing Shine couldn't hear him, but Pitch could.

"I have to," Pitch appeared and stepped out from the shadow in the corner of Shine's bedroom. "Every mortal must get a nightmare every night. It's my job."

"Can't you make an exception?" Jack asked as the black trail started to snake around him. He reached out for it, but could only grab a handful of sand. The rest of the trail continued towards Shine's bed.

"No exceptions. She's a mortal," Pitch waved his hand and the trail shot forward, diving down into Shine's bed. The trail disappeared and the unconscious Shine sucked in a breath, her fist tightening around the blanket, but remaining asleep. Jack winced as if he was in pain seeing her in pain.

"'Every mortal shall have nightmares every night'," Pitch quoted, walking to Jack's side. "'Every last one.' Those are the orders."

"I know," Jack whispered, looking down at Shine with sadness. Her eyebrows furrowed in a deep frown as she slept restlessly.

"We've been doing it for fifteen years now," Pitch said.

"Happy anniversary to us," Jack couldn't help but chuckle. His chuckles faded into a sigh.

"Still wondering why she's back?" In their fifteen years, Pitch had learned to read Jack easily. Jack nodded.

"The Man in the Moon said she was gone forever," Jack said. He looked up at the older spirit. "He did say that, right?"

"Yes," Pitch seemed breathless, eyes not leaving Shine. "Yes, I remember every detail of that night. Down to the last words."

"'There is now just no immortal named Shine'," Jack quoted. It was one of the sentences he did remember, word for word, from that night.

"And then she disappeared," Pitch nodded.

Jack studied Pitch. After a moment of silence, he spoke up. "What is she dreaming?"

Pitch seemed taken aback from the question. He looked up at Jack in surprise, but then waved his hand over Shine's head. Black sand swirled around her, building a small scene in front of the two spirits. A girl looking just like mortal Shine built of black sand ran as a huge wave followed her. Jack leaned down and saw that it was not a wave of water, but actually a wave of fire. It caught up to her and she fell to her knees, hands clawing at the air, the black sand mouth open in a silent scream as black flames licked at her body.

"She's being burned alive," Jack whispered. Pitch was silent, and the black scene disappeared. "Why are you doing that?" Jack asked, turning to Pitch. "She's the Spirit of Fire how could you do this to her?!" Jack's voice started to rise.

"She's not the Spirit of Fire, Jack."

"Well, maybe not now, but she WAS!"

"She was NEVER the Spirit of Fire," Pitch reminded, his voice rising above Jack's. "Remember?! She was never a spirit at all! She was FAKE! You need to remember that!"

"It doesn't matter," Jack hissed. "Fire was her life. Her power. Why are you scaring her with images like that?!"

"I DON'T HAVE A CHOICE!" Pitch finally let his anger get the best of him, stepping forward and screaming in Jack's face. Jack stumbled backward, tripping over his staff and falling onto his behind, staring up with Pitch in fear. "SHINE WILL GET NIGHTMARES EVERY NIGHT AS LONG AS SHE'S A MORTAL AND I WILL MAKE SURE OF THAT! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT SHE'S DREAMING, ANYTHING WILL MAKE YOU PITY HER!"

Pitch fell silent, and all they could hear was Jack's uneven breathing. He was frozen on the ground, staring up at Pitch. He looked down at him, realization filling his dark eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, Jack," he stepped back, still staring at Jack. "I can't help it."

Jack cleared his throat. "I know."

Pitch licked his lips, studying the shaking boy on the ground and thinking. "I can't help it," he repeated, mostly to himself. "I can't."

"I know," Jack slowly rose to his feet.

"I am Fear, Jack," Pitch whispered, addressing the boy though mostly talking to himself. "It's all I ever was, all I ever will be."

"I know," Jack took a step towards Pitch, not wanting the man to lose it.

"You will deal with her nightmares," Pitch hissed, finally getting a grip. "Because you have no other choice. We have no other choice."

Jack never saw Pitch physically disappear. It was as if he was there one moment and gone the next, but Jack didn't see anything. It was almost as if Pitch was never there at all. The Spirit of Ice turned to look down at the now-mortal girl with sadness, knowing that Pitch was right. It didn't matter if Shine's nightmares were of her being engulfed in flames or buried in snow or driven insane by Fear, he would pity her no matter what.

"Oh, change the channel," a girl begged, standing inside Shine's bedroom.

Shine sat on top of the bed, looking out the window. She turned to the girl and raised a questioning eyebrow.

