Hey guys! Welcome back to Frost and Fullmetal!

Thanks so much to Superstitious Studios (Thanks!), ToadstoolWriter (I'm glad you enjoyed it! :D), and Dan G. Panterita (And thank you for reading! :D I'm so glad you liked it, and I hope you continue to enjoy!) for reviewing!

With that, on with the chapter!

~ 7 ~

Due North

It had never really been Jack's intention to conceal the truth about his own death from Edward - at least not from the start. Sure, once he had learned that the younger boy had serious traumatic memories related to resurrection, he had become even more reluctant to speak about his past, but truthfully, he had never actually planned to tell anyone regardless. In fact, Jack still had yet to even tell the other Guardians about it.

It was just another thing that made him painfully different, after all, seeing that no other spirit had ever been risen from the dead as he had been. And how would he even start a conversation like that?

Hey, I know this is random, but guess what? I'm actually technically dead! I was a normal human, I drowned 300 years ago, and spent the rest of my "life" up until now suffering from chronic invisibility and crushing loneliness! Isn't that fun!?

He was only just now getting the hang of holding regular conversations with people. He'd hardly jump at the chance to start delving into his own personal set of identity crises and post-traumatic stress.

But of course, Pitch - who had not only regained enough strength to reemerge out of the hole in the ground he called a lair, but also managed to spread enough Fear to cause Jack to steadily lose believers - just had to come and screw everything up, as usual.

And to make matters worse, just when Jack had started thinking that maybe he and Edward could learn to get along if he helped him find the information he was looking for, the alchemist was now staring at him in horror, as if Jack had just killed a puppy right in front of him.

All that combined with that fact that randomly appearing water kept climbing up his throat really made for a wonderful day for the unfortunate winter spirit. And, wisely, he didn't even bother to begin hoping it would get better from here.

After all, when had that ever happened to him?

"E-Edward," Jack choked out, a bit of water spilling out of the corner of his mouth. "D-Don't listen to him...th-this is what he does, h-he messes with your head! U-Uses your fear against you! H-He - !"

"Is it true?" Edward asked darkly. His head was dipped low, his long, golden bangs hiding his face.

Jack gulped. "W-What…?" he asked, prolonging the inevitable.

"Is. It. True?"

The winter spirit was silent for a long time. A part of him wanted to deny it all. A part of him wanted to write everything off as Pitch's own manipulation, a made-up story meant to turn the boys against each other. For a moment, Jack thought that he'd rather die again than tell the truth.

In the end, though, his heart just wasn't in it.

"...i-it's true," he whispered. "But listen! I never meant to hide it from you! I just - !"

"What do you mean you never meant to hide it!?" Edward screeched, wheeling around to face him, fury in his golden eyes. "You did hide it! Al told you the whole story about what happened to us, and you said nothing! What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"I-I...I've never told anyone about that…" Jack answered timidly. "I-It wasn't personal, I swear…"

"Like hell it wasn't!" the younger boy snapped. "What kind of dumbass do you take me for!? You've probably been giggling to yourself about it this whole damn time! Ooh, congrats! You managed to do something I lost two limbs and my brother's body trying to do! Here you are, alive and well and intact and just rubbing in the fact that I failed!"

"E-Edward, please!" Jack begged, feeling the water building in his throat once again. "Th-This is Pitch's doing! H-He's amplifying your fear! T-Twisting your mind! I p-promise you, I never wanted to offend you b-by not telling you! I-It's just me! I-I've always been scared to talk about it!"

Edward didn't believe him. That much was clear by his deep scowl and shaking hands. Jack should have known better than to try - with Pitch there, feeding off of the alchemist's fear, he could never get through to him. Still, as long as his water-filled lungs would allow him, the winter spirit kept pleading.

"L-Listen to me! Th-This shouldn't change anything, r-right!? I-I'm still gonna help you! W-We'll still go to the Pole, we'll see if my colleague h-has anything for you! Th-Then you'll never have to s-see me again, I promise!"

