Hey guys, I know it has been a while, I'm so sorry. I actually had this chapter finished on August 3, but something happened in my hometown and I was just shaken. I stayed away from my stories and just focused on my community and was just waiting for news. I just started to edit this chapter today because I felt like I can finally breathe.

I have also decided to split this original 5k+ chapter. So I can give y'all two chapters but they are around 2k+, shorter than my usual chapters and so the next chapters may be of similar length. So for now, here is the next chapter, and I wonder if y'all can guess what I'm going for. P.S. Please read the bottom Authors note, some important info is going to be there. On to the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in relation to Dreamworks Rise of the Guardians or William Joyce's characters from the books Guardians of Childhood. I only own my own plot and characters.

E. Aster Bunnymund was worried. It had been 5 months since they defeated Pitch Black with the help of their new Guardian Jack Frost. Though they were all still recovering from the battle. Aster had actually just recently been able to clean up the left over mess from when Pitch attacked the Warren on Easter. He hadn't gotten a chance to clean since after the battle had ended, everyone ended up in the infirmary and Aster went into hibernation to replenish his magic core. He was out for about 2 months.

North was hard at work preparing for Christmas but even he had to rest to replenish his own magic core, though it hadn't been as damaged as Aster's was. Tooth had been hard at work trying to organize all of the tooth boxes that Pitch had taken, as well as breaking the spell that he had placed on all of them. Damn bastard had tainted almost every memory in the tooth boxes, many of the memories now had shadows of fear which seemed to be the reason that belief was lost so quickly. Tooth was exhausted but she was able to create more of her fairies to help her break the spells as well as organize. She was lucky that Baby Tooth, the little tooth fairy that Jack had saved, had taken over tooth collecting.

Sandy hadn't needed to actually get any rest as he was able to restore his core just fine though he did visit Tooth almost every other day to make sure she slept. And he was the only one that was able to track Jack down when the rest of the Guardians had been looking for him. It seemed that after Aster went into his hibernation, Jack had vanished and dropped contact with the other Guardians. At first the others had figured that he had Winter duties, they had learned that he was the head of Winter and Winter never truly ended, but when they asked the other seasonals about where he was they said that they hadn't seen him in a while. He hadn't been seen in over 3 months.

So once Aster woke up, they decided to look for him, even the other seasonals helped. But they couldn't find a trace of him, Aster couldn't sense his magic anywhere or even catch his scent anywhere. Yet one day, Sandy called them all to North's workshop. When they arrived, they saw Jack sleeping on Sandy's dream cloud. Sandy explained that he found Jack asleep inside a deep cave near Burgess, he couldn't wake him up so he decided to bring him here in case he had any injuries. Yet as soon as North went to pick him up, Jack suddenly woke up and yelled no. He jumped off the cloud and flew up to the rafters while everyone just stared after him in shock. Tooth was the first to break out of her shock and flew up to Jack but as soon as she got close, she had to dodge as Jack shot a blast of ice at her. That prompted Aster to jump up to the rafters and try to calm him down.

As soon as he got onto the rafter, he saw that Jack was not in his right mind. His eyes were wide open and he was looking around frantically. His chest has heaving up and down violently, he was going to pass out at this rate if he doesn't calm down.

"Jack, its us! You need to calm down!" Aster called out, hoping he doesn't wind up with a blast of ice aimed at him. Jack turned toward him and started to point his staff at him but suddenly he blinked and looked around in confusion.

"Bunny? Where am I? How did I get here?" Jack asked in confusion as he looked around.

"Hey Frostbite. You're at North's Workshop. We've been looking for you, you were missing for over 3 months. We even had the seasonals help us since they haven't seen you in a while as well. You're okay, you're safe." Aster explained slowly getting closer to Jack. Jack looked around once more and seemed to finally notice where he was. And once he realized what he had done, his face became covered in frost. It seemed like this was his version of blushing.

"Oops. Sorry about that. I was just, um bad dream I guess." Jack apologized flying back down to the floor. Aster though was still confused by Jack's reaction and hoped he could get to the bottom of it.

"Jack, are you okay?" Tooth asked flying a few feet away from Jack to give him space since he still seemed skittish and was watching them all warily.

"Um, yeah I'm okay. Just not used to being touched by other people. I'm a light sleeper, its what you have to do when you sleep outside for hundreds of years." Jack answered, seeming to be telling the truth but he also averted his eyes, showing that he wasn't telling the whole truth.

"But what about when Sandy picked you up. Wouldn't you have felt him touching you? Wouldn't that have woken you up? Given that you're a light sleeper?" Aster asked in doubt.

Sandy actually raised a hand and explained that his sand is very soft and Jack may have not even noticed it. As well as exposure to his sand put him down deeper, yet Jack may have a higher resistance to the sand because of his cold temperature.

"That makes sense, I mean I didn't realize that I was being carried out of my cave. Its only when North touched me that I woke up." Jack agreed quickly.

"Yes, Bunny. It makes sense." North agreed. "Jack, my boy, are you sure your alright?" He asked worried about how he acted.

"Yeah, I'm fine North. Just didn't realize where I was. I was just...confused." Jack answered messing with his staff.

"Then what were you dreaming about Frostbite? You said you were having a bad dream." Aster asked still suspicious. Jack looked at him in annoyance but there was also a hint of fear in his eyes but when he blinked it was gone. Did Aster imagine it?

