Broken Center (whole story)

by fireyouko

Jack was ignored for 300 years. For 100 years he was made a slave by Pitch. Takes place after the movie. The others realize that Jack isn't well physically or mentally. He is taken to a spirit doctor. Found to have a hole in his heart due to a broken center, Pitch broke him. Surgery is the only way to save him but Jack doesn't want it. Lots of medical procedures and mention of rape

Broken Center

I do not own rise of the guardians or the guardians of childhood. I do not own any of the characters either

So just a few things to say, this is pretty much my first fanfic ever. I am not really a writer. I like to draw mostly but I came up with this idea and decided that it would take less time to write it out then to draw it. This story is does not have a beta? I think that is what you call the person that edits your work for you? There is lots of medical procedures done in this story and mentions of rape. If you are sensitive, please do not read. I do not wish to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Reviews, criticisms and suggestions are all so very much appreciated. I hope I at least did a decent job with this. I am still writing and do not understand how to put up chapters, so this work will probably be re-uploaded again with more writing. I apologize in advance. With all that said I really hope you enjoy the read. Thank you so much!

The guardians were all gathered at the north pole enjoying what their newest member Jack Frost nicknamed "family time." North sat in his oversized armchair drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies. He observed his fellow guardians, Bunny was sitting close to the fire drinking some spiked nog and sanding some boomarangs he had recently carved. Sandy and tooth were engaged deep within a conversation about plants. It seemed that the toothfairy had recently become interested in decorating her palace with a hopefully lucious garden to give her and her girls something else to do besides collecting teeth, as well as give her little fairies a place to hide should the need ever arise. The only one North couldn't seem to find was jack.

North looked around, a sense of panic breeding in his chest at the absence of their youngest member. Only when he noticed the frost forming on the carpet did his eyes follow the frozen pattern towards the couch and the one who had created it. There was Jack sitting on a couch by himself as far from the fire as possible. It made perfect sense that a winter sprite such as Jack couldn't sit too close to an open flame. North observed his sleeping form. "Ah", his voice low and soft as to not wake the boy, "no wonder it had been so quiet."

At the mention of quiet Bunny looked up from his craft " Well it was quiet till you said something."

At this the other two other guardians stopped their conversation and looked up. Tooth spoke, expressing a question that they all seemed to have on their minds "what are you talking about North? I don't think it's that quiet."

North motioned to the sleeping boy and whispered "It not as loud as it could be." Tooth only nodded, " he seems to be tired quite often, more so than I thought for such an active sprite." Sandy looked to her and started forming pictures over his head, one of a snowflake and a clock. Bunny was confused but Tooth seemed to understand as she translated for him, " he is saying that we don't really know if jack sleeping a lot is normal because we haven't known him for long." Bunny thought hard on this statement which everyone knew to be true. It had only been about a month or so since Jack had become a guardian and they had defeated Pitch.

Now Pitch Black was someone none of them could ever forget. The poor boy had been kidnapped by Pitch about a century before and had been enslaved and made a pet. They all knew that Jack was fearful of everyone and everything which is what gave rise to the "family time" to try and gain Jack's trust. North let out a sigh, " I fear there is much we dont't know about Jack Frost, for one thing I do not believe that he is well. One does not simply leave Pitch's clutches without injury but I haven't been able to get near the boy. Even asking if he is well sends the boy running."

"That's true" said Tooth " he looks so skinny and I hardly ever see him eat. I've tried to ask him if he is alright but he only seems to shut down and will no longer talk or even look at me before just flying off again." Sandy formed pictures of a snowflake with Zsss with an x over it showing how he rarely found the boy to sleep other than at their "family meetings." Bunny too found he needed to voice his opinion " the boy is more nervous than I am and that is a surprising feat to be sure as I am a rabbit, we are as nervous as they come. I also know by the way he carries himself he must have broken ribs or at least bruised and i see him limp a lot. I'm about to carry the gumby into the infirmary myself and check over him even if I have to restrain him to do it. In fact i think I will, he is asleep so it is the perfect time." North stood up to stop Bunny just as he was about to approach Jack's sleeping form. "Bunny, we don't want to force the poor child, it will only ruin the progress we are trying to make with him." Bunny gave out a bit of grunt, turning around glaring at north, " and just what can we do then? Obviously frostbite doesn't seem to have the sense to comply with us and we can't force him for fear of scaring him, so what are we going to do, stand around and talk about it hoping he will heal on his own in a couple of months?!" "Bunny, quiet down" Tooth said as she motioned over to jack who was starting to sit up rubbing his eyes.

Blue eyes opened slowly as they blinked the sleepiness away. Jack looked up noticing that all eyes were on him which started making him feel very uncomfortable as he curled in on himself bringing his knees close up to his chest. Jack stared at them all until finally clearing his throat and quietly saying " I I'm sorry I f fell asleep on you all. A am I in t trouble?" Tooth was quick to reassure him " oh no, of course you are not sweet tooth, we were just discussing that it looked uncomfortable for you to sleep in a chair." Sandy piped in forming a picture of the north pole and a bed with a snowflake in it, but Jack seemed to not understand. Bunny translated for him, " Sandy says you should get some rest in one of North's spare bedrooms."

North thought on what Bunny said as he watched Jack consider what they were offering when a thought occured to him. Maybe North thought, he could take Jack to see a doctor, the spirits did have a doctor you see. One that was appointed and who had treated Manny himself. He was a great doctor to be sure. However, going to a doctor could be uncomfortable for Jack but perhaps better than one of the guardians examining him due to shear akwardness of the situation. Only problem was if none of them could convince Jack to be examined by one of them or the medically trained yetis, what makes them think they can convince Jack to see a doctor? North then decided to voice his thought and see how it goes.

"Jack the others are right, perhaps you should rest here for the night, you look worn out son." Jack slightly flinched at the new fatherly way that North had begun to address him but then gave him a smile and whispered " maybe, I do suppose I feel a little tired and a bed might feel better than a tree," he laughed lighlty. North nodded, " Indeed, I was also curious Jack but I thought I should say that you don't look to well my boy." There it was, Jack was going to here what was on everyone's minds about his health again, something he really didn't feel like sharing nor did he think it was anyone else's business. Jacked gave the best smile he could, " guys I'm fine, I'm just a little tired is all but I'm sure I am not the only one." "But sweet tooth you are so thin and don't eat or sleep much," said Tooth "and I know you are injured" said Bunny. Sandy just nodded in agreement with them.

Jack stared down at the ground " I really don't see how this is anyones business but besides that I really just don't want to talk about it, what happened with Pitch is over and I just want to move on." That is when North decided to make his move, he looked at Jack in the eye and said softly " I know you don't want to talk about it or let us examine you but you still need to be treated so I have another solution for you. Have you ever been seen by a doctor before?"

"A doctor?" said Jack feeling a little surprised, that was not what he thought North would say. North only nodded to him but Jack looked a little confused. Bunny made to clarify "A medical professional mate, he can look at your wounds and treat ya and will only ask you medical questions, don't worry, he won't judge you." Sandy nodded to Jack and showed the moon and a stethoscope above his head. Tooth translated for Sandy, " he says this is the doctor that treats all spirits including the man in the moon, Manny appointed him as doctor to us all." Jack stared at them all wide eyed and started shaking his head rapidly "No, no, no, no, I will not go, I don't want to see anyone," "But sweet tooth" said Tooth. " No buts" said Jack "I don't need anyone, I can take care of myself!" he cried then flew out the open window into the frozen landscape of the north pole.

Tooth layed a hand on North's shoulder as Sandy formed a clock and a window with Jack sneaking inside. Bunny looked to North, "Sandy is right, I'm sure Frost will be back, we all saw how tired he was, he will probably wait till the coast is clear then slip into one of the guest bedrooms to sleep." North thought on this for a moment as he studied his abandoned drink, "perhaps I will wait up for him then, maybe I can convince him if it just us." Bunny got up and poured himself another glass of the spiked egg nog " I need some more of this seeing as I am going to stay up with and wait for the little ankle biter." North gave Bunny a stern look, "No Bunny, you will only scare the boy off." Bunny returned the look to North then spoke up " oh hell I'm not going to let him see me and neither are you." North looked at Bunny is surprise "What?" Bunny made to clarify " you and I will wait for snowflake to sneak back in but we will make sure he doesn't see us, we will watch to see what room he heads to and wait for him to fall asleep, then we will take his staff and hide it so he can't run." Tooth looked at them wide-eyed, " I guess it is a plan that works but it seems sort of extreme? Maybe a little mean to be hones." Bunny placed a paw on her shoulder "look sheila I know it is but that boy has a rock head and he is hurt, sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures." Tooth nodded to him " I suppose, but even if your plan does work, what will you do? I doubt any of us can convince Jack to go, so will carry him there kicking and screaming?" North nodded to her "she has a point Bunny, that does rather go against us being the guardians of children."

Sandy looked at all three of them and formed a moon. "You are saying we should ask Manny what we should do?" said Tooth. North nodded and decided to give it a try "Manny, old friend, we are in need of your assistance. Your new guardian is hurt and is deeply troubled, he needs help but refuses it. What should we do?" After about a minute or two they all heard a voice in their heads and Manny made to reply with his answer "Do as Bunny suggested and hide the staff while Jack sleeps. If you must carry him to the doctor then do so. However, you can tell him that it is a direct order from me, and you have permission to get him there however you can." Tooth piped up in worry "What if Jack doesn't come back here tonight?" Manny laughed lightly at this "Do not worry my child for I have cast a sleeping spell on him, it won't be long now that he will return, make sure to hide yourselves well. Good luck my guardians and do not worry for I shall be with you, always watching."

"Looks like I got my answer" said Tooth. Bunny hugged her as he could see she was visibly upset about Jack possibly being carried against his will to the doctor's. "Don't worry Toothie, it is all for the best, he will get well again. Now how about you and sandy go get some sleep while you can, North and I have got to figure out where best to hide." With that they all broke off.

Here it was a few minutes to midnight as Bunny and North stood in the shadows in the corner of a room they knew jack to frequent. Although, just to make extra sure they closed all the windowns but the one to this room forcing the little winter sprite to enter and stay where they wanted him. Soon enough Bunny's ears perked up as he tapped North's shoulder to alert him to the winter spirit's presence. They could see the exhaustion in Jack's eyes as he landed in the room, a corner of his mouth went up as he eyed the bed before placing his staff beside the bed againt the night stand. Then with a big yawn he slowly crawled into the bed and pulled the covers over him. He layed there for a few minutes whispering to himself about pain in the ass guardians always in his business and scary doctors he wanted no part of. But the one last thing he said caught the two older guardian's attention the most "at least they care about me." That was all that was heard from the child as rolled onto his side and snuggled up in his blankets slowly drifting off to sleep.

North and Bunny waited for about half an hour more to be absolutely sure that Jack was asleep, they slowed started to inch forward as they heard the boy snoring sofly. Bunny motioned to North to close and lock the window while he himself was in charge of grabbing Jack's beloved staff. Bunny held it gently, aware that it was very much a part of Jack. Bunny and North both took one last glance at the winter sprite before leaving, as North slowly closed and regretably locked the door, officially caging Jack Frost in.

Bunny and North returned to sitting room as they waited for Sandy and Tooth to wake up from their naps to continue with their plan. Sandy was up first as joined the other two guardians sitting down with a hot cup of tea, knowing he would need it as the rest of their plan was going to be the hardest thing any of them have ever done. Tooth came next as she sat down with baby tooth in her lap, enjoying the silence for the moment as they knew from here on out come morning, a winter child's world would be shattered as he woke up to realize he had no staff and was caged in. They all looked at each other and finally it was Bunny he broke the silence, "Hey Toothie, I've got the staff, I want you to take it to the tooth palace, it would be safest there and as far away from Jack as possible." Toothiana nodded as tears began to form in her eyes "I hate that we have to do this." Sandy gave her hug and Bunny placed his paw on her shoulder, "I know sheila but we all know none of us are intending to cause him harm." "We all want what is best for him" said North "even though we have to go through extreme measures to do it, but man in moon has given us his orders and we must follow them if we ever wish for Jack to get better."

Bunny sighed "Tomorrow is going to be the worst day of our lives and honestly Jack will probably hate us all for the rest of our lives" he paused "North and I have closed and locked all doors and windows and now you" he pointed at Tooth "have his staff, and for extra measure, North locked the door to his room." North looked at everyone "we mine as well get some more sleep while we can and perhaps we should all stay in this room together so we are ready, remember Jack is an early bird so we won't have long to wait." With that they all settled down on their couches for a few more hours until morning would bring a very distraught and angry winter spirit.

It was early in the morning, about 6am and the sun was shining, coaxing the frost child out of deep sleep. Jack slowly blinked the sleep out of his eyes as realization finally hit him about his outburst at the guardians last night. He remembered his ecape out the window after the fight, only to finally come back due to his sudden exhaustion after the others went to bed. Jack sat up whispering to himself "man I really screwed up, I didn't mean to be as harsh as I was, I really hope they can forgive me."

He sighed as he thought back on his words, he knew they were only trying to help him but he honestly never had been to a doctor and truthfully the thought of going to see one terrified him. If he was to be honest with himself he knew he needed help but he would never admit to it out loud to anyone. Admitting he wasn't ok was a dangerous thing for his health at least when he was with Pitch. The Boogeyman only gave him injuries and of course never cared to treat him, not that he really would want Pitch to, he would rather do it himself if it came down to that. Besides that he really didn't want anyone to see the extent to which he was damaged. He knew he looked like hell and anyone being so close to him, touching him in ways that would be considered intimately made his heart race and his skin grow paler. Speaking of intimacy he also didn't want anyone to figure out his deepest dark secret of what Pitch did to him. He shook his head trying to dissipate those thoughts from his head, it would not do to head down that dark path.

Jack decided to focus on something else like for instance his stomach as looked down at himself hearing it growl. "Hmm, guess it's time to go get some breakfast, maybe if I'm lucky there will be pancakes and hopefully the other guardians are still asleep." Jack swung his legs over the side of the bed and let his touch the floor, he stood up stretching then went to reach out for his staff. His staff? He looked in horror, where was his staff?! Maybe he had dropped it somewhere he thought. He looked under the bed, along the floor and along all the walls but his search turned up nothing. He even moved furniture to climb up to the window only to realize that it was closed, odd he hadn't remembered closing it. He tried to open it but realized it was locked and he cou'dn't unlock it. How was that even possible, unless it was locked from the outside? Increasingly becoming upset he decided his best course of action would be to leave his room and go look for his staff in case he slept walked with it and dropped it somewhere in the hallway. He did that sometimes when his nightmares became real intense but he hadn't recalled having any nightmares last night so that was weird. But as he approached the door and went open it he found he couldn't. In alarm he tried to turn the knob harder in case maybe it was just stuck?

After a minute of struggling it became clear that it was locked. He began to hyperventilate at this point and starting banging on the door and shouting. "Help! Please someone help me! I'm trapped in here and I can't get out! My staff, I need my staff, it's gone, I can't find it! Phil the yeti quickly ran to the door with a key as his sensitive ears caught the winter spirit's distress. Phil garbled in his language trying to calm Jack down. Just as he was about to slide the key into the whole wondering how it got locked in the first place, did he feel North put a hand on his furry shoulder, stopping him. Phil dropped his hand from the lock as he looked at North confused. He garbled at him in his language asking why Jack was locked in his room and why not let him out? Jack continued to scream and bang on the door, frost creeping its way up the door and across the floor.

North made to answer him but was stopped by the entrance of the other three guardians into the hall as they were woken up due to the petrified screams and loud banging coming from Jack's room. The guardians all gave a sorrowful look towards the door but noone made a move to open it. North turned to Phil "we can not let Jack out of room, he is not well and man in moon has ordered us to take him to doctor by any means necessary." " Even if it's by force" Bunny chimed in. Phil sighed but nodded at North, he just had to trust him and if it was ordered by man in moon then there was nothing he could do for the boy, relenting he handed the key to North and backed away from the door. He stood in the back waiting at the ready just in case Jack tried to bolt out the door which was more than likely. The guardians had a silent argument with each other until it seemed that North had won out.

North placed his ear up to the door but only heard soft sobs, he slowly unlocked the door with the guardians waiting at the ready to stop Jack from running. North stepped into the room and quickly closed the door as he heard it being locked again from the outside. The sight he was met with made North's heart ache. Jack was laying on his side curled in to the fetal position up against the wall crying. North hated doing this to the boy but he knew it was for his own good. He walked over to the winter sprite and knelt down, slowly reaching out and placing his hand on to Jack's shoulder. Jack jumped up at the unexpected contact and stared at North. North braced himself for what was coming, he knew it wouldn't be good. Jack opened his mouth and started yelling "what the hell North?! why am i locked in my room?!" North tried to reply but was cut off by Jack "and where is my staff?! I can't find it anywhere, did you take it?"

North decided that the truth was the best way to go, lying to Jack would only make the situation worse. "Yes, Jack, I did take your staff, but don't worry it is safe I promise, in a place where it won't be found, not even by you." Jack opened his mouth to say something but North beat him to it "all of us guardians know that you, Jack Frost, are not well regardless of what you say or how hard you try to hide it we still can see it." Jack started to protest but North started walking towards him before backing him into a corner. Jack tried to move away but quickly found that he was pinned to wall but North's massive arms wrapped around his small frame. North spoke softly to him "we have asked for man in moons's help, he has ordered us to take you to his doctor for treatment." North lowered his mouth to his ear to make sure his point would get across to Jack but said softly so as not to scare him, "by any means necessary." Just then Bunny and the others walked into the room and watched as North held Jack in his arms. "yea that's right, even if we have to carry you there kicking and screaming. Though if I were you I would just come quietly" "Bunny" Tooth warned. Sandy formed pictures of windows and doors and a lock. "He is right Jack, everything is locked up and there are yetis at every window and door as well just to make sure you can't leave," Tooth said quietly with her eyes downcast not looking at Jack as she spoke. She just couldn't bare to look at Jack's angry expression.

Jack formed frost around himself and slipped through North's grasp. Bunny caught the movement and quickly grabbed Jack as he bolted to the door. Bunny held him firmly in his grasp effectively pinning the winter child to his chest. Jack flailed his arms and kicked as hard as he could but Bunny's grip was just too strong for him and he was starting to tire himself with all the screaming crying and banging on the door that he had already done. Bunny held him close in a hug that was much too tight and softly whispered to him in his ear "it's over mate, there is no where to run. We have to do this snowflake, it's an order and you need help." Jack burried his face into Bunny's shoulder and cried "I hate this, I don't want to go." Bunny held him and rubbed circles into his back not bothered by the way Jack flinched at his touch " I know frosty, I know."

North walked back into the room and told them that the sleigh was ready and they could depart as soon as they were ready. Jack hadn't realized that North had even left. Bunny held Jack tightly to him as he and the others started walking through the halls. It was clear that Jack still had some fight left in him as went to upper-cut Bunny in the face who had just narrowly missed the blow. Tooth looked over and seen the scuffle, even though Bunny had missed the punch to his face Tooth could see Bunny was having a difficult time with Jack. She tried to get close to see if she could calm Jack down but Bunny lightly pushed her away, apologizing roughly saying something about the ankle biter being in a mad craze to get away and he didn't want her to get hurt. They were almost to the door that led to where the sleigh was when Jack started screaming, and grabbed on to the door frame for dear life and refused to let go. Bunny managed to pry him off but got a kick in the gut that managed to knock the wind out of him, he had almost dropped Jack until Sandy moved in front of Jack blocking his way. Jack tried pleading with the guardian of dreams and even though it hurt Sandy to no end he was having none of it. He gently dusted some dream sand over Jack and watched as Jack's eyes started to blink slowly, desperately trying ward off the sleep that was trying consume him. In the end the sand won as Jack drifted off to sleep.

"Thanks mate" Bunny said as he lowered Jack into the sleigh. Bunny jumped in next to Jack and held him steady so he wouldn't get thrown around. North got into the driver's seat and took up the reigns. He gave an apologizing look to Sandy and Tooth. It had already been decided that only Bunny and North would go with Jack since neither of them had a holiday at the moment unlike Tooth and Sandy who worked around the clock. Besides for that, they all knew that Jack would want as much privacy and space as was allowed. Not only that but it was decided by the male guardians together that this was not a mission meant for the Toothfairy. Not saying it was because she is a woman, of course not, they weren't sexist like that and knew Tooth was a fierce warrior. No the problem lied in the fact that if Jack was as bad as they all feared then it could be too much for Tooth emotionally. Everyone was aware that Jack's injuries were probably extensive and the examination would be grueling. It would also probably involve a fair amount of Jack being exposed which they all knew Jack would not want her to see him. Jack wouldn't wany of them to see him naked but especially her. With one last wave goodbye and a whispered good luck from Tooth, they were up in the air. North pulled out a snow globe whispering the words spirit doctor and threw the globe, they flew through the portal that was created.

The realm they landed in was a warm and sunny climate with a nice breeze as they soared through the sky passing white puffy clouds. At the top of a cliff stood a building that seemed to buzzing with all sorts of spiritual activity. Spirits flying or walking in and out, conversing outside in the gardens in front of the building, some going out for a stroll. It seemed tranquil and peaceful. The only thing that began to break the gentle facade was on closer inspection you could some spirits with bruises, others with casts, some with stitches and bandages, or those that looked unharmed simply here to provide emotional support to a fallen spirit. North landed the reighndeer and parked the sleigh under a shady tree.

Bunny got out of the sleigh holding Jack in his arms who was beginning to stir, figures Sandy's dream sand would only last for the trip here in thought. He followed North who was already a few steps ahead of him. Realizing he was behind Bunny walked just a little bit faster to catch up. As they entered the building Jack started to stir and began to try to push Bunny away. Bunny looked down at him with concerned eyes "it's alright mate, we are almost there, everything is going to be fine." Jack however continued to push Bunny, "put me down, I am not a baby, I can walk you know?" " Are you going to try to run?" Bunny said in response. "I will put you down but trust me when I tell you, you won't be going anywhere, I will make sure of that." Bunny lowered Jack to the ground but kept a firm grip on him. Jack of course being himself decided to test the waters and shot out frost over Bunny's paws but Bunny didn't react, it was only then did Jack notice that Bunny was wearing winter gloves on his paws. Bunny quirked a smile as he saw Jack's face "they protect up to -40 degrees frostbite" he chuckled.

North stopped at reception and the secretary pointed them the way to go. As they walked down the hallway Bunny could see that the winter spirit was becoming more agitated with every step. His face clearly showed how freightened he was but Bunny couldn't think of a way to comfort him and so continued pushing Jack along in silence. That is when a door at the end of the hall opened to reveal a tall, thin man with very short almost buzzed white hair, he wore glasses over his kind green eyes. The man, the doctor, as Jack slowly started to understand just who he was, wore a white lab coat over gray scrubs and black sneakers. In his hand he held a clip board with papers on it and wore what Jack assumed was some kind of medical instrument around his neck. He had high cheeck bones and a thin face, nice looking for a man who seemed to be in his early fiftys. "Dr. Duran," North's voice boomed as he shook the doctor's hand "it is nice seeing you again though I wish it was under such circumstances." Dr. Duran only nodded then greeted Bunny as well until the doctor's eyes finally landed on Jack.

"Welcome Jack Frost, it is nice to finally meet you, we have been expecting you." Dr. Duran reached his hand out to shake Jack's but the boy only stared at his hand like it was going to bite him as he shook like a leaf. Jack's eyes made their way up from the doctor's hand up to his face, "you've been expecting me?" Dr. Duran smiled down at him "indeed I did, man in the moon said that you would come." Then the doctor gave him a stern but gentle look "I hear you like to run too, we will be keeping an eye on you." He stepped aside and ushered them all in to the room. North and Bunny sat in the two chairs along the wall near the door while the doctor sat in a rolling chair. Jack stood there akwardly unsure of what to do until the doctor motioned for him to sit up on the table. Jack paled, he made no move to get up on the table. The doctor only smiled and decided not to force the child yet. "So Jack what brings you here today?" Jack motioned to the other two guardians with a look that said duh on his face. "Well yes I can see that, perhaps that was the wrong question to ask. How are you feeling today?" Jack rolled his eyes "I'm fine, damn why does everyone ask me that?" "Well it was Manny who has told me that were not feeling so well."

Jack growled at that, how dare this man in the moon create him only to abandon him, let him be taken by Pitch to be freed by the guardians and find out he was one, then now dragged to this doctor's office by his order to get treated for something he could fix himself like he has been doing his whole damn life. "Fuck Manny" he whispered. Dr. Duran asked him to repeat himself. "I said Fuck Manny" he said it louder this time and North visibly flinched. "Jack" he warned, to hear such hard words come out of the frost child's mouth, those were words usually only said by Bunny or North himself. Dr. Duran sighed, he knew this would have to be done the hard way. The doctor was not detered by the harsh words, he knew to expect it, he was told to expect it. Dr. Duran was told by Manny of Jack's time with Pitch Black, the Boogeyman but what he didn't know were the extent of his injuries and if there were any lasting effects, for this is what the examination was for. But the doctor was hoping for Jack to tell him some of that himself, but he can see now that this kid will not budge. "It looks like I will have to rely on your friends and your exam then. I am truly sorry that this is being forced upon you child but this is an order and even I can see from just looking at you that you aren't alright."

Jack stared wide-eyed at the doctor. The doctor's eyes softened slightly at the sight of jack's frightened stare, mine as well get the show on the road he thought. Dr. Duran went over to a tall cabinet and pulled something out bringing it over to Jack, who looked over the clothing in confusion. It was then through Jack's confusion that the doctor was hit with the realization that Jack was not only scared because of what Pitch had done to him but also that he had never been to a doctor before, well this will be interesting.

"Let us begin then, I'm afraid that we have a lot to do today Jack. I hope you men are prepared, this is going to be a long process, a couple hours at most so I hope you all have nothing else planned today" Jack felt his eyes fill with unshed tears as he heard what the doctor said and frost slowly crawled down his legs to his toes and jutted across the floor. North only nodded in understanding while Bunny voiced for them both "Nah mate, we knew this was going to be long and we are here for our snowflake as long as we are needed." "Alright then first I will need you to strip down to your underwear and then you will put on this gown, can you do that for me Jack?" Jack looked down at the frost forming around him and whispered "you mean take off my clothes? like I will be naked underneath?" The doctor nodded then added " but you can keep your underwear on." Jack seemed to consider asking one more question "but I don't have any underwear." North looked up in surprise but Bunny just laughed "what are you free balling it all the time snowball?" North smacked Bunny upside the head, when Bunny was about to yell at him for it North pointed out Jack's face.

Jack just turned to him with solemn expression, no mirth was found in his eyes. The doctor understood and went back to the cabinet and brought back another article of clothing, Jack looked down at them and realized they were underwear, still this did not comfort him much. Jack's hands clenched and he breathed heavily starting to understand that he would be mostly naked for this exam, they hadn't told him that he would be naked! Frost continued to crawl across the floor and now up the walls, as all the men in the room turned to look at the young man who had tears in his eyes. Jack quietly voiced "but I don't want to take off my clothes. I won't take off my clothes." The doctor shook his head "Jack I'm sorry, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable nor do I really want you undressed but unfortunetly you have to be so i can properly examine you and know what we are dealing with, do you understand child?"

The temperature in the room suddenly dropped and the two guardians knew something big was about to happen and they had to be prepared to make a move. Ice shot out of the winter child and covered the walls as the boy started to make a run for it the ice being only a distraction. Not a moment too soon Bunny grabbed Jack around his middle before he could make it out the door. North moved quickly to close and lock the door while Bunny placed jack on the table and held him down. Jack was openly sobbing and shooting out ice everywhere but Bunny held him firmly down against the table. " Let me go Bunny! I don't want this! I don't want to be treated or be naked! I hate you all!" That last comment hurt North and Bunny to the core. North came over and helped Bunny hold jack down while his powers exploded everywhere. North tried to whisper soothing words and pat his head but to no avail. Bunny yelled over the mini-storm "we have to try something else."

That is when man in the moon himself spoke out to them. "Jackson Overland Frost, you will stop this nonsense at once! Do as you are told or I will come down there myself and see that you do" Jack knew a commanding voice that meant business when he heard one after all his years with Pitch and was conditioned to obey. The storm instantly stopped and all the ice melted, the boy was left panting, out of breath. "Well now that was quite the display of power" said Dr. Duran. "I do so love working with the elemental spirits the most, their powers are so interesting and I can honestly say I really haven't had the pleasure of treating a winter spirit yet so I at least must thank you for showing me your power. Thankfully that also takes care of part of the exam now seeing that your powers are still in working order. But I fear you have overworked yourself, I'm quite sure that even winter spirits shouldn't have blue lips nor be flushed. Now we really need to get you changed so we can see what is going on here, something is not right."

"No problem I'm on it, I will get the bloody show pony in his gown and his underwear myself" the doctor nodded and left the room to give Jack his privacy. Bunny started to pull Jack's hoodie up when North interviened. "Bunny I don't think we should go about it this way, I think that maybe you should wait outside and let me try to talk to him alone" Bunny stared at him in disbelief but then slowly seemed to understand and started walking out of the room. "Thank you" North called out "And for the record I am glad I went with your suggestion to leave Tooth behind, she shouldn't have to see this." Bunny nodded and walked out of the room, now is was just North and Jack. North scooped up Jack into a hug whispering in his ear "it is going to be ok my little snow spirit, i know you are scared " Jack was about to protest and say he wasn't scared when North put a finger to the winter sprite's lips. "No Jack we all know you are scared but I promise that nothing will happen to you, I swear it on my holiday and my title as Santa Clause." Jack nodded and hugged North back. "Now how about this I alone with stay with you in this room but first we must get you changed, I will let you change yourself unless you won't do it then I will be forced to, please don't force me to ok?" Jack nodded his agreement but then timidly asked "will you leave the room so I can change?" North sighed "No snowball I can not but I can turn around and I promise not to look at you, can you deal with that?" "You promise you won't look? Not even a peak?" "Not even peak I swear on my yetis" "O okay." North turned around and smiled when he heard the sound of clothes being moved around, he knew he could get the boy to cooperate if it was just him. Bunny meant well but was just too forceful which only scared their little guardian of fun more making him combative. What they had to realize is that Jack is still a child, a teenager yes but still a child and just as teenagers often do the more you fight them the more they fight you and boy was Jack fitting that pattern.

After a minute or two North heard Jack whisper "you can turn around now." North smiled at him, proud that Jack had finally done what he was told. "There you go Jack, that's a good boy." Jack flinched at that but gave North a weak smile. "Are you ready to call the doctor in?" Jack shook his head but one look at North told him there was no room for argument, so he only nodded and hung his head low. "Alright, I'm going to open the door and call for him." North gave him a hard look "don't get any ideas." North opened the door and called out for Dr. Duran. The doctor walked back into the room followed by Bunny but North stopped him and stepped outside. "What 's the deal mate?" Bunny growled "why are you taking me out?" "I am sorry Bunny but I believe it is better for Jack if we are not both in the room." "Well why do I got to leave then? I'm sure I could hold him down tighter." "Bunny you are kind and caring, and I hate to say this but also brutish at times when you know something needs to be done. I believe Jack needs a more understanding and perhaps even fatherly approach. Also I promised him only I would be in the room. Besides I think it would be good if you were out here to guard the door, I don't doubt will make a break for it again. He is too freightened to truly listen to Manny." Bunny hated to admit it but North did have a point, at least they could be honest with each other. "Fine then, I will wait out here but just yell for me if he becomes too much to handle, alright?" "I will thank you Bunny" with that North walked back into the room.

"All right Jack, are you ready this time?" North heard Dr. Duran say as he re-entered the room only to fine Jack backed in to a corner. "What is the matter?" Dr. Duran shook his head "Jack is just having some anxiety, nothing to worry about." Dr. Duran assured "come Jack, it's alright, everything will be fine," he motioned Jack to stand on to some box looking thing with a long stick running up it. "Let us get your height and weight shall we? Height is 5' 4" and weight is 100 pounds, that is much too light boy. Next the doctor motioned for Jack to get up on the exam table. North gave him a kind look "get up there Jack, I am right here. I won't let anything to happen to you." Jack nodded and made his way to the exam table. He got up on the table and waited, shivering slightly, but not from the cold. "That's good Jack, we will just take it easy." Dr. Duran took slow, deliberate steps over to Jack, keeping his hands visible at all times. He took out a pen light out of his pocket, "ok Jack I want you to follow this light for me with your eyes without moving your head." The doctor watched as Jack's eyes followed then wrote something on his note pad. "What are you doing?" Jack asked with mild curiosity. "Just writing down notes, nothing to worry about." Jack watched as the doctor's hands moved to his throat. Dr. Duran could see the fear that passed through Jack's eyes, "Just relax and tell me if anything hurts." After feeling around for a few minutes he removed his hands then reached in his pocket and brought out a traingle shaped instrument towards Jack's elbow then hit it twice. "Ow, what did you do that for?" he said as his arm jumped. "Testing your reflexes" he said then did the same thing to the other elbow and both his knees. Next he took out a small light with a cone at the end of it. He then inserted it into each ear, changed the cone, and checked Jack's nose. He then took off the cone and pulled out a flat wooden stick. "ok Jack, open up your mouth and say ah." "what?" said Jack looking confused. "Just trust me, ok?" with that Jack opened his mouth and the doctor inserted the stick and held down his tongue while Jack made the noise. "Hmm, a little red but not too bad" he whispered. "What's red?" "Your throat, does it hurt Jack?."

Jack just shrugged his shoulders. Next the doctor pulled out a glass stick and placed it in Jack's mouth under his tongue and held it there until it beeped. Dr. Duran whistled "55 degrees, that is high for you, you have quite the fever." North got up to look at the thermometer "what should his temperature be?" Dr. Duran shook his head " 45 degrees or just a bit lower for winter spirits, that's a 10 degree difference, that is concerning and dangerous." North placed his hand on Jack's forhead "you do have a fever, in fact you feel warm to the touch, as if you weren't a winter spirit." Dr. Duran opened the door and motioned for someone to come in. "Well before we continue, I am going to get you some medicine to bring that fever down. Gwendolyn?" That's when a young woman with long blue hair held up in a high pony tail and purple eyes, wearing a white scrub material dress walked in. Gwen waved at Jack then turned to Dr. Duran "yes sir?" "Will you please bring me some tylenol to bring down our winter sprite's fever?" "Of course sir" she turned to leave but the doctor stopped her at the door and said quietly so only she could hear "and please bring the special medicine that we talked about? It looks like we may be needing it." Gwen walked out of the room to fetch the medicine.

"Well then while we wait for her we will continue." The doctor held up is hands in front of Jack, "I want you to push my hands with your hands as hard as you can, please, it's to test if your body is responding to your will." "Well alright if that's what you really want." Jack pushed his hands as hard as he could against the doctor's until the doctor pulled away. "Good, good, now I want you to push my hands down at hard as you can." Jack did as h was told until the doctor pulled away again. "Alright, now I would like you to touch your finger to your nose, do this for each hand, like this" Darus touched his nose with his pointer finger on his right hand then did the same thing for his left hand. Jack copied his movement though it seemed he had a bit more trouble doing it than the doctor had. "Now I would like you to walk towards me in a straight line, one foot directly in front of the other." Darus demonstrated for him then Jack followed his movement but stumbled over his own feet. "Hmm, alright" Darus turned to write something then turned back to Jack.

"You may sit back up on the table. Now I would like to remember three words for me, can you do that?" Jack nodded. "Ok then, your three words are dog, blue and cookies." Jack went over the words in his head wondering why he had to remember such random words, another test he firgured. Just then there was a knock heard at the door, it was the nurse Gwen who had returned with the required medicine. The doctor thanked her and she left to check on her other patients. "Here you go Jack, it's nothing scary I promise, It's just to help with the fever." North could see Jack hesitating a bit and decided to step in "take it Jack, it won't hurt you, doctors are meant to heal not harm. He wouldn't do anything to harm you, especially not while I am here." Jack drank down the medicine with no fuss. "That was easy, I figured I would ask you some questions, get to know you. How old are you?" Jack looked to North who only nodded encouraging him to answer his question. "Well I am three hundred years old in spirit years." "How old are you then physically?" "Um, I was human once an died when I was 16 and I woke up as Jack Frost" "Ah I see, so what is it you like to do for fun?" Jack's eyes lit up and started rambling about snowball fights with children, eating snowflake cookies made just for him by North, and lastly sitting by the fire drinking hot or in his case cold chocolate at the north pole. The doctor smiled at Jack's sudden enthusiasm. "Now Jack, do you remember those three words I told you?" "Um I remember the word blue and um. There was a word that started wit think? I'm sorry I'm not sure." "That's alright keep talking through it, tell me what you do remember?" Jack tried to remember, what were those words he thought? Then he looked up to the doctor "I am sorry but what did you ask me?" Darus was a bit startled by this but quickly recovered, he didn't want to show Jack his concern "That's alright, it wasn't important."

The doctor turned from Jack and went to desk behind him to grab out what Jack thought was some sort of sleeve looking thing with a pump. He walked over to him started to wrap the sleeve around Jack's upper right arm. Jack looked down at his arm and back up at the doctor feeling uneasy. "Don't worry Jack, this will feel a little tight but it won't hurt, ok?" He took the stethoscope off his neck and placed the the chest piece of it under the cuff and the ear buds into his ear then began to pump the blood pressure cuff up then released the pressure. Jack was uncomfortable with the pressure of the cuff around his arm but felt relieved when the pressure was released. "Hmm pressure is low" said Darus, "110/80."

North looked worriedly at Jack, that pressure was low though he didn't know what was normal for a winter spirit but if Duran found it low then it wasn't good. "North, I will require your help for this next part." "Of course" said North, "what would you like me to do?" "Just stand here next to Jack, I may need you in a minute." Dr. Duran removed the stethoscope from aound his neck again and placed the ear buds in his ear then he came near to Jack who tried to back up but only backed up into North. Jack finally understood what the doctor needed North's help for, to keep him still. "Easy Jack, this won't hurt you. I promise." To show it wouldn't hurt the doctor placed it on his own chest. "It's just a tool that I use to hear inside" Jack was still trying to move even though he was backed up against North who whispered into his ear "I've got you Jack, It will be alright. Please let him do what he needs to do, for me?" Jack stopped struggling and the doctor took that as his permission to procede. Dr. Duran pressed the chest piece just under Jack's gown near his collar bone on the left side. He listened for a minute then moved to another part of his chest, but Jack was beginning to fidget, he got more agitated by the second as the doctor moved the stethoscope across his chest.

It was beginning to get harder for North to hold Jack still. Jack's breathing became harder and his heart rate sped up. Dr. Duran held the stethoscope to Jack's chest as he looked up into Jack's eyes. "Easy Jack, you need to calm down." Jack growled at him, a low guttural sound that resonated in the doctor's ears through the stethoscope. "That's easy for you to say when your chest isn't the one being fondled by an old man with a weird metal object that's attached to his ears. "Jack" North warned "please don't be difficult." Dr. Duran moved the chest piece down further under Jack's robe down his chest just under his left nipple. Jack made to snatch the stethoscope out of the doctor's ears but North grabbed his hand in time. "Jackson you need to stop child. I'm trying to listen" said Duran.

It was that statement that sent Jack over the edge and that is when everything went to hell. The temperature in the room dropped again and snow began to fall from the ceiling. Jack began screaming, North tried to calm him down but Jack started kicking and punching. The doctor was forced to back away from Jack as icicles shot out and crashed into the wall. Bunny ran in at the sound of Jack's screams filled the hallways only to make it in time to see the icicles impale themselves into the wall and North get a punch to his side. In a flash Bunny was on Jack. He and North held Jack down against the table as the kid thrashed and bucked. The boy's eyes were filled with tears and he started wimpering and moaning seeming to be lost in another world. The boy was out of it. Jack yelled out "no please! please stop! I don't want this! stop! stop! stop!"

Jack was lying naked, restrained to the bed by nightmare sand, each arm and each leg tied up to a bed post. His wrists and ankles rubbed raw from hours of him trying to escape. Pitch Black was also naked lying next to him on the bed stroking Jack's penis. Jack cried and moaned. Pitch looked down at Jack, he was panting and he could see his visable heart beat just under the skin. That is when an idea crossed his mind. "What would it be like to hear that little heart of yours beating rapidly?" Pitch whispered in Jack's ear. Black sand swirled in Pitch's hand until it formed a stethoscope. "This ought to do, I don't usually do medical fetishes but your heart just looks so enticing and putting my ear to your chest hinders me from playing with you. Pitch put the buds in his ear and placed the diaphram to Jack's chest. "no, no. I don't want it" Jack tried to move away but Pitch held him in place. Pitch moved the stethoscope across his chest, as he listened he continued to fondle Jack. "Please stop" He placed his hand over Jack's right nipple and started pulling and rubbing the little nub as he heard jack moan through the stethoscope. Pitch then moved his hand down to Jack's penis and stroked him. Pitch heard Jack's heart quicken, enjoying the sound. He moved the stethoscope to Jack's left pec and placed it over his nipple pushing on it harshly into his skin, the sound was incredible there. The added touch to the boys's sensitive nipple drove Jack crazy. "Pitch please stop, please. I don't want this. stop!" Pitch covered Jack's mouth "you need to stop child, I'm trying to listen." Jack's heart was beating so hard that Pitch could no longer stand it. The moaning and the sound of jack's heart drove him mad and he entered the boy pushing in and out "stop stop stop!" making the boy scream out.

Dr. Duran quickly grabbed a syringe off the desk, the special medicine he had asked his nurse for earlier. "I didn't want to have to do this unless it was absolutley necessary but it seems I have no choice" He drove the needle into Jack's arm and pushed the plunger down. It took a few minutes but Jack seemed to be losing steam. Every movement looked like it was becoming harder. Jack's breathing slowed and his eyes became unfocused and glassy. North and Bunny slowly backed away from Jack but stayed close by in case he struggled again. "Hey mate, what did you give him?" asked Bunny. "Just a little something to calm him down, it won't put him to sleep, just make him a little more malleable. I was trying to avoid using this but the boy was just too scared and combative." "Damn, well that's helpful. wish we could a had that earlier." said Bunny. "Yes well it's not something i prefer to do but clearly Jack wasn't going to calm down."

North rubbed the winter sprite's back trying to comfort him as he saw Jack try and fail to move properly. "What exactly does the medicine do? I am not sure I like the look in his eyes." Bunny agreed with North " yea, it seems like he isn't all the way with us here" "The medicine isn't dangerous I assure you, I would never harm Jack. It will keep him calm, sorta puts him in a bit of a fog, makes his limbs feel heavy so it's harder to move and supresses his power a bit. It's almost like when you are starting to get tired and are falling asleep but just laying there waiting for sleep to take you. I promise I only did what was necessary."

Dr. Duran walked over to Jack and picked up one of his arms and let it go, when his arm fell against the table with almost no resistance he knew the medicine had fully taken affect. "There we go, he is ready, no more resistance should come from him. For the record, this next part, you are going to be happy that Jack isn't all the way there." Dr. Duran moved Jack so that he was lying on his back. "Now, with your permission" he looked to North, "I am going to remove his gown." He waited for North's approval and when he received a nod he pulled the gown off of Jack. There was a gasp by all three men followed by complete silence. They all stared taking in all the bruises and cuts that littered his body. Some were healing, some weren't.

The scariest injury of all so far were his ribs, they were a mess. The doctor felt around them and confirmed that four of them were broken, the rest were bruised badly. Jack's arms and legs looked much like his torso. He had a broken collar bone and a dislocated shoulder. The doctor poked, prodded, and felt all over the injuries, being sure to be as gentle as possible and write everything down. Jack squirmed around on the table clearly not wanting to be stared at like this but unable to do much about it, only a light dusting of snow fell and thin frost spread beneath him across the table. " North, can you sit Jack up for me and hold him steady? I need to listen to his lungs."

North slipped his arms under Jack's and sat him up. He let Jack lean against him and held him firmly, still fearful that Jack was laying low and would spring to action at any moment. But Jack made no moves other than the widening of his eyes as the doctor came towards him with the stethoscope again. He placed the diaphram to to his upper back on the left side, then moved it to the right. He kept moving the diaphram lower going side to side for a few minutes then removed the scope from his back. He moved towards Jack with the stethoscope in hand to show Jack exactly what he was doing when he touched it to his neck, bell side down and listened. Then he flipped it over to the diaphram again and placed it just below his collar bone, he instructed North to tilt Jack forward just a little bit. He moved the diaphram across his chest, listening for a minute at a time to each spot he placed the scope, the pulmonary, aortic, tricuspid and finally the mitral valve just below his left pec very close to his nipple. Jack visbly flinched, he seemed to be very uncomfortable but even more so as he moved the scope lower.

"You can lay Jack back down on the table." North lowered him and backed away as Dr. Duran took his place. He placed the scope back onto Jack's chest and repeated listening to all the valves. When he got to the mitral valve again he rolled Jack forward onto his side, he listened there for a good long time then he returned Jack to laying on his back. Next he placed the scope onto his stomach. He moved it acrosss his stomach moving lower and lower until he reached the band of Jack's underwear. Jack began shivering but the doctor continued on and placed the scope beneath the band. Finally he placed the stethoscope around his neck again and placed his fingers onto Jack's chest feeling the mitral valve open and close. Then he moved his hands across his stomach "tell me if an of this hurts Jack." He kept pressing around and Jack made no moves or sound other than his shivering until the doctor moved his underwear down a bit and pressed his hands down and around his groin, Jack gasped in pain. "Ah, I see," the doctor removed his hands. "North, Bunnymund, I need you to trust in me for what I am about to do is quite intimate but please believe me when I say it is need."

Bunny decided to speak for both of them "What are you planning to do?" "I am truly sorry for this but I am going to remove his underwear, normally for any physical I would just lift the band and take a quick peak underneath to make sure all the parts are where they should be but I've got a bad feeling about Jack's." "What do you think it is?" asked North. "I would rather not say it out loud around children's ears" he nodded towards Jack who's eyes were filled with unshed tears and a terrified look on his face. Duran put on a pair of latex gloves, "we will know in a moment, I apologize in advance for this Jack." The doctor started to pull the underwear down but Jack mustered as much strength as he had left and went to slap his hand but Bunny was quicker and caught his hand mid swing. "No snowflake" he said softly and patted his head. Dr. Duran pulled Jack's underwear off and it became very clear why Jack had just attempted to hit him. All three men gasped and Jack lowered his head in shame as thick tears spilled over his cheeks. Jack's thighs were bruised and so were his genitals. The doctor lifted and examined his penis and testicles and saw old and new cuts on those too. "Bunny I need you hold Jack on his side for me very firmly, he isn't going to like this." Duran spread the cheeks of Jack's butt apart and found what he was looking for. The skin inside of his butt was all torn and was an angry red. He placed a gloved finger inside feeling for Jack's prostate, it was swollen and clearly painful as Jack screamed out. Duran removed his hands from Jack and threw away his gloves. "He raped Jack?! How dare that mother fucker Pitch rape Jack?! Who the fuck does he think he is?!" Bunny screamed "What's with all the cuts and bruises on his genitalia?! He sodomized him!" "Bunny please calm down for Jack" North pointed to the boy who had curled in on himself and was sobbing. "We can be angry at Pitch and curse him all we want later but now is not the time, now is time to comfort Jack."

North covered Jack with a sheet that Dr. Duran handed him. He patted Jack softly on his head and whispered kind words of encouragement to him. "It's going to be ok now Jack, none of us will ever let pitch hurt you ever again." When Jack made no attempt to even look at him North scooped him up in his arms. "You are so strong Jack, you are doing so well, I am so proud of you." Bunny rubbed his back "yea mate, I admire you." Jack just burried his face in shame into North's coat.

Dr. Duran came over to interupt them "I'm sorry to break this up but we have a few more tests to do and I would rather get them done before that medicine starts wearing off." He took a hold of Jack's arm while he was turned away, motioning to North to hold him steady while he checked for a good vein and inserted the needle. Jack hissed in pain and tried to move but Bunny helped North hold him and with the medicine coarsing through his veins he just could't fight them off. The doctor continued to draw blood for a few minutes, having to be patient as a winter spirit's blood flowed slowly. He got six vials of it before he finally pulled the needle out and place guaze and a bandaid over the punture wound.

"Very good job Jack, we've got just a few more tests to do and we will be all done. Now for the next tests we will need to move to another room, we can get a wheel chair for him and wheel- Bunny held up his paw, "naw it's all good I will carry him myself and that way I can make sure he doesn't go anywhere." Bunny wrapped Jack up in a blanket and picked him up, North carried his clothes and they followed the doctor out of the room down a long hall way to another larger room with big machines in it and a small seperate room blocked off by glass. " Place Jack on the table there please Bunny." Jack began to fidget and tried to roll himself off but North caught him. "I know it's scary Jack but it will be over soon." Dr. Duran laid Jack onto his back making sure he was comfortable and covered "ok Jack we will be right back, we will be watching from this room, this is an x-ray machine, it just takes pictures, nothing will hurt you I promise, just try to lay still." The three men went into the room while the x-rays were taken, after each picture the doctor would come out and move jack and the machine into different positions and then go back into the glass room again. It took a total of about 5 minutes in all but it felt like an eternity to Jack.

Bunny picked up Jack again and they moved to another machine in the same room. "This machine is an MRI, magnetic resonance imaging, nothing painful. It takes pictures just like the x-ray machine but this takes more detailed pictures of everything, not just bones like the x-ray machine." He turned to the two older guardians "though I have to warn you it does take rather long, it will be about an hour, I will give Jack a little more of that calming medicine, then I will restrain him and his head to the bed." "What ya mean ya gonna restrain him?! What's all that about?" yelled Bunny angrily. "Easy Bunny it's only for Jack's own safety, you see that tube there? That is where Jack will be and many spirits get claustrophobic. I am sure Jack will too as flighty as he. If he some how manages to be able to move enough to try and get out he could get hurt. Also, this machine requires patients to be as still as possible to get clear images." "We understand Dr. Duran, do what you must" said North. Dr. Duran lightly forced Jack back down. North held him down while he gave Jack another syringe of the calming medicine. After Jack's eyes started to grow heavy he secured Jack's arms and legs into the restraints than strapped his head down to bed as well with a metal cage over his head. Jack looked to Bunny and tried to call out to him but no words came out. "It's ok snowball, we will be right in that room there watching ya to make sure nothing happens alright? We will see you soon."

North rubbed his head and gave him a hug. Dr. Duran picked up Jack's hand and looked for a good vein with a needle in his hand " This is only dye, it won't hurt him, it just helps make the pictures clearer." He placed the needle into his hand and pushed the plunger down. Once the dye was gone he removed the needle. The older guardians made their way to the room and watched as Jack went inside the tube. Jack started panicking, he did not like this one bit and he wanted out but he just couldn't move. Suddenly he heard a voice in the machine " Jack? This is Dr. Duran, the machine is very loud, don't wory, it is supposed to sound that way and it won't hurt you. I've left the light on for you and I am going to play you some music. You have a button right next to your right arm and if you need anything or get too scared, just push it and we will stop the machine. There is nothing that will happen and we will be right here." "o okay" Jack said weakly.

The machine started up scaring Jack but Dr. Duran and the guardians talked to him for a while until Jack made no more noise. "It sounds like Jack must have fallen asleep" said North. "Well that's good, poor little bugger is tired out" said Bunny. "If you want" began Dr. Duran "you can go take a break, get something to eat, go for a walk. It will be another forty five minutes and Jack is asleep, he should be fine. North shook his head "We appreciate the offer but we will stay here with our boy, we can rest when all this is done."

The three men talked the rest of the time while they waited. The talked of what all the different tests were for and what the doctor was looking for. Even talked about what Jack's mental state could really be at the moment. Dr. Duran thought now was as good a time as any to voice his opinion. "Well based on the psychological and neurological tests I've done on Jack I do not believe that Jack is in his right mind." "What do you mean?" Bunny asked waiting for the doctor to continue.

"He is aware of his surroundings and who he is, what day and year. But he doesn't seem to to have a sense of self. He doesn't register how he is truly feeling, whether it be hunger, fatigue, or mild pain. He wasn't even aware that he is overheated which is the first thing winter spirits usually know about themselves. I believe all his time spent with Pitch has shattered his basic understanding of these things. Also, he is in a constant state of panic, always ready to obey his fight or flight response. He has a very short attention span and truthfully, I am not even sure how much he really understands what people are saying to him. His short term memory seems to slightly damaged as well as he couldn't remember the three words I told him to remember after we talked for a bit and when I asked him to try again, he couldn't remember what I had asked him to remember." North rubbed a hand down his face in frustration "What can we do?"

