Author's Note: Here's the chapter finally. I hope you guys like it. Thanks for all the follows and faves! :)

Chaper Sixy-One: Painting Continued

They continued to paint for a few hours, the silence being broken by the chatter of the spirits and sprites to their Seasonals and the occasional comment by Tooth or North as they painted.

North was especially exuberant in his painting, creating a big mess by his easel as he painted carelessly, slopping more and more paint on his canvas.

Every once in awhile Jasper would glance his way and wince as if it hurt to see North painting so crudely. He quickly turned back to his own painting, having finished his scary one over an hour ago. He had moved onto the painting he was hoping would be the one used in the book for his season.

He wasn't sure what to think about this book as he painted, his brush strokes even more careful in response to North's careless ones. He knew the only reason Lillian could have for telling the world about the Seasonals was to gain believers, but he had never desired any. He had his Spirits and Sprites, and that had been enough, really.

His expression grew more serious as he carefully painted the colorful leaves on the trees. He had Leif and August and that had been enough.

It wasn't like he needed anyone. He had his painting and his work and that should be enough, right?

His shoulders slumped a little as he realized that it hadn't been enough. Not really. He threw himself into his work more than ever after Leif had mysteriously vanished, but it had never been enough. August had become distant, and he hardly ever saw the Summer Spirit, except only vaguely sometimes at the start of Fall.

Sometimes August would try to wheedle a few more days for Summer out of him, and sometimes he would relent, but mostly he was insistent that his season had to begin on time. Actually, due to all the strange weather, this was the most he had seen August in years.

It was the most he had seen any spirits in years, really, outside of his own Seasonal Spirits. His expression turned a little gloomy as he considered it. He usually kept himself so busy with his painting that he didn't realize how lonely he was.

He glanced at the others who were painting and wondered how he could feel so lonely when he was surrounded by so many people.

He didn't realize that there a couple spirits there who could totally relate. He let his gaze slide from his own painting and he glanced at Lillian, who was still grinning happily, absorbed in her task. She really looked happy to be painting, and that had Jasper wondering if she really liked art.

He hadn't taken the time to get to know her, he realized. As he saw Jack's soft smile he realized that he didn't know much about Jack Frost either. For two spirits of opposite seasons, Jasper could tell that Jack and Lillian were quite close. As he thought about Jack comforting Lillian earlier in the day, he felt a pang that reminded him of his friend.

He had first heard about the baby Spring Spirit years ago and had realized what the significance was of her appearance, but he had refused to believe it until he had seen her one day, spreading Spring flowers out of season one Halloween. The child had been carefree, but Jasper had looked pained to see all the out of season flowers blooming.

He remembered going back home that night as he realized he would never see Leif ever again. He had painted a portrait of Leif then, portraying him being surrounded by the spring flowers he so loved. He remembered taking one look at that painting and bursting into tears. His startled sprites had tried to comfort him, but he couldn't be comforted.

Jasper hadn't realized he had stopped painting until he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He found himself looking into the worried violet eyes of the Tooth Fairy, her wings fluttering behind herself as she looked at him anxiously.

"Are you okay?" she asked Jasper, her tone sounding as worried as she looked.

She barely even knew Jasper and only knew that he was the Fall Spirit. Yet here she was, asking if he was alright.

Jasper blinked back his tears as he forced the memory away. He gave the Tooth Fairy a smirk so reminiscent of Jack when he was covering up his true feelings that it almost hurt to see.

"I'm fine," he easily lied to her. "I was just thinking about what to paint next," he continued as he gestured vaguely at his painting.

Kale exchanged a look with Crispin behind Jasper's back. They could tell just from his tone that he wasn't fine. Maybe he hadn't been fine for a long time. It's not like anyone actually cared about the Seasonals, outside of Mother Nature. Even then, they only saw her rarely.

Tooth studied Jasper seriously for a moment and he could tell that she didn't believe him. However, he just squared his shoulders and resumed his painting resolutely. After a moment, Tooth's wings drooped a bit and she returned back to her own painting.

