Wow, I got four reviews yesterday from you wonderful people! *hugs* That's pretty phenomenal considering that this story has a hard time getting hits. Back in my most popular days on Fanfiction, I used to consider myself lucky to get one review for every ten hits. Yesterday though was the first time I ever got one review for LESS than ten hits on average! I didn't even know that could be done. Thank you! *hugs again*

So here's the next chapter, updated quickly as promised. Hope you all enjoy. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own ROTG. Aaaaand, I don't think I have enough creativity to write a creative disclaimer. Whatevs. You came to read the story anyway, haha.

There was something even more terrifying than being tormented by Chaos, and it was happening right next to me, though I didn't realize how scary it was at the time. All I noticed was that Brent seemed to be in a mood. Apparently he was lost in thought about something. I would soon learn not to allow him to do that for too long.

The three of us strolled along in some random direction for a while, none of us talking to each other except when Amanda would periodically comment on the scenery and demand a response from either of us. Otherwise, we had nothing we wanted to say. I was too busy trying to figure out what Sandy knew that he wouldn't tell, and Brent was thinking about who knew what. What I wouldn't have given to be Amanda right then, just able to take in the surroundings and somewhat enjoy herself despite what was going on around us.

"Jack," Brent said after quite some time of silence. I didn't acknowledge him, but he chose to continue speaking anyway. "That guy back there, the gray one… Pitch, was it?" I nodded, so he continued his speech. "Why does he call you 'Frost'?"

I shrugged, not really caring about the overly simplistic question when there were more important things to worry about. "It's just my name."

He was quick to pounce on that. "But I thought Jack was your name."

"Well, it is." My throat caught itself in a momentary stammer before I could conjure up more words to use to respond to Brent. Why was I suddenly so awkward? And why did Brent sound so accusatory? "Don't you have a last name?"

"Yep," he said, slyly dodging the question and not choosing to answer the unasked question of what that last name was. "But Frost is definitely not yours. Either that, or Jack isn't your first name."

Now this was getting annoying. I knew what he was getting at now, but I really didn't have time for this skeptical nonsense. I was too busy trying to figure out how to keep us all alive. He could question my identity another day. I rolled my eyes and turned to glare at him. "Look, I respect the fact that you're a skeptic, but can you please at least show a little respect to the guy who's trying to save your freaking life?"

Brent's mouth closed with an audible clap, and I snorted and stormed on ahead of the two of them. I didn't literally cause a storm to flare up, but I certainly felt like there was one inside of me at the moment, and I was striving to keep it from coming out. It was one thing for people to constantly argue that I didn't exist, but it was quite another for someone to say it to my face.

"Geez, man! I just want to know who I'm accompanying is all. Sheesh." I turned back and saw Brent pouting with his arms crossed as he stumbled forward. He'd sure recovered control of his mouth quickly. "It just seems awfully convenient that I crash in a snow storm and then wake up in a strange land with the girl in the other car and Jack Frost. I want to think I'm not making you guys up. But seriously, Jack Frost? Come on."

I trembled slightly as I stared at Brent, my jaw unhinging slightly as I let my mouth fall open. He was… "What did you say?"

"I said, 'come on'," he said.

I shook my head and waved that comment away. "No, no, before that. Something about the snow storm I can't remember. You were in the car that crashed into Amanda's?"

"Yeah." He shrugged in such a nonchalant way that I could feel the frost trickling out of my toes in frustration. How could he act like it was no big deal?

"And you never thought about telling me this before, why?"

"I didn't think it mattered." I was about to object, but he stopped me before I got the chance to yell when he added, "Besides, I thought it would upset Amanda."

Well, he had a point there. If I understood correctly, that crash had killed her mother. I didn't really want to make her think too hard on it, though I had to know more about it all the same. If Brent and Amanda had crashed into each other, then they weren't just two random people who happened to get roped into this. And the fact that it was during an out of control snow storm meant that I'd been involved too. But why couldn't I remember it? What had happened to make me lose control so badly?

I didn't know how to respond to that since he was absolutely right about the possibility of it upsetting Amanda. It would have been strange if she didn't get upset by it. Most kids would get upset at reminders of their mother's death, though there was a chance she didn't understand what had happened yet. But still…

"Anyway," I said, diverting the topic back to the place it had come from. "You didn't make us up, Brent. I wish you would just realize that already."

"Really?" he said as he placed his hands challengingly on his hips. "Then explain that thing that that Pitch guy said about me in a way that makes more sense."

"What thing?" I asked, shaking my head in bewilderment. "You really shouldn't take anything he said to heart. He does have a tendency to mix lies in with the truth in order to make it hurt more."

"Yeah, well…" He sighed and rubbed his arms as he attempted to comfort himself, but from what, I didn't know. "I'm pretty sure he was telling the truth this time. I mean really, what makes more sense than me really being Chaos on some other level?"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Okay, I try very hard not to swear, but that time deserved the reaction, even with Amanda present, though I admit that her hearing it left me with a twinge of guilt. "You're not Chaos, Brent. You're nowhere evil enough to be him."