"Unfortunetly my findings show me that Jack is no longer capable of really taking care of himself and I feel he needs a parental quardian. Jack is still a child yes and eternal one at that but he is younger mentally than he should be, I do believe this is a direct result from Pitch's abuse. I feel it is in Jack's best interest if I had a talk with Manny and ask him that he make one of you his parental guardian." The two guardians were quiet, both thinking over the doctor's words. Then Bunny spoke up "Aye, who do you think out us should be his parental guardian?" Dr. Duran pondered this for a second "honestly, I have to say North would be the best candidate. You have a home that is cold enough for Jack and is his element. Also, I know you will be stern with him and make sure what needs to be done is done. I know Toothiana would love to be Jack's parent and indeed I'm sure she could co-parent with you but her home is to warm for a winter sprite and I feel that she wouldn't force Jack to anything he didn't want to do, maybe if it was truly for his own good but I feel Jack would put up too much of a fight for her. From what I've seen that boy is the strongest winter spirit I have ever seen, granted I don't usually have winter spirits come here. They usually heal themselves with their ice and it's too warm for them here so when I do see one they are pretty desperate. Even though I haven't really treated one I do see them but I've never seen a power like Jack's. Being in such a weakened state that I see, he shouldn't even be able to stand let alone run away and fight. The bursts of power I've seen from him are incredible. I do believe that a firmer hand is necessary to keep him in check." North swallowed at the thought, to understand how much strength and power their child truly had was amazing. "So you will ask Manny about a guardian for him?" Dr. Duran nodded. Just then the machine finally stopped.

The doctor moved the bed out from the tube and started unstrapping Jack. North picked up the sleeping frost child and cradled him gently in his arms. They followed the doctor to another room and North places Jack on the bed. North looked around the room and recognized some of the medical equipment. An EKG machine and an ultrasound machine. "What are these for? Is there something wrong with Jack's heart?" The doctor nodded pulled down the sheet Jack was wrapped up in and started placing the stickers and wires onto Jack's chest. He started the machine but Jack was starting to come to and Bunny had to grab a hold of his hands to keep him from pulling the wires off. "I heard a disturbing sound while I listened to his heart and I think I know what it is but I need to confirm it." The test went on for another two minutes, then Dr. Duran stopped it and removed the sensors from Jack's chest. He looked over the paper in his hand, face clearly not liking the irregular peaks and valley's of Jack's heart beat. The doctor removed the stethoscope from his neck and placed the buds in his ear and he moved it towards Jack. Jack growled at him and tried to push away from Bunny but Bunny held him firmly. "Easy son, easy." Dr. Duran placed the diaphram onto his chest and moved it around a few times seemingly trying to find something. He must have found it because he nodded to himself and pushed the scope a little firmer into his chest, Jack squirmed at the pressure. The doctor tooke the buds out of his ear but left the scope on Jack's chest. He held out the buds towards North. "Come and take a listen for yourself." Jack struggled and shook his head at North but North put the buds in his ears anyways. He listened closely and seem to understand immediately what the doctor was talking about. Having some medical knowledge he at least knew what a heart beating should sound like and Jack's was off, though whether or not that was normal for a winter spirit, he didn't know. " Do you hear that?" asked Duran, North nodded. North listened for a few more minutes, he moved the scope across Jacks's chest too to compare sounds. "I do not like that sounds of that" he said as he pulled out the buds and handed them back to the doctor. Dr. Duran held out the buds to Bunny. North replace Bunny, holding Jack down while Bunny put the buds in his ears and placed the scope to Jack's chest. He moved it around but quickly found the aweful sound without the doctor's help, also having some medical background. All the guardians had at some medical training at least to take vitals and patch up wounds but nothing really more advanced than that but Bunny could tell that his heart wasn't supposed to sound like that. Bunny kept listening making Jack really uncomfortable. What was everyone hearing? Why were they taking turns listening to him? He really didn't like it. Bunny handed the stethoscope back to the doctor shaking his head.

Dr. Duran placed it back around his neck and pulled over a computer looking thing with probes on it over towards Jack. "You are doing great Jack, I know i have put through a lot today but I promise this is the last test and it won't hurt a bit. But it will be kind of sticky and it will feel gross, Just trust me ok?" The doctor turned to machine and turned the light off. North and Bunny and stood on either side of the bed and held Jack. Dr. Duran picked up a bottle of gel and squeezed it out onto the probe he placed the probe onto Jack's chest and moved it aroud pressing it firmly into his chest while watching the screen in front of him. Jack groaned quietly in pain. "I am sorry Jack, I don't mean to hurt you but I have to press hard to get a clear picture." He moved the probe over Jack's left pec in much the same way as he moved the stethoscope only gliding it across. He seemed to find what he was looking for as he held the probe in the same spot pressing firmer. "ow" Jack cried and the doctor gave a look that said he was sorry but kept the same pressure. He turned on a button and Jack's heartbeat became audible. Jack cringed as he listened to his own heart, it was creepy and it sounded kind of weird, not what he would have expected. The doctor pointed at the screen "It is just as I feared. Do you see that black space there?" North and Bunny stared intently at it and Jack tried to lift his head up off the bed to see it better but couldn't get a clear view. "That is hole" the doctor. Bunny and North's faces shared a look of shock. "A hole?" Jack whispered. Everyone looked at him then almost as if they forgot he was even there. "What does that mean?" Jack shook like a leaf and tears came to his eyes. "Perhaps it is best to talk about this in private" the doctor whispered to the two older guardians. Bunny put on a brave face for Jack and tried to act like nothing was wrong, "it's nothing you have to worry about ya little ankle biter, sometimes holes happen, no big deal." He patted Jack on the head but looked at North worriedly. He knew what this meant and how dangerous it was but there was no need to scare the child.

The doctor opened a cabinet and pulled out a new gown and underwear. "Tell you what we are going to do Jack, we are going to get you dressed and I am going to put you in your own room in the hospital wing." When Jack went to argue the doctor held his finger to Jack's lips. "Let me finish child, you are very dehydrated, and you still have a fever. I can't let you leave until we fix that. Do you have a headache Jack? please be honest with me." Jack only nodded but wouldn't talk. " That is from being dehydrated, I will tell you that it does involve a needle, it's an IV, a bag of saline solution the will be placed into your vein, but you will feel so much better, I promise. I will have Gwendolyn put it in, she is the best we have. Spirits don't usually feel it when she puts it in. It will take a while so we will put you in your own room with a bed so you can lay down and maybe take a nap?" Jack shook his head. "I know you are tired, I did a lot to you today, I know. You don't have to sleep if you don't want to though, but we will get you something to eat too, ok?" He turned to North and Bunny "you can help him dress now. I will go get Gwen and she will take you to the room" with that he turned and left the room.

North lifted Jack up so Bunny could dress him but Jack wrigled out of his grasp, "I can dress myself," he said pointedly. Bunny chuckled a bit "I don't know mate, you look out of it, maybe you should let me help." Bunny let Jack hold on to his shoulder as Jack stood up on shaking legs but Jack growled at him when Bunny bent down to help him put his feet through his underwear. Bunny was taken aback by this but also felt pride at the almost animalistic sound that came from the boy. When Jack bent down to put his feet through the room spinned and he fell to the floor. Bunny saw it coming and with his amazing speed scooped Jack up before he could collide with the floor. While Jack was still in a daze he quickly pulled his underwear up and North tied the gown around him. "You are something else frostbite, I will give you that. Not many can be in your position and still demand, let alone actually try to dress themselves." Jack gave him an angry glare but didn't fight anymore "shut up kangaroo." Bunny was about to argue with Jack for the millionth time that he wasn't a kangaroo when there was a knock at the door. "Who is it" asked North. "It's Gwen, I was told to take you to the room. Are you ready?" "Ah yes of course, please come in" North opened the door for her. "Thank you." She brought it with her a wheel chair. "Are you ready to move sweet snow?" Jack shook his head at the idea of a wheel chair. "I don't need that, I can walk." "Heh, yea says the bloody show pony who also said he could dress himself but almost kissed the floor." "Bunny what the hell?! Why would you mention that in front of her?" he pointed at Gwen. "It's embarrassing." "Awe, no need to worry about me Jack, I see and hear all kinds of embarrassing things here" Gwen smiled at him. "Jack, Bunny is right you shouldn't try to walk yet, you get one choice, you either sit in the chair or I let Bunny carry you." "Wow North, now you are getting bossy? Damn. I am not a child, I can do what I want." North picked up Jack and placed him in the wheel chair and held him there for a minute until he stopped squirming. "Listen to me son, you are and always will be a child to me, 300 year old spirit or not. No more games Jack, I will not let you injure yourself further." With that said Gwen pushed Jack out and headed down another hall, the two older guardians following closely behind.

When they got to the new room Jack took a look around, the walls were painted blue, Jack's favorite color and the ceiling was also blue with white puffy clouds painted on it. It was nice enough Jack thought, at least it wasn't all white. Though, what really caught his eye was that the bed was next to a window, his eyes lit up like a christmas tree. Only problem is that Jack didn't have his staff to fly and it was high up. "Don't even think about it Jackson, I know that look, you aren't going anywhere." North stared down at him. How did North know him so well Jack thought? Gwen placed the wheel chair by the bed and made to help Jack get up on the bed but he blew a little frost on to her hand and she backed away. It wasn't to harm her, the frost wasn't dangerous, it was a warning. Jack gave her an apologizing look "I'm fine right here thanks." She nodded and backed away. North looked at him and pointed to the bed, "if you do not want to be treated like a child then stop acting like one and get in bed now. I can see that you are tired and wheel chair will be uncomfortable to sleep in" Jack looked shocked for a moment then shook it away and did as he was told. "I told you, no more games." If North was now going to be Jack's parental guardian then he was going to start acting like it and that meant being stern with the boy, it seemed to work. Gwen placed a metal pole next to Jack's bed and hung up two IV bags on it. She pulled up a chair and sat next to Jack taking his arm into her hands and looking for a vein. Jack looked to North to see if he would tell her to stop, when nothing came from the man, Jack resolved that he was going to get this IV whether he wanted it or not. "So jack, are you hungry? I can get all of you something to eat." Jack just shrugged, "Not really" but then his stomach betrayed him and growled. "Well your stomach says otherwise dear. There all done." Jack stared at her in disbelief. "You did it already" he whispered "I didn't even feel it." "That's right, I'm told that I am pretty good." She turned around and picked up a piece of paper handing it to Jack. "It's a menu, all of you can order whatever you want and it should be here in a half hour. My personal favorite is the chicken soup, it in one of the best items we have, it's ordered a lot. They will even cool it down for your wintery self. Anyway, for now just get comfortable, it's going to be a while for you to absorb all the fluids. I will check on you in hour to change the bag. Oh, before I forget." She went out of the room for a moment then returned with a blanket, it was dark blue with silvery white snowflakes emroidered onto it. Jack thought it was beautiful. Gwen layed it over him, it was so soft and he was surprised when he felt it made him cool rather than warm. "This is for you sweet snow, you can even take it home with you when you leave. It should help with the fever too, I will be giving you another dose of medicine for that in an hour when I change the bags. Bunny , North, you both order something as well, use the phone and call the number on the menu, just know it takes about a half an hour so you may want to order soon. Now, I'm sorry but I must go, I have other patients I need to tend to. Rest up snowy" she called out as she left the room.

North and Bunny each decided what they wanted to eat, they were just waiting for an answer from Jack but he was acting like he had no interest in food. "Come on mate, you got to eat something, we have been here quite a while and we know you are hungry, I could hear your stomach growl even if I didn't have these sensitive ears." Jack just shook his head "sorry, I'm just not really hungry." "What do you mean by you are not hungry I already told you that I know that you are." It was as Bunny and Jack argued about lunch is when North remembered something that Dr. Darus had said about Jack not understanding his own feelings which in this case must be hunger. North decided to try and test his theory. "Why don't you eat much Jack?" Jack seemed to be a bit surprised at the question but then brushed it off. "Please tell me Jack and be truthfull." Jack stared at the floor "Pitch never fed me much, sometimes I went for days or weeks at a time without eating. Sometimes even drinking if I managed to piss him off which was all the time so he had to punish me. He said he fed me just enough to keep my body going but not enough to use my powers efficiently and never to feel full. I guess I just got used to not eating so much that I learned to ignore my hunger, eventually it became just another pain like all the others. Hunger didn't mean anything and now I guess I don't really recognize it for what it is." Bunny's ears drooped and North gave him a sad look. "Well then I guess I shall order for you, maybe seeing food will make you hungry, I think the soup Gwen suggested is best, it will be easy on your stomach." North called their orders in to the kitchen. Then they just had to wait.

Bunny pulled out some eggs, paint brushes and paint out of the long strap he always wore. "I'm going to go nuts if I got nothing to do but talk to you for the next hour." Jack glared at him. "Hey how do you think I feel? I don't even want to be here, I keep getting forced into all this." North stood up and pushed both their faces away from each other. "That is enough, fighting does not help." "Settle down North, Jack and I aren't really fighting, just having a friendly go at each other. Isn't that right frosty?" "Yea North the the fuzzball is right, just for fun." North pinched the bridge of his nose "ah, give me break, I have two children to watch over then." He picked up a magazine he had found in one of the drawers and started reading. "Well he is boring, say Jack, do you want to paint one? Jack gave a small smile and accepted the egg, paint and brush. They painted in silence for a while until there was a knock at the door, the attendant brought in the trays of food and placed them on the bedside table, then she left. "Come on Jack, maybe now you will want to eat" but when North looked over Jack was asleep curled up in his blanket, the egg and painting utensils left neatly at the foot of the bed. " Poor little sprite, I knew the Gumby was tired. I'd be tired too if I went through all those tests." North nodded in agreement. They ate in silence for a few minutes, then Bunny whispered to North so as not to wake their sleeping snow spirit. "Frostbite is pretty beaten up, that's obvious but what of the other tests? How will the results be? What about his heart? The hole? Do you think Pitch did it? Maybe stabbed him?" " I don't know what the tests will reveal. I do think his heart has something to do with Pitch but I am not sure how. He would have died long ago if Pitch had stabbed him in his heart." They both finished up eating as they contemplated on each other' words.

It had been an hour and one of Jack's IV bags had just run out of fluid. A knock was heard on the door before it opened and Gwen stepped into the room. "Dr. Darus has all the results from Jack's tests and would like to go over them with you...in private" she motioned to Jack who was still sleeping comfortably. "Don't worry I will stay with him until you come back. I will watch over him." The two guardians walked out of the room and headed to the doctor's office. Gwen waved them good bye then got to work. She changed the IV bags and made sure the new bag was flowing properly. She lifted Jack's arm and inspected the needle itself to make sure it hadn't shifted. Everything seemed fine so she went about checking his vitals while he slept. She found his pulse on his wrist and pressed it while looking at her watch for a minute, then wrote it down. She took his temperature, it was 52 degrees now, better than it was but still not good. She had his medicine to give him for it when he woke up. She pulled out her blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around his upper left arm so as not to hurt the IV flow in his right arm. She put the buds of the stethoscope in her ears and placed the diaphram just under the cuff and pumped it, Jack stirred but hadn't fully come to yet. She released the pressure and he settled. She kept the buds in her ears and went to move the scope to his chest, she slipped it under his gown and listened in a few different spots until she found the hole. Yes, it was definetly a hole, it sounded awful. Unfortunetly that is when Jack decided to rejoin the waking world and snapped into consciousness so fast is startled the nurse. She removed the stethoscope and watched him as his eyes wandered around the room looking like he wasn't fully aware yet.

"Where are North and Bunny? They are supposed to be here. They said they wouldn't leave me." Gwen could see he was clearly distraught that the other guardians weren't here. She had to get ahold of the situation quickly. "It's alright sweet snow, they just had to go talk to the doctor." "Why didn't the doctor talk to me?" "Because you were sleeping." "Oh yea guess that makes sense, I still wish they waited for me." He looked worried, Gwen decided she needed to distract him. "Oh hey look, you did get the chicken soup." "I did? oh yea, I remember. I must of been asleep when lunch got here."

She brought the side table over to him and handed him the spoon. "Why don't you eat now while we wait for them, ok?" Jack or should he said he stomach did decide he was hungry and ate half the bowl before taking a breath. "My goodness, you were hungry. You should eat slowly." She handed him the crackers and he put them in the soup then ate the rest. She handed him his apple juice and he drank it quicly too. Feeling satisfied he allowed himself to lay back against the pillows with his new favorite blanket and blankly watched as the IV bag dripped. Then he turned his attention back to the nurse, watching her as she was writing. "What were you doing before? I thought all the tests were done?" "Oh sorry, they are I was just checking your vitals, just something we do often when someone stay with us for a while." Jack looked like he wanted to ask something else but was afraid to ask. "What's on your mind hunny?" "But I'm not staying here for a while right? I was just told I had to get fluids and then I can go home. I want my staff back, so I can fly, I've got places to make snow storms and such." She looked at him with a sorrowful look and he didn't miss it. "What? Why does everyone keep looking at me that way? Everyone knows something that I don't. What's wrong with my heart, I heard something about a hole?" Gwen knew she should try to difuse the situation. He shouldn't know about it just yet, it would make him too upset. Especially knowing what they would have to do about it. "It's nothing you need to worry about sweet heart, everything is under control. You just need to rest, that's all." Jack shook his head, sure he was an eternal chid but he wasn't dumb, he knew when things were being kept from him. "I want to know, it's my body and I have a right to know. Something is up. Everyone has listened to my chest with that thing you wear." He pointed to the stethoscope "Including North and Bunny, they had the same look on their faces. I want to hear it too." "Jack I don't think that is good idea." "Please? I don't want to be in the dark. I'm scared. I don't want to be the only one who doesn't know."

"Alright" She removed the stethoscope from around her neck and placed the buds into his ears. "First I want you to hear what a heart beat should sound like." She placed the scope onto her chest and let him listen to different areas for a few minutes, then removed it from her chest. "Now this is what your heart sounds like" She placed it onto his chest moving it to the spot where she found the hole. As he listened his eyes grew wide, it was weird enough to listen to the sound of his own heart beating but was worse was the sound it made, it definetly didn't sound like Gwen's. "Do you hear the difference?" "What does it mean?" She knew this was coming but didn't see a way out of it now so she figured she mine as well be honest. "A hole in your heart is not good, it will need to be repaired. Your blood isn't flowing as it should be and that is why you are fatigued. That is why it takes so much out of you when you use your powers." "How did you know that? I didn't tell anyone that." "Jack I'm a nurse I know what happens." "Well, how do they fix it." Now this was the part she really didn't want to answer but she knew if she didn't he would only push her. She couldn't just leave him, she had promised she would stay with him and someone had to watch him. So she knew she had to answer his question. "They will have to perform surgery, you will go to sleep and they will have to cut open your chest. They will then sew up your heart and then your chest back together." When she mentioned surgery and them cutting open his chest Jack lost it. He started to hyperventilate and his heart sped up. He was sweating and tears flowed freely from his eyes. Then his eyes rolled in the back of his head and his world went black.

Meanwhile, North and Bunny made it down several hallways before finally finding the doctor's office. When they entered they were surprised to see Sandy and Tooth there as well. All chatter stopped once the two guardians entered the room. "Ah, you are right on time, the others just got here" Dr. Duran said as he nodded his head towards Tooth and Sandy. "I felt it was important for all you guardians to be present to hear the results."

Toothiana just couldn't hold herself back and just had to release a whole bunch of questions, probably all of which the doctor was going to answer if she would just be patient. "Where is Jack? Is he alright? Are his test results bad?" The doctor was clearly overwhelmed by her. Sandy placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down and let the doctor answer. "I have to agree with Toothy, lets get on with it, I think North and I have been here long enough" said Bunny. "Alright, I will answer everything but please everyone just sit down, this is going to be a lot to take in. Now first things first, North, I did ask Manny about what we discussed earlier and he did agree with me that Jack needs to be supervised at all times. He has officially made you Jack's parental guardian." What?" asked Tooth. "Jack may be a child, but he is a 300 year old eternal child spirit. Why Would he need a parental guardian and to be honest with myself, why not me?"

Dr. Duran sighed "I knew these questions were coming, Tooth, you are welcome to become a co-parental guardian with North. North has been named main parental guardian because it is best if Jack stays with North at the north pole. Unfortunetly, your palace is much too warm for a winter spirit, he can handle it in short bursts but not for the length of time we are looking at. Second, based on my exam, it doesn't appear that Jack has all his mental faculties. Part of the exam was neurological and psychological. As I told North and Bunny, what I found is that Jack doesn't register his own pain or physical needs such as the need for food and sleep. He does seem to have short term memory loss at times as well. His body appears to have trouble following every demand Jack makes on himself as well. Not to mention he is in a constant state of fear, always ready to use his fight or flight response. Overall, I do not believe that Jack is capable of properly taking care of himself." Tooth and Sandy looked shocked, North and Bunny just stared at the floor. "What about physically mate? asked Bunny. "Honestly, the kid is a mess and I am not really sure what is worse, his mental or his physical state?" For starters, he has a high fever that is quite dangerous and I heard a touch of pneumonia in his lungs. He has 4 broken ribs and all of them are bruised. Cuts, bruises and burns are littered across every part of his body. His chest and torso are bad but the worst part, and I apologize in advance for this, is his genitalia." "What?!" Tooth cried. "What do you mean?! There is something wrong with his...private parts? Why would you even look there?" Bunny held her back from smacking the doctor across his face.

I am sorry but it is something that I do have to check as a part of a standard medical examination, please forgive me. Normally I would only briefly look beneath his underwear to make sure all parts were where they are supposed to be and looked normal but I had a hunch about something. Sure enough I was right, the boy was raped by Pitch Black." Toothiana looked like she was going to pass out "raped, by pitch?" she kept whispering over and over again. The doctor shook his head "actually I shouldn't say raped, I should say sodomized. His penis and testicles have old and new cuts, his thighs are bruised and his anus is torn. I honeslty don't know how the boy can even have the strength to stand let alone walk, but the boy runs and flys like it's no big thing. He is not registering just how bad a state he actually is in." Tooth was crying hard into Sandy's shoulder, he just held her close with unshed tears in his eyes as well. North and Bunny just stared at each other, concern and hurt in their eyes. Dr. Duran cleared his throat and waited for everyone's attention. "I am sorry but I have far more worse news to tell you."

"Worse? How could it be worse?" Tooth continued to cry. The doctor breathed in deeply thinking of how to say his next words carefully but realized there was no easier way. "Jack Frost is dying." All of them gasped staring at him. "What?! You want to repeat what you just said and explain it?" yelled Bunny. "Jack has a decent sized hole in his heart and it is slowly killing him. The worst part is, the boy doesn't even know it. I believe it is because of Pitch. Jack was not stabbed or wounded in the heart, no this has to do with his center. He is the guardian of fun, fun is his center, but Pitch has broken the boy and he no longer sees fun. He is far too scared and hurt so his center is broken, which is literally eating away at his heart." "What can we do? How do we fix this?" North asked hopefully. "Jack requires an open heart surgery to fix the wound. Unfortunetly it is no light matter, it is very involved and is painful. It will require a lot of recovery time about six months to a year before he is fully healed. Much of his recovery in the beginning will require him to be on bed rest with round the clock care. This is not a task for the week at heart, sorry for the pun, but I need to make sure you guardians are up to the task or we will lose Jack Frost forever." Tooth looked up with determination shining on her face "of course we are up to the task, we are guardians, we can handle this."

The doctor smiled at her "I am grateful for your enthusiam and I am glad to see you want to help. But there are some things we need to do first. Jack needs to be treated for his injuries and illness. Then must be given time to heal. He is too weak to have surgery now, if we were to do it right away he would die on the table. Next you all must brush up on your medical knowledge if you want Jack to come home from the hospital after surgery. If not then he will have to stay here. If he does go home afterwards you will not be alone of course, we would send Gwen, one of my nurses to live with you while Jack recovers. Though, I have to be honest with you. My personal opinion is with or without the surgery I don't feel that Jack will ever be the same again." "Why not?" asked Tooth. "Well, you see one is very depressed and becomes a shell of the person they once were when their center is broken. The heart surgery Jack will be put through also makes one very depressed. He won't be able to fly or spread snow for a long while and without being able to use his powers. Whoever you knew as Jack Frost before will no longer be Jack Frost."

The guardians all knew what the doctor was getting at. Having a broken center was like having your soul ripped out of your body, your reason for living gone. Surgery, while it may fix the hole in his heart was no guarantee to fix his center. They could only hope that the love, kindness, and caring they show him during his recovery will be enough to repair it. If not the kindest thing to do would be for Manny to take him home. Back to the moon with him, essentially death, their form of heaven. If not he would be doomed to wander the earth a souless doll for all time. Bunny shivered at the though of it. Speaking of Manny, where was he? Why isn't here? After all Jack was created by him, made into Jack Frost when the human fell through the ice and died protecting his sister. The guardians weren't created, they were all born and then chosen later in life based on their talents. Jack was the only guardian to have ever died to become a guardian. What would he say about all this?

"So then" Bunny decided to voice his thoughts and broke through the silence that was so thick you could cut through it with a knife. "Where the hell is Manny then? He must be knowin what's goin on if he gave his permission for North to be Jackie's new dad, not that I mind. But, I mean, he made Jack. You think he would want to be here for the lil' bugger." "That is good question Bunny" said North. Toothiana fidgeted nervously in her seat "um, I know we did too and we have no excuse for it, but didn't Manny abandon Jack? I mean I don't really think that. It's obvious that he cares since he made us bring Jack here and gave North parental rights over him. Though, Jack said that Manny didn't ever talk to him throughout his whole life except to tell him his name." Sandy saw the Man in the Moon materilizing in the room but the others didn't seem to notice. Sandy tried to get their attention, but they all seemed to content to ignore him. North had a sudden realization hit him "Why did Manny not tell us that Pitch had Jack then? Do you think Manny did not know?" They all pondered the question until a voice spoke the answer from behind North.

"Telling you wouldn't have helped, I could't find Pitch myself. There was no way you would have been able to find him then" voiced MiM. "I even tried to ask Mother Nature but she refused to help. She said that Jack may be a seasonal spirit but she didn't want to fight her father unless she absolutely had to. I had hoped that by making Jack a guardian, Pitch would let him go, not wanting to get tangled into a mess with the guardians. But Jack as a guardian seemed to only help his cause more and fuel his rage." "Why did you not try to talk to us? We could have helped you loo." asked Tooth. MiM looked defeated. "I know I should have, I guess I lost hope." He looked to Bunny. Bunny being the guardian of hope was saddened by this. "Either way mate, you must have had a different reason for not talking to Jack for so long before Pitch." "I do" MiM whispered, almost sounded ashamed. "Well, out with it then." Bunny was unwillingly to wait any longer. MiM sighed. "The truth is I've been avoiding Jack because I don't know how to talk to him. I can't talk to him knowing who he used to be." "Are you talking about Jackson Overland? The human Jack was before?" asked Tooth curiously. "No Toothiana it goes farther back than Jackson Overland." Sandy encouraged him with a smile to continue. "Jack Frost has had a long life even before becoming Jackson Overland but whenever he is reincarnated he can no longer remember who he once was. Even the fact he was once my guardian." Everyone looked shocked. "You mean to say that Jack is?" asked Tooth. "Yes" MiM said softly. "Jack is my nightight."

"Nightlight?! He has been gone for centuries. We thought he had died" Tooth said confused. MiM ran his hand down his face in frustration "Please let me explain. You remember how Nightlight no longer stayed by my side after he and Pitch were accidently released from Pitch's prison the first time? Well, he didn't remember me when he woke up. He roamed the earth for a few years until the children at Santoff Clausen were attacked by fearlings. He helped them and that is how he met Katherine. I am pretty sure he had a thing for her and she for him. Anyway, you remember when Pitch attacked again and tried to turn Katherine into a fearling. Nightlight gave his kiss that would cure anything even death to her and was no longer a nightlight after that. He turned into a human child. The child, Jackson Overland grew to be a teenager. On one faithful day he gave up his own life to save his sister from falling through thin ice while skating. When he died, I turned him into a spirit again. I told him he was Jack Frost. I watched him as he played by himself, learning about his powers. I watched over him always but I could never bring myself to talk to him, to answer his questions. I knew he didn't remember being Nightlight. I didn't know how to answer him so I avoided him. I thought perhaps his memories would return on their own in time but I was wrong."

Bunny was very visibly angry, Sandy tried to get his attention to stop the blow up he knew was about to happen but he didn't get the chance. "What the Fuck MiM?! You got some real nerve you know that? Ignoring Jack all those years and making him think no one cared about him because you couldn't deal with him not being Nightlight anymore?! Of all the selfish shit I've heard!" MiM was getting visibly flustered by Bunny's accusations. "I know, I was selfish and that is no excuse for ignoring Jack. However, I'm not the only one who ignored him, you all did a fine job of that yourselves." They all knew is was true, and they couldn't forgive themselves for it. They ignored a child, a child who was so desperate for love and attention. They failed to see who the real Jack Frost was and let him fall to the hands of their greatest enemy Pitch Black. But what is done is done, they can't change the past. All they could do now was move forward and treat Jack the way they should have. MiM's words stung them all but Bunny wasn't having any of it. He knew what he had done and hated himself for it but he wasn't going to let anyone hold it over his head. Especially when Jack's own creator couldn't be bothered with him. "Well you know what Manny? What you said hurts and I deserve it but I say you are more in the wrong than I am. You made him and then ignored him. Jack Frost was your responsibility and you abanded him. You are the reason he was taken by Pitch. Sure we weren't welcoming to him and we didn't keep him from Pitch either. But even if you hadn't wanted to talk to him yourself you could have said something to us about him. I am sure any one of us, even I would have taken care of him for you. Now look at this mess you have made? I am not saying I don't take responsibility for my own actions, I do, so you should too." Bunny finished his ranting, he was seething but finally started to cool down. Being able to vent and say what he wanted to say really helped. Tooth and North were about to scold Bunny when Gwen barged in violently through the door, almost hitting the floor but Dr. Duran caught her before she could.

Dr. Duran held her shaking form, looking her over for injuries. "Gwendolyn, are you alright? what happened?" Gwen was panting, trying to catch her breath so she could speak. "It's the frost child" she managed to gasp out, clearly she had run to get there. "There is a blizzard in his room and it's heading out into the hallway. He snapped and I couldn't calm him down. I locked the door, hopefully he won't get out." The doctor nodded "I see. You did very well, thank you for telling us." He looked down to see her hand was covered with ice. "Why don't you go get one of the other nurses to treat your hand, melt the ice before it gets frostbite. We will handle it from here." They all left the room, walking down the hallway to Jack's room when Bunny stopped MiM at the door. "No, not you. You caused all this. You wait till we call ya."

When everyone got inside the room it was a mess, snow and ice on every last surface of the room. It was snowing violently and the wind was blowing hard. Jack Frost himself was in the middle of it all, levitating just above the ground. He was panting and sweating, his hair stuck to head. His arm was bleeding from where he had ripped the IV out. He was shaking at the force of his crying. He looked flushed, the fever must have gotten worse again. His breathing was ragged, you could hear the wheezing from the pneumonia in his lungs. Despite al this, the boy was in a fighting stance. Ready to make a move if anyone came near to him. How was he even standing, scratch that, how was flying? His staff was gone. "How is he flying?" asked Bunny "we took it away to get him here." North chimed in at that "I wonder how his powers are so strong? I thought staff held his power but he has been using an incredible amount of power since we have been here? MiM quietly entered the room without Bunny's permission and answered for them. "He isn't really flying, merely levitating. However, he can not truly fly without the staff. The staff does not contain Jack's powers, it is only a conduit, a tool used to focus his power. That is why it looks as if winter exploded everywhere." Bunny glared at MiM "I thought I told you to stay outside?!" "I had to come in, I have to help. I can make Jack listen." "You can make Jack listen?! I highly doubt that, he won't even listen to North and I can tell that kid loves North." "I can try at least."

Bunny and MiM were pulled out of their argument by Jack's yells. "I want you all to leave now! Let me go!" "Oh sweet tooth," Tooth tried to sooth him "we just want to help you, it will be ok, just come down from there." "No!" She tried to fly towards him but he shot out a light frost as a warning to her, she backed away slightly. Bunny tried to swipe him from the air with his massive paw, but Jack moved too fast. "Jack, please snowball, come down." Bunny looked at him hopefully. "You are sick, can't you tell? You are only going to make it worse. I can see using your powers is straining you." Jack shook his "What would you know huh? You don't anything about me." Bunny looked ashamed "you are right about that kid, but that is not going to stop me now." North could see that Jack wasn't responding to Bunny and stepped in to see if he could help. "Please, son, please come down here Jack, we want to help you." The storm around Jack intensified at that. "No! I won't let you cut open my chest!"

That is when Dr. Duran looked at Gwen he had stepped into the room just after MiM. "Gwen, what did you tell Jack?" Gwen looked at Dr. Duran then stared at the floor as she answered him. "He wanted to know what was wrong with his heart. He knew that we all knew something and he was persistent. I figured then being honest was the best thing I could do. But when I told him what was wrong and how to fix it he passed out. When he came to he became violent. Ripped out his IV, frosted me and started this storm. I am so sorry, I didn't know what else to do! I was all alone with him and I couldn't leave him, I had promised to watch over him. He wouldn't stop asking and could tell if I was lying!" Gwen had her hands covering her face crying hard. The doctor tried to calm her by rubbing circles into her back. "It's alright Gwen. I know why you told him, no one is mad at you."

Jack continued to shout and push his storm forward. "No, I won't let you cut me up. You are all just like Pitch, you want to torture me and then kill me." They all stared at him in complete silence for about a minute or two before Sandy starting forming images over his head. I plus sign and heart with a crack in it. Jack seemed to understand but shook his head. "I don't believe you, it's just to hurt me, I can't trust anyone. That is what Pitch told me. He said that no one would ever want to help me or would want me around. He taught me that if anyone did it was only to get something or to kill me." Tooth began to cry, she just couldn't handle the thought that Jack believed they were trying to hurt him. "Oh my Jack, I am so sorry that Pitch lied to you like that. We really do want to help you and we do want you around. That is why we are trying to save you not kill you." Jack floated around the room as Bunny and North tried to grab him. "How is he so damn fast?" Bunny yelled in frustration. "Jack be nimble Jack be quick. Come on cottontail, I am sure you have heard the ryme." Tooth and Sandy took to the air but were stopped each time with icicles. They were at a stand still.

Jack was visibly shivering as his fever got worse "no, Pitch said you would say that." MiM thought enough was enough. The guardians clearly weren't making any progress with the boy. He figured it was time he took care of it. "Jackson Overland Frost!" Jack went rigid and stared at MiM. "You will come down this instant, stop this storm and let us take care of you." At his authoritative command Jack got angry. How dare did MiM think he could tell him what to do after ignoring all these years. The room dropped in temperature by another couple degrees. The ice got thinker and the snow fell faster. Bunny chuckled at this "you know Manny it looks like you are getting really far with frostbite there. He almost looks like he wants to listen to you."

Bunny laughed hard at his sarcastic comment. "I told you if the little ankle biter won't even listen to us, there is no way he will listen to you. Your guardians doesn't seem to like you very much." MiM shot Bunny a warning glare and decided to try again. "Jack, now! You will die if you don't..." That is when Jack could no longer take it anymore and punched MiM in the face with his fist covered in ice. Everyone watched as MiM hit the ground, knocked out cold from the attack. Bunny smirked "well that will teach him, serves him right I'd say."

Bunny took the opportunity before Jack could float away and grabbed him around his waist, being gentle not to hurt his ribs but firm enough so Jack couldn't get away. "Let me go!" Jack screamed at him and ice shot out and crawled up Bunny's arm. Bunny flinched at the cold and pain but he wouldn't let go of Jack. "Naw mate I can't do that." Bunny moved Jack so he was facing him and held his chin up, making Jack look into his eyes. "Listen frostbite, I know we screwed up big time with you. I will admit that I have been a serious asshole. I blamed you for the blizzard of 68, thinking you did it on purpose without asking you the real reason. Then I blamed you for what happened to easter when he fought Pitch. We but mostly I deserve whatever you've got to throw at us, ok? But please just listen to me. You are dying Jack Frost. Your heart has a hole in it because your center is broken. Pitch has broken you. The only way to fix it is to perform surgery. I am not going to lie to you, it is painful and will take a long time to recover but it's the only way we have to fix ya."

Jack was shaking in his grasp, no longer feeling strong enough to fight him. "Please Jackie, let us help you. I don't care what that rat bastard Pitch told you but none of it is true. You have to believe us frosty that we want you are around and want you well again." Jack stared at the floor in shame but Bunny held his chin again. "Listen, we love you snowflake, I love you." Jack couldn't believe his ears. Did Bunny really just say they loved him, that he loved him? It was more than he could ever hope for. He was overwhelmed, he caved in to his emotion, pain and sickness. He cried hard into Bunny's furry chest. Tooth chimed in "Bunny is right we all love and care for you Jack Jack." Sandy formed images over his head of Jack being in the middle of a group hug with the guardians. North walked over to Jack carefully, when he didn't flinch North placed his hand on top of Jack's head and began to run his thick fingers through Jack's hair. North watched as Jack lightly leaned into the touch though he would never admit to it. "I love you, like you were my own son." North debated on telling Jack that he was his son now in a way but decided against it for now. He would wait until Jack calmed down before riling him up again.

Jack stayed still and the room's temperature increased, the storm stopped, the ice melted and the snow receded. Jack practically leaned into Bunny as it was clear he wasn't able to to hold himself up any longer. He was exhausted from his show of power. Everyone waited patiently wondering what their next move would be, careful not to upset Jack. A few more minutes passed and Bunny found that the boy had become competely lax as he had succumbed to the call of sleep. The sandman came over to him and sprinkled sand over Jack, ensuring that he would have good dreams while he slept.

Dr. Duran came over to look at the boy and make sure he was really asleep. "I know that none of you will like this but I think it is for the best if we put Jack into bed and restrain him. We don't want another incident like that to happen again." Bunny's ears flatted, Tooth sighed, Sandy frowned and North just nodded in defeat. They all knew the doctor was right, they couldn't afford to let Jack be loose. It was also clear they couldn't trust the little winter sprite to stay in bed. "Do as you must" North said grimly. Bunny placed Jack on the bed and watched as Gwen and Dr. Duran put Jack's arms and legs into the restraints. "I am sorry, but it is what is best for Jack. He is dangerous to himself and others. He is only making himself sicker."

Gwen pulled out a new IV bag and needle, she carefully stuck into his arm and made sure the fluid was flowing. The doctor took out a bottle of medicine and filled a syringe with it. He pushed the medicine from the syringe into the IV. "This is more of the medicine that will make him groggy and make it harder for him to use his powers. It looks like he will be out of it for a bit so my suggestion is that anyone who is injured" he motioned to MiM and Bunny "that they get fixed up now. I will let Jack rest for a bit, then we will be in to treat his injuries and illness." He turned to North "Gwen is giving him something for the fever now." He took out another syringe and bottle. The doctor filled the syringe and injected it into the IV. "This is a steroid and this" another syringe went into the IV is antibiotics. "These both should help for the pneumonia. We will be giving him all these medicines every six hours. When he wakes up he will get a nebulizer treatment and that will be every 4 hours." Dr. Duran paused to make sure North was following and understood all that he was telling him. "His ribs will have to be reset and wrapped. We will treat his cuts and bruises with a healing, numbing salve. Hopefully we can get him somewhat on the mend. He will need all his strength for the surgery. Now I will leave you to my other nurse Hope, she will patch you up." He and Gwen left the room to go get some much needed rest.

"Well, at least Dr. Duran is very thorough" said Tooth looking down at Jack with a sad look in her eyes. She petted his head gently. "He does care about sweet tooth and he seems to know exactly what he needs." "Indeed" Bunny agreed. "Oh Bunny, you and MiM need to be treated." "Ya I will, I just don't like leaving the little ankle biter, he really scared me." North smiled at Bunny "Don't worry my friend, I will stay and watch Jack while you and Manny get fixed up." Sandy made a picture of a clock over his head and motioned to Tooth. "Yes we should go, I have to go make sure all my girls are ok and Sandy has to go too. We will be back soon. Good luck everyone." Tooth and Sandy flew out the window. MiM stirred, waking up and standing from the chair he had been placed in. "What happened?" Bunny pointed at MiM and laughed "I will tell ya what happened, Jack got mad at you for trying to command him and Punched ya in the face with his ice wrapped fist. I'd say you deserved it." "Bunny" North warned. Bunny dropped it, turning his attention back to Jack. "I really hope we can help him."

Hope, the new nurse walked in. She had bright yellow eyes and long purple hair tied up in a bun. She wore light blue scrub shirt and pants. Long beautiful white wings dragged behind her. "Hello" she said, "Dr. Duran told me to come in and take care of your injuries." She ponted to MiM and Bunny. "Thanks dear but I am fine, it just a little ice." He held out his arm to the nurse. "It's all melted now and my fur was thick enough that I don't have frostbite. Manny on the other hand, he needs help with his face." MiM frowned at Bunny but left with the nurse.

Bunny and North were left in the room watching over Jack as he slept. That is when Bunny heard North yawn. "Ya should get some sleep mate. I can watch over Jack." North shook his head "No, you should sleep, you are just as tired as I am. I can stay with him." Bunny shook his head this time. "Naw, I'm good. I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway." North stared down at Bunny. "Well, I wouldn't be able to sleep either." Bunny growled. "You will be fine, you are clearly worn out, you won't have a problem." North sighed "You need sleep Bunny." "No, I said you should first." North stood in front of Bunny. "I say you go to bed, I watch Jack." Bunny rose to the promise of a challenge, a chance to fight between them was always fun. He stood up and got in North's face. "No, you!" "No you!"

"Boys!" They were so engrossed in their argument that they failed to notice the nurse Hope enter the room. "That is enough, you should't fight in front of the patient." Bunny and North both turned looking guilty. "Sorry" they both whispered. "I just came to see if you all needed anything?" asked Hope. "No, we are fine, thank you though." Bunny answered. North looked around and noticed that MiM wasn't there. "Where is Manny?" "After I treated him for a broken nose and gave him some pain medicine he said he had to go take care of some things then left." Bunny crossed his arms angrily "Of course he would leave now. Probably wanted to be gone before Jack woke up so he didn't have to face him, to see his one time guardian Nightlight." North stared at the floor, he was seething like Bunny but what could he do? What was done was done. Nightlight is no longer here, in his stead is Jack Frost. A very sick winter sprite who was breaking at the seams. North decided to break the ice "You are right Bunny, I am tired, I think I will rest first then." He laid down on the bed across the room. Hope brought him a blanket and pillow. She then checked that Bunny was truly uninjured. Lastly, she made sure that Jack was comfortable and sleeping well when she took her leave.

Bunny settled into the chair next to Jack. He watched as North fell into a comfortable sleep. He then turned his attention back to his wintery charge. The boy looked aweful, dark circles were beneath his eyes, his pale skin had become a sort of grayish color. Even his snow white hair seemed to lack its usual luster. It was hard to tell that this was the same Jack Frost that Bunny had always known. It had only been a couple of hours since arriving at the hospital with their frost child but so much had happened. So much had been discovered about Jack's true condition and that he hid his pain all too well. The biggest secret of all being that Jack Frost was once Nightlight. The man in the moon's guardian that watched and protected him while he was young, enabling him to grow into adult-hood. They all had wondered what happened to Nightlight after he gave Katherine his goodnight kiss. They finally had an answer. Now that they knew what happened to Nightlight, Bunny had to wonder. Where was Katherine? Did she not know that Jack Frost was Nightlight? "Probably not, if she had she would be here" Bunny thought out loud.

It was a few hours later that Bunny was interupted from his thoughts when the nurse, Gwen entered the room. Gwen waved at Bunny "Sorry if I startled you, I just came to get Jack's vitals and give him his medicines." Gwen moved over to Jack and started to place the blood pressure cuff on Jack's upper arm when she stopped herself. "Bunny, perhaps you should check his vitals and I can guide you. I know that you all have learned how to check vitals and treat wounds at some point but If Jack is to come home with you then you all need a refresher. We can start with you." Bunny nodded and took the cuff and stethoscope from her. He placed the buds in his ears and cuff around Jack's arm then placed the scope just under the cuff. He pumped it up then released the pressure. Gwen watched over him and recorded the information. He used the thermometer to check his temperature, then his oxygen level. Finally he took the stethoscope and slipped it under Jack's gown on his back and listened to his lungs. Both still sounded just as bad, still wheezy. Jack started waking up just as Bunny was about to move the scope to his chest. Jack looked up in panic. Bunny proceded and placed the stethoscope to his chest, he heard Jack's heart racing. "Easy frostbite, settle down, I'm not gonna hurt ya." He listed for a another minute as Jack squirmed then pulled away and handed the items back to Gwen. "It's ok Jackie, just had to do vitals, we all need to be refreshed on how to do it so we can take you home." "I can go home now?" Jack asked hopefully. "Not yet frosty, we at least got to get rid of your fever and it isn't coming down much. Not with all the fighting you have been doing."

Jack just looked pleased with himself, he wasn't a child even if they kept referring to him as such. He did as he wanted for 200 years before Pitch happened. Now that he was free he was going to continue his way of life he had before. But it was in this moment that he realized that he couldn't. He felt his arms and legs being held down tightly to the bed. "What is the big idea?" Jack looked over himself "Why have you done this to me?!" That is when the doctor came in and put his medicines into the IV. One containing the calming medicine. Jack felt it rush through his veins and became light headed. "I hate you" he whispered to Bunny. "I love you too Jack." Jack started to lightly frost the IV site as his only form of retaliation that he could muster. "No, no snowflake." Bunny lightly stroked the frost away from the IV.

Dr. Duran started pulling out some creams, bandages and other items out of the cabinets, the noise from it waking North. "What?" Bunny chuckled at him "no one said anything mate." "Though I am glad that you are up" said Dr. Duran as he locked the door and moved towards Jack. "I will need your help and I would rather not have my nurses do this. He is too dangerous even with the medicine. For now it will be you both and myself that will do the major treatments for Jack." He walked toward Jack with his hands out "It's ok boy, we are just going to treat your injuries. I am going to remove your gown to have better access, ok?" "No! I don't want help! Let me go!" yelled Jack even as he began to tire from the medicine. The doctor got closer and started to untie the gown when Jack blew frost on his hands, he pulled them away. "Such a fiesty one. Don't worry the medicine will help with that soon. North would you like to take over?" "Sure" North whispered as he got up and started to undo the gown being sure to avoid Jack's mouth so he wouldn't be frosted. "Our boy is full of surprises eh Bunny?" Bunny only nodded. "You don't have any right to do this against my will, you know?" Jack said angrily. North proceeded anyway fully removing the gown. Bunny went to apply some of the salve to Jack's ribs but his hands froze. "Damn it Jack!" The doctor shook his head "I figured we would need these. The medicine only supresses powers somewhat but not fully."

The doctor went to the drawer and pulled out three pairs of thick winter gloves and handed them out. He placed them on his hands then pulled medical gloves over them as the others did the same. "You know Jack" Bunny began trying to carefully choose his next words wisely. "We are allowed to make decisions for you now." He said as he applied salve then wrapped Jack's ribs. "What is that so supposed to mean?" Bunny looked to North to explain. North placed a hand on Jack's shoulder and placed his other hand under his chin to make Jack look at him. "Man in Moon has said that you are in need of guardian. Not a guardian of childhood like we are, more like a parental guardian. You are not well Jack and it is clear even to me now that you do not make rational decisions on your own. Manny has officially made me your guardian." Jack's eyes went wide "What?! What do you mean I don't make rational decisions for myself?! I've only had myself to take care of me. I was doing fine before Pitch. I appreciate you saving me from him but I don't need you now." North moved away before Jack could frost him. "Jack I feel your mind is not well just as your body is not. We only want to make you better but you fight us. If you were alright in the head then you would see we mean you no harm. So I am sorry son but it looks like I need to make the descions for you." North held him close for a minute. "Now we are doing this whether you like it or not. If you were a good boy and didn't fight or try to run we wouldn't need the restraints." Jack's eyes filled with tears that ran down his cheeks. His eyes glazed over and he looked like he was out of it.

Jack was chained up to the wall while Pitch lashed him over and over with a whip. He punched and kicked Jack so hard, he felt the wind knocked out of him. It was hard to catch his breath, he coughed, a wet sound as he felt blood flow out of his mouth. "Oh Jack it seems that I have beaten you a little too hard." "Shut the fuck up you bastard!" Pitch slapped Jack in the mouth cracking his lower lip with the force of it. "Watch your tongue boy." Jack whimpered and stared at the floor. Pitch ran his fingers through Jack's dirty hair. "Oh Jack, I do so hate to do this to you. No one likes to damage their own property but you are so difficult. If you were a good boy and didn't fight or try to run we wouldn't need the restraints. I wouldn't have to beat you for your escape attempts either. One day you will learn that this is where you belong and you will submit to me. One day you will actually like being here with me."

North hugged Jack again bringing him out of flashback. "Oh Jack, I am sorry. Were you thinking about something?" Jack stared down at the floor, he wasn't sure if he should answer. "You can tell us mate, aint no body gonna judge you or be mad at you" said Bunny assuringly. Jack closed his eyes, not wanting to see their reaction when he told them what he was thinking. "It's just that...Pitch would say that. He would tie me up and beat me. Then he would tell me he hated doing it but I did it to myself. If I was good and didn't try to escape anymore he wouldn't have to hurt me. But I found out soon enough that it didn't matter if I didn't fight, if I obeyed. He would still hurt me anyway. He would say I got boring." Then he whispered "Why are you punishing me like him? What did I do? Have I been bad?"

North held Jack close. Bunny and North looked at each other with equally angry faces. Both knew what the other was thinking, that Pitch was going down as soon as Jack was squared away. "Let me go...please. I I promise that I will be good, please. please." North pinched the bridge of his nose "Oh Jack, that has nothing to do with any of this. We aren't like Pitch, we are not trying to punish you." "Listen here Jackie" said Bunny "That was Pitch, not us. We aren't restraining ya cuz we want you to be our slave or we want to take away your freedom." North looked down at him and made sure Jack was looking back. " We just want to make you better, so you can be free. So you can make snow storms and snowball fights free of pain. We want you to do what love you to do and feel good doing it." Bunny spoke softly as if he were talking to frightened animal. "Now please let us do what we got to do, ok snowflake?"

They wrapped his ribs, cleaned and bandaged other cuts. They applied the salve to his bruises that would both heal and numb the area. That was when Bunny slowly moved his paws lower down his torso watching Jack as he started pulling his underwear down. "Hey! What do you think you are doing?!" "Easy boy, I am going to put this cream on your nether regions. It's nothing sexual, alright? I ain't interested in you that way." "Then why do you want to touch me down there?" "I don't want to touch you there, I just want it to heal. I'm sure it's got to hurt something awful, right?" Jack turned away from Bunny, hiding his face in shame. "It's ok mate, no need to feel bad about it. It's not your fault." Bunny quickly pulled off Jack's underwear before he could protest further.

Bunny tried not to pay attention to all the bruising and cuts. He dipped his gloved paws into the cream. He carefully rubbed the cream into Jack's inner thighs and his groins. Jack was clearly uncomfortable and looked at though he would hit Bunny if only he could. The rational part of Jack knew that Bunny didn't want to hurt him nor have sex with him against his will. Though, the other fearful part of Jack, no matter how absurd, feared Bunny would hurt him like Pitch. Bunny lifted Jack's member and rubbed the salve over it carefully so as not to hurt Jack but quickly enough to make sure it wasn't seen as anything more than for medical purposes. He then rubbed the cream onto his testicles. After a bit of manuvering he moved Jack at an angle so he could rub the cream into his anus and prostate. After he quickly pulled up Jack's underwear, stripped off his gloves and washed his paws.

Jack was shaking and whimpering with tears rolling down his cheeks again. Bunny and North hated to see the boy cry. Though, Bunny knew that he needed to do that to help Jack heal. Jack searching for any excuse to be let out of his restraints and get away from the akwardness of what just happened spoke up. "Um...I have to go to the bathroom." North looked confused for a minute "I am not sure I can let you out ." Bunny shook his head "No, we can't. I am sorry snowy but we don't trust you not to run off and you are in no condition to even be walking." "But then how am I going to pee?" The doctor moved towards Jack with some long plastic tubing with a bag at the end. "I figured this would come up at some point" said Dr. Duran. "What is that for?" Jack asked with panic and fear laced in his voice. The doctor looked to North asking for his approval "Jack can't move until he is in a more stablized condition, this catheter will make sure he doesn't have to get up to urinate." North looked at Jack with a sad look then back to the doctor. "Do what you think is best." The doctor lowered Jack's underwear down and held his member in his hands, moving the plastic tubing towards it. "Wait you aren't putting that up my Dick are you?! No! Stop it! Stop!" Jack tried to buck but between the restraints and the medicine he couldn't move much so he blew ice chunks at the doctor from his mouth.

"No Jack" North tried to cover Jack's mouth with his hand but regretted it when his hand got frost around it. "Bunny what do we do?" Bunny looked at him just as lost "I don't know! I didn't know he could do that." The doctor motioned Bunny to one of the drawers in the cabinets. "Put the mouth guard him, it should help." Bunny opened the drawer and stared at the "mouthguard" with wide-eyes "I can't do that. This is a muzzle, I can't put a muzzle on Jack like an animal. Why do you even have something like this?" The doctor sighed "You aren't the only animal spirit that I have ever had to treat Aster. Some of those spirits forget who they are and bite when they are in pain just as Jack is doing now only with ice." North took the muzzle away from Bunny and placed it on Jack himself. "He is going to hate us either way, let him hate me more." The doctor lubed up the tube and slipt it in through Jack's urethra with ease. The boy was left shivering and crying.