Jasper glanced at her and for a moment, their eyes connected as she had been glancing at him as well. She gave him a warm smile, but he just looked away, unsure of what to do with such attention from a Guardian.

Tooth's smile faded as she saw Jasper look away from her, his eyes only for his painting. The Fall Spirit was so quiet and reserved. They had barely seen him while he had been staying at the North Pole, preferring to stay in his room with his own Spirits and Sprites while he recovered.

She puzzled over this while she continued her own painting, which was very colorful. Jack and Lillian were so close, but Jasper and August didn't seem to be quite that close. From what she had seen of them (which had been very little), she could tell that they were friends but there was also a kind of distance.

August had seemed a little too wrapped up in himself and Jasper a little too polite. She had noticed that August was missing from their little painting party of course, and she wondered how Jasper was taking it. From the sad look on his face that she had seen, she guessed that it wasn't very well.

Jasper, of course, wasn't sparing August much thought at all, as he continued to paint. He let his thoughts drift as he automatically chose beautiful Fall colors to add in. He sighed softly to himself as he thought of his own forest, which had been calling to him more strongly every day.

He was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to keep an eye on Pitch, which was too bad since Pitch had a look of utmost concentration on his face as he carefully painted. After he had done the initial dark background, he had the used other colors to paint a large object in the foreground, in dark colors. It looked like a dark ship, beautiful and deadly looking with sharp angles. He was careful in the colors he used for it, using various ones to make the ship seem lighter than the background, but still dark.

In the background was a small dark schooner, sailing around happily. The two ships were in outer space, with the sky a myriad of colors. They were surrounded by hundreds of white stars.

Pitch looked for a moment as if he wanted to go inside the painting,* but then he shook his head and looked at it critically. It was complete rubbish, of course. He had accidentally made the schooner too big and the angles were a little off on his ship.

He mentally shrugged to himself but continued to paint. He found the even brush strokes he used on the canvas to be relaxing, and even if his painting was bringing up memories from long ago, he was relieved to see that it wasn't bringing up terrible ones just yet.

When the painting seemed to be winding down, Bunny finally stood from his spot by the tree and announced that it would soon be time for a very late lunch/early dinner. He said he would be back in a few minutes and that they should all remain by the river.

Tooth and Sandy offered to help of course, but Bunny just waved them away while he walked off to his home.

Jasper had been startled out of his painting by Bunny's announcement and he looked at his Fall painting. He had filled every last inch of the canvas in color, depicting a forest full of colorful leaves, but he had been careful to make the forest very generic and nothing like his actual home. There were also a few pumpkins scattered about and a winding road was in front of the forest. The road was a dirt road and it was impossible to tell what time the painting was meant to be in. He simply wanted the viewer to be completely immersed in the sensation of his season, he didn't care if it was in modern times or not.

North had been the first to break away from his painting as he walked over to the tree where Bunny had been sitting and flopped down gracelessly, resting back against the tree.

"Painting is hard work!" he declared to no one as he grinned widely.

"It sure is," Tooth agreed as she joined him on the ground.

Sandy had looked over at Pitch, but Pitch seemed to be completely absorbed in his painting, so he let the boogeyman be for now, as he wandered over to join his friends. Golden symbols formed over his head as he asked them how their paintings were going.

"Great!" North boomed out. "I am doing abstract art of North Pole with lots of toys around."

Sandy glanced over at North's painting and squinted. If you tried looking really hard, it sort of resembled the North Pole. Vaguely.

Tooth looked out at the other Seasonals, her smile brightening as she saw Jack and Lillian talking animatedly amongst themselves. Her smile dimmed a little, however, when she took in Jasper and Pitch, all alone.

Pitch didn't seem to mind being by himself, as he was immersed in his painting, but Jasper looked to be finished with his own and at a loss on what to do next. She saw him glance at Jack and Lillian with a wistful look on his face that hurt her heart. After watching him for a few moments, she finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Jasper," she called out to him in a friendly tone.

