Author's Note: This is the final chapter! I probably won't write a sequel, so what happens next is up to your imagination. If you're still here, thank you so much for reading! I love these characters and hope you enjoyed.

Jack was quiet as the Guardians began the sleigh ride back to the North Pole, so it surprised everyone when he stood up as North's workshop came into view.

"It's all there," he said.

"It wasn't last time I was here," he added as he realized the others were staring.

"You were here?" North's eyebrows scrunched together.

"Yeah. Tell you later," Jack muttered, sitting back down.

North looked over his shoulder. "The things you will be telling later, it's getting to be quite the list."

Jack stared straight ahead. "I'm on the naughty list, what, 300 years and counting?"

North turned back around and twitched the reins, guiding the reindeer into the tunnel leading to the stables. "You know we wipe that clean," he said quietly, exchanging a glance with Sandy.

The general mood was dampened, and silence reigned as they piled out of the sleigh and shuffled after North into the main workshop.

Turning around to read the room, North raised his eyebrows. "Drinks?" Satisfied, he disappeared down a previously unseen corridor.

Jack glanced around. The yetis were busy at work, the elves were underfoot, and the globe was as brightly lit as ever. Nothing was out of place.

"Creepy," he muttered.

North reappeared, bearing a tray laden with glasses and a fat pitcher. Setting it on his desk, he poured amber liquid into the glasses and passed them around.

"What's this?" Bunny asked suspiciously.

Jack downed his in one gulp and immediately began coughing. "It's spicy," he said disbelievingly, tears leaking from his eyes.

Tooth suppressed a snicker.

"It's cider," North said. Then, catching himself, he took the empty glass from Jack. "I get you something else."

Jack sighed, and hopped up to squat on top of his staff as the others sipped their drinks.

"How can that be comfortable?" Bunny demanded.

Jack made a face at him and looked away, propping his chin on his hand.

As they waited for North, one of Tooth's fairies (who had caught up with them on the sleigh ride) sampled Tooth's drink, and coughed delicately.

North returned, and passed Jack a fresh drink without batting an eye. "So," he said. "It appears we are celebrating."

"It doesn't feel much like a celebration," Tooth said. "But Pitch is gone."

"For now," Jack said. "He'll be back."

"Of course," North said. "But for now, we celebrate."

Jack stepped lightly down from his staff. "He told me we weren't through."

"We never are!" Tooth put in.

"He's planning something."

"He always is." Tooth set her drink down on North's desk. "Jack, what's wrong? What aren't you telling us?"

Jack shrugged, staring into his glass. "Maybe I just know better now what he can do."

"He'll never beat us," Bunny said.

Sandy caught Jack's eye and nodded firmly.

Jack chuckled bitterly. "You don't know that. Fuck, these past few days are all the proof I need. We aren't enough. The only reason we're still here is luck, and...well, I'm saying there's going to be a time our luck runs out."

He was bathed in a sudden, unearthly light. He looked up, squinting through the skylight, and his jaw slowly slackened. "Oh."

Tooth darted over to hover beside him, and together, all five Guardians stared up at the Moon.

"Manny?" Bunny asked cautiously. "What are you saying?"

A shunting noise came from beneath their feet, like long-dormant machinery grinding to life. In the center of the floor, the circle bearing the Guardians' G insignia lowered and split down the middle.

"What is this?" Jack demanded as Tooth tugged him out of the way.

A gigantic crystal rose out of the floor, illuminated in the Moon's glow.

"I don't believe it," Bunny murmured, the light reflecting in his eyes.

"He's choosing a new Guardian," North said.

Jack stopped cold. "What?"

"It appears you and Manny are in agreement," North replied.

"He's sending help," Tooth said to Jack, squeezing his hand.

"But who...?" Jack trailed off as he watched Sandy. The sand above Sandy's head constantly broke and reformed into new guesses: a four-leaf clover, a pumpkin, a turkey, the shapes came faster and faster until Jack could no longer recognize them. That is, until the sand settled on a snowflake. Jack felt ill.

The shafts of light above the crystal shimmered.

"Here it is!" Tooth cried.

The rays coalesced into a figure. The likeness was unmistakeable.

Bunny dropped his glass. A dark stain formed on the carpet.

"Seriously?" North said to Bunny.

"No," Jack said.

"No?" Bunny turned to Jack, ignoring North. "I thought you'd be, well, over the moon. He looked around. "What, nobody? That was funny."

Sandy silenced him with a look.