The doctor patted the boy on the head affectionetly "I am sorry to do that to you Jack. You did such a good job. You are a good boy." He turned to North and Bunny. "That should be all for now. We will continue to monitor him and give him his medicines every couple of hours. We will re-wrap bandages and apply the salve as needed, mostly just check to make sure things are improving. For now all that he requires is food and sleep. "We should only have to keep him like that" he motioned to the resraints and catheter "for a day or two, depending on how his injuries heal. Of course we don't want him to run away but mostly it is to make sure he doesn't injure himself further or anyone else." He looked hard at Jack then "even when you are well enough to move around trust me it is very hard to get out of this hospital without someone noticing. Anyways, you can remove the mouth guard whenever you see fit. Though, I have to say if I were you, with that look in his eyes, I would leave it on for a bit, especially around my nurses. I can't have them getting hurt by ice, they get enough injuries here. I will be back with Gwen in a couple hours to give him more medicine, he will get his nebulizer treatment then too."

The doctor left the room then and North covered Jack with his snowflake blanket. North, Bunny and Jack all sat in silence. Jack's soft whimpers being the only sound heard in the room. North was beside himself. As Jack's guardian he had to be the one to make these tough decisions regarding Jack's health. However, North had to wonder if all the procedures he has agreed to were truly necessary. Then again Dr. Duran has been a doctor since long before he or the others were even alive let alone guardians. Surely the doctor only did what he felt was really needed. Though restraining and muzzling Jack was extreme, based on his behavior it proved to be wise. Jack was clearly hostile as his fight or flight response was kicked into overdrive. North could understand the boy's plight. North figured if he had been held captive, beaten and enslaved he was sure he would react violently as well. These procedures and drastic measures to make him stay put would surely be seen as what Pitch would do to him. North was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard Bunny talking to Jack. "Listen to me frosty, if ya promise not to blow frost or whatever you do out of your mouth anymore I will take this muzzle off ya. But you got to promise though." Bunny moved his paws towards the muzzle "and no frosting the IV or catheter either, got it?"

Jack nodded weakly in agreement. Bunny was about to take the muzzle off as Tooth and Sandy flew into the room, startling him out of his task. When Tooth saw the state Jack was in she put her hand to her mouth and tears immediately sprang to her eyes. She sobbed hard, Jack could only turn his head from her, not wanting to watch her emotions for him. He still couldn't comprehend that such an emotional response could be for him. Why for him? He wasn't worth it, didn't deserve it. That is always what Pitch told him. He was surprized when it was her who removed the muzzle from his face. "Oh my goodness, my sweet tooth. Who did this to you?" Jack couldn't answer, he didn't know what to say other than he was just as upset as she was. "Why did they do this?!" she yelled at Bunny and North. "Toothy please calm down" said North. "No! I will not calm down until someone gives an explanation for this, and it better be a good one!" Tooth's fairies flew in front of Jack as if protecting him. "If ya quiet down for a minute we could explain it to ya" Bunny shouted back. North answered for them "It was for our protection Tooth. We were treating Jack but he did not want us to. The doctor felt it best to restrain him to bed and gave calming medicine. But medicine does not work well and Jack has more powers than we know of." Bunny shook his head "His powers are crazy. The medicine hardly stops it, he spit icicles at us from his mouth."

Sandy just looked confused. Who had ever seen icicles being spit out of someone's mouth. As North, Bunny and Tooth argued over Jack's treatment Sandy thought to himself. He realized that it may not be strange for Jack to be able to spit icicles. It's not as if any of them had honestly ever really seen another winter spirit before.

Sandy noticed that snow had begun to fall in the room. He looked at Jack who was increasingly becoming more agitated the more the guardians argued over him. Sandy tried to get their attention but it wasn't working. That is when snowballs fell seemingly from the ceiling onto all their heads. "What the hell frostbite?" yelled Bunny in frustration. Sandy only shook his head, he had seen the attack coming and used an umbrella made of sand to shield himself but the others weren't so lucky. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here!"

They all stopped dead in their tracks, each one feeling guilty. "For two hundred years I did whatever I wanted to do, went where I wanted and never answered to anyone. Then one hundred years ago Pitch took me. He, he made me do a lot of things, a lot of things that I , I didn't want to do. Then when you guys came to bust Tooth's fairies out I was happy. I was scared of you guys but I was happy because I was going to be free again. But now, now you betrayed my trust and have done this to me!" He glared at them "this is all your fault, making decisions for me like I'm a little boy. Forcing me into having a surgery soon that I don't want to have. I don't want to hear your excuses that It's an order from fucking MiM. I am already pissed off at him. I have been angry at him far longer than you guys. The fact that you all listen to him though and that he doesn't tell me shit himself sends me over the edge."

Tooth ignored the foul language coming from Jack and looked at him with a sad expression on her face. "I am sorry sweet snow, you are right. But we don't want you to leave and you won't stay, will you?" "Jack stared at the sheets of his bed. He didn't want to hurt them, especially Tooth. But he couldn't stop himself now. "Stop saying you are sorry. Everyone says it but no one means it. If you did you would let me go." "Jack, mate, you are a runner, we can't let you go" said Bunny. "Then let me run" Jack said with a determined look in his eyes. "I don't want any of this and when you set me free, I won't come back here. I won't come back to any of you." North spoke softly to him "where would go snowy?" "I want to go home" he whispered. Sandy formed a picture of a lake and a tree with question mark. Jack only nodded. Bunny slapped him upside the head. "Ow, what the hell was that for?" Jack yelled. "For being a gumby! There is nothing there in Burgess, you had no home there. The north pole is your home now." "You're wrong, the north pole is not my home, the lake is all I have. It was where I died, it's all I've ever known." Bunny growled at him "Have you forgotten who else happens to live near that lake?! The entrance to Pitch's lair is near that lake. It's probably why he got you in the first place."

At the mention of Pitch's lair Jack broke down, he cried out his fear to himself. North felt bad for the boy and decided he should act like his father. He rubbed Jack's back soothingly and the winter sprite surprisingly didn't squirm. The boy was far too scared to mind. "Listen to me son, this is not an easy thing to do. But you are dying Jack Frost." Jack spoke in a whisper "So let me die." "What?" North asked. Everyone watched as they waited for Jack to answer. "I said let me die!" Tooth held her hand over her heart in shock "why would you say that sweet snow?" "Because I don't want to live like this anymore. He is always in my head. I am scared of everything. I hate it...I hate myself. I think I see him everywhere in the shadows, in the dark, waiting for me. I can't take it anymore." North held the boy close as Sandy sneeked up behind so Jack wouldn't see him and sprinkled dream sand over him. Jack's eyes grew heavy and he fell into a deep sleep almost instantly.

After Jack fell asleep North covered him back up with the blanket and patted his head. Jack leaned into his touch. "Poor child is so lost. I wish he could understand our intentions." Tooth sighed "oh I do too North." Sandy waved at them pointing outside. "Yea I think you are right Sandy, we should talk outside" said Bunny.

They all went to a quiet room to discuss how to proceed in helping their youngest member. "I hope I am doing the right thing" North said finally breaking the silence. Bunny shook his head "Naw mate I know it's hard but I am sure you are. Jack's got a hard head. He won't help himself so we will have to do it for him. By any means necessary and I have to agree, frostbite is dangerous." "I never thought winter could be dangerous but I am starting to see it too" said Tooth. Sandy formed pictures over his head of multiple snowflakes with a question mark. Everyone looked at him confused. "Are ya asking how much snowflakes Jack can make?" asked Bunny. Sandy shook his head, he formed more pictures of snowflakes and spirits with a question mark. No one seemed sure what he was talking about. I think I can translate for you Dr. Duran said as he entered the room, seeing Sandy's pictures and the other's confusion.

"Sandy is asking about the other winter spirits. He wants to know if they are as powerful as Jack." He watched as they gasped at him. "Sandy and I go way back, I understand him well. To answer your question Sandy, no one would know. There are no other winter spirits other than Jack Frost. He is so powerful because he is the embodiment of winter itself." "What do you mean their aint no other winter spirits?!" shouted Bunny. "Calm down Bunny, let him explain" said Tooth. "Jack is the only winter spirit in the world" the doctor stated matter of factly. "How is this even possible?" asked North. "Mother nature hasn't made any winter spirits in about 1,000 years" said Dr. Duran. Bunny looked lost in his thoughts until he finally spoke up. "But wait, Jack has only been here for 300 years, and really only able to spread winter for 200 years. Though, winter has still been occuring even before Jack was born so who is spreading winter?" The doctor sighed "Mother Nature herself." Tooth piped in next "Seraphina has a spirit for each of the other seasons, fall, summer and spring. They all have at least 5 spirits to help them spread their season. Why not winter? Why do it herself?"

"Because all the winter spirits she creates die" said Dr. Duran. "What?!" all the guardians shouted at the same time. "What do you mean they all die?" asked North. "It is like I said. The winter sprites all die. The last one I treated was just over 1,000 years ago. He was burned by summer, in the end he was practically melting like ice. MiM took mercy on him and returned him to his halls in the moon." Tooth spoke softly "why would summer burn winter? Why didn't Seraphina stop him?"

The doctor continued with his explanation. "Because winter is the most hated season. It is the season of death and destruction or at least it can be. The other seasonals see winter as unnecessary and a bother to their seasons. Summer for whatever reason seems to be the most hateful to winter. The other seasonals all gang up on winter. Beat the spirit until it is broken and they wish to die. I've heard of winter spirits just willing themselves away, melting like snowflakes. Whichever spirit holds power over winter is the most powerful of the seasons. The other seasonals hate it. Though, Jack is the most powerful as they come, as I have ever see." Bunny got really angry then "well why doesn't mother nature keep her rogue seasonals in check? Why let them hurt on winter?"

"I wish it were that simple" answered Seraphina for them as she entered the room. The doctor nodded to her "ah, there you are Sera, I was hoping you could make it." North stared at Mother Nature, he hadn't seen her in centuries. "What are you doing here?" The doctor answered for him "I have asked that Seraphina be here for the surgery. In a few days Jack Frost will be feeling better but that is not exactly a good thing, at least for us. The amount of power coming from that boy now is difficult enough to deal with and he is in a bad condition. His power when he starts to feel a bit better will be overwhelming." Seraphina simply nodded "in other words you all needed the back up from someone who can control the seasons. Unfortunelty though, it is even hard for me to control Jack."

"Why is that? Why don't you stop the other spirits from hurting the winter spirits?" Seraphina shook her head, this was going to be a lot to explain. "Just because I created the seasonal sprites doesn't mean I always have control over them. I do try and stop them of course. When I see them beating up on my winter sprite I can stop them successfully, but there in lies the problem. I can't be everywhere at once and so I can't stop every spirit that hurts my seasonals. My last winter sprite gave up his own life out of depression, he let himself literally melt away in a desert. That was 1,000 years ago and I haven't created another since. I thought it best to spread winter myself, the other seasonals wouldn't hurt the one who created them."

Tooth encouraged her with a small smile to continue. "I never did create another winter sprite. Now as for Jack Frost, I can't control him because he technically is not mine to control. I did not create him, MiM did. It was agreed upon that should another winter sprite be formed it would be made by MiM. We thought that if he had created it then the spirit would be safe from the other seasonals. We thought wrong, the other seasonals did not care where Jack Frost came from or who created him. They still hurt him. I would patch him up if he would let me get near him but we all know that Jack is a runner and run he did. There have only been two times since his birth that I have fixed him, each time was because he was too weak to run. But he never stayed long and ran from me too. I believe that is how Pitch was able to get Jack in the first place. Jack is so strong because he is truly an ancient spirit. Jack Frost is only his newest form as you recall MiM telling you that he is Nightlight. That day when Jack was captured, he must have been severly injured and my father took it to his advantage."

"So that explains it all" North said to himself. Mother nature laughed to herself without any mirth in it. "My father probably told the boy he would treat his wounds. He is a monster, he would stoop that low as to fool the kid." With that she stood up headed for the door "I know he is asleep but I would like to see my frost child." Tooth stood up and followed her. The men watched as the two women left.

The doctor sighed "we have got a long road ahead of us. First we have to get Jack stronger, honestly it won't take long. I give it 2-3 days at most. With our help his powers should heal him quickly enough. It is the surgery I worry about. I am not sure that Jack is mentally strong enough for it." Sandy formed a question mark. "As I told you before, it takes a lot out of a person both physically and mentally for this surgery. Jack won't be able to get out of bed for weeks let alone fly. He can't use his powers or spread winter. To not be able to do what comes naturally will put Jack in a depression. His mental state is already fragile at best, broken at worst." He got up from his chair moving towards the door "I've got some things I have to do to prepare myself to do the surgery. I suggest you do that same."

The remaining three guardians left too headed to Jack's room. As they entered they saw Mother Nature holding Jack in her arms without restraints. "Hey" Bunny said quietly "you can't be doing that, you got to keep the restraints on him." Mother nature nodded and whispered "I know I will put them back on I just wanted to hold him." Tooth watched her with Jack then a thought came to mind "why didn't you help MiM get Jack away from Pitch? You clearly love him, so why?" Seraphina sighed as she got up and put Jack back in his restraints. "Because I couldn't find Jack either. Of course I know where my father's lair is but he is able to move Jack all over the world anywhere he wants as long as there is shadow. I had no hope of finding him and I couldn't fight my father alone. Trust me I had already tried. When Jack first disappeared I thought he went rogue but when there wasn't winter anywhere I knew something was wrong. I went to my other seasonals first but after much interrogating and threatening I found he wasn't there. I confronted my father next but it didn't end well for me." She showed Tooth a nasty looking scar on her leg. "I had to retreat and no others would help so I had to leave Jack behind." Tooth placed he hand of Serphina's shoulder as her eyes teared up. "I didn't want to do it but I had to and without him winter was gone. "The seasons were out of balance so it took up all my time to be winter and fix the imbalance." Tooth looked at her sorrowfully. Seraphina walked away from her and opened the door "I have to go and continue my job of taking care of winter until one day when Jack can. I will see you soon."

Tooth placed a kiss to Jack's forhead then left as well stating that she needed to check on her fairies. Sandy made sure to give Jack good dreams before he too left to do spread his dreams to the children of the world. It was just North and Bunny again watching over Jack. This time North kept watch while Bunny slept in the bed across the room. North felt his eyes grow heavy too and he soon fell asleep. They all stayed that way for a couple hours.

When North next awoke it was to the sound of his pooka friend softly singing to the distressed looking winter sprite. His face was in a frown and his body twisted and turned, as much as the restrains allowed, uncomfortably. "Nightmare?" whispered North. Bunny only nodded continuing his soft singing which seemed to calm the young spirit. North stood up, he smiled softly down at jack and rubbed his hand. "I am going to cafeteria to get drink, would you like something?" Bunnylooked up North then "yea mate, that be great. A coffee if you would." North took note of the order and left.

A few minutes later a nurse entered the room. She smiled at Bunny singing to Jack. She busied herself, taking Jack' vitals and giving him his medicines. This time a stronger calming medicine was given too. She even gave him his nebulizer treatment while he slept. After it was finished she placed the buds of her stethoscope in her ears then slipped bell underneath his gown behind his back. She moved it side to side, listening and comparing both lungs. She smiled "the treatments are working, his lungs are still wheezy but sound better than before." Next she moved the bell over his chest, listening intently to each valve as it opened and closed. She frown then finding the whole. "His heart sounds worse though, it must hurt" she whispered.

Bunny watched as Jack never stirred. "The boy must be exhausted from all the power he has used." The nurse placed the stethoscope back around her neck then looked up at Bunny "Indeed, using strong powers like that with a weakened heart would do that. He is quite impressive." She placed a basin on the bed side table. In it were wash clothes, a towel, soap, a toothbrush and fresh clothes. She went to undo Jack's gown when bunny held out his arm in frost of Jack. "Whoa whoa there sheila, what are you doing?" She stared at Bunny with wide-eyes. "I am sorry, I was told to bathe him." Bunny shook his head "That's alright dear, you don't have to do that. I will bathe him myself." She looked at him uncertainty shining in her eyes. "I am sorry it's not that I don't trust ya it's more like I don't trust Jack. He gets rather fussy when people touch him and I wouldn't want you to get hurt." She relented then "Ok, I will leave these here for you then, call if you need anything." "Thank you, please be sure to tell the other staff the same. Other than giving Jack his medicines we will take care of everything else."

The nurse nodded then quietly exited the room. Bunny took the item out of the basin and placed them on the table, then placed the new gown on a chair to keep it from getting wet. He picked up the basin and went over to the sink, he turned the water to luke warm, it couldn't be too warm for a winter spirit but he couldn't make it cold for Jack either as it might shock his system with his fever and all. He filled it up with soapy water then placed it onto the bedside table. He hoped that Jack would stay asleep while he washed him but it wasn't meant to be. As he went to take off Jack's gown he rejoined the land of the living. "Hey there Jackie, how you feeling snowflake?" Jack looked up a him in a bit of a daze. "I don't feel so good," he whispered "I think I'm gonna be sick." Bunny quickly grabbed a small trash can and placed it front of the frost child as he wretched into it. Bunny rubbed soft circles into his back ignoring how Jack flinched at the touch. "Easy frosty, just take deep breaths. There ya go." Jack's wretching finally stopped and he leaned back against the pillows again. "It's probably the meds mate, they gave ya a higher dose of the calming one. Finally realized the dose they were giving you wasn't strong enough for you. Your something else frostbite."

Jack looked over at he bin of water on the bedsided table. "What is that for?" Bunny smirked at him "well I was hoping you were going to be asleep for it but looks like I don't got a choice now." Jack stared at him curiously. "I was going to give you a bath but I can't let you out so I was going to wash you here." Jack growled at him then, "I'm not saying no to a bath, it would be nice. But I can bathe myself." Bunny placed his paw over Jack's mouth silencing him. "No mate, I'm sorry but I don't trust ya not to run, besides you can't be moved. So I will do it." Bunny moved over to remove Jack's gown but he fidgeted. Bunny ignored him and removed the gown leaving him naked. Bunny threw a towel over Jack's private parts to maintain privacy. "Now are you ready for your bath?" "I don't know, are you ready to eat icicles?" Bunny stared at him, mouth wide open. He face-palmed himself and dragged his hand down his face. "So that's how we are going to do this huh? Alright, we can do it the hard way."

Bunny soaped up the washcloth and moved towards Jack when suddenly Jack shot an icicle out of his mouth at him. "God Damn it Jack! Knock it off, I am warning you I will put that muzzle back on you." "I can bathe myself, I told you I was going to make you eat icicles if you you did it." North returned and heard a struggle on the otherside of the door. North slowly opened the door just enough for him to fit in then closed it behind him. The site North was met with was a strange one. Jack was naked with only a towel covering his manhood while Bunny was trying to force the muzzle back on Jack's face. North cleared his throat waiting for the other two guardians to notice him. When they did both obtained a look of embarrassment. Jack's face turned a bright shade of pink, a color that looked strange on the usually ghostly pale boy. "Bunny, mind explaining to me what is going on?" "Yea, I am trying to give Jackie a bath. This here droggo damn near frosted my face off with an icicle shot out of his mouth so I was putting the muzzle back on him, like I told em I would." "I told him I would make him eat icicles if he tried to bathe me like some invalid. He wouldn't listen to me so I did it!"

"Bunny perhaps I should bathe boy, no?" "I got this North, it's not my fault Jack is being a baby about it." North looked at the defiant boy, but in his eyes he only saw fear. North motioned to Bunny to follow him outside. "What is it North? I was kinda in the middle of something." "Yes I know. But Bunny I think you should let me wash boy. Jack is not being defiant to be a brat." "Bullshit, that kid is a brat" shouted Bunny. North sighed "yes that may be true that Jack can sometimes be a brat. But Jack is only child, very scared and sick child. I think he needs a more gentle but firm hand. I am his guardian now, I will take care of him." North handed Bunny his requested coffee. "Stay outside, I will call if I need you or you will hear a struggle, whichever comes first." North stepped back into the room and approached Jack carefully as he watched the boy squirm. "It's alright my snow spirit. I am going to bathe you, Bunny will stay outside." North put his finger to Jack's lips as the boy was about to argue again. "I will do this and you will be good boy. I know you don't like this and neither do I but it is what is needed." North stared the child down and Jack just looked submissively down at the floor. North hated making Jack submit but it was the only way he had to get Jack to allow himself help. North rubbed the dry shampoo into the winter sprite's hair then washed his face. North washed Jack's chest and torso, arms and legs. Now it was time for the private areas. North threw off the towel and washed Jack's parts and finally his ass as quickly as possible doing his best not to look. Once he was done, North dried the boy off and dressed him.

Afterwards Jack and North were met with an akward silence until Bunny, Sandy and Tooth broke it when they all came in to visit Jack. They all sat around talking with Jack. Each tried to reassure him that everything would be fine and they would all take care of him. Jack didn't really say too much and just listened. He still didn't want any of this but arguing was getting him no where so he sat in silence. North could tell that Jack was getting tired so he decided to get the boy something to eat. The guardians all ate together. Jack only ate a little bit before his eyes started to droop. North had everyone clean up then clear the room. He stayed with the frost child as he slept, watching the sweet dreams form that Sandy had left for him.

As much as Jack didn't want to admit it, he was surprisingly feeling better. He didn't feel hot anymore and could breathe better. That pain in his stomach that was always present that he assumed is what the guardians meant by hunger subsided somewhat. His ribs and nether regions as Bunny had put it still hurt like hell but were on the mend. Jack pretended to be asleep although faking it did eventually lead him to actually sleep. He had lost too much time. He knew that within the hour the nurse would be back to check his vitals and to give him his medicine. One of which happened to be that calming one as he referred to it. He couldn't let her give him that, then his plan would be ruined. It was perfect, he had an hour to collect his powers.

The guardians and mother nature had left for a bit. Tooth and Sandy had to tend to their duties. North, Bunny and Seraphina went down to the cafeteria. Jack knew he was being watched though. There was always someone near the door. He just had to pretend to sleep and be as quiet as possible to achieve his goal, which was to break out. He knew the surgery had to be in a day or two although they hadn't told him a date. Probably to make sure he didn't try to do anything to get away like he was about to do anyway.

As he gathered and focused his powers he listened intently to any sounds on the other side of the door. Everything seemed quiet but he was sure there was someone there. He gathered up enough power and built up his strength. Once it was ready he slipped frost into the restraints. At first they didn't want to give but he kept on going. These restraints were a few days old and hadn't been changed. He knew that would help him because of all the pulling and thrashing he had done would have made them weaker, as he learned with Pitch. Sure enough he was right and the restraints gave way first on his ankles then on his wrists.

Jack got up slowly trying to make as little noise as possible. He tried to remove the muzzle from his face that had been placed on him this morning for like the fifth time already for frosting people. He found that it wouldn't budge. It needed some kind of key or something. Oh well the important part was freedom, the muzzle would be dealt with later. He moved slowly, steadying himself as a wave of nasusea came over him. It had been a few days since he was out of bed. His next task was to remove the medical equipment he was hooked up to. He removed the oxygen tube from his nose first. Next he clenched his teeth and ripped the IV from his arm, thhen moved his hands lower. He braced himself for the pain that was sure to come next. He pulled the catheter out. damn it hurt so much he thought and when he looked down he could see why. Blood was dripping down between his legs and now down his arm. He should have been more careful.

He knew he had to be quick with his next moves because he had to remove the electrodes from his chest that were monitoring his heart. He knew once they were off the machine would beep alerting the doctor that there was a problem. So he collected energy for an ice blast in his hand. He listened outside, he heard footsteps receding, must be a bathroom break. It was now or never. He pulled the cords off as fact as he could then shot the ice blast at the window. He could hear the frantic footsteps moving towards the door the door just as he jumped out the window. It was so high and he didn't have his staff to fly but he was so desperate to escape that he didn't care. Jack did his best to levitate toward the ground but it was more like a crash. He hit the ground hard in a sort of tuck and rool style then got up and ran as fact as he could to the forest behind the hospital. He liked trees, he could hide in them. No one was going to cut open his chest now, not if he had anything to say about it.

North and Bunny got to the room first followed by mother nature, Dr. Duran and Gwen. "Damn it frostbite. I can't believe he got out!" Bunny shouted pointing to the broken window. MiM was the last to enter as he heard Bunny's shout and looked to the window. "This is all your fault Manny! If you had taken care of your Nightlight as you call him or Jack this wouldn't have happened." MiM tried to calm the old pooka down "I know you are mad at me right now but we will find Jack together."yea we will, you are coming with us. The more eyes the better even though I don't want ya." Bunny ran out the fire escape towards the forest behind the hospital. He figured Jack would go there and he was right, he caught the smell of Jack's blood. That wasn't a good sign. The others followed him trailing behind him.

"Boy is fast now? Then again Nightlight always was" said North panting lightly as he ran. "Yes, becoming Jack Frost hasn't changed his speed at all" MiM replied. They kept running through the forest with no end in sight. Shortly they were joined by Sandy and Tooth. Both had recently returned from their jobs and upon their arrival had heard about Jack's escape. They immediately flew out to help.

Bunny suddenly stopped and the others came to a hault as well. He stood up, his ears twitching and moving all around. "Hey frosty, I know that you are here. I can smell your blood. I know that you injured yourself in this grandscape plan of yours. Where did ya think you were going to go? We know you can't fly without your staff." Only silence met their ears, wherever Jack was he wasn't letting on. "Sweet Tooth" Tooth yelled up into the trees "Please come out sweet heart, no one is going to hurt you I promise." Still nothing could be heard. North decided to give it try "Come on son, please. No one will be mad at you, I promise. I know it's scary, that is why you don't want the surgery and ran off. We are only doing what is best for you, we don't want you to die." MiM was about to command Jack to come out but Mother Nature saw whas he was about to do and put a finger to his lips. "Commanding the child won't help. We don't want to be seen as the enemy." Seraphina looked up to the trees trying to locate Jack but he was a good hider. "Jack Frost, please come down my little snow sprite. I need you and the earth needs you to spread your snow again. You can't make winter with your heart the way it is." Snow begun to fall around them as if to prove her wrong. At least they knew that Bunny was right about Jack being in the area.

"I see that you can still make winter. You are very powerful Jack. Your winter magic is stronger than mine I must admit. But it is a strain on your heart and eventually it will give out. Your heart is breaking love. It's not your fault, you didn't do anything wrong. Pitch did this to you and we weren't there for you. So we are trying to make it right." Sandy thought of another tactic. He formed pictures over his head of Jack and Jamie playing with his friends. Mother Nature nodded her approval to Sandy. "Sandy says that Jamie and his friends will be sad if you are gone."

That must have struck a cord because the snow stopped. Sandy and Tooth took to the air and searched for him. Bunny began to climb a tree he thought he smelled Jack in. Sandy and Tooth flew over to the same tree. Sure enough there was Jack hudled in the tree. His knees to his chest and arms wrapped around his legs, his head rested on his knees. Just as they got close an ice blast shot out narrowly missing Sandy. Jack knew if Sandy got to him it was all over. Jack stood up shooting ice blasts out of his palms at Sandy and Tooth. He was clearly not using a lot of power in them so as not to hurt his friends. Bunny didn't want to do this but they had to get the boy out of the tree. While Jack was distracted by Sandy moving closer with the dream sand Bunny threw is boomerang at Jack. It hit its mark and Jack fell from the tree.

North caught the frost child in his arms but Jack wasn't finished. The winter sprite caused a massive blizzard with he and North inside. The trees became encased in ice and the guardians couldn't even see. Sandy and Tooth were bound to the ground, no longer able to fly in the high winds. Seraphina used her powers to cut a path through the storm to get to Jack and North. The christmas spirit was trying not to drop Jack but his hands and arms were covered in ice though he still held on as best he could. The winter spirit was still fighting North tooth and nail when he saw Seraphina cut through the storm allowing Sandy to come close to them with the dream sand. North held Jack hard to his chest as Sandy quickly threw a huge dusting of dream sand at him. The storm died down as Jack's eyes closed. The child fell fully into sleep and the storm completely stopped.

North carried Jack bridal style as they all made the treck back to the hospital. The sun shined down on them warming their frosted selves from the storm. All the patients and staff stared at them as the walked back into the hospital. Apparently everyone occupying the hospital had seen the escape and recovery of Jack Frost as well as the blizzard he had created. Needless to say that all the other spirits, especially any elementals that happened to be there, all got a lesson on how powerful the winter spirit could be. Maybe now the other elementals would stop hurting Jack, mother nature thought to herself.

Jack was taken from North's arms much to the christmas spirits' dismay and placed back into his room. He was strapped down to the bed with new restraints and three hospital staff placed in the room. The others were all rushed into different room and were checked over for injuries. Thankfully, there weren't any. Afterwards they all regrouped in their meeting room as they waited for the doctor to finish his assessment of Jack.

The room was silent as Dr. Duran stepped inside. The group all looked up at him with hopeful eyes when they heard him come in. "I will give it to you straight. The boy is in rough shape. The cuts and bruises from jumping out the window aren't too bad. But for one thing I am worried about his bladder. He ripped the catheter out and not to be vulgar is bleeding from his penis." Bunny face-palmed himself at that "eh leave it to frostbite to not even be gentle to himself on his nether regions." Dr. Duran shook his head "I wish I could say that is the worst of it but it's not. His heart has sustained further damage, the stress of the attack was too much. The hole has gotten bigger, we can't wait any longer. We have to do emergency surgery now! Anyone wishing to see the boy off I suggest you follow me."

The group moved quickly to Jack's room. Upon their arrival the found the winter spirit awake, who knows how. He was struggling with the hospital staff, a nurse was trying to put in a new IV but ice crawled up his arm. The doctor immediately pulled her away "we will have to wait until we get to the OR." He looked down at the frost child, waiting to get his attention. "It is time Jack, we can't wait any longer. You put a big strain on your heart, it can't take much more." The boy looked up with terror in his eyes "please no! No, no!" They ignored Jack's pleas as he was wheeled out of his room and down the hall to big double doors with the words, operating room, written above them. They stopped just before opening the doors. The doctor told them all to say whatever they wanted to say to Jack. Tooth came up to him first and hugged him close. "You are going to be alright Jack. You will feel better soon and we will be here when you wake. I love you sweet tooth." Sandy was next, he hugged him then formed sand images above his head of all of them together with Jack playing in the snow. Seraphina was after Sandy, she held Jack close not wanting to let him go. "I love you my little winter sprite. I will not lose you, you are going to get through this. I will be here watching and waiting for you." The doctor pointed to an observatory where they could all watch the surgery take place from a distance.

Bunny, North and MiM all stayed in the operating room to help if Jack struggled. The two older guardians, MiM and the doctor scrubbed up then put on their protective gear. Jack was absolutely terrified when his friends walked in with the doctor in gowns, face masks and gloves. The boy began sobbing. The doctor pulled the others aside. "Whatever happens do not let your emotions overtake you. Jack will struggle, scream and cry, try your best to ignore him. It is the only way we can do this." The surgery team was ready and waitng to transfer Jack to the operating table. Bunny and MiM held Jack down while North and the doctor unstrapped him to move him. Once Jack was released it took all four men to move him to the table. Jack screamed, kicked and punched. Ice was shooting out everywhere. It took the rest of the staff to keep him on the table while a nurse pulled off his hospital gown and the doctor tried to strap him down again. A strong punch swung out as they managed to strap the one of his arms down to the table. Bunny caught the punch but he couldn't get his arm back against the table. Bunny jumped up onto the table and laid himself down on top of Jack. The boy thrashed and bucked trying to get him off but the pooka held him down with all the force of his weight. Jack screamed loudly into his ear, the muzzle not doing much to muffle the sound in Bunny's sensitive ear. The doctor finally managed to strap Jack in effectively pinning him down. Even a strap was placed across his belly. His arms were placed outwards into a wing shape against seperate parts of the table. Even bunny shivered, it looked like the kind of table humans exucated people on.

Gwen tied a turniquet around Jack's upper arm to start an IV line. Another nurse started placing electrodes onto his chest. There was so much chaos going on around him. The boy was breathing hard, he was going into a full on panic attack now. He watched as scary looking tools were laid out on a table beside him. He stared at people walking around in those scary masks and gowns. They were all talking amongst each other of the ins and outs of the procedure. Then he heard his own heart beating on the monitor fast and irregular then felt needle of the IV enter his arm. It was all too much for him and he lost control of his emotions along with his powers. Jack let out a blood curdling scream at the top of his lungs startling everyone. As he screamed a blast of energy formed in front of his chest and jutted out. It looked as if winter quite literally exploded everywhere. This wasn't even just a blizzard as he had created before. This was more like an entire room encased in ice. The medical tools were frozen and the floor had become an ice rink. The walls and the ceiling were frosted as well. Snow fell heavily and the room was freezing.

Mother nature jumped out of her seat and ran down to the OR. "Jack!" she screamed as she entered the room but the doctor stopped her before she could get too far in. Dr. Duran looked at her relieved. "I am so glad that you are here Seraphina but I can not let you enter until you scrub up, this is a sterile area even with all the ice." Not wasting a second she did as she was told and scrubbed up then placed on her protective gown, gloves and mask. Bunny was trying to calm the whimpering child. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes sheila. It looks like winter exploded everywhere." Seraphina nodded "Indeed, that is what just happened" she said as she went around the room and began melting the ice. She went over to Jack whose eyes were glazed over in tears and fear. She held her frost child as a nurse was able to push the calming medicine and saline solution through the IV. "It's aright Jack, it is ok to be scared. But it's going to be alright." She let out some frost to calm him as she melt the rest of the ice in the room and the medical equipment started working again.

The doctor moved the table down so Jack was lying straight back. A nurse brought over the ultrasound maching. The doctor covered the probe in gel and placed it on Jack's chest. He found the spot he needed and made a mark on the boy's chest over his heart. the boy was sobbing hard. North stood over him and removed his face mask to talk to Jack without scaring him. "Don't cut me while I am still awake" Jack cried out though the words were muffled and hard to understand due to the muzzle but North seemed to understand. "Everything will be ok snowy I promise. You will wake up sore, I won't lie to you but you will get better in time. We will all be right by your side. I will be here the whole time. I will stay by you while you sleep and I will be here when you wake. I love you son, I love as if you were my own." The doctor sneaked behind Jack and took his muzzle off then quickly replaced it with a mask that had some sort of gas coming out of it. Jack fought the mask, moving his head around while the doctor tried to hold it over his mouth and nose. He decided he needed to give the boy a distraction. "Jack? Can you do something for me?" "What?" Jack whispered. "Can you count backwards?" "Yes" "Good. Start counting backwards from 100, ok?" "For how long?" Jack asked sounding tired. "As far as you can. I am going to just hold the mask over you while you count, I won't force it, alright? Are you ready?" Jack nodded slowly, his eyes growing heavy as the gas poured over his face.

"100, 99, 98..97...96...95...94...93...92...91...90." As Jack's eyes slowly blinked his eyes he heard MiM say something to him but he couldn't quite understand. "Sleep well my Nightlight, my dearest friend. You will be better soon. When you wake I promise to treat you how I always should have. I love you my guardian, my best friend." Jack closed his eyes and went into a deep sleep. "Finally the boy is out, now we can start. A tube was placed down Jack's throat to help him breathe. A sheet was draped over the winter spirit covering his body and face from view, only his chest exposed. The doctor picked up his scalpal and made an incision on the mark he had placed earlier. It was hard for Bunny, North and Seraphina to watch, they hated to see Jack have to go through this. They looked on his chest was fully cut open and the doctor used pliers to open Jack's ribs. His heart at last was exposed, the hole clearly visible. The doctor motioned the group over to see it. Mother nature gasped at the sight of it and promptly turned aroung to avoid vomiting. Bunny had a disturbed look on his face and North just closed his eyes, too overwhelmed to look anymore.

The doctor continued with his task until ice slowly crept up, covering the wound. "Damn it" he whispered under his breath. He then lifted up the sheet and stared at Jack's sleeping face. "What is wrong?" asked Seraphina, a look of concern on her face. "I thought Jack was awake but he is not. His body is acting on its own accord to try and heal the incision with ice. I need you over here now Seraphina." She moved next to the doctor and used her powers to melt the ice but it just kept creeping back up. Next the doctor ordered one of the nurses to push through more medicine through the IV that would calm and suppress Jack's powers. He checked to make sure that the anesthia was working. He placed the mask over the boy's face again giving him another dose just to be sure that Jack would't wake. The ice melted and none formed again, the surgery continued on without incident.

The hole was fixed and the incision was closed. Next the doctor cut a small hole into Jack's groin and sent sent a scope in to find the small tear in his bladder from when Jack ripped the catheter out. He burned the tear closed then removed the scope and sewed the incision shut. It took about 5 hours total for both surgeries to be finished. The staff cleaned Jack up and placed him in an intensive care unit room to recover. Everyone left to go clean up and rest.

Jack slept soundly in his room while everyone came in quietly to see him. They each came in 2 at a time so as not to wake or over crown the recovering winter spirit. Even though it would be at least a couple of hours before Jack woke up again, they strapped him down to the bed. No one wanted to take any chances with the kid. He was full of surprises and no one truly knew the extent of his power or how much he could use after the surgery. An orderly was left guarding the door to the room as the others went to go get some sleep.

All was quiet well and quiet. Not a peep was heard from Jack, he hadn't even moved in his sleep at all. It was almost a little concerning but he was just left to rest. It wasn't until about 3am that everyone was shocked into consciousness by the sound of Jack's high pitched and fearful scream.

The winter sprite stirred in his sleep. His body was being ripped from unconsciousness by a bad feeling deep down in his bones. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. Jack woke with a start and stared into the face of his former master, Pitch Black. Pitch was leaning over the bed staring at him with bright glowing yellow eyes and a smile showing his sharp teeth. Pitch held his hand over the winter spirit's mouth before he could scream. "Hello Jack, are you happy to see me?" Pitch looked around the room then looked Jack up and down. "Oh, looks like you aren't feeling very well, are you?" He saw the bandages on the boy's chest over his heart. He peeled the bandages off and Jack whimpered in pain as Pitch moved his fingers over the stitched skin. "Hole in your heart? That is what happens when a spirit is broken. I broke you good, didn't I Jack? It's such a shame that those guardians think they can fix you with a little surgery but that will never heal. Even if they fix the hole your soul is still broken. You will never be the same again and now I will make sure of it."

Pitch pulled the covers off of Jack. Pitch looked down at Jack's exposed penis with the catheter in it. Pitched smiled wickedly at the sight obviously amused "I see they don't want you getting up to use the bathroom. Oh well, no matter. I can work around it. I am going to finish what I started. I am going to make sure that you stay broken." Pitch started stroking his own penis while he stared down at Jack. He then reached down and inserted two of his fingers into Jack's anus and began scissoring him. Pitch listened to the boy's heart speed up with the monitor that was hooked up to his chest. "Oh, that's nice. I love how I get you all riled up Jack." Pitch removed his fingers and positioned himself to Jack's hole. Jack was able to move him mouth away from Pitch's hand and let out a blood curdling scream as Pitch entered him.

Footsteps could be heard rushing towards the door. By the time the guardians managed to break open the door that was sealed with nightmare sand, Pitch was finished with the frost child. Bunny, North, Seraphina, Tooth, Sandy and MiM each had their weapons drawn at the ready. Jack laid there shivering and sobbing covered in blood and semen. "Oh no, what have you done?!" Tooth cried. Pitch just laughed at her. "I only finished what I started, breaking winter. In all the years I had him, the boy still refused to obey me and so I had to break him. If I can't have that power no one can!" Bunny threw his boomerang at Pitch's head and watched as it hit its mark "Fuck you!" Pitch sighed "you may not want to focus on figthing me right now."

Jack's eyes rolled into the back of his head. The winter sprite laid there motionless growing paler and lips turning blue. Pitch just petted the boy's hair. "Your frost child isn't breathing, he is dying." With that he vanished into the shadows only his voice remained. "Good luck guardians, you will need it. The child isn't savable now." Then the shadows receded and everything went quiet except for the sound of the heart monitor flat lining.

The doctor and nurses immediately jumped into action. They first tried CPR but that didn't work. Next they placed the defibulator paddles on Jack and shocked his heart a few times but they couldn't get a pulse. Seraphina and Tooth held each other while they silently cried. "I've got one last thing to try, if it doesn't work our frost child is gone" Dr. Duran explained frantically. He held a huge syringe filled with adrenaline above Jack's heart. He brought the needle down with a force and plunged the medicine directly into the boy's heart. The winter child's body jerked and his eyes flew open. Jack took in deep breaths then fell back into unconsciousness though no longer dying.

The guardians stared at the doctor hopefully. "He is alright, but he isn't out of the woods yet, but it seems he will live." They all released a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness" exclaimed Tooth, voicing what they all wanted to say. Dr. Duran had the girls turn away while the nurses cleaned Jack and covered him with a blanket. His wounds were redressed and then he was left to rest. North moved closer to the sleeping boy and held him close. "I am so sorry my son. I should have been there to protect you. I love you Jack." North just held the boy and cried into his snow white hair. It broke all their hearts to watch North visibly cry over the boy. It was such a rare occurance to see North cry. Tooth had seen it maybe once or twice before but not like this. North's emotions spread to the others as Sandy's eyes began to water. Next it was Tooth and Seraphina who held each other again. Bunny didn't even try to hide his tears when they spilled over his furry cheeks. MiM moved to stand next to Jack and North, watching over the winter spirit while he slept in North's arms. Finally he whispired into the frost child's ear " I am so sorry my Jack Frost, my Nightlight. I haven't been there for you like you were for me as my guardian." Bunny growled at him then "the fuck you should have! You grew into adulthood because Nightlight kept you safe from Pitch. Nightlight never grew up, he is still forever a boy just changed a little as now Jack Frost. You should have been his guardian now." MiM glared back at him "As if I am the only one to blame!"

Before an all out argument could start mother nature held up her hand getting everyone's attention. "It doesn't matter who ignored Jack now! What matters is that we pay attention to him now and help him the best we can. He is going to require a great amount of care from all of us if we can even hope to have Jack back the way he was." She stared down at the floor in sorrow and whispered "To be honest I think my father might be right. I don't think our boy will ever be the same."

For two days the boy slept with no signs of him waking. Vitals, wound caring and baths were all done without the winter spirit ever stirring. By the third day it was determined that Jack had fallen into a coma. All the guardians including MiM and Seraphina took turns watching over Jack. He was never left alone, not even on bathroom breaks. Each talked to him, trying to keep him up to date on things. Hoping that if they kept talking eventually it would bring the boy out of the darkness and back into consciousness. Sandy made sure to give the frost child good dreams as he slept. By the second week the dreams Sandy sent to Jack would no longer take. A good sign that their boy would finally wake up.

It was on the 15th day that Jack was still sleeping. Tooth sat in the chair beside his hospital bed reading a book out loud to him. She paused when she caught sight of Jack's hand lightly twitch. She watched his face, waiting patiently. "Come on sweet tooth, please wake up. We miss you so much." She encouraged, taking his cold hand in hers and rubbing her thumb over it. She patted his head, running her fingers through his hair. She gasped as his eyes slowly blinked open. She smiled down at him but quickly realized that something was wrong when he didn't really meet her gaze. He stared at the ceiling as if his eyes were unseeing. His eyes held no spark of life in them. Tooth got up and opened the door. She yelled for the doctor and the other guardians. "Jack is awake!"

The other three guardians and the doctor rushed in. They stared down at the boy who stared back with unseeing blue eyes. North and Sandy were overjoyed but bunny could tell something was very wrong with their Jack Frost. "Hey there mate, you gave us quite a scare ya little ankle biter." Jack gave no response that he had even heard Bunny. North's face took on a look of surprise and then confusion. "What is wrong with Jack?" "That is why I yelled for you all or I would have just sent the nurse for you. I am worried" Tooth replied. Sandy moved towards the winter sprite and stared into his eyes. Jack flinched and quickly adverted his eyes but no response was made other than that. Bunny tried next, he sat on the bed next to Jack. He took the winter spirit's chin into his hand and tried to hold Jack's attention. "Look at me Jack." The boy closed his eyes tightly and whimpered. "Please frostbite, you got to tell us what is wrong" Bunny continued. Jack didn't speak a word, not even a shake of his head in response. "Are you in pain sweety?" asked Tooth. Still Jack wouldn't respond.

Dr. Duran moved everyone out of the way. "I need to examine him." Jack's eyes teared up at the doctor's words but didn't move a muscle. The doctor checked his reflexes first but found they were slow. "Hmm" he whispered to himself then placed a thermometer in Jack's mouth. The frost child made no move to spit it out or fidgit. The doctor shook his head when he looked at the reading "he has a fever again, this time worse. There is no frost covering his body." North looked to him confused with eyes asking the doctor to explain. "A winter spirit usually has a thin layer of frost covering its body at all times, Jack has none. Therefore, his fever is really high which means possible infection." Next he took the boy's blood pressure and it was low. He checked Jack's oxygen level "Its 95% not too bad but not great either." Dr. Duran removed his stethoscope from his neck and placed the buds into his ears then slipped the scope behind Jack's back under his gown, moving it across his back. "His lungs are wheezy, sound a bit clogged. If I had to guess I would say he ingested some of that black sand from Pitch and it went into his lungs." Next he moved the scope to Jack's chest and listened to his heart while he stared at his watch for a minute. Jack only flinched and whimpered when the doctor moved the scope around his chest and listened closely pressing it into Jack's skin a little roughly. Jack moaned out in pain. The doctor removed the stethoscope and placed it back around his neck. He looked down sadly at Jack "you poor little thing" he whispered "his heart doesn't sound any better, I am afraid that Pitch has truly broken his spirit. The surgery appears to be unsuccessful.

Tooth gasped "no, my sweet snow." Sandy held her close. Jack laid there silently crying, he didn't understand what was going on but the sad faces bothered him. North looked down at Jack noticing his discomfort. "I think it best not to discuss such matters in front of the child." The doctor nodded "yes. I believe that is best." North wrapped his arms around Jack feeling the slight frame shivering. "It will be ok son, we will be back soon, alright? We will leave Phil here to look after you. That is my good boy Jack." Tooth kissed Jack on the forhead and roughled his hair. Sandy smiled and gave Jack a thumbs up but was disappointed when no smile or acknowledgement came from the winter sprite. Bunny patted the boy on the shoulder "see you in a bit snowflake, why don't you rest? You still look tired." Jack only stared at the sheets, refusing to meet Bunny's eyes. The doctor lead the way out and the others followed as Phil moved in to take his watch over their frost child.

"So what's this all about?" asked Bunny as they entered the doctor's office again for the hundreth time it seemed. MiM and Seraphina were already sitting in the office. "Let me just start off by saying this is the worst state that I have ever seen a spirit in, worse a child spirit" the doctor exclaimed. "Seraphina, your father completed his work. The boy is broken, the surgery hasn't helped. I can hear his heart breaking through the stethoscope. He is going to suffer greatly. A broken center is a very painful condition to have and he will only die in the end." He turned to MiM then "I think it would be best for you to take mercy on him and take his soul back to your halls in the moon so he doesn't remain a souless being for all time." "No!"Tooth yelled "that would be death!" nodded "yes my dear, but a far kinder fate and faster, less painful."

MiM considered his words. Should he essntially put Jack out of his misery or should he continue to try? "I understand what you are saying and if it comes to that I will but I believe we should try to repair Jack. My Nightight never gave up on me, I now owe it to him to not give up on him." Seraphina smiled at MiM, maybe her frost child could still be saved. "Well then" the doctor stated "at least we are all on the same page. Now as I said before I must tell you this task won't be easy. I do believe we have a shot at saving Jack. He is forever a child which in this case is in our favor, children are very resilliant. But he is going to require round the clock care and never to be left alone." Tooth looked at him with determination in her eyes. "We are ready, we can do this. We are guardians, saving children is what we do." They all nodded, agreeing with her.

"Then lets get started" said the doctor. They followed him out of the room talking while walking throught the hallway. "I suggest you each set up shifts amongst you to watch and care for him so no one gets tired out. Next all must learn to take vitals and administer medicine. I believe Jack will heal better if he were not in a hospital setting. It would be better to have him home so he will be more comfortable. Being in an environment that terrifies him will only break him faster."

" I can take the first watch then" said Bunny. "It's almost night, Tooth and Sandy got their jobs to do." Dr. Duran nodded "I want you all to know what to expect when a spirit is broken so you know how to react. Do you all understand?" The nodded waiting patiently for him to continue. "Jack may have suicidal tendencies. This may include self harm to refusing to eat or sleep. His center is fun so he will no longer see the fun in things either. Lastly he may refuse or may not be able to use his powers. Even something simple as blowing frost may be too difficult or upsetting to him. The longer it continues the worse he will become. He may refuse to move at all which means we might have to do basic tasks for him. Taking him to the bathroom, bathing him, feeding him if he refuses. I really hope you are prepared my guardians." North spoke up then "we are up to the task. I am Jack's guardian now and I love him as if he were my own son. Although one could say he technically is now. We will do whatever needs to be done."

At some point Jack must have fallen asleep while the others had their meeting. That is how Bunny found him when he got back and took over for Phil. Phil informed him that Jack hadn't said a word to him. Not even really ever looked at Phil until he fell asleep. Bunny was dismayed by this. He didn't believe what the doctor said about how Jack would act with a broken center but the fact that Jack didn't speak concerned him. Jack was always running a mile a minute whether he be talking or being the annoying child he could be. For Jack to never make a peep, not even to complain was a bad sign. Bunny was so engrossed with his thoughts that he hadn't realized that Jack was awake, staring blankly at him. "Hey there frostbite, didn't see that you were awake. How are you feeling buddy?" Jack just continued to stare at him. "Not well I take it?" Jack started to fidgit with his restraints. "Are those bothering you? I'm not sure I can take those off snowflake. But I can ask the doctor for you. I bet if you were to promise to stay in bed we could get them off. What do you think Jackie?" Jack stayed quiet, looking down at the sheets. The silence between Jack and Bunny was defening until a growl tore through the silence. Bunny looked down and held his stomach. "Well I guess I am hungry. I didn't realize it until now. What about you frosty? Are you hungry Jack?" No answer came from Jack. Bunny reached over and held the winter spirit's chin in his paw, "look at me frostbite...please talk to me, nod your head, sign language, anything." It was too disturbing for Bunny to see the boy be so quiet as was not in his nature. Bunny sighed to himself then he placed his arms around Jack and held him close. The boy shivered in his arms but Bunny just couldn't let him go. After a moment he released his hold on Jack then rubbed his paws over his eyes. Bunny rubbed away the tears that were forming in his eyes. He wouldn't let Jack see him break down. Bunny had to be strong for their frost child.

They kept Jack in the hospital for a few more days until the doctor felt he was strong enough to be moved. North held Jack in his arms and held out a snow globe. He carried Jack through the portal traveling directly from the hospital room to a guest room in the north pole. This room he had specifically designed to be Jack's bedroom. In truth he had wanted the child to stay with him permanently after discovering that Jack had no actual home. North had started to decorate the room and fill it with items he thought would appeal to the young winter sprite. He figured by Jack's hoodie that blue must be his favorite color. The sheets and comforter on the bed were two different shade of blue, a light sky blue and a deep ocean blue. The comforter was white with blue snowflake pattern on it. There was a desk with a desk lamp and chair. On the desk sat some paper and pencils. Across the room was a dresser. North had started to fill it with clothes for Jack. Though the boy never wore shoes which was odd to North, socks were placed in the dresser. As well as underwear, pajamas, shirts and pants were in the dresser too. North had the yetis place a variety of styles and colors though mostly blues and whites. Since Jack now had sock it only made sense to give him shoes. One pair of brown mocassin slippers and a white pair of sneakers. North wasn't sure if Jack would wear them but it was the thought that counted. Finally in the last drawer North had a few blue hoodies and brown pants as extras for the garments Jack usually wore.

North places Jack on the bed and moved over to the dresser. He pulled out a set of light blue pajama shirt and pants with underwear. Surprisingly Jack made no move to get off the bed. It was sad to see Jack so submissive but it did make things easier for North. He was also thankful the others were waiting for him in the living room so he could give Jack some privacy. Jack watched as North moved toward him. North was careful and deliberate with his movements so not to spook him. "Alright Jack, I'm going to change your clothes." North pulled off Jack's gown and underwear. He redressed the frost child and placed him in the bed. Jack never fussed or protested, only whimpered and moaned in pain or fear at times. The silence was unnerving but North and the others had to get used to it. Since waking up a few days ago Jack hadn't uttered a word. It seemed for the time being or however long it took for the boy to heal that Jack was mute. But unlike Sandy or Nightlight, the boy Jack Frost used to be, Jack displayed no forms of communication. Jack wouldn't talk, use sign language or even nod or shake his head. It became clear too that Jack did not posess the powers of mental telepathy as Nightlight had either.

