Author's Note: Hey I'm not dead :D Sorry about the late update. School's really hittin hard and I'm gonna start driving soon. And uh, *cough cough* Imightbestallingsothe200reviewscomelatersothatChri stmascancomealreadyandIcandothecomicversionofthisb itchdigitallyinsteadoftraditionally cough cough derp cough hack.

Pitch, you sly son of a flagnard, you. :D To those of you who had questions for the seemingly random chapter, most of them will be answered in this chapter or the beginning of the next. I know it's eating away at you guys to know what the heck is going on, and you will in due time, but I want the story's main idea(s) to open up at a gradual pace…like a rose bursting into bloom, which makes it all the more beautiful… or more fittingly, like a flytrap opening after consuming something cute and helpless, which makes it all the more grim :D.… Idk I'm rambling here so just carry on.

PRETEND THIS IS A LINE :)

The fearstruck winter sprite was in a crazed state when Pitch decided to drop by; this was of course the main reason why Pitch went took this little trip to the Pole in the first place. The fear was so strong that he could sense it from more than halfway around the world. And considering the fact that spirit fear - specifically, Guardian fear - was both richer and stronger than any children's fear, the Nightmare King wasn't about to sulk around in his lair when he could be rejuvenating himself using Jack's terror. Never before has he seen Jack so scared…well, in this life, that is. In his past life, when he was known as Jackson Overland rather than Jack Frost, he served as one of Pitch's outlets, those unfortunate beings who were terrified all the time, and thus gave him the strength needed to plaque more dreams with nightmares. In the past, he was one of Pitch's prime outlets. But the fear back then… it was nothing compared to this.

Pitch's shadow-form unnoticeably crept through the open window, the sly black tendrils mingling with the winter spirit that was too ensnared with the imaginary dangers at hand to see that his fear was being fed off of. It was fear of the bunny, Pitch confirmed as he watched the scene unfold from his undetected cloud of black sand whirring just under the ceiling. The Nightmare King couldn't be happier with both an endless feast and an amusing show. Yes, he was glad he decided to visit the Guardians today.

"Jack! Why ya running from me, mate?" Bunnymund questioned pleadingly, hopping in front of the boy just as he was reaching for his staff. Jack tore back quickly. His bright blue eyes, usually full of mischief and fun, were now full of fear and alarm.

"Frostbite?" Bunny asked once more, taking a slow step forward. Immediately, the boy scuttled backward.

"D-don't get any closer!" He screamed, his arms and legs quivering like leaves in the wind as he desperately tried to back out to the hallway behind him. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost, or more suitably, a monster. "Stay away from me!"

"Jack, it's okay! It's me! It's the kangaroo!" Bunny attempted to explain, despite Jack's unwavering terror-stricken face. It was as if Jack didn't understand what was being said to him. "Jack, can ya hear me? Do ya understand me?" he took another step forward.

In the blink of an eye, Jack flipped around and ran through the door. Pitch was inclined to follow, still floating secretly above the winter spirit's head, practically invisible to everyone but his outlet. Even so, his outlet was too caught up in his scary story to notice the looming presence.

Sandy was in the midst of trying to tell North and Tooth some of the safety precautions they should make; that was when Jack swiveled around the corner and, upon noticing the lot, backed against the wall fearfully.

"Jack!" Tooth exclaimed happily. A look of excitement overwhelmed her features. "You're okay!" She was about to fly toward him and embrace him in the mother of all hugs, when North put his arm out and blocked her path. She shot him a questioning look, and he nodded to the boy. "Tooth, take closer look."

Jack Frost was a mess. A frightened, quivering, whimpering, petrified, staff-less mess. Beads of sweat rolled down his temples, and had a crazed, panicked look in his eyes, the mischievous glint of fun and trouble no longer existent. He backed himself against the wall as much as he possibly could, his knees shaking so hard it was a wonder how he was still standing up. Tooth wasn't so sure about bombarding him with hugs anymore.

North nervously chewed his bottom lip as his mind put piece and piece together, and took a few steps closer, contemplating whether or not attempts to calm him down now would be futile. No doubt he was too far along to come to grips now. "Jack? Are you alright? What did you see? Why are you so afraid?" Tooth and Sandy hovered a little closer. Jack stared up at them in sheer terror, his balled fists pressed against the sides of his head in a distressed, rushed manor. "North?" Tooth asked, accompanied with a nervous look. "I don't think he sees that-"

With an unexpected burst of speed, Jack bolted through them and down the hallway. Tooth's comment finished itself.

"Sandy! Dreamsand, now! Medicine must be injected! Paranoiac effects have already taken hold!" North shouted as he caught up with his two other companions rapidly floating down the hallway after Jack. The Sandman complied, and with a stern look on his face, he formed a ball of dreamsand in his hand and chucked it straight at the distraught spirit. The sand, although making contact and leaving plenty of sleep-inducing residue, had no effect on Jack, who simply blew it off and kept running down the hallway. Sandy looked back at his Cossack comrade and shrugged. "Bah!" the guardian of wonder exclaimed angrily as he chased after Jack, Bunny soon hopping by his side. "Dreamsand has no effect, Bunny!"

"Then what do we do!?" Bunny asked anxiously as he leapt. "The kid's scared out of his wits! Nothing's gettin' through ta him!"