Jack realized everyone was watching him, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He kept staring at the miniature figure, as though it would change its likeness. As though it would stop looking exactly like Elsa. "It can't be her," he said.

"Unless she has a twin-" Bunny began.

"No." Jack was shaking his head. "It doesn't make any sense. She has a home. A family!" He looked around. "Not like us."

"Jack," North said gently. "Who do you think we were before we became Guardian? We had lives." He gestured up towards the Moon. "And then we were called."

"No," Jack paced back and forth. "It can't-"

"Is being a Guardian so bad?" Tooth interrupted.

Jack's head jerked up to look at her.

"I know it's a lot. We're different. We're chosen. But we can choose to make the best of it. We can be our own weird little family." She tried a smile. "And I wouldn't change it."

"I would not either," North affirmed. "Thank you, Tooth."

Sandy glanced anxiously from face to face, as if he was watching a tennis match.

"Like you had a choice," Jack muttered at the ground. His knuckles whitened on his staff.

Tooth frowned. "There's always a choice."

Jack exploded. ""Where was my choice? Where was my choice when I was scared and alone for 300 years? Confused, desperate. And I never knew why. Why me?" The moonlight shone on his skin and made his eyes flash. "I didn't have a choice." He jabbed his finger skyward. "He made me what I am, but he never asked. Just like I'm willing to bet he never asked Elsa. Well, what gives him the right? That's what I wanna know. What gives him the right?"

Barely audible, like a whisper, a crackle underscored Jack's last demand. Ice was creeping over North's workshop floor.

"Jack," North said gravely.

Jack glanced down, and expressions warred on his face. Finally, it settled into an ugly scowl. He slammed the end of his staff into the floor, and ice blanketed it, shooting up the walls with a gunshot-like CRACK.

"Jack!" Tooth cried.

Jack's rage faltered. Of course he'd left them unfrozen. But the shock in his friends' faces made him realize that didn't matter. Shame bubbled up inside of him. He turned his back and closed his eyes, willing Wind to take him away.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him.

Jack turned, and found the last person he was expecting.

Bunny sighed deeply. "Stay," he said.

Jack didn't know what to say.

"Look," Bunny said. "I'm not going to pretend to know everything that happened to you, or that I understand what you're going through. But 300 years alone? That's shit. And I'm sorry I never realized you needed a friend."

Jack swallowed.

Bunny crossed his arms uncomfortably. "Whatever happens, we're in this together, all right? So for fuck's sake, can you stop trying to run away?"

Jack blinked hard. Somewhere, he managed to find a smirk. "What's next? Group hug?"

"There he is," North said.

Sandy smiled.

Bunny punched Jack on the shoulder and stepped back.

"I'm sorry," Jack said.

"Don't be," North said. "We all have our...moments. And what you say is true! Manny's plans are sometimes mysterious. Sometimes," he cupped his hand next to his mouth and spoke in a stage whisper, "I think he forget what it is like down here. But," he continued, dropping his hand and straightening up, "it usually work out in end." He raised an eyebrow at Jack. "Do you agree?"

Jack couldn't quite bring himself to agree, but he acknowledged North.

Sandy sighed, puffing out his cheeks.

"So," North said. "Elsa."

"He never changes his mind?" Jack asked, hating the helplessness stealing into his voice.

"Not in my experience," North replied. "Sandy?"

Sandy thought for a moment, tapping his chin with a finger, then shook his head.

"Tooth? You have long memory."

"No," she said simply, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Jack."

"It does not look like it, no," North concluded, shrugging sympathetically.

"I just can't understand how this could be right for her," Jack said. He twitched his staff absently, and the ice receded from the walls and floor of the workshop.

"Talk to her about it," Tooth said suddenly. "Maybe there's something you don't know."

Jack looked at them all. He nodded finally. "I'll talk to her. If I can figure out what to say," he added.

"We'll keep a cider warm for you," Bunny said.

Jack raised his staff mock threateningly.

"Here," North interrupted, tossing Jack a snow globe. "I understand this might be a bit, er, overwhelming to Miss Elsa-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Jack interrupted. "Overwhelming? You straight-up kidnapped me. What was that?!"

"But," North continued as if Jack had not spoken, "she is welcome to my workshop when she is ready, as is every Guardian."

Deciding it wasn't worth the argument, Jack pocketed the globe. "Thanks, North. I'll be back," he added.

North's eyes twinkled. "I know."

In the quiet of the atmosphere, the North Pole behind him and Arendelle ahead, Jack finally allowed himself to acknowledge the most dangerous voice in his soul.

What if she said yes?