Author's Note: Here's a little update for you. It's a bit on the short side, but that seemed like a good stopping place. I decided to skip all over to everyone again, so enjoy that. :) I also wanted to add that I totally made a Lord of the Rings reference in the last chapter and was a little disappointed nobody pointed it out. Oh well.

Now.. Reviews!

The Girl in the Forrest was particularly amused at Jasper being the awkward third party. So was I!

CrossoverJunkie was helping me out with Jack and Lillian's future self defense lessons. Thank you very much! And you are right, Mother Nature was expecting horrible Pitch Black and she got someone very close to Kozmotis instead, yelling at her and sounding like her father.. I think it threw her off and that's what made her cave so easily to his demands. I felt like I should've drawn the fight out a bit longer, but I like how it turned out in the end. I also got the idea of Jasper and Pitch riding on top of cars from a movie that I now can't remember the name of!

Spiritfire was also amused by poor Jasper. He was fun to pick on. :)

PudinFeliz really liked all the angst, so I hope you like this chapter too then! Angst away!

Wuli suggested that the Guardians reach Jack and Lillian first, but since they were so late to even figuring out anything was going on, there really wasn't any way for that to happen.. Especially since Pitch had already had his huge argument with Mother Nature and she told him where Jack and Lillian were. Sorry!

Brenne, you calling Mother Nature "Mama Flower Power" made my day. That was so hilarious!

Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers and a special thanks to PudinFeliz for translating the Guest's spanish review for me.

Now on with the next chapter!

Chapter Forty-Three: The Rescue

It was late afternoon when the Guardians finally all got together. News reports of the frozen waterfall had gone viral and now everyone had heard of the unnatural phenomenon. Everyone but the Guardians, that is.

While the Guardians knew that times were changing and technology was becoming more advanced, they were not. Tooth had her fairies to help her, and they painstakingly sorted all their teeth by hand. Tooth had no real use for anything electronic in her palace, nor did she bother to look at newspapers or news reports on the rare occasion when she did go out.

While North might be more familiar with technology due to the technological requests of some believers, he himself liked to do things more old school. He might use a chainsaw to make ice sculpture prototypes for his toys, but he did not watch television or have a computer. He had no time for such things when he had toys to make!

Bunny lived in the Warren which had all sorts of spring flowers, his home and his gardens, along with all his precious googies and the stone golems that protected his Warren. As he was almost constantly painting eggs (except directly after Easter), he had no time for the news.

As Sandy was as busy as Tooth, he had no time for such frivolities either. He did hear the occasional report when he was out and about delivering dreams from a tv that was left on, but like the others, he was too busy doing his job and worrying about children to worry about things like the news. Since he was already at the Pole when the big news break hit, he hadn't heard the news either.

In fact, even though the Guardians had all assembled and were all set to take off Avenger-style and rescue Jack, Lillian, and possibly Pitch, they didn't have the first clue on where to go.

Sandy had quickly explained once all the others were together that he had heard Jack's and Lillian's wishes and they sounded desperate. He said they kept wishing over and over that Pitch would come rescue them, but he couldn't be sure of where they were at, exactly.

Normally Sandy was the calm voice of reason, or at least his sand images were, but this time it was Bunny who had an idea of what to do. As Bunny was in charge of Easter, he was more familiar on working with the Seasonals and knew a bit about what they did, and of their leader, Mother Nature.

All of them knew who Mother Nature was, of course, but Bunny knew a little more about her role in watching out for her Seasonals.

They were all gathered in the sleigh and North had out a snow globe. They had been arguing on where to go for quite a while. It was at first suggested that they should see Pitch's lair, but Bunny had stamped on that when he had mentioned the Nightmares he and Lillian had found.

"OY!" Bunny said loudly, putting an end on the Antarctica vs. Anywhere Spring-like debate that the others had going on.

Everyone fell silent and looked at Bunny expectantly.

"Jack and Lillian are seasonal spirits, yeah?" Bunny said, giving them all a look. "So why don't we go ta Mother Nature's and see if she's heard of anythin'. I know it's.. strained with Pitch, but Jack and Lillian are hers. She should know where they are."

