A/N :

Nora Frost : Let's beat the bastard up together! Mwuahaha!

SaiyanPrincess : Me, too, and I love writing about it. ^_^

Breyannia : We'll get to the ass-kicking soon.

Daughter Earth 89 : Hehe. :)

AllieSnow : That will probably scare him just as much as the beating itself. XD

Okami1001 : Gotta raise the suspense, hehe. Oh yes, Bunny won't be happy about it.

Caithlinn13 : Nothing goes past Bunny, well, at least most of the time.

AnonymousPerson : OMG, I like how your mind works, that idea is fantastic! In a very disturbing way. *g*

AinsleyWright : Phew, yay, I'll stay alive!

fanfiction lover 228 : That's what he will ponder on as well, tell or not tell.

Wolfrunner99-2 : Sure, I'll come with you! *grabs big kitchen knife*


"What's wrong, North? Our monthly guardian meeting is in 4 days so why did you call us here? Did anything bad happen?"

The tooth fairy was in a fluster the moment she had flown into the workshop and caught sight of the Russian Santa. He was sitting at a wooden table, gaze lowered in deep thought until he noticed the flash of green feathers zooming towards him. Sandy had entered the globe room only a moment later and joined the other two, silently asking the same question by forming a question mark made of dreamsand over his head. Just as the big man opened his mouth to give his companions an answer one of the doors behind them opened and Bunnymund walked in. Tooth immediately felt that something wasn't right when she saw her friend's expression. There was seriousness written all over his face. Okay, that itself wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but this was a different kind of it, mixed with hardly suppressed concern and anger. The pooka gave them a small nod, his current way of saying hello, and turned to North.

"He's sleeping safe and sound. Have you told the others yet?"

It didn't take more for the Guardian of Memories to put two and two together. As if a switch had been flipped she suddenly turned from midly worried to utterly hysteric.

"Oh my Gods, it's Jack, right? What happened to him? Is he hurt? Will he be alright, oh please tell me he will! Was it Pitch? If so I'm going to- oh he'll wish he would have never been born because I-"

"Woa, Tooth, hold yer horses!" Bunny gestured for her to calm down while Sandy shared her concern, though a lot quieter.

North cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and took a deep breath.

"Jack arrived at the Pole an hour ago and collapsed. He was badly hurt but-", he shot a look at the wide-eyed and ready to freak out hummingbird hybrid, "we took care of him and he'll be fine again. All he needs is time to rest and heal."

There was a grave silence for a second before Tooth blurted out what all of them were indeed dying to know.

"Who attacked him?"

"We don't know, Tooth. Jack has been too weak and in too much pain to answer that question yet." the Russian man explained but that didn't really help much to improve her frantic state.

"Oh dear, my poor sweet tooth! Who would do this to him, it must have been Pitch, that bastard probably has just waited for a chance to take revenge on him!"

"No." Bunny stated bluntly and the looks of the other three guardians were diverted to him.

"The injuries Jack sustained don't match with any of Pitch's attacks."

The fairy sensed that she didn't really want to hear the reply but she had to ask the ominous question anyway.

"What kind of injuries are you talking about?"

Green eyes narrowed and furry fists balled ever so slightly as the grey rabbit recalled the events of the last hour in his mind.

"Burns. All over his back. Pitch can't control fire nor does he have any weapons that involve it, so it wasn't him."

Tooth covered her mouth with her hands to muffle a sob at the horrible mental image she got whereas Sandy's expression was turning from shock to silent rage, mimicking the Easter guardian's look. His dreamsand formed the shape of a random person with a question mark covering them and then a fist slamming down on them.

"Yeah, we dunno yet who did it but we're gonna beat the bastard up once we find out." Bunny agreed with clear determination.

More sand images appared over the sandman's head, this time an arrow pointing at himself followed by a plus sign, a tooth, an eye and a snowflake.

"I understand you two want to see Jack, but he's sleeping and needs his rest. We'll let you know when he wakes up. I'm sorry I called you away from your work but we thought you had the right to know. After all, he's one of us." North said in a firm voice.

"We have to do something, whoever did this to him can't just roam free!" Tooth exclaimed, her agitation getting the better of her.

"D'ya think I like this!? I'd like nothing more than beating the crap outta the scumbag but as long as Jack's knocked out cold we have ta be patient. As soon as he's conscious again we'll ask him who attacked him and I assure ya it won't be pretty when I get my hands on the culprit." Bunny shouted and regretted showing so much emotion right after he had finished his little outburst.

Thankfully no one felt like teasing him for his obvious worry. Mainly because they all shared his opinion and agreed that they just had to wait. In the meantime they could still plot what they would do to the one responsible for their youngest teammember's bad condition. At this moment each of the guardians realized even more how much the winter spirit meant to them and that saying they felt protective of him was a clear understatement.

"Alright. But please call us once Jack wakes up and don't do anything until we're here. Promise?" Tooth eventually demanded.

"Will do." North assured.


The christmas preparations were running at full blast, the workshop bustling even more with activity now that there were only two months left until december 24th. Yetis were working feverishly to finish the new toys and get enough of them done for the children of the world. Of course none of them should come away empty-handed. The furry creatures constantly seeked the approval of their master to make sure their work was alright and to get permission to turn to their next task. North was used to multitasking and tending to all kinds of questions from the yetis at the same time, so that itself didn't prove to be a problem for the Russian Santa.

What lessened his concentration was the fact that Jack still hadn't woken up after almost three days by now. Even though the toy production should have ranked foremost, he checked on the boy every other hour. Sandy had given him a small bag filled with dreamsand before he and Tooth had left, to make sure their young friend would have a pleasant sleep. North sprinkled a bit over the frost teen's head whenever he came to his room. Due to his job and responsibilities he couldn't stay at his protégé's side all the while, but he also didn't want him to be completely alone when he woke up.

So the Cossack persuaded one of the yetis who did mainly paperwork, meaning schedules, charts and plans concerning the toy productions instead of the actual handwork, to move their workstation to the winter spirit's quarters for the time being. Just to make sure someone was there to alert him in case something happened. The yeti grumbled at the demand at first but soon realized that as long as the well-known troublemaker was sound asleep it shouldn't be a big deal.

The other guardians had retreated to their own places, doing their best to focus on their duties but the nagging worry was still apparent in the backs of their minds. All of them had to fight the occasional urge to stomp into Santoff Clausen and ask about the current condition of their youngest comrade. But the Guardian of Wonder had promised to call them so the lack of the Northern Lights in the sky meant that there hadn't been any change yet.

While the sandman and the tooth fairy were convinced the injuries must have been the cause for Jack's slow healing, Bunny and North weren't so sure about it. They had seen the wound and yes, the burn was pretty bad but it couldn't have been the sole reason that made their comrade sleep for so long. Something else must have contributed to his obvious exhaustion.

And still, all they could do was wait.


"How many times must I tell you, paint trains red and cars blue, not other way around!" North bellowed as he made his way through the halls of the toy production.

He couldn't understand how the yetis still didn't know about his colour preferences after working for him for so many centuries. Suddenly one of the furry creatures, one who didn't belong in this section of the workshop and was currently storming towards him, caught his attention. It was the yeti who had been assigned to keep guard in Jack's room.

"What is matter, why aren't you-" North's question was cut short by flustered gibbering and blue eyes widened as he understood what had happened.

"Jack has woken up?"

The yeti nodded and almost got run over by the big Cossack as he dashed towards the other end of Santoff Clausen.