The Fall Spirit jumped a little in surprise and whirled around to stare at the Tooth Fairy, his eyes wide as he saw the rest of the Guardians all sitting together under a tree.

The Tooth Fairy gave him a warm smile and she beckoned him over.

"Why don't you come sit with us?" she asked as she patted the ground nearby her.

A look of uncertainty crossed Jasper's face at that as if he weren't used to others taking any sort of interest in him like that and it made the Guardians exchange silent looks with one another. Were all of the Seasonals besides Jack and Lillian so lonely?

"Come on," North called out with a friendly smile.

Sandy copied North's friendly smile with one of his one and he gave the Fall Spirit a thumbs up.

Jasper, for his part, just looked very uncertain and bewildered on why the Guardians had taken such an interest in him. He wasn't a child, he was just a Seasonal Spirit. Seasonals normally never interacted with the Guardians.

After a few moments though, he finally wandered over and sat down by them. He made sure to stay a little ways away so as not to bother them though, but apparently, that wasn't what they had in mind when they called him over.

"So Jasper," Tooth started up conversationally, causing Jasper's eyes to jerk over to her. In the background his own spirits had taken to talking to one another, occasionally glancing at him but giving him privacy to converse with the Guardians. "Did you have a good Fall last year?"

Jasper stared at her with wide eyes, his mouth practically hanging open.

"You paint the leaves, right?" Tooth asked casually, seeming to ignore Jasper's total surprise at the question.

"..Yes," he finally answered her. "My spirits and sprites also help me maintain the temperature of Fall while I do so."

North furrowed his brow as he leaned forward curiously, never having an opportunity to speak so openly to a Seasonal before.

"You paint all the leaves by hand?" he asked incredulously.

Jasper nodded as now it was the Guardians' turn to gape at him.

Golden symbols appeared over Sandy's head as they showed a leaf followed by a golden bed and then finally a big, golden question mark.

Jasper took a moment to decipher this, and then half-asked "When do I sleep?"

Sandy nodded emphatically, and Jasper shrugged.

"Fall's a pretty busy time for me," he said as he avoided looking at the Sandman.

Sandy frowned and shook a finger at Jasper, admonishing him for not getting his proper rest.

Jasper noticed this and shot Sandy a half irritated, half exasperated look.

"It takes a long time for me to paint all of the leaves," he said, frustration leaking out into his voice. "I sleep as much as I can as soon as Winter takes over, but until then I don't get a lot of sleep. It takes a lot for me to paint all of the leaves."

"Why not use something faster, such as paint gun?" North innocently suggested with a twinkle in his eye. The extremely scandalized look that Jasper got caused the Guardian to burst out laughing.

North continued chuckling at Jasper's expression but he soon relented when Jasper started to look a little hurt at all the laughing.

"I kid, I kid," North said as the last of his chuckles died off. "But it takes a long time for you to paint, no?"

Jasper shrugged, still trying to get the image of North with a paint gun slinging paint all around at his precious leaves out of his mind.

"I like painting," he finally said, his tone a little stiff.

"You're so good at it too!" Tooth gushed as she gestured at Jasper's lovely painting of Fall.

"I guess," Jasper said a little uncomfortably, not understanding the sudden interest in himself at all.

"Tell me," North said, suddenly serious, "What were you like before you were chosen? Why did Mother Nature want you as a Fall Spirit?"

Jasper looked from one earnest face to another as he took in the strange question. No one had ever asked him that before, not even August or Leif.

"Mother needed a Fall Spirit," Jasper said as he thought back to so long ago. "The previous one had faded and there was no one to govern it, except for the spirits and sprites and they can't manage it all by themselves. I didn't know that, however. I was an artist, struggling to make ends meet. She had seen me painting a fall scene on the street, carefully painting each leaf in the picture, applying just the right color."

Jasper smiled fondly as he remembered his past life and his first meeting with Mother Nature.