There was a knock at the door. Gwen, Hope and Dr. Duran moved in. Jack curled in on himself when he saw the medical staff. All he wanted was to be back at home and left alone, even if it meant death. Let me die, he thought. He would have said but he could no longer find his voice. He tried to back away but North stood behind him. Jack sat pressed up against him. North wrapped his arms around him from behind then grabbed his hands holding them tightly. North heard foot steps outside the door. He took a chance hoping it was who he thought. "Bunny?! I need your help." Jack began kicking as his only instinct to get away. Bunny ran in at North's call. "What ya need mate?" "Hold his legs down" replied North. Gwen lifted up Jack's shirt and placed the electrodes to the heart monitor onto his chest. Hope pricked his arm to place the new IV but she was struggling. First she tried one vein then another. Jack gasped as she moved the needle under his skin. Jack made to slap her hand but North pulled him against his chest. North kept Jack's face in his chest so that he couldn't look. North heard the boy start to cry. Bunny spoke up then "hey, I think that is enough, it's hurting frostbite. I don't doubt your abilities Hope but maybe Gwen should put the IV in. She did it last time without him even noticing." Hope nodded at let Gwen take her place. Bunny held Jack's arm out when he tried to pull away. Gwen searched for a vein "alright Jack, just a quick poke and it will be over." She stuck the needle in and Jack whined for only a second. She got it in and flowing then taped it up. "Sorry about that sweetheart. Hope did well but she isn't as experienced with giving IVs. Not only that but being a winter sprite makes it harder. She traced his veins to show North and Bunny "he is so cold so his veins don't stay close to the surface. It makes it more difficult."

The doctor pushed the medicines he required through the IV, the Gwen strung up the bag of saline solution up to a pole by the bed. Jack settled down once they were finished. . North tried to lean Jack into the pillows but the child gripped onto North like a lifeline. Bunny rubbed the child's back "poor little mate, he is scared to death. I think we need Sandy to come give him good dreams." "yes, will you go get him please? I would but I'm a little tied up at the moment" North said as looked down at the winter sprite still clutched to him. "yea, that's fine" Bunny turned to leave then stopped suddenly when he heard Jack groan. "It's alright snowflake I will be right back."

Bunny left to get Sandy. North held Jack for a little longer then situated the child in bed. The doctor moved over to Jack with an oxygen tube in his hand. The boy grabbed onto North's arm when the doctor placed it over his face with the tubes up his nose. "That should be all for now. There you go Jack, all is well. Sandy is on his way, he will give you good dreams while you sleep." Jack stared at him with fearful eyes. "He won't hurt you son" North said trying to soothe the boy, when that didn't work he decided to distract him. "Are you hungry snowball? I can have the yetis make you anything you want to eat." Jack stared at him. "Anything" North repeated. "North" the doctor called over his shoulder as he was packing up his equipment "make sure it is something gentle on his stomach. Cookies and cakes are too much." "I see. I am sorry son, I guess it can not be anything."

Gwen smiled at them "don't worry, it won't be forever. Just that he requires more nutrition than those items to get well." Dr. Duran moved to the door with Hope following behind him. In his hand he held one of North's snow globes. "I will be leaving to go back to the hospital now. Hope will come with me but Gwen will stay here. Good luck and if you need me you know where to find me." Hope and the doctor stepped through the portal then it dissolved after a moment. North sat down in the chair next Jack's bed and rubbed his tired eyes. "All of this is such a big mess my boy. I don't even know where to start." He moved his hand over and placed it on the boy's head and began petting his hair. Jack made no move to stop him or struggle, only continued to stare off into space but slightly leaned into the touch. "I feel like I have failed you son, some father I have turned out to be."

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself." Gwen replies as she was checking the medical equipment. North shook his head "no you don't understand. Besides for recent events I ignored Jack in the past.I never even knew that he was trying to break into my workshop. The worst part is when Jack went missing I didn't know and I didn't keep my eye on Pitch. I couldn't blame the boy for hating me." Gwen looked pensive for a moment before she answered "all of us spirits, not only you guardians are guilty. Despite all that I don't believe that Jack hates you or anyone. Sure I know he said he does but he is a teenager, they all say that. Seriously though, I don't think he really has the ability to hate. Well, scratch that, he might be able to hate Pitch but that is understandable."

"Oh come on snowflake, you got to eat something." Bunny was getting frustrated, he couldn't get Jack to eat anything. He even tried to spoon feed him but Jack wouldn't open his mouth. "Listen frostbite, don't make me pry your mouth open." Jack's eyes only widened in fear. "Bunny!" Tooth scolded. "Well I don't know what to do with him!" Bunny shoved the bowl and spoon away. Tooth picked up the items off the bedside table. "You just have to be gentle and patient." She moved to sit on the chair next to the bed. She scooped some oatmeal into the spoon then moved the spoon into Jack's line of vision. "Come on sweety, you have to eat." She moved the spoon to his mouth "open up" she encouraged him. After a minute Jack finally opened his mouth, tooth put the spoon in his mouth then went to scoop more oatmeal out of the bowl. She repeated the process two more times until Jack refused to open his mouth any longer. "Come on sweet tooth, you only ate three bites. You have got to be hungry, that is not enough to fill you up." She put the spoon to his lips again but he still refused to eat. "How long has he refused to eat?" Bunny shook his head "since the surgery sheila. We have only gotten him to take a few bites here and there but not enough. The kid hasn't eaten in days. You have gotten him to eat the most." Tooth looked shocked "but that's only three bites!" Bunny nodded in defeat. "I am going to talk to Gwen" she stated. "Gwen already knows about it, she has gone back to the hospital to talk to the doctor. They are going to give Jack a feeding tube." Tooth stared at him wide eyed then her eyes filled up with tears. Bunny moved to hug her and he held her close "I know Toothy, it hurts. It hurts me too." As they held each other in silence Gwen returned with the doctor following behind her, Sandy came in after him. Dr. Duran looked to the two guardians holding each other "has he eaten anymore?" Tooth shook her head and Bunny answered "only the three bites of oatmeal Tooth gave him."

The doctor shook his head " I see, that only leaves me with one option left." Dr. Duran pulled out some plastic tubing. "This will go up his nose and down directly into his stomach. I don't like it either but it's our last resort." Sandy sprinkled Jack with some dream sand while the doctor fixed him with the feeding tube.

When Jack awoke North was sitting next to him. North held the boy's hand gently as he saw Jack move to pull the feeding tube out. "No son, I know you don't like it but it is needed to feed you. You are losing too much weight and becoming weaker. When you show me that you can eat on your own we will have it removed." Jack quietly whimpered but made no move to fight North further.

Sandy sat with Jack to give North and Bunny a much needed break. He streamed his golden sand out the window down to the children of the world. He continued to send good dreams to Jack, hoping that maybe the dreams would help to repair his broken center. The frost child slept soundly as Sandy smiled down at him and rubbed his hand. 'I only wish you could speak to me again. I miss your voice and your laugh' Sandy thought to himself. Jack started to moan in his sleep and Sandy watch the winter sprite twist and turn is his sleep as he heard the painful sounds he made. Sandy saw his dreams becoming nightmares and sent more golden sand towards him. The golden sand couldn't penetrate the nightmare and Jack whimpered. Sandy tried harder to defeat the nightmare but was startled and lost concentration when the boy started screaming.

The frost child's screams grew in intensity as Sandy held the boy close trying to calm him down when the other guardians rushed in. "What the hell is going on in here mate?!" Bunny shouted. Sandy tried to create sand images to explain the situation but the others weren't understanding as panic set in. "You were supposed to be watching him! I thought you were keeping the nightmares away?!" Bunny yelled at Sandy. "Bunny!" Tooth scolded. Sandy blew sand out of his ears in frustration. North was trying to wake Jack but he only screamed louder. "I do not know what to do!" North shouted. Bunny pushed North out of the way. "I apologize in advance for this frostbite." Bunny raised his paw and smacked Jack across his cheek. Jack gasped as his eyes opened wide from the shock, hand instinctively going to his cheek. "Bunny, what did you do that for?!" cried Tooth. "I'm sorry dear but nothing else was working. At least now he isn't screaming anymore."

Tooth just looked at Bunny with an incredulous look on her face. "You don't need to shout at Sandy, he didn't do anything wrong." Sandy signed some images and Tooth spoke for him "He says that when the nightmares started he tried to send more dream sand to Jack but it wouldn't take." Bunny slumped down into the chair next to Jack's bed. Jack was sitting quietly still holding his cheek. Bunny sighed " I know I'm sorry Sandy. I had no right to blame you. I know you would give your life to protect Jack." Sandy placed his hand on Bunny's shoulder in understanding.

Bunny exploded in an angry speech then "I am just so frustrated! I can't stand seeing the kid like this! At one time I just wanted him to shut up now I regret that and would do anything to hear him say one word. He won't talk, he won't eat, and he won't even create snowflakes. The kid can't even go to the bathroom by himself. We've been keeping him on a two hour schedule to take him." "What?" Tooth interupted. 'Why didn't anyone tell me about that?" asked Tooth. "He needs to be taken because he doesn't realize that he has to go and you can't take him." Tooh looked confused "Why not? I can do that I can take him" she said as she run her fingers through Jack's hair. "Because Toothy it's not appropriate, a man needs to take him, same with bathing him. Tooth looked offended "Jack is a child, it doesn't matter. He isn't a man, he is a boy." North stared at her, how could she not understand what they were trying to tell her? Clearly her mothering instincts had taken over too much. "Tooth" North called. "Jack is a child yes but not a boy. He is a teenager, a young man. I am sure he would not a appreciate you doing those things for him even if he can not voice it. Jack is a young man where it counts if you know what I mean." Tooth's eyes went wide with realization "oh...I get it now. I'm so silly." Bunny chimed in "Took you long enough" he said with a laugh. North reaches over and disconnected the medical equipment then picked Jack up. "That reminds me, I am going to take him now and give him a bath. Bunnymund can you grab him some fresh clothes and come help me?" Bunny nodded "yea mate, be right there."

North carried Jack to the bathroom and placed him on the toilet. North stripped Jack's clothes off and filled up the tub with luke warm water then added some soap to the running water. "I thought you might like some bubbles eh boy? Do you want toys? I know that probably seems silly. It's just that you are a child to me and sometimes I just can't help myself." North placed Jack in the tub and began washing him. Afterwards he looked around and quickly realized there were no towels in the bathroom to dry him off. "Oh no Jack I forgot a towel for you and I don't see Bunny yet but he should be on his way with your clothes so I will go grab one from closet down the hall for you. I will be right back." With that Jack was left on his own in the tub. As his eyes roamed around he noticed a razor on a shelf of the bathtub wall. Jack picked it up and stared at it with lifeless eyes. He held out his wrist and began cutting into it.

Bunny gathered up fresh clothes for Jack while talking to Tooth and Sandy. "Again I'm sorry. This thing with the kid, it's really gettin to me. Everyday that passes and the kid is still lifeless makes it harder for me to hope. That shouldn't happen. I'm the guardian of hope." Bunny held his head in his paws. Tooth gave him hug "I know Bunny we all feel that way. It's ok to feel despair but don't lose hope. We will get through this." Sandy gave Bunny a thumbs up and Bunny nodded back then started for the door "you're right you guys. I got to get going, North's waiting for me."

Bunny headed towards the bathroom, clothes in hand. He slowly opened the door so as not to startle the occupants inside when he was met with a sight that froze him to the core that had nothing to do with the power of winter. North wasn't in the room and Jack was passed out in the bathtub surrounded by red water. Bunny started shouting "North! Sandy! Tooth! Anyone! please help!" Bunny quickly moved towards the tub and slowly lifted Jack up. It didn't take long to find out why the water was red. He was bleeding from long cuts on his wrists, a shaving razor was covered in Jack's blood on the side of the tub. Bunny pressed the clothes he had been carrying to the wounds and tied them as best he could around the boy's wrists. "Oh my god frostbite, what did you do?!"

North arrived first to Bunny's frantic call for help followed by Sandy and Tooth. Tooth instantly started sobbing, Sandy gasped and North just stared wide eyed. "How did this happen?" Bunny turned around and glared at him " what the fuck North?! You were supposed to be watching him!" North looked at him confused. "I thought you were with him?" "No I wasn't you gumby! Jack was alone like this when I found him just a moment ago. Where were you?!" "Where was I?! Where were you? You were supposed to be here! I went to go get a towel to dry him off because I forgot one and I knew you were on your way so I went to go get it from the closet. Then I realized there were no more clean ones left in the closet I had to go down to the laundry room to get one! I didn't think Jack would move so I left know you were coming so I let kid play in water. I am so so very sorry. I didn't mean for Jack to get hurt. I feel terrible" That's when Bunny snapped at him "well you should! He did get hurt! You know that a broken center can make him depressed and suicidal! What is wrong with you?!"

"Enough!" Both Bunny and North stopped their arguing to look at Tooth as she screamed at them. "That is enough! It doesn't matter whos fault it is we need to treat Jack now or he will die!" She took Jack from Bunny holding him close to her chest. She wrapped him in the towel and flew to the infirmary.

An hour later Jack was asleep in his bed, his wounds stitched and bandaged. "That should do it" Dr. Duran took off his gloves and washed his hands. "He has lost a pint of blood. It wouldn't normally be life threatening but it poses a risk for because of his already weakened state. It could have been worse. You are lucky you found him when you did. The child can not be left alone, not even for a minute." "What else can we do to repair his center? Besides the medical treatments" asked Tooth. "Yea, none of it is working. Even the surgery failed because of what Pitch did to him" Bunny added.

The doctor shook his head "the surgery and the treatments can only do so much. They really can only lesson the symptoms and pain of a broken center but they can not repair it as we've seen. Surgeries and treatments can not make a person regain their will to live. That's what your center is, your reason for being your want to live. My best advice? Be with him, talk with him, read him stories, try to play with him in the snow. Give him cookies when he can eat as a treat, keep up the family time you were having with him. Do your normal routine, Jack is still in there even if he doesn't respond. Having a broken center makes it hard for him to be present but he is still in there. Just love him. Show him a reason to keep fighting to keep living. Only his will to live can overcome and repair his broken center. Surgery was long shot in hopes to help it but only Jack can truly repair himself." With that the doctor left to return to the hospital. Gwen stayed behind to check Jack's vitals and administer his medicines.

Over the next few weeks they tried to do what the doctor said. Tooth read to Jack, Sandy swirled dream sand around him. Bunny did hand over hand with him to help him paint easter eggs. North brought the child toys. MiM even kept to his promise to treat Jack better and took turns with the others watching over him. One day mother nature came to visit and all his medical equipment was disconnected so she could take him outside to play in the snow. However, being outside, and in his element still did not put a smile on the snow spirit's face. He just sat there on his kneews in the snow staring at it with cold lifeless eyes.

Finally one day Tooth had had enough "I can't take it anymore! Nothing is working! Sweet snow is still just as cold and lifeless as the beginning!" she screamed into the room. They all sat gathered around a meeting about their said frost child while Phil watched over him. Suddenly Sandy got an idea! Why didn't he think of it before? Sandy shifter sand into the shape of Jamie Bennet, Jack's first believer and best friend ever. Tooth's eyes lit up like a christmas tree. "That's a great idea!" she shouted "Why didn't we think of it before? Sandy thinks we should have Jamie come and visit Jack." Bunny just gaped at her and face-palmed "What? Crikie you can't be serious. You can't think that is a good idea." "Why not?" she asked. "Have you not looked at Jack recently? The boy looks like hell. All bruised and beaten, attached to medical equipment. Jamie is only eleven years old. That would scar him for life. Besides that what if it doesn't work? What if Jack doesn't respond to him? The kid would be crushed." North agreed with Bunny "Yes, though I like the idea I have to agree with Bunny. He is but a child, a human child, not an eternal child. This could be too much mental strain on him." Sandy nodded then created images of all of them talking with Jamie. Tooth smiled at Sandy "that could work. Jamie maybe only eleven but he is pretty mature for his age. Maybe if we talk to him and explain the situation first before he sees Jack it will be ok." Bunny relented "fine maybe. But let us explain to him about Jack and let Jamie decide if he wants to see him. Let Jamie decide if he can handle seeing Jack like this." Tooth looked sad but hopeful "okay." Bunny stood up with a snow globe in his paw "North and I will talk to him."

Bunny and North stepped through the portal and conveniently came out at Jack's lake. But it was strange to see that the water wasn't frozen. But then again it was summer so it wouldn't be. Bunny and North walked silently to Jamie's house but Jamie and Sophie were no where to be found. They heard laughter at a near by field not too far away from the house. There they found Jamie, Sophie and all their friends playing baseball. Jamie was about to throw the ball when he saw the two guardians approaching them. He dropped the ball and ran to them. The others stopped too to go see the guardians. "Hey North, Bunny. What's up?" He looked around the field but he didn't see who he was looking for. "Where's Jack? I haven't seen him in a long time. Though it is summer time so I figured it was too hot for him." Bunny looked at Jamie seriously "that is who we are here for mate." Jamie looked at him concerned. "What's going on? Did something happen to Jack? Is he ok?" North interupted him then "Jamie, can we talk in private?" Jamie nodded "uh, sure...I will see you guys later. I'm going to walk Sophie home." The two guardians and two children walked back to the house. They watched as Sophie ran back inside then the three of them walked to Jack's lake. "Ok so what is going on?" Jamie asked. North began to answer before Jamie could ask more questions "it is a long story but we wanted to know if you would like to go see Jack?" Jamie gave him a look as if to say 'duh.' "Of course I do." Bunny stepped in "then you have to know first about what has happened and the state that Jack is it, please just listen." Jamie nodded and listened all the while with a concerned look on his face as the two guardians explained the situation. "Wow, just wow, is all I can say" Jamie finally said after hearing the long tale. "So when can I see him?" Bunny stared at him " you do understand everything we told you?" Jamie nodded. "Do you then understand that Jack isn't acting like himself?" Jamie nodded " It's ok, I get it. I don't care. I still want to go see him." Bunny gave him a hard look " ok, I'm just warning you one last time. Jack is ill, his room is set up like a hospital and he is very depressed. He won't even make snowflakes." Jamie stared at the ground with a sad look on his face. North laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. "If you don't want to do this you don't have to. We just hoped that him seeing you might put a little spark of life back into our winter sprite." Jamie got a determined look on his face "then I can do this. I want to see him. I think I can help him." Bunny sighed "alright mate. Just one condition then if at any point you feel uncomfortable you let us know and we will take you home." "okay, when can I see him?" "When do you think you can go without your mother worrying?" asked North. Jamie thought about it for a moment " I got it. I can go now if that is ok? I will tell her I went to the park. I will go in and let her know. I will be right back."

The two guardian waited as Jamie ran into the house. "I hope this works, If not I hope at least nothing bad happens with this little plan" Bunny whispered. "Yes, me too" North agreed. They didn't say anything more as Jamie ran out of the house towards them. "She just said I had to be back in time for dinner. I'm ready now." North nodded and used the snow globe. They opened the portal and stepped into the hallway that led to Jack's room. North stopped Jamie at the door. "Let me go in first, you wait out here with Bunny. I want to make sure that Jack is decent for company." Jamie looked confused "What do you mean by decent?" "You see mate, Jack is what you call catatonic, sort of, he doesn't really do anything on his own. We've had to feed him, dress him, bathe him, take him to the bathroom. Having a broken center and a failed heart surgery has put him in a bad way. So North just wanted to make sure he is dressed." "oh" "Lastly, just a reminder that he doesn't talk. Do you really think you can handle this? You can say no. No one would judge you if you want to change your mind. But now would be the time to do it."

"No, I'm sticking to my decision. I am going to see him. I am going to help him. Besides it's not like I haven't seen something similar before." Bunny looked at Jamie then "What do you mean mate?" "Well, about three years ago so I was almost 8 years old when I went to the hospital to see my mom after she has Sophie. Mom had to have surgery to have my sister, mom had problems. So since she was all cut up and on medicines she couldn't really get out of bed. They had her hooked up to all these machines and whatever because she almost died. Mom could eat on her own but they had to help her go to the bathroom and wash her. Mom hated it but she almost died so she didn't have a choice. I was confused but I was happy because I still had a mom and I got a little sister." Bunny smiled at him and patted him on the back. "Maybe I underestimated you. Sorry I just get a little over protective about kids." Jamie smirked "yea I get it, it's kinda your job."

North knocked on the door "may I come in?" "yes" a female voice answered. North entered the room and closed the door tightly behind him. "Hey there Tooth, Sandy. How is our boy?" Tooth patted Jack's back fondly. "Well, Sandy already took him to the bathroom. I've tried to feed him something but he refused to open his mouth at all this time. But he is drinking some sweet nectar tea I made him. He won't drink it himself, only when I hold the cup but he is drinking it so that is a good sign." She smiled down at Jack "he likes sweet things." North laughed "What child does not? Is he already then?" Sandy gave a thumbs up. North sat on Jack's and held his chin to try and make Jack look at him. Jack still stared blankly off to the side but North wasn't detered. "Hey snowflake, I've brought a visitor for you. It is your first believer, Jamie. Would you like to see him?" Jack didn't respond at all but North knew he wouldn't. "Well I am going to take that as a yes. Jamie, you can come in now."

Bunny opened the door and Jamie was so excited to see his frosty friend that he almost ran to him until he remembered Bunny's warning about sudden movements. Instead Jamie walked in calmly taking in the scene before him. The room was clearly Jack's room, he could tell by the color scheme, the snowflake lights and decorations. Next he noted each of the guardians and finally looked upon Jack. His friend definitely looked as worn out and sick as Bunny described him. He looked at Jack's face first seeing the dark circles under his eyes and the pink on his cheeks showing his fever. Jack wasn't wearing a shirt so Jamie could see his bandaged chest and emaciated frame. Next he looked upon the wires and tubes attached to Jack. It all was overwhelming but he had to stay strong for Jack and not show his fear or become upset. That would only hurt Jack more.

Jamie slowly made his way over to the bed and sat on the edge where North originally sat. Jamie spoke in a calm, quiet voice. "Hey there Jack, long time no see. I missed you." Jack did not answer or look at him but Jamie knew to expect this. "It's ok if you don't want to talk. I can just tell you about everything that has been happening since school let out for summer vacation." Jamie began to ramble on as North, Bunny and Sandy filed out of the room leaving only Tooth, Jack and Jamie. Jamie talked and talked. It almost seemed as if he was trying to make up for jack's silence. Tooth laughed whenever he told them something funny. Jamie ate cookies and sipped tea which encouraged the winter sprite to drink more of his. Tooth was delighted and even had to refill his cup. Tooth and Jamie played cards together. It almost seemed as Jack was watching them. This went on for about an hour or so and Jack seemed to actually look at Jamie though he made no other response.

Another half hour had passed when Tooth checked the time. "Oh I forgot. I have to check Jack's vitals now and give him medicine. The nurse Gwen went back to the hospital for a while so I'm on my own. She looked to Jamie then "would you like to leave for this? I can call you back in when I am finished. It won't take long." Jamie shook his head and held Jack's hand in his. "No it's ok, I will stay." Tooth shrugged and started the task at hand. First she took his temperature, then his oxygen level. She took his blood pressure then moved the stethoscope to his back and listened to his lungs then moved to chest and watched the clock. She then moved the stethoscope around his chest with a sad look on her face then pulled away. "I hate to say this but it sounds like it is getting worse." She wrote his stats in the book. She wrapped her arms around him and shuddered at how warm he was. "He is too warm also." Jamie realized it too when he held Jack's hand.

They sat in silence for a moment when Jamie spoke up. "I know this sounds weird but can I hear?" Tooth gave him a confused look "Um...I'm not sure. Have you heard a heartbeat before?" "Yea, my doctor letsme listen to mine when I go for a check up. I guess I was just wondering what a broken heart sound like." Jamie looked at the floor feeling defeated and kinda embarassed for asking at all. Tooth thought about it "well lets ask. Jack is it ok for Jamie to listen?" She looked at Jack who hadn't reacted to the question. "Well I guess it would be ok but if Jack fidgits then you need to stop." Jamie nodded and Tooth laid Jack against the pillows so he would be comfortable. "Its alright Jack, Jamie won't hurt you." Tooth handed Jamie the stethoscope and waited for him to put the buds in his ear. Then she placed the scope onto Jack's chest over his heart where the hole was located. Jamie's eyes widened at what he heard. "Wow, that sounds bad, it's weird hearing it. It's funny because I didn't realize that Jack would even have a heartbeat because he is a spirit and all." But suddenly Jamie gasped "Tooth, you got to hear this. It sounds like something is ripping, like when someone rips up paper." Tooth traded places with Jamie and she gasped too. Jack started to squirm then and she pulled away. "What's wrong Jack" asked Jamie when he noticed Jack's eyes filling with tears. "Does it hurt?" Jack whimpered then Tooth rubbed his back.

"What was that?" Jamie asked eyes full of concern for his friend. A sad look passed over Tooth's face. "That is the sound of the hole getting bigger. It does hurt him, that is why we keep him on pain medicine." Jamie carefully put his arms around Jack. "I'm sorry Jack, I guess I'm not enough to stop it." Tooth gave him a sorrowful look "It's ok sweetie it's not your fault. You are helping but Jack won't heal in a day. It's going to take a while. But even though he hasn't responded he has been watching you and that is the best response we have had in weeks." Jamie smiled a big smile until he heard Jack crying again. "Jack?" Tooth gasped when Jack grabbed her hand in a death grip. Jack mouthed a word it seemed and pushed everyone away before he started flailing. "Oh my goodness, he is seizing! Jamie hurry and go get Bunny, tell him to get the doctor now!" Jamie did as he was told, he jumped up and ran out the door. He was confused on where to go so he stopped and asked a yeti. When the yeti saw the urgent look on the child's face he rushed him to North's office. Jamie panted for a minute after he rushed inside. "Hey, whats the matter mate?" Bunny called out. Jamie took another breath then yelled out "somethings up with Jack!"

North and Bunny sprang into action jumping up out of their seats and running out the door, Jamie followed closely behinf. "Guys, Tooth said to get the doctor." When they arrived at Jack's door they could hear him screaming. North pulled out a snow globe and turned to Bunny "I get doctor you calm Jack." Then North turned to Jamie "You promise me that you stay out of that room. No matter what you hear you just wait outside." North stepped throught the portal and disappeared. Bunny placed his paw on the door handle and gave Jamie a hard look. "I agree with North. Whatever is going on with Jack is not good. You stay out here, its to keep you safe. I don't need to heal another kid." Jamie nodded and Bunny went inside. Jamie could hear loud screaming and what sounded like a struggle.

When Bunny got inside he could see the winter spirit's body jolting uncontrollably. Tooth was laying over top of him trying to hold Jack down to keep him from getting hurt but he was struggling. Bunny gently moved her out of the way and placed himself over top of Jack to keep him in place. "Easy there frostbite, I got ya" Bunny rubbed Jack's head with his paws and Jack's hand found their way into Bunny's fur and gripped hard. Bunny hissed in pain but made no move to remove his hands. Dr. Duran, Gwen and North came rushing in. Jamie watched in the doorway as the doctor and nurse rushed around administering medicines and shouting orders while Bunny held Jack down. North rushed over to him and help him close. He shielded him from seeing anything more. North walked out of the room with Jamie and closed the door. North picked up Jamie saying "lets get out of here" and carried him to his office while they could hear Jack's screams coming from down the hall. North sat the child on the couch in front of the fire place and handed a mug of hot cocoa as well himself then sat next to Jamie. They sat there for a bit to give the child some time to calm down after what he had seen.

"I think we should get you home now" North whispered. Jamie shook his head "I am not leaving until I know that Jack is ok." Jamie said it with such determination in his voice tha North didn't bother to argue with the boy. They sat in silence for a while until it broken by Tooth. Jamie and North looked up at expectantly. "Jack is okay." North released a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and Jamied smiled. Tooth smiled back at him "he is sleeping now." North looked to her now "what happened?" Tooth's gaze was downcast as she stared at the floor "his heart ripped further. It caused a horrible fever which caused the seizure." North cursed in russian under his breath. "North!" Tooth scolded.

"Can I go see him?" asked Jamie hopefully. "I am not sure it is a good idea now sweetheart" Tooth answered sadly. "Please? I have to go anyway because my mom told me I had to be home in time for dinner but I just want to say goodbye. I just want to see that he is ok for myself." Tooth relented then "Alright, but real quick just to say goodbye."

Tooth and North walked Jamie back down the hallway to Jack's room. Silence met his ears when they stopped at the door. North slowly pushed the door open and led Jamie inside. Bunny was sitting in the chair beside Jack's bed. Jack lay sleeping in the bed with a wet rag over his forhead and snow covering him. His cheeks were a deep shade of pink and he was breathing hard. "Whats with the snow?" Jamie asked curiously. Bunny looked up at him in surprise to see the child was still at the pole. "When his heart ripped more his fever spiked which caused the seizure. we are trying to cool him down." Jamie moved further into the room until he made it to the bed. Carefully so as not to wake Jack he snaked his arms around Jack hugging him and whispering to him. "I am sorry that you are sick. I hope that you get better soon. I miss you and...I love you Jack. You are like an older brother to me and I'dn be lost without you, so please get better. I will see you soon." With tears in his eyes Jamie turned away and left the room, North following closely behind him. "So are you ready to go home now?" Jamie stared at the floor with tears flowing down his cheeks. "I...I guess...so." North lifted the boy's chin "It's going to be alright. We are taking care of Jack. He will get well again and come play with you." Jamie shook his head "you can't promise me that." North visibly deflated "no, I can not but we will try our hardest, I can promise you that." "Okay." North opened the portal to just behind Jamie's house and waited. Once North saw the child enter the house he stepped back through the portal ending up in his living room.

Once North was back in the living room he found Tooth, Sandy and Bunny all there waiting for him. "Who is with Jack?" asked North. " Don't worry North, Phil is with him" Tooth answered. North sat down hard in his oversized arm chair and sighed deeply. "I do not know what to do about our frost child. Everyday he gets worse. Nothing we do helps." Tooth shook her head "what about mother nature? I haven't seen her in a while." Sandy formed pictures of the earth and snowflakes. Bunny responded to Sandy " Yea now that snowflake is out of commission, Seraphina is busy spreading winter again. Besides there aint nothing more she can do for him that what we are doing." Tooth sighed "I guess not."

Frantic footstes were heard pacing back and forth throught the hallway on the other side of the door. Bunny stood up with his ears perked up. Tooth moved to stand next to him "what was that?" "I don't know but it doesn't sound good" he answered. North stood up and moved towards the door "lets go take a look." Just as he was about to open the door a yeti came barging in. "Phil! What are you doing here? Where is Jack?!" Phil frantically yelled out something in his garbled language and North's eyes grew wide. He then turn to the others in disbelief "Jack is gone!"

Tooth flew out the door followed by Sandy. Bunny jumped out next with North on his tail. Phil chased after them and Bunny couldn't keep quiet anymore. "You gumby! How do you lose a catatonic boy? He could barely even move. How does he get away that fast?" Phil garbled back at Bunny in response. North translated "he says he fell asleep." They went into Jack's room first to find all the medical equipment had been disconnected and turned off. Bunny shouted at Phil again in a panic "how did he pull everything off, turn it off and get away without you hearing it?!" Phil just garbled back. "He says he is a heavy sleeper" North translated. Bunny shook his head "damn it" he whispered. North moved out of the room "we should all split up then we will meet back here in a half hour unless anyone finds him sooner."

The guardians, yetis and elves searched everywhere. Every room, closet, bathrooms and kitches were all searched through. Half an hour came to quick and still Jack was no where to be found. They all found themselves back at the globe room at square one. "Where could he have gone?" cried Tooth. Sandy formed a picture of a window cracked open. "Crikie, why didn't I think of that?!" exclaimed Bunny. He ran out the door and into the frozen landscape of the north pole. The others followed and began to search but still no one could find the winter child.

Tooth spotted baby Tooth flying at top speed towards her. Tooth quickly caught the little fairy and let her catch her breath in her palm. "Baby Tooth, whats wrong?" Baby Tooth chirped rapidly and Tooth gasped in response to her little helper's words. "What is it mate?" Bunny asked voice full of worry. "I don't know how he could have gotten up there but Baby Tooth says she has found on top of the roof." North cursed under his breath and this time Tooth didn't care enough to scold him. "Come, there is a staircase to the roof, that is how he must have made it up there." North led the way and they got up there in record time. Baby Tooth was already there flying to and fro in front of Jack who was making his way toward the edge. His eyes were dull but his movements were deliberate. "Fuck" Bunny cursed "that kid is going to try and jump. Hey frostbite! Get away from there!" Jack turned his head toward Bunny only slightly then turned away walking to the edge. Tooth started to fly to him but was stopped by Bunny. "Why do you stop me!" she yelled at him. "We can't make any sudden moves, if we do the kid will jump." Tooth gasped and tears sprang to her eyes. "Why would he want to jump?! He doesn't have his staff, he can't fly, he will die!" Bunny sighed "that's the point dear. He knows he will die, he wants to die. Remember it's his center. His center being broken is the reason he is suicidal. It is the same reason why he cut his wrists in the bathtub." "Oh god, what can we do?" she asked in a low voice.

"Everyone stand back. Let me handle this. I can get him back, I'm sure of it. But I need to do it alone" Bunny explained. North, Tooth and Sandy backed away. Tooth called Baby Tooth back to her who returned to her mother reluctantly. Bunny slowly quietly the boy, his steps were deliberate and slow. He didn't want to startle Jack or give him a reason to jump. Jack stared unseeing at the frozen landscape beneath them. He placed one foot over the edge of the roof until Bunny distracted him. "Hey there snowflake. What are ya doing?" He crouched down to be as non threatening as possible. "You don't want to jump buddy. That won't end well for you, you won't be coming back from that, it's too high." Jack stared at him with a pained look in his eyes. "Listen, I know it hurts and you want it to stop but we are trying to make you better. I promise we are doing all we can and we won't stop until you are healed." Jack seemed to consider what Bunny was saying, almost as if the words were getting through to him. Bunny then felt it was safe enough to reach for him. "Please come away from the edge snowball." But Jack saw the open paw reach for him and jumped. Thankfully, Bunny saw it coming and wrapped his arms around Jack pulling him back on the roof to safety.

Jack squirmed in Bunny's arms but Bunny held him close. "It's ok now snowflake. I got ya, you are going to be ok. We are going to help ya, I promise" he continued to whisper in Jack's ear. Jack buried his face into Bunny's chest. Bunny could feel his fur becoming wet and cold from Jack's tears. "Ok mate, I am going to take you to your room now." He picked up Jack bridal style and carried him towards the other guardians.

"Great job Bunny" Tooth said as she laid her tiny hand onto his muscular shoulder. Jack stared up at them all with fearful eyes from his position in Bunny's arms. Tooth patted his head "don't be scared sweet tooth. We aren't mad at you. We are just happy that you are safe." Sandy smiled at him and gave him a light hug. North walked over and held his hands out to Bunny to take Jack. Bunny released Jack to the christmas spirit who cradled him against his chest. "You really scared us, my little snow spirit. I thought I was going to lose you." North lifted Jack's chin and looked into his eyes. "Please don't do that again." North walked back inside talking to Jack softly while they headed back to his room. "I know you are in pain but we are going to give you something for that. Please don't lose hope. I can't lose you, not now. I know we weren't there for you before but we are here now. I am here for you now."

When they arrived at Jack's room Dr. Duran was already there waiting having been informed by Gwen of Jack's escape. Jack flinched in North's arms at the sight of the doctor. He clung to the North when North tried to place him onto the bed. North laid him down on the held him in place. Jack whimpered, more scared than embarrassed to care. "Shh, shh, calm down Jack. Its ok" North said softly as he run his hand up and down Jack's back to soothe the boy.

Dr. Duran moved over to Jack "I know these things are unpleasant but I don't want to hurt you Jack. Please don't be afraid of me." Jack stared at the wall unwilling to look at the man with medical tools in his hands. "North I need you and Bunny to hold him down for me. He obviously couldn't pull the feeding tube out because i see he cut it. It will have to be replaced and so will the IV he ripped out. Jack shivered beneath their hold. The doctor move in front of Jack and slowly pulled the old feeding tube out then he gave the winter sprite a moment to breathe. "Ok now here comes the hard part. Keep him still of he could injure himself." The two guardians held their youngest member tightly keeping him place when he tried to move away. The doctor slowly slid the tube into Jack's nose and down into his belly.

Gwen took his arms and searched for a vein. It was hard to find one with all the bruises the frost child had from previous needles. That and because of Jack's unusual temperature the veins sunk deep beneath the skin. Jack pulled his arm away from her not wanting to poked again. North held his arm when he saw stuggling with Jack. She was getting frustrated. Tooth moved in close to see what she was doing. "Why is it taking so long? Jack is getting more frightened by the minute. Is there something I can do to help?" Gwen handed her cloth " I am sorry that it is taking a bit. He has so many bruises and his temp doesnt help to get a good vein. Could you heat this cloth up for me? I know heat isnt great for him but it will help." Tooth did as Gwen asked and she placed the cloth on Jack's arm. After a few minutes of warming the area Gwen began to insert the IV while Sandy moved in front of Jack to distract him and put him to sleep. Jack's vitals were taken and medicines given while he slept.

A few days past and the guardians were back at their plan of trying to repair their youngest member's center. "Come on frostbite. How about you make me a snowflake?" Bunny sat with Jack on the couch in the living room. He decided that in order for Jack to get better he needed a change of scenary. Checking to make sure the winter sprite was stable enough he unhooked Jack from all the machines and carried him into North's living room. There they sat on the couch as far away as possible from the roaring fire. Bunny longed for the fire, its warmth to soothe away his aches and pains he obtained from caring for their charge. But he knew he had to stay with Jack and a fire was no place for a winter spirit to be near. He had been trying to encourage Jack to make snowflakes, to try and use his powers in hopes that by doing so would bring the frost child joy. So far it was to no avail. Jack hadn't even moved or looked at Bunny. It seemed the spark from Jamie that gave the boy just enough strength to make it to the roof had waned. Bunny pinched the bridge of his nose feeling a headache coming on. "Hey kid. Are you listening to me?" Bunny held the boy's chin in between his paw and tilted the boy's head to make Jack look at him. "Please mate, give me anything" Bunny pleaded. "Shit I don't care of you even give me a blizzard, even if it is in my warren. I'd make an exception this one time for you." Still nothing, Bunny held his face in his paws feeling defeated. North walked into his sitting room. He had been working hard trying to distract himself from thinking about what to do with the practically catatonic winter spirit. He was covered in ice, paint and dust. Bunny observed North's appearance. "How goes it Bunny? Anything happening with our little snow spirit?" North patted Jack's head affectionately. "Not a damn thing. I don't know what to do Nick." North sat down on the couch on the otherside of Jack and pulled the boy to his chest. The boy didn't stir, he laid against North allowing himself to be held by the older guardian. "I know this is troubling Aster but we have to keep trying." He sat stroking Jack's white hair while he thought.

Suddenly North's eyes shined with hope. "What if we take him outside? He is a winter spirit. Maybe being outside in his element in the snow is what he needs?" Bunny shook his head "I get what you are saying and it totally makes sense but don't you remember? Seraphina took him outside to play in the snow and it did nothing." North thought about that, he remembered but he was still hopeful. "Yes that is true but it's been a while since we last tried. Trying it again can not hurt." "Yea I guess it's not a bad idea. At this point I will try anything" Bunny said as followed North as he carried Jack through the craziness of santoff claussen. They traveled through the workshop which led to the closest door to them to the outside. Phil watched them go by and left his work station to follow them out into the snow.

Bunny threw open the door in his haste to get the frost child outside. North carefully stepped outside into the freezing cold. He looked down to see that Jack had fallen asleep on their way through the workshop. He called to Jack and stroked his arm gently to wake him up. Eventually it worked and Jack was awake. He stared out into the frozen landscape of the north pole with wide eyes. As he watched the snow fall a corner of his mouth twitched up into a half smile. He held out his hands as if reaching for the snowy landscape. North and Bunny gave each other a silent nodd. North bent over and laid the winter spirit in a pile of snow. The two older guardians waited silently to see what Jack would do.

They didn't have to wait long. Jack began to roll in the snow covering himself with it. The pink on his cheeks faded slightly as he continued to play in the snow. Then he stopped and lifted a handful of snow to his mouth and began eating it. Bunny looked at North confused "should we let him eat it?" North just shrugged his shoulders "It shouldn't hurt him, it is only frozen water and at least he is eating something on his own."

As the two older guardians watched the winter sprite eat the snow they heard chirping and the shifting of sand. "Hey guys!" Tooth called out with her mini fairies followed by Sandy. The dream weaver smiled as he watched their frozen child eating snow. Tooth came to a stop before them observing Jack in the snow. "Hmm...maybe we should have been feeding him snow?" North shrugged "I don't know Toothie, doctor never said anything about it, neither did Sera." She smiled as she watched Jack lay down in a snow bank and curl into it "well that is not very nutritious but it will keep him hydrated. Maybe we should feed him ice chips from time to time." North nodded in agreement "perhaps we should take some ice from the glaciers and put them in the freezer for him." Bunny gave North a strange look "why go through all that when you can make ice in the freezer?"

It was Sandy who answered for him with his pictures. "Yes that is what I was thinking too Sandy" North replied. "He is saying that perhaps snow and ice naturally has something important that Jack needs, some elements that are not found in ice made in the freezer." Bunny shrugged "whatever you say mate. Why didn't the doctor say anything? Did he not know?" North thought about it for a minute "perhaps he doesn't know. There are no other winter spirits beside Jack and there were not much before him either.

The older guardians talked amongst themselves about the strange nature of their winter spirit when Tooth noticed Jack began to shake in the snow. "Hey guys, I think something is wrong." Sandy moved over to the winter sprite's side observing him when Jack rolled over onto his side and began to vomit water. Sandy rubbed the child's back. Tooth flew over and lifter the child off the ground. She flew at top speed back inside as quickly as possible with the others trailing behind.

It was determined that Jack had just consumed too much snow for his small stomach to handle. However, the guardians stuck with their idea and had the yetis harvest ice from the glaciers. The ice was put into the freezer and a bit was given to Jack at meal times.. Unfortunetly, Jack quickly stopped eating those too. The child was growing weaker, his heart breaking further every day. At one point Tooth decided to retrieve Jack's staff and gave it to the boy hoping the familiar piece of wood would help. Jack held his staff in his hands but no smile came to his face and no frost covered the staff. Even mother nature could not coax the boy into using it.

Jamie was no longer an option either. After what had happened the last time Jamie had visited it was decided that it wasn't safe for the two to be near each other at the moment. By this point it was clear that they had literally run out of options to fix the broken winter spirit.

Dr. Duran sat in a chair by the fire in North's sitting room. North and Bunny sat on a couch across from the doctor. Tooth and Sandy sat on another couch to the side of one North and Bunny occupied. Finally MiM and Seraphina sat on a couch opposite Tooth and Sandy. Dr. Duran shook his head and sighed "I see we have come to a stand still on Jack's treatment. I honestly have no clue as to what to do now." "We have followed every advice we have been given but still the boy only gets worse" North explained. Tooth sniffles as she added to the conversation "Jack can't even stay awake for long anymore. All he does is sleep even though Sandy's dream sand doesn't take." Sandy formed pictures of nightmares explaining that Jack only has nightmares in his long periods of sleep.

"The poor kid still won't even eat anything, not even the glacier ice. He won't frost or use his powers or staff in any way either. When I look at him I see no life in his eyes and he has no energy to move" Bunny spoke softly. Seraphina looked at MiM then with eyes full of tears. "I think it is time Manny. You know what you have to do. I believe we all agree." MiM nodded sadly then stood up and slowly walked down the cold dark hallway to Jack's room. The others trailed slowly behind with their heads down. Tooth openly cried while Sera sniffled. When they got to the door MiM stopped before opening it. "I know this is difficult for all of us but I need you to hold your tears. We don't want to scare the child. I want him to go peacefully and unafraid. So please, everyone put on a brave and happy face for Jack."

When they entered the room they saw Phil the yeti talking to the frost child in his garbled language and rubbing his back. Jack laid on his side, he was awak though eyes half lidded and lifeless staring at the wall across from him. Nort moved across the room and whispered something into the yeti's ear. Phil's eyes grew wide and blurry with unshed tears but he nodded his head and blinked his tears away. Phil reached down and took the boy into his arms hugging him close. He kissed the top of Jack's head and spoke to him in his strange language one last time. Then he laid the boy down on his back and promptly rushed out of the room before his tears could fall. MiM and Dr. Duran moved to each side of Jack's bed. North, Bunny, Sandy, Tooth and Seraphina surrounded the bed as well. Dr. Duran took Jack's wrist in his hand and felt his pulse. He then removed the stethoscope from his neck. He placed the buds in his ears and the scope on Jack's chest. He listened to each spot then removed it. He shook his head "the boy's pulse is weak and his heartbeat is slow and eratic. Well you can hear it through the monitor for your selves. But I can hear the hole tearing and I can hear other tears forming in it. There is no better time to take him than now if you are going to. If not the soul will deteriorate and there will be nothing left of Nightlight or Jack Frost to take.

They all said there goodbyes and words of love. North then lifted the boy into his arms and sat on the bed with the winter sprite. Jack laid limply in North's arms, his head turned away hanging over the christmas spirit's arm. North lifted Jack's head so he was facing North but his half lidded eyes stared off into space. MiM bent over Jack and held the boy's head in his hands. "Hey there Jack, how are you feeling my little snow sprite?" Bunny shook his head "I doubt he knows what you are saying mate...he seems to have lost all understanding." MiM nodded but continued "I've got something for you dear one. I have come to take away your pain. Do you understand snowy?" Jack stared on as if he was staring through MiM. Tears sprang to MiM's eyes but he blinked them away. "Don't be afraid my Jack Frost. All will be well, I promise. No one will ever hurt you again, you will never feel pain again." North looked down at the winter child in his arms "listen to me son. Did you hear what Manny said? He is going to take away your pain. You are just going to go to sleep, that is all." North tried to hold back his tears that were forming in his eyes.. "I'm sorry son, it's ok, no need to be afraid." North tried to soothe the boy whe he felt Jack's weak grip of his hand on his shirt. North covered Jack's hand with his own tightly. Manny nodded to Dr. Duran who put morphine into Jack's IV. "You will be at peace now Jack, no more pain, no more nightmares." They watched with tears flowing down their faces as the frost child's eyes slowly blinked shut. Within minutes the boy was in a deep sleep that he wasn't going to come back from.

MiM placed his hands over Jack's chest and began to pull his soul out. But Jack's soul wasn't really Jack Frost, the soul was Nightlight. Bunny stared at the soul before them "Jack really is Nightlight but why does it look like that?" The soul had sustained damage, it had many gauges within it. It had all the visible cuts, bruises and broken bones that Jack had in life that had healed. But also parts of Nightlight's soul were missing, his left arm and right leg were gone. Holes from his chest through is back could be seen. Tooth sank on her knees and openly sobbed for the winter child "no wonder Jack was in so much pain and refused to move." MiM nodded "this is what happens to the soul when a spirit is broken." The tooth fairy continued to sob uncontrollably. At the sound of Tooth's wails Sandy began to cry too. It spread to North and then to Bunny. Seraphina held Jack's hand to her lips and wept over her fallen winter spirit. Soon there was not a dry eye among the spirits in the room.

The soul hung in the air next to MiM, its eyes closed. Tooth cried as she looked upon the soul until she heard a loud chirping approach her. Baby Tooth flew through the open window and rested on Tooth's hands panting. "Baby Tooth" Tooth called out out to her. The little fair looked to her mother then cried out as she saw the soul of the supposed Jack Frost hovering near MiM over Jack's lifeless form. The little fairy cried into her mother's neck while Tooth did her best to comfort her. "Baby Tooth" Tooth whispered. Baby Tooth dried her tears then looked determinedly at her mother and began chirping frantically. Tooth's eyes grew wide and a smile spread across her face. "Oh my goodness. I can't believe you found her."

Bunny looked over at the conversing fairies "Oi, who has the little fairy found?" "Katherine!" the tooth fairy exclaimed excitedly. "Katherine?!" both North and Bunny yelled out in unison. "I had my suspicions on who mother goose was so I had my fairies investigate and I was right mother goose is Katherine!" North was elated "I had always wondered what happened to her after she left santoff clausen. I assumed she had passed away. I had heard of our stories being told by a spirit named mother goose but I honestly never made the connection that Katherine was mother goose." MiM spoke up then while trying to maintain his attention on keeping the soul near the body. "When Nightlight gave Katherine his goodnight kiss to save her from becoming a fearling not only did Nightlight become no longer a Nightlight but Katherine changed as well. She became an immortal just like you guardians and took the title of mother goose.

Buny growled in frustration "Either way all matters aside we still have Jack's soul in front of us that we have to take care. This is not the time to be discussing Katherine is it?" "But Bunny, you don't understand now is the perfect time to talk about Katherine now that we have found her!" Tooth stated. Bunny was starting to get annoyed now. "Why is that Tooth? Why did you have your fairies search for her?" Tooth spoke her mind "Why don't you see?! Manny you don't have to take Jack yet. I have one more idea left to try. MiM you said Nightlight seemed to love Katherine and she seemed to love him right? Maybe if Jack saw Katherine it could help repair his center. Nightlight is still very much a part of Jack as you can see by the soul. Maybe that love could be strong enough to mend him, bring a spark back to him. We owe it to Nightlight, to Jack Frost, whatever we call him, we need to try this!" MiM considered her words "yes maybe that could work." North gave MiM a look "but you have already taken the boy's soul out." MiM nodded "yes, but as long as the soul doesn't open his eyes yet we can put him back. If he opens his eyes he will realize he is dead and the soul can not return to Jack's body.

North startled when the body he held in his arms began to change. His hair changed from white to brown. North looked up in shock "What is happening Manny?" "I used the human Jackson Overland to create Jack Frost with Nightlight's soul. Now that Nightlight's soul has been removed the body turned back to its original human state. The doctor looked to MiM "the soul will not return if the body is dead. He is dead, his heart stopped. Also, as you can see he's changed. "What can we do about it?" asked MiM. The doctor shrugged unsure "I put a big dose of morphine into his body. The only thing I can think of is to try and counteract with a needle of adrenaline straight into his heart again. But it may not work, the morphine has already killed him." "Do it" MiM commanded. The doctor filled the syringe with pure adrenaline and pushed it into the boy's chest directly into his heart. MiM saw that the eyes of Nightlight's soul were beginning to open. Before the eyes could fully open MiM roughly grabbed it and pushed Nightlight's soul back into Jack's body while the doctor brought the plunger down on the syringe. Jack's body jerked and a gasp escaped his lips. The frost child began the breathe again although shallow. "We haven't got much time" MiM said. "Tooth we need your fairy to lead the way to katherine." Bunny looked to Tooth "If seeing Katherine could help frostbite, what about seeing his memories? You know as Nightlight? Manny said Jack didn't remember being his guardian, why not use the toothbox?" Tooth sighed "if that were possible I would have done that already. Yes, I mean it is possible for Jack's memories to go back that far but letting him see those memories could be just as damaging. Seeing Katherine could give him a gradual rememberance of Nightlight leading to possibly repairing his spirit. Where as the toothbox is more like a slap in the face and could overwhelm his mind making ho, break faster. I have no control over what a person sees when they look through their toothbox. Only the owner of the teeth in the toothbox has full control over it." Bunny nodded, accepting the answer as it made sense.

North held Jack in his arms listening to the boy breathe. He watched as the soul must have been accepted back into the body. The human boy's hair faded back into white and his eyes snapped open to reveal brown eyes which faded into the green color of Nightlight's then back to Jack Frost's blue.

North handed a snow globe to Bunny "hurry! Take Tooth and the little fairy with you. Take anyone you need and do what you must. I don't know how much longer we can keep Jack's soul from fading." Tooth nodded then looked at her mini fairy. "Where did you find mother goose?" Baby Tooth chirped loudly and Tooth translated for Bunny. He held the snow globe to his mouth the whispered "mother goose." Then Tooth, Bunny and Baby Tooth disappeared into the portal.

MiM sat down in the chair next to Jack's bed. North still sat on the bed with the winter child still held in his arms. Jack shivered and tears filled his eyes. The tears spilled over his cheeks as he moaned out in pain and weakly gripped at North's hand. The christmas spirit gently rocked Jack doing whatever he could to comfort him. He wrapped the snowflake blanket around the winter sprite and stroked his hair. Seraphina moved across the room and placed a kiss to the top of Jack's head. "I think I will go make him some tea, the kind he likes Tooth to make. I don't know if he will drink it but its worth a try. Besides I need to keep myself busy." North and MiM watched her leave and Sandy take her seat leaving his previous spot on the window sill.

