Final part of the Insidious Fear arc.


Tooth bit her lip helplessly as North placed Jack down on the bed in his own room at the Pole. The boy had yet to wake up. They had cleaned up his wounds, relieved that none of them were more than scratches. With the ripped, bloody clothes they had looked much worse. At least that was one good thing.

North had deemed Jack's only spare outfit to be unsuitable to sleep in, so he put him in one of his own shirt, a white one that covered most of the young Guardian's legs and threatened to fall off if he moved to much. But Jack wasn't moving at all. She pulled the covers up to his chin, praying to the Moon that he would wake soon and at the same time fearing what would happen when he did. The staff may be broken, but that wouldn't solve the issue, they knew. They could still feel the darkness residing in him and in the broken staff. But it would make it easier to talk to him, when he could not just attack them in anger. Maybe he would listen. And maybe they could do something about the source of this corruption.

Bunny was holding both halves of the shepherd's crook, frowning in concentration. He had been this way for a while, but he finally looked up to stare at the child in the bed.

"It's too much white," he said.

"This is not painting, Bunny. This is Jack," North answered.

"Did you find what was wrong with it, Bunny?" she interrupted before they could get into an argument about whether or not North should have chosen a differently colored shirt. They had more important things to worry about.

"Aye. It's... some sort of dark shard. It's really small but it... grew. I would have missed it if I hadn't been following the tendrils back to their source. I don't know how it's affecting Jack, I don't really understand his link to the staff too well."

"It is conduit," North said. "It goes both ways."

"But can you pull the shard out?"

"Nothing's impossible, mate. But I might need some help."

A quiet moan interrupted the conversation. They all turned to Jack, waiting expectantly as his eyes fluttered open. Bunny placed both halves of the staff down on the bedside table. Sandy jumped on the chair to see the figure on the bed. The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife. Jack's eyes were unfocused and confused at first. He looked around the room without really seeing them.

"Jack, boy, how are you feeling?" North asked, bending over the bed a little to take a closer look.

Jack's gaze focused on him, his eyes going wide as he saw the large man too close to him. He scrambled away from him and would have fallen off the bed had Bunny not caught him and held him in place. Sandy, still standing on the chair, grabbed North's belt and tugged on it, pulling him backward a little. Jack didn't look any less scared. He struggled in Bunny's grip, trying to get away. Frost spread from his fingers as he gripped the fur of Bunny's arm to pull it off him, but he could not manage more than that. Tooth sighed. She had been hoping things would be easier, but the child was back to being terrified. At least he wasn't angry.

"Hey, calm down Snowflake. We're here to help, remember? Stop squirming so much, you're losing that... dress you're wearing."

"Not dress. Nightshirt," North rectified.

Startled confusion momentarily replaced the panic as Jack looked down at the oversized shirt falling off his shoulders. Taking advantage of the respite, Bunny readjusted his hold with one arm and slid the white fabric back in place with the other. Tooth flew up to them, moving slowly to avoid startling the winter spirit. His eyes widened again when he saw her and he tried to squirm backward again. Bunny held him in place, one furry hand rubbing the boy's arm soothingly. Tooth smiled at him reassuringly, holding a hand up toward him but not touching him yet.

"It's alright, Jack, there's no reason to be scared. Please let me help you remember," she said softly, placing her thumb on his forehead while he squeezed his eyes shut.

Tooth did not always need the teeth to help children remember their most precious memories. They allowed her to do it from the Tooth Palace and they preserved memories so that, even if the child forgot, they still existed somewhere. It was all too common for children to forget even the sweetest of memory. But when the child was in front of her and needed help pushing dark thoughts away, she could help directly. Jack had not forgotten the warm, happy times he had lived since becoming a Guardian. He just needed a bit of help recalling them. So Tooth did that, calling those precious memories to the forefront of his mind, pushing the darkness away.

Her smile brightened when Jack relaxed in Bunny's arms. When he opened his eyes again, he looked exhausted but a lot more like the Jack they knew. He even gave her a tired little smile. The tension in the room fell as North clapped his hands with a cheer and everyone smiled in relief. Bunny held the boy a bit tighter.

"Thanks..." Jack whispered.

"We're going to try to pull out the source of the darkness from your staff, Frostbite. Might be better if you took a nap until then. Sandy?"

