The two sat on top of the Burnett's roof, having already said goodbye to Sophie and Jamie. Bunny pinky promised Sophie to visit again soon as well. Jack sighed and stood up, and began pacing back and forth.

"'Ey mate, did she say where she was goin'?" Bunny asked, noticing Jack's irritability very well, and how concerned he was for Valentine. He shook his head, and rested his staff on his shoulder, his other hand in his hoodie pocket. "Just that she would be right back, but it's been almost an hour now." His voice also gave off hits of being concerned, and Jack was not one to wait around and do nothing.

Bunny chuckled a bit, shaking his head. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you got feelin's for 'er!" He then noticed Jack started to act weird, even more weird than he was before he had made the comment. He was silent for a second, when he finally said, "Do ya have feelin's for 'er?"

Jack didn't say anything and ignored him, which made Bunny a bit irritated that he was being ignored. "Jus' say ya don't wanna answer, instead of ignorin' me!" His voice had more anger in it than he though, and Jack stopped pacing, his back facing Bunny. "I'm going to go look for her."

"Whoa whoa mate, relax! She'll be here soon! It's best ta stay put than separate more."

Jack thought for a minute, then nodded. Bunny had a point, it would be rather dumb to go out and find her, when he didn't even know where she was. "You're right…" He sighed heavily, and sat back down beside Bunnymund, running his hands though his hair again.

"Now, will ya answer my question?"

They sat in silence for a few moments, before Jack sighed once again. "I don't know… All I know, is that when I met her, I felt like I knew her from somewhere, and these feelings just started inside me. Every time we're close, my heart starts racing and my face gets all red. I worry about her when I'm not with her, and she is almost always on my mind! It's weird…"

Bunny grinned, happy he was finally able to get an answer from the stubborn winter spirit. "Well mate, I'd say ya are in love." The two went silent again, just waiting.

After ten more minutes of waiting, Valentine finally appeared, looking worried and scared. Jack frowned at this, wondering what was wrong with her. "Valentine, everything okay?"

"Jack! I accidently set Pitch free!" She said rather franticly, and once it came out, Bunny glared at her.

"You did what?" He said, his voice on edge a bit. Jack didn't know how to react, and just looked at her wide eyed.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"Didn't mean to?! What does that mean?!"

"Jack!" Valentine turned to him, a pleading look in her eyes. "Jack, please. I'm sorry."

He shook his head a bit, and Valentine moved back. "You… You didn't…." He whispered, and Valentine tried apologizing again. "Please, Jack!" Sandy and Tooth then flew down to them, they were on their way to the pond, when they saw the three like this.

"What's going on?" Tooth asked, concerned. "She freed Pitch Black!" Bunny exclaimed, pointing at Valentine. "I-It was an accident!" She quickly shouted, but there was no proof. There was a long moment of silence, when Sandy indicated that they should head to the North Pole and sort things out there. The four Guardians went ahead of her, and tears started running down her face. She knew they would take the tunnels used by Bunnymund, so Valentine decided to fly there alone, her tears stinging cold as they ran down.

North looked a bit like his old self when they returned, guessing getting rid of some of the Fearlings had helped. While the other Guardians reported what happened with Valentine and Pitch and tried figuring out what to do, Jack paid no attention at all to the conversation. He was too lost in thought to think about it anymore.

Jack didn't even notice that the ground had trembled slightly and there were crashes and other noises coming from the doors in the workshop. "Jack!" North called, and it woke Jack out of his daze. "Huh? What's going on?" He said, clearly lost as to what everyone was worried about. North walked over to the doors, and opened them. Nightmare sand flew all over the place, crushing toys and throwing any yetis that got close to the source of what was creating this.

"Chto , chert voz'mi, zdes' proiskhodit?!" North yelled, and the Guardians instantly headed for whatever was causing this chaos. It was the little girl Jack had met earlier that Valentine wanted to take home, Lina. It took him a while to realize this, and shake his head in disbelief. Did his best friend betray them?

"JACK!" Tooth yelled, which knock him out of his daze and was able to move before getting swatted by nightmare sand. The little girl laughed at their attempts to strike her, and her appearance gave away that she looked exactly like Pitch now that she wasn't disguised as a young girl anymore. "You're attempts are weak." She said in between giggles.

