Hiya again, folks! I'm back with more story finally. It took me a bit this time because I was having a bit of a block. I also had a few ideas for some morbidly humorous short stories I had to write first. I'm reading This Book is Full of Spiders by David Wong and its full of some of the best morbid humor I've read. I rewatched the Rise of the Guardians movie twice for inspiration on this, though (don't ask how, I'm out of work until March and I gotta buy textbooks and supplies).

For this chapter and the ones after, I actually went in and did some research on overcoming phobias related to flight. I don't have that fear myself; I work in an amusement park and ride the crap out of some roller-coasters. I want to go parasailing this summer. So it took me a bit to get inside that fear enough to write for it. I did some research on global climates a bit, too. I'm learnin', guis.

Oh, and on a quick note, I started back to school yesterday. I'm taking 18 hours this semester and (supposedly) working on illustrating a kids book (I'm possibly quite screwed). All bets may be off, we'll see. I do want to continue this because it seems to make a lot of people happy, though. And I'm still enjoying working on it :D

"Bunny, you sure he's alright?".

"How the bloody hell should I know? I should think he wouldn't be alright, afta what he told me.".

"Ugh... guys, I was kinda trying to sleep." Jack griped at them. Tooth and Bunny's voices ceased, and Jack began to settle back into sleep.

"Jack? Jack, you're awake! Oh, thank goodness!" Tooth's small arms wrapped around his shoulders, lifting him from his snow-filled tub. Jack moaned in reply. His chest still ached, and the snow had felt so nice. Why did Tooth have to wake him up?

"How did this happen to you? Poor thing!" she asked.

"You're hurting me a little." Jack grunted. She released him, and he sat up by himself, now fully awake. "H-hi, Tooth. Didn't Bunny tell you about the lightning thing?".

"He did, but I couldn't believe it! How did it happen? Why didn't you avoid the lightning? I should've never sent you out!" Tooth fretted over him, brushing his hair out of his face.

"Tooth! Will you give me a second? I'm fine, just a little bruised is all. I've just never... been around lightning much before." he admitted, a bit ashamed.

"Never been around lightning before? How? Don't ya work with weather, frostbite?" Bunny laughed, taking a short break from continually flipping his boomerangs.

"Not that kind of weather. Cold weather. There aren't many thunderstorms when it's cold, you know." Jack explained, examining the bandages that were wrapped around his chest, hidden under his hoodie. There were matching bandages around his right leg, as well.

"Oh no! I should have never sent you! I didn't think about how dangerous it is for you when it's warm out!" Tooth was highly upset now.

"It's okay! Promise. It was just a little accident. I'm alive, all of the teeth got back safe. No harm done. I'll just hang around here for awhile, then I'll be back out in no time." he smiled at her, hoping she would let the whole guilt thing go.

"It's not gonna interfere with ya job, mate?" Bunny asked, a bit more compassionately than Jack might have expected.

"It's only winter in the Southern hemisphere. Not too much to do there. It's mostly tropical. I'll still need to drop by places that are cold all the time, but that's not so hard. Most of those kids don't get too excited about snow days, anyway." Jack smiled ruefully, thankful that his lightning related accident had at least had good timing.

"Well, if there's anything I can do, anything at all, to help you, just let me know, okay?" Tooth asked, obviously still overly concerned.

"Okay, I will. Now, you and Bunny go do whatever it is you do exactly. Collect teeth, paint eggs, hop around, fly... fly and stuff." he had trouble finishing his sentence. A chill went up his spine. He swallowed hard.

"Ya okay?" Bunny asked, eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired, I guess. I'm taking another nap, so see you guys later!" he said, already waving goodbye, desperate for them to leave already.

"O-okay. See you later. You get plenty of rest!" Tooth turned as they left the room.

"Yeah, no problem." he laughed, perched on the side of the tub. "No problem at all." he grumbled once they had left, sliding to the floor, his head rested on one hand.

What was he going to do? Just the word had made him jumpy. But it was something he knew he would absolutely have to do. And it was usually so much fun. But he couldn't even imagine enjoying it now, now that every time he thought of it he saw blinding light and extremely high falls. Smelt something burning and felt pain.

Jack was terrified of flying.

xXx

It was late September, and Nicholas St. North wondered why Jack Frost was still taking up residence at the Pole.

Sure, he had needed a break after the lightning incident. And sure, there wasn't much for him to do otherwise during the summer months in the Northern hemisphere. And he would even admit to having liked his presence in Santoff Clausen. After all, he had not been nearly as destructive lately.