A tug came at my sleeve, and I looked down to see a pitiful look on little Amanda's face. "Chaos is not evil. Be nice!"

I patted her head and apologized to her for saying what I'd said, since swearing in front of a little girl is a really bad thing for a Guardian to do, then said, "I suppose he's not entirely evil. I just don't know what he's trying to do with us."

"I'll tell you what he's doing," said Brent, and he sauntered up to me and stared me hard in the face. "I obviously conjured up Amanda to try and get some sort of peace for having crashed into her car, and then conjured you up too in order to have someone other than myself to blame, since you were the one responsible for the snow storm. And since I'm so juvenile, I just keep punishing you relentlessly. Pitch was right. I'm Chaos. How else would I understand precisely why I would do the things Chaos was doing?"

I clenched my hands and glared back at Brent for a while, not sure if there was anything safe to say in regards to this. He did have some interesting points, and for a moment he even had me wondering if he had somehow made me up and I was just a delusional figment, but I quickly shook that thought out of my head. I think, therefore I am. I wasn't just a figment of Brent's imagination, no matter how much he tried to argue otherwise. But it was rather difficult to argue against him on this matter.

Still, there was something he hadn't addressed yet. I pointed at him and said, "Alright, genius, answer me this: If you're Chaos, why did you attempt to give us a way out with the potions when you just conjured us up?"

Brent scoffed and threw his arms out as though I was a complete ignoramus, then cleared his throat and began to explain. "It was to give me hope, obviously. If one of you had vanished after taking that potion, I would have been able to keep thinking there was a way out of here. Did it never occur to you that no one even thought of having me take the potion? I said it should be you, and you insisted it should be Amanda. No one suggested me. I obviously am smart enough to create a completely convincing system that would keep me duped into thinking I could get out of here when I'm doomed to stay here for eternity."

I blinked. This guy was good. Nevermind that his theory was ridiculous, but it was clever, I had to admit. He was neglecting a key point again though. I placed my hands on my hips and smirked at him. "Alright then, Mr. Chaos, tell me this: If this was such a flawless system to fool you into having hope, then how did you figure it all out?"

"Because I'm smarter than I thought, apparently!"

I threw my hands up in the air and stalked off once again. There was just no reasoning with this boy today. I understood his need to be logical, but jumping to the conclusion of being Chaos simply because Pitch had pointed out the possibility was not logical in the slightest. It was just being gullible.

"Don't you get it, Jack?" Brent called after me. I tried to keep walking and just ignore him, but that didn't deter him in the slightest. "I'm probably dead!"

That made me stop in my tracks, but I didn't turn around to face him. What would I say? That he was clearly not dead because I could argue scientifically that he wasn't? How could I measure that on a scientific scale when we were currently inhabiting a world that wasn't even slightly scientific? How could I explain that he wasn't dead simply because I knew he wasn't?

I continued walking again, still not sure what to say, and suddenly wondering what was taking Chaos so long to get on with his next challenge. I probably shouldn't have jinxed it, because I suddenly felt a tingling sensation all over my body even as the landscape warped and twisted until it settled into an eerily familiar setting. I stopped walking for a moment and just stared, then slapped my face into my palm. "Great."

Amanda came running up next to me, and seeing how I was reacting, was quick to ask, "What's wrong, Jack?"

I sighed and raised my eyes to look at her, trying halfheartedly to smile, though I didn't succeed very well. "What's wrong is that Chaos is trying to humiliate me. Look at this!" I stretched my arms out wide for her to see in detail just what I was wearing, then shook my head so the bell on my stupid-looking hat tinkled in mockery of how I felt at the moment.

She giggled and clapped her hands several times. "You look funny!"

I snorted. "I'm aware." I then turned around to look for Brent. He wasn't too far off, but it seemed he'd forgotten how to walk, because he was just staring at me and refusing to budge. I rolled my eyes and called to him. "You coming? Or do you prefer to just stand around looking stupid?" Perhaps that was a little harsh, but it did the trick as he got self conscious and ran up to meet us.

"Alright, I know I have to be making all of this up now," he said as he took a moment to catch my breath. I crossed my arms and regarded him with a couple very angry eyebrows. He saw those eyebrows and felt the urge to explain himself. Eyebrows are good at getting people to talk sometimes.

"I mean, look at you!" He gestured over my body, drawing attention once again to a part of my past that I wished would have just stayed dead and buried. "Obviously only I would know that I tend to think of Jack Frost more like the old Rankin Bass movie than like… well… how you were before."

My hands went back to my hips and I leaned toward him intimidatingly. "Then why wasn't I dressed this way from the start, huh?"

"M-Maybe I just didn't know I wanted you to be Jack Frost?"

I rolled my eyes and stood back up straight, choosing not to respond to that. I was pretty sure he knew how weak that argument was anyway.

I wanted to get going and get through this challenge as soon as possible so I could get out of these stupid clothes. I would take my colonial clothes any day over these. But there was a slight problem, as I found myself unable to take a step forward due to the blasted shoes on my feet.

