So, things are about to go south, and by south, I mean North. I want to thank ElektraVamp05 again for being such a consistent and encouraging reviewer. You help keep me going, dear.

Sandy assesses Jack and confirms that Pitch is somehow inside him. Jack starts to show definite signs of it, which triggers an over-reaction on North's part. Aster isn't about to leave Jack alone, though. And he'll fix things, however he can.

(-)

In my darkest hours I could not foresee
That the tide could turn so fast to this degree
Can't believe my eyes
How can you be so blind?
Is the heart of stone, no empathy inside?
Time keeps on slipping away and we haven't learned
So in the end now what have we gained?

Our Solemn Hour- Within Temptation

This visit to the Pole was infinitely less pleasant than their last. Everyone had grim looks as Jack was knocked out on the couch in North's living room, and Sandy had tendrils of sand in his ears, faint anger tracing the lines of his face.

When he cut the tendrils off this time, Sandy took a few steps back, starting to sign before Jack was fully awake. [Pitch is inside of him. There was a darkness last time that I attributed to the trauma Jack's endured, but it has spread rapidly and is quite obviously the power of the Boogeyman. I can't tell the extent of Pitch's influence, but the power is there.]

Jack was sitting up on the couch by now, catching the last of Sandy's explanation. "Power? He just gave me that awful nightmare."

Sandy shook his head, and Aster would swear that the little man looked slightly nervous and wary of Jack. [There's a connection. Something has allowed him inside of you, and he is a blight on your soul. This can't be the first sign of him.]

Aster and Jack's eyes met, and they both said, "The storm."

"What storm?" Toothiana asked.

"Jamie has…a heart problem. It's possible that he won't live past childhood." There were tears in Jack's eyes as he told them this. "When I found out that Jamie hadn't told me, and I thought Bunny had been keeping it from me, I summoned a storm without trying. I was whipping up a big snowstorm just because I was angry. I…I scared Jamie!"

"The kid said it wasn't Jack, because Jack wasn't scary. Damn it, why can't that asshole just stay under the bed where he belongs?!"

"So, Pitch has new plan. He wants to use Jack against us." North's voice was flat.

Aster didn't like the look on North's face as he eyed the boy. "Hold your horses, mate. We don't know what's happening. Let's not jump to conclusions."

But Aster also saw the look Sandy was giving Frostbite. It wasn't the look one gave a friend. It was the gaze of someone assessing a potential enemy. [He's dangerous, it's true. I'm not sure what needs to be done, but this isn't something we can ignore.]

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Jack shouted. Everyone went still and silent as they gave him their attention. "I'm not invisible! Humans may not have seen me for three hundred years, but all of you could. You just chose to ignore me. You keep telling me I'll never be invisible again, but you still pretend I'm not here! But I will not be ignored, not ever again. Don't think I'll just let you forget about me."

Aster was pretty sure he was the only to notice how Jack's eyes seemed to fade to a silvery gold for a moment. Oh, Jesus. But no one else freaked out, so they must not have seen.

Toothiana, loving mother that she was, spoke up. "He's right. Jack is our friend, our family, and this isn't how one treats family." She looked directly at Jack and said, "We weren't trying to exclude or ignore you, Jack. You mean more to us than that."

Jack visibly calmed, and Aster let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. If Jack changed like that again, Aster was certain the others wouldn't miss the eyes a second time. Even Toothiana, the peacekeeper, was giving his Frostbite a wary look.

"Jack is ours," Aster said. "He's a Guardian, he's our family. He doesn't belong to Pitch."

[I'm afraid we can't be sure that's true.] Sandy glanced at Jack and addressed him directly. [You understand our concerns, right?]

His Snowflake sighed. "I do. But I don't want to hurt any of you. I don't want to take over the world. I think we might be blowing this out of proportion. Please, Sandy, you know I'm me, right?"

It had the makings of a heartwarming moment, but when Jack knelt to put a hand on the little man's shoulder, black sand swarmed from Sandy under Jack's hand, swirling and rising until a Nightmare stood between Jack and Sandy, who had flown back at the first grain of black sand. And as all this happened, Jack's eyes shone a bright silvery gold.

