A/N

OMG! I'm back! And this chapter is long af! It switches POV's several times, but the line breaks serve to break that up, and the POV should become clear within the first sentence. :) I'm so excited and so much happens, and I let you get to reading ;D

Enjoy~

A Winning Race and A Losing Battle

"Oh, thank goodness! One of you is alright!" Toothina said, pulling her mini fairy close as she chirped happily. "Bunny, where did you find her?"

"Uh…" Bunny stuttered. He was still trying to wrap his mind around everything that had happened. Jack…wasn't siding with Pitch? NO! He wasn't! It wasn't a question; it was a statement. Bunny had seen that just by looking into the kids eyes.

Bunny would've never thought that eyes could hold so many emotions at once, or that so much could be understood with so little talk.

Shortly after Jack had been snatched away, again, Bunny had jumped over the rail where his fellow Guardians had disappeared. Pitch was long gone, but they still stood tensed and ready until Bunny had shown up. Almost immediately, they had relaxed, happy to find their comrade was okay. Then, Bunny had pulled his paw away from his chest, where he held the little fairy safe, as she chirped and squirmed in his grip.

"Bunny?" Tooth asked, holding her mini close and looking at him in concern.

"Jack." Bunny said. "Jack gave her to me."

Tooth stared at him in stunned and touched silence. After a moment, she looked back down at the mini fairy, who nodded in affirmation. Tooth blinked and shook her head. "Why?" She asked.

Bunny shrugged. "He just said 'not everything's gone.'" Bunny rubbed his eyes. "Then he…the shadows snatched him away. I wasn't…I couldn't-I-I…" He hid his face behind both his paws. He had failed Jack, again. He had doubted him. He had planned to attack him. He-he lost him…again.

Bunny felt a hand on his shoulder. He couldn't bring himself to look up, but he didn't need to. He knew it was North. He knew he had some sort of inspirational lecture prepared, but he didn't want to hear it. He just…he couldn't bare it.

But instead, Bunny just felt North pull him closer. Then he felt Sandy and Tooth join the embrace. They held him in comfort as he struggled to keep himself from falling apart. He squeezed his eyes closed until it was almost painful, and dug his nails into his face.

A sharp gasp from Tooth broke apart their tender moment.

"Oh no." The fairy said, looking down at the ground and watching some of her feathers fall. "The children." The murals and glistening architecture around them began to disintegrate and turn gray. "We're too late."

"NO!" North shouted, giving Bunny on last squeeze of the shoulder before letting him go. "No such thing as too late!"

Bunny steeled himself and pushed aside his turmoil for the moment. Right now, Tooth was in peril and at risk of losing everything. He needed to be there for her.

Snapping to attention, Bunny saw North straighten as a lightbulb practically flashed above his head. "Idea!" The Cossack shouted, already giddy. "We will collect the teeth!"

"What!?" Tooth shouted, blown away by the statement. "We're talking seven continents, millions of kid-"

"Give me break, you know how many toys I deliver in one night?" North said, full of optimism

Bunny piqued in, feeling optimistic himself. He was the Guardian of hope after all. "And eggs I hide in one day?"

Tooth looked around at them, gratefulness, excitement and hope shining in her violet eyes. Sandy floated up into vision and gave two thumps up, and the mini fairy chirped out of happiness.

"Let's do it." Tooth said with a nod.

As quickly as the shadow had snatched Jack away, it deposited him in one of the slanted corridors of Pitch's lair, and bound him tightly around his arms and torso. Pitch was there to greet him, and with rough quickness, he unbound Jack's staff from his disfigured hand.

Hardly finishing unwinding the barbed wire from his grasp, Pitch snatched his staff and tossed it behind him where it disappeared into the shadows.

"What did you do?!" Pitch demanded, snatching Jack forward by the front of his hoodie.

"What do you mean, mast-" Jack was cut off by a sharp back hand across his cheek. He fell to his knees, but Pitch quickly grabbed him and backed him against a wall.