Finally, Jack was able to get a clean shot at the girl and shoot bolts of ice at her, which didn't stop her much. "Aww, playtimes over." Instantly as she had come, the girl disappeared into shadows, and what was left of the workshop was a mess. "Months of hard work, ruined…" North said, falling to his knees. "Christmas is ruined…"

Without Christmas, everyone knew their powers would decrease instantly and greatly. They gathered around North, trying to think of ideas to fix this, well all except Jack. He stayed away, unable to move. "Mate?" Bunny said, looking over at him, who started to walk away. Jack stopped, and turned his head to them slightly, and said, "I'm going to find her." His voice with so much hurt and hatred, that none could believe it was Jack who was talking at the moment. The winter spirit walked to the entrance, and left, taking up into the air and, using the wind, flew towards Valentine, who wasn't very far.

Her eyes were foggy and clouded with tears, so much that she didn't see the flash of blue lightning that came at her and hit her, knocking her out of the sky. Valentine landed with a loud thud, screaming in pain. Her wings had been frozen, and she looked around. Quickly, she wiped her eyes to try to see better, but the pole was in the middle of a blizzard, so It did not help much.

There was a kick at her back which made her fall, shouting again and falling to the snow. She turned to see Jack, who looked more angry than she had ever seen him. "J-Jack!" She choked out, but Jack just shouted at her, telling her to shut up. "That girl, Lina! She was a minion of Pitch Black, and you brought her to the workshop!"

Valentine looked at him with disbelief and confusion, weakly standing up. "What are you talking about? I found her! She was lost, and I wanted to help her!"

"Well, did it never cross your mind that maybe she looked a little like him?!"

"How was I supposed to know Jack?! I didn't know what Pitch looked like till today!"

"When you freed him! Do you know what kind of destruction he will cause?! Do you know how much power the Guardians will lose now that Christmas is ruined?!"

"So, everything is now my fault right?! When all I wanted to do was help a little girl!"

Angry tears were streaming down her face now, and she didn't care. She was much too sad, hurt and angry to care about what she looked like right now. "While I'm here with absolutely no believers, no powers, you are more concerned about your own ass and losing a few!"

"A few! No, there will be more than just a few, Valentine! Everything will now disappear, and it's all your fault!"

There was silence except for the wind howling around them, and their heavy breathing. "He was right. You don't care. You never cared for anyone but yourselves." Valentine said, before the ice on her wings broke, and she took into the air as fast as a bullet, and flew in the opposite direction of the North Pole. Jack didn't know if he should go after her, or head back to the Pole. Instead, he screamed out in anger, and fell to his knees in the snow, some tears escaping his eyes now.

"Pitch was right! None of them care!" Valentine thought to herself, as she headed for the hole leading to Pitch's lair. Once there, she dropped down in it and looked around frantically for Pitch.

"Pitch! You were right! They don't care at all!" She shouted, and fell to her knees in the lair, crying heavily. The tall man appeared out of the shadows, and knelt down in front of Valentine. "Did I not warn you that you might get hurt?" He said, and she nodded.

Pitch helped her stand up, and Valentine wiped away her tears. She was silent for a while, before finally saying, "I want to join you and fear." Pitch smiled, and nodded. "I knew you'd come around to see the truth my dear."

"I want to prove to them that I can be powerful as well…."

He chuckled and nodded. "Don't worry dear, we will show them that fear is stronger than the lies they make the kids believe. Now, trust me." He said, and backed away from Valentine a bit, who nodded.

"You'll feel a bit pain, but it'll go away with seconds." Before she could react and ask what he meant, an arrow made of nightmare sand hit her, and started to spread through her. Valentine looked at him, fear and confusion in her eyes, before falling to her knees in the pain.

After a few seconds, her hair started to change into a grey colour and her skin lost its rose look to it, now just making it pale. Valentine took a second, and looked at her hands, and then her hair. She looked up at Pitch, and her ruby red eyes were now a deep crimson. "What did you do?"

"I gave you power and the ability to spread fear."

"Fear…" She repeated, and stood up. "So much power…" Pitch laughed a bit, and Valentine finally believed that fear was stronger than hope, wonder or dreams.

"They'll think twice now." She said, as she looked at her hands, amazed by the power the raced in her.