Sandy placed his hand on the boy's shoulder then rubben circles into his back. North continued to rock Jack while he cried. "I am sorry snowball, I know that I promised you that you would be at peace and would have no more pain. I am not sure if you knew what we were doing. We were putting you out of your misery son, we...we were...we were killing you Jack. We didn't want to but it was the only we thought we had left to help you. But Tooth thought of something else we could try so we brought you back." Jack didn't respond only whimpered. "Please...please don't be angry with me boy. But if there was any other way to save you I had to try it. Please try to understand that I couldn't let you go until I knew we tried everything. I am sorry we brought you back into misery. Please don't be mad at me son. I love you and only want what is best for you, same goes for us all. Please let us try this one last thing and I promise you, for real this time, if it doesn't work we will let you go. I will let you go."

Sandy formed a question mark over his head at Dr. Duran. "I am preparing his pain medicine now. Unfortunetly, the strongest medicine I have is morphine and I can't give it to him just yet. He still has both the dose of morphine plus the adrenaline from earlier. I have to give those medicines about another hour before I can give him this or he will react badly, it could kill him again. Also, I want you to know that it will put him to sleep, not dead just sleeping. It's a powerful drug but it's the only drug I have left to combat this kind of pain. For now though we will just have to try and make him as comfortable as possible until I can give it to him."

Upon Seraphina's return the men in the room explained to her about the pain medicine. She moved to take over North's spot holding Jack with the tea in her hands that she had brewed for him. She held Jack close and brought the cup up to his mouth. The frost child made no move to drink itso she put it to his lips and gently pushed his head back so she could spill the liquid into his mouth and down his throat. The boy swallowed on instinct abd mother nature continued until the cup was finished. The winter spirit seemed to tolerate it well enough so then she just held him and sent frost to him until he could get his pain medicine.

It was in Verona, Italy is where Bunny, Tooth, and Baby Tooth ended up outside the snow globe portal. It appeared to be that they were in the country side. They found a small cottage buried deep in the forest. Bunny and Tooth followed Baby Tooth up to the steps. It was a smal building covered in tall flowering plants that crawled up the walls. A small pond sat next to the house with water lillies and small fish. Bunny and Tooth continued to look around the area for the woman they called mother goose but what they didn't expect in the searching was the giant himalayan snow goose behind the house. Tooth gasped in surprise at first but once the shock wore off she began to pet the goose fondly. "Oh kailash it is so good to see you!" The goose honked loudly in response which caught the attention of the young woman inside the house and she quickly opened the door. The door opened to reveal a young woman wearing a yellow sun dress with whites sandles and long beautiful brown hair tied with a yellow ribbon in a high pony tail. She was short, she came up to just about Bunny's shoulders. About Jack's height and maybe just a little older than him. This was Katherine, the young girl who had once fought along side the guardians in the fight against Pitch. Though Katherine had been a young woman last they had seen her and surprisingly she still looked the same, she hadn't aged a day.

"What is it Kailash? oh my goodness" Katherine gasped when she saw the two guardians standing outside her door. "Bunnymund and Toothiana! It's been so long! I can't believe you both are here!" Katherine ran to them throwing her arms around them in a group hug. Tooth smiled warmly at her "Katherine, it is so good to see you." "Good to see kid" Bunny added "mind if we come in? We got to talk to ya." Katherine held the door open for them "of course, come on in." The three walked into the house and the two guardians stared in awe at the amount of books in the girl's home. There were shelves and shelves of books so high that they reached the ceiling. A ladder was placed next to the shelves so the girl could reach them. Mother goose motioned to a square table near the open window with four chairs placed around it. On the table sat a tea set and cookied. "I was just making some tea, would you care to join me?" Before Bunny could decline Tooth answered for them both "sure, what we have to talk about is a lot to take in. It would be better to sit down for this."

Katherine clicked her tongue in thought then moved to the table and began to pour the tea. She handed Baby Tooth a cookie than sat down between the two guardians. "Whatever you must talk about must be serious for you to come all this way to find me" Katherine stated in between taking sips of her tea. Tooth spoke up first "it is but first, have you ever heard of Jack Frost?" Katherine nearly spit out her tea then. "Jack Frost?!" she squeaked. " Well sure, I mean he does bring winter and all. I've seen him from a distance so I sorta know him I guess though we've never met." A blush formed on Katherine's face then "I do hear he is cute. I wish I knew for myself but I've never gotten a chance to see him up close."

Bunny rolled his eyes "oh yea he is real cute alright, cute and annoying like a child." Tooth held her hand up to stop him "What Bunny is trying to say is yes, he is adorable and oh his teeth, I do love them." "So I take it you both know him?" asked Katherine. Bunny nodded "of course, he is one of us, a guardian." "oh wow" Katherine replied "I had no idea I have been out of the loop for so long. But wait why would you come all this way to talk to me about Jack Frost and what do I have to do with him?" Bunny smiled "I am so glad that you asked, you sure are perceptive. I am going to give it to you straight sheila so I am glad that you are sitting down for this." Katherine visibly gulped but Bunny continued.

"Jack Frost is dying" Bunny stated bluntly. "What?" Katherine cried. "Hold on, hold on, I should say that he has already died twice already but nevermind that. Before I go on what I should ask you is did you notice when Jack disappeared" Katherine thought back on it "Why yes I noticed he disappeared about a century ago so I was surprised to hear that he was a guardian. I saw mother nature delivering winter. A lot of other spirits noticed too but no one seemed to know what happened." Tooth took over then "Jack was with Pitch for a hundred years. Well, I should say he was taken against his will and enslaved." Katherine gasped "Oh no, that is terrible. But he is with you now? What has happened?" Bunny held up his paw "hold your horses I'm getting to that part just listen. We don't have a lot of time. When Pitch attacked us and the children of the world Jack was with him. We got him away from Pitch when they came to the surface. We rescued Jack and he helped us defeat his former master. But I knew something had to be wrong with the kid. One doesn't stay with Pitch for all that time without injury but we could never get a good look at him or treat him, he was too fearful and skiddish. He had been with us for a about a month and I could tell that he was injured by the way he carried himself. Long story short MiM gave us permission to force him to see a doctor. What we found was horrifying. Even the doctor said he had never seen a spirit in Jack's conditon and actually be alive let alone walking or flying in his case."

Katherine had tears in her eyes threatening to spill over "then what happened?" Bunny closed his eyes a moment, he hated this part. "We found something was wrong with Jack's heart, his spirit was broken. We tried surgery but right after the surgery Pitch got to him and did something very painful and inappropriate to him. I wish not to say what but I am sure you are old enought to figure it out. It killed Jack, we managed to bring him back but he went into a coma for weeks and when he woke up he wasn't the same. Pitch had broken him for good. Since then the boy hasn't uttered a word. He doesn't talk, won't eat, we have to do everything for him. We feed him, dress him, bathe him, take him to that bathroom. He is basically catatonic and now it has only gotten worse. He can't move now, has no energy and only sleeps. The hole in his heart continues to rip further and we have tried everything imaginable to try and fix it, to try to repair his broken center but nothing helps."

Tooth let Bunny rest and continued "we, finally had manny take mercy on him. He died and we saw how beaten and broken his soul was but I had one more idea to try so Manny brought him back one last time so we could try again." Katherine bit her lip "is that the part that has to do with me some how?" Tooth nodded and gave her a sad smile "I know that you don't know Jack but you two go way back. Back to when Jack Frost was someone else." Katherine watched her wide eyes. "Katherine, my dear, Jack Frost is Nightlight."

Katherine gasped "What?! No, no, no, no! There is no way. Nightlight is gone!" Bunny placed a paw on her shoulder. "Well we thought you were gone but here you are. So what happened? Katherine took in a deep breath. "When Nightlight gave me his goodnight kiss it saved me from becoming Pitch's darkling princess but it made him no longer a nightlight. The kiss made me immortal but him. I watched him continue to battle Pitch from the moon back down to the earth. I watched as Nightlight's glow faded, his diamonds fell away from him and his armor crumbled. After that, Pitch was defeated and left defenseless somewhere on earth. As for Nightlight, I never saw him again. I assumed he was dead. I moarned for so long that I just couldn't take it anymore and I felt I had to leave santoff claussen so I have been here ever since."

Katherine cried with her head in her hands for a few minute until Bunny lifted her head with his paw under her chin."Well let me finsish the story for you. When Nightlight lost his glow he became a spirit that wondered the earth until one day he was reincarnated as a human boy named Jackson Overland. When the boy turned 16 he and his sister had gone ice skating but the ice was thin and he fell through the frozen lake. He drowned saving his sister so MiM brought him back as Jack Frost."

"Katherine?" Tooth called pulling her out of her thoughts. "We came here hoping to get you to come see Jack, we thought maybe you could help him." Katherine sniffled "How can I help if you have already tried everything?" "Because Nightlight loved you and I believe you loved him too" Tooth answered. Bunny sighed out his weariness "please Katherine, you are the last idea Tooth or any of us had. You are the last hope we've got. Please, I'm begging you kid. Please go see him. We were hoping that seeing you might give him a spark of life back knowing how much he loved you. You wouldn't be able to tell when you see him but he really is a great kid. Frostbite has really grown on me, he is kinda like the annoying kid brother I never had. We all see him as family now and we can't let him go without knowing if we tried everything."

Katherine wiped away her tears then looked up at the two guardians with a determined look in her eyes. "I wan to see him, take me to him." Bunny smiled "as you wish" but first you may want to change your clothes. "Oh no! Do I look that bad?" Katherine asked confused. "of course not, you look lovely, is just that we are going to santoff clausen, it will be cold." Realization dawned on Katherine then. "Don't forget that Jack is a winter spirit" Tooth chimed in "although his powers have been pretty much non existant since the surgery" she said with a sad look on her face. "That is so sad, whenever I would see Jack passing by he was always using his powers and looked so happy spreading winter" Katherine replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "Anyway, better go change, be right back."

The two guardians sat at the table while they waited for her. "I hope this works" Tooth whispered. "Yea, I do too. If not we will have to let MiM take mercy on him or there will be no soul left" Bunny said before his ear twitched. He looked up in time to see katherine coming down the stairs. She now wore long sleeved blue dress that flowed down to her feet, white boots and her hair was tied back with a white ribbon now. "Oh don't you look pretty!" Tooth almost shouted. Bunny gave her smirk "did you happen to only have a blue dress or did you wear it for frostbite?" Katherine blushed and bit her lip "um...well." Bunny patted her back "its alright kid I was just teasing you. Frostbite will love it. Now are we ready to go?" He motioned to her big purse she was carrying. "Oh well, I figured I'd be staying a while." Tooth agreed "that is probably a good assumption." Katherine locked the door behind then ran to the back of the house to pull along the great big himalayan snow goose. "I can't just leave kailash, she would be lost without me." "That's fine" Bunny replied "we have plenty of room, I'm sure we will find a nice place for her." With that the group walked through the portal and into the sitting room at santoff clausen.

North and MiM were sitting on the couch in front of the fire, they looked up when the group entered the room. "Who is with Jack?" Tooth asked. MiM looked up at her "Do not worry, Seraphina is with him." Tooth let out a relieved sigh then turned to Katherine "We can't leave him alone, not even for a minute." Katherine nodded in understanding then her eyes lit up when she saw North looking at her. "Nicholas!" she shouted then ran over to him. North caught her in a hug and lifted her up. "Oh my girl, I have missed you so much! I am so happy to see you." North set her down and she had to right herself again. "It's good to see you all too!" North looked down into her eyes. "Why haven't I seen you until now? After you left her I assumed you lived out your life and grew old. You were human, I thought you would be, you know, gone by now." The christmas spirit guided her to sit on the couch with him. "I thought I would to but after a couple of years I noticed that I wasn't aging. I realized that is must have been because of Nightlight's good night kiss but I could never find him again to ask him. I asked everyone I could, every spirit that passed my way but no one had seen him. Some had never even heard of him before. I traveled all over the world. I've met so many spirits. I've learned and seen so many things. I finally settled in Verona, Italy. I've made a small cottage for myself deep into the woods so no humans can find me." North looked sincerly at her "why didn't you come back to see me again?" She looked down at her feet as if they were the most interesting things in the world. "I don't know. I didn't really have a way to contact you and I didn't want to bother you." She turned away from him but he gently took her chin into fingers and made her look at him. "You are never a bother to me. I know we both had a hard time after Ombric was lost. I know how much you we all grieved but especially you for our dear friend Nightlight and that is why you left but we should have stuck together not been torn apart." North hugged her again then pulled away.

Katherine jumped up after a minute "Oh no, that's right. Nightlight! What am I doing? I am supposed to see Jack. Where is he?" "Easy dear, no need to rush. Jack is sleeping right now" MiM answered her camly. "Oh" Katherine whispered. North placed a hand on her shoulder "you can see him soon. The doctor gave him some morphine a little bit ago. It is the only drug we have left that truly helps his pain but unfortunetly it also puts him to sleep. Dr. Duran didn't give him a big dose this time though so he should wake up soon."

Unfortunetly, Jack had slept later than they anticipated. A couple hours later found Seraphina singing a soft tune to her winter child as she she held him. She stopped when she felt his hand twitch and looked down at him to see his eyes were half open. "Hey baby, you're awake? I thought you would sleep a bit longer. I've got to let the others know." She laid him down on the bed then called out into the hallway "Bunny!" She sort of shouted in a soft voice so as not to scare Jack. "He is awake" sera told him. Bunny jumped up and rushed to Jack's room. "Can you take over for me? I have to go take care of some seasonal things." Bunny picked up Jack and sat on the bedthe laid the boy down in his lap. "Sure thing. I can't believe he is up so soon. I think the doctor should have given him a higher dose." Seraphina ruffled the winter sprite's hair when she saw him squeze his eyes shut "yes he should have, he is in pain." Bunny rubbed his back "yea I will let him know. Can you tell her to come in now?" Seraphina nodded then left the room.

Tooth lead Katherine down the hall before stopping in front of a door with a snowflake on it. "Before we go in I just want to make sure that you are ready. Jack is in really bad shape and there is all kinds of machines hooked up to him. Are you sure you can handle it?" Katherine gave her a sad smile "I'm prepared, I may look young but I am a couple centuries old spirit as well. I think I got this." Tooth wrapped an arm around her and slowly opened the door. Bunny looked up to see Tooth and Katherine at the door, he motioned for them to enter. Tooth flew over to the bed and patted the boy's hair. Katherine took a minute to look around the room. She took notice of North's handi work in making the beautiful decor in the room. She marveled at the different shades of blues and white. The reference to Jack's element with snowflakes in the decor and even carved into the wood of the bed. But then her eyes caught sight of all the medical devices in the room and heard the beeping of a heart monitor. She looked at the machine and followed the cords up to shirtless figure of Jack Frost cradled in Bunny's arms. Katherine observed his form, on his chest she coud see the angry and still raw scars of the open heart surgery then she looked at his face. She looked in his half lidded eyes and saw no life in them. She slowly moved towards the bed and looked at Jack Frost's features closely. His short and spiky white hair looked like Nightlight's but Jack's eyes were blue while Nightlight's had been green. Though Jack Frost looked older than Nightlight she could still see how he and Jack could be one in the same.

Katherine was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Tooth talking. "Jack, I am glad that you are awake honey, you have a visitor. Katherine, this is Jack Frost. Jack meet Katherine also known as mother goose." Jack's eyes opened wider and he stared at her with his lifeless eyes. Though his face held no emotion or expression Katherine could tell he was watching her. Katherine smiled at him and gently took his cool hand in hers "it is nice to finally meet you Jack. I have seen you delivering winter whenever you passed through my home in Verona, Italy but I've never gotten a chance to meet you in person." Jack didn't respond though she did feel his hand grip hers a tad. Tooth and Bunny both noticed and smiled. Tooth moved closer to Bunny "Is anything happening?" Bunny bent over the boy and pressed his ear against the winter spirit's chest. "Hmm, I'm not sure. Hand me that stethoscope on the desk will ya please Toothie." He placed the buds in his ears and moved the scope towards Jack "lets take a listen frostbite." Bunny placed the scope on Jack's chest then motioned for Katherine to continue. Katherine sat on the chair next to Jack's bed still holding his hand. "You are not much of a talker are you? That's alright. I feel I can understand you. A friend who understands everything without being told is the rarest and best kind of friend."

Tooth and Katherine gasped as a blip of silence came from the heart monitor then continued its erratic beeping. Tooth stared at Bunny who smiled wide. "I heard that through the scope. His heart just skipped a beat when you said that. I am not sure if that is good or bad but I think that Jack is with us for the first time in a long time. You both heard it right?" Katherine and Tooth just nodded. "Katherine, please keep talking, I think we got something here. Just don't mention who he used to be, we don't want to shock him." Bunny continued to listen to the winter spirit's heart while Katherine rambled on. She mostly talked of her home in Italy and her travels around the world as a spirit. Bunny could see why she was mother goose. Her stories were colorful and were a joy to listen to. They must have captured Jack's attention because Bunny could hear it through the stethoscope. He held Jack's wrist in paw and felt his pulse. "It seems he likes your stories, his pulse quickened and his heart rate is faster. He is with us alright." Bunny moved the stethoscope again and he felt Jack squirm, trying to move away. "No snowflake" Tooth and Katherine watched as Jack squirmed. "Hey Toothie can you help hold him?" Tooth flew over and help keep him in place while Bunny listened to him as Katherine spoke to him. "Did you want to hear Tooth?" "Sure just for a minute before Jack gets too upset." Tooth took the stethoscope from him and did the same then pulled away. "Hm, I am not sure either."

Jack stopped fidgiting and just laid against Bunny seemingly listening to Katherine. Eventually he began to whimper. "I guess its time for more medicine" Tooth said as she filled a syringe with morphine. Jack flinched when she came near. "Oh no Jack its ok, its going into your IV baby." Jack didn't seem to understand and started to shake. That is when Katherine moved in front of him blocking his view. She held his head and assured him softly until Tooth was finished. The medicine's effects was almost immediate. Jack's eyes began to droop and his body slackened against Bunny's hold, no longer rigid from fear. With in minutes Jack was sleeping peacefully, a small smile tugged at his lips.

"I think we got our sign" Bunny whispered. "Really?" Katherine asked with hopeful eyes. "Yes" Tooth answered "that is the most we have seen him move in a long time even if it was squirming around. Also, his pulse has been slower than what it should be for weeks so its good that it quickened." Katherine smiled wide and ran her fingers through Jack's hair. "I am so happy. I wonder if he will remember me?" Tooth gave her light hug "he will eventually when he is strong enough I am going to tap into his toothbox and see if I can get the memories to dive deeper into Nightlight's. Between you and the memories I think we can get him back on his feet."

Over the next two weeks Katherine spent most of her time in santoff clausen by Jack's side. Even though she had never met Jack Frost before she was quickly becoming infatuated with him. She was able to see Nightlight through him but also could see how Nightlight had changed becoming Jack Frost. He was a bit older as Jack now by about 2-3 years but that didn't bother her, it made Jack closer to her own age. Being a teenage spirit herself there really weren't other spirits around her age. Even though Jack had yet to speak a word she enjoyed his company. Everyday she sat with him and told him stories or read to him. Sometimes they sat in silence just enjoying each other's company, much like she had always done with Nightlight.

Everyday one of the guardians sat with her and Jack just to make sure everything was well, that Jack wasn't in pain or finally coming to his senses and trying to run off. The guardians would take his vitals and listened to his heart for a few minutes everyday while Katherine talked with him. Today Tooth sat with Katherine and Jack. She had brought her special honey herbal tea that Jack seemed to really enjoy and some tea cakes. When Tooth entered the first thing she noticed was the winter spirit trying to sit up of his own accord though he was struggling to do so. Tooth and Katherine helped push him up then the toothfairy fluffed up the pillows so Jack could sit comfortably. They sat in comforting silence while Tooth poured the tea and cut the cake.

Tooth carefully placed a cup of tea in Jack's hands but he made no move to drink it. Katherine got an idea and placed her hands over his then manuvered the cup to his mouth. After a few seconds Jack began to drink the tea. Tooth drank hers as well to encourage him. Katherine let go of his hands and let him hold the cup himself. She watched as Jack stopped. She then took a sip of her own cup and Jack drank as well. Next Katherine handed him a piece of cake and took one for herself. Tooth smiled as she watched Jack take a bite when Katherine did. "Oh Katherine, how wonderful! He is copying you!" Tooth carefully put her arms around Jack in a gentle hug. "Jack, I am so proud of you" Tooth said as she ruffled his hair then ate her own cake. Katherine and Tooth talked with each other while Jack finished eating.

Katherine smiled at Jack and held his for once, actually cold hand. "I am happy to see you eating something winter. It will help you get your strength back." Jack turned to her then gave her a small smile back. Both Tooth's and Katherine's eyes lit up like christmas trees. That is how Bunny found them when he entered the room. Bunny gave them a relieved sigh alerting them to his presense. Tooth turned to him "oh hey Bunny, when did you get here?" Bunny held up his paw "no worries mate, I just got here...he is looking well."

Kathering gently pulled the winter sprite into a hug and he rested his head on her shoulder. "He sure is, he was trying to sit up all by himself when Tooth got here. He even ate a few bites of cake on his own." Bunny smiled wide at the news "looks like he wants to get better for you Kat. I think out frostbite's got a crush on you." He watches Katherine's cheeks turn a light pink "and I think you have a thing for him too." Katherine put her face in her hands at his comment. "Stop it" she whispered "I've only known him for two weeks." Bunny just shook his head and ruffled her hair "that is enough especially since you already had such a strong connection before." Katherine nodded "thats right, he is my Nightlight."

Tooth looked over at the monitor when they heard Jack's heart skip a beat again. "Well that was interesting." Katherine rubbed his back and the winter sprite leaned against her. Bunny walked over to the desk and read over Jack's charts again then moved over to a medical cart and started to prepare something. Tooth leaned over to watch Bunny. "What are you doing Bunny?" Bunny sighed and discretely showed Tooth the needle. "Doc said he wanted blood drawn, got some tests he has to do. He aint gonna like this and neither am I. If I can't get it I am going to wait for one of the nurses to do it."

"Hey there snowflake, how are you doing Buddy?" Bunny said as he moved to sit in the seat Katherine had vacated for him. "Mind if I see your arm for a minute?" When Jack made no response Bunny took it as permission and took the frost child's arm into his paws. As Bunny looked around for a decent vein the winter child's eyes slowly shifted to Bunny and stared at him. As soon as Bunny brought out the needle Jack's eyes went wide and frost began to form up his arm. Bunny jumped back at the emergence of Jack's powers once again after so long of being dormant for months. "Crikey frostbite! I didn't know you could still do that. I am glad to see that your powers are coming back but this makes my job harder." Bunny looked to Tooth who gave him a silent nod. She held Jack to her as Bunny gripped the boy's arm about to insert the needle where the frost had melted as quickly as it came. The sprite started to thrash before Bunny could prick his skin and it was hard to keep him still. Katherine moved in front of Jack blocking his view and started telling him stories about her seeing Jack pass by her home. Bunny inserted the needle and moved it deeper under the skin causing Jack to yelp in pain. Bunny waited for a few seconds but no blood began to flow so he moved the needle in further and Jack moaned. "I know snowflake, I'm sorry...I'm sorry." Trickles of blood started to fill the tube then but at a sluggish pace. Jack whimpered bu Bunny continued to hold the needle in place. "Why is is taking so long?" Katherine asked as she watched the blood drip into the tubes while she rubbed Jack's back. "It's because he is an winter spirit" Bunny replied casually "since he is cold his blood is cooler than ours as well which makes him bleed slower. It's a pain in the ass for me right now but at least I know it would take Jack longer to bleed to death if anything like that should ever happen."

Finally after what seemed like hours but was only minutes, Bunny was able to fill all three tubes with the winter spirit's blood. Bunny placed a band aid over the puncture wound and ruffles Jack's hair. "Sorry about that mate, you did good though. I will go deliver this to the doctor and let the two of you get on with your supervised date. Bunny left leaving behind a laughing Tooth, a blushing Katherine and quiet Jack behind.

The next day Jack and Katherine sat with North. They watched a movie while she visited but soon Dr. Duran showed up and politely asked Katherine to leave. He told her it was time for Jack's check up and it was to be a thurough examination so it wouldn't be appropriate for her to stay. Katherine stood up and gave him a quick hug, wishing him good luck then left the room.

Dr. Duran moved to over to Jack and took his penlight out. He shined it in the winter sprite's eyes and gave a small smile when Jack's eyes did follow the lights movements even if only slightly. "Good morning Jack. I am glad that you seem to be with us." He put the penlight away then turned to North. "His eyes did follow the light a bit despite his otherwise vacant stare. I think we are getting throught to him." North gave a relieved sigh and patted the boy on the head. "Now North I will need your assistance in removing his clothing. Be careful though, Beuuny informed that his powers are returning. Jack frosted his arm when Bunny tried to draw blood from him yesterday." North nodded and removed Jack's shirt being careful of the wires on the boy's chest. With the shirt successfully removed North wen to take off Jack's pants but Jack moved away from him. Before North could catch the sprite scooted too far over and fell off the bed. North went to pick Jack up but was surprised when frost spread from under him and across the floor. "I see so your powers are starting to work again. This makes me so happy Jack." Careful of the now slippery floor North bent over and lifted the boy back up onto the bed then quickly removed his pants. "I am sorry son" North whispered when he saw the frightened look on Jack's face. "It is ok Jack, doctor is just going to give you check up. No need to be afraid, I am right here." North stood next to him while the doctor did the exam.

Dr. Duran did all the standard tests bloode pressure and temperate. He looked inside Jack's ears, nose and throat. The doctor tested his reflexes and checked over his body to make sure all wounds were either healed or healing properly with no new wounds present. Then much much to Jack's distress removed his underwear and checked his privates to make sure all was well there. Finally the doctor listened to his heart and lungs. By the time the doctor was finished the child was left in North's arms huddled in for comfort. The doctor washed his hands then moved back to Jack's side causing him to flinch but stopped when the doctor's hands moved to the nasal oxygen tube on his face. Dr. Duran removed it then turned the oxygen off. "There, you don't need that anymore. His lungs are fully healed. Now I am going to remove the feeding tube since he has proven that he can eat on his own. We will try and give him regular light meals and if he does well I won't have to put this back in again." North hugged Jack tightly to him "Oh thank goodness my little snow spirit. Things are finally turning around for you." Dr. Duran called to North pulling his attention away from showing affection to Jack. "Can you keep his head steady so I can pull this out?" North did as he was told and the doctor carefully removed the tube. "That should do it. If you find him becoming more mobile encourage him to stand and take a couple steps. He will be shaky and unbalanced at first but it will get better. Once he is steady on his feet you can start taking him for walks and get him to stretch out all his limbs." North's eyes were filled with hope and wonder at the thought of Jack recovering enough to walk on his own. The winter spirit was making wonderful progress. "Now I have one last test I wanted to do" Dr. Duran stated as nurse came in through the portal from the hospital with a machine. "I'd like to do another ultrasound on his heart to see how the holes are looking. I can hear that they are still there but I want to see if the sizes have changed."

Jack gripped onto North's shirt letting him know his fear of the new test. North patted his shoulder and gently pushed the child to lay flat on the bed. "Its ok snowball, you've had this test before. It won't hurt you." The doctor moved over to Jack with a probe in his hand covered in sticky goo. The winter sprite's face flushed from one of fear to disgust. "Yes I know it is gross but not painful. Just relax child and it will be over quickly." Dr. Duran turned the monitor on and placed the probe on Jack's chest. After a minute of moving the probe around his chest the doctor gave a soft sigh. "Well the holes thankfully have gotten any bigger but they aren't healing much either. North I should like to discuss this matter further with you privately." North looked to Jack then back at the doctor. "Yes of course, let me dress him then get someone to sit with him. I will meet you in my office."

The doctor gave a simple nod and left in the direction of North's office while the nurse returned to the hospital throught the portal. North dressed Jack who seemed to be relieved to have his clothes back on and no longer being prodded. "There you go boy, you are all done now. I am sure Katherine would like to come back and have lunch with you, how does that sound?" Jack didn't answer but North wasn't really expecting one anyway. He settled the frost child back in bed then turned to the door when he heard it open again. Sandy and Katherine were there, they entered the room and sat on either side of Jack. Sandy made images communitcating to the North that the doctor had told them they could come in. "Yes, I must go and have a talk with him now. So please stay with the kids while I'm gone. I will fill you in later." Sandy gave him a thumbs and North turned to kids "you two be good, especially you Jack". North thought he possibly saw a small smirk form on the sprite's lips but North wasn't sure as he didn't have time to look and quickly darted out of the room.

Whe North entered his office he saw the doctor waiting for him with Tooth and Bunny. "Hey mate, we figured we ought to listen. How is the little ankle biter doing? And who is with him?" North sat in his big arm chair at his work bench before he replied. "Sandy and Katherine are with him. Boy is terrified from exam but otherwise fine. When I left I told him to be good and I am pretty sure he gave me a small smirk." Bunny let shook his head and let out a small laugh "now thats our frostbite." "Awe, you see? I told you he was coming around" Tooth replied as she laid her hand on Bunny's shoulder. North looked to the doctor "What do you think of the boy?" The doctor glanced down at his notebook reading something first before he finally answered. "Well still not where we want him to be but much better than before. He has come along way with Katherine's help but I still worry about his heart."

"What about his heart?" MiM asked as he entered the office before Dr. Duran had a chance to explain. The doctor sighed becoming annoyed with being interupted but happy as well that MiM was here so he could hear his findings. "Well first the bad news, the holes are still there but the good news is they haven't gotten any bigger. I know its not prefered but it is my professional opinion that I feel one more surgery is in order to fix them. I believe we have a better chance of the surgery being successful this time now that Katherine is here." Tooth spoke what was on all their minds "won't the same thing happen again? We are just getting Jack back. I can't bare to see him like that again" she sobbed. Bunny took her into his arms for once not caring about acting mushy with her. " I got to agree with Tooth on this one. I know I seem all tough and whatever but this seriously has taken a toll on me too. I can't do it again." North then gave a pleading look at the doctor "are you sure it must be done? Please, I don't want to put him or us through something like this again if it won't work." Dr. Duran looked back at him with a determination shining on his face "yes, he will still need to be cared for some at first but not as intently and I am sure he won't be so lifeless. If Pitch had not gotten to him right after the surgery before Jack would have still taken a long time to heal because his center was already breaking. But I feel he wouldn't have been quite as bad off. He certainly wouldn't have died in his bed like that." It was MiM's turn now to ask the question they all want answered "how will the surgery be different?"

"Well for one thing we will keep Pitch away better which will certainly be a change from the previous outcome. You see this time, although Jack's center is still broken, it isn't breaking further now. He is starting to get better on his own. I feel when he is strong enough a second surgery should heal him completely this time. Like I said with the first surgery there was no guarantee, just a hope that it would work and even if it had it wouldn't have stopped the progression on his center breaking, only slowed it down. This time Jack's center is beginning to heal itself so the surgery will only help to speed the process up as long as he is physicall and mentally strong enough to handle it." MiM listened intently to what the doctor. On one hand he agreed with his fellow guardians that he couldn't stand to see Jack regress again but on the other hand he fully trust Dr. Duran with his own life so he certainly trusted him with the life of his former guardian. "Are you certain that this surgery will be different? That it will only help Jack, not hurt him further?" Dr. Duran nodded "yes, in fact having Katherine here proves it. The boy had made no progress, was getting worse, until she came along which leads to my next thought."

The doctor turned to Tooth getting her full attention. "Do you think you can tap into Jack's memories far enough to reach Nightlights?" Tooth smiled at that "yes actually, Katherine and I were talking about that. I was thinking of letting Jack see he is memories as Nightlight." "Oh good" Dr. Duran replied "I am glad to see that we are on the same page. I feel him having all his memories back will be beneficial to his healing. After he has and accepts all his memories then I feel he will be strong enough for the surgery. In the meantime we will continue our plans on getting him and moving on his own again. Maybe if we are lucky getting him to talk again or at least respond in another way."

MiM stood up and crossed the room "I think we have a good plan and you seem to know what you are doing doctor. I will leave it in your capable hands. For now I am going to see my guardian." The doctor followed suit and returned to the hospital. The three guardians that were left in the room decided to continue their conversation in North's sitting room. They talked amongst themselves about their thoughts on the doctor's words and their course of action for Jack's continued treatment. Eventually Sandy and Katherine joined them stating that MiM wished to have some time alone with his guardian. The three guardians relayed the new information to Sandy and Katherine.

MiM sat with Jack in his bedroom and they shared dinner together. Thankfully, Jack was able to eat on his being that nothing had to be cut up for him. Katherine had personally made the winter sprite's dinner. She stated that she thought she knew what kind of foods Jack would have eaten in the forests when fending for himself. It would her appear her hunch was right as Jack ate the simple meat, berries and cut up vegetables with ease. MiM smiled at his guardian while he watched him eat then ate his meal as well. They ate in silence as Jack hadn't spoke a word. MiM noticed that the frost child must have gotten his fill quickly as he stopped eating and sat against the pillows. Jack looked around the room and glanced up at MiM at times. MiM had noticed the small glances and decided that now was as good as any to talk to Jack. "Hey there my frost sprite, are you full already? You haven't eaten much. Why don't you try taking a couple more bites?" MiM waited for a minute but Jack didn't respond so he decided to feed the snow spirit a berry but Jack turned his head away. MiM sighed "I see, well how about you try and drink some of this milk? It is good for you and Bunny even put chocolate in it." That seemed to get the sprite's attention as he took the offered cup from MiM. MiM smiled and rubbed the child's back affectionately when Jack had finsished drink and set the cup down. "My my Jack, have we been through a lot. I am glad to see you are healing. I have to talk to you about something. Are you listening to me?" Jack stared right at MiM as if answering him without words so MiM continued. "You are recovering which is wonderful news but it is a process. I feel that we have come up with a solution that can help you heal faster. You see my snow spirit, you didn't receive all of your memories from your toothbox. There are still so much more for you to see and I feel having them will help you improve more. I just wanted to take this time to prepare you for what is to come when you are strong enough to receive them. Our relationship right now is rocky at best and now I know down right hostile at worst. You pack a serious punch by the way, I sure hope you are proud of yourself. But our relationship may change, for the better I hope, when you see your memories. You aren't quite strong enough yet but you will be soon. For now we will continue to get your strength back. I just wanted to warn you that it may be difficult for you but I think it will help.

MiM moved to sit behind Jack and carefully wrapped his arms around the winter spirit, pulling him into a hug. Jack flinched afraid of the sudden close contact. MiM ignored this and stroked Jack's hair, waiting patiently for him to relax. The frost child's eye lids begun to droop and he finally leaned against MiM, letting Tsar Lunar hold him. "You don't know it right now but you and I go way back. We used to sit just like this, you and I on cold nights only you used to hold me. You probably think I am speaking nonsense but you will soon understand." Jack moved to get into a more comfortable position and settled into MiM's hold clearly seeking comfort now from the pain that was ever present from his broken center.

"I am surprised that you are letting me hold you like this when I know you are angry at me. Trust me you have every right to be angry. What I did to you was trully terrible especially after all you have done for me. I deserved that punch you gave me." Jack started to squirm in MiM's grasp and gripped his shirt. "I am sorry, I know you are in pain. I will give you some medicine." MiM laid Jack down then took a syringe filled with morphine and injected it into the IV. MiM retook his position of holding Jack in his lap again. "That should make you feel better. Now about what I was saying. Do you know who you really are my Jack Frost? Well you are more than just Jack Frost. One day you will remember who you were, my guardian, my Nightlight." MiM heard Jack's heart skip a beat on the heart monitor and he smiled. He looked down to see the winter spirit staring up at him with half lidded eyes that were glowing. But Jack's eyes closed rather quickly and MiM heard his breath even out into a deep sleep. So MiM held onto his guardian and soon joined him in the land of dreams. That is how Bunny found them the next day.

It was early morning just about at the crack of dawn when Bunny made his way out of his assigned room at the pole and down the hallway to Jack's room. It was Bunny's shift to watch over Jack and relieve MiM for the day but when he arrived the easter spirit didn't have the heart to wake him. He found MiM laying in the frost spirit's bed with said spirit snuggled up in his arms, a thin layer of frost covered the bed. Bunny grabbed an extra blanket out of the drawers and got in the recliner in the corner of the room next to the bookshelf. He gave the sleeping forms of MiM and Jack one more glance before closing his own eyes drifting off to sleep.

An hour or so later MiM slowly regained consciousness. As he looked about his surroundings he realized that he had fallen asleep in the frost child's bed and even worse said spirit was asleep on top of him. MiM carefully manuvered the boy off him and slid out from underneath the winter spirit. He stood up and smoothed out his clothing. He patted the boy on the head and gave Bunny's shoulder a light squeeze as he left.

When Bunny came to not long after MiM's depature he was surprised by what he saw before him. The guardian of fun was sat straight up with his legs swung over the side of the bed. Jack's one hand on the bedside table and the other bracing himself for what appeared to be he was going to stand up. Bunny immediately shook off his surprise and jumped up. In a flash the easter Bunny was by Jack's side. "Whoa there frostbite, what you doing? Do you want to get up? Here, let me help you." Jack made no response but continued to try and push himself up onto his feet. Bunny took that as answer enough. Bunny put his arms beneath Jack's and pulled him up on to his feet. Bunny could see how unbalanced Jack was so swung one of his arms over his shoulder to keep him up. "I can't believe that you are standing up snowflake. But you seem to be a little unsteady so I am going to help ya keep your balance. It's been a long time since you were up and moving around on your own. I am sure your muscles have weakened a bit. Did you want to try and take a few steps?"

When Jack gave no answer Bunny waited for a minute until he saw Jack move his foot out then try to move the other. He was lucky Bunny was there because the boy stumbled and would have fallen if wasn't for the easter spirit who caught him before he could hit the ground. It was just as Bunny steadied the winter spirit when they heard a knock on the door. "Come in" Bunny called as he unhooked the heart monitor and IV from Jack so that he could walk freely. "I don't think you need to be hooke up to that right now." Bunny turned to see Katherine standing in the doorway looking at them in pure in joy. She is probably happy to see Jack out of bed Bunny thought to himself. "Oh Jack!" Katherine yelled out excitedly as she moved towards him and he in turn moved each foot forward slowly walking towards her with Bunny keeping him upright.

Katherine closed the gap between and gently pulled Jack into a hug. "I am so happy to see you out of bed. I am so proud of you, you are such a fighter. I knew you could do it!" Katherine let go of Jack and turned to Bunny. "I was sent here to see if you guys wanted some breakfast? I can go get it for you if you want?" Bunny at Jack then shook his head. "Nah mate, I think I am going to make the little bugger walk to the dining room and have him eat with us now." "But what if he gets too tired?" "No problem, I will just carry him, no big deal. What do you say frostbite, you want to try it?" Bunny wasn''t really expecting an answer but he got one who Jack moved his foot forward. "Alright my snowflake, now that's the spirit I wanted to see."

Kathering, Bunny and Jack made their way down the hallway towards the dining room at a leisurely pace. Bunny guided Jack the whole way letting the spirit of winter put his weight onto him, not that it was even close to being heavy enough to bother Bunny. The guardian of hope kept Jack's balance and had them pause every few steps to give the boy a break. Katherine called out to the other guardians as they were about to reach the entrance. When the three spirits stood in the doorway the guardians of dreams, memories and wonder were in complete shock. None could believe their eyes that their youngest member, after months of being bed ridden was up and walking around.

But as Bunny and Jack entered the room the winter spirit's legs gave out and he collapsed. Bunny caught him before he could fall all the way to the floor and carried him the rest of the way to a chair. "Sorry frosty, maybe I let you over exert yourself. That was a long way for someone who hasn't walked in months." Jack didn't really acknowledge Bunny's words as he stared at the table in front of him. His attention was caught if only briefly when Tooth flitted over to him squeeling in delight at accomplishment. She and her mini fairies were about to envelope him in a hug until Bunny held up a paw. "Hold on a minute and give him some space, poor little ankle biter looks like he might pass out."

Tooth gave him a concerned look and chose to ruffle his hair instead. "Sorry Jack" she whispered. It was hard to see the guardian of fun and winter be so winded from walking but a short distance from his room to the dining room when he used to be able to fly around the world without breaking a sweat. Bunny seemed to realize what she was thinking so he pointed out how Jack rides the wind around the world which takes less effort and that he was still recovering. North picked up Jack and carried him out of the room calling over his shoulder "I think we shall have our breakfast in the sitting room so he will be more comfortable."

The spirits gathered in the sitting room with their usual breakfast items laid out on the coffee table so each spirit could pick and choose what they wanted. Jack was sat on a long couch so he could lay down if he wanted since the boy looked like he was struggling to remain conscious. That is until Katherine appeared at his side with a bowl of oatmeal with fruit in her hands. "Jack, I made this for you. Do you think you can eat a little?" With her help he ate half the bowl until he decided he was finished before the others. Katherine ate the rest and babbled on to him while the others talked amongst themselves. Though she stopped talking soon after once she realized that winter spirit had fallen asleep. She gave him a smile and quick kiss on the cheek before laying him down across the couch.

Katherine left Jack napping on the couch to join the others around the fireplace when Bunny smirked at her. "I saw what you just did, I knew you were falling for him." Katherine's cheeks turned red and she slapped at Bunny playfully. Noticed their antics and laughed drawing the attention of the last two guardians. Once Sandy and Tooth realized what was going on they laughed and carried on as well. Sandy then looked over to the sleeping boy and sent him some dream sand. He gave him a beautiful dream of Katherine and him flying. In his sleep Jack smiled.

Over the next few days each guardian took a moment of their shifts watching Jack to take him on walks through the hallways. Whoever was presnt at meal times made Jack walk to the dining room to eat meals with the rest of the other spirits. Jack would still get fatigued but was improving. Each day he could walk further without his legs giving out. When he would get tired whoever was with him would pick him up and carry him the rest of the way.

The guardians were thrilled at how Jack was healing phyically but mentally was another story. The winter spirit had started showing signs of interest in activities and people around him but he had yet to speak or even non verbally respond. The winter spirit would only give quick glances at people but still wouldn't answer a question with a nod or a shake of his head. Bunny had tried to get Jack to respond to him in some way all day but North finally pushed him out of Jack's room and told him to go cool off. North could see that Bunny was getting frustrated with Jack and he didn't want the easter spirit to scare the child. North tried next but his results were hardly any better.

Finally after a long day North put Jack to bed and had a yeti watch over him. North sat in his office with Bunny. I was just the two of them now. Katherine had gone out with Tooth to have some girly fun then collect teeth. Sandy was off doing his job. Bunny opened North's personal stash of liquor in a hidden cabinet then brought out some whiskeu and two glasses. Bunny poured the whiskey into each glass then placed one if front of North. He picked up the glass and held it out to Bunny "cheers" he whispred. "Cheers" Bunny replied taking a long swig. "Ah Noth, you always have the good shit, you never disappoint. I just thought we both could use something a little stronger to take the edge off." North closed his eyes and took a long sip from his glass as well then set it down. "Yes my friend. Though I hate to admit it, I believe you are right." Bunny slapped North on the back playfully "you know I am. Listen Nick I am still not sure about frostbite, he is starting to come around but not enough. I don't know what else to do."

When North heard Bunny call him by his real name he knew the easter spirit was being serious and so responded in turn. "I understand Aster. His recovery is frustratingly slow but he will get there. I feel it, in my belly." Bunny cracked a small smile at North's phrase then poured them each another drink. "I hope you are right. I know it doesn't seem like it but I do actually like Jack. The kid is mischevious and annoying as all hell but he really is a good kid. I feel so bad for him for what he has been through. I just really miss him, you know? The way he was or at least what I thought he was I mean because none of us really knew him before." North laid his hand on Bunny's shoulder "I know you do Aster, you don't have to convince me. I can see it in the way you care for Jack. I miss him to but it is going to take time. Yes, I know it has already been a long wait but I am sure our waiting won't be in vain. When he is strong enough to get the rest of his memories I am sure we will see him change for the better."

North finished his drink then yawned wide as he stood up. "I am sorry my friend but I think it is time for me to retire for the night. I am feeling quite drained. Are you going to sleep here or are you going back to the warren?" Bunny shook his head "nah mate, I still can't back to the warren for that long with snowflake still not right but I just can't sleep yet. I have too much on my mind right now. I think I might just sit here for a while. I'll probably end up drinking the rest of this." Bunny held up the bottle to North who just waved him off. "That is fine, I have more but don't get too drunk Aster. It is not becoming." This time it was Bunny who waved North off. "Yea yea I know, don't worry I won't. Good night mate, sleep well." North yawned again "you too" then he left.

Bunny stared at the fire drinking his drinking his drink while replaying the days events in his head. Between the alcohol and his own frustration Bunny's thoughts were jumbled, he could hardly focus. But soon he felt the arm fuzzy feelings from the alcohol and he felt his eye lids begin to droop. He leaned back against that couch after setting his glass down and closed his eyes. Within minutes he was fast asleep, snoring lightly. It had been a while since Bunny had fallen asleep and it was well past midnight. Everyone at the pole should have been asleep but that was not the case.

Bunny awoke with a start, something was amiss. His sensitive ears had picked up a noise, the sound of creaking floor boards. But who could it be? There was no jingle so it couldn't be an eld and it was way too light to be a yeti or North. Sandy and Tooth would still be working. He assumed Katherine would still be out with Tooth. That left one seemingly impsossible but most likely choice, one who was as light as a snowflake to be carried by the wind. Bunny waited a moment, pretending to be asleep so he could see exactly who it was and what they were doing. Sure enough, Bunny's assumption was right, it was Jack. The winter spirit moved his bare feet almost soundlessly over the floor boards as walked into the room. He paused for a moment and searched with glowing, yes glowing, eyes around the room as if searching for something.

Bunny decided he should make his precense known "Frostbite?" he whispered. Jack looked over to the couch then gasped as if Bunny had frightened him, which he probably had. "What are ya doing out a bed, mate? How did you get here? Wasn't a yeti looking after you?" Silently Jack took a step forward towards Bunny. "What is that matter snowflake? Do you think you can tell me?" Jack moved further until he stood directly in front of Bunny. "What did you come out here for?" Jack lifted his arm and pointed at a door down the hallway.

Bunny stared at the boy with wide eyes and mouth agape. He couldn't believe his own eyes. Did Jack just answer his question? "Did you really just answer my question snowflake?" Bunny asked hopefully. Jack continued to point at the door. Bunny was so elated that he had almost not realized what room that door lead too. "Do you have to go to the bathroom buddy?" Jack didn't answer, he stared at the couch like he wanted to sit down so Bunny made room for him. What happened next was even more of a surprise. Jack sat on the couch but then moved into Bunny's lap. "Frostbite?" Bunny managed to croak out then wrapped his arms around Jack when he whimpered. Bunny rubbed his back when he realized that Jack was seeking comfort from his near constant pain all on his own. It was such a rarity, if Jack were fully in his right mind he wouldn't seek out such touch. So Bunny relished the trust that Jack's fogged brain allowed to him and held the winter sprite. Soon after he noticed that Jack's eyes lost their glow but what had caused it in the first place, he was not sure. Maybe something left from Nightlight, Bunny thought.

They sat in silence for about half hour before Jack had begun to fidgit and Bunny remembered what the boy had come here for. "Lets get you to the bathroom snowy." Jack stood up without assistance and walked himself to the bathroom with Bunny trailing behind. Bunny was about to come in with Jack and help him but the winter spirit closed the door on him before he could. It seemed Jack now had enough strength and sense to go on his own. Though Jack was on the other side of the door and couldn't see him, Bunny gave him a smile. The easter spirit waited outside the door for him and when the boy was done started walking him back to bed when Jack stopped in his tracks. Bunny looked to see what made him stop when he saw North was awake in the sitting room. "Hey mate, what are you doing up?" Bunny called out but before North could answer Jack was on the move again coming towards him, staring at him with glowing eyes. "Jack" the jolly man exclaimed when the boy stood in front of him. "What are you doing here? And look at you walking all by yourself." Before North could say anymore Jack climbed up into the guardian's lap. North was in complete shock when Jack snuggled up to him but he immediatley obliged the child wrapping his arms around him, rocking him.

North continued to soothe the boy as looked to Bunny for an explanation. "What is this about? And why the glowing eyes?" Bunny shrugged "I don't know, he just did this to me too before I took him to the bathroom. I am not sure about the glowing but I am wondering if it has something to do with Nightlight. But either way, he was whimpering when he sat with me too. I think he is in pain or had a nightmare. He walked out here all by himself and actually answered me when I asked him if he had to go the bathroom, he pointed at the door. He even took himself and I followed but he closed the door on me." North patted the winter spirit on the head "that is such wonderful news, I am so proud of you my little snow spirit. But how did you get past yeti...and take off monitor without it beeping?" North looked down at Jack but he had fallen asleep. North held the winter spirit close to chest still rocking him when Bunny sat down next to him. "Who knows, mate. The yeti probably fell asleep, as for the monitor I am sure Jack must have learned how to remove it and turn it off by watching us." North just shrugged "I guess he has been paying attention, looks like we need to be more careful." "And make your yetis stop falling asleep on him" Bunny pointed out. "I bet you now that frosty here will be all over the place. I doubt he will stay put for long anymore, we mine as well enjoy the time we have of him being quiet." North laughed at that "yes but I'd rather him be loud than eerily quiet." Bunny nodded then got a sad look on his face when a thought crossed his mind.

North noticed how his friend's demeanor changed "Aster what is on your mind?" Bunny sighed debating in his head whether he really wanted to tell North his thoughts. If he did he knew how the guardian of wonder would take it and he wasn't looking forward to crushing his friend's dreams. Bunny took a deep breath, here it goes. "Well truth is that we better enjoy coddling Jack now because I am sure that once frostbite has all his mental faculties we won't be able to touch him." North looked at him with a sad face of his own. "Nick, I am sorry. I am not trying to squash your dreams but you and I both know how skiddish the boy can be. I am worried that when Jack is fully functional again he may not let us get near him, seeing as how untrusting he was before. Maybe that won't happen but I just want all of us to be prepared in case that does happen. Another, possibility is we may have to be prepared for his anger. He could be very angry and hostile toward us since we put him through the surgery and everything else that followed. After truly seeing what his powers can do I hope I am not right. I will never make fun of or underestimate winter ever again."

North took a moment to let his friend's words seep in as he rocked the subject of their conversation in his arms. "I understand Aster and I hope that you are wrong. I do hope that maybe having his memories of Nigthlight might perhaps tame him a bit and prevent those predictions. But I thank you for being a true friend and telling me what I needed to hear. Why don't you go get some sleep, I am sure you are tired by now." "Yes I am but you should sleep too. Why did you get up anyway?" "I tried to sleep but I couldn't sleep either, too many things on my mind as well. But I am feeling tired now. You go on ahead, I am going to put the boy to bed." Bunny gave Jack one last pat on the head then stood up "alright, goodnight mate."

After Bunny left Noth took the frost child to his room and sent the yeti off to bed. He unbuttoned Jack's shirt to have better access and reattached the heart monitor to him then turned it on. North decided to do what Bunny said and coddled the boy. He sat on the bed with the boy in his lap until he could feel himself struggling to stay awake. North laid down in the bed with Jack held close to him. The sound of Jack's beating heart on the monitor lulled him to sleep.

When North awoke the next morning it was due to Katherine's frantic cries. "Where is Jack?! Oh Nicholas please, Jack is gone! Where is he?!" North thought, he is with me he said to himself in his head still in a fog from sleep. But then he noticed he felt warm instead of cold which was odd if the boy was with him. As he drifted in and out he became aware that he couldn't hear Jack's heart monitor anymore. This finally snapped the guardian of wonder into full consciousness as he shot up out of bed. "Where is Jack?" he yelled to which he received an angry glare from Katherine. "If I knew that I wouldn't be screaming at you!" North whispered a curse in russian as he got up and looked around the room. "He took the monitor off again I see." "What do you mean again?" Katherine replied sounding a little irritated. "He did the same thing last night to go to the bathroom. Our Jack is moving around by himself which is good but clearly not for us at the moment." Katherine rushed out the door with North following behind her. "We have got to find him" she said when to North when he caught up with her in the globe room. They each split up going in different directions yelling out for me. "Jack?! Where are you sweetheart?! Jack?!" Katherine yelled while searching the halls and rooms near by the living room. "Jack?! Where are you my boy?!" North yelled while searching the kitchens and workshops.

Bunny, Tooth and Sandy were in the dining room when they heard North yelling and the yetis calling out in their garbled language. "What is wrong North?" Tooth called as her and the others met up with Katherine and North back in the globe room. Katherine threw her hands up in frustration "North lost my boyfriend!" "What?!" Tooth yelled out "how could you lose Jack?! He can't even walk on his own!" "Nah mate, he can. Walked out of his room last night to go to the bathroom while the yeti that was supposed to be watching him was sleeping. Even figured out how to the heart monitor off him and turn it off." Bunny answered. "Anyway he couldn't have gotten far, he doesn't have his staff. We will find him. Also, am I the only one who heard Katherine call Jack her boyfriend?" Katherine lightly punched Bunny in his side. "Nevermind that, we have to find him. Lets split up again. I am sure one of us will find him."

