I tried to make this chapter longer to make up for the shortness of the last chapter. The action I promised wasn't really that much, so I'm sorry. I've been juggling several stories and sometimes I get them mixed up, if that makes any sense. So please enjoy!

Chapter 7: Escape from the Furnace

"There it is!" Tooth cried when she spotted the sinister castle on the horizon. North immediately steered the sleigh towards the building and landed in front, jumping out without hesitation and his two swords drawn. Bunny held his boomerang in a defensive stance, and Sandy formed two sand-whips. "Let's go," Tooth whispered. They were going to save their youngest Guardian.

Freezing the chains so they break…too hot. Pulling the chains out of the wall…won't budge. Chewing my hands and feet off…only briefly considered. Use my staff to pry the chains off…I don't have it, not even the pieces. This was going to be harder than I thought.

The flaming portal appeared once again, and I braced myself. Heat had already come in here two times to "check on me" (translation: beat me to a pulp) and I wasn't too keen on going through that again. He stepped out, but this time he was followed by a girl with dirty blond hair and pale green eyes who clung to Heat possessively. She smiled cruelly when she saw me, and vines grew around her pale green dress that split at her thigh then fell to her ankle, which were also wrapped in budding vines.

"Aw, Jacky doesn't look too hot," she pouted sarcastically before smiling again. "Could you warm him up, Heaty?" she traced her slender finger over his depressingly (for me at least) monstrous bicep.

He pecked her on the lips and smiled. "Sure thing, April," he agreed, marching over to me just so he can kick me in the gut.

I doubled over, and as soon as my back was exposed a stream of fire crashed into it, cooking my skin. The agonizing scream that followed was involuntary. He grabbed me by the hood and threw me against the stone wall. I heard a crack, and I slumped to the floor. There goes another rib.

Suddenly, vines wrap around my arm and down my side. Thorns sprouted and dug into my skin, and a muffled scream escaped.

The girl, April, knelt down beside me, fingering the thorny vines. "You've been a pain in my side for a long time, Frost. With you running around making snowstorms and blizzards, you make it harder and harder for me to bring spring," she whispered in my ear. "But with you gone, there wouldn't even be a winter to worry about."

I'm pretty sure that these two could start a "Let's all end Jack and winter once in for all!" club.

A heavy boot, Heat no doubt, kicked me in the side and I rolled over, wincing as the movement caused the thorns to bury themselves further into me. He lifted me by the tattered front of my sweatshirt, but then stopped abruptly like he heard something. He released me and I fell back to the ground. "We'll be back, Popsicle," he growled, turning to leave through another portal.

Heat knew someone entered his castle, he could feel their unique heat signatures contrast to the temperature of his fortress. Leaving winter boy curled up in a mass of vines and blood, waiting to be finished off, he dragged his girl, April, out of the room to find the trespassers.

The Guardians had heard Jack's scream (Bunny especially) and were now racing towards the source. After rounding another corning, they saw the Heat Miser and April, spirit of spring, step out of a fiery portal.

"Where is Jack?!" North demanded.

"Somewhere he won't leave alive," Heat replied smugly, hiding the fact that he was just in the other room.

Tooth lunged at him with fury so fast Heat didn't know what hit him. At that moment, the fight began.

April directed vines towards North and Bunny, but with a few swipes of North's sabers and a throw of Bunny's boomerang, they fell to the ground in pieces. Furious, April nimbly jumped on Bunny and delivered an agile kick to his jaw.

Ropes made of sand wrapped around April's waist and yanks her off of Bunny. Sandy threw her into Heat, who was about to launch a fireball out Tooth.

They landed in an ungraceful heap, struggling to pull them apart. With a thump of Bunny's foot, a gaping hole appeared below them, and they fell through with a yelp.

"Where did you send them?" Tooth asked.

Bunny smiled smugly. "Antarctica."

Sandy spotted the portal, which Heat failed to close with all of the commotion, and pointed frantically to it. He had a feeling that the other side held Jack, and he was sticking to it. Images of it and Jack swirled around his head, but the others failed to notice. He grabbed Tooth's arm and pulled her over, pointing at the portal and the images again.

Understanding what he meant, she called the others over and they stepped through the portal.

I heard heavy footsteps approach me, and I flinched and shrank back, expecting Heat to finish me off with his girlfriend watching. I was barely awake at this point, and couldn't even open my eyes much less pull myself off of the ground to face him. Every part of my body throbbed, and the suffocating heat of the places had sucked any strength that remained out of me.

I tried to open my eyes, but black spots danced across my vision. Welcoming unconscious, I slipped into it, vaguely aware of the figures hovering over me.

Tooth gasped when she saw Jack. He was chained to the stone wall, and was huddled in the corner, a broken and bloody mess. He lay in a pool of his own blood, and his chest barely rose and fell to his ragged breaths. Her heart nearly broke when he stiffened and flinched farther against the wall. What had Heat done to him?

North briskly walked over and snapped the chains off his wrists and ankles, revealing charred skin underneath. He picked the boy up, bridal style, and his head rolled to the side, showing that he was unconscious. They all knew Jack was young, but seeing him so beaten made Jack seem so small and helpless, like a child.

"We must get Jack medical help," North stated softly.

Tooth hovered next to him, tracing over his many cuts, bruises, and burns. She felt a few broken ribs as followed a huge gash on his chest. Tears slipped out as she saw how bad Jack's injuries were.

Silently, they climbed back into the sleigh. Sandy began to wrap Jack's cuts so they wouldn't bleed out. He frowned when he noticed a cut on his chest that had already begun to heal, showing that it was older. What bothered him were the traces of sand that infected it.*

Shrugging it off, he and Bunny, who momentarily forgot his acrophobia**, continued to wrap his wounds as the sleigh landed in North's workshop.

Heat was horrified when he found himself in the middle of Ant-freaking-artica***. The snow slushed beneath him, and an idea came to mind. Jack may not be dead yet, but he was weak. Heat was sure that Jack Frost's current state would keep him from stopping Heat with his new quest: to end winter.

This story is far from over, so don't freak out. Sorry if it seemed a bit rushed, 'cause I'm sure it was. Anyways, I'm sure you notice my little stars* (I always forget what they are called…). I added those just in case what I said confused you; I'm just paranoid like that.

*- Back when the Guardians were under Heat's control, Sandy had cut Jack with giant scissors.

**- Acrophobia is fear of heights, which I am almost positive Bunny has.

***- Ant-freaking-artica: Maximum Ride's fun nickname for the place that I couldn't resist throwing in.

Review your thoughts! Remember, if anyone can guess the hidden crossover in Chapter 1 (which includes where exactly it is from), I'll give you a surprise! Oh, yeah. Did anyone else think of Toph when Tooth shouted "There it is!" when they flying over the desert, or is it just me?