Alright school is done! Thanks for the nice messages you guys, encouragement means a lot. Also, don't hate me for this twist, I thought it'd be a good idea, even though I know its overdone. Also if you guys would like, put a song in the comments that you think fits Ace and Jack's relationship, maybe I'll include it somehow, music is a big thing for me in terms of fanfic writing. Love you guys!

Ace

"... Ace, I think we should consider this."

"Okay Jack, you consider it all you want, be my guest! Be my guest, be my guest- PUT OUR FRIENDSHIP TO THE TEST-"

"I'm not going to do this without you."

I sighed, how is it possible to even be this exhausted when you're dead?

The past couple weeks after I'd shown him my memories had been hell, no sugarcoating, it had been absolute hell. With Christmas coming up North was constantly busy, Jack and i had been flying around nonstop seeing as it was in some places the rainy season and in all the other places the snowy season, Tooth and Sandy's jobs required them to be out every night, and Bunny was gearing up for Easter, even though it was a few months away. And on top of that, we had him, Pestilence.

He'd disappeared from our radar, but not the news. It started with normal flu symptoms, sore throat, fever, body aches, but it doesn't go away, you see, it gets worse. Then come the fever spikes, the vomiting, the extreme dehydration, and then seizures. Doctors were calling the new outbreak the "Cruel Virus" because it was affecting mainly healthy kids under the age of 15. They said it was reminiscent of the Spanish Flu, children are resilient, they can get sick a lot more often than adults, yes, but they can also bounce back quicker because their immune systems are top notch. This was the problem, the virus was prompting an overreaction from their immune systems in ways that doctors couldn't figure out. These kid's bodies weren't developed enough to fight the virus off, but were strong enough to send a clear message, "either we take out this virus or we take ourselves out with it". No one had died yet, thank gods, but hundreds of children were in the hospital, many in intensive care already.

And one of those kids in the first wave had been Sophie, fuck I hate being right.

Not only had Pestilence gone for kids, he'd made it personal.

A couple nights after Jack and I had found out that Sophie was in the hospital, we'd been summoned to Santoff Clausen for the news. This is exactly how it went-

"Jack, Ace, the Man in the Moon has decided in order to take down Pestilence, you are both going to become human for two weeks."

"WHAT?" Jack screamed.

"NO!" I screamed.

And that's how we got to where we were now, out in the snow in the North, trying to figure out what the hell we were supposed to do.

"Jack," I said, a bit more softly this time," now you're just being stupid."

"How?," he asked," Manny wants us both for this, meaning it can't be done with just one of us... Why do you think he needs US anyway? We're the newest guardians, you don't even know why you're here either."

"Oh, thanks for reminding me of how incapable I am, Jack, really nice of you."

"I try." he smiled wryly. I threw a snowball at him.

"Manny probably needs us because we're dead, the rest of the guys? All became guardians when they were alive, you and I are the only ones who were resurrected, which frankly is another reason I don't want to do this. How will we even come back? I was burned to nearly nothing, and you're probably still just very very old bones at the bottom of a currently frozen lake." Jack had shown me his memories too, he'd said I'd gasped and cried out when he fell through the ice, and I told him if he liked being able to walk without a limp he better not tell anyone about that.

"Oh, wow, I didn't even think of that."

"Surprise surprise."

"You know I don't think SARCASM is a possible center for being a guardian."

"Well, if it isn't it should be, or else why am I even here?" I sat down cross legged in the snow and put my head in my hands. This was becoming too much, Pestilence, the outbreak, the pressure in trying to discover my center, and now this. Jack put a hand on my back and I jumped a little, this being friends with a boy thing, I still wasn't all that used to it.

"What are you even so afraid of?" he asked. I swallowed hard.

"When I was human, I had no power. I was a girl in the 1500's in this overly religious colony trying to do what only men did, I was silenced, I was beaten, I was raped, then I was burned and hanged for it. When I woke up in this life it was like the ultimate revenge on them, I could fly, I could generate electricity, I could move the clouds and control the rain! Why would I want to go back to being powerless?"

Jack and I were quiet for a while, with nothing other than the wind to break the silence.

"You know, if it were anyone else, I think I'd tear them a new one for being so selfish, but you... You have a reason to be. You tried to be selfless and you were killed for it, that would make anyone want to just say "fuck this", I don't blame you, and I don't think it's my place to try and convince you either way. You gotta decide," Jack stood up and grabbed his staff," I'll be back a little later, I want to make sure New England isn't getting too frozen over, don't want people getting into any bad accidents, see you Ace."

And with that he took off. Some help he was.

