Hey, I don't own Rise of the Guardians and everyone should take their time and enjoy the ride.

"Hey guys," Stein greeted as he walked into the infirmary.

It had been five days and things were going well in the workshop, things were coming along and it looked like they may in fact make it to Christmas without much trouble. Jack was learning how to drive the sleigh in his spare time just in case North had yet to wake and he and Phil were doing a great job of directing all the other yetis. Stein and Bunny had also helped build and paint most of the toys, Bunny's dye rivers being a great help, and occasionally Sandy and Tooth would come in and help.

Stein walked over to Alice and sat on the side of her bed, he grabbed her hand, "Things have been going good and it looks like Christmas won't be a problem, things are still kind of tight right now but a couple more sleepless nights and we should be good, " he chuckled slightly.

Though his look soon became sad and he tightened his hold on her hand, "Why did you do it Alice, why did you jump in the way?"

"You are very important to her, da?"

Stein looked up to see North struggling to sit up in his bed, still looking slightly pale.

"North, you're awake!"

North nodded and grinned, "Yes! Now how is workshop?"

"All is going good, Jack and Phil took over and we should be ready for Christmas."

North let out a booming laugh, "Good! Very Good! Now help me up!"

Stein looks at him confused but gets up and helps the man out of the room and to the globe room. As they enter every one of the guardians happens to be present.

"North!" Tooth gasps and she flutters over to him and the others soon follow also surprised.

"When did you wake up?" Jack questions with relief on his face.

"Just now," Stein places him on one of the couches, "Stein was nice enough to help me here."

The two smile at each other, "No problem."

"North what happened?"

North looks at Jack and sighs, "We should all sit and relax, da?"

The rest of the group finds a place and sits, and North begins to tell.

I was doing what I usually do, checking if things were running okay and if things were on schedule, which they were. Then I heard a laugh, and this laugh could only belong to one person, Pitch, so I ran to the globe room but found nothing.

Puzzled I continued to look around the room, knowing the laugh came from there but still I could not find anything.

I had decided that maybe I was going crazy and being too paranoid but then the alarm went off and Nightmares stormed into the room from all over, of course yetis fought very hard but there were so many. I ran to press the northern lights but Pitch moved sand to block my way.

I tried to cut through the sand but I eventually found myself surrounded by the sand soldiers, which are much more powerful than the horses we fought last time; and with Pitch still strong from Halloween I found myself losing.

So I attempted something...something dangerous. I charged right into all of the soldiers and pushed my arm through, even though the soldiers and sand itself was cutting me I kept going until I pushed the button and the lights had been sent.

Pitch realized what I had done and ordered all the soldiers to attack me while he left using the shadows, I fought them off until I heard you all enter.

When you did enter the soldiers disappeared and I fell unconscious.

"So Pitch attacked since he knew you would be here alone and used all of his saved up energy to destroy all the toys..." Jack sums.

"Exactly!"

"So North, how're ya feeling?" Bunny questions.

"I am feeling great, should be able to drive sleigh for Christmas!"

"Thank goodness," Tooth said with a relieved sigh.

"Now we just have to wait for Alice to wake up," Jack said with a small smile.

"If North is up, she should be up soon as well," Tooth said excitedly.

"I hope so..." Stein said quietly to himself.

"North are you sure you can drive the sleigh tonight?"

"I am fine Tooth, do not worry, and Jack is coming with me just in case."

"Yeah, I'll watch out for him Tooth, you should head back to the palace."

Tooth hesitantly nodded and watched as the two took off to deliver the presents. She walked through the halls and into the infirmary, Bunny was leaning against the window sill and Stein was sitting on the edge of Alice's bed.

"How is she?"

"The same," Bunny said as he looked over toward her.

Tooth nodded sadly, "Well I'm heading back to the palace, call if anything goes wrong."

"Don't worry mate, I won't let anything happen."

Tooth nodded again and walked out of the room and out of one of the windows, heading back to her palace.

"I won't let anyone hurt her again," Stein said mostly to himself.

Bunny sighed and walked over to the bed sitting down on a stool, "You need to stop blaming yourself."

"How do you expect me not to," Stein looked up from Alice and shot Bunny a glare, "She could have died and it would have been all my fault. I almost killed her."

"No!" Bunny yelled glaring back, "Pitch almost killed her! She was just trying to protect you!"

"Well she shouldn't have!"

Bunny stood from the stool and ran a hand through his fur, "What would you have done?"

Stein's glare turns into a look of confusion, "What?"

"What would you have done if your roles were switched?"

Stein let's go of Alice's hand and stands up, "I-I would have saved her, even if it...cost my own life..."