"Gah! Why did I insist on wearing these stupid things back then?" I knelt down to remove them since I was plenty used to going barefoot by now, but the things wouldn't come off. Chaos apparently didn't want me lessening this challenge by stripping off anything uncomfortable. Like the entire outfit. Great. I was just going to have to be this version of myself for however long he determined I had to be.

"That's a good question," said Brent. "Why did you insist on wearing those back then?"

I spied an opportunity and jumped back to my feet in the hopes of seizing it before it scurried away. "Because people used to believe in fairies more than they do now," I said. "I had hoped that if I dressed the way they believed elves to dress, that someone might notice me at some point."

Brent just chuckled, but at least I managed to get a slight smile out of him. "Did it work?"

"Psh!" I shook my head. "I got my first believer just a couple years ago. No, it didn't work."

"Pity," he said. "I'd have loved to have had someone actually see you in that getup."

"Well, congratulations, Brent. Now you have." I leaned forward and pinched him on the nose, then ran off before he could retaliate after realizing that Jack Frost had just nipped his nose.

I knew Brent wasn't exactly believing in me as of yet, but I was already seeing the genius of this challenge, despite the utter mortification of it. The setting, which was naturally just outside the little town depicted in the movie, was structured according to my memories, not according to the movie depiction. If I could point out details that he wouldn't have been able to think up, then he might start getting off his tangent of insisting he was Chaos.

I hated these shoes. They needed to die. Especially when I tripped over them and fell face first into the snow. Brent and Amanda came running up after that, laughing at my fate as I sat up grumbling.

Brent raised an eyebrow amid his laughter. "Jack Frost trips on snow?"

I stuck my tongue out at him then met his amusement with a scowl. "Yes, Jack Frost trips on snow. Deal with it." I bet that was something he would never have guessed.

Brent scratched the back of his head as he pondered that one. It must have been a very strange thought to him that the bringer of winter wasn't completely immune to winter's influences. "Huh," he said. "Wouldn't have guessed." See? I was right.

I stood back up and promptly flicked his nose. "There's a lot you don't know about me, Brent."

As he flailed at having me attack his nose once again, Amanda tugged on my sleeve and looked up at me with a pair of adorable little puppy dog eyes. "What's the matter, sweetheart?"

"Jack," she said, "where's your staff? You said you needed it."

I chuckled and then squatted down so I was able to be at eye level with her. This was going to be challenging to explain. "Honestly… well, how do I explain this?" I sighed as I wracked my brain for words. No good ones came to mind. Oh well. I guessed I would have to use pathetic words. "I guess you could say that my clothes are my staff this time."

Her eyes grew wide, and her fingers trailed over my sleeves as she tried to solve the mystery I'd just put before her. "Your staff turned into funny clothes?"

I laughed again, then shook my head in awkwardness and amusement. This was awfully hard to explain, and I'd hoped no one would ever ask me. "Well, no. Or yes. I guess it's kind of both." I coughed, then turned to face Brent. "You know about that cat they talk about in sciencey things that they say is both living and dead because they don't know what it is?"

Brent snorted and looked like he was about to die from how I talked about science, but I could tell that he knew exactly what I was talking about. "That's called Shrodinger's Cat, Jack. At least learn the term before trying to talk science."

"Psh!" I waved my hand dismissively at him. "I don't know anything about science. I'm talking magic. Anyway…" I turned back to face Amanda. "I guess you could say that these clothes enhance my natural magic. My staff is in them in a way, though they're not really my staff. You could say it's kind of both at once, though I know that's hard to understand." Amanda nodded faithfully. I knew her little noggin was having a hard time wrapping its mind around this concept, but at least she was trying. I had no idea whether Brent was following me or not, but I didn't really care. He needed to be confused every so often.

Brent started laughing. "So if you take off your clothes, would you turn human?"

I rolled my eyes at Brent again. He was such a dimwit today. "If it were that easy, I would have done so a long time ago."

That caused Brent to scratch his head again as he tried to solve the puzzle that was me. "Wait, are you saying that you actually want to be human?"

But I had already stood up and started walking away, and I refused to answer him.

Anybody have any idea what's going on yet? Don't fret if you don't, since most people have a hard time figuring it out before chapter 12 it seems. (I've checked with a few people. That seems to be the breaking point. Though some people figure it out before then.) If not chapter 12, then you'll probably get it by chapter 13. I'm curious to know your theories though if you have them.

Also, I was wondering if any of you might be willing to enlighten me as to what made you click on this story and any possible ideas as to how to draw other readers in. This story has gotten the least number of hits thus far out of any of my stories ever, which baffles me since I think this is some of my better writing. Figured I might as well ask my readers if they knew what might be going on with that, since I'm honestly clueless. *chuckles*

Again, as before, if you'd like me to upload the next chapter quickly, just give me some reviews. Not picky on the content of them or on how many of them I get. I just don't want this story to die. I'll make sure to respond to all signed reviews too. That reviewer yesterday who simply wrote, "Review" made me laugh so hard. (Actually, all of your reviews made me laugh. You all had a bit of snark, which really made my day, haha. Thank you.)

Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I look forward to seeing you again next time! :)