Sandy nodded agreeably with this, while North and Tooth exchanged uneasy glances. Mother Nature was always neutral in matters with Pitch, but Bunny was right. She should help them out with Jack and Lillian.

After a moment, North nodded.

"Is good idea. Alright! Buckle up!" he exclaimed as he urged the reindeer down the roller coaster-like icy track.

After Bunny threatened to lose his carrots for the umpteenth time (after one eventful ride, North swore he was going to always have airsick bags), they got into the air.

North whispered their destination to the snow globe before tossing it out in front of the sleigh.

The Guardians disappeared through the colorful portal that appeared, finally on their way in the late afternoon.


By the time Pitch had left Mother Nature's and arrived in the country that Jack and Lillian were in, it was pitch dark. Pitch thrived in the darkness normally, so it was no trouble for him.

He glanced up at the moon that he could see clearly in the cloudless sky. It seemed to shine a little brighter than normal, as if helping to light Pitch's way. Even so, it took him a few hours to find the frozen waterfall. Thankfully it was still mostly frozen and the moonlight reflecting off of it made it shine like a beacon in the night.

As he approached it, his shadow was illuminated against the waterfall briefly, it looking huge against the ice.

Then he slipped into a shadow and found his way behind the waterfall and into the cave.


By the time that Pitch had entered the cave, it was after school and all the kids were gathered around at Jamie's, glued to the tv. Jamie was forever watching the news for any unusual things, so his watching it now wasn't anything unusual for his mom.

They were watching an updated news report about the frozen waterfall, and as a new picture was being shown, they all gasped.

"Did you see that?!" Jamie whispered excitedly to his friends.

"It's Pitch!" Pippa exclaimed with an awed voice.

While the news reporter was going on that there weren't any more clues as to why the waterfall suddenly froze, on the screen was a video of the waterfall at night. There, bigger than life, all the kids could see Pitch's shadow huge against the ice of the waterfall.

"But what's he doing there?" Jamie asked, sounding confused. "First Jack freezes the waterfall and then Pitch shows up. Something's gotta be going on."

"Do you think they're in trouble?" Cupcake asked.

"The Guardians would save them if they were," Caleb said reasonably.

"If they knew.." Jamie said doubtfully. "But what if they don't know?"

"We could always tell them," Pippa said. "It'll be night soon. We could tell the Sandman."

"No way," Jamie shook his head. "He always sends us to sleep before we can say anything. I stayed up one night because I wanted to talk to him and I fell asleep before I saw him."

"Anyone have a loose tooth?" Monty suggested hesitantly.

"The Tooth Fairy always comes when we're sleeping," Jamie said, shooting down that suggestion.

"We could write Santa a letter," Caleb said.

"That'll take too long to get to him," Jamie said with a sigh. "But it's all we have. Alright, let's go to my room and write a letter."

The kids all turned off the tv and trooped off to Jamie's room, determined.

Before long, Jamie was mailing off the letter before returning to his home to get a start on his homework.


Pitch stepped out of the shadow near the waterfall and saw a very flushed Jack leaning against the wall of the cave near it.

"Jack," Pitch said. "At last!"

He hurried towards Jack, who raised his head, his eyes looking a little hazy from the fever that had returned.

"P-Pitch?" Jack asked, hardly daring to believe it.

"Oh Jack," Pitch's voice broke as he pulled Jack in for a hug.

The tears Pitch had been holding back all day finally fell.

"Don't you ever..!" Pitch exclaimed as he held Jack close.

What he was going to say though was lost as he started to sob. Jack clung to Pitch, feeling terribly weak and far too warm. He had stayed as close as he could to the frozen waterfall, but it still wasn't cold enough for him.

"L-Lillian.." Jack said, his voice muffled in Pitch's shirt as Pitch held him tightly.

Pitch let go of Jack as he tried to get control of himself. He looked around and immediately grew concerned when he couldn't find her.

"Where is she?!" he demanded, his voice cracking.

If anything had happened to her..

Jack gestured to the back of the cave as he tried to stand.

Pitch hurried back there and almost tripped over Lillian, who was sprawled on the ground at the very back of the cave. She was curled up into a ball, her cloak wrapped as tightly around herself as she could and the hood was up. It was very dark in the back of the cave and her cloak was black, hiding her almost completely in the darkness.

