Hey everyone! Here's the next installment of Ice Cold Heart. Hope you all enjoy. No excuse me while I go hide from the Thunder and Lightning that's outside my window. *Shiver* I hate thunder and lighting!

ICE COLD HEART

Fire, it was a beautiful and wondrous thing. It reminded me of a gentle snow fall, only warmer. Fire was nice and hot and kept people warm when it was cold. I was the exception. I'm not saying that I never go in front of fires, because I do. In fact, I've gone in front of fires a lot since I joined the Guardians. We would always sit in front of fires and talk when we could. Sometimes we'd all just fall asleep in front of the fire, I of course stayed the back the farthest.

Fires were fine, as long as I didn't stay close to them for a long time. I'd overheat and melt if I did. It's not like I've ever been burned before, well, not in this life time. But there was something about fires that just made me uneasy, maybe I'd gotten burned very badly when I was human or something. But now looking at fires just makes me see the beauty in them.

But right now, I just wish the fire would take my life…

| NORTH POLE

They'd searched for days, hoping, and failing to find Jack. The boy had basically disappeared off the planet it seemed. Even Sandy and Tooth's helpers couldn't find him, and they worked every night, all over the globe. They'd even talked to Jamie, a bad idea it turned out, the boy was heart-broken about the disappearance of Jack.

Now they had a missing spirit and a depressed child on their hands. They didn't know how anything could get worse. That is until lights in Burgess started going out on the globe, others flickering. Sandy was the first to notice, but of course everyone was too busy talking.

"Have you checked Antarctica?"

"Went there first, mate, there was no sign that he was even there."

"What about Green Land."

"Nothing there, had Baby Tooth and a few others go there last night."

"What about-" a sudden chime of a bell went off and they all turned towards Sandy, he was holding an elf by his hat, much like he had done when Jack was chosen as a Guardian. He dropped the elf and pointed to the globe. They all looked and gasped.

"Sandy, why didn't you say something?" asked North. Sandy let sand come out his ears, frustrated at them all.

"You don't think Pitch is back, is he?" asked Tooth.

"We saw his fearlings destroy him, he couldn't be back already, could he?" asked Bunnymund.

"It does not matter, we need to get to Burgess this instant." Said North, "Quickly, to the sleigh." North walked off, followed by Sandy and Tooth.

"No this time, mate." Bunnymund said, all of the Guardians looked back at the spirit of Easter; they all had very confused looks on their faces. Bunnymund smiled, he then started tapping on the floor with his foot. North looked down with wide eyes, he attempted to jump out-of-the-way but the floor fell underneath him. They all slid through the tunnel, North screaming, while Bunnymund just laughed.

| BURGESS

The ground opened up and the four Guardians flung out, Bunnymund landed on his feet while Tooth and Sandy just floated there, and North landed on his face. North grunted, getting to his hands and knees. "At least give a guy a warning next time." Stated North as he got to his feet.

Bunnymund chuckled as he walked towards the middle of the city; it was dark, close to midnight and the stars shown brightly in the sky, but no snow. Snow hadn't fallen since Jack had come to the workshop all beaten and bruised. He missed the snow; he had to admit that it was beautiful. But it was late in the season for it anyway. Even if Jack was okay, they wouldn't see it for a while.

Bunnymund and the other Guardians knew how much Jack hated summer, mostly because it made the Guardian too hot. So it would be no surprise, if he wasn't this hurt, that he'd be in Antarctica or somewhere else cold. He continued to walk, not sure as to what to do. So instead he decided that they'd start in the middle of the city. They all walked towards the statue that was placed in the middle of the city. The statue was of a man, a girl – his wife most likely – a little girl, and a boy, the girl and the boy were no doubt the man and women's children.

Someone sat in front of the statue, their hand delicately moving a crossed the engraved words. They had a hood over their head and was almost crouching there, looking almost like a ghost. The Guardians couldn't tell much more do to the lack of light.

"Excuse me?" asked Bunnymund. The person stiffened, getting to their feet, which were bare… wait, bare? "Jack?" asked Bunnymund curiously. The rest looked over the figure, making the connection as well.

"I was wondering when you guys would find me." said the figure softly, the Guardians could tell by the voice that the person was in fact, Jack Frost.

"Jack, why did you run away, we can help you, and you're still hurt." Tooth said desperately.