"Hm, yes, about that..." Pitch finally cut in, taking a few steps forward. "I'm afraid the two of you won't be going anywhere together...though, I suppose you're correct about one thing." He grinned at Edward, flashing his shark-like teeth. "You'll never see him again." With that, he backed up into the shadows, his form fading until only his malicious eyes and cruel smile remained - then, they too disappeared into the darkness.

Suddenly, a tendril of black Nightmare sand shot out of the shadows, wrapping around Jack's torso. The boy yelped, dropping his staff and grabbing at the sand, attempting to freeze it, but a coughing fit overtook him again, breaking his concentration and causing him to fall face-first into the snow.

"N-No!" he cried out upon lifting his head, struggling as the tendril began dragging him across the ground towards where Pitch had melted into the shadows. "D-Damn it!"

Jack tried to summon forth more ice, but his magic was clearly dwindling. He wasn't sure how much of his hair was still white, but he did feel a strange pins and needles sensation in his left eye - perhaps that was turning brown as well?

His heart pounded in his chest as he came to a chilling realization: his powers were steadily fading, and he could do nothing to stop Pitch.

He looked back to see Edward still standing there, frozen and staring wide-eyed at him. A bit of the anger had faded from his expression, and he now appeared merely stunned into silence. It wasn't much of a change, but it was enough to inspire a desperate idea within Jack.

It was a longshot, but it was his only hope.

Bracing himself against the black sand still dragging him along, Jack reached into his hoodie pocket and closed his hand around the snow globe he had stored there after the portal to the lake had vanished. Then, he quickly flung the globe towards Edward, his perfect aim ensuring that it landed soundly in the snow at the younger boy's feet.

"G-Go to the North Pole!" the winter spirit shouted. "F-Find North! T-Tell him what happened! P-Please - !"

He would have said more, but there was no time. Just as Pitch had been before him, Jack was swallowed by the shadows of the woods, and all of his senses went dark.

()()()()

When Pitch disappeared, so did Edward's fear.

His shaking hands suddenly stilled, his tensed shoulders dropped, and he released a breath he couldn't even remember taking. The boy suddenly felt almost numb, the only sensations he could feel being his pounding head and the dull ache gnawing at his automail ports. For a long time, he stood there in the snow, his mind reeling at what he had just learned.

Jack was dead. Or rather, he had been dead, and was now alive again. So, in short, he had found some way to resurrect himself, or at least had someone else do it for him.

What a goddamn joke. And the dumbass hadn't even bothered to lie about it! Hadn't tried to save face, hadn't laughed it off and said Pitch was lying - no! He'd looked Edward right in the eye and told him that it was true! He'd even begged him to ignore it all, as if his very existence didn't laugh in the face of everything Edward had ever tried and failed to accomplish!

And now the icy annoyance was gone, so Ed couldn't even yell at him about it!

As anger gradually replaced the terror that had previously occupied Ed's mind, he began to pace back and forth in the snow, seething. "That bastard," he mumbled to himself through gritted teeth. "This whole damn time, he knew...and he never even bothered to say anything about it! Damn it, I knew something was off with him! No wonder he looks like a goddamn corpse! He is one!"

He kicked the snow harshly with his automail foot, sending white powder spraying into the air, as though that would make him feel better. Instead, a gust of wind suddenly sent the ice crystals flying back into Ed's face, causing him to splutter and let out a rapid string of curses.

"What the hell!?" he spat, brushing the snow out of his eyes. "What was - !?"

The young alchemist was abruptly cut off when an even stronger burst of wind lifted Jack's fallen staff off the ground and practically shoved it into his face as well. He just barely managed to catch it before it could collide with him, but the wind persisted, roughly darting around him and causing his braid to whip the side of his face and his coat to billow out around him.

"What the hell is going on!?" Ed repeated, golden eyes darting around, trying to find something to glare at. "Whoever's out there, I'm warning you, I can and will kick your ass!"

