Hey everyone. Sorry to have not updated this, or 'While You Were Sleeping'. I received a few very nasty flames (negative reviews) that pretty much killed my muse. Mainly because they didnt' target my writing or my grammar/spelling, they came after my kids.

My kids. Who have absolutely nothing to do with my writing or what I write about.

Clearly, whoever wrote the reviews was rightfully convinced that leaving them with a signed review would have consequences, as I would have done my best to report them and get them removed from the site. You don't attack or threaten someone's kids. That's not petty, its cruel and more than a little psychotic.

So I'm asking all of you who are clearly more civilized that those three ignorant reviewers; please help me get my muse back. I would really like to hear from you all in reviews for this story.

'I am hiding from some beast
But the beast was always here
Watching without eyes
Because the beast is just my fear
That I am just nothing
Now its just what I've become
What am I waiting for
Its already done'
The Bravery, "Believe"

Chapter 6

"Now here, dear Jack, is where you come in."

Blue eyes went wide in bewilderment. "Huh? Me? What exactly do you want me to do? I thought you said you couldn't interfere."

"I can't, this is true."

Jack shrugged in confusion. "So then what do you need me for? You want me to go do some kind of Time-thingy merge and put my memories in that world's me?"

Tempus stared at him, giving the spirit the impression of 'you're an idiot, but I'm too polite to tell you so.' "Ah, no. No, kiddo, that is not how it works. All those cartoons and stories about people just hopping over to another dimension or into their own past and shaking hands with their other self, that's a complete load of tripe. The same person cannot exist twice in the same dimension or timeline. You would cancel each other out in a matter of seconds, not merging, but disintegrating. In a rather gory fashion."

Jack winced. "Forget I said anything."

"I do have something in mind for you though. I could not come to help you in your previous life, nor could I convince the Lunarian to do so- "

"What? You mean, you-tried to get Manny to talk to me? But he never did! Why wouldn't he? Did he tell you why he wouldn't listen to me?" the young man asked angrily.

Tempus breathed out slowly. "Yes, he told me. It was to keep the Nightmare King from noticing you. Remember when you first saw Pitch at the Tooth Palace, how he dismissed you as nothing but a minor spirit, some nuisance that wasn't worth worrying about?"

Jack smirked. "Yeah, I remember. I made him pay for that, too."

"That was the Lunarian's plan all along. I certainly disagree with how he carried that plan out, but it did make a certain sort of sense," Tempus explained. "If he had guided you into more of your abilities, you would have gained followers, thousands of believers. And Pitch Black would most certainly have heard of you. Think of this, kiddo; if Pitch Black had seen you as a powerful spirit, he would have already made plans to work around you, or to kill you as quickly as he could.

"That the Boogeyman knew nothing of you, was Manny's biggest trump card against him. He ignored you to keep Pitch ignorant of his most powerful Guardian, gambling that it would all be over in that one last fight that he foresaw. Sadly, that plan failed." Tempus looked Jack right in the eyes. "I, kiddo, can do nothing to change things. But I can send someone that can. That is, if you want to do this."

"If I want...?"

"I do not wish to push you into something you do not want to do," Tempus said quietly. "You have more than earned your rest, and no one would blame you for leaving for the Afterlife to be with your family and friends."

"I..." Jack closed his eyes, desires warring in his heart. If I leave, I'll see North and Sandy and Tooth, I'll see my family and Jamie and Sophie. I'll see Aster. I want that so much! I just want all of this to be over, dammit, I'm so tired! I hurt so much, and Aster, oh MiM, I want to be with Aster so much! But...but if I turned my back on this chance, how would I be able to look him in the eyes if I saw him? How could I look any of them in the eyes? "I'll do it. I want to help however I can. If I didn't...what kind of person would that make me? Tell me what I can do."

Tempus smiled." Then I will send you to help. I will reverse time enough to send you into the world on the day that Jack Frost was, *ahem*, 'born."

The winter spirit blinked in confusion. "Wha... But-you said two Jack Frosts can't exist in the same timeline!"

"And you can't. But if you were someone else, then there would be no conflict, would there?"

Jack gave the Time Master a wary look, not liking where this was going. "What exactly do you have in mind?"

