A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! New year, new beginnings, and a new chapter for you! I'm sorry that this chapter might be a little short, my family's about to go see The Hobbit, so I wanted to get this chapter done quickly. This chapter title might be a little bit inappropriate for the chapter content, but I couldn't really think of anything better.

Chapter 4: Regrouping

Even by the time she and Bunny made it back to the North Pole, the horror at finding out she was a ghost to mortal children hadn't faded from Melody's eyes. It was a look that Jack Frost recognized instantly; a look that he himself had worn multiple times over the course of three centuries of loneliness. "She found out, didn't she?" he asked the Pooka. "About her disbelieved-in state?"

Bunny didn't say anything in response, but he nodded solemnly.

Jack took a deep breath, obviously not looking forward to having to do this, but he was the only other one who truly knew what it was like to have nobody believe in him. He stepped forward and tentatively placed his hand on Melody's shoulder. "I know this is going to sound really weak, and you probably don't want to hear this anyway, Melody, but I know exactly what you're going through right now."

"No, you don't." Melody accused, gently shrugging his hand off. She turned her head and every single bit of anguish she felt in her soul was clearly reflected in her eyes. Jack was momentarily taken aback; he had never felt such anguish even when kids walked through him. "You have absolutely no idea what I'm going through, and don't pretend like you do."

"I'm not kidding." Jack insisted as she looked away. "I was invisible for three hundred years before Jamie believed in me. And he only started believing in me about a month ago."

Melody turned her head back to him and saw nothing but honesty in his eyes, and she nodded, believing his words. At her nod, Jack visibly relaxed and even dared to send an encouraging smile her way, a smile which only widened when she smiled back.

"Listen, I'm really sorry about attacking you," she whispered to him. "I don't yet feel comfortable with talking about my reasons, but I was completely in the wrong for jumping to conclusions like I did."

Jack was startled, but not startled enough to not accept her apology. He told her that if she ever needed to talk, he and the others would be there to listen. "I understand." She told him. "I'm just not really ready to start talking about what I went through."

Jack nodded his respect for her decision before stepping away. Melody gave him one last, apologetic smile before turning to face the rest of the Guardians. "So, what are we up against, and what's our plan of action?" she asked.

North chuckled softly. "Again, straight to point." He chuckled for a few more seconds, before finally becoming serious. "The first order of business: you must take oath as Guardian."

Melody looked down now, uncomfortable. "Isn't this a little soon?" she pretended to joke. "I mean, I've only been a spirit for about a day. And you just now told me that I was chosen to join your ranks."

"The sooner the better," North responded. "And you already know your center: music, obviously." Melody pulled her violin around and simply looked at it while North continued. "And perhaps your sister would want you to take oath as soon as possible."

North figured that mentioning Laurel was going to be a low blow, but Melody remembered what she had seen on her own tombstone: Beloved Daughter, Sister, Friend, and Guardian. Had Laurel somehow known, very deep inside her heart, that Aria had been brought back as a spirit when the body was discovered?

Melody took a deep breath. "You're right." She conceded, surprising North. "Laurel probably would want me to take oath as soon as I could; she asked that "Guardian" be put on my tombstone. However, I don't think I'm ready just yet to take oath. But rest assured that I will take oath sometime soon."

North looked like he wanted to argue, but Tooth and Sandy stopped him. "North, we can't rush her into this; she's dealing with enough as it is," Tooth defended the youngest spirit. At this, North reluctantly nodded his consent.

"And I believe my first question went unanswered: What are we up against?" Melody asked again. "If I've heard the story correctly, you guys defeated Pitch not even a month ago. Why do you need another Guardian if the main threat has already been dealt with?" When the Guardians gave her looks that clearly asked, "How do you know that?" Melody responded, "What? Stories travel quickly."

"We don't know the real reason ourselves." Tooth confessed, responding to Melody's question. "Our best guess is that Pitch still has agents of his out there, and we need your help stopping them."

"Agents?"

"Men, maybe women, who terrorize communities and strike terror and horror into the hearts of everyone in the world; and I mean everyone, not just the children." Jack explained. "People like thieves, murderers, -"

"Rapists." Melody finished in a whisper. When the Big Five gave her looks of confusion, she repeated herself, louder that time. "I think I now know what you're talking about. People who cause events like the Connecticut shooting on December fourteenth?"

All five winced at the mentioning of the shooting, remembering the twenty kids that they had failed, but they remembered that there was no good in dwelling on the past. "Exactly." Bunny said. "He's definitely not the only one out there. However, there's some of 'em that are being directly influenced by Pitch, and it's these that we need to look for."

"What are the signs?" Melody asked.

"Glowing eyes, an echo in his or her voice. But the most obvious are the strands of nightmare sand attached to their shadow and that they can see us." North informed her.

"None of those really sound familiar, but I know where two possible agents might be: Williamsburg Virginia. There are at least two rapists that I know of there, and their first target was Laurel Howland." Melody informed the Big Five. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not going to just sit around while my sister could be in considerable danger."

There was a moment of silence, then:

"Melody is right!" North declared. "Everyone, to the sleigh!"

"Oh, no!" Bunny groaned, but no one except Melody heard him.

A/N: Haha, I love how Bunny hates the sleigh. I had to put that last line in there just to be funny.