"Don't play dumb, Jack." He practically growled. "After they chased me over the ledge, what did you do?"

Jack went on to explain quickly. "I hid master, but the rabbit came after me. We fought until your shadow saved me."

"That's it?" His grip on Jack's shoulders got threateningly tighter.

"Yes master." Jack squeaked out under Pitch's painful grip.

"You did not say anything?"

Yes. "No." Jack breathed out. He knew the consequences of lying to Pitch, but he had to. He had saved a mini fairy, and Pitch's wrath would be endless if he found out. He didn't understand why he had done it. It was...well, seeing all the fairies getting captured by the Nightmares and shadows awoke so many memories within Jack. Before he knew it, he had snatched the brave little fairy out of the air and hid her in his pocket before any of the Nightmares or shadows could see and tell Pitch what he had done. "I stayed quite, like you told me to master."

Jack kept his gaze lowered, but he could feel Pitch's golden eyes bearing down on him. He could feel him searching him excruciatingly close. Jack also knew he was questioning the shadows as well, looking for them to confirm the honesty in his story, and Jack could only pray they hadn't noticed that brief moment he had shared with the Easter Bunny.

Eventually, Pitch's iron grip on him relaxed, and the dark spirit gently cupped Jack's cheek in a silent order for the winter spirit to meet his gaze.

Jack winced slightly at the contact. His cheek stung where Pitch held his face. He moved his gaze upwards and saw the Nightmare King smiling at him, a prideful smirk sparkling in his golden eyes.

"Good job Jack."

Before Jack could marvel at his master in shock, the shadow binding his arms against his sides pulled him through the realm of darkness and deposited him on his knees at the base of the globe.

Pitch appeared a moment later, circling the globe and growing angry. One of the Nightmares came to join her master.

"The lights…Why aren't they going out?" Pitch demanded, and for the first time, that's when Jack noticed that the lights hadn't changed all that much form before the raid on the Tooth Palace.

The Nightmare neighed. "They're collecting the teeth?!" Pitch growled, clenching his fists and barely containing his anger. All around them, the mini fairies began to chirp in excitement, overwhelmed to hear that the Guardian's hadn't given up. "Ooh! Pipe down or I'll stuff a pillow with you!"

The Nightmare neighed softly, moving closer to her master, as if she wanted to comfort him. Pitch turned to her and growled in frustration, which made the meek Nightmare, who only wished to please her master, dissipate into loose sand.

Pitch moved to stand over top of Jack, the formless sand following in his wake.

"Get some rest Jack." Pitch said, moving one of his hands in a circular motion that commanded the black sand to form a familiar shape. Sandy? "For tomorrow, all of the Guardians pathetic scrambling will be for nothing." Pitch crushed the nightmare sand version of the Sandman in his fist above Jack's head, sprinkling the sand onto him. Jack had just enough time to process what this meant before he fell into the realm of unconsciousness, with only terrifying nightmares to keep him company.

Bunny was actually happy. Collecting the teeth had been a lot of fun! They had turned it into a game, where they each raced to see who could collect the most teeth. Using Tooth as a guide, and taking as many "advantages" that convenient to them, the Guardians raced off, collecting dozens of teeth a minute! Unfortunately, the competitive spirit had caused them forget one important detail…leaving behind gifts. So, that little error had set them back a bit, since they had to turn around and put gifts into the homes of believers they had taken the teeth from. After all, the Tooth Fairy always left a quarter under the children's pillows. The only problem they had though was they didn't have enough quarters…so they had to get creative. Christmas presents, candy, and Easter eggs made great substitutes! But the best part was that children were still believing, and Toothina looked better for it.

Currently, Bunny had stepped aside with Tooth, who had vanished into one of the homes to collect a tooth. When he hopped out of is tunnel, Tooth was expertly rolling a coin between her fingers as she moved to place it under the pillow.

"So, ya been out of the field for four hundred and forty years, but ya can handle that coin like ya never stopped."