This last bit, however, was what had North concerned. Jack hadn't been quite the same since the accident. At first, he had just been a bit toned down, still harassing the elves and yetis on a whim. But now, he was downright gloomy compared to his normal self. He trudged about, shoulders a bit slumped. He stopped breaking things and bugging people. He wasn't even icing things as much. He just sort of sat about and read a lot.

And he didn't ever seem to leave the Pole. For someone like Jack, this was highly unusual. He just wandered about the workshop.

North finally had to bring up his concerns. After all, Jack had duties as a guardian to attend to. It was getting colder and colder in many parts of the globe now. Snow days had to happen. Even in September, Jack still needed to leave icicles and frost on the grass for kids to play with in the morning. Kids seemed to love icicles, and they all loved the crunch of the frosty grass.

"Jack! Come in! Have seat." North waved him into his office, plastering a fake smile across his face.

"Hey North. What's going on?" Jack glanced about, then sat down wearily.

"Is nothing really. Hot chocolate? I had chilled for you, of course. So, is more cold chocolate, but who cares?" he thrust a giant cup into Jack's faltering hands.

"Um, since I'm here anyways, can I ask you something North?" Jack asked.

"Sure sure, anything." North nodded.

"Well, is there any reason a guardian might get, I don't know, really tired? Like, kind of weak feeling?" he looked at the ground while he spoke.

"Only ways I can think of is if guardian were to lose believers or possibly lose center. But is very rare for guardian to lose sight of his center." North chuckled, then gave the matter a bit more thought. "Hold on, you don't mean to tell me that you are not feeling well, do you?" he asked, giving Jack a worried glance. Jack shifted uneasily in his chair.

"Maybe a little? I don't know, I just... I can't have that much fun anymore. And now I feel awful." he sighed.

"That is because you need to leave Santoff Clausen! Is very boring being here all the time, trust me. You need to fly off and bring winter to world! And bring trouble! Trouble is how you have fun, yes?" North nodded to himself, not really understanding the whole dilemma.

"But I can't." Jack slumped his shoulders even more.

"Of course you can, just fly out of win-" North began to admonish.

"I can't! I can't just f-fly out of the window anymore." he said.

"Why not? Flying is what you are good at!" North boomed.

"I can't fly anymore, okay?!" Jack put his face in his hands and curled up in the seat, "I'm scared of flying." he said in a very small voice.

North couldn't reply for a moment. He was shocked. He had not imagined that would be the problem. He thought maybe it was just the new stress of actually having believers. "But Jack, you have to fly. Otherwise, you cannot bring winter and snow days to the children." he shook his head slowly.

"I know that." Jack moaned.

"No, is more than that. If you fear flying, then... oh, this is very bad." North muttered to himself.

"What?!" Jack was more than a little alarmed. North's definition of bad leaned towards the worse.

"If you are afraid, you cannot have fun. And if you cannot have fun, then you cannot bring fun. You will lose believers. It would be terrible for you." North gave him a look of pity so strong that he felt uncomfortable. He shifted in the chair.

"So, what am I gonna do?" Jack asked, staring down at his hands.

"That is obvious! You must beat your fear." he placed a hand on Jack's shoulder in the same way he always did. Something almost fatherly in nature. "This began with your accident, yes? Well, then you must just forget about accident. Do not let it scare you. After all, you have beaten fear before.".

"But it's not that simple. It's not even something I think is dangerous. I know I'm probably not gonna get hurt again, but I just can't make myself... face it, I guess. I get sick just thinking about it." Jack groaned. "It's like I forgot how to have fun flying." then he thought for a moment, making a face. "That's it! I just need someone to help me remember how to have fun while flying. Maybe if I fly with someone else it won't be so bad at first." he smiled. It wasn't his usual smile, the one that seemed to take over his entire face, but North was just happy to see him smiling again.

"So, who is going to help you with this, then?" he asked.

"Well, Tooth kind of owes me one. Or at least she insists she does. Maybe she wouldn't mind." Jack laughed a little, "I do know for sure that Bunny won't be much help this time.".

xXx To be continued...


I really wish there was more to this chapter. It's not quite eventful enough for my taste. But whatever, it had to happen. Thank you all so much for your support! I'm gonna try to reply to all the reviews and messages in the next few days. I wanted to make sure I got the next chapter done first so I wouldn't leave you guys hanging.

All reviews are read and given proper attention. I feed and water them all so they don't die.