I'm sorry it's been like 20 days since I last updated, I'm just really busy with stuff and it's all getting a bit much and I have had the worst writers block in forever. It's been horrible, but I've planned my D's out and theres another few chapters due up :D Please bare with me!

And I know some of these might seem like I'm experimenting a little bit with pairings and such and crap like that... well I am. I had the JackxTooth one at the start, and last chapter was BunnyxTooth. It's all new to me, it's fun to write, and I know it might not be everyone's cup of tea but at least there's plenty more for you all to read!

Welcome back my friends to the weirdness that is my mind! I hope you enjoy!

Detachment, n
- aloofness from worldly affairs or concerns of others

Jack didn't seem to notice that the other Guardians were concerned about him, to them, it seemed he was above noticing it. Didn't pay attention. Didn't realise that their fears were justified.

In the one year since becoming a Guardian, the teen had seemed to spiral into some sort of void. Despite being accepted by the other Guardians, despite having new friends and becoming part of a strong family unit within the group, something seemed to be troubling him, and though he didn't see it, the others did.

Perhaps he simply didn't want to see it... but his actions spoke louder than words, and the few things he was doing to torment people across the globe were starting to mount into something far more serious than him playing trickster. They were – for lack of better word – bad.

Creating a snow storm in Toronto that blacked out half the city, and despite the back up generators most families had the heating still went out. That was dangerous.

Not making ice on ponds where he knew children would go skating, that was asking for trouble. Asking for tragedy. Someone would fall through like he had so long ago, and though he had been brought back, another child would not be.

Floods in Britain. Avalanches in the Italian Alps. Freezing roads over in Russia. Someone could die.

None of them knew what was going on inside their young friends' mind, and Jack was not likely to tell them.

In the year since becoming a Guardian, Jack had found himself plagued with the thoughts of what would have happened if he'd joined Pitch. If he'd accepted the offer of becoming part of his family rather than the Guardians who as Pitch had stated – didn't believe in him. It was one of his worst fears spoken out loud... and to this day he still wondered if the arguments with Bunny meant something deeper than just a petty fight. If when North had to review toy designs rather than speak to him might it be he really didn't want to see Jack. If when Sandy sailed away on his golden dreams was it because he was busy or was it because he hated Jack for letting him be destroyed not that long ago.

Even Tooth seemed preoccupied sometimes... could she be casting her own memories back to when Jack had failed them at Easter, filling herself with regret for agreeing to him becoming a Guardian, or was she just overworked with the amount of teeth she had to collect again?

Deep inside, Jack knew he had made the right decision. Knew that Pitch had tossed him around inside his lair, had surrounded the teen with a living nightmare, had weakened him, had filled him with doubt and fear before throwing him back to the Guardians in their most desperate time of need, only to make them thin he had tricked them, when it was he who had been duped.

That Pitch came to Antarctica to offer himself as a balm for the pain, to show a little humanity and offer his understanding when really he didn't understand, and he was the cause of the pain so could never help Jack, could never be that comforter and protector. Could never be family.

He had wanted to fill the world with darkness and fear, when Jack wanted to fill it with light and smiles and laughter. They were too different.

But that voice still niggled in the back of Jack's mind, still told him that more people would have known about him if he'd joined Pitch than they did now. Jack Frost was not yet a household name, and it was a struggle day to day to keep belief in him strong, because though like North he was something attributed to Winter, he was not the main figure. He was merely a passing though, a lyric in a song – 'Jack Frost nipping at your nose' – a vision of what could be. True, as long as people were having fun, he would still be around... whereas nobody would have fun if he had joined Pitch. But then he wouldn't be a Guardian, and the fun wouldn't matter. He would be known through the ice. Through the cold.

He loved being a Guardian, loved seeing the smiles on peoples faces. But it hurt when they couldn't see him smiling back... still, after a year of trying his hardest. It hadn't taken the others that long to get their belief back from virtually nothing. Tooth, North, Bunny, Sandy... they got it back within hours, days, weeks at the most. But three hundred and sixty-five days had passed, and he had but a fraction of what they had. And he had been the one to bring theirs back to them.

Maybe belief in him would be stronger if they could see what else he was capable of. So he was trying it. In his mind it wasn't really hurting anyone.

What he couldn't see though, was that he was hurting himself. And that was what the other Guardians were scared of.