However, no one was there. As far as he could tell, he was the only living being currently standing by the frozen lake - unless one was to count the increasingly irritating wind.

Then, it occurred to him.

"Oh, it's nothing special. I just call upon the Wind - it's a close friend of mine, by the way - and it lifts me up off the ground."

...oh.

So Jack hadn't been kidding, then. The Wind really did have a mind of its own. And right now, that mind seemed to be occupied with anger at Edward for letting its apparent "close friend" get taken away by a creepy gray man without eyebrows.

Exactly when had Edward's life gotten so goddamn weird?

"Quit it!" he shouted at the air still rushing around him, feeling ridiculous. "If you're so worried about that dumbass, go get him yourself! I have nothing to do with this, so don't drag me into it!" He dropped the staff and bent down to pick up the snow globe that Jack had thrown at his feet. "I'm going home!"

The Wind, however, appeared to have other ideas. A particularly strong gust sent the globe flying out of his grip and back into the snow, while simultaneously shoving the staff towards him once more, and his anger flared again.

"Seriously!?" He scowled at nowhere in particular. "You really think I'm gonna go out of my way to save some dumbass I barely know!? And one that lied to me, at that!?"

However, even as he spoke, he realized that his words weren't fair. Jack had never actually "lied" to him about anything. In fact, it appeared that the older boy had pretty much told him nothing but the truth - though Ed hadn't believed him at first, it was now agonizingly clear that Jack was, in fact, a magical, possibly immortal winter spirit from another world. The only thing he had never mentioned was how he became that way.

And really, it wasn't like Ed had ever asked.

The more he thought about it, the more his heart sank with guilt. Did he really even have the right to be angry about not being told something so...personal? And technically, he was guilty of concealing things too, wasn't he? If Al hadn't been the one to explain the brothers' past, would Ed have ever said anything at all?

Though he would have liked to believe otherwise, he couldn't deny that the answer was no. The incident wasn't exactly something Edward enjoyed discussing, even with the people that already knew about it. He'd only ever really revealed it when he hadn't had any other choice.

Just like Jack.

A groan escaped the boy's lips as he dragged a hand over his grimacing face. Perhaps he and Jack weren't as different as he'd originally thought.

Not that he'd ever admit it out loud, of course.

Edward stared down at the staff and the snow globe on the ground, the gears turning in his mind. "The North Pole, he said…?" he murmured as he took a cautious step towards them. The Wind, sensing his wavering resolve, died down around him, fading to a soft breeze that gently ruffled his hair. Unlike before, it allowed him to bend down and pick up both the stick and the globe without attempting to knock either of them far out of his reach.

"Let's see…'Go to the North Pole, find North,'" the alchemist quoted, eyes narrowing at the glass sphere in his hand. "No idea what that means, but...I guess it couldn't hurt to stop there before going home. Make it a good deed for the day, or whatever…"

His words seemed to appease the Wind, as it began practically dancing around him, causing his braid to bob up and down jovially. Edward rolled his eyes, swatting at the air as if that would somehow stop it.

"Knock it off," he grunted. "Sheesh...now I'm talking to the Wind. Good thing Colonel Bastard and his team aren't here, they'd have a field day with that…"

Edward shook his head, slung Jack's staff over his shoulder, and lifted the snow globe up to his mouth, as he had seen Jack do before. "Okay...take me to the North Pole." With that, he tossed the globe in front of him, half-expecting it to just plop back down into the snow.

It didn't.

Another swirling, glittering portal spiraled into existence in front of him, causing his jaw to drop once again. Apparently, a magical hand wasn't required to use magical objects. Even a strict man of science like Edward Elric could activate them if he really tried.

Good to know.

He cleared his throat, steeling himself for another stomach-churning ride. "Alright then...no turning back now."

With that, he jumped into the portal.