Sandy floated from the chair to the bed, holding up a pinch of Dreamsand. He looked at Jack as if asking for his permission. Jack tensed briefly, but nodded. He let the golden sand drift into his eyes, his whole body relaxing as he fell asleep. Bunny placed him back at the center of the bed, pulling the covers back up to his chin. There was a little smile on Jack's face as golden shapes formed over his head. Tooth recognized herself and the others in them, holding the boy in a warm embrace.

"Bunny! You and me, we take staff and fight off that darkness with good dose of wonder and hope," North exclaimed in a loud whisper. "Sandy, Tooth, you stay with him. Take good care of him until we're done."

Tooth nodded as North picked up the broken staff from where Bunny had left it and dragged the Pooka away. Sandy sat on the bed and watched the sleeping boy. It was an uneventful job, at first, but that didn't last. Much to their horror, the little golden figures turned away from the child they had been comforting. The sand turned black as the dream became a nightmare, corrupted by the darkness still filling him. Jack curled up on his side in his sleep, his eyebrows furrowed.

Sandy jumped to his feet and touched the sand, returning it to its golden color. The figures returned to their places around the child. Jack calmed, but only a little. The figures might be back, but they had still turned away. Tooth stroked his hair soothingly, praying that the others would succeed and fast. Praying that it would be enough.


Even in the warmth of the dream, the darkness still tried to claw at Jack's mind. It was not quite as focussed, with its connection to the seed in his staff damaged, but it was still there and still strong. It tried to rip away the comforting dream scenes he was hiding into. Sometimes, it succeeded. But the dream always came back. Someone was there to make sure it did. Jack hanged on to that thought, using it as a lifeline to keep himself from drowning in the darkness. A few times he woke up with a start. Tooth was always there to place her thumb back on his forehead and let the memories come back to him until he calmed. It was always a little easier after that. The dream seemed more real when he fell asleep remembering how much people cared now. But the darkness always returned. There was something else, though. He could barely feel it, but there was a touch of hope and wonder in a remote part of his mind, where Pitch had hidden away the seed of this corruption.

Jack had been dreaming of a giant snowball fight with the kids in Burgess when he felt something change. It was distant, but he felt a surge of hope and wonder briefly overwhelm the fear through the damaged connection he still had with the staff. The darkness... changed, after that. It grew even more aimless. It pushed at the golden dream unevenly, rather than making a concerted effort to overwhelm it. As if its roots had been pulled off. All that remained were tendrils of darkness floating in his mind without an anchor. Jack woke up again when he realized what must have happened. When Tooth raised her hand again, he shook his head and smiled widely. The two Guardians watching over him understood and smiled back, relieved.

The door burst open as North walked in, holding both halves of the staff proudly in front of him, Bunny walking in next with a grin. It looked no different then it had been before, but Jack could feel that it was. He smiled and reached out to take it. North let him have it and Jack hurriedly held both piece together, willing it to repair itself. Nothing happened. His temporary rush of excitement bled away, leaving him drained and still so exhausted. He sighed, letting himself fall back against the pillow. The darkness used his failure to insinuate itself back into his mind. It should have been easy to fight off, but Jack wasn't even sure he could. Bunny placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Take it easy, Frostbite. You're barely even awake. Concentrate on recovering for now; you can mend the staff later."

"It's... still there, you know. It's not as strong and I think it's not growing anymore, but I... feel too weak to fight it."

He could not look at them as he admitted this. After all they did to help, he could not even do his part. The darkness reached farther into his mind, until he felt Tooth's thumb on his forehead once more, pushing it away with memories of happier times. She smiled at him.

"It's alright, Jack. We'll be your strength."

Sandy nodded and held up a new pinch of golden sand. Jack smiled at all of them before sleep took him once more.

"Thank you... for everything."

The dark tendrils were pushed even further away as he fell into the golden dream. The fight may not be quite won yet, but it would be soon. That certainty helped keep the nightmares at bay. The smile did not leave his face as he dreamed.


Not sure everything made sense here; I am really in need of more sleep. I hope that's a satisfying end to this arc. I still have two drabbles to write about the aftermath of it, but the main part is over.

This is chapter 50. I can't believe I made it this far. I started this expecting that maybe ten people would care enough to read it, so the amount of support and feedback I've been getting is really unexpected. Thank you, guys! I love you, you keep me going.