Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.

It's my second time writing this because I wanted to make it superb, which it probably is not.

Enjoy.

Chapter Two:

Bunnymund takes a step back in thought. If the Guardians—including himself, of course—are here for the particular reason that is lost memories, why on all of Earth does the name Jackson Overland sound completely unfamiliar, and what does he, a simple human, have to do with any of the spirits? How is Jackson Overland involved with them, the Guardians?

The moonbeam on the end of Nightlight's staff blurs each of their visions, but captivates the youngest Guardian in a way not even The Man in the Moon can compete with. Blue eyes trail along the rocky gravel, all the way until the beam illuminates a light straight over the memorial pit. This is when Nightlight stops, ushers Jack further to the precise location, and waits as he, Pitch, and the rest of the Guardians watch.

Innocently watch.

Large shines of the moonbeam display themselves through spurts of dimming and brightening flicks, the pit glowing with warning at the threatening presence, but only Jack can see through the brightness. Fantastically enough, his eye sockets are still intact as his friends cover their own eyes with their different sized hands.

From within the hole, the light summons the fragrances into the air. They float until they form the face of a little boy with wide, sparkling eyes and a grin full of crystal jewels.

"Woah . . ." Jack breathes out in enrapture. He gazes at Nightlight. "Is that . . . ?"

The boy blinks gently, searching Jack's eyes and sees knowledge burning in them. "Yes," he tells him, smiling, "you are correct."

Jack points at the fire emitting pit confusedly, beginning to ask a question, "Why did you—" But he's interrupted by a whooshing sound as the light surrounds the pit only and leaves the previous brightness it adorned. The Guardians drop their numb arms which fall to their sides with relief, and Nightlight turns away, choosing not to answer the winter spirit.

Pitch smirks.

A gust of fresh, cold wind circulates around all of them and Sandy, North, Tooth and Bunnymund hold in their gasps as it knocks them off of their feet harshly. On the opposite end, Jack likes it—he is breathing it all in. Some air envelopes in and throughout the crannies of Jack's fingertips, he himself lifting his hands closer to the wind source with an expression of pleasure on his face. The snow colored fragrances slip through Jack's hair with ease and the other Guardians notice that his hair turns a darker than before chocolate shade. Furthermore, his eyes change from clear lakes to match his hair.

Never before did Jack Frost think he would get his hair dyed so much.

He saunters towards a nearby puddle and looks in to see clear water and himself . . . his reflection staring back at him. But it doesn't look like him. It looks similar but different to Jack Frost and instead resembles Jackson Overland; and that scares him to the core, because he knows what this means. He's merely waiting for confirmation to which he is sure he'll decline.

No one's looking into his past. They can't and he won't let them, because they'll look at him differently.

The winter spirit gives a disbelieving shake of his head, not knowing what to think about the sudden change. He can still feel the shocks which created the aftermath of his hair coloring and they're like pricks of needles piercing through his skull. It's rapid, wicked, pulsing and excruciatingly painful. For a second, he believes he can feel his head cracking and collapsing into ash on the rocky canvas below him.

Yellow eyes don't leave him, either, as he scratches his face and pulls on his hair. They take in every moment that Jack does this, and take in the scene of an absolutely ruffled, ludicrous appearance and exterior of the youngest Guardian.

Pitch goes to talk, but Nightlight shoots a blast of hot dust at him, zipping his mouth shut.

"For now your two cents is irrelevant, Bogeyman," he says coldly.

Tooth stares as the essence disappears and returns back to the memorial pit. Lastly, her eyes land on Jack and all that he carries—he's scowling, so she flies over to him.

"Jack?" she asks, looking concerned.

He glances at her, seeming slightly out of it. He tries to give her a smile, but he can feel eyes still following his every movement and this causes him to fumble a bit with his sweater sleeves. "I'm fine, Tooth."

She frowns. "Don't lie to me, Jack, I can tell something's wrong."

The spirit laughs weakly, mumbling just loud enough for her to hear, "I'm not. I don't like to lie."

Little does she know that he just lied.

Deciding she isn't going to get anywhere, the Tooth Fairy nods hesitantly and floats away, only looking back once to check and see if she really should leave him by himself. He just smiles when she does.