The Nightmare, which was streaked all over with frost, turned on Jack, whose eyes were beautifully blue again and wide and frightened as he took a few steps back. Aster was pretty sure that he was the only one who saw it that way. The rest seemed to think it was looking to Jack for instructions.

And all hell broke loose. Aster was actually the first one to go after the Nightmare, mainly because it was after his Snowflake. A couple of his boomerangs dispatched it with ease. While he was focused on that, however, North's yetis were closing in as Sandy slung a whip around Jack's staff to wrench it from his grip and immediately followed it up with a ball of Dreamsand to the face. Frostbite dropped like a stone.

Aster's blood boiled as North had the yetis collect the unconscious boy. "Take him to kitchen. Make cell near ovens to hold him."

The rabbit raced to the yetis. "Not so fast!"

"He must be contained, Bunny," North said firmly.

"I beg to differ." Aster had boomerangs in each hand as he turned to keep both North and the yetis in his sight.

A flurry of color and flittering wings blocked his view. "Stop! Let's talk about this. Let's not make this a fight." And the next was spoken so quietly that Aster wondered if only he was meant to hear it: "Yet."

It was smart. If Aster could talk North down instead of fight the man in his own domain, where he was at the height of his power and held all the control, it would be better. Even if Aster's instincts screamed violence at anyone who dared to lay a hand on his Snowflake.

"Fine. We talk. But we can't just let Jack lie there. Yetis will lock him up for now."

Aster opened his mouth to protest, but Toothiana put a hand on his shoulder. "Please, Bunny. Just talk about it first?"

When Aster watched Sandy send his dream whip into Jack's pocket to remove the bottle of Dreamsand and Toothiana's snowflake gift, more anger boiled up in him. It took a lot of effort to tamp it down as the yetis took Jack away.

(-)

Aster followed North into his private workshop, nearly trembling with suppressed rage. "Don't do this, North. Weren't we trying to let him know that he wasn't alone anymore? That he was part of our family, loved? Locking him away and leaving him alone makes us liars. Traitors. You think the kid had trust issues before, you can't imagine what they'll become if you do this. Let him go."

North turned and got in the rabbit's face. "Pitch nearly destroyed us all, Bunny, and the children with us. We cannot risk that happening again. Until we are certain Pitch cannot control Jack, he needs to be restrained."

Yes, Aster was aware that Jack posed a threat, but this was not the way to handle the sweet, insecure soul that Aster had grown so close to. "But in a cage by the ovens in your kitchen? It's cruel, North."

Stepping back, North shrugged. "Is practical. Jack has grown powerful enough to use magic without his staff. He must be weakened, or he can escape."

"This is wrong, North," Aster persisted. "And it will come back to bite you, mark my words."

"What happened to the Guardian of Hope who would do anything, anything for the children?" North asked.

"The Guardian of Hope grew a heart," Aster said evenly. It was true. Before the Pitch Crisis, before the Easter with Jack, before everything else with Jack, he might have gone along with this plan. But he was a different rabbit now than he was then.

North's eyes twinkled with sly calculation as he eyed Aster up and down. "And the Guardian of Fun stole that heart, da?"

He wouldn't dignify that. "Not sure who stole yours, but I can't see it anymore. You're colder than I've ever seen Frostbite."

That seemed to strike a nerve, because North was in his face again. "You forget yourself, Bunny," the big man said quietly, but in no way gently.

Unflinching at the sudden proximity, Aster snorted, a bitter smile twisting his lips. "Thrice on ya, mate." He turned without warning, going back to the door. "I'm going to see Jack. He should know we aren't all traitors. Don't think you can talk me out of it."

North walked after him into the workshop, alarmed. "What if he finds way to use, to control you?"

Aster stopped and turned to give the big man a smirk. "Then I guess you'll just have to lock me in your freezer and run Easter by yourself, without me. Because there's no other course for suspicion than imprisonment, right?"

Not waiting for an answer, Aster marched away, heading for the kitchens.

