Six months on, and Prism was back to his usual self. He felt much better, in fact. He was happy and balanced and everything was going well for him. Nightlight and Lunar kept their eyes on him, but they were more relaxed when there were no signs of more panic attacks. The other Guardians went back to Earth, working hard to fulfill their obligations, and Prism, for the first time in his life, was on a sort of vacation.

He hadn't even realized how wound up he was until Lunar proposed a break after he could walk around with relative ease. Without a thought, he'd scoffed and asked what he needed a break from. Lunar had replied he needed a break from his responsibilities, and Prism laughed and quipped that until two years before, he hadn't had any responsibilities. Nightlight snorted, and Prism had been stunned.

"What's so funny?" he'd asked.

Nightlight paused, realizing that Prism was serious. Then he spoke solemnly. "You might not have considered them responsibilities in the same capacity over the last few thousand years, but has your work changed at all since becoming a Guardian?

Prism recognized at once that this was the truth and flushed. He tried fighting Lunar, but he was backed by all the other Guardians, and so Prism had reluctantly agreed to take a year off. He was surprised by how tired he was once it really sank in that he wasn't going back to work for a long while. He rested a lot at first, sleeping late and lounging around. Then he decided to go out in his ship and restock the depleted healing ingredients; he'd put a sizable dent in them even before his secret had been discovered. Lunar, Jack, and Nightlight went with him, and they were thrilled to go sailing again. They spent a few weeks in space going to various ports and shops on small asteroids then came back to Earth with tons of ingredients.

Over the past few months, Prism had done as he pleased, from flying with the Lunar Moths, which he hadn't done in ages of Earth time, to taking up a pen and writing out bits and pieces of his life's story. He was too shy to share them with anybody yet, but to put his experiences into words was soothing somehow, and he was already learning more about himself. It was a wonderful, relaxing vacation, and it was only half over.

Prism was reading in the main room one fine day when Jack came back from Earth. Jack grinned at him, skipping over to peek at the book. When he saw that it was from Earth and not another planet, he looked at the upside-down words to see what it was. He mouthed the words of the first paragraph on the right page then looked up.

"Le Petit Prince?" he asked with a grin. "I like that one."

"Oui. C'est ce que je préfère," Prism answered, carefully marking his place with a bookmark. "How are you, Jack? Have fun?"

Jack beamed. "Lots! Snow days are the best!"

Prism smiled and stood up to stretch. He moved fluidly with no protest in his joints. "That's nice. Where did you go? What did you do?"

"Burgess," Jack said.

Prism paused. "I see. And what did you do?"

Jack bit his bottom lip then exhaled. "Lunar asked me to check on Jackson Bennett."

"Oh," Prism said, relaxing. "How is he?"

"Doing well," Jack said with a smile. "He's active and having fun. He's back in school and his grades are good, and he has a lot of friends."

Prism was pleased. "Excellent. Glad to hear it."

"Glad to hear what?" Lunar asked as he and Nightlight walked in from a side passage.

"Jackson's happy and healthy," Prism said, a smile uplifting his mouth.

"That's great!" Nightlight said.

"Such a brave little boy," Lunar said.

"Agreed," Prism said then turned back to the Guardian of Fun. A niggling worry was in Jack's mind, and Prism pursed his lips. "Out with it, Jack. What's wrong?"

Jack leaned on his staff and looked away. "Jackson seems to be under the impression that you promised to take him and his family on a trip to the moon in your ship…"

"Oh. That. Yes, I did," Prism said. He shifted from foot to foot, aware of Lunar's sharp eyes studying him. "I suppose he wants to claim that now."

"Yeah…"

After a few moments, Lunar smiled. "Considering the family and their firm belief in the Guardians, I have no problem with them coming to visit. But please don't promise that to every child."

Prism blinked. "Of course not! I'm not stupid."

Lunar's eyebrows came together and he frowned thoughtfully at his friend. "Then why did you promise Jackson he could come here?"

There was a long silence as Prism tried to puzzle out an answer. He finally shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. He's the first one I ever promised that. I usually promise a small treat of some kind, like an expensive toy or something similar."

He frowned and settled back in his chair to think about it. Lunar watched him then clapped and looked around. "When shall we invite him up?"

Prism clicked his tongue. "Jack, is there a holiday coming up?" he asked absently.

"This weekend is a three-day weekend because of teachers' meetings on Friday," Jack said at once. "Jamie and Lucy are both free for all three days. And today is Wednesday."

Lunar nodded. "This weekend is fine. Nightlight, Jack, would you go and summon the others to come tomorrow to clean the ship? Tell them they will stay for three days. Even North."

"Of course, little Lunanoff," Nightlight said.

He and Jack headed for the ship. Lunar looked at Prism, still lost in thought, his expression pinched as his mind worked. He touched him gently, and Prism focused on him.

"Hm?"

"I'm here if you need to figure out your thoughts with words."

"Thanks, Lunar," Prism murmured.

Lunar sat down in the chair beside him then picked up the book that Prism had set aside and began on page one. They spent the rest of that day relaxing, and bright and early the next day (on Earth at least) the others arrived. North was a bit anxious, as it was close to Christmas, but with plenty of promises that the rest of them would help him catch up on any missed work, he relaxed and got ready to help make the ship shine. Lunar, Prism, and Sandy mixed up cleaning supplies from a box full of strange-looking ingredients, and then they began to clean.

Prism worked on wiping down the computer, working gently around the delicate controls, his brow creased as his thoughts raced. He was worried about what would happen when Jackson's family came up to the moon. Could he stand to see Jamie when the man was aware of who he was? It was bad enough when he was clueless. But that wasn't the only thing eating away at him.

