sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry for taking so long for this next chapter, I've been getting grounded a lot. (I'm actually grounded right now haha #rebellion)

now in the words of insanepanda, "is it just me, or do these chapters keep getting longer?" what do you all think of longer chapters? good, bad, or both?

a quick thanks to ALL of the amazing people that followed, favorite, and reviewed my last chapter. I JUST LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

anyway...TO THE STORY!

Bunnymund sat next to Jack's bed with his paws on his ice-cold hands, like he had for the past week.

Jack has yet to wake up, and with the new information from Kozmotis, he was worried, more than he actually thought he would be.

He stared at Jacks face, his eyes were closed hiding the stunning sapphire blue, his cheeks were still flushed red from his high temperature, and his lips that usually wore a smirk were pressed into a frown.

Bunnymund, not for the first time that week – and certainly not for the last – wondered to himself. If he had paid more attention to the youth instead of arguing and criticizing him at every turn, maybe he could have seen all the signs of depression in Jack before things had gone this far. Maybe then, they wouldn't be in this situation.

"You do know it's not your fault, right?" came a voice from the doorway.

Aster looked up, startled – very few things could escape his hyper-aware rabbit senses. The voice, turned out to be from Kozmotis. Not surprising, since he had been trained in battling Fearlings, and they are very sneaky little buggers. It only made sense if he was as sneaky as them.

"I know," Aster let out a soft breath. "It's just that, I feel like I could have done more to help him." Aster then let out a dark chuckle, "and it wasn't like my criticisms affected him or anything…" His sarcastic remark didn't go unheard by Pitch.

Pitchiner pulled up a chair from the side of the room over to the opposite side of the bed and stared the Pooka in the eyes.

"Maybe so. But you never knew what he was going through, you only knew the reckless and carefree Jack Frost. If anyone is to blame here, it would be me."

Kozmotis' face morphed into a deeply regretful look and had no small amount of self-loathing in his eyes.

"I was the one to give him nightmares to prove and even spark some of his 'theories'." He had encouraged poisonous lies that ate through Jack's system, planted doubt and self-hatred when there was none. Truly, he was a despicable being.

"But that wasn't really you right? It was the Shadows and Fearlings." Aster tried to cheer up the newest Guardian, "and we can tell that you care for the lil' snowflake."

Kozmotis closed his eyes and grimaced. "Of course, I care. He's my great grandson."

He could only cause pain to all who he holds dear – his wife, his parents, his daughter. He had always kept a watchful eye on his daughter after he murdered her mother and grandparents in cold blood in front of her.

Aster blinked, surprised at this new information.

'This might explain why he tried so desperately to recruit Jack.' Bunny mused. He knew how that felt – that desperateness to be with his family. His ears drooped slightly, as he remembered his family.

Aster shook his head slightly to get rid of those bittersweet memories and cleared his throat.

"So when you tried to get Jack to join you..." Aster trailed off, wincing slightly at Kozmotis self-deprecating face.

Kozmotis looked at Jacks peaceful face. "He refused, you know. But that just made me want to make things worse for him."

He whispered sadly. "He was so afraid of the nightmares. So terrified, he stopped sleeping. He hasn't slept in 126 years. If he wasn't a Spirit, he would have died a long time ago."

Pitch tucked a stray lock of hair behind Jack's ear before continuing, "his lack of sleep caused the effects of depression to set in deeper, so this," he gently rubbed Jacks bandaged arm, "is all my fault."

Aster saw a tear roll down the Golden General's cheek. He quickly averted his eyes to let Pitchiner compose himself, while he tried to puzzle out what Pitch had said.

He was more than a little confused. "I thought Pitch offered an alliance 2 years ago? How did it turn out to be more than 126 years?"

"That was the third time." Kozmotis answered his question. Bunny was surprised; he didn't realize that he had spoken out loud.

He thought deeply to himself, 'Jack had 3 chances to not be alone, albeit it was a rather poor choice of company, but he had the chances. Why did he refuse it? In fact, an even better question, where were they when he was alone for 300 years?"

It was cold and dark. He could feel the chill right down to his bones. But that wasn't right… He never felt cold. Not since he became the Spirit of Winter.

Jack shivered at the unnatural cold and darkness; ignoring the harsh whispers that had been tormenting him for years.

"He hatessss you." "You dissssgusstsss himmm." "No one likesss the lonely frossstt Sssprittt."

Jack shuddered and tried desperately to escape from the taunting whispers.

"… disssslike…"

"… hatteessss!"

"… ALONE..."

He curled up into a ball with his hands pressed at his ears and screamed.

Bunnymund's eyes immediately shot down to Jack's face. His eyelids were fluttering. He felt hope surging through him. Jack was waking up!

The hope immediately wilted when he saw Pitch's face. He was completely pale and fear was evident in his usually composed face.

"H-hey… what's wron-"

His question was interrupted by blood curdling scream.

Bunny looked in utter horror at Jack. His face was pinched in pain and his fists were white knuckled from clenching them so hard. However, what made him lose all colour was his eyes. They were completely black. There was no pupil, no sclera, just round balls of shifting black and shadows.

"What the hell!" Bunny yelled, jumping up from his seat. "What's happenin'!? What's happenin' to 'im?!"

"It's too soon." Pitch muttered to himself, as he wrung his hands together with a panicked look in his eyes. "Much too soon."