Tooth laughed. "I guess some habits never die." She said, flying over top of the sleeping boy and looking down at him with a gentle, motherly expression. "This was always the part I liked the most, seeing the kids." She wrapped her arms tighter around herself. "Why did I ever stop doing this?"

Bunny smiled sadly. "Yeah, I know what ya mean." He said, moving closer to look at the snoozing kid with a messy mop of brown hair. "Ya know," he went on. "I remember the days when I could tell you the names of every kid that celebrated Easter…back then there weren't so many believers, but still. Now, it's all become a job. I don't even know who this kid is."

Tooth smiled, remembering the days when she could do just the same. She looked up at the kids wall and saw a drawing of him riding on a sleigh that was flying high above a bunch of other children's heads. "Well, I believe his name is Jamie." She said, and Bunny looked at her with wide eyes, wondering how she had figured that out. Tooth laughed and pointed at the drawing. "He signed his name in the bottom corner."

Bunny smiled. He loved art, and loved to see kids expressing themselves in drawings. He studied the image closer and realized it was a depiction of Jamie enjoying a snow day. Bunny then couldn't help but descend into a fouler mood. The wintery scene practically forced his thoughts back to Jack. He wondered what has happened to the kid since the shadow had snatched him away...?

"Ah! Here you are!"

"Shhhhhh!" Tooth and Bunny urged, gesturing to the sleeping child. North immediately cringed and tried to quietly wiggle the rest of the way through the window.

He failed utterly.

Bunny and Tooth cringed as the big man crashed heavily to the floor.

"How are you feeling Tooth?" He asked, in what could barely be considered a lower tone of voice.

"Believed in!" Tooth said excitedly, twirling in her happiness and Bunny was relieved to see no feathers hit the floor.

Sandy came in through the window shortly after North, holding a red sack full of teeth out in front of him and setting fireworks off above his head.

"Ya call that a bag of choppers mate?" Bunny said, smirking as he caught on to Sandy's bragging. He produced his own sack and brandished it out for the little man to see. It was quite a bit bigger. "Now that's a bag of choppers!"

"Gentleman, gentleman, this is about Tooth, it is not a competition." North stepped forward, speaking in a placating tone. "But if it was!" From around is back, he slammed down a massive bag of the teeth. "I win! YEEE-HAAA!" He began to dance around, causing Bunny to cringe at how loud his celebration was, and before you knew it, a light came to life, shinning directly in their faces. "Oh no…" North said, hunching in on himself.

Jamie was awake, and his face shined with complete joy and awe. Moving the light to each of their faces, Jamie began to list them off.

"Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Sandman, the Tooth fairy! I'd knew you'd come!"

"Surprise! We came!" Tooth said, laughing nervously out the crutch of her social awkwardness.

For all of the rough and tough front Bunny put up, the truth was, he really did enjoy kids. It always made his heart swell when a child would glimpse him when he was out and about during Easter, hiding away his googies. But know was not the time. They needed to get back to collecting the teeth and keeping their eyes out for signs of Pitch.

"Sandy, knock him out!" Bunny said, and Sandy pounded one fist into the palm of his other hand. The others gasped. "With the dream sand, ya gumbies!"

Suddenly, Bunny came face to face with a growling Greyhound.

Has she been there the whole time?! How hadn't he noticed?!

"No! Down Abby! That's the Easter Bunny! What are you doing? Stop!" Jamie said to the dog, grabbing onto her and trying to pull her down.

"Alright, nobody panic." Bunny said, more or less trying to calm himself down.

"Uh…Bunny." North said, worried for his friend, and very aware of his fear of canines. "That is Greyhound…you-you know what Greyhounds can do to rabbits?"

Bunny steeled his nerves and adopted an air of confidence. "Well I think it's a pretty safe bet she's never met a rabbit like me." He said, prepping himself while never breaking eye contact with the dog growling before him. "Six-foot-one, nerves of steel, Master of Tai Chi, and-"

At that moment, the door to Jamie's room slammed open and I high pitched, joyful squealing pierced the tensed air.

