...Let's just say I was abducted by aliens who wanted my fabulous writing skills, so I couldn't write anything for a while...

I'm terrible sorry for my absence. After I saw how many favorited this story I needed to continue it.

As always, I don't own Rise of the Guardians, but I do own Akira who is my favorite death spirit.

Chapter 5

The moment Jack opened his eyes, he could tell something was different. He didn't remember his cell being bright with actual sunlight once, neither did his cell have an actual bed with fluffy bed covers or sheets. He must be in heaven he thought.

"Welcome back, sleeping beauty. What a beautiful day to wake up, don't you think?"

And there he thought he could have been in heaven.

"You watch too much Disney movies, Aki." He grumbled, his voice barely louder than a whisper. Laughter filled the room. The first laughter he heard in over a decade.

"I'm not the only one you know. I still know the one time we watched-" "We agreed to never again speak about that!" Another chuckle. "I'm glad you're okay. You scared the hell out of me, ya know." " 'm sorry." Jack whispered. His throat was as dry as the Sahara desert.

"Here." Akira put a glass to his lips and the winter spirit drank the cold water greedily.

"Thank you."

"No problem. It's the least I can do after…"

"It's not your fault."

"I should have known! I should have protected you!"

"How would you have known? There's a hundred deaths a day!"

"I'm an angel of death, it's my job to know!" Akira shouted.

"It doesn't matter. You got me out in the end."

Aira couldn't say anything against that. His dark eyes softened.

"It should! I couldn't protect you when you needed a friend."

The death angel was nearly crying now from guilt. Why wasn't Jack screaming at him? Blaming him for making him reek of death? Summer wouldn't have attacked the winter spirit if he were just that: A winter spirit. It was entirely his fault. He had been as lonely as Jack. And he had misused the other's loneliness to lessen his own burden of a job. His duty as a death angel was his alone to carry, after all.

"I'm sorry." Akira said. "I'm sorry you had to live through that hell."

Akira wasn't looking at Jack, so he missed the incredulous look of disbelief on the other's face.

"I never blamed you for anything! I should have better controlled my powers, okay? And now come over here so I can hug you!" the frost spirit said to brighten the mood. He always hated his friend's moments of doubting and hating himself.

Akira laughed slightly, but followed the other's request and gave him a hug.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yeah, I really missed you."

The dark haired youth blushed at that. His heart beat slightly faster. It was probably just because they hadn't seen each other in a while. He wasn't going to find out the exact reason. Jack was his best friend. Of course he would be happy to hug him, wouldn't he?

XXX

Jack recovered quickly and soon he was bored. A bored winter-death spirit was never a good thing. Never. North had to make his yeti guard him and the teen soon started to annoy whoever came to visit him. Akira seriously thought if the enforced bed rest was a good idea. Jack was a spirit of the seasons, so he would feel caged inside, right?

He was right.

"Aki! Let's have a snow ball fight!"

He sighed. Yes, the spirit would be climbing up the walls soon if they didn't allow him to go outside. he would ask North. The guardians had been relieve to see Jack recovering from his imprisonment and North had been adamant about Jack to rest.

Akira found North in his office. The Santa Claus was constructing a mini version of the polar express from a block of solid ice. His eyebrow rose up to his hairline as the train was finished and actually worked! It grew tiny wings and floated on an invisible track until it smashed to pieces. Toothiana had opened the door with quite a bit of force.

"North! The tooth palace! It's getting attacked!" she exclaimed, before North could even say anything about his smashed masterpiece.

"To the sleigh!" North ordered everyone.