(-)

All the yetis and elves in the kitchen gave the cage in the corner a wide berth, as they'd no doubt been instructed to do. In the very farthest corner of the cage, the one furthest from the ovens that blazed hot as cookies and cakes were made, Jack was curled into a ball, looking more forlorn and tiny than Aster had ever seen him.

Aster hopped over as fast as he could, and he could see Jack's eyes get wide and wet. "Bunny!" Jack crawled to the front of the cage, arms reaching for Aster. Aster slipped his arms through the bars and gave the boy an awkward hug.

The thing he noticed first, and that alarmed him the most, was that Jack's skin wasn't cool to the touch, as it always was. He was warm like a regular human. And on the Snowflake that had to be the equivalent of a deadly fever.

"You okay, Jack? I tried to talk sense into North, but he's an idiot."

"I'm so hot, Bunny." Jack was crying a little. "What did I do to deserve this; I didn't hurt them!"

Aster ran his paw through Jack's hair comfortingly. "You didn't. But you scared them."

"How?! How can Santa Claus, the Sandman, and the Tooth Fairy have anything to fear from me?" Jack demanded.

Lips quirked in a small smile, Aster said, "Yer powerful, Jack. Even before you had believers. Now you have power even I don't have. Proportionally, the power you gain from each of your believers has to be at least triple what we do. Remember when I said that if anyone else was wielding your power, I'd be afraid?" Jack nodded. "That's what scares them. The idea that Pitch has hooks in you and might be able to control you scares the shit out of them. Because as you are, Jack Frost, you are a wonderfully gentle and playful ally and friend. But if someone else was behind your steering wheel? I'd sooner face Pitch by myself than have all of us fight the kind of fearsome foe you could become."

"Bunny…" Jack gasped. "I can't breathe!"

The boy took rapid shallow breaths, and Aster felt his forehead. Low grade fever, for a human. Jack was going to die if Aster didn't cool him down. "Hold on, Jack, I gotcha."

Aster looked around for something of use. Everything was about baking, which was about heat. Nothing-

Aster spotted something that might work. The sink. There were even buckets by it from the requirements of the biggest vats of cookie dough. Aster dashed for it. Yetis tried to get in his way, but he hardly noticed their attempts to grab him. Never race a rabbit, especially not when his Mate's life was on the line. He put a bucket under the faucet and turned the cold handle all the way up. A quick test proved it was just short of freezing cold. Perfect.

When he turned around, he was surrounded by yetis. "Move, ya glorified Bigfoots. Do you want to be responsible for the death of Jack Frost? Do you think your boss wants him dead?"

After a bit of glancing and some Yettish spoken between them, they parted to let Aster through. Careful to keep every drop in the bucket, he raced back to the cage where Jack was lying still, chest hardly moving. Aster thought his own heart stopped for a minute. He flung the bucket of cold water on the boy, praying it would be enough to save the little spirit's life.

The rising and falling of Jack's chest increased, and he sat up with a gasp. "Thank god," he said. He turned to look at Aster. "You saved me, Bunny. Seems like you always save me."

Aster grinned. "And I always will, Snowflake. We just need to figure out how to save you from this."

Jack panted a little. "You said, 'someone else behind my steering wheel' a minute ago. But that isn't what this feels like. It's like…he's bleeding into me. Like we're bleeding into each other. I don't think he can control this anymore than I can."

That was concerning. "That would indicate you've Bonded somehow." And didn't that just make Aster's heart pound faster with jealous rage. "How did you Bond to him?"

Jack flinched, and Aster realized some of his anger had leaked into his words. "Sorry, Frostbite. But Bonding usually…it requires a certain degree of compatibility, or of…desire. You can't Bind things that don't go together."

Jack's eyes got wide as he clearly had an epiphany. "'What goes together better than cold and dark?'" he murmured. "That's it! We are compatible, at least our elements are. That's why I fought him better than the rest of you. Your powers were all about light and life. They were in direct opposition. Mine worked with his power, letting me slip past the defenses that kept you out."