"She asked me if I wanted to continue my painting, and if I would like helping out nature in the process. I was curious, and when she showed me some of her powers, I accepted. I had often thought of what it would be like to paint leaves for real, to give them their vibrant Fall colors."

"You were a Seasonal before yer time," an Austrailian accent piped up that caused Jasper to flinch in surprise.

Jasper looked over at Bunny with wide eyes, but Bunny just smirked at him.

"Sounds like Mother Nature chose wisely," he commented as he spread out a large checkered blanket by a space near their easels, but far enough away to not have paint fumes and set down a large picnic basket on it. "Food's ready!" he called out to the others, who stood and made their way over to it.

Everyone sat down on the blanket, with Jack and Lillian on either side of Pitch (to Jasper's immense relief). Jasper somehow wound up stuck in between Bunny and Sandy, while Tooth sat next to Jack and tried not to fangirl too much over his perfect teeth. She couldn't resist sneaking a few peeks now and then though.

Jasper and the Guardians were on one side of the basket while Pitch, Lillian, and Jack were on the other. The various sprites had settled down onto various shoulders to rest and the Spirits hesitantly settled down at either end of the picnic basket to complete their large circle.

When the basket had been opened it, it was to discover that there were several different kinds of sandwiches inside, as well as some vegetarian wraps for those who didn't eat meat, since Bunny suspected most nature spirits preferred not to.

Bunny himself had a large salad already prepared that had a lot of carrots in it. He made sure that he made more than enough for himself. He had to make a couple trips back and forth for extra bowls, utensils, and mugs, but soon everyone had a mug of something in front of them and something to eat.

Jasper had decided to try a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sat chewing his while he glanced across the basket to Pitch, Jack, and Lillian.

Pitch had helped Jack and Lillian each to a small salad and had also given them each a sandwich. Lillian had complained about the salad but a stern look from Pitch had made her quiet down.

Jasper tried hard not to stare, but it was unreal to watch.

"Pitch, how's your painting coming along?" Tooth asked after she had taken a bite of her own sandwich, which was tuna salad.

Pitch merely shrugged.

"It's no Picasso, but I suppose it will do," he answered her easily enough. Then he rounded on Lillian and told her to take smaller bites.

"My painting has kids building a snowman," Jack said.

Even though it had been a good winter suggestion to have kids ice skating, Jack just couldn't bring himself to do it. Although he hadn't minded adding a frozen lake in there.

"That's great, Jack! And you too, Pitch!" Tooth said encouragingly.

"Mine has spring flowers in it," Lillian announced. "And I was thinking more about the book.. I think I'm going to add Leif into the Spring section. People should know about him too."

Jasper froze at that, stopping in mid-chew. He swallowed his bite of sandwich that suddenly felt like sandpaper going down his throat.

"What?" he managed to get out, his voice came out sort of breathily in shock.

Lillian didn't look at him as she took a bite of salad. She chewed and swallowed carefully.

"He's important, and.. and.. everyone should know about him. He shouldn't just fade away and have everyone forget about him."

Jack looked at Lillian with sympathy.

"This is about what August said, isn't it?"

Pitch tensed, not having heard about this part of the day. He had spent that morning with Mother Nature, hovering over her.

"What exactly did August say?" he said, his tone eerily calm.

Lillian mumbled what August said down to her sandwich and Pitch looked furious.

"How dare he!" Pitch fumed. "Just wait until I.."

Bunny spoke up then.

"Not that we mind ya protectin' Lillian, but makin' the gumby wet his bed when he sleeps ain't really the way to go about it."

Pitch eyed Bunny then but stopped with the verbal threats. He supposed it might not be particularly Guardian-like to seek revenge like that, but what the Guardians didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"Isn't it?" Jack spoke up again to Lillian.

"He's a better Spring Spirit than me," Lillian said dejectedly. "Everyone likes him better anyway. He should be in the book."

"No."

Jasper's quiet voice cut in, sounding unusually firm.

