Due to Christmas being such a huge, important and very time consuming holiday, each Guardian put enormous amounts of effort into trying to help make some of the more simpler toys as to get enough for the children. The presents that were already wrapped and out of the workshop were unharmed, but there was still a lot to be done, since it was only a few weeks away.

Jack, no matter how hard he tried, could not get Valentine out of his mind, and would often run into something or other, and wasn't his normal self. Everyone, even the yetis and the elves, could notice this very easily, but decided it was something the two needed to work out on their own. No one had seen the pink haired girl, though, since the fight they had, not even some of the lesser immortals had seen her, which just made Jack worry even more.

What if she was in danger? Or hurt? Or something horrible happened? Many other thoughts constantly flooded his mind, and one of the other Guardians would have to tell him to go because of how distracted he was at the moment.

North pulled Jack aside into the Globe Room, where there was no one else in the room, and sighed. "Jackson, you seem distracted…" Jack ran a hand through his snow white hair, and leaned on one of the huge pillars. The winter spirit nodded, looking off to the side. "It is because of Val, is it not?" Jack took a while to reply, but nodded and simply said a rather low "Yeah…"

After a few moments of silence, North smiled and laughed a bit, which got Jack's attention to look at him confused. "Go out for a while, Jack. We can manage." It took a while for Jack to process what the older man hand said to him, but once he did, he shook his head a bit. "Are you sure, North? There's a lot to be done, and Christmas is soon-"

"And we will manage." He put a large hand on Jack's shoulder, grinning ear to ear. "You care for Val greatly. Go blow off steam, then find her." It took a moment, but Jack smiled slightly and nodded. North chuckled and nodded a bit, and walked back out into the workshop to continue trying to restore Christmas if even a bit. Jack smiled a bit more, hoping that he could try to finally go find Valentine and talk to her.

He flew to Burgess, and landed at his pond, suddenly having the realization that he had no clue where to look for her at all. No immortals have seen her since the fight they had, it was as if she disappeared. Jack began to panic a bit. What if she did end up fading away? He heard that's what happened to most immortals when they see no more use in staying like they are, and they just fade away.

"Jack?" Came a voice from behind him, and he turned around so fast, not noticing the voice too much at first, in hopes it was Valentine. It wasn't. Flame stood a little ways away from him, the snow under her and snowflakes around her melting away a bit. His expression noticeably dropped, and he shook his head slightly, turning around a bit. "Oh, it's just you. Hi."

Flame frowned a bit, and walked over to him, but didn't get within arm's length. "Good to see you too… What's the matter?" The winter spirit sighed, and took a few moments to talk. "Nothing, it's just…. I haven't seen Valentine in about a month, and I'm worried…" The girl shook her head slightly, knowing just were Cupid was, but wasn't going to tell him about it. "Well, you know, I saw her a while back, b-"

"Where?!" He shouted, turning around and looking hopeful. He didn't even care that the heat coming from her started to make him feel uncomfortable and even hurt a bit.

She jumped back a bit, not expecting him to have reacted like that, but smiled a bit apologetically. "I'm sorry, but it was brief, and she looked so miserable. I forget where I saw her, or where she is now." His expression had dropped less than midsentence, and he sighed. It seemed like the girl has really disappeared out of existence. Flame saw how hurt he was, and wanted to hug him tightly, but knew she couldn't. He was snow and she was ice, so it would hurt both of them even with their powers suppressed as much as possible.

Flame sighed, while Jack stared at the ground. "Jack, I'm so sorry… Give it some more time. She was crying so hard when I saw her, and looked out of it…" His fists clenched, and he closed his eyes tightly, remembering that he was the one who had hurt her so badly. When he finally had realized what he had done, he regretted it instantly.

He hadn't meant to yell at her so much, or hurt her, he was just so angry and scared at that moment, so his mind was so clouded. It reminded him of the time when the other four thought he had betrayed them, and remembered the hurt he felt and everything.