"What's too soon?!" Bunnymund lost all composure. The sight of Jack screaming his lungs out and black eyes rolling in his sockets was nerve wrecking for him. He gritted his teeth and reached a paw to stop his struggles.

"STOP!" Pitch's loud command made him freeze and retract his paw. Just as his paw went back to his side, Jack started hacking up dark liquid.

Aster's blood ran cold at the sight.

"It's not blood. It's just shadows. Just ensure that you don't touch any of it." Pitch murmured as he rummaged the first aid cupboard. Aster felt marginally better at that comment but he still couldn't help flinching when ever Jack coughs out a spat of Shadow.

Kozmotis walked up to Jack who was struggling lesser now and was spending more energy puking out the oily dark Shadows tainting his system. He unwrapped the bandages on the boy's arm and quickly stuck the needle into his arm and pulled it out.

Aster could see its effect immediately. Jack stopped coughing out shadows and slumped back into a seemingly peaceful slumber. He looked at Jack's eyes: his beautiful blue eyes were now a dark dull blue and his sclera was grey instead of white. He sighed and reached out a paw to close his eyes.

"Wha' was that stuff?" Aster asked, covering Jack back up with the special blanket North had made to keep him cold rather than warm.

"Pure light, it had to be injected inside of him because that was the only way to get it to his heart." Kozmotis said while throwing the empty needle into a hazardous waste bin.

"His heart?" Bunymund asked, alarmed.

"Yes. Shadows and Fearlings have a very specific way of warping their host's body to their needs." Kozmotis said with a matter of fact tone. "First, they attack the host's mind, then their heart and after that, their very soul."

Aster watched Pitchiner clear up the shadows with bursts of light.

"And I don't suppose that episode meant that," Bunny coughed, clearing his suddenly dry throat. "… that Jack's soul is…"

"Under siege of the Shadows attack? Yes. Yes, it is." Bunnymund ground his teeth together, with his temper flaring up. Why is that wanker acting so calm about this!? Jack's life is in danger!

Aster glared at him in the eyes but as soon as his eyes met Kozmotis', his wrath fell flat. He knew when someone was faking nonchalance. After all, he saw that same look on his mirror multiple times.

Clenching his fists and flopping back to his seat, he stared at Jack's peaceful face. How long did he hide his emotions? The Shadows eating through his mind, and heart and now, his soul? He closed his eyes and whispered, "How am I supposed to save you?"

"The light would be able to stop the Shadows for some time." Kozmotis said calmly, however his constant anxious wringing of his hands belied his true emotions.

"The only reason it took so long to affect Jack to this extent is because they enjoyed prolonging his pain. However now that their main source of power, me, has disappeared, Jack was their next viable source, and they would try to speed things up"

"Why?" Bunny demanded. "Was it because they were in him for a long time? Or was it because of his powers?"

Pitch stopped his hands and stared at it. "The fact that his ice powers are extremely strong was a bonus. The main reason was probably me."

"I had killed many of its kind. And so in turn, these sadistic beasts loved torturing me." Pitch clenched his hand and snarled out in soft yet deadly voice. "They murdered my parents and mother right in front of my daughter for that very reason. And now, they have turned their sights on my last remaining relative, Jack."

Pitch growled and soon, blood was seeping through his hands. He unclenched his fists and looked at the marks his nails made. He stared; fascinated at the blood flowing from the marks, down his palms, down his wrists… and a tissue stopped the blood's flow down his arms.

"I don't understand why your family is so interested in self-harm." Bunnymund huffed, as he pushed a roll of bandages to Pitch. He pulled his chair over to sit next to him.

As he watched Pitch tend to his wounds, he said softly, "I know you feel guilty over Jack. But it's not your fault. It's those damn shadowy buggers. If you wanna help Jack, stop acting all mopey and try to fix this!"

Pitch was silent for a few moments before speaking.

"If he has constant injections of light every two hours, he would last at the very most, 3 days."

Aster stared at him, horrified. Three days?! That's barely anytime to do anything.

"We would need a special Moon Flower called Lunaris. I know for a fact that M.I.M has a very well grown garden, but this flower is heavily protected." Pitchiner continued, not acknowledging Bunny's emotions.

"Well, that's fine! Manny could just give it to us!" Bunny exclaimed, looking relieved.

"No." Pitchiner shook his head. "M.I.M doesn't make those protections. The Lunaris is an extremely powerful flower that only allows worthy people to pluck it."

Bunny deflated. He should have known. Nothing was ever that easy.

"We would have to go through challenges to prove our worth before being able to pluck it and save Jack."

"B-but, what if we don't make it in time? What if we managed to pluck it, but Jack's too far gone for it to save him? What then?"

Bunny's furious questions were met with a helpless shrug.

"There has to be some other way… Some way…" Bunnymund muttered angrily to himself as he paced the room.

"Ah!" Bunnymund brightened up as a thought struck him. "How did you get the Fearlings out of your body? Maybe we can do that."

Kozmotis winced, "I wouldn't recommend it. I was a very, very lucky case. The pain would have killed most people." He shuddered as he remembered the phantom pains.

Bunnymund sighed and looked at Kozmotis with a determined gleam in his eyes.

"I don't suppose we have a choice, then?"

"No, we don't."

what do y'all think? what should happen on the adventure? is Jack hiding anything else? and most importantly, WHERE THE HECK IS TOOTH, SANDY, AND NORTH?!

thank you insanepanda for being the best beta ever, and being a pretty awesome friend at the same time.

~TTFN~