"And would you have wanted her to blame herself?"

"No, but-"

"Then shut up and wait for her to wake up, and when Pitch comes around get revenge!"

Stein sighs and looks at the floor, "Sorry Bunny..."

"Don't worry about it, I would have felt the same."

Stein looks at Bunny and grins, "If it was you and-"

"My my, only two guardians to face, well this is quite dull," Stein's smile drops and Bunny grabs his boomerangs as Pitch's voice echoes through the room.

"Pitch come out you bloody coward!"

"I didn't come here to fight you I came here to collect something of value."

Stein looks around with a puzzled expression as his board forms in his hand, "something of value?"

Then it hits him and he quickly whirls around to see Alice's bed empty, his eyes widen and Pitch's laugh echoes through the room.

"I must thank you for making it so easy for me, she will make quite the christmas present."

Stein's shocked expression turns into a glare, "Give her back! Pitch give her back!"

"I'd rather not."

Stein screams in frustration and runs out of the room as Pitch's laughter echoes through the whole workshop, "Where are you?!"

Bunny follows Stein out but is unable to catch the boy as he takes off on his board, after a while he runs into the globe room and hits the button for the Northern Lights.

Stein continues to fly through the workshop screaming at Pitch to give Alice back but after a while Pitch's laughter stops and there is no sound but his screaming. Eventually Stein stops flying and his board disappears as he falls to his knees, he grips his hair and glares, tears hitting the floor below him.

"I couldn't protect her, I let her get hurt...again..."

Bunny waits in the globe room for the others to come, Tooth is the first and he tells her to wait for the others to arrive as well, when Sandy enters he says the same.

Jack and North are the last to enter, "What happened?"

Bunny turns from Jack to North, "Did you deliver all the gifts?"

North nods, "We had just finished when we saw lights, now what is wrong?"

Buuny looks at all the Guardians, "Al-"

"Pitch took her."

The group turns to see Stein in the door way, he is looking at the ground and his hands are balled in tight fists, knuckles white.

Tooth turns back to face Bunny, "Pitch took Alice?"

Bunny nods sadly and looks at the ground, "I'm so sorry, I-I didn't even do anything..."

North walked up and pat Bunny's shoulder, "What exactly happened?"

"Pitch hid in the shadows and me and Stein were turned away from her...next thing we knew she was gone..."

"Well then we have to get her back," Jack said coolly, Stein and Bunny looked up from the floor to him.

"We can't just burst into Pitch's domain!" North said as he threw his hands in the air.

"Why not?" Jack questioned.

"He was able to get Alice with no effort, he is much more powerful than we had originally assumed," Tooth said sadly, and Sandy nodded with a frown.

"Well I'm going," Everyone turned to look at Stein who formed his board in his hand and walked into the room, "I'll save her."

"Going alone would be suicide," North commented.

"I'm fine with me dying if it means I can save her," Stein forms a sad smile and looks at Bunny, "She's my everything, and she would do the same for me..."

Bunny nods and walks over to Stein, "I'm going with him, my fault the sheila got captured in the first place."

"Thanks Bunny," Stein says with a warm smile, Bunny simply shrugs and smiles back.

"Well I'm going too," Jack says as he lays his staff on his shoulder and walks to the two, "hope you two don't mind," he says with a grin.

Stein grins, "The more the merrier."

"This could be a trap," North says to the three.

Stein's grins fades, "Probably, so you three stay here and us three will go."

Tooth flutters over to them, "Will you all be okay?"

"We'll be fine, and we'll be back soon," Jack says with a warm smile.

"And we'll come back with Alice, I promise."

Bunny taps the ground and forms a tunnel, "Shall we?"

The three look at each other and Jack jumps in first, then Stein, followed by Bunny.

"I hope they'll be okay."

North walks and pats Tooth's shoulder, "Me too."

The three race through the tunnel and soon arrive at the entrance to Pitch's lair.

"Has anyone been in his lair?" Stein questions as the three stand around the tunnel.

"I have once, it's easy to get lost in so we need to stay together," the two nod at Jack's comment.

"So," Bunny begins, "who wants to go first?"

"I'll go and then use the wind to cushion your falls."

"Thanks Jack," Stein says and Jack smiles at him before jumping down.

A gust of wind shoots up from the tunnel and Stein looks at Bunny, "Guess that means we can jump now."

Bunny nods, "You wanna or..."

Stein shrugs, "You can go," Bunny nods and jumps down the tunnel leaving Stein all alone.

Another gust is shot up but before he jumps he says, "I'll save you Alice...I promise..."

Stuff's about to go down! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!