"Oh," the Time spirit grinned," you'll see. Now before we get into the details, let me ask you something, Jack. What would have mattered more to you when you first came to be? Having many believers that barely knew you, but knew of you; or a handful of believers that you knew and cared for you in return?"

Jack closed his eyes, thinking of the close friendship he had shared with his very first believer, Jamie Bennet. He could never forget the memories he had made with the boy over the course of his mortal life. Jack had been there when Jamie had grown up, gone to high school, gotten a girlfriend, broke-up with said girlfriend, went to college, found a fiance, got married, and even named his first born son after Jack. In all that time, 78 years of Jamie's life, the human had never forgotten or stopped believing in him. Jamie had remained faithful and true, and the Guardian of Fun would never, ever forget the love and belief he had been given by his very first friend. Jack would never trade that love and bond for anything in the world, not even every child on Earth believing in him.

"No contest there, Tempus," the winter spirit said quietly. "A few believers that know me, every time."

The Master of Time nodded in approval. "Honestly, I have looked into it and you could have easily had a small amount of believers and still have remained unknown to the Nightmare King. A few children, scattered throughout the world, would be more than enough to boost your power, and to help you, or rather, Jack, not feel so alone. He would need to be taught how to find and convince these children, without frightening them. He would need to be taught how to use the vast powers he has, how to harness his own strength, and a teacher would certainly help with that."

"Yeah, no kidding," Jack said quietly. "But if I can't go there, how can I help?"

"Oh, but you will go there, to guide and protect this young spirit as the Man in the Moon should have," Tempus said, before pausing. "You might not like this part. You would have to assume a new form, a completely different body, even a different history. You would not have any power over Winter or the North Wind. You would have to become someone very different from what you are now."

Jack had a bad feeling about this. "...how...how different are we talking?

The Master of Time smiled mischievously. "I will show you." Tempus bid Jack stand, and then waved the black staff over the boy. Light flowed slowly over the winter spirit, and when it faded, there stood a teenaged Pooka. The Time spirit formed a mirror in front of the boy, letting him take a look at his new appearance.

Jack, quite understandably, freaked out.

A lot.

"What the fu-you turned me into a bunny?! What kind of messed up plan needs me to be a freaking Pooka?! How is this going to help at all?!"

"I thought you would be happy with this choice," Tempus said mildly. "This will certainly draw more positive attention to you from Bunnymund, and thus will help with introducing him to the new Jack Frost. Surely, that is a good thing?"

"But-! But..." Jack ran nervous hands over his light brown fur, tracing the bright blue marks that trailed like tears from his eyes to his jaw. Faint patterns of tribal markings could be seen as shades of black on his new fur. "How...how the hell am I going to explain this to him? Pitch killed all the Pookas! He'll want to know how I survived, and I...I've never been any good at lying to him." He sent a greif-filled look to Tempus. "I can't lie to him, I, I just can't."

The Time spirit smiled. "But you won't be lying. This is the body of a young Pooka that sadly passed from this world many centuries ago."

"Wh-what?"

"I spoke to his spirit, to ask if he truly wished to go on to the Afterlife, or to help me by becoming the new Guardian of Time for this dimension. He chose the Afterlife, and while I certainly wasn't about to begrudge him his choice, I did ask if I could keep his form and history, and he agreed." Tempus finally noticed Jack's horrified look. "What is it, kiddo?"

"I'm in a dead guy?! You put me in a dead Pooka's body?!"

"Certainly not," Tempus said, slightly offended. "I would never."

Jack panted softly, trying to calm down from his freak-out. "Good. That's-that's good. Whew."

Tempus glared a bit. "I am not like the Lunarian, that thinks it just fine to mess with Death, and I do not appreciate the insinuation that I would rip out your soul and shove it into some poor child's dead body. I have changed your form to the exact match of his, that is all."

Jack winced. "Ouch. Sorry. I didn't mean to say- I mean, I thought you had...awkward."