"The book should only be about the current Seasonals. Otherwise, you would have to include Mistral to be fair."

There was a collective shiver amongst the spirits that had known Mistral, but Jack and Lillian looked confused.

"Who's that?" Lillian asked curiously.

"He was the Spirit of Winter before Jack," Jasper explained, his voice still quiet. "He always started Winter early and ended it as late as he dared. His Winters were particularly harsh, and many people died from his blizzards."

"That's terrible!" Lillian exclaimed. "I'm glad Jack's in charge of Winter now. He makes it fun."

Jasper pursed his lips for a moment as he glanced at Jack. He couldn't help but recall one of the first times he had met Jack, several hundred years ago. Jack had been trying to get the hang of his powers yet and had set off a blizzard when it was still Fall.

Jasper's precious magical paint had all been frozen, and his leaves that year were completely ruined.

Jack perhaps was thinking of the same thing as he gave Jasper a sheepish grin.

"Sorry about your leaves," he said. "I didn't mean to freeze them that year. I just wanted to see your leaves and.. um.."

Jasper looked upset for a moment, but then he just sighed sadly as thoughts of Leif stole into his mind.

"It was only once," he said as he returned to his sandwich, "and you haven't done it again."

"I really want Leif in the book though," Lillian insisted.

"He ain't a better spirit than you," Bunny interjected. "He just had more experience."

"August likes him better," Lillian said sadly.

Jasper looked down at that and the Guardians all exchanged glances. All the Spirits had known that Leif, August, and Jasper had been thick as thieves.

The Guardians waited to see if Jasper would say anything to this, but he didn't seem to know what to say. His head was bowed and his hair was hanging down, covering his eyes. He looked very much like Jack when Jack was sad.

"It must be hard with him gone," Tooth ventured. "August was very good friends with him and I'm sure he didn't mean what he said."

Lillian sighed heavily and poked her salad with her fork, moving the carrots around moodily.

"I just thought it would be nice," she finally admitted. "I can't help it if I'm not like Leif."

Jasper had finished his sandwich and he went to stand.

"..I should get going," he said, his voice a little rough with emotion.

"You're leaving?" Tooth said in dismay.

"I need to get back home," Jasper said as he finally stood. "You can keep my painting for the book."

"Jasper?" Laurel said hesitantly, but her Seasonal didn't reply.

Pitch eyed the Fall Seasonal. His shoulders were slumped and his head was still down.

"Running away won't help," he told Jasper, who lifted his head a little to look at Pitch. "It won't make you feel any better."

He looked conflicted for a moment as if he weren't sure how to act around this Pitch or what he should say to that comment. He was silent for a beat before he spoke again.

"I need to get home," he repeated. "My spirits and sprites won't fully recover unless they're in their element."

Pitch continued to eye the young man critically, his expression getting darker the more Jasper came up with excuses to leave.

"Sit down," Pitch said in what Jack and Lillian recognized as his Adult Voice that meant Serious Business, but to Jasper, it just sounded frightening.

Without realizing what he was doing, Jasper hastily sat back down at his spot on the blanket, looking at Pitch with wide eyes.

Pitch looked sternly at Jasper for all of two seconds before he gave an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes.

"I am not going to kill you," he said in an equally exasperated tone.

Everyone looked from Pitch to Jasper, who looked surprised.

"I had hoped that even with your minuscule mind you could remember that I am the King of Nightmares," Pitch said, suppressing another eye roll. "I always know what a person's greatest fear is. Yours is that if I don't kill you in the next minute, I'll sneak up on you later on and have you beheaded before you realize what's going on. Then who will look after the precious leaves or your spirits?"

Jasper ducked his head as Bunny glared a bit at Pitch. Now was not the time for mocking!

"Besides, in your haste to make up excuses to leave, you seemed to have forgotten that you are painting pictures for Lillian's book and there seems to be a lack of paintings for summer." Pitch continued as he gave Jasper a look.

