North pulled a chair from the far side of the room and placed it next to Jack's bedside, perching himself on it. He straightened his posture and placed his hands on his lap. Needless to say, Jack was flabbergasted by the strange turn of events. Ombric was slightly taller than North due to his pointed cap. He was also much scrawnier and older than North, almost sickly. What did North have to fear?

*Bonk*

"Ow! Why do you keep doing that?" Jack exclaimed before getting hit again.

"Don't go insulting me as you please! I may be a man of age but I am still as strong as the day I became a Guardian!" the wizard announced, beating his fist on his chest. "I'll also have you know that I am Nick's mentor." He smiled at North in his seat.

"You've gotta be kidding…" Jack uttered in disbelief. He looked over to North for any sort of reaction that would say otherwise. His jaw dropped. He was met with another astonishing sight. North had a big grin and large eyes as if he were star struck. Jack recalled the time when North first brought him to his workshop. Thinking back to the Russian Matryoshka doll North had described himself as, he thought about how much North looked like the little kid in the center. He giggled to himself after finally seeing this hidden side of North. He was never going to forget it.

Waking from his trance, North's eyes snapped to the boy lying in bed. "So, you are friend of Ombric?" he asked suspiciously, facing his chair to Jack. North hunched over, leering at Jack.

"Um, not so much 'friend' but a friendly acquaintance." Unsure of what to say, Jack had only just met the old wizard. Then again, Ombric knew him for years now that he thought about it. Oh god, did he watch me sleep? For six years? That's kind of weird.

*Bonk*

"Don't go making strange assumptions. I had to make sure the core of your heart was stable." Ombric announced, poking at Jack's chest.

"Okay, enough! I can't take this anymore. Everything you say doesn't make any sense! You talk about time anomalies, energy transfers, books that write themselves, and now cores! What does it all mean?" Jack snapped at him. Breathing heavily, he pulled himself up on the bed and crossed his leg, placing his hands in his lap. Looking straight into Ombric's eyes, he was determined for a proper answer.

"Hoho, haven't seen your face so serious since the time you jumped out my window to change time." He scoffed. "But, you're right. You deserve a better explanation." Ombric strolled over to his cabinet.

"Wait, wait, wait? He travels time too? Change time? But changing time is bad!" North launched out of his chair, fueled by fire. "So he is bad! Who are you?!"

Jack was taken aback slightly. "Uh… I'm Ja—"

"Overson Jacklyn is his name. Now, settle down Nick. He's a guest in our home. You should go look for Katherine. She should be by Big Root with the children. Would you mind asking her to prepare supper? One for our guest of honor, too?" Ombric asked, rummaging through the cabinet.

"If you need, I can take care of supper!"

"North… remember the last time you made a meal? Almost everyone was bedded for a week." Ombric looked over to the embarrassed Russian. Begrudgingly, North nodded his head and left the room. "Much quieter." Ombric chuckled.

"Overson, Jacklyn? Really?" Jack smirked with an eyebrow up. "What kind of name is that?"

"I just switched up some of the letter placements. Also, Jackland sounded stupid so I went with Jacklyn. Now where did I put this thing?" He continued rummaging through the various cabinets on the wall.

"I'm not gonna bother asking how you knew my name. It's probably because of the heart thing, but why did you have to lie about it? Also, what did he mean by 'too'?" Jack was now incredibly curious about what this wizard man would show him.

"I didn't learn your name from your heart, that's too much detail to read from just the heart. I knew your name because I know who you are, Jack Frost, the troublemaking winter spirit. It did take some time to recall from my memories though. Lots of time inside this thick noodle." He stated, knocking on his head a few times.

"How do you know me? We've never met, have we?" Jack questioned.

"I haven't met you personally but I'm fully aware of who you are. I've been doing this for a long time now and I've seen many things in my time." He said, laughing to himself. "Aha! Finally found it!" Ombric shouted ecstatically. He held the uninflated plastic in his hand.

"Uh, that's a balloon." Jack said, looking very confused.

"No, it's not a simple balloon. It's your core." Ombric smiled at the little plastic. Jack was more confused now. What does the balloon have to do with any of this? "Now then, let me get this little contraption here." The old man started pulling out a weird looking jar device. "Okay! Here we go." He began blowing up the balloon.

"I still don't know wha—" Jack was cut off again by Ombric's finger telling him to shush.

"See this balloon here? This is your core." Ombric said, putting the blown up balloon in front of Jack's face. "Now, when you travel in time in either direction, the time stream puts an immense amount of pressure on it, watch."

He placed the balloon in the jar device and started cranking the peddle that hooked to the top of the jar. The balloon began to shrink smaller and smaller as the air pressure in jar became greater. After some time peddling, he took the scrunched up balloon out of the jar.