The Time spirit shrugged. "Its alright. Now, back to more important things. I changed your form into this one to help you. The history of this Pooka's form is that he was from a more superstitious and old-fashioned tribe of Pooka than Bunnymund's. He was declared unlucky by his clan's elders when he was barely a babe. His marking's extraordinary coloring was the cause. Black marks were considered dire portents of bad luck in this tribe's culture. They were hoping that he would grow out of his coloring, but sadly, he never did. The poor child couldn't help how he was born, but according to his tribe's laws, he was unlucky and would bring ruin down on them, and thus was banished from the tribe when he was little more than 78 years old, the equivalent of a human toddler in Pooka years.

"The outcast can never return to their village or territory or they are killed on sight, so he fled as far as he could go, barely surviving. His clan was killed soon afterward by Pitch's Fearlings and Dream Pirate armies. He was hunted down by Pitch's Shadow Men not long after that." Tempus walked forward, and touched the tip of the staff to Jack's forehead. "Brace yourself, kiddo."

"For what?"

"For the memories." There was a soft humm, and everything behind Jack's eyes went silver. Visions suddenly filled his mind; a beautiful world of grassy plains, rolling hills, thick ancient forests. Magic entwined with science, taught by tribes of Pooka of every color and size. Jack could see this Pooka's memories, his history, and saw his life just as the Master of Time had described it. It was a confusing mass of images, voices, scents and sensations!

Tempus spoke softly, the multitoned voice weaving powerful magic into his mind to place the memories. "His history is now your own. Your memories will mix with his, for this form is a Pooka, and all his memories will help you truly become a Pooka. Now here is where this history will now differ. He, (meaning you, now kiddo,) ran into a small cave deep in the mountains of the Pooka home world. I have a temple there, and by entering it, you unknowingly invoked my protection from the Nightmare King. Upon meeting you, I chose you as the new Guardian of Time and brought you here to Earth.

"See there, kiddo, now you have an alibi that is mostly true. I did find you, and you will have to be my new Guardian of Time. This way, if you need an excuse as to why you were told to go find Jack, you can give the quite honest answer that Jack was made with the gift that the Master of Time gave to the Man in the Moon, so Jack is a person of Time like yourself. Tell them that I charged you with his training, since the Lunarian was proving...neglectful. Do you think you can handle a history like that, kiddo?"

The winter spirit traced his fingers over the soft brown and black fur, wondering over the life of the poor Pooka kit. He could tell from the absolutely pounding headache he was fighting off, that it would take time for these new memories to find a place in his mind. "Yeah. Yeah, I can remember all that. And you said something about being the new Guardian of Time?"

"Indeed." The black staff glowed, the hourglass in its hoop spinning madly, then failing out, shrinking as it went. The golden hourglass, now much smaller, was now surrounded by a platinum metal hoop, making it into a pendant. Tempus pulled a thin chain from the red cloak's pocket and strung it through the pendant's hoop. "This is the channel for my power. It will give you the ability to manipulate Time, to a much lesser degree than myself, of course."

Jack cocked an eyebrow. "I thought you said that it was a bad idea to mess with time."

"Very true," Tempus nodded. "The only reason you're going to be able to is that I will give you express permission, the sole ability to access the power to do so, and the actual knowledge of how to use it properly. You will be able to freeze time in a small area around you for five minutes, and freeze the time of someone for a period of one hour. You can use the pendant to go incredibly fast for short periods of time, or to force someone to slow down. And if you need to, you can invoke the pendant to show you the past of an object or person."

"...what about seeing the future?" Jack asked quietly.

Tempus sighed. "You can never use precognition, kiddo. YOu were made with the power to see the future, meaning that the ability is forever barred to you. Inverse laws of magic at work here. Do you understand?"

The former winter spirit nodded. That made as much sense as anything else around here.

The Master of Time moved forward, taking Jack's hands. "I need your oath, kiddo. Do you swear to uphold the laws of Time? To never abuse your powers? To help protect the world and everyone in it from those that would steal or abuse Time? Do you swear to help make right what could go so wrong?"

Jack's blue eyes shone with his determination to succeed. "Yes. I will."

"Then you join a rare brotherhood that has stood as the Guardians of Time. Welcome to their ranks." The spirit nodded in acceptance as the Time Pendant softly glowed. "Very good. Now, lets get you ready for your journey," Tempus said.

The action will be picking up soon! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and please review!