I wandered back inside Santoff Clausen, usually the banter between the yetis trying to get things done with those little elves skittering around the place helped get my mind off things when they got to be too stressful, but I kept turning back to the globe.

"It's pretty, isn't it?"

I gasped as Toothiana flitted up beside me.

"Good lord Tooth," I breathed," trying to jumpstart my pulse again or something?" she laughed.

"Ah, sorry, sometimes I'm just too quick for my own good, comes with being the Tooth Fairy and all. Speaking of your pulse, have you decided?" I shook my head and she sighed.

"Sorry." I apologized.

"No, don't be, it's not an easy choice to make..." she and I both turned our gazes to the slowly revolving globe, each light twinkling like stars in a deep black sky," I know you're scared, but do you know what scares me?"

"What?"

"Those lights going out. Not just one by one, but in droves. It's happened before of course, but what really scares me like no other is seeing those lights go out in huge numbers like that, and knowing they won't be coming back on."

She just had to go there didn't she.

"Godammit, Toothiana. Fine, fine, I'll do it." she gasped and clasped her hands together.

"REALLY?!"

"YES, really. And it's not because of you, I was already leaning towards ye- and she's gone," Tooth had already flown off to tell North I'm sure, so I was stuck with one of her little fairies, the one Jack calls Baby Tooth," what do you think, little one, is this going to be a disaster?"

Baby Tooth shook her head, then thought about it, and nodded, then shook her head again. Ah well, beggars can't be choosers.

Come that night all the guardians had arrived, save for Jack, to watch our rise from the dead. I was half scared out of my mind, and also half hoping when we came back it'd be so disgusting and zombie like that the Man in the Moon would change his mind. I knew that wasn't going to happen but I could hope.

Jack arrived just before midnight with a giant stupid grin on his stupid cute face.

"I knew you'd make the right choice." he said. I pulled his hood over his face so I couldn't see that grin anymore.

"So, before this officially happens, how exactly is this going to work and what is the plan?" I asked North, trying to ignore the obvious bet that Bunny had made with Sandy that he wasn't fulfilling his end on just yet," I want to make sure this is thought out all the way through."

"Jack, Ace,"North began," as I told you before, Pestilence is an ancient, ancient being, he's never gone after us before, but that does not mean he wouldn't be sharp to any plan of attack we try to make. So, what do we do? We hide in plain sight, by making you two human, you can sneak up on the human form he is taking and eliminate it before he manages to increase the virus's spread-"

"Hold up," Jack interrupted," what's this about him having human forms?!" I gaped at North.

"Yeah man, this would have been great to know YESTERDAY-" I shrieked.

"We had no idea he was capable of this," Tooth spoke up," but there's one name that keeps coming up when the virus is mentioned in the media, without fail, Bran Snow. He's a scientist in the search for a vaccine, and he's the one closest to finding it. We can't find any records of him before the virus appeared, it's like he came out of thin air and was promoted to the head of the research team..."

"But, you mean you're not certain?" Jack asked.

"Ahhh... about 90% certain." Bunny said. Jack and I exchanged glances.

"That is why you will be following him before you make any course of action," North said," we're are nearly certain Snow is actually Pestilence, but if he is not, you will both be changed back to your guardian forms immediately and we'll devise a plan B." I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed.

"This is... really the best idea you guys came up with?"

"Out of all the other bad ideas, this is the best bad one we can think of." Bunny said.

I looked at Jack again and saw the worry written all over his face, I thought of Sophie nearly falling over in the snow, I thought for the first time in years about all the children that had lived in my village, and the fear of death that was plain to see in their eyes at the worst of the outbreak. No child should have to be scared of dying.

"Let's do it." I said, finally. Jack sighed.

"Alright then, Bunny!," Jack tossed him his staff," Make sure it doesn't break, and don't use it for anything stupid like ice hockey or knocking the elves around."

"No guarantees, mate." Bunny replied, smiling. That frown was gone when Sandy nudged him with the dollar sign again and Bunny had to give him what looked like ten bucks.

"Let's get this started then!" North said, and pushed us both under the skylight. The moon came out from behind the clouds then, and I held my breath, this was really happen-

"AH-" the rest of the guardians yelled as an ethereal, white glow filled the room, burning my eyes. I could feel my feet lift off the ground a little, and a strange, unpleasant sensation in my chest. At first it was just a slight burn, but it soon turned into a searing fire that left me doubled over in pain, wishing, pleading for it to be over, dear god why does it have to hurt so much?!-

Then it was gone, almost as quickly as it came. I groped around, searching for Jack, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I found him, though it stuck in my chest as I realized...

Jack's hand was warm.