"Flame," he said, his voice low and just as full of hurt and regret. She looked at him, and said, "Yes?"

"If you see Valentine… Can you tell her to come find me, and that… I'm sorry?"

It took her a while to reply, but agreed to do so for him. After that, she told him goodbye, and left in a burst of flames.

Jack put up his hood, and walked over to the frozen surface of the pond, creating small frost patterns on it, with his other hand not holding his staff in his hood pocket. "Ah, I really messed up this time." The boy said to himself, sighing.

He then heard someone walking in the snow over to the pond, but didn't bother to see who it was. It didn't really matter to him, but the person greeted Jack, which made him finally look up. At the ponds edge was Jamie, smiling a bit. "You alright?" The teen asked the spirit, noticing he wasn't acting himself.

Jack nodded slightly, but shook his head. Jamie was one of his closest friends, he could trust Jamie, and he really needed to let it out. He skated over to the teen and sat down on a log, taking off his hood with a sigh. Jamie dusted off some snow off the log and sat next to the winter spirit.

"So, what's going on? Lately, everyone I know has been mean to each other." Jack looked up with a confused look on his face, and Jamie looked confused and worried too. "Where have you been? Longtime friends are fighting, couples are arguing and breaking up, even Pippa is being mean a bit, but I can tell she is trying not to." Jack shook his head, racking his brain for an answer. "Well, something happened at the North Pole, and so Christmas might not come,-"

"Wait, what?! What happened?!" Jamie was standing up now, surprised and worried and confused. Again, Jack took a moment to come up with an answer.

"It's Pitch. He created a girl made out of the nightmare sand, and tricked us. She…. She broke most of the toys, and everyone is rushing to make as many of the simpler toys as possible."

"How did the girl get in?"

Jack couldn't answer for what seemed like forever. He just couldn't bring himself to say it, but Jamie was waiting for him to tell him, curious. "You know who Cupid is, right?"

Jamie nodded, confused as to what it had to do with anything. The brown haired teen sat back down on the log.

"Well, she is real, and-"

"She? I thought Cupid was a male?"

"No, that's just what you have been made out to believe her as, for whatever reason. Anyways, that's beside the point. Me and her are very close friends. She was the first person I met when I became the spirit of Winter, and for some reason, I feel like I've known her longer."

Jack went on and told her about how she had brought Lina to the workshop, not knowing she was working for Pitch, and the girl had destroyed everything. Jamie then asked what happened after all of that, and Jack had to explain how he went out and found her, and the two argued, and hadn't seen her since.

After his story, Jamie nodded a bit, the two silent for a while. "Seems like everywhere is going downhill." Jack chuckled a bit at this, and agreed. "Well, you should go and find her."

"I would, if I knew where to find her. None of the other Immortals have seen her either, it's like she disappeared from existence." Jamie sighed, trying to think of how he could help his friend, when Jack suddenly said, "I godda tell you something."

Jamie turned to him, a questioning look on his face.

"Cupid has already seen you, and even has stood next to you a few times. She was even with me and Bunny in your room that one night."

Jamie burst out laughing, believing what Jack had said was true. He took a moment, but Jack smiled and started laughing as well. "Why didn't you introduce me to her? I would love to meet the culprit who made me fall for my best friend!"

"Well, she doesn't have any powers that would help you believe, and since you're past that point of age, I figured it would have been difficult to."

"When you see her and the two of you make up, have her come and meet me and Sophie. I know Soph would love to meet her more than anything."

Jack nodded, and the two friends were silent for a while. "So, what are ya going to do?" Jamie finally asked, looking out at the frozen pond. "Possibly go and find her. I feel really bad about it all."

"Frost is in love! Frost is in love!" Jamie explained at the top of his lungs, sounding like his younger self again. Jack threw a snowball at him, telling him to shut up. They couldn't stop laughing for a while.