"Sophie no! Shhhhhhh!" Bunny vaguely heard Jamie plead, but it was too late…he saw Abby's pupils narrow.

"Ah Crikey!" The next thing he knew was that his life had blurred to several moments of intense survival instincts. He was sprinting around the room, not paying mind to what he was knocking over or who he was bumping into. For several moments, the only thought he could process was "run, run, RUN!" That is until a glowing ball stopped him in his fleeing with a calming smack. He felt relaxed and could feel himself smiling as he slumped to the floor and an endless field of carrots sprouted behind his close lids.

Sandy placed Jamie on the bed after putting him asleep. North's great weight had sent the lad flying through the air and into his arms when the Cossack had fallen on the mattress. All of his fellow Guardians, Jamie, and Abby the Greyhound, had been put to sleep after he had released his ball of dream sand that had ricocheted around the room, taking down many victims. Now, he and the little girl (Sophie he believed the boy had called her) were the only ones awake in the room. She was giggling and swatting at the images of the dreams floating about the snoozer's heads.

For a moment he thought that maybe he should put her to sleep too, but a loud snort from the open window caught his attention. There, he saw a Nightmare, who quickly fled upon seeing she had been discovered.

Sandy hesitated. He really shouldn't leave his friends, but if Pitch was here then he was likely spreading Nightmares to the local children. Besides, his dream sand wouldn't last too long. With one last look at his comrades and the giggling girl, he climbed through the window, and began his chase.

Standing in the shadow on the roof of some business building in the little town of Burgess, Jack kept still and obedient as his master finished wrapping the last foot or so of barbed wire around his hand and staff. He did not flinch or wince. Not anymore.

"Now," Pitch said, his voice managing to be gentle, stern and commanding all at once. "You remember what you are to do?"

"Yes master." Jack replied robotically, his head up but his eyes lowered to the floor. Pitch hated 'lazy posture.'

"Tell me." The Nightmare King demanded, pulling hard on the last length of wire and handing it off to a shadow that would tie it.

"Stay back." Jack recited. "Long range attacks only. If they come after me, flee."

Pitch nodded, folding his hands together. "Good. Now you will stay in the shadows until I have moved the fight into the air." Jack felt the shadow they were currently holed up in wrap around his ankles. "And no speaking." Jack nodded, expecting no less.

Pitch smiled, and patted his head, and Jack knew he was eating up the fear that one gesture evoked from him, but their moment was interrupted as a mare's whinny pierced the night. About a block from where they were, the pair saw a flash of gold appear. Soon, the image of a massive golden manta ray flew up in the sky with the small figure of the Sandman riding on its back with ready whips for the other Nightmares he was chasing.

"Ah, just who I was looking for." Pitch said, disappearing in the blink of an eye as a shadow took him to wherever he desired, leaving Jack behind to wait. Alone with only the shadow that was binding him for company, Jack shivered at he knew what Pitch was planning tonight. Almost involuntarily, he felt his free hand clench in horror and anger, one emotion directed at the Sandman, and the other at his master.

Sandy was not up for small talk. As soon as Pitch had stepped out of the shadows, he flung his whips at the dark spirit, who returned the favor by summoning a great scythe, swinging it at him in retaliation. But Sandy had soon got the better of him. As his well-aimed whip wrapped around Pitch's wrists, Sandy began to fling him into walls, cars, and buildings before he sent him flying out into the middle of the street. Sandy balled his fist and descended towards him.

"Okay, easy!" Pitch began to placate, holding one of his hands out and backing further away. "You can't blame me for trying, Sandy! You don't know what it's like to be weak, and hated! It was stupid of me, to mess with your dreams. So, I'll tell you what..." Pitch had regained his footing, and his pleading tone darkened as his gaze became sneering. "You can have them back."