()()()()

A few moments of spinning and blinding colors later, Edward emerged from the other side of the portal, landing face-first into snow for the second time that day. Rattling off a string of slightly muffled curses, he frustratedly pushed himself up, brushed the ice from his eyes, and glared around, trying to make a note of his surroundings.

At first glance, though, there were none.

Before him lay an icy expanse unlike anything he had ever seen. As far as he could tell, there was nothing but snow, snow, and more snow for miles in front of him. Despite it having been daytime when Edward had first entered the portal, the sky here was dark, lit only by the silver moon and its accompanying sea of stars. If Edward had taken more than a split second to absorb the scenery, he would have deemed it ethereally beautiful.

As it so happened, however, it was too damn cold to think about anything like that.

"D-Damn it!" he yelped, grabbing at his right shoulder as both of his stumps began to ache from the bitter cold. "W-What the hell is this!? W-Where the hell did that jackass s-send me!? W-Was this j-just a trap or something!? Th-That icy asshole!"

Before he could rant any further, the Wind, which had apparently followed him (or perhaps it was just ever-present in this world?), gave what almost sounded like an exasperated huff. It blew sideways into Ed's face, forcing his head to turn to the point of glancing over his shoulder behind him.

Oh. There was a building there.

"...y-you heard nothing," Ed growled, choosing to ignore the somehow sarcastic breeze pushing him forward as he scooped up the staff and the snow globe once again.

He couldn't see much of the building from where he was, mainly due to the fact that the colossal wooden double doors in front of him took up most of his vision. In any case, he didn't really mind - he would rather get inside and get warm now instead of wasting time gawking at whatever building he was stepping into.

Despite their massive size, the doors opened easily enough, allowing Ed to hurry into the warm exterior of the building. He breathed a sigh of relief as he shut the doors behind him, cutting off the cold air attempting to force its way through.

"Alright," he mumbled to himself as soon as his teeth stopped chattering. "'Find North. Tell him what happened' Should be easy enough, I guess…"

Upon glancing around, the boy saw that he was in a relatively empty hallway, save for the long, crimson rug covering the wooden floors and some sort of greenery decorating the walls - holly, maybe? The hall was only dimly lit, but Edward could see another set of double doors at the end of it with brighter light streaming through the gap beneath it.

"Nowhere else to go but forward," he muttered.

As though confirming his words, the Wind (how had it come inside with him!?) rushed gently at his back, urging him towards the other doors.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going, I'm going…"

Ed trudged down the hallway, shoving the hand holding the snow globe into his pocket and scowling at the floor as he went. Honestly, he still wasn't entirely sure what he was doing here. By all rights, he should have gone straight home. Whatever creepy plans Pitch had for this world, he knew that he did not want to get involved. The guy had taken one look at Ed and had instantly known his darkest fears, his buried traumas.

Though he was loath to admit it, Jack had been right. Pitch was not a guy he should've provoked. Too dangerous and too weird. Ed would be better off leaving now and never looking back.

And yet...here he was. In some "North Pole" place in a different world, looking for some guy named "North" to tell him that Jack had managed to get kidnapped while simultaneously drowning in his own lungs. Even considering all the strange things Ed had seen in his life, this had to be the weirdest situation he'd ever found himself in.

Why had he stayed, again?

Was it pity? Sympathy, maybe? Sure, that didn't really sound like Edward, but maybe something about the way Jack had pleaded for help while being dragged off into the darkness had somehow tugged a heartstring or two? And if so, how? Edward hated Jack for what he'd done, for what the older boy had concealed from him. Or, at least, he was trying to hate him. In any case, why was he going this far out of his way to help someone whom he was supposed to hate?

An exasperated groan escaped the young alchemist's lips. Maybe his softhearted younger brother was starting to rub off on him.

When he reached the door, he could hear noises on the other side. At first, all he could discern was a general din rumbling in his ears, but as he listened closer, he made out more specific sounds, such as hammers thwacking, heavy footsteps, and the occasional low grunt. And...were those jingling bells somewhere in the distance?