The Guardians huddle up, with the exception of one, around Nightlight. They look determined and ready for some more answers to their thoughts, and the armored boy nods his assent politely, swallowing and readying himself for a huge amount of speaking.

North is the first one to say something aloud. "So vat exactly is going on?"

"And who is Jackson Overland?" Bunnymund questions with a little curious crinkle of his nose. "Another ankle biter to add to the pack?"

Sandy scratches his head, nodding and forming a question mark above his head in agreement.

Nightlight holds up his hand. "One at a time, please."

The Guardians look at each other, all of their faces showing the same emotion. The playful twinkle in Nightlight's eye is certainly there, but they don't seem to catch it before he's going off on a long, but soft due to his quieter than usual voice, explanation.

"The Man in the Moon called on me to aid him in his duty with Pitch Black, the Nightmare King, because he reported about an absence of Toothiana's memory box which belongs to, as you know, Jackson Overland. He told me that I must find Pitch and receive the Guardians, and I evidently did as he asked by opening a portal of three dimensional walls; each wall can be activated by simply pushing on it and the path shall be revealed to you. Any questions so far?" Everyone looks at one another but don't say anything, so he takes that as a cue to continue. "I happened to find the Bogeyman here by coincidence, but it was a lucky coincidence since it makes my work easier. Now, the only way that dissolved teeth can regain their lives is by getting the owner in the flesh and opening a pathway to their memories."

"But what if the owner is dead?" Tooth asks. "And how are we connected to him?"

"Yeah, mate, and there's a problem. We don't have the bloody kid and the last name Overland has been outdated for centuries."

Nightlight raises a mischievous eyebrow, walking over to Jack who's sitting on a rock, tossing pebbles into the pond in front of him. He drags him towards the rest of the Guardians and makes him stand up tall so they can clearly see him. Jack's eyes are wide and befuddled and he looks as conflicted as ever, but unsure of what he should do, so Nightlight gestures towards him.

The Guardians get the clue.

"Wait," Bunnymund goes, but no one stops to listen to him as they gape, so he belts out, "Crikey, don't leave a Pooka hanging!"

With that, all of their heads whip to the rabbit and he stands firm.

"So, all this time Frostbite's been the ankle biter?"

Jack glares, hiding his anxiety with being peeved. "Hey! I'm not a child."

"Compared to us you are, mate." Tooth makes her way over to Bunnymund and slaps him upside the head. "Ow! What the bloody hell was that for?"

"This is serious, so you two don't need to be bickering," she glares, crossing her arms.

Bunnymund knows her. She thinks she's being tough, dominant or whatever you want to consider it, but she's not. She looks like she's overcompensating, what with the pursed lips and heavy held jaw line; her feathers never shake like they are doing now.

He snickers, but composes himself with an apology when she narrows her eyes like a hawk again, because sometimes—sometimes—her glares can be frightening and full of vexation.

North steps in, starting up another topic of conversation. "Pitch must be here. Why?"

"I want him to witness the life of Jack and maybe he will possibly feel bad about trying to destroy his memories," the boy answers heatedly with a rise in the volume of his tone, gazing at the figure which is now hiding back inside of the shadows. All there is left to the eye is a multitude of manipulated shadow creatures perking and soaring and riding in the middle of nonexistence, the signature 'appeal' of Pitch Black being there. For once, he's not underneath children's beds.

The Guardians all glare at him, like their eyes are guns and all they have to do to set them off are to blink. Jack is the only one who is trying not to let the King's golden eyes send shivers down his spine.

"Coward," Bunnymund mumbles under his breath. His eyes are wildfire, hot and spreading in insane amounts.

Sandy hits his curled fist with his palm, looking irritated.

With a tap of his staff on the ground that makes an echo of a din, Nightlight begins walking towards the memorial pit and shoots one look behind himself at the Guardians, telling them to follow him. They do, and out of the corner of his eye, the firefly like boy watches the Bogeyman play with the shadows, whispering unparticular nothings to them with insincerity, and he gives the King a knowing look.

Pitch's eyes are diverted, decidedly not looking at the ex-Man in the Moon counterpart, but Nightlight knows he can see him looking at him. He's just being unwilling.

