So yeah. I started writing this chapter and realized that I will have at least a couple more chapters that I hadn't foreseen. Anyway, in the last chapter, they found out that it was Plague (my OC) who was making them sick and Jack and Sandy have just figured out that Plague was at the pole with them.

Sandy and jack rushed back to North's living room and came to a surprised halt. North and Bunny were lying together on the floor. Bunny had obviously been carrying North when he fell too. Sandy took some time to check their pulses. He relaxed in relief when he felt a heartbeat even if it was faint and inconsistent. The fact that they were alive was enough.

Jack stood at the door, peering around for Plague.

"Well, well, well. It seems that the mighty guardians are helpless against my power. Who would have thought it?"

Jack and Sandy both jumped at the sudden voice that somehow sounded oily. There was Plague, floating on his side above them in the room. He gave off the aura of someone who didn't care in the least as he meticulously cleaned his fingernails.

"Make it stop Plague!" Jack aimed his staff at the spirit and Sandy made his two long whips appear.

Plague's long, purple tail flicked, letting a small stream of sickness go flying. "Or what Jackie-boy? You'll fight me? But you wouldn't want to hurt your friends, would you?" The spirit swooped down to North and Bunny, twining his tail around their necks.

Jack glared at him for a moment, then let his staff fall, clattering, to the floor. He clenched his hands and Sandy looked at him for a moment before following suit and letting his whips vanish.

"That's much better. Now we can be civilized." He glided over to a couch and patted the spot next to him. Jack and Sandy didn't move. "Let's all sit down and catch up, shall we? Nor Jackie-boy, the last time we met it was in 1961. In China wasn't it? You wanted me to stop my plague. Spare all the children. Your save the helpless act was sickening. Tell me, are you still like that?"

Jack stood in front of him, radiating total outrage. He glanced at his staff, lying halfway across the room.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Jackie." Plague slowly extended a tendril of sickness towards the two prone figures.

Sandy hovered anxiously by Jack, willing him to not do anything rash during that tense moment. Jack and Plague stared each other down and finally, jack had to back off.

"That's better already, isn't it? You're finally starting to learn your place." The tendril receded and Jack heaved a sigh of relief. He hadn't realized that he was holding his breath.

"Right. Well then, what was I saying? Oh yes, about the plague, my last bough of fun. But you're partial to fun aren't you Jack? You are the guardian of fun after all. Be that as it may, you should be glad to know that I ended the plague soon after I met you. It was taxing on my strength and I got so sick of people pestering me about it. Your guardian friends were particularly annoying. Especially Toothiana." Plague bared his point teeth in a feral grin. "In fact, I might just start by killing her." The purple, monkey-like figure grinned at them once more, then vanished into a cloud of noxious vapour and sped out of the room.

It took a moment for Jack and Sandy to realize what was happening. They looked at each other for a moment.

"Tooth!" Jack called her name even though she couldn't possibly hear him. He and Sandy both shot out of the room, Jack scooping up his staff and Sandy conjuring up his golden whips as they went.

They reached Tooth's room together to find Plague already reaching his sickness out to her. Sandy shot a barrier of his golden sand in front of her and blocked the tendril. But, where it hit the barrier, it started disintegrating even as Sandy worked on replenishing it.

Jack surprised even himself when he let out a low growl at Plague. "You're dead Plague!" he leapt through the air to land on top of the monkey, only to yelp as he fell through the cloud of vapour. He managed to land on his feet and glared up at the grinning spirit.

"Oh Jackie," the spirit said, shaking his head in mock disappointment. You'll have to do better than that."

With a yell of rage, jack aimed his staff at Plague and shot a blast of ice off at him.

Plague shifted out of the way. Mostly. The blast of freezing air had caught a few inches of the spirits' tail. It dropped for a moment before plague had it back under control again.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You see, I'm not sure if freezing me would make the disease permanent or end it." The monkey-like figure grinned at him.

Jack hesitated for a moment, and then mentally shrugged. Even if the plague did stay, he could always unfreeze Plague. He stalled for another moment as the spirit started talking again.

"I don't know how you did it jack. That is, not get sick. Sandy here resisted for a while too, but he just needed an extra dose." He stopped to consider Sandy for a moment. "It is hard to make someone who's made out of sand get sick." He turned his glowing eyes back to Jack. "But you. How did you escape my plague?"

Jack glanced over at Sandy and Tooth. The sandman was having trouble keeping the disease from spreading. He had to do something fast.

"Why are you doing this Plague?" Jack asked.

"Well, let me think. I'd say… it got pretty boring with nothing to do but talk to my rats and I thought a little bit of sweet revenge was in order. Why Jackie? Do you really-"

His last few words were cut off as jack shot a stream of ice off at him. Plague fell to the floor with a solid thump, the ice totally encasing him.

Jack looked over at Sandy to see the other guardian slowly relaxing. The disease was still on him though, but now it wasn't getting any worse. Was there any way they could completely get rid of it?

If they couldn't, the guardians would be severely weakened.

This chapter seemed to writ itself. I don't know why…