Throughout his entire healing process, nobody had ever asked if he knew what had triggered his sudden increase and severity of panic attacks. He knew very well what the trigger was, but he'd never been asked, so he hadn't shared. If he told them now, would they accuse him of deliberately withholding information? He didn't like that thought. He had made progress with trusting them, and he was afraid that if he revealed his knowledge of the trigger, they would be set back several squares.

"Fringe?" a voice asked softly.

Prism looked up to see Bunnymund standing there. The others were doing various tasks all over the room. The Pooka had a cleaning cloth in his hand, and he looked concerned.

"Yes?" Prism asked.

"You okay?"

Prism's stomach churned and he looked back at the computer and shrugged. After a pause, he hunched just shoulders and spoke quietly. "Not… Not really."

"What's wrong?"

"I should have mentioned something a while ago, but I didn't think to. And now I'm afraid that you will all be disappointed," Prism admitted, forcing out the words through the lump in his throat.

Bunnymund leaned on the console, his brow furrowed. "What is it?"

Prism licked his lips. "Nobody ever asked me what triggered the new form of panic attacks."

Bunnymund raised his eyebrows. "You know what triggers them?"

Prism nodded. "Since the very first one. It's not surprising, all things considering, but still. Lunar never asked, so I never thought to tell him."

"Then tell him now."

Prism bit his bottom lip then nodded reluctantly. He set aside his cleaning cloth and he and Bunnymund walked over to Lunar. Lunar looked down from the high ceiling where he was recharging a light with his power. He looked over at them and paused.

"Something wrong?"

Prism shifted nervously. "Can we talk?"

Lunar nodded and finished charging the light then floated gently down. "What's the matter?"

The others looked up, stopping their cleaning as Prism flushed. "It's just… I don't want you to be angry, but I forgot to tell you something."

"Forgot meaning?" Lunar asked, tilting his head. The Guardians all approached curiously.

"Meaning none of you asked, so I never even thought of telling you."

"Oh." Lunar relaxed and smiled. "Well, that's certainly understandable. What is it?"

"Well, you know the more severe panic attacks?"

"Yes."

"Well, you never asked what triggers them."

Silence. Then North leaned forward. "Do you know what triggers them?"

"Yes."

"You're sure?" Toothiana asked.

"Absolutely certain."

"Well then, what is it?" North asked.

Prism looked down. "Jamie Bennett," he whispered.

Even saying the name made pictures of the small boy float in his mind. Big eyes stared around, his fear lapping at Prism's consciousness, producing a heady buzz in his head. He heard lightbulbs shattering as he laughed, fighting on the inside to get control, to not hurt the boy, to rip Shadow Man out…

"Prism!" a faraway voice exclaimed.

Hands touched his face, and Lunar's gentle light filled his vision, bringing him back to the present. He blinked and the world came back into focus. Lunar's bright face was in front of him, full of concern and shock, and he was startled to see that he was on the floor. He looked around at the stunned faces of the Guardians. Bunnymund and North each had both of their hands wrapped around one of his, their grips firm, as if holding him back. With great chagrin, he blushed as he realized that he must have been about to start hurting himself again.

"What happened?" he asked faintly.

"You collapsed," Toothiana said, her slim hands over her mouth. "And started… well, writhing."

"Ah. Right." He shifted. "You can let me go now."

They slowly obeyed, stepping back with wide eyes. Nightlight stood frozen, his fear beating a tattoo against Prism's consciousness as he gazed wordlessly at his old friend. Jack was rooted to the spot, his mouth slightly open, his hands clutching at the cleaning cloth with a white-knuckled grip. Lunar knelt in front of him and slowly sat back on his heels.

"I would say that Jamie Bennett is definitely your trigger," Lunar murmured gently. He pressed his lips together. "What made you keep going back to that house if Jamie triggered you so badly?"

Prims frowned at him. "I had to help Jackson. What happened to me was inconsequential." He paused then flushed as he registered his words, waiting for Lunar to scold him.

But instead, Lunar laughed. "That is the most Guardian response I have ever heard," he said. He stood up and held out his hand. Prism took it and was pulled effortlessly up. "Though I would argue it was not, in fact, inconsequential, I do understand what you mean and I appreciate your perseverance despite the rather undesirable consequences."

Prism relaxed and gave a small smile. "Thanks. I probably should have mentioned it before, but…"

"Nobody asked," Lunar said, waving his hand dismissively. "It's fine. But thank you for telling us."

"So what are we to do?" North asked.

"Yeah. There's no way Jamie will let Jackson come without him. Not with Prism here," Bunnymund said.

"Plus he's always wanted to visit," Jack said uneasily.

"What do you think, Prism?" Lunar asked.

Prism worried his bottom lip. "I'm not sure I could handle it alone. I never have been able to. But I won't be alone this time. If you're willing to help, I think I'm willing to get that close to Jamie. Just promise you won't leave me."

"Of course not," Nightlight said, his voice certain as he relaxed his stiff posture.

Sandy grinned. "We're Guardians. We stick together."

Prism relaxed and smiled. "Thank you." He looked around. "Best get cleaning. We have guests coming over."

They all smiled and headed back to their tasks. Prism resumed wiping down the controls and he felt much better. He was anxious about getting so close to Jamie, but he knew his friends would be there to help him through it. Besides, taking a ride to the moon would make Jackson happy. He couldn't wait to see the boy's face. The thought made him smile.