Author's Note: I couldn't resist finishing off this chapter. Thanks to CrossoverJunkie's insight into Jack's staff being fixed, I rewrote a few parts of this chapter to make it more meaningful. Hopefully it isn't too sappy. :) Anyway, I'm glad you guys all liked the last chapter and I hope you like this one! As always, thanks for all the faves, follows and things. Also, over 10k views! Whoo! Also, please ignore that gaping plot hole in the last chapter. I referenced it briefly (if you can spot it!) in this one to sort of smooth it over a little since I don't want to rewrite things in the last chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Five: We Believe!

Lillian shook Jack more, but Jack didn't wake up or stir. He was deeply asleep and didn't seem to want to wake up.

Lillian sniffled as the last of the black left her bracelet.

Tooth stepped forward a bit.

"Um.." she said awkwardly, as Lillian turned her attention to Tooth.

"When you were.. ah.. out of it," Tooth started to explain. "Jack's staff sort of got broken."

Tooth held out the pieces and Lillian gasped in horror. She had never seen Jack's staff like that before.

"We think it's why he isn't changin'," Bunny explained gently to her. "He doesn't have enough power ta help Manny out and Manny's power alone won't help 'im."

Lillian's face fell at Bunny's words, but then determination entered her eyes.

"No!" she exclaimed. "Jack is gonna get better!"

She marched over to Tooth and gently took the pieces of wood. Her bracelet began to glow brightly as she fitted the two pieces together.

"Wood comes from trees and trees grow in the spring," she said as she stared intently at the wood.

"So I just gotta.."

She concentrated as hard as she could, and the wood slowly began to glow. It was harder than unusual for her to concentrate on her powers. It must have been because of whatever had happened to her earlier, to make her memories fuzzy.

The wood didn't grow together like she had expected it to, but a bit of a green vine appeared in the crack and wrapped around the pieces, holding them together. A small flower bloomed in the center of the crack.

"There!" Lillian said triumphantly. "All fixed."

The Guardians exchanged looks. Lillian did the spirit equivalent of taping the staff back together. Would it be enough?

Lillian took the staff back over to Jack and knelt down on the ice by him. She didn't notice that Pitch was looking a little less gray then before.

She reached out and took hold of Jack's hand. She pressed the staff into it and curled his fingers around the staff.

She gasped at the tingly feeling she felt and blinked as she saw the wood of the staff freeze.

The freezing looked.. wrong, however. Jack's powers were always light and fun, but this held a cold darkness to it.

Lillian shivered and looked at Jack anxiously.

"I believe in you Jack," she murmured to him. "Come back to us."

As she held Jack's hand, a blue light on the globe on the sleigh (now completely devoid of blackness) shone a bright blue. It wasn't as bright as it had been in the past, but it was much brighter than it had been.

Lillian held Jack's hand tightly as her belief in Jack grew.

Tears filled her eyes as she saw that Jack's black hair was lightening. She gave a wobbly smile as Jack's hair continued to lighten, but then it stopped and her smile disappeared.

"Jack?" Lillian asked uncertainly.

Tooth gasped and looked at the two spirits sadly.

"It's not enough," Tooth said sorrowfully. "Her belief and Jack's staff aren't powerful enough to bring him back."

"No!" Bunny said with a frown. "The kid's gotta come back!"

"We do not have powers back yet either, Bunny." North reminded him. "There is not much we can do to help."

Jamie had been listening to this conversation with interest, and as he looked at the dark winter spirit and the newly restored spring spirit, he knew exactly what to do.

"Come on!" he said to his friends as he carefully stepped onto the lake and began to make his way over to the spirits.

The other kids followed and positioned themselves around Jack.

"Huh?" Lillian said in confusion as she looked at all the kids gathered around. Her eyes widened as the kids all gently placed a hand on Jack's arms or legs or in some cases, his head.

Her mouth dropped open as Jamie started talking to Jack.

"We believe in you, Jack Frost!" Jamie said with the light of belief shining strongly in his eyes. "We all believe in you!"

Lillian stared down at Jack as his hair continued to whiten. In fact, where Jack seemed to have been resisting change, now he was changing more quickly than ever. With the help of all the extra believers, the darkness didn't seem to stand a chance.

Soon Jack's hair was back to its normal white and his skin was as pale as it ever was. As soon as the last bit of black left Jack's hair, he groaned as his dream suddenly dissipated.

When his eyes fluttered open, Lillian gave a loud cheer and launched herself at him. The kids pulled away a bit as Jack suddenly found himself with an armful of Lillian. He laughed as he sat up and and looked around. The laugh however died away quickly when he saw all the kids sitting around him, staring at him.

"Uh.." he said in confusion.

The kids began to cheer as Jack stared at them.

"Jack Frost!" Jamie shouted. "You're alright!"

"Wha..?" Jack said in bewilderment. "You.. ah.. you can see me?"

The kids all nodded.

"All of you?" he continued.