"I don't remember. I don't really remember my dreams and I especially don't remember my nightmares. I've seen too many bad things, I'd rather not remember them in my sleep." Jack snapped, getting annoyed with all of the questions. Aster opened his mouth to ask him more when he was cut off.

"Aster, leave him alone. I'm sure you'll feel the same way if you had a nightmare and woke up in a different place than where you were sleeping at. Stop questioning him like he's a suspect." Tooth interrupted laying hand on Jack shoulder, who actually twitched and seemed tempted to shrug her off. But before Aster could respond North stepped into the conversation.

"Jack, why have you been missing these past few months?" North asked.

"I was hid- hibernating. I used a lot of magic during the battle with- with Pitch and combined with gaining my memories, I was mentally and magically exhausted. I'm still a bit tired actually and given that I'm actually a little behind on my winter duties. I really should get going. Thanks for worrying about me, nice to see you all, sorry about attacking you all. Good bye." Jack explained jumping up to leave if Sandy hadn't wrapped one of his sand whips around one of Jack's ankle. Jack flinched and looked down in shock.

"Sorry Frostbite. But we have been searching for you for over a month and you're not taking off that easy." Aster told him.

"But, I really am behind on my duties. I just overslept. I'm sure my siblings are worried and Mother might be upset with me! I have to go. I promise to be back in a few weeks, once I've caught up with my duties. Just ask the Wind to find me. They'll let me know that you're looking for me." Jack explained looking a bit panicked if the frost surrounding the sand whip was any indication. Sandy, North, and Tooth exchanged looks and seemed to agree on something. Sandy let Jack go and nodded at him.

"Okay Jack, we'll see you in a few weeks. Good luck on your duties Sweet Tooth." Tooth told him giving him a smile.

"Yes Jack. good luck. We see you in a few weeks." North stated with a grin.

Aster would have said something if North had not patted his back hard enough to make him lose his breathe. Jack gave them all a smile and quickly left through an open window, but Aster could have sworn that he saw a flash of a dark bruise when his hoodie rode up on his side. Must have been my imagination.

"North why did you just let him go?! He could have been lying and he was seriously hibernating for 3 months? He's the head of Winter and if he really was magically exhausted, he only needed a month to regain it. And even though it isn't Winter in the Northern Hemisphere it is in the Southern Hemisphere, he wouldn't be weak. He should be in tip top shape." Aster stated still suspicious over Jack's story.

"Bunny, the boy barely knows us. We may have been in battle together but we also turned our backs on him without hearing him out. We did not trust him. I will not make the same mistake twice. If the boy is hiding something, it is not our right to pry. He does not trust us and he has good reason not to. Do not push him away old friend. I must return to work. I will let his siblings know that we found him and that he is well." North warned before he left with one of his yetis by his side, discussing something.

"Argh. Come on Tooth, you have to agree with me. The kid is hiding something!" Aster argued seeing that Tooth looked upset.

"I agree that he is hiding something but,...he doesn't trust us Aster. We did that to him, because we believed everything that everyone said about him. What if they were wrong like we were? What if he is an innocent spirit that was abandoned for 300 years? And that he never did any of the things that he was accused of? Maybe he didn't cause the Titanic to fall, maybe he didn't destroy Fall's home, and maybe he didn't cause the Blizzard of '68. Maybe he's innocent." Tooth stated getting into Aster's face as her anger started to fill her.

"He did do '68. I saw him and when I confronted him, he just stared at me with those eyes and vanished. He couldn't have cared less about the destruction he had cause and when I saw him a month later he acted like it didn't happen. Maybe he didn't do the rest but he definitely did '68." Aster told her with a glare.

"Leave him be Aster. He may have a good reason for his evasiveness, don't push him further away. I have to go. I still need to finish organizing. See you all in a few weeks." Tooth told them giving them a small nod before leaving out the window.

"Well, Sandy. Are you going to help me find out Frostbite's secret?" Aster asked hoping to have some support.

Sandy however just shook his head and told him that they had to respect Jack's privacy and trust that he will come to them when he can trust them and wanted their help. He also warned Aster to leave Jack alone, he'll only push him away if he doesn't. After that he tipped a top hat at him and used his sand to create a plane and left. Now Aster was by himself.

He thought about what the others had said but he had a bad feeling about what Jack had told them. He knows Jack doesn't trust them but he cant let this go. What he really wanted to do was show Jack that he can trust him, trust them. He knows he broke Jack's trust and really he out of all the others had the least of his trust, but he does want to change that. Now all he had to do was find him.

So I hope y'all liked this chapter and I wanted to let y'all know that I created a Tumblr blog called ElektraVamp05. I decided that this would be a good way to stay in touch with y'all and the main reason I haven't made a blog before is because, I don't really know how to use it or what to do, I have a personal blog but I mostly use that to read some stories or look at recipes and pictures.

So if y'all have a tumblr or just want some updates, make sure to follow me or look into it. If you have questions, you can ask me there or even make some requests, I don't mind. So hopefully see y'all there! Till next time!

Reviews:

Yellowmiki98: Thank you so much for the review, I agree that I love me some Jackie angst and I hope I can deliver. So sorry for the long wait!

HikariCruz: Thank you so much for your review and I hope you enjoy this chapter and that you continue to find it interesting. So sorry for the long wait!

Shanny-GeriSkoll98: Thank you so much for your review and I'm glad you found it interesting and I am so sorry for the long wait and I hope you enjoy this chapter!