"What the hell am I about to walk into…?" he muttered to himself as he placed a hand on each door. "Here goes nothing, I guess…" With that, he pushed.

As soon as the doors opened, Ed's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

Laid out before him was an absolutely massive workshop, spanning countless floors and bustling with life. Strange fur-covered creatures, even larger than, say, Major Armstrong, sat at workstations carefully building delicate toys. Tiny, pointy-eared men that barely came up to Ed's knee pranced around underfoot, the bells on their red hats jangling wildly as they moved. Twinkling lights were strung up everywhere, their glow reflecting off of the various strange, shining toys somehow floating through the air with no visible strings attached.

If magic did in fact exist in this world, Ed realized, then this place was full of it.

Before he could take it all in for long, however, he was suddenly hoisted several feet into the air by his coat's collar with a decidedly unmasculine yelp.

Within moments, he found himself face to face with one of the strange, huge, furry creatures - and it didn't look particularly happy. The creature glared at him from underneath extremely bushy eyebrows, looking him up and down as though sizing him up.

For a brief moment, Edward wondered if Jack had sent him into a lair of beasts that were going to eat him.

Then, he banished the ridiculous notion and recovered his voice.

"H-Hold on!" he stammered, wiggling a bit in the creature's grasp as he lifted Jack's staff into its line of sight. "Uh...Jack sent me! Jack Frost! He said to find someone named North and tell him something! Something important!"

If possible, the creature's expression only dulled further. It let out an exasperated grunt that may have been some kind of expletive before placing Edward back on the ground. With a few more grunts in a language Edward had never heard in his life, it beckoned the boy forward towards the heart of the workshop.

He blinked. "Uh...okay, I guess…"

Tentatively, Ed followed the strange creature, keeping his hands poised to clap in case things went south and he had to put up a fight. As they walked, the boy received several strange looks from the other fur-covered beings, though they seemed content to leave the matter of his presence to the one who'd originally approached him, returning to their work with little more than a shrug.

"This place is weird as hell…" Ed mumbled, shuddering under their strangely human stares. What were they, anyway?

Ed and his impromptu chaperone soon reached a large wooden lift, apparently used to traverse the many floors of the workshop. Seconds after the two of them stepped inside, it began moving, though Ed found himself unable to pay attention to wherever they were going. The colored lights and impossibly hovering toys were far too dazzling for him to keep his gaze off of them for long.

"Winry would have a field day in here…" he found himself murmuring. "All this mechanical stuff...she'd probably pass out from excitement."

His hulking companion eyed him curiously, but didn't bother pressing the issue - not that Edward expected the creature to suddenly start speaking his language, anyway.

When the lift stopped at another floor, the creature continued escorting Edward through the workshop, weaving in and out of workstations and edging past its apparent colleagues, until finally, they arrived at another set of double doors. Through the frosted glass at the center of the doors, Edward could just barely make out a huge silhouette moving around inside.

The young alchemist gulped. Was "North" yet another of these strange, fur-covered creatures? Their leader, perhaps? As vehemently as he would normally deny it, Edward suddenly felt extremely small.

Not even taking a moment to knock, his companion pushed its way through the double doors, calling out in its strange, grunting language. The figure inside, to Edward's surprise, answered in familiar - albeit heavily accented - words instead.

"Have I not told you hundred times?" came an exasperated masculine voice. "Why can no one here remember to knock!?"

The figure turned to face the arrivals at his door, revealing it to be...a man.

Granted, it was an incredibly large man - as tall as Alphonse's armor, if not slightly taller, and just about as wide - but still, a man all the same. Not another furry beast, just a man with a long, snowy white beard, red sleeves rolled up to reveal intricate tattoos of the words "Naughty" and "Nice" on his arms, and piercing sapphire eyes.

Despite having expected a beast, Ed found himself no less intimidated by the man before him.