The kids all nodded and grinned at him.

A little unnerved, Jack looked down at Lillian.

"What's going on?" he asked her.

Lillian shrugged.

"I don't know.. I just know you were all black and gray." she explained. Her eyes widened as she remembered. "Oh! And Tooth said your staff was broken, but I fixed it."

"Broken?!" Jack yelped.

No wonder why he felt so awful! He realized he was holding his staff and looked down at it. It had a big crack in the middle that had a vine growing out of it. He looked more closely and realized that the vine was holding the staff together. He hugged his staff close as Lillian moved away a little to give Jack some space.

Jack looked so sad as he held his staff close. Everything was a little fuzzy, but he clearly remembered all the hurtful things the Guardians had said to him. He remembered fleeing to Antarctica and almost throwing his memories away. He closed his eyes when he remembered Pitch showing up with a dark Lillian...

"Jack," Tooth said. "We're sorry. We.. we didn't mean to turn you away."

"Da," North said with a significant look at Bunny. "We should have asked for explanation."

Jack opened his eyes and looked over at the Guardians, who were still on the shore by the lake.

"How.. how did my staff get broken?" he asked softly.

The Guardians exchanged uneasy looks and Tooth stepped forward, her head bowed.

"You were under Pitch's control, Jack. We tried to get your staff away so you couldn't hurt anyone with your powers."

Jack looked down at his poor, broken staff.

"Hurt anyone..?"

Had he tried to hurt people with his powers? He was Jack Frost.. He was fun times and snow days.

He didn't hurt people.

Did he?

Lillian gave Jack a hug as she saw the look on his face.

"It's ok Jack," she said. "You're better now. And you can really fix your staff so it's better now."

Jack looked uncertainly at the staff.

"My staff channels my power," he said. "Without it.. I can't do anything."

"Sure you can," Lillian said. "You just gotta believe."

Believe..

Jack looked up from the staff to over to Lillian, then over at the Guardians.

The Guardians' looks all ranged from cautiously hopeful, to guilty (Tooth). Sandy waved enthusiastically at Jack and Jack gaped at him.

"S-Sandy?!"

How could he have not noticed earlier?! Sandy was alive!

Jack gave him a huge grin, but the grin faded when he saw Bunny standing nearby, with his arms crossed.

"You can fix it," Jamie said with a happy smile at Jack. "You're Jack Frost."

Jack glanced at the kids. He had believers.

It was what he always wanted, but..

"What about..?" Jack asked Lillian suddenly, as he remembered.

Pitch!

Lillian gestured beyond some of the kids to where Pitch lay.

"He's dreaming about us," Lillian said softly to Jack. "But he won't wake up.. I dunno what's wrong with him. You have to fix your staff Jack. We have to help him."

Jamie exchanged confused looks with his friends at that. Lillian was speaking softly enough so the Guardians wouldn't overhear them, but the kids were right there and could clearly hear what was being said.

"..Right," Jack said hesitantly. Lillian didn't seem to remember anything of Antarctica, but he certainly wouldn't forget the look on Pitch's face as the Nightmare sand plunged into the wound that Pitch gave him.

Jack looked back down at his staff.

It was now or never.

He concentrated on the staff, but nothing happened. A disappointed look crossed his face, but one glance at Lillian's pleading look had him looking back at the staff.

No!

He could do this.

He had to do this.

Jack took a deep breath and concentrated on his staff once more.

He remembered the happy times he had with Pitch and Lillian, and when he was friendly with the Guardians. He remembered when everything was right with the world. He wanted that back again.

All he had to do..

Jack's eyes narrowed at his staff as he reached deep inside himself for the power of Winter.

"..I.. I believe," he murmured.

His intense look of concentration turned into a happy grin as a pure blue spark of raw winter magic shot through the staff, disintegrating the vine and flower instantly as the staff fuzed back together.

It frosted over the way it should, with Jack's usual winter powers.

"I did it!" Jack said happily.

A blue light on the globe on the sleigh that had been nearly extinguished suddenly blazed a brighter blue. Now both blue lights were shining without any blackness and the regular golden lights of Jamie and his friends were brighter than ever.

"Oh!" Tooth said in surprise as she felt a little tingly. Suddenly her wings began to flutter and she flew up on the air. "My powers..!"

"Aha!" North straightened up and drew both his scimitars with a grin.

The Guardians all looked at poor Bunny, who was still a young Pooka. He was still pretty strong (strong enough to haul Lillian through the tunnels, apparently) but he was so short.

"C'mon, c'mon.." he said impatiently as Jack finally got to his feet.

Jack noticed that the ice was getting a little mushy thanks to Lillian's uncontrollable flowers that tried growing wherever she stood. When on ice, it just made the ice melt.

He tapped his staff hastily on the mush and it instantly froze over before anyone could fall in. He carefully made sure it was frozen over good and solid before he looked at Pitch.

He frowned a little when he noticed that the moonlight was really intense. He looked up at the moon, then back down at Pitch.