All five spirits split up to find Jack each looking in a different wing. About half an hour later they all met up in the globe room again. "I have sent out the elves to tell you to regroup because Phil says that he has found Jack." North followed the yeti Viginia, who Phil sent to fetch them all. Everyone followed after them until they reached santoff clausen's observatory. A large room made up of all windows and there on one of the window sill sat Jack Frost staring out the window longingly at the frozen tundra below.

North patted Phil on the back "thank you so much my friend for finding our boy." Phile said something to North in yetish that made North give the boy a sorrowful look. "What did he say?" asked Tooth. "Said that boy must have been here all morning. Tried to open the windows looking to get out but all the windows are locked and he expended too much energy covering the windows with frost to break them but my windows do not break so easily." Bunny walked up to the boy, he could tell Jack was crying by the way his body was shaking. He laid a paw on the frost spirit's shoulder which made Jack flinch and look up at the easter Bunny with tear filled eyes. He crouched down to his level "Whats the matter snowflake?" he asked gently as if talking to a scared animal. Jack turned away from him and placed his hands on the glass staring out at the snowy land then back at Bunny. "You want to go outside don't ya?" I don't know about that right now snowy. I don't think you are strong enough for that yet." Jack's eyes glowed then and the room suddenly felt colder as the words left Bunny's mouth. Jack turned away from him, his eyes glued on the window as if willing it to open. His body suddenly had a faint glow to it and Katherine recognized it as Nightlight's glow.

Katherine stood next to Jack running her fingers up and down his bare back along his spine. "Its going to be alright Jack. You will go outside just not right now. I promise you that when you are strong enough I will go outside with you and we will have a huge snowball fight. But you have to promise to go easy on me since I am not a spirit of winter, ok?" Jack gave her a pout and returned to staring out the window but the temperature in the room increased. The glow of his eyes and body remained the same showing his frustration. "Say I have an idea Jack. Why don't we go have breakfast? You have got to be hungry by now right honey? Then you and I can spend the day together." Katherine took Jack's hand in hers and pulled him to his feet. "Come on my snow angel lets go" she stated walking out of the observatory with him. The glow in the winter spirit's eyes diminished but the glow of his body increase slightly as if showing his change to a happy mood. Tooth turned to her fellow guardians as they left to go to breakfast. "I can't believe the calming affect that she has on him, its just wonderful." "Indeed" North agreed "one day it might be needed and be useful." Sandy and Bunny nodded in agreement.

Jack was building up strength everyday. He even started to respond more to questions with a nod or shake of the head. The only down side was now that Jack could move freely on his own he was slippery. The guardians couldn't keep him in bed which made it hard for them to do their regular routine tests. Thankfully he was content to be wherever Katherine was and so they used her to lure him into their tests. But that didn't stop him from using his powers which were also increasing in strength everyday.

Finally the day came when both MiM and Dr. Duran felt that Jack was ready to receive the rest of his memories under the doctor's supervision to ensure he wouldn't be in danger. Currently MiM, Dr. Duran and Tooth were in the infirmary setting up for the winter spirit's trip down memory lane. Baby Tooth sat on Tooth's shoulder and held Jack's toothbox in her hand. Dr. Duran had his medical equipment and medicines ready in case somethin went wrong. MiM just waited patiently for said spirit to arrive. Bunny, Sandy, North and Katherine had all gone in search of the evasive winter spirit. They knew he had to be at the pole somewhere but where was mystery. He had slipped passed Sandy this morning as he has done everyday so far and hadn't been seen since.

Bunny using his strong sense of smell finally located the kid hiding in a closet in one of the spare bedrooms. Bunny crouched down next to Jack trying to be as least intimidating as possible. "Hey there frostbite, what are you doing in here? Are you nervous about getting your memories back today? Don't worry, its not scary and it won't be painful, I promise. I have looked in my toothbox many times and so have you once, its no big deal. All the medical stuff and the infirmary are just a precaution in case something were to go wrong. Not that anything will go wrong. Will you please come out?" Jack slowly moved out of the closet and Bunny caught him quickly before he could bolt out the door. He carried Jack all the way to the infirmary talking to him while they walked. "I swear to you on my life that everything is going to be fine."

When Bunny had arrived with Jack at the infirmary Sandy, North and Katherine were already there having been told by Bunny to go ahead of them. Bunny set Jack down on the hospital bed while Sandy locked the door behind them. Jack looked around the room and at each of the other spirits. This was a room in the infirmary that he had never seen before. Clearly he was frightened but when North moved him to lay down on the bed he went into full blown panic. What he saw above him were the large lights used in surgery. Jack jumped off the bed and made a run for it but he didn't make it far as Bunny, North and MiM grabbed him forcing him down. MiM moved in front of his winter guardian then. "What is wrong my snow sprite? What has gotten you so scared?" He followed Jack's line of sight to the lights and realized why Jack was afraid. "No no Jack. We aren't doing any surgery. This was just the best room for you to be, where you will be safe." Tooth petted his hair while speaking softly to him "don't worry there is no surgery involved for seeing memories."

The guardian of fun relaxed slightly until the doctor forced a thermometer into his mouth when Jack tried to reject it. "Easy Jack, I've just got to do some vitals on you first to make sure you are ready. I wouldn't want to do this if you had a fever." The doctor pulled it out after it beeped. "No fever what so ever, perfectly cold as you should be." Next the doctor checked his blood pressure and the boy winced at the tightness in his arm. The doctor nodded to himself taking his stethoscope off his neck and placing the buds in his ears. He placed the diaphram to Jack's chest. "Calm down son" he said as he moved it across his chest then to his back. The doctor pulled it away, replacing it back around his neck. "He is ready." MiM nodded to Tooth who placed the toothbox into Jack's hands. While the boy was distracted Dr. Duran moved some machines closer to the bed and approached Jack with the electrods in hand. Jack quickly noticed and tried to move away but backed into MiM who held him in place. The doctor placed them onto his bare chest then placed some from another machine onto each temple.

Jack immediately tried to rip them off but North caught his hand and gave him a firm "No." North leveled himself in front of the winter sprite so he was eye level "these are to monitor you to make sure nothing happens to you. You mustn't touch them, alright snowflake?" The doctor turned to the group, he pointed to the electrodes at Jack's temples "these will record his brain waves while he dreams. We won't be able to see what sees except for maybe Tooth?" She nodded "well sometimes I can, but Jack's subconscious may not allow me too. Though I can still feel them and I can at least relay what he is feeling." "I understand" the doctor replied "well for the rest of us we will be able to tell when each memory starts and stops as well as how intense they are. Now we don't know how long this could take. Jack is older than even MiM so there a lot of memories for him to go through. Though I hope the toothbox will only show the important bits, right Tooth?" Tooth shrugged "well you see that is the funny thing about that. I don't have much control over it, the owner of the teeth in the box does. The box will show the owner whatever memories the owner really needs. So in that case it could be all the memories or just a few important ones. Like you said Jack is older than MiM so he could be under for days. At which point I will have to go in and drag him out as it is possible to get lost in your memories. I know because I have done it to myself and my fairies had to drag me out."

"Well then I'd say we have no time to lose" Dr. Duran exclaimed. "If everyone is ready let us begin and remember whenever breaks are taken be as quiet as possible so he remains deep under. MiM glance over at Jack "are you ready my Nightlight?" Jack looked up at him apprehensively but nodded determinately. "Place your hand on the toothbox" MiM instructed. Jack did as he was told and a light shined as the box began to open. Dr. Duran moved over to Jack and placed a mask of sleeping gas over his face covering his mouth and nose. Jack panicked and fought back, he struggled at the force holding it in place. Bunny and North restrained him while MiM talked to him. "Its alright Nightlight, remeber what I told you. You are only seeing your memories and for that you have to be asleep so you can dream. We have to keep you under long enough for you to see them all so this will help you sleep. Be calm my guardian, all will be well." Soon enough Jack fell into a deep sleep.

Dr. Duran unbandaged Jack's IV site and hooked it up to fluids then injected liquid anesthia to keep him asleep. He placed a tube down the child's throat to help him breathe then covered him with a blanket. Katherine held Jack's hand in hers rubbing circles into it with her thumb. "How long will it take for the memories to start?" Dr. Duran shrugged and looked to Tooth. "It shouldn't take long. I know the medicines will put him into REM sleep fast so he should start dreaming soon." As soon as she finished her sentence Jack's body started twitching in his sleep and MiM pointed at the EEG machine. Dr. Duran looked at it and smiled. "There we are, one is starting now. Can you see the difference in the waves Katherine?" She nodded as she watched the monitor but was distracted when Tooth started flitting around excitedly.

"Oh my goodness!" Tooth almost shouted "Manny you have to see this, all of you do. Jack's mind hasn't rejected me yet so I can see his memory. He is seeing your parents Manny! Each of you hold hands, if we all stay connected while I touch the toothbox we can all see it until his mind kicks us out. Just everyone remember this is from his perspective, well Nightlight's I mean but since its in the form of a dream we will get other perspectives as well. Everyone took and hand until they were in a line that touched Tooth who kept her hand on the toothbox. Together they entered Nightlight's memories.

Tsar and Tsarina Lunoff stood outside of their home watching the night sky. Tsar helf his wife while she laid her hand over her stomach, over the little life that was forming inside. Tsar watched and listened to the heavens intently as if waiting for something to happen. "What it is my dear husband?" Tsarina asked. "I am not sure but it feels at though the heavens are in alarm." Tsarina looked up at him concern "that is strange, what do you suppose is the cause?" Tsar closed his eyes to listen more intently and feel what the heavens were portraying. "Ah there it is. A star is dying but it is strange because it is not old enough to die. I feel it is being sucked in by the darkness." Tsarina looked up at him in alarm "a black hole?" "Yes it would seem so." Tsarina's face fell "that is so sad." Tsar looked up and noticed a glowing object approaching them fast "something is coming." He squinted into the dark at what appeared to be a comet. "It's heading for us! We have to move now!" Tsar shouted and pushed his pregnant wife forward, shielding her with his body while to object made impact where they had been standing. The couple waited for the smoke to clear then walked over to the impact sight and peered into the small crater it had created. In the crater they found a small glittering rock. Tsar stepped forward and gently picked up the rock with his cloak to protect his hands from its heat. The couple stared at the glittering rock in awe, turning it over they discovered it was covered in diamonds giving it its shine.

"What is it?" Tsarina asked. "I hear from the heavens that the dying star had tried to save part of itself and sent this piece out into space in hopes to join another star. But something pulled it off course and it landed here." Tsarina carefully stroked the star piece in her husband's hands through the cloth of the cape as it was still hot but noticed it was quickly cooling off. "Poor little star, its attempt was in vain." Tsar shook his head with a smile on his lips. "Not necessarly. Star fragments like this are rare. They are special and so should be given every opportunity to grow. Who knows, we could very well need it one day." Tsarina looked to her husband "are you going to do what I think you are?" Tsarina asked as she held the little star to her chest. "Yes, I am going to give it life, in a new form. It shall become a Nightlight for this is how Nightlights are made. There have only been six other nightlights in existance, as you can see how see how rare this event it. Come my love let us take it inside and see what we can do."

When the couple entered their home they immediately went to their bedroom and placed the little star piece on their bed. Tsar leaned over, placing his hands around the star piece now cool enough to touch. Tsarina placed her hand on her husband's shoulder as she looked on in wonder. Tsar's hand began to glow and so did the star fragment, then started emit a pulse. "I knew it, this little star has life, it just needs help." He forced more energy into it until a flash of white light filled the room blinding its occupants. When the light had dimmed enough to see the couple gazed upon the new form of a child laying curled up on their bed.

The child was a young boy just barely into his teens. The boys hair was white and his skin was pale but his whole body glowed like that of the star it was born from. It was love at first sight for the couple who embraced the boy. They drew him a bath to wash the remaining star dust and ash from his body. Tsarina held him up while Tsar dressed the boy in one of his long nightshirts as they had no clothes for a young boy as of yet. Tsarina brushed out his hair then they tucked the child into their bed.

The child laid unconscious and unmoving for days. The couple sat by his side, never leaving him until one day the boy's eyes finally opened. His eyes glowed white at first but when the glow faded it revealed brilliant emerald green irises. His eyes gazed upon the couple who gave him life and who would become his parents.

Memories came charging at the guardians after the first. Memories of MiM's parents giving the boy his title/name. The couple caring for and teaching Nightlight in the ways of combat, edicate and education. The couple giving the ethereal boy a beautiful uniform that suit him in every way. From the way it framed his lithe body down to the jewels covering the suit that sparkled just like him. Soon the suit becoming very much apart of him. Then to the eventual talk of Nightlight's soon to be brother/charge then to the baby's actual birth. Next to Nightlight's first meeting with kozmosis Pitchner, Tsar's best friend and top soldier who guarded over all fearlings and his wife at a party in honor of the baby Lunoff. Nightlight became fast friends with the soldier's daughter Emily Jane as well.

The memory shifted to Nightlight playing with the baby Lunoff to his sworn protection of the child he called brother. To Nightlight putting the baby to bed and sprinkling dream sand on the him so he would never have a bad dream. But then the memories grew dark. A battle was taking place between Pitch Black, the former Kozmosis Pitchner, captain of the guard and the Tsar couple. Kosmosis Pitchner had been in charge of solely guardian the prison of fearlings but he longed for his family. The fearlings used this to trick the guard into believing his daughter was inside the prison and to come release her. He released them and was overtaken by the fearlings changing him to Pitch Black, the boogie man, and Nightlight's greatest nemesis for the rest of his life. Nightligtht hid the baby away while the tsar couple fought but they were losing strength quickly. The baby cried and Nightlight took his took his tear that he crushed into a diamond in his hand and attached it to a long staff. He hugged the baby tightly and sprinkled dream sand over him. He istructed the moon bots that should anything happen to take the baby and the moon clipper, the ship they lived on far away. Nightlight made a decision and charged at the Nightmare king with his new diamond dagger staff in hand which caused a great explosion. After the light had faded MiM's parents were gone as well as Nightlight and Pitch.

As it turned out MiM's parents had become stars themselves as part of a constellation but Nightlight was not so lucky. Pitch and Nightlight fell from the heavens fast towards an unsuspecting planet that had no moon of its own. Nightlight had entered Pitch's cold heart upon impact and essentially kept Pitch frozen in time in a cave. The moonbots did as Nightlight instructed and followed the two towards the planet they had fallen to. The bots used the moonclipper to create a new moon for the planet and raised the baby there who grew up to become known as the Man in the Moon. MiM grew up to be a fine young man thanks to Nightlight's sacrifice and watched the children of the earth grow. He became a guardian to them all and everynight sent out his moon beams to roam the earth to search for any darkness and destroy it. Both Pitch and Nightlight stayed that way in the cave in eternal sleep until one day a moon beam had entered the cave and woke both Nightlight and Pitch Black from their sleep. The beam had released Pitch and sent Nightlight off chasing moon beams with no remeberance of who he was until he fell upon the children of Santoff Clausen being attacked by Pitch. Nightlight protected them and then started their long battle with Pitch on earth with the created new guardians of childhood.

The guardians felt the world around them shattering before they were thrust out of Jack's mind. The frost child cried in his sleep as his memories continued to play in his mind. "What just happened?" Bunny cried out rubbing his head with his paw feeling as if he was hit in the head with a rock. "It was Jack or really I should say Nightlight? The memories became too painful and so his subconscious mind kicked us out. I don't know when of if we will be able to see anymore. But at least we sort of know the rest of the story from our own perspectives." MiM sat on the bed holding Jack's hand. "I am so sorry Nightlight. I never did realize how much you sacrificed to save me. The moonbots told me a few things but they never knew the full story. Just that you fought Pitch, my parents transformed and they raised me on the moon. I always wished that you had stayed with me and I was so mad at you for leaving me for a time as I got older I wasn't mad anymore I just wanted to knowy but now I know why. Thank you my friend, I owe my life to you. I would have died that night without you."

North moved over to stand next to Tooth and MiM. "Perhaps you can talk to him when he wakes up Manny. For now, we should let him rest. Is there anything else that we can do Tooth?" Tooth shrugged, she hated to admit it there was nothing more she could do. She may be the keeper of memories but she couldn't control them. "Nothing, we will just have to wait. It looks at though the toothbox might take him through it all." Katherine sat in a chair next to Jack's bed. "Well, I for one, am going to wait right here." Bunny shook his head and smiled at her. I filled Aster's heart to the brim with happiness and hope to see that their boy had someone to love him as much as the guardians did. She was great for frostbite and the easter spirit was sure that Jack could make her happy as well. "Yea, yea. Say Tooth, you said it could be a while right?" "Yes" Tooth replied. "Well then I say we all go get something to eat and leave the two love birds alone for a bit. The doc is here so they won't be completely alone then Katherine can join us when she is ready." Katherine slapped Bunny playfully on his furry arm but he waved her off and left with the others.

Katherine stayed for a whie but soon became uncomfortable in the chair, not to mention hungry and it didn't look like Jack would be waking up anytime soon. She looked down at Jack and stroked his cheek affectionately. "I am so sorry snowy, I hate to leave you but nature calls for a couple of needs at the moment and you look to be in a deep sleep. But don't you worry I will be back. I will be here when you wake, I promise." The story teller leaned over and placed a kiss to Jack's brow then left leaving the winter spirit with the doctor and a yeti guard.

It was two days later and it looked like Jack's flashbacks were finally coming to an end. It took longer than Tooth thought but she supposed that was to be expected considering how many centuries old Nightlight really was. But it was of course Katherine who first noticed Jack's eyes fluttering, trying to fully open. "Everyone! He is waking up!" She cried but she wasn't fast enough to catch the hand that reached up and gripped the breathing machine as Jacek himself ripped it out of his own throat. "Oh my god, Jack! No!" Bunny leapt over at Katherine's cry followed by Tooth, Sandy, North and MiM. "Crikey, he pulled it out" Bunny exclaimed. "Well that is no good, I hope there is no lasting damage" Dr. Duran said as he came up behind Bunny who jumped nearly scared out of his wits. "What the heck mate?! Damn it, takes a lot to sneak up and scare me like that." "Well it was fairly easy considering you were distracted."

Sandy waved at them to get their attention then placed his finger to his lips. They got the message and the room went silent. MiM and Katherine were at Jack's side in an instant. The winter sprite opened his and looked up at Katherine as if searching for something. She stared back taking note that the snow spirit's eyes were now two different colors, one green and one blue. "What is it my Jack?" she asked in a quiet voice. In a shy voice, just barely above a whisper the boy spoke for the first time in months "my Katherine."

Tears sprang to Katherine's eyes as wrapped her arms aroung Jack pulling him into a tight hug. The others followed suit sharing in her tears of joy and shows of affection. But all chatters and tears stopped at the utterance of MiM's next words as he stared into the frost child's mismatched eyes "Oh my Nightlight! You have no idea how happy I am to see you and to hear you speak once more!"

Jack looked up into MiM's eyes, a serene look on his face "Tsar Lunoff" though he said it with a mix of emotions. The winter sprite's smile turned into a frown as confusion and then what looked to be anger flashed in his eyes. MiM smiled at him thrilled by the recognition "yes it is I. I've missed you greatly. Welcome back my guardian, my brother. What happened next was very much out of character, for Nightlight anyway. The boy's eyes widened and a glow came from them, but MiM noticed too late and a hand slapped him across the face. MiM held his cheek in shock caught so off guard by the boy's behavior. "Nightlight? MiM said voice barely audible but the boy heard it.

Jack glared at him "how could you?" "What do you mean Nightlight?" The winter spirit shook his head as if trying to clear his thoughts "How could you?!" Bunny was the first of his fellowe guardians to approach the boy, laying a furry paw on his shoulder but pulled back when it was frosted over. "How could he what, mate? We don't understand what you're getting at. The sprite however ignored the pooka and pointed at MiM. "You know." MiM held up his hands as if feighning innocense. "How could you leave me all alone like that? For centuries? You knew who I was, you brought me back, only to leave me by myself?! With no memory of anything, of who I was? Why would you do that to me, to someone who sacrificed so much for you? To someone you call your brother, why?" "What has gotten into you Nightlight?" "The truth, that is what you wanted, right? Do you even know what I've been through?! The pain and torture of having no memory who I was or why I was here? To be hated by other spirits especially the other elementals, simply for doing what I was born to do, deliver winter? All the human tragedies I have seen and had to bare alone? Nevermind those when I was by your side."

The boy paused then as if a realization hit him and he curled in on himself. He then turned his head away as if ashamed. "Do you know the worst part? You know about Pitch? My worst enemy took me and I didn't even know who he was. You know what he did?" The words were spoken so quietly they were almost missed by all in the room but Bunny heard them clear enough. He carefully wrapped his paws around the sprite, trying to give him comfort without startling him. "Yea kid, we know everything and Manny knows too." Jack hid his face in his hands. Bunny could feel him shaking, a sign that he was crying.

Suddenly Jack jumped up and was attempting to stand. "Easy my guardian, you shouldn't get up just yet. Listen Nightlight, I know what I did was wrong and I am sorry. But please let me explain and then maybe we can get past this. Things can be how they once were now that your memories have returned." MiM tried to reason with his angry once guardian. "Look at me!" Jack cried out. "What have you done to me?!" "I only did what was necessary to save your life Nightlight." "Stop calling me that! I am not a nightlight anymore. I gave that up when I kissed my katherine. But I don't feel like Jack Frost anymore either. Jack, Nightlight...I don't know who I am anymore!" Jack stood up and took a step back. He watched all the occupants in the room and when no one made a move towards him he began ripping off anything that he was hooked up to. IV, heart monitor, EEG were all ripped off quickly and without care. When North made to move towards the boy but he thought better on it and stayed put when he saw that Jack's whole body glowed a faint blue light.

"Oh Jack, honey please you need to calm down." Tooth tried. "No! I can't! I need to get out of here! I can't be here anymore. I need to room to think. I don't know what to call myself anymore, not Nightlight or Jack Frost. My body is mangled now. No matter how much I look at it I am still confused. I need to go."

Jack moved to the door but Katherine quickly blocked his way. "Katherine" Jack stated in alarm. "You can't leave baby, you are still not well and you just woke up. I know this is very scary and confusing for you honey. How about just you and I stay here and talk, the others will leave for a while." Jack gave her a sad smile and shook his head. "Please, I don't want to hurt you." She looked him over and decided it best to move away when she saw his body glow brighter. Sandy moved in to block his way, a ball of dream sand at the ready. On the other side stood Dr. Duran with a syringe. Behind him stood MiM, North and Bunny, Tooth in front of him next to Katherine. Jack could see that he was surrounded but he wasn't about to back down and so he let out a warning. His body glowed bright and frost spread out beneath him. A growl formed inside his throat when Bunny moved closer. "Night, Jack, whateve, please stand down mate. No one hear is trying to hurt you. We just need you to calm down." "I just want to go outside" Jack pleaded. "If that is all you want then we can take you outside son" said North drawing the boy's attention. "Alone?" Jack asked hopefully. North shook his head. "No, not yet, not right now. You are much too fragile right now. But you can go out and one of us can go with you. Why such a need to be alone?" Jack looked down at the floor holding back more tears that threatened to spill over his cheeks. "You wouldn't undestand. I have too things going on in my head right now and I don't think I can control myself." "What do you mean son?" North asked. "My powers, I need to let all this out and I can't control my powers. I can't let it out safely with you there. Just please let me go." Jack whispered that last part as he moved closer to the door. MiM reached out a hand to try and grab him but was pushed back by the force of ice rapidly growing around Jack.

"I warned you" Jack stated before a blinding light spread through his body replacing the light glow from before. The group had to shield their eyes from the light then duck for cover when ice shot out of the boy. After a few moments the bright light dimmed and the ice dissipated but the boy was no where to be seen. Jack must have used the light as a distraction to slip away. They could only go search for him and hope a yeti or one of them got to him before he could get outside to run away.

Katherine was the one to start organizing them first. She had them set up in pairs and each pair search one part of santoff clausen until any of them found the winter sprite. If no one had found him in a half hour they would regroup. North had the yetis and elves helping but there was still no sight of the elusive winter spirit.

"There has still not been a sight of Jack. I do not believe that he is inside anymore" Tooth said breathlessly as she and Katherine met the others at their meeting place. "What do you mean that he is not inside?" Katherine turned around to face the new voice. "Oh! Mother Nature, it's you! When did you get here?" Seraphina glared at them "Just now, I wanted to see how the memory tansfer went. Where is my boy?" North pinched the bridge of his nose feeling a headache coming on at the thought of having to deal with the wrath of mother nature. "We did the memory tansfer and didn't end well. Long story short, he has gotten away from us and I assume is out somewhere in the frozen tundra." Seraphina took a deep breath trying to hold back her anger. "You are lucky he is a winter spirit so he won't freeze to death and that I can feel him. He is not too far from here. Probably in the forest, he prefers trees. I am sure he is hiding in one." She ran down the stairs to first floor and out the doors with the others follwing behind.

Deep in the forest in the highest tree sat Jack Frost. It was a struggle for him to get up there because he had to climb but he made it. "Would be so much easier if I had my staff so I could fly. Makes me so mad! Well at least my body isn't glowing so much anymore. It would make it hard to hide from them. I don't even remember how to control it anymore. I am Jack Frost but I am also Nightlight too. Who does that make me now, both or neither? And I spent so much time alone only to find out like I have this big family now. I had parents once, the Lunoffs and MiM was my baby brother. When I died MiM brought me back with Mother Nature's help becauese I am an elemental, so I guess then she is like my mom? Then MiM made North like my dad and the guardians like my family too. Tooth is kinda like another mom, Sandy is like a favorite uncle and Bunny is like an older brother. It is all so confusing and then there is Katherine, my or should I say Nightlight's best friend? Well I am Nightlight so I guess she is my best friend. I really do like her and I think she really likes me."

The winter sprite paused in his quiet musing to himself. His facial expressions changed often as if many thoughts were racing through his mind, which was true. After a few moments the child whispered to himself the most life shattereing statement he could utter. "If mother nature is my mother by helping in my creation in my new life as Jack Frost then that means Pitch is my family too. If she is like my mother then that makes him like my grandfather.

"That's right Jack" Pitch spoke as he moved out of the shadows which the sprite hadn't noticed were surrounding him. "Pitch!" Jack managed to gasp out. "Frost, do you always talk to yourself like that? It's rather concerning." "What do you want Pitch?" The dark spirit let out an usettling laugh "what I want is for you to come back with me. You are my grandson so it's only right for you to be with." "I am not going back with you, you are a sick twisted individual! What kind of grandfather hurts their grandson like you have done to me? Do you even realize what you have done to me?! Wait...did you know? Did you know who I am?" A wide wicked grim split the boogey man's face, a large sharp toothed smile. "My boy, you still have so much to learn. Of course I knew who you were. You look so much like Nightlight it was uncanny. I can't believe those idiotic guardians couldn't tell. Indeed I wasn't entirely sure myself at first but the more I watched you I knew." "You were watching me?!" But of course I was. Even though the other spirits ignored you you put up quite a show and I could see the potential at hand. You just needed someone to break you to release it, that great raw power that you still have. That is why I took you. I knew who you were and I did mean to settle a score with you. Besides you being Seraphina's sprites I knew I could lay claim over. I just could never seem to get close enough to you to get my hands on you until that day you were attacke by summer, I believer? Poor thing, you were so burnt up, it was my perfect opportunity to get you. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn't break you. Then the guardians freed you from my grasp when they came to save those little tooth fairies just when I thought I was making real progress with you. When you left me I knew I had finally damaged you and I guess the guardians figured it out too since they took you to get help. I did try to kill you but I failed. If I couldn't have your power to myself then no one could, not even you. But again my plans were thwarted."

Pitch moved closer until he backed the boy up against the tree. "I see that silly stick of yours is still missing. How very unfortunate for you but oh so wonderful for me. Maybe now I can take you and finish the job. I see they fixed you up again, they really are a nuisance." Jack shot ice out at Pitch before he slid down against the tree trunk and held his hand to his chest. "I see, your center is healing but the holes in your heart are still there. You must have already expelled a lot of energy getting away from the guardians. I assume that is the case because I doubt they would let you out here all alone as sick as you are. All the better for me." A black scythe formed in the nightmare king's hands as he spoke "I told you I had a score to settle and if you won't join me I will have to kill you to keep that power out of anyone else's hands. Prepare to die once and for all Jack Frost, my arch enemy Nightlight! MiM won't be bringing you back this time!"

Just as Pitch was about to bring the scythe down the winds picked up so hard it knocked both Pitch and Jack out of the tree. Heavy snow started to fall and the wind whipped the snow so hard Pitch could barely see. But he caught a glimpse of a glow, a bright glowing coming from Jack until it became almost blinding. Ice shot out of the boy slamming into Pitch as hail rained down from the sky pounding him. The strangest part of all was a bizzare blue lightning striking down from the sky that actually frost which struck Pitch forcing him to the ground. Snow and ice continued to pound down on him as frost crawled up over his body effectively pinning him to the ground.

Far off in another continent safe from the blizzard sat the three other elemental spirits under the bright warm sun. Summer and Spring were together on a blanket. Tea and cakes spread out on the blanket in front of them. Just a little off to the side sat autumn under a shady tree to protect from the sun fully beating down on her. Though she could handle both heat and cold being a fall spirit she still had to be cautious with extreme heat of both seasons. Autumn looked to be in her early thirtys, she had long, straight, beautiful auburn hair with cut bangs. She wore a dress that touched the ground that looked as though it were made from the leaves she painted. Browns, reds, greens, yellows and oranges mixed in such a colorful pattern that was pleasing to the eye. On her feet she wore simple brown mocassin type shoes. But her eyes were a lovely golden color like honey.

Spring, the other female elemental spirit looked quite the opposite. She was in her late twentys. She had long blonde hair in a high pony tail and side swoop bangs. Her bright green eyes were full of life. She wore a light pink short sleeve dress that came to just above her knees. On her feet she wore white flat shoes.

Summer was in his late thirties and was the only other male elemental spirit besides Jack Frost. He had short spiked light brown hair and honey brown eyes. Summer wore a red u-neck (guinea tee) and light blue jeans. On his feet were a pair of black sneakers. His sun-kissed skin tone brought out the color of his eyes nicely.

The three seasons were relaxing for once and having a picnic when Zane, the spirit of summer felt a strong snow storm in the north pole. But the storm was strange, it felt wrong and much too strong. "That damn Jack Frost kid is at it again it seems. He is causing a storm at the north pole but this one is off." Jillian, the spirit of spring shook her head "you think he would have learned already not to mess with us. How many times do we have to beat it into his skull before he gets the message?" Zane shrugged "I don't know, that kid is a problem. I don't see why Seraphina needs him, she babys him. It was better when he wasn't around." Natasha, the spirit of autumn sighed deeply "you forget he is just a child Zane. He hasn't grown up yet." Zane gave her a hard look "and he never will so he needs to learn. Stop defending him Natasha! I am going to give him a piece of my mind. Maybe I can show him how mad I am that they made his sorry ass a guardian and he can pay for it." Zane and Jillian got up to leave when Natasha laid a hand on Zane's shoulder. "Did you ever think that by giving him a piece of your mind that you are being just as childish? You are an adult, be an example for him. Have you ever talked to him? I mean just talked, not beat him?" "No" Zane replied harshly "and neither have any of you. What does it matter?" Natasha growled in frustration "there may be something wrong. The child may have created the horrible storm for a reason. Maybe he is danger? Remember, Seraphina and the guardians only recently found him a few months ago. While he was gone for that century he was enslaved by Pitch. We do owe Serphina to check on him" Jillian laughed "ha, danger. Someone would have to get close to Frost for him to be in danger and who would ever want to get close to that petulant child? But yes I guess we will check on him." Natasha lowered her head and spoke in a whisper "I see I am fighting a losing battle."

Zane whistled for one of his massive birds and mounted him. "Well if you girls are done with your conversation perhaps we can go 'talk' to the ice brat." With that Jillian and Natasha called for their bird then they all flew the distance to get to the north pole. As the three seasons approached the area where the blizzard had taken place in the north pole all they saw was destruction. The blizzard had stopped but it looked as if a bomb of winter magic had exploded. Trees were cracked and fallen over, uprooted. There was easily about six feet of freshly fallen snow on the ground and the wind was still blowing hard though the snow had stopped falling. But the shocking sight of all was Pitch Black, the Nightmare King, fully encased in ice with a scythe in his hands raised above his head frozen in that pose until the ice would melt. Huddled into a tight ball shaking and crying at Pitch's feet laid Jack Frost, the poor child they had gone in search for.

"Damn" Zane said his thought out loud as he looked all around. "This kid really has some power to him, more than I thought." Natasha tapped his shoulder and pointed ahead. "Zane, the boy. He must be hurt and he looks absolutely terrified. We have to do something. Please, set aside your pride. We can't just leave him here." Zane waved her off and made his way over to the boy walking slowly as if approaching a dangerous wild animal. "Relax, I am not that heartless." Zane carefully laid a hand on the winter spirit's shoulder watching to see if he would get frosted but no frost came. Jack only curled in on himesld further, crying harder. "Please go away. Please don't fight me right now. I can't take it, I am all out of energy. Just leave me here so I can die peacefully." Zane was taken aback by the boy's statement but only became more determined. "Hey, hey kiddo. It's not like that, I am not going to fight you or hurt you. But I'm not going to leave you here all alone either. Just don't frost me ok?" Zane gently picked the frost child up and looked over him for injuries then noticed the faint glow coming from his body but chose not to comment on it. Jillian and Natasha moved in closer to them after having examined Pitch Black in his ice prison. Autumn looked down at Jack then brushed the hair out of his face. "What happened here winter? Did Pitch attack you?" Jack only managed a weak nod too tired to talk. "Where are the guardians?" Jillian asked. "We probably should take him to them." They mounted their birds taking flight to find the guardians.

Zane had his bird fly to one of the clearings "I think I spotted one of Toothiana's fairies. They must be out looking for him too. The kid looks sick." "Come to think of it didn't Sera say that she was spreading winter because Jack wasn't feeling well? It is really strange for a spirit too get sick especially to the point that he can't perform his dutied." Jillian replied. Natasha looked down at the child who was now sweating and panting. "Didn't Sera say it was his heart?" Zane nodded and Natasha slapped him upside the hear "you idiot you were going to beat on a child with a heart condition?! What is wrong with you?! The boy is sweating, winter doesn't sweat." Zane held his hands up in defence "Ok, so maybe I forgot about that. I am not going to beat him now and I've lowered my temperature but it doesn't seem to be helping. I don't think his fever is from me."

Jillian pointed ahead of them "look, I can see Toothiana. Lets hurry and get him to them." Zane picked up his pace until his bird was flying at full speed. When they reached the guardians the seasonals noticed they weren't too far from santoff clause which was a good thing for the winter sprite who had fallen asleep in Zane's arms.

Tooth spotted the seasonal spirits approaching them first as they waved to her. The guardians stopped in their tracks and waited for the seasonals to dismount. The summer spirit moved forward with Jack and Seraphina moved towards them. She looked at her summer spirit with distrust before asking "did you do this to Jack? I know you don't like him." Zane, Jillian and Natasha all shouted in unison "No." "Please Seraphina" Natasha cried "You must believe us. It was Pitch! He was attacking winter. We found him after the struggle, Pitch encased in ice in the forest." "He is still there if you want proof" Zane replied. "We promise we felt the intensity of his storm half way around the world and just wanted to see why winter was causing the storm when we found him like this" Jillian added. "We will finish this discussion once Jack is taken care of. You three come with me" Seraphina said as she took Jack from Zane and ran back with him to santoff clausen.

When they got inside North had a yeti take Jack to the infirmary while they took the three new spirits to North's sitting room. The three seasonals sat together on one couch while the others each found a seat. North tended to the fire making it bigger to accomidate his summery guest. "Thanks" Zane whispered "It's pretty cold here. Great place for winter though." North sat down in his big arm chair and gave Zane a hard glare "speaking of winter, how do we know you are telling the truth? Why did you come here? Summer spirits don't travel to the poles."

Tooth whispered something into North's ear "the story must check out, Baby Tooth saw Pitch in the ice." North nodded and continued. "Well I see at least part of your story checks out. Tooth's fairy did see Pitch in the ice. But that still doesn't answer why you were here in the first place." "You had better spill and don't you lie to me, I will know" Seraphina added. Zane looked down at his hands as he spoke "Truth is, and Seraphina can confirm this, we felt the force of Jack's storm even on another continent. We came to investigate because it didn't feel right, it was too strong and too centralized to be a normal blizzard. But I admit that I was up to no good. I was going to give him a piece of my mind for the storm and for getting to be a guardian, something we didn't feel he deserved."

Bunny gripped the front of Zane's shirt at that "First of all that kid deserves his title as a guardian. You don't understand what he has done for us all. Second, do you mean to say that you were going to beat him? Seraphina has told us what the other seasons have done to winter, to every winter spirit she has ever had. One had killed itself by melting in the desert it got that bad. You better watch yourselves because we won't go easy on you if you hurt our Jack." The three seasonal spirits ducked their heads in shame and fear before Zane continued carefully "I was but when I saw him I changed my mind. I am being honest with you I will never touch that kid again, I promise. I see now why you wanted him Sera and why he is your only winter sprite. He really impressed me with his powers today and earned my respect. Truthfully I felt bad for him too when I saw him lying on the ground like that."

Jillian and Natasha nodded their heads in agreement with Zane. Seraphina could tell they were being sincere and so she didn't interogate or scold them further. That is when Natasha deemed it safe enough to ask the question that had been on her mind for so long "What happened to Jack for all those years? No one had seen or heard from him for so long we thought he was dead until next we knew he was freed from Pitch and was made a guardian. We never even knew he was taken by Pitch." Seraphina decided it was time to tell them "I am so glad you asked. I think you should know Jack's story, all of it. The fight just now between Jack and Pitch, Jack's heart condition and Jack's disappearance are all connected."

For the next hour Seraphina and the others shared Jack's entire story, even about his former form Nightlight with the seasonals. Many awes and tears followed but Seraphina was happy her seasonal spirits would now understand their wintery counterpart. Their chatter was soon stopped however when Dr. Duran rushed in. "Don't worry I've left a few yetis with Jack. MiM do you remember how we discussed that I felt Jack would need a second surgery?Well, we have no choice now. We have to do it now! The boy gave up every last bit of energy in that attack on Pitch. The holes have ripped further open again and his body is too taxed. If we don't do the surgery now he will die and you won't be able to bring him back. Now I suggest you all leave with me. Anyone who is planning to be with me better wash up and suit up. I'm going to need you all to come to the hospital for this. I know there is an operating room here but we have better equipment and medicines at the hospital to take care of any complications. It is not safe enough here.

All the spirits left for Jack's room. Each mentally preparing for the next events and the high possibility of a very angry Jack Frost. When they entered the room miraculously the boy was awake and even though to weak to move was seeming to have an argument with Phil the yeti by the way Phil's voice was raised louder than usual. Jack was angrily though weakly demanding to go outside. North whispered something to Phil who nodded and stood in front of the door. North lifted the frost child into his arms held tightly to his chest. He held the boy's chin up so he would look at him. "What is going on?!" Jack asked feeling super nervous. "Just focus on me Jack. Its going to be alright" North replied. The doctor opened a portal to the hospital and they immediately went to the operating room. Jack was panicking now and was doing his best to wrigle out of North's grasp. North held him with all his might and made the boy look at him again. "I promise, it will be ok." The nurses took Jack from North and strapped him down to the table. While North, Bunny, Seraphina and the doctor washed up the others went up to OR's observatory to watch.

For the second time Jack had to watch his friends and staff around wear scary medical protection while inspecting machines. Jack looked up at North pleading with him while the nurses prepped him for surgery. "Please don't do this, please no more" Jack begged. North knelt down next to him, patted his head and whispered something into his ear. "This is the last time Jack. Just this last surgery son. If it doesn't work then we will do whatever it is you want to do. Even if it is to let you die. It would be hard for us to let you go but I will respect your wishes if it comes to that. I won't make you suffer anymore. But please, let us try one last time" North pleaded with him. "Don't you want to try for me my frost light?" Katherine whispered to him. North looked over at her noticing she was dressed in protective gear as well, it seemed she was going to stay in the OR with them. "Please do this for me baby" Katherine leaned over Jack and placed a gentle kiss to his lips. North smiled wide when he saw the blush that spread across the sprite's face.

Over the intercome Jack could hear the occupants in the observation room and almost freaked out when he saw the other seasonal spirits looking down at him. It was summer who called out to him "Hey winter, its going to be alright, you will be ok. We are here to support our fellow seasonal spirit. We are sorry for everything, especially me and we promise not to be jerks to you anymore." "That is right sweetheart. We want to make amends and be friends now" said Spring. " This is us proving to you that we want to change. We will be here through the whole surgery and we will be here after you wake to help you recover. Afterwards, we promise to never interrupt your work. We will let you do what you need to do and we will protect you. Hopefully in time we can become good friends. But until then, good luck and we will be here when you wake" Natasha added. Jack looked to mother nature for confirmation "Its true Jack. They know your past now and they know how wrong they were. Don't worry, I wouldn't let them stay if I thought they were lying."

Jack looed at them through the window with confusion but also hope. "Thanks guys, I'd like that if I live through this" he said while giving his fellow guardians a death glare. Summer gave him a smile "You are going to make it through Jack. You are the strongest spirit I think that I have ever seen. We would like to hang with you when you recover. I hope you can forgive us..for being assholes. By the way its Zane, spring is Jillian and autumn is Natasha. We are on first name basis now kid, welcome to the club. Now we will see you on the other side."

The nurse Gwen carefully placed an IV line into Jack's arm. The other nurse set up the heart monitor on Jack and turned it on. Jack was hyperventalating so Katherine got in front of him to distract him while the nurses set up the doctor's tools. The doctor listened to Jack with his stethoscope and did a basic exam to make sure he was ready. The doctor nodded to the others. Bunny and North quickly checked the restaints to make sure they were secure. When confirmed and all was well the doctor came towards Jack, mask in hand. "Ready Jack?" Jack shook his head and tears formed in his eyes. "Please don't fight me child. You will be out in a minute and I promise no one will do anything to you until you are asleep." Katherine knelt next to him as Dr. Duran placed the mask over his face. "Do you want to hear a story?" Jack slowly nodded. "There once was a boy named Jack Frost but he wasn't always called that. He was once called Nightlight and he was my best friend..."

"I love you Jack, my Nightlight" was the last thing he heard though it was fuzzy as he passed out. The guardians left the room and went to the observatory to let the medical staff do their work. Time passed quickly and the surgery was completed without incedent in about four hours. Afterwards, Jack was placed in the ICU to recover. All the spirits, including the seasonals waited in the waiting room for the frost child to wake up. All hoping that he would not sink into another coma again nor become catanic either.

Several hours later found North pacing back and forth while Tooth flitted around. Sandy sat in the window sill high above watching the others while Bunny pulled at his ears. MiM and mother nature talked while Katherine sat with three seasonal spirits. "So this is his second surgery right Katherine? Zane asked curiously. Katherine sat with her sketchbook in hand trying to distract herself by failing miserably, she was too worried to draw. "Yes, though I wasn't here for the first one. I saw what he was like after the first one and Pitch had hurt him again right after. I am not completely sure what he did, just have an idea. But it was so traumatic it literally killed Jack. They had to bring him back. But then he fell into a coma for two weeks and when he came to he wasn't the same. His center was so broken and he was so depressed. When they finally found me I was literally their last hope. He was in so much pain that he couldn't move so Manny even pulled out his soul to take mercy on him. But last minute they had found me and thought I could help because Nightlight and I used to be so close. Though, if I couldn't help him then MiM would be forced to take mercy on his soul. I have spent two months with him while he slowly got better but he never talked or even responded in any way. He was making progress but still not enough so we helped see his memories from his past self Nightlight. But it upset him so much that he took off on us and must have encountered Pitch in the forest then you know the rest."

Natasha gave her a sorrowful look and patted her back. "I think I say this for us all that we are so sorry for what winter has been through. We were wrong to treat him the way we did but we fully intend to fix it now." Zane punched his fist into his hand. "And Pitch got some serious shit coming to him if he messes with him again. We will protect our winter, when you mess with one of us you mess with all of us." Jillian gave Katherine a reassuring smile. "I can tell Zane has really changed his mind about winter. Just a few hours ago he disliked the winter sprite but now he wants to help him...I am curious, what did Pitch do to him? Katherine thought about it for a moment, she didn't know all of it herself so she thought she would tell them what she did know. "Truthfully the guardians know more than I do. I was told that Jack had been injured by another spirit when Pitch found him. Pitch took him to his lair and never let him go. I was told that Pitch tortured him, in what ways I don't know and I'd rather not know. Pitch forced Jack to be his slave and he was trying to break his center. Something about a great power Jack had but couldn't be brought to the surface so Pitch tried to force it out. In the end I guess Pitch got what he wanted, he broke Jack and now he is going through a second heart surgery because of him.

Jillian caught a glimpse of Bunny pacing close replacing North's pacing who had given it up a while ago and was now napping in a chair. "Hey Bunny, can we talk with you? We were talking with Katherine about Jack and Pitch but she doesn't know as much as you." Katherine looked up at him then "please, I would like to know more myself. We wanted to know what Pitch did to Jack while he help in captivity?" Bunny tugged on his ears again and visibly shook. His face took on a pained expression as if it hurt him to think about it which it probably did. "You know the jist of it, you know what torture is I'm sure. Use your imagination, it would probably be right." Katherine played with her hands nervously "well I guess we wanted details. Especially about what caused so much trauma to Jack that he died and you had to bring him back then went into a coma." Bunny was clearly taken aback by the question and looked as though he didn't want to answer. Instead he leaned in close to the group and talked quietly so only they could hear and not upset the others. Though he talked to the group he kept his eyes on Katherine with a hard look. "I can't tell ya. That is a question you best ask frostbite in private. It is very intimate if you catch my drift and that is all I wish to say on that subject. You all can make your own conclusions for yourselves."

Zane clenched his fists in anger after they watched Bunny leave the room visibly upset. Zane's body shook as he sucked in deep breaths trying to calm his anger. "That bastard, that sick Fuck. I'm sure I know what Bunny was hinting at. I know I've hurt the kid and messed with him but even I have never been so cruel." He turned to Katherine and took her hands in his holding eye contact with her. "Katherine, I know that you look young but you are not as young as you seem. So, I assume you must have caught what Bunny meant? You don't have to answer but even if you didn't you will soon. Know this, if you continue to seek a relationship with that boy you may have quite the rough challenge ahead. I am just telling you so that you can prepare yourself. Obviously as young a you both look, I know you are centuries old and Jack or Knightlight is older than us all. The thing is I am sure you both may want to take your relationship to a higher level and do adult things." "Are you giving me the sex talk right now Zane? Katherine asked. "I don't the need the talk, I know how sex works by now but thanks." Zane blushed and through his hands up "I am not trying to give you the sex talk. I just want to say to you that if it is I think that Jack may be very sensitive of that subject and I am sure will have trust issues. Just know that whatever happens, it is not you, it is not your fault, its whatever he is going through."

Katherine let his words sink and nodded. She knew what they were getting at but she had vowed to herself to see it through and make it with Jack. She would deal with whatever challenges that presented and cross that bridge when they reached it. "I understand what Bunny meant, its no wonder he wouldn't talk about it. That is truly horrible." Natasha hugged her trying to provide comfort to the girl but she and the others were startled out of their musings, even waking North, when Zane suddenly punched a nearby wall putting a good size dent in it. "What is the matter Zane?" Tooth cried out, voice full of concern for the random outburst. "I did it" Zane replied in a voice barely above a whisper. "Did what?" North asked while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Zane was shaking with anger and his eyes were full of unshed tears. "I did it. I'm the reason why winter, I mean Jack, was taken by Pitch." Sandy formed a question mark over his head. "That day I saw the boy, it was already the second run in I had with him in my season when he was supposed to hibernating somewhere or be in another part of the world in his climate. But Jack was there and he had frozen the pond over again in Burgess which made me angry. Anyway, normally when the kid can't sleep which is more often than not he usually stays at the poles, either north or south. I didn't know why he came to Burgess in the summer or what his obsession was about this particular pond though of course then I didn't know the importance that pond has to Jack. When I approached him I told him ponds don't freeze in the summer just like I have many other times before. Jack seemed to ignore my words which only managed to piss me off more and due to the warm weather he was slower, sick even. But I didn't pay attention to that and decided to punish him. I burnt him and Jillian taunted him while Natasha could only watch. I know all three of us are to blame but I am the one that injured him enough that Pitch could get him. He must have been to injured to fly off to a cooler climate to heal and now I know there is an opening to Pitch's lair not far from Jack's pond. Pitch must have seen the scuffle and acted on it."

Zane sunk to his knees and openly cried, the other two seasonal spirits following suit. "I am so sorry. I should have left him alone or told him to go. I never should have treated him the way I did." Jillian and Natasha apologized as well each sobbing. "I promise that we have learned our lesson. We will never hurt winter ever again, weather winter be Jack or any other spirit who may take on the role. We will never hurt Jack again" Jillian repeated over and over. Zane looked up at them then to Natasha. "You were right Natasha. I was much too hard on him. He is just a child, a confused, scared and lonely child. Please don't punish the girls but you can punish me all you want, I deserve it."

Bunny, who had re-entered the room during Zane's outburst lifted Zane up the and brought him to his feet then moved to stand the girls as well. "Listen, you all aren't the only ones to blame, we are all to blame. Us guardians, we failed to protect a child and worse one of our own. None of us talked to or spent time with him. Granted we didn't know he used to be but that is still no excuse. We should have accepted Jack as he was, Nightlight or not." North spoke up to the trio next "We didn't even look for Jack when he went missing. I had not even checked up on Pitch to see if he was causing issues." Zane whisped "we didn't look either, none of the spirits searched or even seem concerned. I guess we were all happy to have the kid out of our hair. The only one it seemed to bother was mother nature." MiM placed a hand on the summer spirit's shoulder giving it a light squeeze. "I am the one to blame. We all did wrong by the boy but me most of all. I brought my Nightlight back to life from his dead human body and made him Jack Frost. But I only told him his name and never talked to him again. When he disappeared I had a feeling I knew what happened but I didn't do enough to find him, to save him. No punishment shall befall any of you if you promise to never harm Jack or any other spirit, winter or otherwise, ever again."

"We promise!" the three seasonal spirits shouted at once. However, Zane still looked distraught. "Do you think he can forgive us? That he can forgive me?" Bunny shrugged "I don't know, that is a question for frostbite. But honestly for as much as a pain in the ass that kid has been over the years I see he is not what I thought he was. He really is a kind and caring boy albeit mischievous. Though, he is an unruly teenager who has never been taught or been shown compassion, it seems fitting for him to be that way. But really, underneath it all I think Jack is very forgiving." North nodded and thought of the few fun times they had before realizing how sick Jack was. Eating cookies, playing games and teaching Jack his toy making secrets while Jack showed him how he could make toys with his ice magic. "I am sure he can forgive in time. I see that he has forgiven us though he is still wary of us as to be expected." "I can tell that he loves us even though he hasn't said it yet" Tooth added. "Although, he has said he hated us but we did put him through two surgeries that he didn't want. But I think he didn't mean it." "Well we all know that he LOVES Katherine" Bunny said giving her a smirk. "Stop it Bunny" she said while she playfully yanked on one of his long ear. "And she LOVES him too." "Stop it!" Kathering shouted back.

Bunny and Katherine stopped their playful banter and all chatter ceased when a knock was heard at the door. It was the nurse Gwendolyn who entered the room with bright eyes and a wide smile. All spirits in the room jumped to their feet ready to go greet the winter spirit. They stopped short however when Gwen held up her hand. "It would be overwhelming to the boy if you were to all enter at once. He needs time and space to heal so for now we have only two enter at a time. North we will start with you and one other person. MiM moved first but was stopped when North pulled him back. "I am sorry Manny but due to the circumstances that got Jack into this immediate surgery I would say that you should not be the first one he sees when he wakes. Same goes for you seasonal spirits, sorry." The three seasonals nodded their heads in silent agreement.

"I will go" Bunny said pointedly as he stood next to Gwen waiting for North. Tooth wanted to argue that she wanted to go but when Bunny gave her a look she knew she shouldn't. She needed to calm her excitement first. Unfortunetly, Tooth had to admit to herself that even though she was very kind and go visit the winter child first.