Dread sank in as Sandy heard the stomping and whinnying of hundreds of Nightmare emerge all around him. They swarmed him completely, and he readied his whips. Pitch had climbed onto the back of one of the mares and smirked down at him.

"Boo!" He said, signally the army to charge.

However, they were momentarily distracted as North's sleigh flew above their heads, and Sandy took the opportunity to distance himself with the only direction left to him: up.

Bunny jolted awake as his world moved harshly. For a moment, he muttered incoherently as he looked around him. He had forgotten he was in the sleigh, and when had he fallen asleep?

Recovering from his confusion, he sprung into immediate attention as the warrior within him alerted his attention to the battle happening around him. Sandy was flying past them and into the air, a herd of Nightmares hot on his tail.

Bunny jumped out of the sleigh, landing on one of the taller buildings the town had to offer, and wiping out all of the dark sand creatures that stood in his path, and any that were attacking the sleigh. Soon, he hopped back into sleigh, and continued to send his razor sharp boomerangs out across the sky, seeking out any threat. Tooth took off as well, crashing into, and disintegrating mares with the sheer speed of her flight and the sharp edges to her wings.

However, something blue flashed against one of his boomerangs that sent it spiraling back at him. Bunny clumsily caught it and saw it was now covered in a thick layer of ice.

Jack?

Looking all around, Bunny spotted Jack flying below the sleigh, well out of range of the fight.

"North! Drop!" Bunny yelled, and without question, North angled the sleigh into a dive. The unsuspecting Jack had little time to react. With his stomach turning, Bunny jumped out of the sleigh and crashed into the lad. A moment later, he turned in the air and crashed heavily on his back, landing inside the sleigh with a shocked Jack Frost in his grasp.

Bunny shivered. He knew the kid was a winter spirit, but geez! Holding the kid felt like grasping winter itself!

Little did Bunny know that this was a defensive tactic.

Letting go of the kid, as it felt like frostbite was sinking into his extremities, Bunny staggered and stuffed his paws beneath his arms in an attempt to regain feeling.

Jack rolled clumsily to the side, unaccustomed to the tight space of the sleigh. But it did not take him long to adjust, and he quickly got back on his feet and willed Wind take him higher.

But he wasn't quick enough. Bunny had gained a grip on the kids ankle and the pooka was forced to roughly pull the kid to the floor of the sleigh. Now, with Jack lying sprawled on his back, Bunny tried to take a gentler approach.

"Jack!" he said, loosening his grip on his shoulders as he sat on top of him. The kid was still bone chillingly cold, but Bunny was stupidly stubborn. "I know ya don't want to fight us!" And at that simple, honest statement, Jack's temperature rose, becoming less painful to bare. He hadn't been struggling, but his eyes had been averted. Now, they snapped to attention and Bunny once again lost his breath at seeing all the emotions fighting for dominance inside the kid.

"Jack. The other day…Manny chose you! You're a Guardian! You belong with us, not under Pitch's influence!" Bunny watched as wonder finally won in the battle of dominance in the kids eyes. The other emotions were forced to linger in the distance, leaving a saddened and terrified glint amongst the blue. Bunny went on, feeling a spark of hope lite in his chest. "Please Jack! Manny wouldn't have chosen ya without good reasons…ya have to help us."

Jack stared at him, and Bunny could feel the kid searching him. Searching for any signs of dishonesty, and he could see the moment when he finally decided to trust his words.

Jack looked away for a moment, then met emerald eyes once more. Bunny saw him steel himself for a moment. He saw him make the decision to help.

"We have to help Sandy." Jack practically whispered.

Bunny didn't hesitate. "North! To Sandy!"

Bunny stood up, grabbing onto the seat in front of him as North redirected the sleigh harshly upwards. He felt a small hand on his shoulder and looked to see that it was Tooth, who he hadn't noticed had regrouped with them. She smiled briefly, and nodded at him knowingly. Bunny only nodded back, focusing his attention on the scene above him.

Sandy was completely surrounded.