When Bunnymund and Tooth reach the pit, they stare into it with complete surprise. Sandy, North and Jack stare at it with familiar emotions circling and mixing throughout their eyes thorough and thorough. They're peering at the absolute—the entire embodiment of someone's past life—and inside the white fragrances are twisting and churning like butter, giving small jerks that switch to new vivid pictures, resembling a film being cut into sections. It's the timeline of human recollection, a playback of troubles, mistakes and forevermore.

But a lot of mistakes.

"Bogeyman," Nightlight calls, loud and uncaring, and said man whips his head to look at the boy. "Come join the Guardians and me."

He doesn't move. "Tough luck."

"Now, Pitch."

Chuckling, the Nightmare King slams his palm against the side of the cave wall, creating a sound of ruckus. It startles Tooth and Bunnymund, who were previously captivated by the moving filmography behind them.

"I'm afraid I'm coming," Pitch says mockingly, trudging to where they are. Sandy glares at him.

Clearing his throat, Nightlight speaks up. "Now that we are moving on, I would like to stress the importance of safety when we choose it is time for each of us to jump together."

Bunnymund's eyes widen like orbits. "Jump as in a hop or a leap?"

"Yes."

Tooth giggles girlishly, looking excited. Her shoulders go from side to side as her body swerves and her eyes are wide—like Bunnymund's, but for another reason—in a dramatic manner, showing childish wonder.

"Wow!"

Bunnymund looks like he's going to be sick. "That's a hellish hole, mate!"

Jack can't help but give a teasing smirk. "You're a Kangaroo! You jump around all day, what's so different about now?"

"I didn't know icicles had big mouths—"

"Bunny!" Tooth growls.

"What?"

"Stick to topic," North says, barging into the conversation. He shows annoyance on his face with clear obviousness; the only way it can be more obvious is if he tapes a piece of paper to his forehead which says 'Annoyed'.

While Jack and Bunnymund give each other death glares, Nightlight finishes talking.

"It is not going to be a hard fall and in fact, I assure you all that none of you will have any complaints afterwards. Once you jump, you are, in other words, soaring through memories. When we are together, scenes will change like underwear does every day and no walking or flying is involved." He winks at Tooth. "But unless everyone is holding onto one another, someone or some of you might end up in another date of Jackson's life."

Jack looks reluctant, giving a false smile. "Do we have to go through with this? I mean, can't I go in alone or something?"

"Why would you want to go 'lone, Jack?" North questions with bewilderment.

He sighs, scratching his head with a short quirk of his eyebrows. "Some things are meant to be kept a secret."

"You know our pasts, Frostbite, so it's only fair we know yours too."

Nightlight pats Jack's shoulder comfortingly. "We are far from judgemental."

Tooth smiles. "Yeah, we're your friends, Jack!"

Despite his rapid heart, despite the pulsing of his veins and the articulate sound of his brain buzzing in his ears that reminds him so much of an unforgettable death he's experienced, Jack lets out a tense, drawled breath and finds himself feeling less than anxious; he's merely worried. But with the genuine expressions on the other Guardians' faces and on Nightlight's, he can't help but believe them. Despite it all.

He tells himself to ignore the scorn in Pitch's eyes, but he talks before his brain can tell him 'stop!'

"Why did you do it?"

The Bogeyman looks down on him, smiling with taunt. Jack's avoiding his eyes, not feeling confident enough to look into them; he's too vulnerable.

"I was bored."

And Jack realizes this isn't the truth. Pitch Black had wanted Jack Frost to ache for defeating him, no matter the continuous guilt having flashed in Jack's eyes when he'd visited the King—he knows the feelings of loneliness and they're not pleasant. Pitch wanted heartache and worst of all, for Jack to fear him.

The winter spirit glances back at Nightlight, fire flaming in his eyes enveloped with a daring attitude and he nods his affirmation.

"Screw it."

Nightlight assembles them all together with a respectful smile. They grab onto each other's arms and hands, golden eyes flashing sympathy in the far corner of Nightlight's eyes; they show the emotion when he stares into the essences of Jackson Overland's memories right before they make a dive for it.

And then they jump into the pit.