The man cocked his head to the side, lifting his impressively bushy eyebrows as he studied Ed. "And, ah...who are you?" he asked, arms folded across his chest. It likely wasn't meant to be a threatening gesture, but Ed couldn't help but notice how the man's hands were bigger than his own head.

"...um…" was all he could manage at first, but after quickly clearing his throat, he was able to scrounge up enough of his usual confidence to speak properly. "...my name is Edward. I'm looking for someone named 'North'...is that you?"

The man's expression turned to surprise for a moment or two before he began chuckling. "Ah! This is interesting...not many mortals know me by that name! I am curious, how did you come to learn it?"

Ed blinked. Mortals. Right. Because both Jack and apparently this guy were not that.

"Oh, uh…" he continued, shaking off the momentary distraction. Just as before, he lifted up Jack's staff as a sort of proof that he meant no harm. "This guy, Jack Frost...he told me that was your name. And he, um...sent me here to talk to you."

North gave another jovial laugh, a laugh that seemed to knock his intimidation factor down a few pegs. "Jack sent you!" he exclaimed with a grin. "That means you can see him! Good for him! He is getting more believers every day, it seems!"

Edward frowned, recalling Pitch's words.

When a Guardian loses believers, they lose their magic as well.

Which was exactly why Jack was currently dying. Having come from a world where these strange "belief" rules didn't apply, Edward doubted he'd be counted among Jack's so-called "believers," even if he could still see him - something that was apparently normally reserved for those who already believed he existed in this world. Which meant that he also likely didn't count when it came to that belief keeping Jack alive.

Not that North would know that, of course.

"Now...what did he want you to tell me?"

"Uh...it's actually kind of about that 'believer' thing," Edward began slowly, fiddling with the glove that covered his automail hand. "So...here goes. He originally brought me here to talk to you about this…'magic' stuff, but we kind of got ambushed by some creepy asshole with a weird sand horse - Pitch, I think his name was?"

At the word "Pitch," North's expression immediately darkened once more. His bright blue eyes darted around the room, as though he was suddenly acutely aware of Jack's absence. "...go on," he said carefully, though his brow was furrowed in apprehension.

"Okay...so Jack suddenly fell over and started coughing up water, and his hair turned brown too. Then that Pitch guy said something about 'snuffing out lights' and Jack 'losing believers,' and then…" Edward trailed off, not entirely keen on mentioning how he had simply stood there while Jack was dragged away, begging for help that the younger boy was too enraged and horrified to give.

Al, Winry, and Pinako were all going to give him the scolding of his life if they ever found out what happened.

"...and then Pitch dragged him into the shadows and they were gone," he finished lamely, hoping the large man wouldn't see the guilt threatening to show on his face. "Jack threw his snow globe at me and told me to come here and tell you what happened, so...here I am."

There was a long beat of silence as North's eyes lowered to the floor, seemingly processing everything the boy had told him. Edward shifted his weight awkwardly, still feeling frustratingly small in the presence of the huge man and his beast-like companions.

Then, finally, North clapped his hands together, startling Ed with the echoing sound.

"Alright!" he declared, his once-jolly face now hardened in determination. "If this is true, there is no time to waste! Edward, was it? You come with me for now!"

Before Ed could respond, the creature at his side released a series of grunting noises, which apparently North could completely understand.

"Ready sleigh? Bah! No! Is no time! Just have yetis keep doing jobs!" he insisted, brushing past the creature, which, Ed guessed, was apparently a yeti? "We will take portal directly there once others arrive!"

The yeti simply shrugged and looked back at Ed, stepping aside to let him follow the big man, as instructed. Supposing he didn't exactly have much of a choice, the young alchemist obeyed.

"Others?" he found himself asking as he hurried out of North's office, jogging to keep up with the man's long strides. "Who are the others!?"

"Why, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and the Sandman, of course!" North called over his shoulder, as though that string of words was supposed to mean anything to Edward. "Jack has been taken by Pitch! Is serious situation! So now, we must call upon rest of Guardians of Childhood!"