When North and Bunny entered Jack's hospital room the boy was indeed awake. The boy gave them a small smile though his eyes were half lidded but the strangest part was they were no longer blue but green. He tried to sit up a bit when the two guardians made to sit beside him but he found he struggled. Bunny helped sit him up and adjust the pillows behind him to prop him up. Jack looked at both the guardians for a moment as if confused. "North... Bunny..How did you guys get here?" "We came to see ya mate. So Jack, how you doing buddy? How do you feel?" "I feel awful, like I was beaten up. What happened? And who is Jack?" North and Bunny looked into the green of the frost child with concern then at each other. "You don't what happened? What do you mean, who is Jack?" North asked. "I don't know who you are talking about, I am Nightlight. You two are acting strange...Wait I'm strange. My voice is different, it sounds different and I speak out loud? What about my armor..Where is it? Where am I?" Nightlight looked around the room then down at himself, his bandaged chest along with tubes and wires connected to him everywhere. "What is all this? I..I'm frightened" North hugged the boy to him rubbing his back. Bunny looked at him "maybe we should have let Tooth in?" North stared back at him equally confused. "I think we need both Tooth and Manny in here. Forget about the two person rule. We are not talking to Jack Frost here, we are talking to Nightlight. I don't understand it but I think it has something to do with his memory transfer. Bunny please get them, maybe Katherine too and please hurry." "Right, I'm on it." Bunny quickly hopped out the door. North looked down at the spectral boy in his arms. "Its alright Nightlight. Everything will be ok."

Bunny darted down the hall and rushed into the waiting room. "Bunny?!" the spirits all spoke up in unison. "We got a problem. Tooth we need you now, MiM and Katherine you too. Jack isn't Jack right now." "What on earth do you mean Bunny?" Tooth asked. "I think something happened with the memory transfer. We weren't talking to Jack Frost, we were talking to Nightlight. His eyes are green and everything." "Oh no! Of course I will do what I can!" They ran down the hall as fast they could go, they stopped to catch their breaths before they gently opened the door. When they entered the room North visibly relaxed but the child in his arms was shaking.

MiM carefully called out to the boy "Nightlight?" Nightlight turned around and looked up at MiM with tear filled eyes. "MiM" Nightlight whispered. "I am so confused. What has happened to me? I am not the same." MiM sat down in front of the boy to be level with him. "No my Nightlight, you are are not same. A lot has happened" "What is all the stuff? I don't like it. Where is my armor? Do you have it? Do you have my staff with the diamond dagger?" "Easy Nightlight, I know its scary but you were sick that is the reason for all this." Nightlight looked at him confused "but nightlights don't get sick." Katherine touched his hand to get his attention. "Well, you did honey, remember you aren't a nightlight anymore. That is only your name now not your title" Katherine said. "My Katherine" Nightlight said. Katherine smiled at him "what is the last thing you remember Nightlight?" Nightlight was quiet for a moment then finally answered. "You and I were on the moon and I told MiM to stay with you while I went to fight Pitch. But something was wrong with me. I was losing my glow, my diamonds were falling away and my armor was fading away. I remember you were collecting the diamonds...Do you still have them?" Katherine nodded "Yes, I kept them in a special box after I lost you." "Lost me? Where did I go?" MiM answered for her "Your body was changing Nightlight, you were becoming no longer a nightlight because you gave your goodnight kiss away to Katherine to save her from the Nightmare King. Do you remember?" Nightlight slowly nodded looking sad. "I thought I lost you because when you attacked Pitch to save us again you and him fell to the earth from the moon and I never saw you again after that."

"I remember now, falling back to the earth. I locked Pitch in a cave again for what I thought was forever but I have a feeling he got out again, didn't he?" Tooth petted his hair soflty "yes sweety, he did. What happened after you put Pitch in the cave? That is the one part none of us understand." Nightlight quietly said with a pained expression "Pitch killed me, he stabbed me with a scythe made of nightmare sand. I felt my consciousness drift away...that is all I remember." MiM smiled at him "that's good my Nightlight, I am so thankful to understand what happened."

Dr. Duran spoke up softly "I think that is enough excitement for now. I think our little spectral boy is getting tired and its time for your medicine. The doctor handed North a cup. "Have him drink it. It's an antibiotic, it doesn't taste so great but I have a feeling that our boy doesn't know how to take pills." North brought the cup into Nightlight's field of vision but the boy eyed it suspiciously. "Drink it son, it won't hurt you, it is to make you feel better. Remember you are one very sick little nightlight." While Nightlight was distracted drinking the very bad tasting antibiotic the doctor injected some morphine into the boy's IV. Nigthlight's eyelids began to droop and gripped he Katherine's hand "I feel funny." "Its ok my Nightlight, you are just getting tired. That happens when you aren't a nightlight anymore. Now, I think it is time for you to rest and I will tell you a story while you fall asleep. Would you like that?" Nightlight smiled at her. Katherine helped him get comfortable and within a minute he was out like light.

They all left the room to let Nightlight sleep in peace and to discuss what just happened. Bunny looked to Tooth "well Toothy at least we got a timeline to work with right? Is there anything you can do?" Tooth surprisingly looked exhausted for once. "Honestly, there is nothing I can do. He has all of his memories so that is not the problem. He has had such a long life and so many things happen recently that I think its just his mind sorting it all out. I am thinking we may see a mix of Jack sometimes or Nightlight sometimes. Almost like having multiple personalities but I don't think for long. I think his mind will sort it all out eventually." "Well jeez Tooth that is really reassuring" Bunny stated. "What do you want me to do? I have no control over this. I helped him get his memories back that is all I can do. It's his mind that is the problem." MiM stepped between them both "Tooth, as far as you know, had this ever happened to anyone else before?" Tooth shook her head "No, honestly this is new territory for me. The problem is I didn't give memories back to any ordinary spirit. Its not just his age its what he is that is the problem. He is a Nightlight, a star, I don't know how memories work on stars and I am sure the second surgery probably aggrivated things. I think all we can do is wait it out and hope his mind sorts it out. For now we might have to ask who we are talking to you first before we talk to him."

Bunny sighed "this is going to be really strange. I'm sorry Tooth. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. I know its not your fault. Why is this all so frustrating?" North patted Bunny on the back "Such is the nature of a nightlight I guess. Remember he is a star and we don't know much about their nature. It will be hard for us all but we will get through it. Just like we always have. For now let us all go get some food and some rest. At least we know that whoever he is at the moment, our boy is safe."

A few hours later deep into the night North and Bunny were woken by a nurse. They had been sitting in the waiting room rather than staying in santoff clausen should Jack need them but they both fell asleep. The nurse Hope told them that Jack was awake and was calling for them. So they made their way down to his room not knowing which side they would encounter, Nightlight or Jack Frost?

When the two men entered the room they immediately noticed that the boy was indeed very awake. When the boy saw the two guardians enter he did something rather unexpected. He held out his arms to the christmas spirit as if asking for hug or to be picked up. North was even more surprised when the boy called out to him "papa." North and Bunny both looked to the boy then each other. "Mate, did he just call you what I think he did?" North shrugged at Bunny's question, just as shocked as the easter spirit. North sat down on the bed and pulled the child into a gentle hug when the boy held out his arms and whispered "papa" to him again. Bunny sat in the chair next to the bed looking on as North smiled happily down at the child in his arms. "What has gotten into you my little snow spirit?" The boy didn't answer North's question only nuzzled up to him. Bunny tapped North on the shoulder "Be careful Nick, we don't know which side you are talking to." North looked the child in the eyes but he saw one eye was green and the other was blue. "I have no idea, perhaps the two sides have merged" North said as he pointed out the winter spirit's eyes. North stroked the child's hair affectionately giving the boy the kind touch he craved. Gwen called over her shoulder to them while she looked over some paperwork. "He has been asking for his papa, rather unusual I must say. Though lately I don't know what is usual anymore." Bunny shook his "honestly, none of us do." Bunny patted the boy's shoulder Well, snowflake I'd say you aren't far off though I have never heard you call North that." However, Jack didn't answer him and only pulled at North's shirt.

Dr. Duran came in and handed North a small cup of medicine. "Well since the boy is up you mine as well give him his next dose of antibiotic since he seems so attached to you at the moment." North held the cup up to the boy's lips "open up Jack." The frost child obediently opened his mouth and drank down the medicine with a disgusted look on his face until North handed him some juice which the child drank down in gulps. "This Jack is different still. Now I am really not sure what is going on" North commented. "Yea frostbite ain't usually so lovey dovey nor does he listen well. Who knows, maybe it is because of Nightlight" Bunny replied. Dr. Duran patted the winter spirit's head who leaned into his touch. "Better enjoy it while you can, who knows how long it will last for? We have the boy pretty drugged up at the moment so I'd say he isn't fully aware of his own actions. Tests all prove he is fine otherwise but tests only go so far into someone's psyche." Jack stared up at North with pleading eyes as if asking for comfort without words so the christmas spirit obliged. North got into a more comfortable position allowing the winter spirit to curl up into his lap and North rocked him slowly lulling him back into sleep once more.

Over the next few days the winter spirit mostly slept. When awake he ate, took his medicines well and complied with whatever they did which was very strange for the winter spirit. It seemed that either the medicines or recent events had taken its toll on the boy and changed his demeanor. Jack Frost, the boy formerly unused to touch was now openly asking for attention yet never with words. He would lay his hand on whoever came to visit or lean up against them. Though he was doing much better after the second surgery than the first he didn't talk much since he first woke after the surgery fully aware as Nightlight though it was clear that he could. When a visitor would come Jack would state their name with a smile but that was it. He would answer questions with a nod or shake of the head. The boy still seemed to be a bit out of it or maybe had taken on his original form's quiet personality but hadn't quite mastered telepathy again.

The strangest behavior the boy had taken on was that he didn't seem to want to sleep alone although he never did as the others were reluctant to leave him without someone at all times. When it was time for bed Jack would scootch over and make room in the bed for whoever his visitor was to lay with him. Tooth and North were thrilled and always happy to oblige. Sandy enjoyed it as well and even Bunny liked it as long as it made the kid happy. However, Katherine was the one who got the biggest kick out of it and he seemed to as well. It was strictly platonic between the two of them to sleep together just as they used to when it was Nightlight and Katherine way back when. He would curl up against her and when he fell asleep she would rub his back or pet his hair until she fell asleep herself. Sometimes, after he had fallen asleep, she would gently, so as not to hurt him lay her head over his chest. She would listen to the finally steady beating of his heart. Though the monitor provided it, it was still nice for Katherine to assure herself that way that his heart was finally working properly.

After another week of this Jack was doing well enough that the doctor decided that he could go home provided he was cared for the same as at the hospital. The guardians were ready to do just that and so for the second time Jack's room at santoff clausen was set up with medical equipment. Though the boy seemed reluctant to move, he looked frightened but quickly settled with Katherine by his side.

Jack kept up his strange behaviors even after leaving the hospital, asking for affection, calling North papa and not wanting to sleep alone but other than that everything seemed fine. But things changed one day when North decided it was now ok for the other seasonal spirits to visit the winter spirit. North told them to enter one at a time so they would scare the winter spirit. So there they stood outside of Jack's door trying to decide the order in which they would enter.

"I think that I should go in first" Zane stated right away. "If I go in first I can break winter down so he won't be scared of all of us together." Jillian sighed feeling annoyed by his strange reasoning. "How does that even make sense to you? I think that your logic is ridiculous." North laughed at their little scuffle but he decided to take control of the situation. "I have to agree with Jillian, you and Jack probably had the worst relationship out of all of you." North turned to Natasha then "Nat, you and Jack seemed to be the most neutral to each other. I think you should be the first one in to see him followed by Jillian and then Zane. I don't believe having Zane and Jack alone in the same room is a good idea. I don't really want to know what a fight between summer and winter looks like."

They agreed and so it was autumn who entered the room first. When she walked into the room the spirit of winter was awake and sitting up looking more alert than ever. In his hands he was creating snowflakes then blew on them to keep them frozen. He slowly looked up at her and promptly dropped the snowflakes to the floor in shock. "Hello winter" she whispered. "How are you feeling today?" The boy didn't move or respond at first, just stared at her with a deer in head lights look on his face. Natasha could hear the spikes in his heart rate close together. "Autumn" he finally managed to gasp out but that was all he said. "It's Natasha actually...It's ok Jack, I am not here to hurt you." She then proceded to tell him how they found him after his battle with Pitch and how they had gotten him to the guardians, all of which he seemed confused about but accepted her explanation just the same. Then she told him how sorry they were for how they had treated him and they wanted to make up, to be friends. Jack had settled a little until Jillian, the spring spirit came in. Then they had to repeat the explaining part over again.

The two girls talked with Jack though he didn't talk back but it seemed they were making progress. The two girls ended up talking mostly to each other while Jack's slightly calmed but still panicking heart beated throught the monitor. Then Natasha paused and looked over the winter spirit's body. She noticed the slight change in shade to his skin and light pink on his cheeks. She watched as he fliched when she took his not as cool as it should be hand into hers. "Oh winter" Natasha said as she moved her hand to lay on his forhead. Jack tried to shake her hand away but she held him still. "Jillian, he has a fever." Jillian came closer and touched his face "poor baby, you do." "It's because of this isn't it?" Natasha whispered as her hand ghosted over the boy's bandaged chest. "Easy winter" Jillian soothed "no need to be afraid, I promise we will never hurt you again." Jillian then turned to her seasonal sister "Natasha,I think it is time for you know who to come in."

Natasha gave her sister a slight nod then peeked her head out the door. North gave Zane the go ahead and waited outside the door in case he should be needed. When autumn came back into the room it was with summer behind her. Jack stared at summer in shock and his heart rate increased, rapidly beating. "Hey winter" Summer said and gave him a small smile that Jack perceived as a smirk. The winter spirit's eyes went wide before he opened his mouth and screamed "papa!"

North and Bunny were talking outside Jack's door whent they heard the boy cry out. Bunny looked to North with worry "looks like you better get in there papa." North would have laughed at Bunny's comment if it weren't for the desperate tone in the call. "Jack!" North called back as he threw open the door. He was heartbroken when he looked upon the boy who had backed himself up against the headboard of the bed, knees to his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs calling papa in a scared whisper. North rushed to Jack and gathered him up in his arms while Bunny backed summer up against the wall. "What did you do to him?!" Bunny barked at Zane. The spirit of summer held up his hands defensively "I didn't do anything, he just saw me and freaked out. I swear I didn't touch him."

Natasha laid a hand on Bunny's shoulder drawing him away from Zane. "Bunny I swear on my season, on all our seasons that Zane didn't touch the boy." Bunny looked to North who held the boy in his arms. "Did Zane hurt you Jack?" The winter spirit looked up at North and shook his head. "Did you get scared Jack? Be honest son." Jack nodded then buried his head into the christmas spirit's arms. "Why did you let summer in here North?" North was surprised by the boy's sudden question, it being the first sentence he had spoken in days. North set the boy down when he began to squirm in his arms. "Did Natasha and Jillian not talk to you son?" Jack looked down at the covers avoiding their gazes on him "I I'm sorry. I didn't realize you guys meant summer too." Jack looked at Zane then quickly looked down again. "I'm sorry summer" he whispered. "It's Zane, you can call me Zane. Remember Jack? I told you before the surgery that none of us would ever hurt you again including me and I meant it. We want, I want, to make a fresh start with you. Get to know you and you know us. We want to protect you from now on. After all, we do consider ourselves siblings so that makes you our little brother. Would like that winter? I mean Jack."

Jack really looked at Zane this time, he gave him a timid "yes" and a smile. After that the winter spirit settled down and the three other seasonals sat with their new little brother. They talked and ate lunch with him until it was clear that the winter spirit was starting to get tired and feeling pain. North gave the winter child his medicines one for his fever and some antibiotics. Jack's eyes began to droop so the three seasonal spirits and Bunny left but Jack made it clear in his own silent way that he didn't want to sleep alone, not that North would leave him. So the christmas spirit laid in the bed next to the frost child who curled up into him in sleep bringing a smile to North's lips. He watched to boy sleep for some time before sleep finally came to him also.

Over the next two weeks Jack had really learned to be comfortable with seasonal siblings even to the point that he and Zane could sit alone together. But not all was well with Jack. Though is center and body were healing his mind was the biggest mystery. His demeanor it seemed changed day by day sometimes even from one moment to the next. Even though he started talking again he would have moments when he would be completely silent. It was like Jack was having a war within his own mind on which side to be, Nightlight or Jack Frost? Tooth felt guilty, as the keeper of memories she felt she should be able to help or should have known better and shouldn't have allowed it. But really she had never done such a thing before especially for a nightlight from a star. This was really out of her element. But she also knew it was good for the winter sprite to know his whole life story.

Another problem was now that Jack was healing in most ways he was becoming restless and wanted out of bed. Sometimes he even demanded it out of MiM using his new found seniority as his nightlight over him but still they wouldn't cave. Sometimes the winter spirit would become downright combative and even dangerous. He tried to escape and fight them when they would do their tests. When that happened the doctor was forced to give Jack the calming medicine that would suppress his powers a bit. Other times the would just cry continuosly for what seemed to be no reason but Sandy could see the inner turmoil that was the frost child's mind. MiM could tell as well since he knew both Jack Frost and Nightlight well.

However, the healing of both body and soul or center were going well. The doctor felt that now it was ok for Jack to have some freedom from the machines for a few hours each day. So everyday someone would take turns taking Jack for walks around santoff clausen to help get some energy out then would sit with the group in the living room. Though no matter the constant change and mood swings the child faced, one thing remained the same. The boy craved attention, affection and touch. It didn't matter to Jack who he got it from although he did have his favorites. He would accept it from anyone, even Zane. Then at night would even scoot over in bed for his watcher to sleep in bed with him although he would never ask out loud or speak of it.

"Give me back my staff now!" Jack screamed at MiM. The boy had been demandingthat MiM let him go outside. It was clear that the winter spirit wasn't in his right mind. His eyes were glazed over and he was rather belligerent. He had ripped his IV out and the monitor off his chest then tried to smash through a window. Thankfully North's windows were some of the strongest in the world. Jack was pacing back and forth, gripping at his head and yelling at some unseen force though more than likely himself based on his conversation. North had no idea what to do so he called for MiM. "Nightlight! You know I can't do that. Look at the way you are acting, this isn't like you! I am not sure about your mental health right now. The last thing you should be doing is going out." Jack shot ice out at MiM then "How would you know what is or isn't like me?! I don't even know myself anymore! And if you are going to insist on calling me by that name then you will treat me according to my title. I was your guardian, your older brother. You should listen to me and what I want. I say to let me go! I can't stand to be in here any longer! I need to be free, the wind calls to me, the snow needs me." MiM grabbed a hold of him "Look at me Nightlight! You make no sense! You need to calm down. Please, lets just take a moment and be calm. We can talk about this. You clearly need help, let me help you. Please, as your brother let me help you?" Jack shook himself free of MiM and proceded to pound on the wall.

Bunny and Zane had heard the fighting from the living room it got that loud and quickly ran to help. Bunny and North grabbed a hold of Jack while Zane melted the ice and kept Jack's powers from exploding. "What are ya talking about frostbite? You make no sense!" Bunny straddled Jack holding him down to the floor while North went to get the doctor. Dr. Duran arrived through the portal as fast as North had left syringe in hand and injected Jack with the calming medicine. It took a few minutes but Jack did eventually pass out. "What was that all about?" Bunny shouted at MiM once Jack was out. North answered for him "he wanted to go outside and I told him no then he went crazy and tried to break the window so I called Manny. I didn't know what else to do."

"It's the boy's fever" Dr. Duran called over his shoulder while checking Jack over. "I just gave him something to bring it down but it will take time. I think a cold bath would work wonders right now. Bunny will you go get it ready for him? As cold as you can make it." Bunny left to do his task while North carried Jack to the bathroom, stripped him and placed him in the cold water. Zane followed closely behind to help should they need him. "You know, winter isn't lying when he says he needs to go outside. I know it makes no sense to you but the wind and snow really do call to him." Bunny looked at him incredulously and North didn't look much better. "When you are an elemental or a nature spirit like us it's only natural. You are connected to the earth and it calls to you. Winter can feel where his snow is needed just like I can feel where my warmth is needed. Bunny, you would undestand. It is like how you can feel when someone needs hope. But as for being outside all of us elementals crave the outdoors as is a given but unlike us Jack is nomadic or at least has no home that I have ever seen. He is a free spirit who literally goes wherever the wind takes him like a snowflake. The boy is quite unique and I guess that is one of the reasons we hated him so."

After the fight Jack had with MiM over going outside and Zane's explanation of the winter spirit's actual need to be outside the group began to understand Jack a little bit more. Jack's fever had gone down some and the boy became passive once again so they figured the doctor must have been right in his assumption. But now the winter spirit had sometimes days at a time when he was depressed and cried for hours for reasons no one knew. Today was one of those as Katherine sat watching Jack curled up into a ball on his bed crying and doing her best to try and comfort him.

"What is wrong my frostlight? Are you able to tell me?" Katherine moved to lay beside him and spooned him. She ran her fingers through his hair and talked to him. It seemed to help a tad as his crying quieted down. "I wish I knew what was going through your mind baby. Is it your memories? Are your personalities at war with each other?" Jack only moaned out in response. It seemed today was one of those days when he refused to talk. "Are you in pain? What can you do you?" Jack turned over and pulled her into his chest and buried his face in her neck as his response but no words were given.

After a half hour of this the winter spirits tears had finally subsided and he looked like he was falling asleep only to be woken when North and Dr. Duran came into the room. His tears started again until he noticed that both North and the doctor were smiling. North patted the boy's head while the doctor pulled off the monitor from Jack and carefully wrapped up his IV site. "You can walk around freely now Jack. You have gotten strong enough that we don't need to monitor you constantly now. You may wonder around where you please as long as its in this building with someone" Dr. Duran explained. The winter spirit instantly perked up and wiped his tears away. He happily followed Katherine around the workshop all day then sat with her in the living room, curled up against her in the evening.

Everyday Jack would happily walk around the workshop with anyone who would go with him and he even started to talk up a storm with everyone he saw. Usually he chatted with Tooth and Katherine excitedly until Tooth was sure her ears would fall off but she enjoyed every moment. She only wished that she could understand what the boy was talking about. Most things he said made sense but once in a while stories would conflict and sentences would jumble. Only signaling to her that his sides were still fighting for dominance. Sometimes she wasn't sure which side she was talking to, she almost figured it was a switch between the two personalities constantly. She only hoped that soon either one side would win out or the better option that the personalities would finally meld together.

Unfortunetly, the more freedom Jack received the more he faught when he had to go back in bed to be monitored and checked over. This happened to be one of those times. Tooth managed with great effort and against her wishes, much promises of sweets to get the winter spirit back in his room where Bunny was waiting. Tooth could tell Jack wasn't feeling well though he tried to hide it so Bunny had been told by the doctor to take some blood from the sprite. They all knew they were about to get into some trouble so Katherine had decided not to follow them back to his room. MiM and North were hiding in wait around the corner to help Bunny when Tooth literally pushed Jack into his room. "Tooth!" Jack shouted "What's the big idea?" Before he could say much else Bunny gripped his arm. "Don't move frostbite" Bunny warned. "Toothy this could get ugly, get out of here while you can. Let the men handle this." Tooth was so startled from the ice shards the suddenly flew out and stuck to the wall to argue with Bunny about his sexist comment. She flew out as fast as she could now understanding why Bunny had said what he said. MiM, North and Zane ran in after her just as Jack wriggled out of Bunny's grasp.

"Jack! Please don't be difficult son!" North called out as he dodged an icicle. "No! I told you to leave me alone!" Jack shouted back and his body began to glow a faint blue light. "We are just trying to help you Nightlight!" MiM yelled back while reaching fo him. "No! You are the worst little brother ever! If you really wanted to help me you would let me go!" Zane moved towards Jack and muttered a quick apology before throwing a fire blast at Jack causing the boy to back against the wall. "Enough winter, you need to stop this!" "No! You are supposed to be on my side now summer!" Jack said it with such disdane "You are an elemental too, you know how I feel!" Jack was beginning a small blizzard in the room now which really bothered the summer spirit but he was determined to stop his attack. Zane took on an aura of fire on him while Jack did the same with frost and his storm got stronger. Zane shot out a large blast of fire and Jack did the same with ice but was overpowered by Zane. Jack slid down the wall in pain in exhaustion. Zane's attack had burned his left arm, the one he held up to protect himself.

Zane approached him but in a last ditch effort Jack made his body glow bright trying to blind them. Thankfully Bunny saw it coming and with Jack focused on Zane he tackled the frost child and covered him with a blanket to block out the light. "Oh no you don't frostbite, we know that trick." Zane peeked under the blanket and when he saw the light dim he pulled it off the winter spirit. He lowered his temperature so could hold Jack's arm and see what the damage was. "Thank goodness its not too serious. That will heal up quickly with some burn cream. I am sorry I had to do that to you winter." Bunny held Jack in a tight grip to keep him still and Zane lifted the winter spirit's chin to look him in the eyes. "I do understand how you feel Jack but you still have to let us do what we have to do to heal you so you can be free. You are so close but you had a set back because you have been using too much power too soon and not resting enough. I know you are a child at heart so I think you may not fully understand what is happening. You have been through a major surgery twice now, and it takes time to recover from that even if you are Nightlight or Jack Frost."

North himself injected Jack with the calming medicine when he wasn't looking. Jack looked up at him in disbelief "but your..." he gasped out before he felt his limbs grow heavy and he was lifted off the floor and placed on the bed. "Some times papas have to make difficult decisions for their sons when they can't properly decide for themselves" North said while he tied the restraints to the bed and strapped Jack down. "I am only doing this for your own good. I love you son." When Bunny was sure that Jack couldn't get away or fight he took his good arm and looked for a vein but was having no luck. "I can't do this right now, I can't find a good vein and I don't want to hurt him."

"I will do it" North said and took Bunny's spot. He carefully tied the tourniquet around Jack's arm but no veins popped up so he got an idea. "Zane, come stand here and raise your temperature a bit for me veins come to the surface with warmth." Sure enough it worked and North slid the needle in as gently as possible and waited for the slow process of drawing out the winter spirit's blood. "There we are, now I will give you medicines and you will have good rest Jack. Set back should not last long if you rest and it seems I will have to keep you like this to make sure you do. If you are a good boy Jack I will let you of the restraints." "You sound like Pitch" Jack replied in a quiet shaky voice. North paused a moment from rubbing burn cream over his injured arm. "Yes" North whispered "but you know I am not. I only want to keep you safe. Right now you have proven to be a danger to yourself and others. Hopefully the blood test will show why your fever keeps coming back, may need a different antibiotic."

Zane sat next to the winter spirit and bandaged his burned art. "I'm sorry Jack." Jack shrugged, finally feeling calm and tired from the medicine's effect. "It's ok, I've had worse." Zane looked him with remorse. "I know but I am serious Jack. I am sorry for everything. You know I always took your power for granted but I was wrong. Look, you got my arm too so we are even." Jack sheepishly looke down at it "oh man. I'm sorry. I was being a jerk. I don't know what came over me. What keeps happening to me?" Bunny hopped over to inspect Zane's arm. "Don't worry, it will be fine Bunny. The ice is melted and the frostbite will go away on its own in a few hours." Bunny rubbed some healing oitment on it anyway "this will help and take away the sting." Zane turned to Jack then "it's ok kid, I've deserved it for a long time. But anyway, you are sick. People do strange things when they don't feel well and you haven't been well for a while. We are just going to keep these on you until we know you won't randomly attack us anymore, ok? Sound fair?" Jack nodded while Bunny hooked him back up to the monitors. North removed the bandages from Jack's chest to clean and dress the wound. North frowned at the wound when he saw the angry red skin and heard Jack hiss in pain. He quickly got to work cleaning it and applying healing salve all while doing his best not to hurt the snow sprite. "It is infected, the antibiotic isn't working. That is why we wanted you in bed again. We could tell you weren't feeling well again." "I'm sorry...papa" Jack whispered. North finished with his task and hugged the boy "it's all right snowball, all is forgiven" he said while Jack fell asleep in his arms.

The blood test results and the doctor was finally able to find the right antibiotic this time and the wound was now healing properly. The infection was gone and so was the fever leaving the winter spirit sane once again. At least as sane as one could be when you have two sides fighting for dominance in one's mind. However, during that time of healing none of the women were permitted to treat or visit Jack for fear he may hurt them. But now the frost child was proving to be a good boy and so Katherine, accompanied by North was permitted to be with Jack when the doctor came in with the best news for the boy.

"Jack my boy! Today is the day those stitches can come out." The winter spirit gave him a bright smile. "Does that mean I can go outside now?" Dr. Duran sat down and gave him a sad look. " Not quite, you will need to wait a litte bit longer for the wound to completely scar over once the stitches are out. With your healing it won't be much longer but I will let you roam around freely now, no more monitors." Jack's eyes went wide "not even when I sleep?" Dr. Duran gave him a bright smile back "not even when you sleep. You may wander and sleep wherever you wish to now as long as it is here in santoff clausen. But just know the guardians will continue to do your vitals every once in a while so don't give them a hard time, understand?"

The doctor laid out a few tools and Jack visibly flinched. "Is it going to hurt?" North stood next to Jack and laid a hand on his shoulder gripping it lightly. "It might" Dr. Duran replied "but it shouldn't be too bad. Small price to pay to not be bounded to a bed right? But I will be as gentle as possible, ok?" Jack nodded and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes as the doctor cut away and pulled out the stitches. Thankfully it wasn't too painful, just uncomfortable. The doctor cleant the would then covered it with a fresh bandage. "There you are, that should heal the rest of the way in a matter of days. Now lets get you out of these restraints."

The restraints came off along with the wires and IV. The frost child had never been more happy. It may not be outside but this was better than being bed ridden and so the child leaped for joy. "Easy Jack" Dr. Durand warned "no pulling off elaborate stunts or running and jumping too much until that wound completely scars over." North looked to the doctor then "so there will be a scar then?" "Unfortunetly yes, that is a permanent scar. It is unavoidable. It was a major wound inflicted upon his body, wounds like that don't heal without scars." But Jack was too excited to care. He quickly ran out of the room with Katherine following closely behind as he wandered all over for the rest of the afternoon.

The frost spirit silently took Katherine's hand and dragged her around everywhere with him. He made it point to visit Phil the yeti to show him how much better he was doing and phil hugged him. Phil playfully threatened Jack that he was watching out for his tricks but the winter spirit shrugged his threat off. Jack wandered around with no particular in place in mind just happy not to be bound to a bed anymore. Him and Katherine eventually found themselves in the sitting room where autumn happened to be reading a book. Natasha gave him a bright smile then moved in for a hug which Jack took willingly, even hugged her back. "How are you feeling brother?" Jack gave her a smile the statement that lit up his whole face. "Better, just wish I could go outside and I really want my staff back. I am not used to always being grounded but this is better than being in bed." Natasha sat the winter sprite down and took his cold hands in hers. "You will get there Jack, just need to be patient. I know that is hard when you have been stuck inside for so long but trust me you are almost there. That wound just has to finish healing without the stitches and you will be on your way." "I know, just sucks." Natasha nodded then changed the subject. "Well I was just about to go meet Zane and Jillian for lunch. Would you two like to join us?" Katherine catching her hint spoke up for them both "Of course! We would be delighted." Kathering took Jack's hand in hers and pulled him along as they followed Natasha to the kitchens.

Jack led Katherine down to the gym. It was a few days later and just like Natasha had said, Jack's wound was now scarred over. Jack was now officially completely healed but that didn't mean North was willing to give the boy his staff back yet or let him go outside. Jack's mind was always still a mystery even though his mental health seemed to be improving with his new freedoms. That and Jack still needed check ups. North knew if he let the boy out now with his staff they wouldn't see him for a while to do it. Jack wasn't happy about it and he found ways to show it. Usually arguing with him demanding for what he wanted or sat at the windor sill staring outside crying heavily.

Today after all his wanderings through out santa's workshop Jack had found a gym and he decided to play basketball with Katherine. Said girl was watching the winter spirit apprehensively "frostlight, I really don't think you should be playing basketball right now?" Jack dribbled the ball around the gym while she spoke. "Why not? Wound is all healed. What's the worst that could happen? If the old man won't let me outside this is the least I could do." Katherine moved in and grabbed the ball forcing the winter spirit to look at her. "I'm serious Jack, I just want you to be careful. Don't rush into things. We all feel that way that is why North won't let you leave yet." Jack just laughed lightly in response and took the ball back from her. "I am being serious too. It's really ok. Like I feel great! You're just worrying too much and so is North." The frost child threw the ball into the hoop and twirled around excitedly. "See? I still got it!" Katherine just shook her head in exasperation.

Jack was about to take another shot when he was startled by North's booming voice shouting his name "Jack Frost!" North swiftly approached the boy while Jack tried to shrink away. North snatched the ball out of his hands and stared down at him. "N North" Jack managed to stutter out. "What do you think you are doing?" North asked him, a touch of anger in his voice. "I I was just...just playing." "You were just playing basketball?! Have you truly lost your mind boy?! Playing basketball with your heart the way it is?!" Jack visibly shook while he quietly answered " But but its healed...see? Even the wound is closed now, nothing but scar tissue is left. You still won't let me outside for some reason which I don't get so I figured I could play in the gym." North shook his slowly letting his anger fade. "No my son, you still have to take it easy. Sports are too strenuos for you right now."

"Geez North, stop treating me like I'm a child." "But you are a child" "No I am not, I am older than MiM. Hell, I am probably even older than Pitch since I was a star once so I heard and stars live forever." "Jack, I am not having this conversation with you" North retorded. "Now you go to your room. It is time for your exam anyway and Bunny is waiting for you." "What? No!" Jack replied backing up as if he was scared. North decided to speak softer and to soothe the boy. "Jack, its alright. It is not to hurt you, you should know that by now. We have to do it every couple of days, remember?" "Well, I don't want to." North laid a hand on his shoulder and gripped it lightly. "I know but its not a matter of want, its have to." The winter sprite go mad at that and shook North's hand off him "No! I am not delicate! Stop treating me like I am!" North could feel his own anger coming back at dealing with the unruly teenager. "Yes you are! Do you have any idea what we went through, what it took to keep you here?! What you went through?!"

Katherine stepped in and gently pulled North back bringing him back to his senses. "I am sorry, you probably don't remember. You were in a catatonic state for a very long time. So please forgive me if I worry over you too much." The frost child looked at him in confusion then brushed it off. "Why don't you ever tell Katherine what to do? She is a child too." The question stopped North in his tracks throwing him off guard. "Why on earth would I need to tell Katherine what to do? She needs no guidance and she isn't ill. If she was she would do what she is told to get better, unlike someone else I know who refuses to listen. That is why I am your guardian Jack. You can't take care of yourself properly. You don't admit when you are ill and don't accept help when you need it." "I can take care of myself. I don't need a guardian!" Jack yelled. "Yes you do!" North yelled back. "Why?!" North was truly losing his patience now and shouted out a statement he truly wish he didn't say. "Because you were ignored for 200 hundred years then enslaved by a sadistic pervert for a century who broke you! Now your body and soul are finally healed but your mind is still a mess child! What with two sides of you constantly at war with each other. You can't possibly take care of youself!"

North could already start to see the damage he caused when Jack's lower lip quivered and his eyes filled with tears. The christmas spirit tried to get a hold of the situation before it got any worse. "I am sorry son. I shouldn't have said that. I was angry but that is no excuse. But you don't undertsand even though your body and center are now healed your mental state is not well. Everyone can see you are traumatized by Pitch and by the lack of contact before him. Also, your conflicting memories of your life as Nightlight and Jack Frost and messing with your mind. Each personality it seems is trying to rule over the other. We are never sure which spirit we are talking to. That is why I am in charge of you now. I am not trying to rule over you but to be a parent to you, to guide you and if need be to make decisions for you." North tried to move in to hug when Jack's tears flowed freely down his cheeks and the boy moved away from him. "Well you suck!" Jack yelled out and swiftly ran out of the room. North started after him but paused when Katherine got in his way. "Let him go Nick. He needs space right now and so do you. I am sure he will cool off in a bit, just give him time." Feeling a tension headache coming on North pinched the bridge of his nose for what seemed like the hundreth time "I am sure you are right."

Jack ran to his room as fast as he could. When he reached the door he threw it open then jumped into his bed and sobbed into his pillow. He was so upset that he hadn't realized that he wasn't alone in the room until Bunny spoke up. "What is the matter frostbite?" The winter sprite jumped up, startled at hearing Bunny and quickly wiped away his tears with the back of his hand. "Hey Bunny, when did you get here?" "I was here already ya gumby. I was waiting for you. Didn't North tell ya?" "North is a jerk" Jack spat. "Hey now, that's not very nice." Jack punched his pillow but without any real strength behind it. "Who cares, I'm already on the naughty list anyway." Bunny chose to ignore that comment and push on. "What happened snowy?" Jack looked up at him with red glassy eyes "do you really want to know?" Bunny nodded and stayed quiet waiting for the frost child to explain.

Jack explained to Bunny about what had happened in the gym and the easter spirit listened intently to every word. He never once complained or tried to interupt or correct the child until he was sure the boy had finished. "And then he shouted it was because I was ignored for 200 hundred years then enslaved by a sadistic pervert for a century who broke me!" Bunny face-palmed at that "Ouch that was harsh." "I know!" Jack cried out and continued to cry into his pillow not caring if he cried openly in front of Bunny. "God damn it North" Bunny whispered under his breath as he rubbed the winter spirit's back.

"Listen kiddo, he shouldn't have said that but you've got to forgive North. He has been under a lot of stress lately as have we all and I'm saying that is an excuse. I am sure that you don't remember a lot because you were not yourself for a while but we all struggled to keep you here. Do you have any memory of what happened of what happened after the first surgery? What happened with Pitch?" Jack looked up at him for a moment with eyes full of shame and turned away. "I suppose you do. You probably relived it all when you went through the memory transfer didn't you? But you passed out after that. Well actually not passed out, you died Jack, again. But we got you back. Afterwards you were catatonic. Your memories were probably all fuzzy in those parts because of it am I right?" Jack didn't answer. "The only thing that helped you out of it was Katherine, she was literally our last hope. If she didn't put a spark in you then MiM was going to take mercy on you. Finally giving you all your memories fully brought you out of it but at what cost to your mind? I got to say frosty, you are really worrying me. Forgive him, forgive us if we are a little bit over-protective of you."

Jack sat up and wiped his tears away with the sleeve of his blue hoodie. "I don't remember all of it even with the memory transfer and some of it is fuzzy. I guess it makes sense why now. I'm sorry...I didn't mean to cause trouble. I just wanted to play. I do forgive North and I didn't mean to make him angry." Bunny pulled the boy into a hug "its alright. I understand." Bunny rubbed his back and waited a bit for him to calm down. "Now, how about we get this exam over with quickly, ok? I need you to take your hoodie and undershirt off."

Jack looked up at him with fearful eyes that then became angry. "No!" "Jack, please don't do this. It needs to be done and I really don't want to fight you but I will if I have to. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, your choice." "Well, then I say no. I don't want to." "Poor choice" Bunny whispered to himself. "Alright then, you leave me no choice." Bunny got up and locked the door. "We are doing this the hard way. I will force you and no one is going to come in here to help you. It's just you and me." The frost child backed away towards the door but Bunny already saw what he was going to do and pinned Jack to the wall. In one swift move Bunny pulled the boy's hoodie and shirt off. "I will do this exam with you conscious or not. Which do you prefer?" Bunny asked in an annoyed tone as he held up a syringe full of medicine. Jack lowered his head and stared at the floor while he walked over to the bed. "Good boy" Bunny whispered as he laid out his medical tools.

Bunny picked up the thermometer and put it in Jack's mouth then placed a pulsometer (oxygen reader) on his finger. Bunny waited for them to beep then removed them. "Oxygen is good and your temperature well, its cold enough to give me frostbite, frostbite." Bunny laughed at his own joke but Jack rolled his eyes at him. "Give me your arm." Jack blew a little frost at him when Bunny wrapped the cuff around his arm. "Behave" Bunny warned while he placed the chest piece of the stethoscope underneath the cuff and placed the buds in his ears. Bunny pumped it, held it then released the pressure and removed it. "Blood pressure is good" he said while he placed the items down and picked up another tool. He went to place it in the boy's ear but he shook his head. "Don't get feisty now" Bunny said as he checked each ear then his eyes, nose and mouth without much trouble. "All is well there. Lets have a look at that scar." Jack flinched away but Bunny held him in place as he pressed his paws onto Jack's chest feeling the scar and the flesh around it. "All healed, no tears in the skin." Bunny picked up the stethoscope again placing the buds in his ears and brought the chest piece towards him. "Lets have a listen frostbite." Bunny placed the diaphram to Jack's back "when I tell you, breathe in deep."

Jack shivered and started to breathe rapidly. Bunny picked up on this and looked up at him "What's the matter Jackie?" The boy didn't say anything so Bunny continued to move the scope across his back. "Lungs sound good and clear but I can hear you panicking, its making it hard to hear. Just relax Jackie, everything is fine, you're almost done." Bunny went to place the scope on Jack's chest but he reached out to grab it. Bunny grabbed the frost child's wrist making him let go. "Do you want me to tie you down to this bed?" Jack settled a bit and Bunny placed the scope on his chest for a minute while watching the clock on the wall. He moved the scope down further. With each spot that Bunny moved the stethoscope he could hear the boy's heart rate increase and could feel him shivering but not from the cold of course. Bunny could hear the boy whimper would he moved it further down and over to the left more. "I hate this. I don't want to do this anymore. Please, don't do this to me" Jack managed to whisper but Bunny didn't realize that Jack wasn't really talking to him. "I know snowflake, I know. No one wants to do this either" Bunny replied gently then carefully pushed Jack down onto the bed and moved the stethoscope over just under his left pec almost to the side. Bunny pushed the scope a little firmer into Jack to the point Jack moaned out in discomfort then moved him onto his side. "Sorry snowflake, your little heart is just beating so hard and fast. I wanted to make sure I heard it right."

Bunny finished and placed the stethoscope down then stared into the face of the paler than usual winter sprite. That is when Jack's demeanor and change in heart rate and breathing gave Bunny a suspicion about the seemingly least threatening medical tool. "Jackie, talk to me. What happened to you that has you so frightened of a medical tool that isn't painful?" Jack shook his head as if trying to clear his mind of something. "Now we have used this tool may times and its always the same reaction. This tool seems to get you the most agitated snowflake. You do know what this is right? What it does? It's just a stethoscope, used for listening to internal sounds. That is all, nothing painful." Bunny watched as Jack cringed looking at it. "Did something happen to you?" Jack turned away from him "Was it Pitch?" Jack refused to meet his eyes. "What did he do? Can you tell me?" Jack just shrugged and held his face in his hands. "It's ok to talk about it snowflake. You can tell me. I am not going to judge you or blame you for anything, I promise. Please, I want to understand."

It took a few minutes of silence before the boy finally relented. "Pitch used to use that" Jack whispered. Bunny gave him a strange look "a stethoscope?" Jack only nodded. "What in the hell for?" Jack shook his head as if just as confused "I...I uh..I don't know. I don't really understand...what he was...doing." Bunny laid a paw on his shoulder "That is ok Jack, just do your best to explain it as best you know." Jack stared at the floor not wanting to look at Bunny while he explained. "Well...you know what he...did to me? The...private stuff...I mean." Bunny squeezed his should to encourage him to continue. "He would say that he wasn't into medical fetish?...I am not...sure what that means. But he said...he said he...wanted to know what my heartbeat sounded like...when." Jack trailed off unable to continue and a long pause followed so Bunny said it for him. "When you came?" Bunny asked. Jack let out a choked sob and completely turned away from Bunny. "He did it alot...he said..one day...my heart would break...and he couldn't wait to hear it." Bunny pulled Jack to him and held him close to his chest as the boy continued through his sobs. "He liked to inject me with stuff too...I think it was nightmare sand. I'm not sure but...it hurt so bad! He liked to experiment on me...with all kinds of stuff. When he found out that medical stuff freaked me out because I have never been to a doctor before in my whole entire life, no matter which one you look at, he used them. It hurt and scared me so much! I really don't...understand it all. What he wanted from me?...What he was doing to me?"

Bunny listened carefully to the boy while he held him close and began to stroke his hair. After a moment he decided now was the time to ask the question that had been plaguing his mind for so long but was always too afraid to ask for fear upsetting the boy. "Jack..before Pitch...were you a virgin?" Bunny asked in a low voice. "Yes" Jack answered, voice barely above a whisper. "I figured you never had intercourse as Nighlight. You seemed even younger then. But even as a human you were a virgin?" Jack nodded then whispered in Bunny's ear "I was only sixteen when I died as a human. Pitch..is..the..only one." Jack couldn't tal anymore, voice too thick from tears. Bunny just held him while the winter spirit cried his heart out.

When it seemed that the winter spirit had finally calmed down Bunny spoke again. "I wish you had trusted us enough to tell one of us this sooner. We could have helped you. Maybe we could have done something else to calm you to do the exams without having to resort to restaining you or injecting you with meds. None of us want to hurt you or scare you snowflake. There were other ways to handle the situation. Hell we could have even had ya drink some medicine that helps with anxiety before we even took you to the hospital in the first place. I am so sorry Jack." Jack finally looked up at Bunny "I'm sorry. I didn't know you guys that well yet and I was scared." Bunny held the winter spirit's face in his paws "I understand. There is no need for you to be sorry. This is not your fault. None of this is your fault. This is Pitch's fault, for hurting you and for making you so untrusting of others. Also, I should have caught on before that something was up. I should have asked you sooner. I am so deeply sorry Jack. I love ya kiddo and I never meant to hurt you or scare you."

Bunny pulled away after a moment. "I am sorry to do this but I'm done with you yet. I got some more I got to do but its going to be ok. We will take this nice and slow. I got to get your heart rate up and listen to it. Hear how it sounds and how long it takes to calm back down. I could have you do a few exercises but I got a better idea." Bunny started nuzzling his head into the back of Jack's neck distracting him from the stethoscope. "What are you doing Bunny?" Jack asked slightly startled until he shock became laughter as Bunny began tickling him into hysterics, his laughter like music to his ears. It was great to hear the boy finally laughing once again. He tickled Jack until the boy couldn't breathe then stopped to listen through the scope as his laughter and rapidly beating heart started to calm down. Jack's laughter died down and he stared up at Bunny while he listened to his chest. The boy laid still on the bed just a bit scared to move while Bunny pressed the scope just a little firmer. After a minute or two Bunny pulled it away.

"That sounded really good frostbite, so much better than before." Jack gave him a small smile, happy to have good news for once. "Now, I've got to do one last thing and you can be on your way but I know you won't like this even more. I have to take some blood from you." Jack immediately started to shake "Bunny no, it hurts." Bunny just gently lowered Jack back down to lay on the bed and got the needle ready. He was careful to keep it out of Jack's line of vision. "I know snowflake. I'm sorry it hurts so much. It's just because your blood is frozen." "It's not frozen" Jack retorted. "Well not frozen but you know what I mean. So now listen, I have a deal for you. You have been pretty good so far. If you let me do this without fighting me, trying to escape, or frosting me then I will let you go outside tomorrow."

The frost sprite's eyes lit up like a christmas tree and a big smile formed on his face "really?!" Bunny nodded "really." But Jack's delight suddenly fell. "But North won't let me go outside. How are you going to change his mind?" Bunny gave him a smirk "don't you worry about North, Jackie. I will handle him. I feel you are healthy enough now and I am sure I can make North agree with me." Jack still wasn't convinced "What if he won't listen?" "He is not my boss, I do what I want and I don't make promises I can't keep." Jack accepted the answer "Why tomorrow? Why not tonight?" Bunny ruffled Jack's hair playfully "because, you silly ice brat, it is getting late. You still have to eat dinner, shower and get ready for bed." "Geez Bunny, I didn't know I had a bedtime routine like I was four" Jack replied in an annoyed tone. "Consider it a routine until further notice. Anyway, do you accept my deal or no? That also includes no blinding light, got it?" Jack laid still as possible on the bed with his arm stretched out and head turned away. "That's my boy. Now don't worry I am not going to try and stab you a million times. I get three tries and I am done then the doctor will have to do it if he really wants it." Bunny carefully tied the tourniquet around Jack's arm and searched for a vein. He thought he had a good one so he warned the sprite "ok Jack, small poke." Bunny slid the needle in and pushed in a bit. Jack hissed out in pain but Bunny continued until he had to give up when no blood flowed and he untied the tourniquet. "I am sorry snowflake. I am going to try again but this time I am going to put this heating pad on your arm for a minute or two but not too long so you won't get burned." Bunny retied the tourniquet in another spot and placed the pad on Jack's arm. After a moment more veins popped up and Bunny was sure he had a really good one. "Ok Jack, here we go" he slid the needle in and searched. Jack let out a small whimper and Bunny stopped moving the needle when the blood finally started to flow. It took a few minutes but eventually all the tubes were filled and Bunny removed the needle, placing a bandaid over the puncture wound.

"Very good job Jackie. You held up your end of the bargain now I will do mine. Tomorrow morning, after breakfast I will make sure you go outside. I will even take you myself." Jack's face lit up and gave Bunny a big hug "thank you Bunny!" "No need to thank me ya little ankle biter, you deserve it. Now I want you to go meet the others in the dining room for dinner. Tell them I will be there soon. I got to make a stop at the hospital first to give the doc this stuff." "Okay" Jack replied as bounded for the door and quickly fled the room. Bunny watched the boy go with a sad smile on his face while he gathered everything up. "Guess I have a conversation with North, Tooth and Sandy later. I got to tell them what I learned about Jack and Pitch."

At dinner Jack still barely ate much but now they all expected as much from the winter sprite. Hoever, Jack appeared to be in a good mood despite coming back from an exam. After he had finished eating he excused himself and waited for the others to finish while walking around the room humming to himself. The boys lips were pulled into a smile while he hummed to himself as if no one was watching. Zane was the first one to approach the boy after everyone had finished and cleaned up. Jack was sitting in a chair by the window in the living room creating and playing with his snowflakes. When Zane approached him the winter spirit quickly dropped the snowflakes onto to carpet as if afraid they would hurt the summer spirit.

"Hey winter, what has got you so happy?" Zane asked. "Oh, hey summer, sorry about the snowflakes." Zane patted him on the shoulder affectionately "no worries, they won't hurt me. So, what are you thinking about? You look like you are in a really good mood." The winter spirit gave him a great big smile like he was about to tell him a secret. "I am going outside tomorrow!" Jack announced loudly, unable to contain his excitement any longer. "Really?" Zane asked "that is great news! I am so happy for you." But Jack's excitement dimmed when he heard North's booming voice "you what?!" Jack looked up at North with a deteremined look knowing that Bunny was on his side. "Bunny said I could go outside tomorrow after breakfast. I was good just like he said. I held up my end of the bargain so now I get to go outside tomorrow, he promised." Jack replied and North glared at Bunny. "You told him he could go outside tomorrow?" Bunny nodded "I did." "And just why would you tell him that?" North asked in a no nonsense tone. "I think you and I need to have a talk. Tooth, Sandy, you both too" Bunny answered back.

"Are you guys going to have a guardian meeting?" Jack piped up "without me?" Can I come too?" North gave Bunny a look and Bunny realized he would be the one to distact the boy from their adult meeting about him. "You know what frostbite? This isn't really a guardian meeting and its not mandatory for you to attend. You see its just some boring holiday crap we have to go over which usually just ends up in a fight about which holiday is better, easter or christmas. Then if we stop fighting we will talk about how to get more teeth for Tooth and get kids to fall asleep faster for Sandy. Honestly, it is really boring and I don't really want to go but I have to. You're new and you do seasonal stuff so you don't have to go." Jack gave him a pouty face "but I want to go." Bunny looked to Tooth for help but she was just as lost on what to do as he was. Then an idea struck him "Say snowflake. Did you have dessert yet? I heard there is apple pie in the kitchen. Why don't you go help yourself to some?" Jack didn't look very excited though. "I've never had apple pie before" Jack simply stated. "Really? Well it is really good especially with vanilla ice cream." "I don't know about pie but I really do like vanilla ice cream but I don't think we have any" Jack answered back sadly. "Well, why don't you make your own?" Bunny suggested. "You are a winter sprite aren't ya? Should be easy for you, just need some milk, sugar and vanilla." "I can really make it?" "Sure you can! Go knock yourself out kid. Zane will even take to the kitchen to see Phil who will help you with the ingrendients then add some of your wintery magic and you are all set." Jack jumped out of his seat not wasting any time as he darted out the room towards the kitchen with Zane at his heels.

Bunny watched as the two seasonal spirits ran for the kitchen while he moved to lock the door. "I figured that would get the kid's attention." Sandy created images of a door and Jack entering it and a question mark. "Yes, what Sandy said" North replied out loud. Bunny turned around to after listening to make sure no one was on the otherside of the door. "Yes, I did tell him he could go outside tomorrow after breakfast. We made a deal that if he could be good and not fight me when I drew his blood the I would let him out. He let me prick him twice and I was able to get the blood without a fuss." "Bunny, are you sure that is a good idea?" Tooth asked but before he could answer North jumped in "I don't care what your deal was. He can't go outside yet, he isn't ready!" Bunny shouted over him "yes, he is! All the test have come back fine and it's not like I told him he could have his staff back. I just told him that he could go outside. Unfortunetly, Nick, we don't have a choice. We all know the boy is dangerous. He doesn't mean it of course but he is healing rapidly now which means his powers are stronger. Being stuck inside all day with no outlet, no play time is riling him up. He needs to be worn out and his powers spent. Toothy, Sandy, don't you two agree?"