Jasper looked particularly embarrassed about that as he remembered promising Lillian he would paint something for summer since August lacked any artistic skill. He glanced over at his painting, wondering what he'd paint for Summer in August's place. He wasn't even sure if August would want to be in the book anymore, not after the fight he'd had with Lillian.

Remembering the fight had once again reminded him of Leif and his shoulders slumped a little. Jack must have noticed that Jasper seemed to be getting sad again because before Jasper knew it, he was getting hit in the face with a snowball.

Jasper sputtered and wiped the snow off his face. He glared at Jack in anger, but then as blue sparkles took over he felt a lightness enter him that he hadn't felt in a long time. A grin overtook his face as his dark brown eyes lit up.

He happily helped himself to another sandwich and after he ate it, he refilled his mug with more milk. He drank that down quickly and wiped off his mouth all with a smile on his face the whole time.

Lillian couldn't help but giggle at that, since the only time she had seen Jasper so happy like that had been when he was painting his Fall picture.

After he had finished eating, Jasper eagerly leapt up as he apparently forgot his earlier fright of Pitch. He had a very Jack-like grin on his face as he declared that they should all finish their paintings. He walked over to his and studied it for a moment.

His eyes were sparkling in a way they hadn't for a very long time as he studied his painting with fresh eyes. He could tell it was very good - for an art gallery. It wasn't a painting that would work for a children's book, however. A child would probably completely dismiss the painting and find it boring.

So Jasper set to work changing the painting a little so that along the road there were several booths and what seemed to be an event of some sort going on. Some children were getting their faces painted while others were happily carving pumpkins. The beautiful fall leaves became more of a background to the event as other fall-type activities were going on.

Some children were even jumping into a pile of leaves. While Jasper hated seeing the leaves fall off the trees and onto the ground, he realized that this too was a part of fall.

Jasper had a big smile on his face while he touched up his painting, and the Guardians all exchanged sad smiles when they realized it was the biggest smile they had ever seen on Jasper - and it was all due to Jack's fun winter magic.

They returned to their own paintings and Bunny returned to painting his eggs once they had all finished eating.

A few hours later everyone had finished and Jasper was finishing up a summer painting worthy of August, a beach scene with a very bright summer sun, complete with beachgoers and even a few surfers. If anyone looked more closely, they could see that several of the beachgoers were actually Summer Spirits and that August was one of the surfers out in the ocean. Regular people were mixed in with the spirits and some children were making a sand castle near the edge of the water.

While Jasper had been painting, his huge smile had dimmed until finally, the usual serious look he sported had taken over. He was so busy concentrating on his painting that he even forgot to spy on Pitch to see what he was up to.

When he was satisfied that his painting was done, he stepped back to look at it more closely. He almost jumped right out of his hoodie when an Australian accent piped up from right behind him.

"Not bad," Bunny said as he had walked up to check out everyone's paintings. "'Specially since Summer ain't yer season."

Jasper shrugged.

"I know what August would like," he said simply. "He'd never want a picture of Summer without surfing."

"Ya have a good eye fer detail," Bunny nodded to himself as he spotted August out in the waves.

"I've had a lot of practice," Jasper replied, referring to all the painting he normally did, as well as painting the fall leaves every year. He was eyeing his painting thoughtfully. "There should be a painting for the front cover or the first page of the book," he added.

Bunny couldn't help but smirk at that.

"You'll be here all night if ya keep this up."

Jasper blushed but decided he could do that painting in secret, to surprise the others with.

"It was just a thought," he protested but didn't say anything else on the subject. He took a look around and saw that he was the last one to finish painting. The others were all gathered around checking out what each other had painted.

Tooth was busy commenting on Jack's painting, while Lillian was checking out North's and seemed to think that tilting her head would help her interpret what it was. North was jovially exclaiming that he had painted everyone in his workshop while Pitch seemed to be standing back and letting everyone have their moment.

Bunny had apparently snuck up behind Jasper to make sure he wasn't all alone, but now that Jasper was finished, Bunny had moved on to join the others.