This girl was Victoria Howards. Unlike Shine's formal British accent, hers was more choppy and loud, which, after asking Pitch about it, Jack learned was called 'Cockney'. It's a less formal British accent. Victoria was seemingly the opposite of mortal-Shine, giddy and happy no matter what, and was a lover of fairy tales. Her black hair was tied back into two pigtails, and bright, striking green eyes. She sat on the ground, surrounded by paper snowflakes and a Santa Claus hat perched on her head. In her hand, she held a piece of paper and scissors.

The fake memories inserted into Victoria's and Shine's minds were that they had been best friends for as long as they could remember. Shine appreciated Victoria's sunny outlook, and Victoria loved that Shine could keep her calm.

Jack sat on top of Shine's desk, scowling at Victoria. Neither girl could see him. "You're not her friend, you don't know who she is," he said.

"Change the channel," Victoria told Shine again. The radio in Shine's room was ranting on and on about the newest devastations of World War Three.

"I'll try to find something different," Shine fussed with the radio, but station after station only talked about war and riots. It's all radios have ever played since the Dark Age began.

So it came to all three of them as a surprise when one of the radio played the ending of "Jingle Bell Rock", an old Christmas favorite from the Light Ages.

"They still play this nonsense?" Shine scoffed, preparing to change the channel again.

"No, leave it!" Victoria stopped her, not moving from her spot on the ground. "I like it! Don't be so humbug-ish!"

Shine stared at the radio in annoyance. "Well, I suppose it's better than listening about the news. And humbug-ish is not a word." She sat back down on her bed as "Jingle Bell Rock" ended.

"There hasn't been a Christmas since the Light Ages," Jack pondered aloud. "So why are they still playing that?"

Chestnuts roasting on an open fiiiiiiiire, the next song sang through the radio. Shine, to everyone's surprise (including herself) sang along with the next line. "Jack Frost nippin' at...your..." she trailed off, the song continuing in the background. Her eyes slowly trailed over to her desk, where Jack was sitting. She gasped, hand flying to her heart, eyes widening. Jack gasped as well, noticing a flash of red in her eyes before fading back to gray.

"What is it? Are you okay?" Victoria asked, looking between Shine and the 'empty' desk. Although it's been said...

Shine blinked. She had thought she had seen a handsome, white-haired boy sitting on top of her desk, holding a giant stick and staring at her with piercing, sad blue eyes. But in a second the image was gone, and the tingling in her fingers subsided. Why had she sang that one line in the song? Why did she hallucinate a random boy?

Many times, many waaaays...

"Yes, I'm fine," Shine brought her attention back to her friend, who shrugged and continued to cut out paper snowflakes. Shine looked at the physics textbook, sitting open in front of her, laying on her bed.

Meanwhile, Jack hopped off of the desk and wandered over to Shine. "Jack Frost nippin' at your nose..." he sang gently while the radio sang Merry Christmas...to you... "You saw me, didn't you?" he whispered in Shine's face. Her gray eyes were transfixed on the physics book. "Just for a second, you saw me! Your eyes were red, Shine!" Jack hurried to the window. "I have to tell Pitch!"

Shine's head snapped up with a gust of wind burst her window open. Snowflakes from the storm poured into her room. "Darn window," she grumbled, climbing off of her bed. She slammed the window shut, grumbling under her breath 'humbug-ish-ly'.

Far away from London, England, hours later from the Christmas-song-incident, a riot raged. In America, in the dark of night, in the swirling blizzard, cars zoomed down empty city streets. The window in the ceiling of the lead car opened, and the seventeen year old girl in the passenger seat stood up, stretching her torso outside the sky window and raising both of her fists. "YEAHHHHHHH!" she screamed in a wild battle cry, long, straight blonde hair fluttering behind her. A stripe of dyed black hair contrasted against her blonde hair and pale skin. She wore a black hoodie and leggings as the driver of the car sped forward.

"TAKE THAT!" she screamed, chucking a balloon filled with red paint at one of the garages. It splattered against the white wood and she let out a cheer. Cheers echoed after her from the following cars.

"Where're we headed, Soph?" the driver asked. Sophie looked down at the boy driving the car.

"Let's go DOWNTOWN!" she yelled, announcing to all the cars with their windows down. Teenagers ran out from apartments and started chasing the cars, and Sophie screamed her battle cry, and they responded with the same.

Sophie had an army of rioting teens. With a might yell they paraded through the streets, attacking buildings with paint, breaking bottles and leaving the glass scattered, tearing at business signs, and denting cars. Sophie admired her army's work from her perch on the top of the car. When police sirens started, the army screamed louder, drowning the sirens out.

"YEAHHHHHHHH!" Sophie raised her fist in the air as the police started to surround them.

Hey howdy hey! I'm back from Disney World and getting right back into the swing of things with Shine, Jack and the gang! So, please review if you enjoyed, thank you for reading!