Jack stood up once he had calmed down, and nodded. "Yeah, I'll go find her now, and I'll apologize. Thanks, Jamie, you always help me feel better."

"You're welcome." He said, standing up as well. Jack took off to the air, shouting to Jamie to tell Sophie he said hello, and started looking in all the places he would think he'd find her.

After hours of looking, Jack was about to give up. He was in London at the time, one of Valentine's favorite places to be besides Burgess, and walked around on the roofs. He looked up at the huge clock, which the people here called Big Ben, and it started to chime midnight. He turned his gaze to the moon. "Where is she?" He asked, hoping the moon would answer. "You know where she is, I bet, so please just tell me!" He practically shouted, when he then saw a shadow fly onto the top of Big Ben.

"Who's that?" He said, to himself this time, and watched for a bit. The figure didn't move, and stood there, looking at the moon. Jack took up into the air, and quietly went to the figure, whose back was turned to him.

The way this person looked, he could tell, it had to be her. Jack smiled a bit, hopeful. "V-Valentine?" He said hesitantly, and she froze, not turning around. He couldn't tell if it was just the moons light, or something else, but he noticed that her skin looked pale, and her hair seemed grey, not like it's normal bright pink colour.

"Oh, Jack." She said without turning around, and lowered her head to look at the ground below her. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Where have you been?" Valentine shook her head, and laughed a bit. His smile faded, wondering why she was acting so weird.

"Are you alright?"

Valentine nodded, and turned around, and now he was certain her hair was a light grey, and even her eyes where a deep crimson colour, like blood. "I'm fine." She smiled, and a sword made out of nightmare sand appeared in her hand.

"W… What?" He gripped his staff tightly, staring at the person who looked like his best friend, but wasn't. "I've joined fear, and it is much better than being with you all, when you cast me aside." No words were able to come out of the winter spirits mouth, and refused to believe any of it was real, but couldn't doubt that it was.

"N-no…" He mumbled, looking down. Any sign of happiness to being able to finally see her had left, and he was left with confusion and disbelief. "You're not real!" He shouted, and ice flew at her, which she easily jumped out of the way of, and her wings opened up, no longer pure white, but were now pure black.

Her smile faded, and Fearlings began to form around her, their golden eyes glowing slightly. "It's hard to believe, but I am real. Jack," she held out her hand to him, the one that wasn't holding the sword, "come and join Pitch and I. The power here is so much greater, and the fear has already given me believers." Jack stared at her, not believing any of this. "What goes better than-"

"Than cold and dark…" Jack finished off, turning away now, unable to look at her. "No, Valentine. No. I'm a Guardian, and you know that. This isn't you. This isn't real." He said, and Valentine lowered her hand slowly. "Fine then. Then let me warn you, Jack Frost. Do not get in my way, or I will not hesitate to destroy everything you hold dear to you."

A Fearling charged at Jack, who froze it instantly before it hit him, and it fell to the ground. Jack looked back up, to see that Valentine and the swarm of Fearlings were no longer there.

"I promise," He mumbled, turning to the moon, "I will get her back. Even if it costs me my immortal life…" With that, Jack made his way to the North Pole, to report about the events.

"You told me he would join!" Valentine shouted, and Pitch just let the girl blow off steam. Flame watched from the corner with Lina next to her, amused by the girls fit of rage. "You said, he would join if I approached him! He just threw me away again!"

"Control yourself, my dear." Pitch said calmly, as an image beside him formed of Jack gliding on the wind to the North Pole. "Good things come to those who wait, and we must be patient with this." Valentine sighed, and tried calming down, even though she still felt hurt and strangely lonely, even though there were people near her.

It was weird, she felt so alone, even though she wasn't. This all felt so wrong. Lina's eyes glinted with light for a second, but disappeared before anyone noticed. She began to wonder what was going on around her, without Pitch noticing his puppets strange behavior.