Tooth looked as though she were fighting with herself before finally answering. "Yes, I guess that makes sense. Maybe we should listen to Bunny, North. It sounds like he has a good point." Sany nodded and gave a thumbs up to show he agreed. "Look Nick, I know you are just worried about him. We all are and I know his mental state is questionable at best, downright scary at worst. But I really feel being outside will help with that. Just like Zane said he feels the call to the earth. He is nomadic and a winter spirit, he doesn't belong inside. The outdoors will do him good and it is not like he can go far without his staff. I figure we will give him the staff back after the doctor fully clears him." North relented, feeling defeated but more understanding of Bunny's reasons. "I suppose you are right Aster. Thank you my friend, for having the boy's interest at heart. Perhaps if all goes well after a few day of being outside we can take him back to the hospital. The doctor can do more tests then decide if he can fully clear him. Only then will the boy get his staff back." Bunny patted him on the back "I knew you would understand. "We all have to face facts, our days with the sprite constantly at our sides is numbered. We can't keep him to ourselves, he belongs to the earth. We will have to set him free."

That night after their meeting North had made sure that Jack had showered and was ready for bed. They all sat down to watch a movie together and eat popcorn until Jack had fallen asleep in his chair. That is when North picked the frost child up and carried him to him room then tucked him in bed. Tooth and Sandy left to do their jobs leaving North, Bunny and Zane left behind. Bunny stayed for a bit longer before deciding that he needed to check on things in his warren. Zane wasn't far behind him stating that he was to meet Natasha and Jillian for a bit. That left North to have some quiet time with himseld since Katherine had returned home for a bit earlier and had not returned yet. North poured himself a drink of whiskey and relaxed for a bit until he felt his eyes growing heavy. He soon put himself to bed after checking on Jack one last time.

It was about two in the morning when North was woken by the quiet patting of bare feet across his wooden floors. Of course North wasn't frightened, he knew who it was. It was Jack, or Nightlight based on the faint glow of his body, coming in to get in bed with him. Ever since the boy was able to sleep on his own now and without any monitors he had sneaked into bed with someone, apparently not wanting to sleep alone. Jack would usually sleep with Katherine but anyone would do. The winter spirit found his way into Tooth's bed or Sandy's. Even Bunny's at times but if Katherine wasn't around North was usually Jack's second choice if the christmas spirit had already gone to bed. It seeme tonight was no different even though he and Jack had had a fight earlier that say. Jack stood there at the side of the bed staring at North who pretended to be asleep so as not to scare the boy off. After a minute or two Jack lifted the covers and slid in next to North. He cuddled up against North who with his eyes still closed wrapped his arms around the child, holding him in an embrace. Not long after the boy's eyes closed, his glow dimmed and his breath evened out. North watched while he slept until he fell asleep as well.

The next day North was up early. He had made sure a great breakfast buffet was prepared while Jack still slept in his bed. North wanted to make sure the boy ate well before going outside because he knew he wouldn't be able to wrestle the winter spirit back in for lunch. Bunny arrived not long after to hold up his end of the bargain and take the boy outside himself. Tooth and Sandy wandered in as did Katherine. They sat at the table and talked while they waited for Jack to wake up. They didn't have to wait long as the winter spirit ran down the stairs fully ready to go out. He was already showered, dressed, hair and teeth brushed when he came to a stop at the table. North made the boy sit and served him while the others ate. North made sure Jack ate something but it was clear the boy could not contain his excitement any longer. Just when he thought he would burst and his body glowed with his excitement Bunny got up and motioned him to follow. Jack did and so did the others until they reached the door that led out to the frozen landscape outside. North laid a hand on the doorknob before turning to Jack. "Are you Ready?" "YES!" the boy practically screamed while North slowly opened the door. However, when the door fully opened Jack didn't run out immediately. He stopped and stared out the door as if unsure what to do. "Jack? What is the matter son?" North asked gently. "Come on Jack, I told you I was taking you outside" Bunny said. But Jack didn't move so North tried to gently nudge him a bit. "Jack, its ok. You can go outside. You have my permission and I am not mad." Jack stared up at him in disbelief. "This isn't a trick" North said reassuringly. Jack took a step out the door but tears started to fall from his eyes. "What is the matter sweet tooth?: Tooth asked as she moved in for a hug. Katherine stood next to him and took his hand in hers.

"It's just that...Am I free?" Jack asked quietly staring out at the snow. North placed his hand under Jack's chin and lifted his head to meet his eyes. "Jack, you have been free since we rescued you from Pitch. We did not keep you locked in side to be a prisoner though I understand if it made you feel that way. Anyway, to answer your question, yes son you are free. Now I am not giving you your staff back yet until the doctor does his tests and clears you but other than that yes you are free. You can stay outside all day and play to your hearts content. I will even send lunch out here for you should you get hungry." "So I am free" Jack whispered to himself "I haven't been outside, I mean really outside like how I want in over a century because of Pitch and how sick I was after. I guess I just don't know how to handle it." Tooth ran her fingers through his hair comforting him "that is ok honey, take your time. Remember this is something you wanted to do so you do it however you want." A few more tears fell down Jack's face before he suddenly broke into a sprint and ran out the door as fast as he could into the snowy land. The winter spirit jumped into the snow and practically disappeared into a snow bank. Bunny was the first to follow him out since he did tell the boy he would be the one to take him out. Katherine followed next as did North, Sandy and Tooth.

Jack didn't seem to notice them as he was so involved in rolling around in the snow. The boy hopped, jumped and rolled in the snow as though he would never do it again. After he started creating snowflakes which eventually led to snow showers. The winter spirit moved far back away from the group and let his wintery magic pour out of him. He created ice statues, froze trees, brought heavy snow down upon the forests and frosted anything that wasn't covered in snow already. He went further out with a nod from North. Jack's body and eyes glowed brightly as he wrapped himself in one huge centralized blizzard for about 20 minutes, releasing all the pent up energy he possessed. Eventually the storm dissipated leaving behind a very content but tired winter spirit laying upon the snow covered ground, powers completely spent.

When he was sure the kid was done Bunny hopped the distance to Jack. He stood over the boy staring down at him. "Hey frostbite, how do you feel?" Jack stared up at him with a great big smile on his face. one that showed all his sparkling teeth. "Like I have never felt before. It's amazing! I have never been so happy!" Jack rose up and hovered just above the snow not trully flying but using his winter magic to let the wind push around his slight frame. He floated back over to the groupd following Bunny. North stared at him up and down with concern. "How do you feel son? Are you well? Is everything ok? Do you need to go inside for a break?" Jack sort of fluttered around him like Tooth would do but in this case to show off. "Woah woah, easy there North. I'm fine! I feel great!" "What about your ticker my boy?" North asked worriedly. "It feels fine! I think so..I mean, I don't have any pain and I'm not really tired. Well maybe just a little bit because I made a big storm back there." North laughed at that "yes you did" North whispered under his breath. "But seriously, I feel amazing. I promise that I am not lying and I don't need a break."

All of a sudden a snowball hit Jack dead in the face. "Well that is good because we have a snowball fight to be had" Zane stated to him. The summer spirit stood there with autumn and spring holding another snowball waiting in his hand. Each of the other seasons, mostly summer, were wearing so many layers of clothing it was hard to tell just how many there were. "Zane, Natasha, Jillian! When did you guys get here?" Jack asked with excitement. "Oh just a few moments ago during your blizzard. We sensed a crazy amount of winter magic and so we came to check on you" Natasha stated. "That is when we remembered that you were well enough to go outside today so we came to play with you" Jillian added. "So how about a snowball fight then?" Zane asked. "It won't hurt you Zane? And what about you two?" Jack asked voice full of concern. "No worries winter, I am bundled up real good and when I get too cold I will call a time out to go warm up. The cold can hurt me if I don't warm up when I need I need to but it doesn't do as much damage to me as heat does to you." "Same with us Jack, now lets play" Jillian replied.

So a huge snowball fight ensued for a while until everyone needed a break to go in and warm up all except for the winter spirit of course. The boy was still going strong, still full of energy so while the others went in for lunch and hot chocolate Jack played outside. The others watched him from the windows while the sprite enjoyed playing by himself. At times they would each wander out to play with him again until they needed to warm up again. This lasted well into the evening and eventually Jack had wore himself out to the point that he fell asleep in the snow. North went outside to fetch him and put him into bed preparing for the next day of fun in the snow.

Everyday started the same after that. Jack would rush downstairs to breakfast, forced to eat something by North the leaped out into the snow. The boy stayed outside and played all day long which eventually took its toll on everyone due to the cold. Sometimes they just watched him from the window to keep an eye on him. Every so often someone would go out and play with him until the cold became too much. But Jack didn't seem to mind, he was just happy to be out in his element and to release his energy. When he became lonely playing by himself he was usually able to convince a yeti to play with him. Yetis could play with longer anyway since they could handle the cold better. Most often Jack would play with Phil who was given special permission by North to play with the boy whenever he wanted basically acting as a babysitter for the others. So today it Phil and Jack playing together outside building snow forts.

North laughed as watched out the window seeing Phil get pounded by snowballs. "I think you were right Bunny. Jack does seem a lot better and is much more manageable now that he plays outside." Bunny smirked at him "I'm always right. It's like I told ya, Jack just had too much energy and needed to get rid of it." The seasonal siblings laughed while they watched their brother's antics. "I knew what I was talking about when I said Jack needed the outdoors" Zane replied. "Yes, we elemental all crave the outdoors, being inside too long makes us crazy" Natasha added. "Especially for someone as free roaming as Jack" Jillian said. "I just love to see him play, he is so cute!" Tooth exclaimed. Sandy gave a bright smile in agreement. "It is nice to see him acting like the same winter spirit I used to watch from a distance while he spread his snow all over the world. But I see more of Nightligtht now then I did" Katherine added.

MiM suddenly materialized in front of her startling her out of her wits. "That is true, he now seems to recognize himself as Nightlight as well but we no longer have the same relationship we once had." Katherine gave him a serious look "well, that is because a lot has happened between you that still hasn't been resolved yet like he is still mad at you for abandoning him for so long." "I did not abandon him" Mim replied. "Well that is how he felt. You have to take his feelings into consideration and remember that he is not the same. He has changed even with the memory transfer. I love no matter who he is Nightlight or Jack Frost. You have to treat Jack with the same respect as you would Nightlight or you will never get anywhere with him. You can't boss him around like he is your child or younger brother. You may have created Jack Frost's body for Nightlight but you didn't create him, he came from the stars. He is his own being and we all have to understand that." MiM ducked his head feeling guilty and Bunny decided he needed to change the subject.

"Anyways, I think it's time we should take Jack back to the hospital so the doc can see him. Let him run whatever tests he has to run so we can get him cleared and give him his staff back" Bunny stated. "Are you sure we should? Maybe we should wait a few more days?" North replied. "Nick, it's time. The kid is healed, he is ready. We need to let him go, we can't keep him. He belongs to nature, the earth and the stars. He needs to be free." Bunny laid his paw on North's shoulder "I know you love the kid as we all do and he knows that. He loves you and he loves us too. Trust me, he won't leave and never return. Now that he knows he has a family waiting for him, he will come back." "Yes, you are right, as always" North relented. "We shall take him tomorrow then, but we won't tell him. We don't need him building up anxiety over it. I've told the doctor about Jack's fears that you shared with us the other day. We should have a better way to handle it now."

The next moring Jack raced downstairs to the dining room like he did everyday so North could make him eat something before going to play all day in the snow. But he came to stop and looked around realizing he only saw Bunny and North were there. "Where is everyone?" Jack asked quietly feeling a little nervous about it. "There you are snowball. No worries, it seems that everyone is quite busy today. Tooth had a mix up at the tooth palace and Sandy is sleeping in on his island. As for your siblings they said they had to do some extra tasks for mother nature." "Where is my Katherine?"Jack asked. "She was here earlier but she said something about taking her goose out to fly and to go check on her home. She said she would be back tonight." North answered. "So it is just us kiddo" Bunny added. "Oh" Jack whispered while he sat down at the table. North handed him a plate of waffles and syrup but Jack just picked at it. Though, he did start eating a little more after North brought it to his attention. He delcared he was finish with only half of it gone and got up to take care of his plate. He was just about to head out the door to go out when Bunny stopped him.

"Wait a minute frostbite." "What's up Bunny? I was just going to go outside." Bunny nodded "I figured but I've got something better for you. How would you like to have your staff back?" Jack stared at him in shock "my...my staff? You mean I can have it?" "Yes, but you have to do something for it first" North stated. "What do I got to do?" Jack asked nervously. "Well you are not going to like this frostbite but we go to take ya to the hospital" Bunny said. "what? No!" "Easy my little snow spirit" North spoke gently "we need to have the doctor clear you first so he will have to do some tests. Then if he says everything is ok you can have your staff back, truly free." Jack shrunk away from them backing against the wall. Bunny slowly approached him and laid his paw on his shoulder "It is alright frosty. No one is going to hurt you and it will be different this time. The doctor knows everything" "You told him?! Why?" "Jack, I didn't tell him much that he didn't already know. He did examine you and saw the aftermath, remember? I just explained your fear. Trust me it will make it easier" Bunny explained. "You know us enough by now right Jack?" North asked. "Would we do anything to hurt you son?" Jack shook his head. "Then will you please let us take you? No fighting? Please, just trust us" North pleades. "What will he do?" Jack asked in a whisper. "Same things as before vitals probably a few other things like MRI, EKG, I know those sound scary I know but they aren't painful. All these things you have had done before. Nothing too scary and no surgery unless he finds something seriously wrong which I highly doubt since you have been doing so well."

Jack took a moment to consider North's words. Even though he was unsure he whispered a simple "Ok." "Good boy" North said as patted the winter spirit on the head. North whispered "spirit hospital" into a snowglobe and turned to Jack. "If you behave not only will you get your staff but there will be another surprise for you tonight." Jack stared up at North in wonder and North smiled back before gently ushering the sprite throught the portal with Bunny behind them. When they entered the hospital they stopped at the front desk to check in. "Welcome back Jack Frost. It is nice to see you again" the receptionist said. "Thanks, I guess" Jack answered timidly back. The lady handed North a cup "we will need a urine sample from him." North turned to the boy and held out the cup to him "do you feel you can go to the bathroom Jack?" Jack gave him a look of disgust at that "they want me to pee in that? Eww..why? That is gross. What would they want with that?" The lady at the desk couldn't help but chuckle at that "believe it or not Jack one can tell a lot about one's health through their urine." The winter spirit looked to North and Bunny. "Do I have to?" "If that is what the doctor wants then you must son" North answered. "You can use that bathroom there and leave the cup in there when you are done" the receptionist instructed. With a look of embarrassment on his face Jack went and did as he was told.

When Jack disappeared into the bathroom Bunny leaned over the counter so only the three of them could hear. "Did the doc make arrangements to keep Jack's anxiety at bay like we talked about?" "Sure did, I have some medicine for him to take that will calm him. It is the same one they have given him in a needle but less intense and he will drink it" she answered. "Perfect" North replied as he watched the bathroom door waiting for the snow sprite to emerge. Jack exited the bathroom then moved back towards North and Bunny with a glow in his eyes. The two guardians looked at each other in worry. They both shared a silent agreement they were happy to have the medicine right away. "I left it in there like you said" Jack whisperd in the receptionist's ear. The receptionist also noted the glow when he spoke to her. "Good job sweetheart. Now, I have something for you." She held out to him a small cup filled with a red liquid and tried to hand it to Jack. She saw his body take on a faint glow too and quickly spoke "this is some medicine for you to take before the doctor sees you dear." "What is it?" Jack asked. "No worries sweety, its just a little something to help with your anxiety. It's just like the calming medicine you have had before in a syringe." Jack's eyes went wide and his body glowed brighter "what? No! I don't want that." "Let me finish dear, it's not as strong as the other one. It won't put you to sleep, it just helps to take the edge off. That is all." North took the cup from her and handed it to Jack. "Drink it son, it won't hurt you. I knew the doctor would give it to you. In fact I asked for it, to help you."

Jack drank the medicine then followed the two adult guardians to take a seat in the waiting room, Jack in between them. They started a light converstation with each other but Jack didn't participate instead focusing on his breathing, trying to calm himself. When the nurse called for them Jack fell back into his seat after trying to stand. Jack looked to the two other guardians with terror in his eyes. "I can't get up. I fell dizzy." The two guardians quickly helped him up and walked him to the room. "It is ok Jack. It is just an effect of the medicine" North said as he lifted the sprite up onto the table. The nurse handed him a gown instructing him to change and the doctor would be in soon. After the nurse left the boy made no move to change so North started to pull Jack's hoodie and shirt off himself. He moved to take off the boy's pants next for Jack since it seemed the medicine had worked to well. Bunny helped too and tied the gown around the slight frame. North held Jack protectively who didn't seem to mind the close contact trying to comfort him as best he could.

"I'm scared" Jack said to the two guardians. "I know snowflake" Bunny said. "Does the medicine help at all?" Jack shrugged "I don't know, just makes me feel fuzzy." North was about to say something when a knock was heard at the door. The nurse Gwen walked in with a cart. Jack knew it was a blood test and shook. "I am sorry sweety I know you don't like this but we are going to get this over with one two three so we won't have to poke you anymore. We figured we would get the worst part out of the way and then we will get the results back by the time your exam is done. Hopefully a certain someone is going to get their staff back today I hear?" Jack sniffled a bit trying to stay calm "I hope so." Gwen set up her supplies on the cart then moved over to Jack. "Well I am not taking any chances and I am going to do my best to stick you only once. As long as you do what I say hopefully I should be able to. Now I am going to lay you down. Take deep breaths, the worst thing you can do is stop breathing. And best advice, don't look." Gwen laid him down on the table and placed a heating pad on his arm. "Keep breathing in deep Jack." After a moment she carefully tied the tourniquet and searched for a vein. "Ok Jack, It looks like I got a good one. Breath in and out, trust me it will help. Ok now, small poke." Gwen slid the needle in and gently pushed it in. Jack breathed out a small hiss of pain and after a minute or two it was over. "All done snowy" Gwen said placing a bandaid over it. "You did so well. Didn't the breathing help?" Jack nodded and gave her a small smile. "The doctor is on his way and I will go take care of this. Don't you worry sweety, trust me, that was the worst of it today. The other tests are probably scary to you but not painful. You will be ok" Gwen said as she swiftly left to take care of the sample.

North stroked Jack's hair lightly. "You did such a good job Jack. I am so proud of you" North said as helped the winter spirit sit up. "Well done, mate" Bunny added. "Think you can handle the rest?" Bunny asked. "I think so.." Jack answered. "Jack, if you feel at any time that the medicine is not helping please let us know. We can always ask for another dose. We want you to remain calm. Ok?" North explained to him. "Yeah. I think I am ok." Jack replied. "Good" North replied.

There was another knock at the door. This time it was the doctor. "Good morning Jack?" Dr. Duran asked unsure which side he was talking to because of the glow in the boy's eyes. Bunny whispered to the doctor "honestly we are never sure which side we are talking to. We just call him Jack whichever one it is and he seems to be fine with it. Dr. Duran gave a silent nod. "How are you feeling today?" Jack thought about it for a moment "I feel ok, kinda nervous and a little dizzy but otherwise I don't feel sick or anything." "That is a good sign, the dizzy feeling will go away when the medicine wears off and I understand you nervousness. We will do this as fast and gentle as possible, yes?" Jack nodded. "And tell me if you need a break or you need more medicine, ok? I don't prefer anymore wintery explosions in my hospital and you don't need anymore stress. Now lets start, are you ready?" "As ready as I will ever be" Jack said quietly. "Good boy, let us get you that staff back."

The doctor first checked Jack's height and wait which surprisingly were the same as the start. Thanks to mother nature's explaination though he now understood that Jack's weight was normal for him in order to be carried like a snowflake on the wind. The doctor wrote the numbers down. Next he checked the boy's eyes, ear, nose and throat which were all good, no signs of infection. Jack was actually cooperating rather well the doctor thought as he did the boy's vitals. The doctor took his pulse, temperature, oxygen level and blood pressure. All were in normal range for the winter spirit. Next came the hardest part, listening to the boy's heart and lungs. This is the part the doctor now knew scared the boy the most and for such a terrible reason. The doctor turned around and pulled off his stethoscope from around his neck to keep Jack from seeing the object that upset him the most. He then placed the buds in his ears and moved towards the winter spirit once he knew Jack couldn't see him. North held Jack against him and kept the boy's eyes on him. Bunny stood next to them and held Jack's hands in case the sprite should try to grab the medical tool.

The doctor placed the stethoscope to Jack's back and the boy shook but gave him no trouble while he listened to his lungs bilateraly. "Breath in deep" Dr. Duran said a few times while he listened and even though the winter spirit let out a small whimper he did as he was told. The doctor moved the stethoscope to the boy's chest and listened while looking at his watch. After a moment he moved the scope again. The doctor moved it all across his chest and he could feel the boy begin to fidgit. He heard his heart rate increase and so he pulled back setting it aside out of Jack's line of sight. "It sounded like you needed a break Jack" Dr. Duran stated while he let the boy breathe for a moment. "You are doing very well Jack and I want to keep it that way. Do you need more medicine?" Dr. Duran asked. North looked down at the boy whos eyes were glowing a little brighter. "I think more medicine would be a good idea Jack. What you think?" Jack only nodded. "That is no problem, I will have Gwen bring more."

Dr. Duran said as he stepped out and called for Gwen who prompltly gave him the medicine. Dr. Duran handed Jack the cup who drank it without trouble. The doctor waited a few minutes for the medicine to work. "How is that? Do you feel a little calmer?" Jack only nodded feeling a little out of it. "Good. So now I am going to listen to him laying down. I need one of you to keep his focus off me and the other to hold his hands just in case." North helped lay Jack down on the table and moved himeself so he was at the head of bed and held the winter spirit's hands over his head but gently for now. "Its ok Jack, just keeping your hands out of the way that's all" North said. Bunny moved to the other end of the bed in case he should need to hold Jack's feet. North knelt over Jack and looked him in his glowing eyes. "Listen to me son. I need you to trust me Jack. I want you to keep your eyes on me and only on me or close your eyes if you prefer. Can you do that for me?" "I'll try" Jacked answered quietly. North ran his fingers through the snow spirit's hair and the boy closed his eyes. Bunny gave the doctor a silent nod to proceed. The doctor came towards Jack with the stethoscope and gently placed it on the boy's chest. He listened a moment as Jack breathed deeply. He moved the scope often and listened intently. The winter spirit started to squirm and North held his hands firmer. North whispered reassurances into Jack's ear but the boy whimpered lightly. The doctor continued a few more minutes before he finally pulled away and put the stethoscope away.

Jack opened his eyes and looked to the doctor. "Well, that sounded really good Jack. And you kept yourself in check so well. I am proud of you" Dr. Duran said as he patted Jack on the head. "We do have have one more thing to do in here before we move on" the doctor said while he put on a pair of gloves. "I am going to take your gown and underwear off and examine everything ok? I know it is unpleasant but I will do this as fast as possible." Jack looked at him with fearful eyes. "Please try to behave. It won't take long. Keep your eyes closed if it makes you feel better." Jack closed his eyes held on to North tightly while the doctor pulled off his gown. Dr. Duran examined Jack's body carefully making sure there were no new wounds. "Everything looks good Jack. Now I am going remove your underwear and check that everything is ok there. You are being so brave. Just hold on a little longer." Dr. Duran gently pulled Jack's underwear off. He ispected the child's penis and testicles which looked good then checked his anus. It all lasted only a moment and the doctor pulled the underwear back up then the gown was retied.

The doctor pulled off his gloves and washed his hands. "So what's the verdict on that region doc?" Bunny asked. The doctor looked to the two other guardians then to Jack. "All seems well there my little sprite. Though, I don't believe there is any lasting damage I will not trully know for sure unless you are able to become erect and orgasm." Jack sat up quickly and backed away from him. "Easy Jack, easy. Do not be afraid. I am not going to do anything to you. I am certainly not going to have you do that in this office. I just wanted you to be aware that in the future should there seem to be a problem that you should come back here. If there are any issues than we will see what we can do about about it but as for now I am not concerned unless you are?" Jack shook his head vigorously. "Alright, but like I said if you find you are having a problem later you have North make an appointment for you."

"Am I done?" Jack asked hopefully. "Almost, just a few more things. Nothing painful, I promise. Now would you two please help Jack up we have to go to another room." North picked up Jack against his wishes and the three followed the doctor to the next room. The doctor proceeded to do some x rays and an MRI that lasted about 20 minutes. Jack did well and gave no trouble during the tests. "Next I would like to do one last ultrasound on that little heart of yours to make sure we see no holes. Just lie down and be as still as possible Jack." North pulled Jack's gown down to his waiste while the doctor turned the monitor on and the lights off. He placed the probe covered in sticky jelly onto Jack's chest and moved it around checking each part of the heart but really focusing on where the holes were. Finding nothing abnormal he removed the probe and wiped Jack down with a towel. "Good news everyone. The holes are completely gone, nothing abnormal to be found." All three guardians gave a sigh of relief.

"Now we move on to the last thing we have to do today. Hang in there Jack, we are just about done." Dr. Duran said while bringing over two monitors and many electrodes. Jack stared at them nervously. "What...what are you going to do with all that?" North squeezed the boy's shoulder to reassure him. "These are all going on you Jack. Some on your chest and some on your head. But don't worry none of it will hurt you. Just relax." Jack gripped North's hand and pleaded Bunny with his eyes. "It will be ok frostbite. I have had that done myself before and so have you. It's not scary, well maybe it looks scary but I promise it aint anything to be afraid of." The doctor began placing all the electrodes from the EKG machine to Jack's chest and turned it on. "That is just like the heart monitor Jack, only it will print it all out for me so I can read it. Now this, is something you haven't had before. Well I should say you have but I doubt you remember it since it was during your memory transfer." The doctor carefully parted the winter spirit's hair and placed electrodes all over his head, across his forhead and at his temples then turned the monitor on. "This is an EEG it measures your brainwaves and shows us its activity."

Jack looked as though he wanted to ask about it so Bunny beat him to it "Why the test on his brain doc?" "Well, North and I have been conversing quite often as you know and one concern we all have is the child's mental health and stability. We can't very well give a mentally unstable spirit the ability to leave our care." Jack's body glowed in reaction to the statement. "Hey, I can hear you, you know? Don't talk about me like I'm not here. I am fine!" The doctor pointed at the monitor then while North tried to calm the frost child down. "There, you see that?" Dr. Duran said. "There are two different sets of brain waves." North and Bunny both stared at the monitor. "What does that mean?" North asked. "You see, a moment ago there was only one set now there are two. We can see when the boy's two sides are fighting with each other when there are two sets of waves rather than one. Jack got upset and now there are two. If you look at the chart, you can see how often it occurs. It occurs often and not only when the boy is upset." Bunny looked down at the chart and held up part of it for North to see. "Damn frostbite, you look like you are having a war with yourself."

Jack started to cry at Bunny's words. "You would to if you didn't know who you were anymore." The doctor looked at the monitor again "now that I don't believe was Jack. Tread lightly Bunny. His mind is very unstable right now because he is feeling stressed." North sat on the bed and held the boy's hand. "Its alright my boy. Everything is ok. Is that you Nightlight?" The winter spirit stopped his crying and looked at him "It's always me, I am Jack and he is me. We are the same but we are different." Bunny looked at North in confusion "this is getting a bit creepy for me mate." North nodded and he took another cup of medicine from the doctor. "Easy son, no need to get upset. You have done so well but we are going to continue this for a little bit so I thought you might need more. Please take it for me?" The winter spirit drank it and in a few minutes his eyes grew heavy. North knew the extra dose would cause the boy to fall asleep. He hadn't told the boy on purpose so he could get him to sleep for the test and they could speak freely about the results. North encouraged his sleepy haze and patted his head until the boy lost consciousness. It was when the boy was asleep when they would get the most accurate readings.

They continued to read the monitors for a few minutes before Bunny finally asked "so, does this mean we can't give frostbite his staff back?" The doctor took in a deep breath and sighed. "Honestly, that one is a tough nut to crack. All his medical tests have come back perfect. I have no reason to hold him back medically anymore but as for his mind, that is a concern. I shouldn't release him based on that." "What else can we do? How long should we keep Jack from it?" North asked. "Truthfully, I don't believe there is anything else we can do for the boy. This is his mind and his memories. I think they have to work themselves out and I do feel that maybe it will. It is hard to say, even Toothiana has no experience with this. The child is not a normal spirit. He is a being entirely different from us and I do not know anything about stars. But as much as I am worried I also feel that I can not keep him from the staff and his duties any longer. As long as he doesn't show signs of being a danger to himself and others then I see no way for me to be able to keep him from it. If you all agree then I believe it is time to let him go, both nature and him have waited long enough."

The two guardians took a minute to think before Bunny spoke "I think he is ready. I mean yea the mind thing is a little freaky but I think once he has his staff back and can do his normal routine, I think he won't be dangerous." North nodded in agreement "I think you are right again Bunny. Dr. Duran, do you believe his mind could mend itself?" The doctor looked over the monitors again before answering "I am not sure however I do feel in time that things will work themselves out. He has been dealing with it fine so far it seems. You both did say he has calmed down since being allowed to go outside. I am sure once he has his staff then and can return to his normal duties than things will continue to improve. For now I would continue to call him Jack because he seems to respond well to that name and treat him the same as you have been. Keep up your normalcy and maybe one day the sides will meld." North shook the doctors hand "Thank you doctor, you have been so great to our boy." "Yea mate, we can't thank you enough." The doctor waved them off "no need for thanks, it is my job. I am just happy it was all worth it and he pulled through." Dr. Duran began to remove all the machines from Jack. "Now, I wouldn't wake, let him rest. Dress him and bring him home to his own bed. Let him wake on his own then you can tell him the news. I shall hope to see you tonight as his celebration then?" "Of course! You are always welcome" North answered quickly. "Thank you, my nurses and I were quite excited to see him off. If you will excuse me I have some things to attend to so I will let you take care of him and I will see you all tonight."

The doctor left and the two guardians quickly dressed their boy then left through the portal. When they arrived at home they placed Jack in his bed and tucked him in then left to go make preparations for tonight's party. North was throwing a party to celebrate Jack's restored health and the gifting of the staff back. Tooth was waiting for them in the living room talking with her fairies. She gave some of them the task of rounding up Jack's seasonal siblings to bring them to the party. The others helped her and katherine put up decorations. Katherine had decided on decorations that would match both of Jack's sides. Lots of blue and whites, snowflakes and glitter. Glitter because she loved it but also because it reminded her of his glow. "I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees all of this is for him" Katherine stated happily. Tooth gave her a bright smile "yes, I am sure he will be awe struck. Your decorations are a lovely touch and your food choices are great." Katherine had helped come up with the menu with North. While North had mostly sweets of course, which Jack did like, she came up with simple meals that would fit the nomadic seasonal spirits. Simple spreads of fruits and nuts, cheeses and crackers were added by Sandy and meats by North's yetis. It was a grand spread one many differents tastes could enjoy.

Many spirits were invited to attend. Mother nature would be there with her three seasonal bringers. The other seasonal helpers would be attending also. MiM was invited too provided he did his best to get along with Jack and not stir the pot as the saying goes. That relationship was still strange but Katherine told him as long as he didn't mention the past Jack and MiM should be fine. All the yetis and elves were excitedly busying themselves with the preparations as they would be off tonight, enjoying the festivities with the frost sprite as well.

After a bit everything was in order and a few spirits began to show up. Dr. Duran and his two nurses, Gwen and Hope were some of the first to show. They were so excited to celebrate with the frost child and to see him off with his staff. They sat and waited on one of the couches as moore spirits arrived. Next of course were Jack's seasonal siblings together as they never seem to be apart, along with all of their seasonal helpers. The imps, fairies and small animal helpers were filled with joy and excitement at the wonder all around them. The seasonals let them scurry and frolic around mingling with the elves and yetis. Not too long after mother nature joined them. Seraphina and her seasonal bringers talked while they sat on the couch with Tooth, Sandy and Katherine. "Where is my Jack?" Seraphina asked after looking around the room trying to eye the winter spirit. "He should be here soon. North and Bunny just went to get him. They said he fell asleep during the last test at the hospital so they brought him home and let him rest until the party starts" Tooth answered. "Does he know yet?" Zane asked. "Nope! He will find out when he gets here!" Katherine nearly shouted excitedly. "Great, I can't wait to see the little guy go nuts!" Jillian exclaimed. "It will be good to see him out flying again and spreading his snow" Natasha added. "Indeed it will be" MiM chimed in as he materialized on the empty chair next to the couches the other spirits sat on.

Seraphina looked to him then "MiM, I am glad you have come." "Of course, I wanted to be here for our boy" Mim replied. Seraphina gave him a hard look as she saw Katherine starting to look flustered. "MiM, I do hope and expect you to keep comments like that from slipping anymore for the rest of this evening." "You know I mean no harm, we all say that he is our boy" MiM answered. "Yes, but Jack will not take it that way coming from you" Katherine added. "Remember what I said, treat him with respect, treat him like Nightlight. Jack isn't your creation. You and mother nature only helped craft his body not his soul." Seraphina smiled at the girl "she is right MiM, you would do well to listen to her." MiM sighed as he relented "Tooth, is the staff here?" Tooth nodded "it is, it's locked in the case for now." "Good, if you wouldn't mind, I would like to be the one to give it to Jack." Tooth shrugged at that "I don't mind that as long as it is ok with Seraphina?" "That is fine with me just please don't hand it to him stating something like 'I made this for you and now you can have it back' or something like that. You won't do yourself any favors that way. Do you understand?" "Yes, I do and I promise, I won't" MiM answered solemnly. "I have more to discuss with you" Seraphina said as she got up and motioned for MiM to follow her. He followed her out to another room while they left the others to themselves still waiting for the winter sprite to wake from his nap.

Upstairs North and Bunny waited as they watched the winter spirit finally begin to stir and open his eyes. "What?" the winter spirit whispered to himself as he opened his eyes and looked around the room. "What happened? I'm in my room?" "Finally awake I see" North said as he eyed the boy as he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes then looked at him in confusion. "Hey frostbite, how you feel?" Bunny asked. "North...Bunny...how? What happened?" Jack asked. "You fell asleep during the last test kiddo. We didn't want to wake you so we brought you back here, then you could sleep comfortably in your own bed" Bunny answered. "Oh" Jack said "well, I am glad to be in my own bed and done with that hospital stuff." "I am sure you are son but we have something even better for you now" North said. "What?" Jack asked curiously. North looked at him with his eyes full of wonder and a bright smile on his face "the doctor said your clear Jack. Do you know what that means?" "My staff?!" Jack shouted as he jumped up out of bed ready to race out of the room when Bunny held up his paw. "Yes Jack. You get your staff back but first we have a little something for you." "Oh please Bunny. What more do I have to do? I am about to lose it!" Jack said and North wrapped his arm around the winter spirit's shoulders "come with us Jack and you will see."

The two guardians walked Jack with them down the halls then took the elevator down to the next floor where the living room was. Before North opened the door to the living room he instructed the frost child to close his eyes. "Don't worry Jack, it's a surprise, a great surprise." Bunny slipped in first while Jack still had his eyes closed. After a minute North opened the door. "Ok Jack, you can open your eyes now."

"Surprise!" Every spirit in the room shouted at Jack as he opened his eyes and stumbled back into North, startled. "What the..what is going on? What is all this?" North smiled down at the boy "this what we told you we had for you first. This is a party for you Jack, to celebrate." "For me?" Jack asked shyly. "Why?" North looked at him confused "what do you mean why? We wanted to celebrate your health and how happy we are that you can healed." Everyone began to feel concerned when the winter spirit had tears forming in his eyes. "Jack my boy, what is wrong? Do you not like it?" North asked. "No, its not that...I..I love it. It's just..Why for me? I don't deserve it...I didn't do anything" Jack whispered shyly and turned around so they wouldn't see his tears fall. "Oh honey what are you talking about? Of course you deserve it. You have done a lot for all of us and you have overcome so much. We wanted to show you how much we appreciate you. We love you Jack" Tooth answered as she moved in close and took him in her arms. "Really? You sure?" Jack asked unsure still. "Really. We all pitched in and set up this party is for you. We wouldn't do this if we didn't want to. We are all so proud of you Jack. Now come on, how about we have some fun, yes?"

Jack nodded and Katherine quickly took his hand leading him inside fully. She took him around and showed him all the festivities they set up for him. She showed him the food and decorations she carefully constructed to fit him. Zane took him to play games. Jillian and Natasha formerly introduced him to all their elemental helpers. All the spirits each had a turn to mingle with the winter spirit as the festivities continued on into the night. Jack was quickly over coming his shyness and really was enjoying all of their attention. Never had he felt so loved by all or had so much fun. Music was playing in the background and soon the volume was turned up so the guests began to dance. Katherine of course insisted that Jack danced and was the first to share a dance with him. As the guests danced North brought out a big cake. He called Jack over insisting that Jack cut it up and make a wish like it was his birthday. Each spirit had a slice along with him to celebrate as the party moved from dinner to dessert. The party continued and the spirits carried on until a jingle bell was heard over all the commotion.

The music died down and everyone looked up to see that MiM was the one shaking the jingle bells to get everyone's attention. Mother nature stood by his side who held up her hand to silence everyone. "Friends" MiM started "I hope that you all are enjoying yourselves?" "Yes" the crowd shouted. "Good, good. Well I thank you all for being here for our Jack. But now is the moment that he and all of us have been waiting patiently for." Mother nature motioned for Jack "come over here sweety." Jack stepped forward with Katherine not too far behind him for support. "Jack, we have something for you" Seraphina said. "Yes, and it has been a long time coming. You are finally well enough to have it back" Dr. Duran stated as he and his nurses moved in closer to them. Tooth handed MiM the case who carefully opened "this is for you" he stated as he handed its content to Jack.

The winter spirit gently took the staff from MiM's hands as though it might break. He moved his hands over it, feeling the familiar wood. He closed his eyes as he held it and instantly felt a rush of energy wash over him. The wind rushed in from a nearby window and circled around him lifting him off the ground. Jack looked out the window longingly and whispered "the wind, its calling me to come play." MiM looked up at him from the ground with a smile "then go my guardian, be with it and do as you will. You are free to do as you see fit." Jack looked around the room hesitantly "but what about you guys? What about Pitch?" North nodded to him "we will be fine. We know you will come back. I know you will come back. You always have a family here to come home to." "Don't you worry about Pitch, that son of a bitch it still out there in the frozen tundra of the north pole encased in your ice" Bunny said. "Trust me I know, I checked this afternoon. He won't bother you anymore." "Go ahead honey, its ok" Tooth added and Sandy gave a thumbs up. Then Jack looked to Katherine "I can't leave you." "Silly Jack, you aren't leaving me. I know I will see you again. You know where I live and I am sure I know how to find you. Go do what you need to do and I will see you when you come back. I love you my Frostlight" Katherine said to him with a sad smile. "I love you too my Katherine. I..I love you all. I will come back, I promise" Jack said with tears in his eyes. "Go ahead winter. We will catch you around and we will keep an eye on you. We will you soon" Zane replied. Jack nodded and with one last look around the room he flew out the window as fast as he could waving goodbye to all his friends until he was out of sight.

North sat in his office lost in thought. His toy design in front of him abandoned for the time being. He had been trying for days now to get some good work in but failed to do so as his mind wandered to thoughts of a certain little snow spirit. It had been three months so far and other than the occasional fly by spotted from a seasonal sibling no one had heard from Jack Frost. North was beginning to worry but he tried not panic, Jack just needs time he thought. The child will come home when he is ready. North stood up to look out the window for what seemed the hundreth time hoping to spot the winter spirit when he thought he saw something flying towards him in the distance. About a minute later North was sure it was he thought and he quickly opened the window. Jack Frost came to a stop and gently floated into the open window.

"Jack my boy! It has been so long, it is good to see you!" North's voice boomed as he pulled the boy into a crushing bear hug. "Are you back to stay?" Jack carefully righted himself after the bone crushing hug before he could answer. "Yea for a little while. I did a lot and I am beat now." "What did you do? Tell me all about it" North said as he motioned for the sprite to take a seat as he did as well. "Oh wow, where do I start? I spread snow everywhere, well all the places where it was to be winter or soon to be of course. I flew all over the world. Checked on all of favorite places and played with all of my friends, which some are new believers. I had the biggest, most epic snowball battle ever with Jamie, Sophie and their friends. I've gone to see Katherine a few times and she even joined me in the snowball fight with Jamie. It's been great!" Jack exclaimed. "Sounds like you have been busy" North said with a smile. "Oh yea, lots of fun. I have never been so happy in all my life." Then Jack's mood took on a somber tone. "But how have all you guys been though?"

North noticed the boy's change in mood and pepped it up. "Not to worry, everything has been the same. Bunny is busy in his warren, Tooth with her Fairies and Sandy with his dreams." Then North got a more serious tone "and I have been trying to focus on new toy designs but have been easily distracted. Honestly, all of us have been having a hard time being normal without you. We all miss you greatly. I will have to tell the others that you are here." "Absolutely, I would love to see everyone! But can it wait until tomorrow?" Jack asked hopefully. "I am going out tonight with Katherine and Jamie." North gave the boy a look "but you can't go see Katherine now, it is too hot there." "I know, that is why I figured I would ask you if I could use your snow globe? Then I don't have to fly there and can reduce my exposure to the heat" Jack explained to North.

"Good boy, of course you can" North said as he handed Jack the snowglobe but was caught by something. "Wait Jack, before you go. Something is different. Let me see your eyes." "My eyes?" Jack questioned curiously. "Yes, they are blue now with a ring of green in the center around your pupils." Jack shrugged at that "Yea, I know." North was careful with his next words "So then, may I ask who are you now?" Jack just shook his head and laughed "I am still Jack Frost, I am Nightlight too but I am not A nightlight anymore so Jack is still my name. Though Katherine calls me Frostlight. It's her own personal knickname for me I guess. But anyway, I worked it out. Though, I am still getting used to all my new abilities I now have again thanks to the memory transfer but otherwise I am good. Being able to travel again and to be on my own helped me figure it all out. Also, before you ask yes my heart is fine too. I feel really great. No fatigue or slowing down. It has been wonderful."

North looked pensive for a moment like he wasn't sure he should speak his mind but decided to anyway. "I know it is a touchy subject for you but how about MiM? Have you talked to him?" Jack got quiet for a moment before he answered "I have a little here and there. I even went to see him and hung out for a bit." North nodded "So, did you talk about things? Did you forgive him?" Jack fidgeted for a moment and tripped over his words before really answering. "Yea, we kinda worked it out. I told him he has to understand that I am not same but I also had to remember who I was to him and him to me. So yea I have forgiven him. Our relationship still isn't like it was. I don't know if it will ever be since everything is so different now but it is getting better."

Jack jumped up then staff and snowglobe in hand. "Anyways, I am going to get Katherine now and go out for a bit." "Where are you going? Will you be back tonight?" North asked. "Jamie invited me to a concert and I couldn't go without Katherine. But yea, I was hoping to come back and sleep in my room tonight?" Jack asked him shyly. "Of course Jack. This is always your home. You may come and go as you please. I still leave the window to your room open for you." Jack moved in and hugged North who hugged him back tightly but not crushing like before. "Thanks North...papa" Jack said bashfully. "I really appreciate it." "Anytime Jack, I love you son." "I love you too" Jack said with a big smile on his face. "Well, I better get going. I will see you tonight but you don't have to wait up for. I will probably be out late." "Goodbye Jack" North said as the boy hopped up on the window sill. "Have fun." "I will!" Jack said as he held up the snowglobe. "Stay safe!" North shouted as the boy flew away. "I will! I promise!" Jack said as he waived goodbye and disappeared into the portal.

Later that night Jack and Katherine met up with Jamie and Sophie who were with their parents at a concert. The band that was playing was The Fray. Jamie loved the band so he insisted that Jack and Katherine would like it too and that they should come along. So here the two spirits were dancing to a band they had never heard of next to their two best believers and biggest fans. "I really like this band Jamie, thank you for suggesting we come" Jack said to the young believer. "Great! I am glad you guys came" Jamie said. "Me too!" Sophie added. "It is nice to get out. Isn't it my Frostlight?" Katherine said as she turned to Jack who gave her the biggest brightest smile he could. "It is my Katherine."

Both Jamie and Sophie pointed and laughed at the two spirits. "Hey, what is so funny?" Jack asked the kids. "You two!" Jamie said. "You guys are such love birds" Sophie added. "Jack and Katherine sitting in a tree, first come loves then comes marriage then comes the baby in the baby carriage" the two children sang and chanted on at the two spirits. "Oh my god" Katherine said as a big blush spread across her face "there are definitely no babies coming. You two are horrible!" Jack blushed too then gave the two kids a noogie. "Ok guys, seriously. That's enough."

"Lets just enjoy the rest of the concert" Katherine said as a song came on that she recognized. The song 'Over my head' began to play. "Oh, I do actually know this song. I love it, this song is my favorite!" Katherine practically shouted before she began singing it to herself. Jack listened to her and the band. He paid close attention to the words. "You know what Katherine, I feel that this song fits my life in a way. In over my head." Katherine thought about it as she listened to the words. "Yea, I see how you could feel that way." Jack whispered in her ear then so only she could hear "It also makes me realize how I feel for you." Jack carefully moved in when the kids weren't watching and placed a gentle kiss to Katherine's lips. She was surprised at first but only deepened the kiss. It lasted only a moment but it felt like it was forever then it was done. The two spirits enjoyed the rest of the concert with the two children. At the end they said their goodbyes and Jack flew them back to Santoff Clausen.

North was walking the halls toward his bedroom when he thought he heard something. He quietly peeked into Jack's room and saw as Jack and Katherine quietly flew into the open window of his bedroom then gently set Katherine down. North smiled to himself and gently shut the door to give Jack his privacy then continued on his way to his bedroom. "I am glad the boy has come back like he said he would. I will have to prepare a special breakfast for the two love birds in the morning and let the others know that our boy is home" North whispered to himself.

"Oh Jack that was so much fun! I am so glad that you invited me. Thank you so much" Katherine said and she hugged Jack tightly to her, nuzzling into him and his coldness. Jack smiled at her and then moved to give her another kiss which she happily accepted. After a minute he broke their kiss "I am glad you came with me. Do you need to go home or are you going to stay the night?" Katherine smirked at him "that depends, are you asking me to stay the night?"

Jack scratched the back of his head sheepishly "I mean I would like you too but I don't want to make you or anything." "Well then I will" Katherine stated as she sat down on his bed and patted the space beside her for him to come sit with her. He did and she wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him close to her. She pulled him into another kiss which he returned and they continued like that for a bit until they broke for air. Katherine looked into his eyes as she gently pulled at his hoodie to take it off which he allowed her to do. She allowed him to take off her sweater as they kissed a bit more. She pulled off his shirt and let her hands wander. She took his hand and guided it to her chest but he froze when she moved her other hand to undo his pants.

Jack suddenly pulled away from her and she looked up at him. "I'm sorry" Jack whispered. "No, I am sorry. I didn't mean to be so forward. I am sorry if I scared you." Jack shook his head "No, its not you... It's me. I don't know if you know this... well you probably do. I...uh...how do I put this?" Jack turned away from her in shame. Katherine lightly laid her hand on his bare shoulder then carefully hugged him from behind. "Its ok. You don't have to say anything. I am sorry, but I know what happened or at least I can guess." Jack let out a low whimper. "It's not your fault, you know? You didnt't do anything wrong. It was all Pitch." Jack's body began to shake with his tears. "You don't have to feel ashamed. I don't judge you and we don't have to do anything if you don't want to, my love."

"I uh..I have to tell you..something...something else." Jack said quietly still not looking at her. "What is it Jack? I promise, whatever it is you can tell me." Jack turned around but still kept his eyes down cast "I uh..got hurt..a lot. Even um..down there" Jack said voice barely above a whisper. Katherine gasped and covered her mouth with her hand in shock "I am so sorry baby." Jack shrugged "it's not your fault. It's just...I don't..know...If all the parts work. The doctor said he didn't think...there was lasting damage but we wouldn't know for sure until..." Katherine nodded in understanding. "You don't have to say anything else honey. I understand. We don't have to do anything more. We can go to sleep and cuddle if you want? I am feeling tired now, are you?" Jack slowly looked up at her and took her hands in his "I..think I want..to try. Is that ok with you?" Katherine smiled warmly at him "yes, we can just go slow and if you decide it's too much or want to stop, that is ok too. I won't be upset nor will I judge you." katherine hovered her hands just over Jack's groin area "and if the parts don't work properly I won't be upset. I will even go with you to the doctor to have it checked, ok?" Jack nodded and let her proceed.

To make Jack feel more comfortable Katherine undressed herself and let him take his time to undress himself the rest of the way. When they were both undressed they took a moment to look at each other silently. Katherine looked over Jack, she quickly noticed all the scars on his body. The scars on his chest from the surgery being the most prominent but then her eyes fell until they reached his manhood and she could see why Jack was unsure if everything would work right. The scars were so bad she couldn't even imagine the amount of pain that it must have caused him. "That must have hurt greatly?" she whispered. Jack nodded slightly "more that I could possibly say...but it doesn't hurt anymore." Katherine then noticed the faint glow to his body that seem to flicker in out, most likely due to his emotions she figured, and she saw the glow to his eyes but she wasn't scared by it. She trusted Jack not to hurt her, she knew the glow was only a manifestation of his mental distress. Jack on the other hand shyly looked upon Katherine but couldn't bring himself to blantanly stare. He definitely liked what he saw but had no idea how to continue. She was beautiful not that he didn't think that of her anyway. Her kind personality and smarts only added to the beauty of her and her body.

"So how do you want to do this?" Katherine asked him. Jack looked up at her cautiously "I don't really know what to do. Honestly, before Pitch I was a virgin and he did whatever he wanted so I don't have any experience. Have you...have you ever been with someone?" Katherine took a minute before she answered with a sigh. "I can't lie to you Jack. You were so honest with me so I have to be honest with you. I don't have a whole lot of experience but I do have some. I have had a few one night stands over the years, and one that became a relationship for a few months but we broke it off. I hope that this doesn't change how you feel about me." Jack shook his head "nothing like that could ever change how I feel about you. I love you so much, you are the reason I want to try. I'm just scared really." Katherine nodded coming towards him "I understand, if it is ok with you, I can lead."

Jack nodded and with that she gently pushed him down on to the bed. She crawled over to him and silently asked him for her permission with her eyes. She took it as his permission when he didn't stop her from gently stroking his penis. She leaned in and kissed him, carefully pushing her tongue against his lips to ask for access to his mouth. He did after a moment and she pushed her tongue into his mouth dancing with his tongue while they kissed. She took his hand and brought it to her breast teaching him how to fondle it while she stroked him. Jack looked a little frightened but he continued his gentle touch to her breast until Katherine carefully took his other hand and placed it on her clitoris moving his fingers with hers teaching him how to stroke her.

She broke them of everything after a few minutes. "How do you feel?" "A little nervous but I'm ok" Jack answered shyly. "Good and it looks like everything still works, you can still get hard anyway." Jack's face took on a pink hue and he looked down in embarrassment. "Hey, don't be embarrassed. This is normal and a good thing. Are you ready for the next step?" "I think so..." Katherine laid on the bed and motioned for Jack to lay over top of her. She helped guide him in and he thrust while they kissed. After a few minutes they both reached their climax and Jack collapsed ontop of her careful no to hurt her. "Not too bad for our first time" Katherine whispered.

She held Jack close to her and ran her fingers through his hair after she heard a small sob escape past his lips. "It's ok my Frostlight, everything is ok." They seperated and cuddle up to each other in the bed. Katherine pulled the covers over them and they laid down to sleep, Jack still shaking a bit. "What is wrong my Jack?" she asked quietly. Jack cuddled up close to her and played with her hair as he whispered in her ear "I'm ok. I'm just happy actually. I am not broken like I thought I was. Everything really is ok." "Yes, it is" Katherine answered back in a sleepy tone. "Thanks for being patient with me. Thank you for everything really. I wouldn't be here without you. I love you my Katherine." "Oh Jack, no need to thank me honey. I am just glad I could help and I am so happy to have you back in my life like you have no idea. I love you my Jack, my Frostlight."

They held each other close whispering sweet nothings of love into each other's ears. They talked of a promise of a nice shower and breakfast in the morning then spending time with all their friends. They spoke of the wonderful days that lay ahead of them. Now they would experience the days together finally as a true couple. They held each other close as their eyes closed and their breaths evened out. They fell asleep safe in each other's arms knowing the next day and every day after that they would be together. Jack truly healthy and with his Katherine. It was Katherine and Jack, a couple as it should be. It was them against the world forever and always.

The End