"Uh.. does Pitch seem kind of.. different to you?" he asked Lillian.

Lillian looked over curiously.

"Noo.." Lillian said slowly, then blinked. "Wait! He's kinda.. less gray? Maybe a little. It's hard to tell."

"That's what I thought," Jack said as he walked over by Pitch.

"Isn't Pitch the boogeyman?" Jamie asked Jack curiously. "Why do you want to help him?"

Lillian frowned at Jamie.

"Pitch isn't bad! He's just misunderstood!"

Jamie blinked at her.

"Misunderstood? The Boogeyman?"

Lillian blinked back at him as she realized he could see her.

She looked around at the other kids who were busy gazing at either her, Jack or the Guardians. As they noticed she was looking at them, their attention was slowly drawn to her.

"Uh.." Lillian looked flustered, since she wasn't used to anyone seeing her outside of Halloween.

She stood up and hastily made her way over by Jack and Pitch.

Bunny stopped waiting to transform as he saw Lillian and Jack by Pitch.

"See? Look at that! They just got saved by the kids'n Manny from 'im and they go runnin' right back to him!"

Sandy gave Bunny a look, as clearly there was more going on than they understood.

Bunny avoided Sandy's gaze as he frowned at Jack.

"What do we do?" Lillian asked Jack softly.

"I.. I don't know," Jack said, sounding lost. "Do we wait?"

Lillian tilted her head at Pitch.

"It kinda looks like how you were changing, only a LOT slower. Do you think we could help him change faster with our powers? I helped you change faster with the kids.."

She brightened as she said that.

The kids!

"If they all believe in him, then their belief could help him out!" she exclaimed happily.

Jamie looked dumbfounded.

What?!

Bunny heard this and started to go charging forward, a pint-sized angry ball of fury.

"You can't go helpin' Pitch Black!" Bunny shouted. "He's evil!"

Jack looked over at the tiny Bunny and gave his trademark smirk. But before he hitched it onto his face, the Guardians (except for Bunny, who was too furious to see) all noticed the look of hurt.

Tooth glanced at North and Sandy.

Had Jack always done that?

Jack looked back down at Pitch and a feeling of defiance overcame him.

"Let's do it," he said firmly to Lillian. "Maybe it'll help Pitch be more like himself. And if the Man in the Moon wants to do it," he raised his voice so Bunny would be sure to hear, "then that's good enough for me."

"Yay!" Lillian cheered and then knelt down by Pitch as she tucked her hand into his.

Jack knelt down on Pitch's other side and held his hand. He looked over at the kids expectantly.

"We already believe in him," Jamie explained. "And he's scary," he said doubtfully to Jack. "Why would we want to help him?"

Jack shook his head.

"It's a long story," he said. "But Pitch wasn't always so evil. He helped us out when we had no one else. We want that Pitch back."

Lillian nodded at Jack's words.

"We can't do it alone," she said looking back down at Pitch with worry. "Won't you help us?"

Reluctantly, Jamie and his friends all stepped forward and surrounded Pitch like they had done with Jack.

Bunny stopped in his tracks as he saw the gray leaving Pitch's face at a much faster rate.

It wasn't long before, a non-gray Pitch was laying on the ice. His golden dream faded away and he opened his eyes.

He sat up looking utterly perplexed.

Lillian gasped as Pitch's eyes looked a little different now. They were still golden, but the golden was more softer now, and not like the harsher yellow of the Nightmares.

"What..?" Pitch said in confusion as he took in Jack, Lillian, and all the children surrounding him.

"Oh great," Bunny grumbled.

He gave an undignified squeak of surprise as he transformed suddenly back into his normal Pooka self.

Finally!


Author's Note: Ok, so explanation on Pitch. He isn't going to magically be Kozmotis Pitchiner. He still Pitch, just minus all the evil of trying to get rid of the Guardians and inflict fear in EVERYTHING. He'll be more like the nicer Pitch Jack and Lillian knew, just with a normal skintone now. Also, don't hurt me for where I stopped.. It seemed like a good stopping point. I'm also happy to inform you that the next chapter will wrap everything up and that will actually be the final movie-ish chapter. Then we can get along into the next portion before all kinds of PLOT crops back up again. I figure after all this angst, I'll throw in some happy before the angst comes back. Maybe we'll get get a cameo of Pitch visiting Jamie's mom. I really want to see Jamie's reaction to that. Muwahahaha. I've also been thinking of the drabbles that will eventually come, and was wondering if I should have maybe a crossover one? Maybe? I dunno. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, so dumping Jack and Lillian at Hogwarts randomly sounds pretty fun. I guess I should worry about current plot first before I get into that. Heh. Anyway! If you have plot ideas/suggestions/whatever, feel free to let me know.

Oh, and I won't say when the next update will be, since.. holiday! I will be busy! So we'll see when the next update is.

EDIT: I had Bunny get his powers back super late because.. I'm evil. And it was funny.