A/N :

Doublesims : Thanks!

Natalie : It will be another chapter after this one. Well, he already told Tooth about it in Chapter 31 ( "Unique Toothbox" ), I'll have to think about how the others are gonna find out.

insaneshadowfangirl : *gives you stomach meds*

Q-A the Authoress : Indeed.

Shamangirl1 : Because I'm evil!

AyameKitsune : Here you go.

LBIGreyhound13 : Nope, wasn't a fearling and no, he won't turn in one because there are really enough Dark Jack stories out there. Pitch doesn't have enough power right now to do that, but still enough to be a plague anyway.

Breyannia : I doubt Pitch will EVER realize he's going too far. :P

SaiyanPrincess : Thank you! I hate cliffhangers in other people's stories but I love to use them myself. XD

Xion5 : I always enjoy torturing my favourite characters, just like anyone else. Mwuahahahaha! Okay, I'm disturbing myself...a little.

Frozenjaqulinefrost : Uh, not sure if you could call it like that.

Guest : Feels are gooood. And lemonade in Germany is always carbonated so I thought it's the same in the USA.

lunafrost : Haha, I know I'm awful! But nah, I'm not Pitch. *looks at Boogeyman standing behind her* "Go on, my dear."

frosty's girl : Will do. :3


"There's the forest where Jack is!" North shouted as he pointed at the patch of trees below and scanned the scenery for an appropriate landing place.

Bunnymund, Sandy, Tooth and Baby Tooth, who had insisted on coming with them, leaned over the railing of the sleigh and glanced around in hope of finding a trace of the winter spirit already. Just when the vehicle touched down on a field right at the edge of the forest, the reindeer hadn't even come completely to a halt yet, the three guardians and the tiny fairy jumped out and impatiently waited for the Cossack to park it and join them so they could finally start their search. After he had told the reindeer to wait here he walked to his friends and motioned for them to follow him.

"Jack must be here somewhere, can't be very far away."

Fortunately it was only a small forest which faciliated the task of tracking him down. Still, they decided to split up to increase the chances of finding him quickly, since the sun was already beginning to set. Only a few minutes later Tooth's upset yells rang through the silence of the upcoming evening.

"I found him! Come here, FAST!"

The remaining three guardians followed her voice and knelt down as soon as they reached the frost teen's side. It was a disturbing sight, he was lying on the ground in a fetal position, dark rings under his eyes, face even paler and his hair a bigger mess than usual. If it hadn't been for his closed eyes twitching and the frown on his face they could have sworn he was dead.

"Jack, Sweet Tooth, wake up!" Tooth spoke with unmistakable worry and put her delicate hand on his head, stroking his white hair urgently.

"Mate, stop the bloody show and snap outta yer lil' beauty rest!" Bunny yelled and shook the teen's lean shoulders, earning no reaction whatsoever.

"He's not waking up, what are we supposed to do?" the hummingbird-hybrid asked upset.

She hated feeling so helpless, just like Baby Tooth who was nervously floating around them. North exchanged a look with Sandy and no words needed to be spoken between the two ancient friends as they merely nodded at each other.

"If we can't raise him out of his sleep, we at least take away nightmares." the Russian stated while the sandman created a swirl of dreamsand and sent it towards Jack.

Everyone stared in shock when the golden sand refused to form into a dream, all it did was floating aimlessly over the unconscious boy before dissolving into thin air.

"W-what does that mean?" Tooth stuttered, trying her best to keep somewhat calm.

Sandy looked as confused as the rest of them, but after several moments of pondering he had an explanation and all attention was directed at the two images appearing over his head. One of Pitch's nightmare horses followed by a big 'X' covering it.

"Ya wanna say that's not a nightmare buggin' the kid? But what else should it be?!" Bunny inquired impatiently and sighed in frustration when the golden man shrugged his shoulders with an apologetic expression on his face.

Their gazes wandered back to their youngest teammember, who was still lying on the ground without moving a muscle, except for the constant twitching of his eyes. If he was fighting an internal battle, why wasn't that showing? In fact, it seemed like he was paralyzed. And this realization surely didn't ease the older guardians' concern. Silence fell upon them as they desperately thought things over to find a solution. Baby Tooth had enough. Her best friend was clearly suffering and everyone was just sitting there and doing nothing. If wake up calls and shaking didn't wake him up, maybe more drastic measures were necessary. Hoping it would work and that he would forgive her the tiny fairy flew towards him and forcefully poked her sharp beak into his hand.

Suddenly and with a deep startled breath, as if he had been underwater for too long, the frost teen jackknifed into a sitting position, his bloodshot eyes wide and terrified. Instead of the usual sky-blue his irises were tinted in an unnatural black.

"Jack!" North was the first to call out and scooted closer to him.

The young immortal still didn't seem to be aware of their presence as he continued to stare into the void in front of him as if he could see something they couldn't.

Shadows, they were everywhere. Different sizes that seemed oddly familiar, but each glared at him with those malevolent golden eyes. For a moment he thought he had woken up but there was no relief or feeling of safety whatsoever. He was still scared, more than he should ever be. There was nowhere to flee, he was surrounded and they came closer, agonizingly slowly. His chest heaved and sank with the rapid beating of his heart until the touch of a big hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his trance.

"NO, don't touch me!"

Everyone was taken aback as Jack violently pushed North's hand away and crawled towards his staff in sheer panic. The next moment blasts of electric blue ice were shot at them, one after the other and they had to jump out of the way in order to not be hit. Fortunately the winter spirit was far too hysteric to aim precisely, otherwise they wouldn't have stood a chance.

"Jack, it's us! Stop it!" Tooth yelled right after she merely avoided to be struck by a blast of ice.