Pitch knelt down and placed a hand on her.

"Lillian?" he said hesitantly. "Are you alright?"

Pitch was worried, since the air in the cave felt very cold. The cave was naturally quite cold and freezing the waterfall had only made it colder.

Lillian must have stayed in the very back and tried to warm the air, Pitch realized. Only she couldn't make it too warm..

Pitch scooped little Lillian up into his arms and felt a hot surge of anger at Mother Nature as Lillian's hood fell away, revealing her cheeks flushed from the cold and her lips which were tinged a light blue.

She's practically frozen! Pitch thought with a snarl as he carried her back to the front of the cave.

At this rate she was bound to get sick too. He only hoped that her being in the cold so long and Jack's not being cold enough for so long wouldn't have any long-term effects.

He bent down and looped one arm around Jack's waist, hauling him up and half-carried him through a shadow as he held Lillian in one arm.

It was as they were leaving the cave, that the Guardians finally gave up on Mother Nature.


A little before Pitch rescued Jack and Lillian, the Guardians were at Mother Nature's palace. Jasper had left not long after Pitch after stammering that he didn't mean to disturb Mother Nature and he hoped that nothing was wrong with the Winter and Spring Spirit.

North had the sleigh land outside the palace and they had all marched or flown dramatically into the throne room to ask where Jack, Lillian and Pitch were, when the wind was taken right out of their sails.

They saw Mother Nature sitting in her throne, but instead of looking as regal as they had imagined, she looked completely devastated.

She had in fact, been berating herself ever since Pitch had left for betraying her Seasonals like that. She had allowed her jealousy to overrule her duties and now she had probably lost Jack and Lillian's trust forever. She was supposed to guide them, she was in a sense, their Mother.

The Guardians all stopped in the middle of the throne room and it was Sandy who finally stepped forward hesitantly.

A few golden symbols appeared above his head, but as Mother Nature was leaning on her elbow with a hand covering her face, she didn't see his silent plea.

It was Bunny who cleared his throat and finally Mother Nature looked up to see them all standing there.

She paused for a moment as if not believing what she was seeing, then sighed. She didn't seem too surprised to see them there.

Golden symbols appeared above Sandy's head as he asked her about Jack, Lillian and Pitch.

Mother Nature watched silently.

"..Father.. has gone to them," she said finally, her voice filled with regret. "He will have everything in hand."

"But we gotta know where they are," Bunny finally said after an awkward pause. "They could need our help."

North and Tooth chimed in their agreement, but Mother Nature wouldn't budge. All she would tell them was that Pitch had it under control.

As the Guardians finally gave up and took back off in the sleigh, Bunny glared at the portal of the North Pole that appeared.

"If Pitch woulda told us what he was up ta in the first place, we wouldn't have been travelin' all over for nothin'!"


Author's Note: Even though it was on the short side, I hope you guys liked this chapter anyway. We finally get to see Jack and Lillian rescued. The next chapter will be the aftermath, which will include scolding from (and for!) Pitch and Jack and Lillian recovering from the ordeal. Pitch will most likely have a serious talk with them about Mother Nature and trust and things, while the Guardians will have a serious talk with Pitch about informing them on things. Because Pitch ran off without them, they were always one step behind.

Jasper will most likely reappear again soon, but probably not in the next chapter. I think once the letter from the kids finally arrives at the Pole that they'll become more involved with at least Jack and Lillian again. And eventually someone's gotta go back to the lair and make sure all it is completely Nightmare free!

So the characters will be very busy! If you have any further plot suggestions, I would appreciate it as I could always use more filler or things to happen inbetween now and the next major plot that is coming up. I'm thinking August should turn up again at some point too, since he needs to get more involved in what's going on with the crazy weather. We'll see! I also wanted to point out that this fic has 31k views. Yay!

Also, I had to point out that when it was said in the last chapter that it was time for the Guardians to assemble, I totally pictured something like the Bat Signal in the sky and them leaving dramatically from the Pole like awesometacular super heroes, such as the Avengers. I wonder if Lillian will try to get Bunny to make a comic book about The Guardians? :P