"This is your core after you came out of the time stream. If you notice, it's recovering quickly after all that pressure. However, the pressure was only applied over a minute's time. The amount of time it takes to recover from time travel varies accordingly to the point where you started from to the point you are now. The longer the time, the smaller and weaker your core becomes and the more time you need to fully recover. Is this making sense?"

Slightly overwhelmed by the knowledge, Jack nodded his head.

"Good, we can move on. Now, because you transferred your energy into the child, you were squeezing out the last bit of power you had left in your core." Ombric opened the balloon a little to let the air flow out. "However, because you were absorbing the energy of the blizzard, you had the energy to spare." He proceeded to blow air into the balloon again. "Suddenly, it becomes a game of give and take."

He repeated the steps of letting the air out and blowing it back in a few more times. "You weren't in any immediate danger of losing all your energy but the integrity of your core is now at risk." He pointed to the stretch marks in the balloon. "Unlike this balloon, though, your core can recover from this. However!" pointing one finger up in the air. "You went ahead and did this again! With only three years of rest! This time, it was a completely one sided exchange!"

Ombric was now blowing as much air as he could into the balloon. So much so that it was ready to burst. "This is what your core looked like. Well beyond its capacity and ready to blow at any moment. Luckily, you were able to expel a lot of this energy, partially thanks to the encounter you had with ol' Nicky in the back, but your core is much more stretched out and beat up because of this. Are you keeping up?" the wizard looked over to Jack for a response.

"Uh, yeah, I think I do at least." Jack said, still slightly perplexed. "So right now, my core is pretty beat up. But… I'm fine now, right? Six years is a long time." giving a hopeful smile.

"No. Far from it, you're still in a risky situation. If you use your power sparingly, you should be back in perfect health in due time. If you sleep, you will recover sooner." The old wizard said, looking at Jack slightly irritated.

"How long would it take for me to fully recover then?" Jack asked, becoming increasingly more impatient.

"If you don't do anything stupid, it should take about 40 years to—"

"40 years?! Are you serious?" Jack yelled in a high pitched voice.

"Let me finish." The old man hit Jack on the head. This was becoming an enjoyable activity for Ombric. "If you rest, it should only take another 15 years..."

"Fifteen is still way too much! I have to get out of here! Who knows what could happen to Arendelle! What if… what… if…" Jack stuttered as golden dreamsand began floating over his face before falling asleep.

"Ah, finally, our guest of honor has arrived! Welcome to Santoff Claussen, Mr. Mansnoozie, and not a moment too soon." Ombric said excitedly, bowing to his guest. The Sandman tipped his bright gold hat to his old friend. "Come in, come in. Katherine will be preparing supper!"

"Hello, hello, hello! Anybody in there?"

"Five more minutes…" Jack mumbled.

"What's the point of five more minutes when you're still asleep, hmm?" The voice asked.

"Wait, I'm dreaming?" Jack asked as he looked up to a room filled with balloons. "Oh yeah, this is definitely a dream. No doubts about it."

"You might be dreaming, but that doesn't make this place a dream. I'm sure that will make sense." The spry man giggled, skipping around Jack. The floating boy began taking in his surroundings. He always seems to find himself in oddly unfamiliar places. The more he looked around, the more amazed he became. He was in a room with thousands upon thousands of colorful balloons in what appeared to be a glowing bright cavern. There were little brass-like toy soldiers rushing around the cavern, migrating stray balloons to the piles while others seemed to be running some unfamiliar contraptions and devices that lined the walls of the cave.

"Okay, it's certain, I'm definitely dreaming. Man, this is one hell of a dream." Jack grinned at the scenery. It was absolutely magnificent.

"Again, you are asleep but this isn't a dream. Stop being silly!" the small man grinned. Jack took a better look at this happy looking individual. He was dressed in all white attire with a vibrant red bow tie. He was a tiny man with a childlike face and a single strand of white hair standing on his shiny head. The man smiled brightly.

"Eh heh… Nice bow tie. Um, who are you?" Jack asked the cheerful man as he watched him skip over to one of the brass soldiers.

"Why thank you! I've always thought that bow ties were a bit cool. Oh, oh, how rude of me! I've known you for so long but this is the first time you are meeting me." The man in white hopped over to Jack's side. "It's nice to meet you, Jack. My name is Tsar Lunar the Twelfth of the House of Lunanoff. Though, that is far too long so I prefer using North's lovely nickname for me, Manny." The small man grinned, sitting on a brass chair next to the winter guardian.

"Okay then, Manny it is. Wait, Manny? Manny as in…" Jack stumbling on his words. "Man on… Man on the… the Moon?" Jack shot up, glaring at the man in white. Questions began screaming from his eyes.