"You know, before all this, I had a family." The Guardians knew that he had a family, but they were sure that they didn't know about them. After all, he didn't remember.

"Jack," Tooth tried, stepping towards him, but he continued anyway.

"This statue, I've sped basically all of my life just sitting near it or on it. I never knew that it was my family." The Guardians' eyes widened. They looked back at the boy who was standing almost behind the mother, he had Jack's hairstyle almost and his facial structure.

"I saved my sister." He said, pointing the statue of the little girl in front of the older man on the statue. "I was teaching her how to ice skate when the ice began to crack under her. I tried to get to her but the ice also cracked under my feet. So I made a game of it, getting her to come closer to me and I got closer to her. When she was close enough I used this," he gestured to his staff, "To pull her onto thicker ice."

The Guardians looked at him, stunned. They had never thought that Jack would do that. They knew the boy loved children, but they didn't know he was selfless enough to risk his life for someone.

"But of course when I flung her onto the thicker ice I stumbled back. The ice cracked and I fell through." They all looked at him horrified. Drowning must have been a horrible death. "But I guess it doesn't matter now."

"Jack, it will always matter. Don't you think ever and I mean ever otherwise." North told him.

"But there is something you should know, Jack." Tooth said. Jack didn't turn towards them, he made sure to keep his back to them and his hood up. "Pitch is back, he's in Burgess." They all expected Jack to stiffen and immediately ask where Jamie was and if he was okay, but that wasn't the case.

Jack just stood there for a moment, before letting out a small chuckle. The chuckle increased until he was full blown laughing. "Oi! What are you laughing about?" asked a very confused Bunnymund.

"You would seriously think that Pitch would be here? Oh no, no, no, Guardians you got the wrong idea." Jack said, finally turning around, his face was concealed in darkness, the only thing they could see was Jack's wide, toothy smile. They took a step back, not liking the smile. Suddenly Jamie ran forwards.

"Guys, I need to tell you something." He said, making his way through hoping to get in front of them to talk to them, but when he saw Jack he froze for a second, then he smiled and about ran to him if Bunnymund hadn't grabbed the back of his shirt. "Hey!" Jamie protested.

"Something's wrong with Jack." Whispered Tooth to him.

"Oh, good old times, leaving me out of everything." Jack said, the smile never leaving his face. He pointed his staff at the Guardians. "Looks like its true when they say nothing ever changes." He slammed his staff on the ground, ice forming all around him, but it had a weird dark tint to it. "You were wrong when you said Pitch is here. He's not." Jack said quietly, but loud enough for them to hear.

"But if you really want to know who's causing the havoc, you can." Suddenly nightmares came behind him. Jack didn't seem to notice. One came up right behind him, getting up on its hind legs, looking ready to hit Jack.

"Jack watch out!" Tooth called, Sandy formed his whips, North got his swords, and Bunnymund got his boomerangs.

"Oh the nightmare won't hurt me." Jack said, the nightmare got down, walking to the side of Jack and putting its head near Jack. The boy smiled more, and laughed, petting the nightmare. More nightmares flew in, until they were almost completely surrounding the Guardians.

"Jack," asked a fearful Jamie. He looked at Jack, not liking anything about what was going on. He looked at Jack's hands, noticing that they weren't their normal color, they were grey color. Jamie's eyes widened. "Jack, please, what's going on?"

Jack didn't answer, didn't even look at the younger boy. Jamie felt hurt since Jack wouldn't even glance at him. "The one causing all this havoc is me." Jack stated, all of the Guardians looked startled and took another step backwards.

"Jack, why?" asked North.

Jack's smile faded, and turned into a hardened frown. "Why, you ask. Is it that hard to figure out?" none of the Guardians answered. "Three hundred years of complete solitude, my only friends were the cold, dark, and the night. You all ignored me like I didn't exist, and you still ask. 'why'?" Jack sounded completely flabbergasted.

Anger swelled up in Jack, he growled and the winds started to pick up, the wind blew off Jack's hood and the Guardians gasped. Jack's skin was grey; his white hair now black, dark lines from his neck were going all the way up to his eyes, which were blood-red, only they were glowing red as well. "Jack?" asked Jamie fearfully, he'd seen the dark lines and red eyes before but this… he'd never expected this.

"Attack!" shouted Jack, pointing his staff towards the Guardians. At Jack's command all of the fearlings charged towards them.

And the war has begun.