Aster was stunned. The idea that Jack and the Nightmare King had enough in common to Bond was sickening. But, as Jack pointed out, it was all about their elements. Still… "Jack, there needs to be a strong emotional surge. And some kind of desire to Bond has to be there."

Jack smiled grimly. "I know what happened. Is there ever a physical manifestation that symbolizes the Bond?"

Aster blinked. "Yeah. Usually it's just a Mark, but it can be something bigger. Why, what's in yer head, Snowflake?"

"A giant spike sculpture of frozen Nightmare Sand in the middle of the Antarctic made when I was furious with myself and with Pitch for ruining Easter, and when Pitch was trying to convince me that we should team up because he understood me, because he was like me."

The rabbit's jaw dropped a little. "That would do it." An inadvertent Bond between cold and dark was bound to be a twisted thing, and it was twisting Jack and Pitch together in an unnatural fashion. The Bond wasn't stable. He told Jack as much and added, "Good news is that means it's much easier to break. If we can shatter this sculpture you mentioned, I'm betting it will sever the Bond."

Jack huffed. "North isn't going to let me go on a field trip to the Antarctic, which is a place of extreme power for me. He'll say Pitch is luring us into a trap."

"Breaking the Bond with only you would be hard enough. Without you, it's impossible. I'm not part of the Bond, so my desires don't influence it. And it's not like we can call up Pitch to break it."

"What about my staff? It's how I channel my power, and it was used to make the sculpture. Even if you don't have the ice magic, maybe the staff could channel my magic out all on its own. It isn't likely, but it's better than nothing." Jack was looking so hopeful it hurt.

It was the best plan Aster could think of. Even if it wasn't likely to succeed. "What about the location? The Antarctic is a big place, and I can't wander around there for long. Can you point it out on a map for me?"

Jack frowned. "Not with real accuracy. Wait! Baby Tooth! She could take you; she was there with me. And the little fairies have built in GPS."

Aster ignored the human term, getting the gist of it. "So, I need to retrieve not just your staff, but that snowflake as well. That could prove difficult."

"If you can only get one, go with the staff. You can always sneak into the Tooth Palace and pick Baby Tooth up there."

Aster was running through plans, trying to think where they might have taken Jack's things. Jack was breathing heavier where he sat across from Aster in the cage. "Can I have another bucket, Bunny?"

"I'm on it." This time, the yetis didn't try to stop him. Jack sighed as the icy water soaked him. Aster just took the boy in, how this beautiful creature was trapped here like a gasping fish out of water. "I'm going to make sure you're taken care of, Snowflake. I have to leave you here, but I won't let you be treated this way."

Pulling the boy into another hug through the bars, Aster also maneuvered Jack's head close enough to kiss his forehead. Jack looked up at him, the slightest hint of purple on his face, and said, "I don't know what I'd ever do without you, Bunny."

Aster's heart hammered hard at the look the boy was giving him. The Guardian of Hope was suddenly flooded with it. There was no writing off what he saw, what he felt in that gaze. Now wasn't the time for any conversation like that, though. "I wouldn't be able to do much of anything without you, Snowflake."

He pressed one more kiss to the boy's forehead before standing up. "I'll talk to North before I leave, and I'll get this sorted out. Promise. You just hang in there until I get back."

"Thank you, Bunny. Good luck." Jack's voice was small, and Aster hated turning his back on the boy and walking away.

It was only by assuring himself that the next time he saw the boy, it would be without the damn bars between them that he managed it. That spike sculpture was going down, whatever Aster had to do to break it. If he had to hunt down the Nightmare King and force him to destroy the damned thing, so be it.

Keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through
We'll make it through
Just stay strong
'Cause you know I'm here for you
I'm here for you
There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth

Keep Holding On- Avril Lavigne

(-)

Oh, such fun! (Except for the Jack-nearly-dies-because-they're-baking-a-frost-spirit thing.) And the feels are coming out, which is the best part of this, IMO. Things aren't staying hidden, and we're finally wading out of De-Nile.

Also, I don't think Aster noticed his use of "Mate" in reference to Jack. But he knows it's true anyway.