"Quite so, quite so! Although, it would be far more accurate to say the Man 'in' the Moon." Manny chuckled then looking to his watch under his sleeve. "Oh dear, we have far too little time for further formalities. Jack, it is time to return to Arendelle."

"Hold on! I have to ask you so many things! So many questions, where do I even—" Jack was cut off as Manny put a finger up to his mouth.

"It is not yet the time nor the place to do this. Fear in Arendelle is growing stronger and I've given the task to you. Also, remember to keep a smile. You are the Guardian of Fun you know!" Manny chuckled again, poking Jack on the chest.

"But, there is so much I need to know. There is so—" Jack was interrupted again by Manny.

"It's time to wake up Jack and I wish you luck. I know you will do just fine. I'm the one that picked you." The tiny man smiled one last time before placing his palm on Jack's head and pushing him down.

"Wait!" Jack shot up from his bed.

"Oh my!" a feminine voice shrieked. "You startled me. Are you alright?"

Jack looked over to see another unfamiliar face. Instead of the tall, scrawny old man that would hit him on the head, there sat a fair young lady. She wore a yellow fur-coat and had auburn hair. Jack was speechless, observing all of her features as if looking through a magnifying glass. Her face began to blush.

"Um, are you alright?" The woman asked shyly. "You've been asleep for a while. Would you like something to eat?"

"Asleep?" Jack still slightly dazed before coming out of his trance. "Asleep! Right! Arendelle! I'm sorry, I've gotta go." he cried out, grabbing his staff at his bedside. The wind blew open the window and he zipped off."

"Wait! Come back! Oh my, Ombric's gonna be upset about this." The voice stuttered. Suddenly, the wooden door slammed open. North bolted to the open window and looked outside of it. He looked over to the bed and then back to the lady in yellow.

"Kathrine! You alright?" North asked cautiously, checking for any injured. "What happened to Overson?"

She paused for a moment. "I think he's heading towards Arendelle."

Jack was soaring at lightning speed. He was vaguely following the path he had taken before. His thoughts were troubled; he could only wonder how long he'd been asleep and what horrible events could have occurred during his slumber. Relief began setting in; he could clearly see Arendelle safe and sound. However, he couldn't shake off the feeling of despair in the air, the very same despair he felt upon his first visit.

"Please be okay, please be okay." Jack started chanting to himself. He was only moments away from the castle. Feelings of insecurity began enveloping him as he looked down to the Arendelle people dressed in black. His eyes shot to the castle for the iconic frosted window he's been associating with bad news. He found it in a different location, however. It was a few rooms to the left and one floor down from where it usually was. He bolted to the window to see if he could see through it. Nothing, it was totally frosted opaque. He flew back in search of another point of entry. Bingo. One of the maids was about to shut the door to the courtyard. He threaded his way through the crack.

"Like a glove!" Jack smirked. He continued to fly his way through the large castle. All the lights were heavily dimmed and the halls felt empty, far emptier than before. It almost seemed abandoned. Suddenly, something caught his attention. He landed softly to the ground, slowly making his way through the grand hall.

No… It can't be… He saw a portrait veiled in black silk between very dimly lit candles. The light of the window shined on the veil just enough to see the portrait. He knew who they were. The portrait displayed the king and queen of Arendelle standing side by side. Moving closer to the painting, Jack pressed his hand against the black silk fabric, gritting his teeth. He mourned there in silence.

*Knock, knock, knock*

Jack's head rapidly turned around to the sound of the knocks. He leaped forward and continued his way through the halls in search of the source.

"…what are we gonna do?" The voice paused for a moment. "Do you want to build a snowman?" the voice sighed in sorrow. Jack found the voice. There was a girl with ginger braided hair sitting against the door. She was dressed in all black attire with gold embroidering and a black cap. Her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs, she sat there quietly with tears forming over her eyes, silently crying.

Jack stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. What could he do to help? He was too busy being asleep for god knows how long. Without an answer to his question, he stood there in silence looking down to the floor. This is my fault…

He sat there silently until she was asleep at the door. He pulled himself up with his staff and walked over to the fragile girl. Lifting her from the ground and carrying her to a less drafted room. While picking her up, he noticed a slight frost underneath the crack of the door. This wasn't the time for that, however, he had to lay the sleeping girl somewhere before people started thinking she could fly.

Jack flew her a few halls down into the dining room where he had seen a long couch cushion. He laid her across the cushions and grabbed a towel from the kitchen to use as a blanket. He pulled up a chair to face her direction and sat there, idly. With his staff on his lap, he tilted his head down and rested his eyes. He was determined to light up her eyes again but it would not be today. He only hoped that it would be someday.