A sinking feeling entered Bunny's heart as he watched his friend courageously hold off the hoard of Nightmare keeping him hostage on all sides.

C'mon! Faster!

Pitch rose on a massive cloud of dark sand, and, even from this distance, Bunny could see the arrow form as Pitch drew back on an invisible bow.

Faster!

The Nightmare King took a moment to be sure his aim flew true.

Tooth tried to fly ahead, but Nightmares swarmed and forced her and the rest to fight their own battle.

As, the swarmed thinned, and the arrow loosed, Bunny knew they had lost their friend. Pitch's aim had been true, and the occupants of the sleigh watched in horror has Sandy was corrupted by the black sand.

"Don't fight the fear little man!" Pitch's voice rang out across the sky, leering as he watched his opposite lose against his nightmare sand. Then, as if the wind were carrying his words to the ears of those in the sleigh, they heard Pitch say: "I'd say sweet dreams, but there aren't any left."

Bunny saw Sandy stand as straight and as tall has his form would allow him in his last moments…not a trace of fear to be seen. Finally, there was no more gold to be seen.

Pitch's laughter echoed across the sky, and, raising his arms, he summoned hundreds (or thousands, even) of Nightmares and sent them rushing towards the sleigh.

All the Guardians could do was stare hopelessly at the massive swarm approaching, as it was soon to drown them.

"NOOOOOOO!"

Bunny looked at Jack just as he took off ahead of the sleigh with a determined and anguished cry. The kid flew up and met the swarm as...as it overwhelmed him!

Bunny hadn't felt so much dread in so long.

However, as quickly as that hopeless feeling had sank in, it was stunned away by a blinding flash of electric blue.

Deadly, sharp ice like he had never seen before traveled up among the ranks of Nightmares and to the source; the black sand cloud Pitch stood on.

With one last war cry, Jack wiped the army right out to the sky and sent Pitch falling.

But he was falling too!

"Jack!" North shouted, and Tooth took her cue. Quickly, the fairy sprung into the air and stopped Jack's descent towards and unforgiving ground. Flying back to the sleigh, she gently placed Jack down, and he soon began to stir.

Groaning and opening his eyes slowly, Jack observed his surroundings and seemed to remember what he had just done. He hugged his knees up against his chest, trying to make himself appear as small as possible.

"Jack," Tooth started gently, waiting for him to peek up from beneath his bangs. After a moment, he met her gaze and she continued. "How did you do that?"

The kid stared vaguely ahead, drawing his arms about him tighter. "I-I…" He began, clearly unsure of whether his answer would be satisfactory or not. He glanced at Bunny, who nodded shortly in encouragement. Blinking rapidly, and taking a short breath, Jack finished. "I…didn't know I could…"

A moment of silence engulfed them before North pulled a snow globe from his coat and whispered to it: "North Pole."

Despite the horrible events of the evening, Bunny was able to sigh in relief. At least…they had gotten Jack.

A/N

Yay! They finally have Jack!

Guest Review Responses!

sparklehannah: I'm so glad you like that! I was so proud of that ending, to be honest XD I was just reading it like: "Yessss, yessss! Peeeeerrrrrfect!" XD Thank you for your review!

The Guest who said: "This is sooooo good! I can't wait for the next chapter. You're a great writer. Seriously. Go you. This gives me something to do while I wait for Sherlock season four. Although seeing as it'll probably be about 70000 years before it comes out, I'll have hopefully finished this. So...YAY YOU!" Lol, I'm so glad you like it and happy that I could help fill you time! XD Thank you for your review dear! Really got a laugh out of me!

The Guest who said: "You have reduced me to actual tears... But all I can do is thank you for this amazing story! I can't wait for the next update! I'll have my tissues ready next time!" Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! *hands you virtual tissues* But wow! Really! Thank you so much for this incredibly kind review! :3

Alright! I really hope you enjoyed, and if you have any questions or comments, please do let me know! See ya next time~