The voice, he knew that voice. But the shadows continued to approach him as soon as he stopped fighting back. No, it had to be a trick, they played with his mind again so they could gain the upper hand.

During the havoc Bunnymund managed to sneak up behind the young guardian and ripped the wooden shepherd's crook out of his grasp.

"NO!"

Damnit, why hadn't he seen that coming!? One of the shadows was holding his staff and hopping away with it. He tried to hurry after it but his legs refused to cooperate. Only now he noticed he had been crouching on the ground all the time. Suddenly strong hands grabbed his shoulders again and he stared in horror at the biggest shadow of all. He would crush him, both his body and soul. Even more fear welled up inside him and all he could to was struggle and desperately try to get out of the death grip.

"Jack, it's alright. We won't hurt you, we are your friends, remember?" a deep Russian-accented voice assured him.

It didn't sound threatening or evil at all and the rest of the shadows remained where they were, no one dared to come any closer. Where had he heard that voice before, he felt like he should know and trust it.

"Mate, it's us, we're here ta help ya." another familiar voice added, this time with an Australian accent.

This had been their chance to attack him, he was at their mercy, but they didn't. He was still frightened but something told him that it wasn't because of them. Slowly the shadows morphed into less threatening forms. He had to blink several times until he realized that it were the four guardians and Baby Tooth who were kneeling around him.

Mild sighs of relief were breathed when they saw the frost teen's eyes turning from black to blue again, although they were disturbingly dull and lifeless.

Jack was confused. How did they find him? Why had they been looking for him in the first place? And...oh no, he hadn't fought against the shadows! He had attacked his own friends, he could have killed them!

"I-I'm so sorry..." he gasped with an unsteady voice on the verge of breaking.

For a second he thought there was a shadow behind North, glaring at him and ready to take him back into the dark and hopeless pit of his own mind again. Anew panic set in, causing him to throw his arms around the tall Russian and cling to the fabric of his coat.

"D-don't let them c-come and get me again, p-please don't!" he whimpered miserably and squeezed his face against the massive belly.

All of them were taken aback. This was definitely not a normal reaction the Guardian of Fun would ever show openly. They could barely imagine what he must have gone through to be scared like this. When he looked down at him and saw the tears streaming down his pale cheeks, North felt his heart sink. Strong arms embraced the teen, who was shaking like a leaf, and rubbed his back gently, hoping it would comfort him. Jack's ragged breathing however didn't stop until he was close to hyperventilating. Fed up with not being able to do anything Tooth hurried to him and signaled North to release him. But the frightened winter spirit still held onto the red coat like a lifeline and stubbornly refused to let go. Small tender hands grabbed his face and forced him to look into the fairy's purple eyes.

"Jack, listen to me. You have to calm down. Breathe in...breathe out...come on, we do it together." she said in a firm motherly tone and showed him the technique until he followed her lead and took one long shaky breath of air after the other.

"Good. See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" she said sweetly and brushed a few strands of hair out of his face, which fell back into place right away.

To her dissappointment he merely averted his gaze and leaned back against North's belly, his body still trembling visibly. Darkness was around him and this time it wasn't just his imagination. The sun had set and only the moon provided faint light as it shone down on them. But it still wasn't enough to ease the fear.

"T-too dark...i-it scares me..." he mumbled weakly.

Without even having to think about it any further Sandy surrounded them with several lanterns of dreamsand which bathed the scene in magical golden light. It seemed to slightly comfort the young spirit but he was still totally out of it. Bunny hopped forwards and tried to get his attention by lowering his face so he was on eye level with him. The teen shortly glimpsed at him before focusing on a spot on the ground which apparently was a lot more interesting than the large rabbit.

"Mate, we'll help ya, but ya have ta tell us what happened." he spoke so softly that he felt like he sounded totally uncharacteristical himself.

Jack didn't show any sign of reaction or that he had even noted the pooka's question. After a long tense silence he finally muttered a few words and the guardians had to lean closer to actually hear them.

"Pitch...J-Jamie...attack...I-I defeated him, but...but..."

He wanted to go on but as he remembered the events of the last week a new wave of fear grasped him from the inside out and constrained him from revealing any more. As much as he fought against it, he was weak, he was exhausted and above all, he was tired. The last thing he wanted to experience was another seemingly never-ending night terror but his eyelids kept dropping shut and he struggled desperately to keep them open.

"P-please, don't let me f-fall asleep again! Please, you must k-keep me awake, I-I can't, I-" he stuttered in panic and looked at each of them with big pleading eyes which held so much fear and exasperation that it was heart-wrenching.

"Don't worry, Jack, you will be fine." North reassured the frightened teen and glanced at the other three guardians as well as Baby Tooth, who was as distressed about the whole situation as the rest of them.

Anger was clearly distinguishable on Bunnymund's face as he clenched his fists and mentally beat Pitch to a bloody pulp. Tooth's concern about Jack outweighed her aversion against the Boogeyman, at least for now, while Sandy feverishly thought about how exactly they could help their young friend.

"Let's go back to the Pole." the Cossack ordered and then faced the barely conscious winter spirit again.

"Can you walk?" he asked considerately.

It took Jack's mind a moment to register the question but when he did he faintly nodded and eventually let go of North's coat. Standing up turned out to to be a more diffcult undertaking than he had expected, he tried but his legs felt like rubber and refused to cooperate. The Guardian of Wonder could only take a few seconds of watching the teen struggle to get back on his feet until he picked him up and carried him bridal style.

"What are you waiting for?" he exclaimed towards his comrades and headed in direction of the sleigh.


A/N : Originally this wasn't as dramatic but after your reviews I got the feeling you expected something worse than I had already written, so I added more drama, action and creepiness for your pleasure. Next chapter will be the last one, stay tuned!

As usual reviews are very appreciated! :)