Jasper took the opportunity to scope out Pitch's painting. Pitch had finished his earlier painting and had painted a new picture. His eyes widened a bit when he saw that this painting was of a house. It was surrounded by plants Jasper had never seen before and a small girl with dark hair seemed to be playing out in the yard. Jasper could see that the girl had black hair and a big smile on her face.

Jasper almost had another heart attack when Pitch spoke from behind him.

"It's my former home," he said a little stiffly.

Jasper nodded and quickly moved away from Pitch's painting to go join his Spirits.

"Are you ok?" Crispin asked as Jasper wandered over.

Jasper nodded.

"Y-yeah," he said a little shakily but managed a small smile for his spirits. He wouldn't admit it, but Pitch still scared him. A lot.

Pitch glanced over at Jasper but didn't call him out on his obvious fear. Apparently, it would take more than a day for Jasper to realize that Pitch wasn't about to behead him. He shook his head to himself but realized that he would probably have threatened Jasper again anyway to find his children.

It wasn't long before everyone was ready to head back to the Pole, and North insisted that this time they all used a snow globe. Everyone all walked through the portal except for Bunny, who had painting supplies to clean up back in the Warren.

While he was gathering everything together, Bunny took a moment to look at everyone's paintings that were still on the easels, sitting there while the paint dried.

He shook his head at North's painting, which North had claimed was abstract, but really was just a big mess of paint. North had also insisted that it was of everyone in his workshop and true, there were some globs of paint that were their colors - gray for Bunny, pink for Lillian, blue-green for Tooth, blue with white on top which must have been Jack in his hoodie, golden yellow for Sandy and finally, black for Pitch.

It took a moment for Bunny to realize the random blobs of white had to have been the yetis. North had been so proud of his painting and Bunny had to smile at that.

He moved on to look at Jack's painting and his grin grew wider. Jack had spent the time after their picnic lunch to work on his painting some more. Who knew the kid was such an artist? Jack had added some more kids into the scene and they all seemed to be having fun in the snow. Bunny, of course, had noticed that all the kids looked like Jamie and his friends and Bunny was unsurprised to see that there was one that was smaller than the rest, with curly brown hair.

He looked over at the painting next to Jack's and saw a typical spring scene with a lot of wildflowers growing everywhere. He saw that Lillian had added Spring Sprites peeking out from behind some of the flowers to give the painting a more playful air.

Next to Lillian's painting was Tooth's, hers a riot of colors, featuring her fairies flitting about within a colorful background. Sandy's was next to Tooth's and it featured a child sleeping with a golden dream floating over their head. He could tell that the child was dreaming about the Guardians since there were golden versions of themselves over the child's head.

Next to Sandy's painting was Jasper's beach scene with his first painting leaning on the ground against the easel. They had all agreed to leave their paintings behind for now and Bunny had promised to take good care of them.

Bunny stepped in front of Pitch's easel next and looked at the painting thoughtfully. He could tell the painting must have had some significance to Pitch, but Bunny didn't exactly know what. He could see the small girl playing in front of the house and he couldn't help but notice the striking resemblance to Mother Nature. Maybe it was a scene from Pitch's past?

Bunny reached down to pick up the other painting that was leaning against the easel and almost dropped it in shock. He stared down at the likeness of the Nightmare Galleon and had to stop his arms from trembling as he put the painting back where it had been.

Bunny's ears went down and his eyes darkened as memories of his long-lost world threatened to take over, images flashing through his mind of the Nightmare Galleon attacking and destroying everything.


*Just a reminder that Pitch doesn't remember much of his life as Pitch Black, and wouldn't have too many negative feelings associated with the ship. He can remember the ship, but not what he did with it.

Author's Note: Sorry to have the chapter end on such a depressing note. Jasper kind of seemed to take over this entire chapter, so I hope you don't mind that either. Next chapter will feature the last of everyone at North's and then them getting settled at home. Jasper and August will take a backseat to the plot for awhile, as everything settles and then once again spirals out of control. :P