"Mother Nature's medicine!" North shouted back and looked up, slowing down as he came to see that Jack had stopped an arms length in front of the door. He was staring at it and speaking to it as if there were someone there.

"I-I'm sorry!" Jack said to the door before running through it hastily. North and the other Guardians barged through shortly after him, only to skid to a halt. Dozens of yetis were at work in this crammed little section of the workshop, busily testing toys and passing packages full of toys to each other in high hopes of finding a good place to put it.

Pitch chuckled to himself. He had a birds-eye view of the chaos, a front row seat to the turmoil gradually unfolding at wonder's home base. Jack, who looked to have been driven mad, was shoving past the yetis with a delirious look in his eyes.

North shouted a Russian command to his yetis that could barely be heard over the bustling work in this busy wing of the workshop. Those that could hear him though did their best to obey his orders; but Jack was too quick to catch, always seemed to duck at the right time, swerve out of the way and barrel into another group of clueless yetis, all in all making it almost impossible to stop him.

It was when Jack slowed down and began inspecting the yetis one by one with a look of both surprise and dread did Pitch realize what was going on. With a happy sigh, he smirked to himself. Ah, yes. He doesn't see yetis, does he? Poor Jack, pulled back to a past that he'd much rather leave forgotten…

It was all over Jack's face. In fact, from where Pitch hovered a little ways above them, it looked like Jack had been forced into slow motion, trying to maneuver his way around townsfolk that weren't really there; trying to avoid threats that were all out-of-date.

"You three!" North shouted to the three nearby guardians beside him. "Go around that way! We will corner him!"

"Right!" Bunny hollered back, and the three took off, pushing and shoving their way through the bustling crowd of yetis that filled the wing.

After successfully guiding his way through the seemingly endless maze of yetis, North could make out Jack's blue hoodie a little ways from where he was standing. The boy, it seemed, had made his way into a clearing, frantically looking around and shakily gasping for breath. North really didn't think that it would've taken hold of Jack so quickly, this relentless wave of delusions, drowning him in a sea of madness and uncertainty.

Then again, North didn't really think Manny would've chosen Jack Frost as a Guardian. Life's full of surprises that way.

"Jack." North tried to say calmly, getting the boy's full attention as the three others slowly found their way behind him. Jack looked up to North, and that look of fear rekindled itself, manifesting any and all grips Jack had on reality. He speedily stepped back away from North, and seemed to know that he was backing up right into the arms of the three other Guardians, and sprang back from them as well.

"Don't touch me!" he shouted hoarsely, evading Bunny's reaching out to grab him. "Get away!"

"Jack, please!" Bunny pleaded. "It's us! We're not gonna hurt ya, mate! Ya need Motha Nature's medicine! Please, just listen!"

Pitch couldn't help himself. Honestly, this was just too good to be true. With the flick of his wrist, a long, thin thread of nightmare sand discreetly surrounded Jack and invaded his thoughts.

Oh, this day was just getting better and better.

The crazy look in Jack's usually fun-filled eyes intensified. It went unnoticed by the guardians, who had managed to round him into a wide-ish circle in the clearing amongst the yetis. Tooth aggressively wiped away a stray tear. "Jack?! Baby, listen to me! Just calm down, you're gonna be alright!"

"You're safe, Jack!"

"Da, Jack, you are fine!"

Jack's trembling stopped for a second or two. They actually thought they heard him, that they got through to him. This wasn't the case, however. He clenched his eyes shut, brought his fists to the sides of his head, and let out a hoarse, earsplitting holler that immediately summoned nothing less than a violent, merciless blizzard. It rampaged through the Pole.

The yetis stopped their work and brought their hands up to shield their faces as the storm blew through the window and tore up the wing. All at once, the Guardians were upon him. Jack lashed out savagely, clawing at them and trying desperately to rip out of their grip. But obviously, four against one led to a most crushing defeat, and the victors worked together to pull him to the ground and pin him down.

What could possibly be wrong with poor Jack Frost?

Well, it was obvious, wasn't it?

His center split in two. One part was Jack Frost, the Guardian of Fun, maker of mischief, master of mayhem. The other part was Jackson Overland, keeper of secrets, sentinel of shadows, still rotting away beneath a layer of blackened ice, endlessly reliving a life of fear and sorrow. Both sides wanted control. So it was war they waged.

And it was a hilarious sight. Well, it was in Pitch's mind at least. He chuckled to himself, no one able to hear him over all of Jack's noise. With his sanity in shambles, and his mind a battlefield, and the fear emitted from the confused child was endless. A little ways above the commotion, he peered down to see that North was injecting Mother Nature's medicine, and Jack - poor Jack! - was a heart wrenching sight. Tearstained, panicked, shouting, shaking, screaming…

With a cocky smile, Pitch leaned back into his nightmare sand, further examining Jack as he slowly succumbed to the sedative forcibly given to him.

Then he laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

PRETEND THIS IS A LINE. :)

Author's Note: Gotta love Pitch. :D Haha anyways, the next update, again, might be about as late as this one, but I promise you I'm very much alive! Keep me on your updates or whatever, I don't think you'll wanna miss what the Guardians get to do after this :P

969~696