Sorry for the wait!

I know lots of people were waiting for this Chapter, so here it is! I would love Reviews on it, Favorites, and Follows. Please, enjoy! Oh! And I don't mind if people insist on giving me ideas for Chapters. I don't want to make this story so short. I'm wanting to stretch it! So, you can do so if you please, but other then that, enjoy the Chapter, and have a happy Haunting.

Chapter 3

An Uninvited Guest

On their return to the pole, something strange happened.

While Jack was resting, he would mumble in a different language that none of them had heard of before, well, none they were certain about.

North had suggested that he was speaking a language close to German, but that was quickly turned down. None of them recognized any German words coming from his mouth. Sandy had suggested maybe it was Gibberish, but North, on his knowledge of the language, knew it couldn't be. Tooth was going to state a language when she knew immediately that it was wrong. That's not how they talk Chinese. And Bunnymund recommended it to be Turkish, but as the younger spirit continued to mumble, he canceled out on the language. They would have to research that language, or at least a word of it. But as they were nearing the workshop, Bunnymund caught the slightest bit of English from Jack's voice. It was faint, but he was able to catch at least two words from his mumbling.

"Death..," and "Family."

Bunnymund knew that if it was something to do with Pitch, it would have been words like 'darkness' or 'fear,' but the words that came out were death and family. He wasn't too sure of what that was supposed to mean, but he supposed he would try and get it out of Jack, if he was stuck in the state he was in. Not only he, but everyone there was worried and was equally puzzled as to what was wrong with their young winter sprite. They would get to the bottom of it. They regret leaving him to wonder off alone. They should have been more careful. They knew how curious he was, and by what Baby Tooth had told them, very reluctant to listen to orders. As he says, he likes to go where the wind takes him. Hopefully later they could teach him when to do it or not.

Once the sleigh was in the garage and stored away once more, the older Guardians carried Jack to the room they had supplied for him. It was a room with snowflake wallpaper, going around the room and a night sky on the ceiling. In the middle of the ceiling was a window, so Jack could look up to the moon when he was lying down in bed, or on the floor beneath the window. There was a balcony with enough space for him to move around and fly off of if he wanted to. His bed was a queen sized bed, big enough to at least fit 3 people if need be. The covers were blue, like his sweater and the covers underneath it were brown like his pants. The pillow was just as pure white as his hair, if not a bit darker. There was also a closet big enough for him to walk into. For now, however, it held little to no outfits whatsoever.

Laying him down on the bed, the moment they did so, his mumbling had ceased and his breathing had quickened. They seemed to watch as he seemed to look like he was having a nightmare. Sandy quickly planted golden sand above his head, which caused him to relax, but the pained look on his face was still there. Soon, the other four tried to coax him out of sleep, but to no avail.

Sandy couldn't help. He was too use to putting people 'to' sleep. Not wake them up. So, he stayed aside.

It probably took a good 30 minutes or so until the young winter sprite woke up, sitting up quickly and holding his chest as if he had a nightmare. Sweating bullets and feeling exhausted, his blue eyes were it's pure baby blue again, not the creepy dark blue it was before. Looking up at them, he seemed to look confused. Wasn't he at the house he found with Baby Tooth? How did he get here?

"What happened?" He asked, watching as their faces of worry and confusion turned into relief and concern.

"Somethin' happened to ya back at the house, an' we were forced to being ya back here." Bunnymund explained as a small fairy shot out from behind Tooth and clung and snuggled up to Jack's cheek.

Jack blinked; looking down at Baby Tooth's scared expression. He sighed in relief she was okay, soon remembering the dark figure he had seen before he was consumed by darkness.

"Oh…," He started, looking at Baby Tooth with a look of guilt. "I'm sorry…" He apologized to not just her, but everyone else. He didn't know what had happened when he had blacked out, but he had a feeling it wasn't good.

"How you feeling?" Asked North, his beefy hands patting Jack on the head.

"I'm alright."

"Ya sure, frostbite?"

"Yes."

"Positive?"

"Yes!" He said, flinging his arms up in frustration. He hated when they did that. When he told them that he was alright and they continue to ask him if he was sure. He was perfectly fine!

They flinched at his tone, but soon all started to laugh cheerfully, besides the mute sandman. They were all glad Jack was okay and energetically frustrated as usual.

Seeing their happy faces made him calm down, soon laughing along with them. As they all laughed, a few fairies flew in with Jack's staff. Jack reached over and took it into his grasp, holding it close. He was wondering where it was. But he was glad it was alright.

As everyone calmed down their laughter, Jack's expression seemed to quickly change as he glanced behind Tooth to where the open door was. In his eyes, something was standing there. Something he didn't like.

"Hey, guys." He said, grabbing their attention.

"What is that…?" He asked, raising his free hand to point at direction of the door, not sure if they would be able to see it or not.

The older Guardians looked over at the door, looking confused as they didn't see anything, but Bunnymund knew better. Whatever must have happened at the house could have, by all means, followed them here, but it was strange how Jack was the only one allowed to see its form.

As they all stared at the door, the presence of something dark lingered over them. The feeling of fear suddenly rushed threw them, freezing them in place, besides Jack.

Jack was moving further back into the bed, eyes wide and fearful at what he saw. The dark figure was slowly moving towards him, passing the others and standing over the end of his bed. Jack trembled as it leered over him, soon he screamed as a horrible screeching sound rang through his ears. The others quickly turned over to see Jack scream and tried to calm him down, but he quickly latched out, clawed at Tooth's face, punched Bunny, dropped his staff onto the bed and grabbed his head, jumping out of bed, running out of the room as the dark figure chased after him. The other's looked stunned, but quickly followed after their youngest member.

Jack had ran all the way outside into the snowy land around the Workshop. He had gotten so far until he had broke down crying, tightening his grip on his head as if he was in pain. He felt it behind him, watching him, stalking him. He couldn't take it. It was so scary.

Finding that bit of strength, he looked back at it, staring up at it with wide, fearful eyes. Soon, everything had gone black once more.

The Guardians had just reached outside when they realized Jack was out there. The ones to stay inside were North and Tooth, just in case her fairies or the Yeti's needed help with something.

Sandy and Bunnymund walked to Jack, who was facing them, his face shrouded in the darkness of his bangs. They reached him and Sandy floated down to see Jack's face. His blue eyes were dark again and his eyes were wide like he had seen before, but this time, his mouth was wide open, like in an eternal scream. Sandy moved back fearfully and images floated over his head towards Bunnymund.

'Pick him up without looking at his face.' He warned; a scared and concerned look on his round golden face.

Getting the message, Bunnymund nodded, going behind the boy and picking him up, but not until they heard screams and loud grunts coming from inside. They quickly hauled the boy over Bunny's shoulders before running inside.

Inside, things were flying around, things that weren't supposed to fly around anyway. Windows broke around them and Yetis, elves, and fairies alike were panicking. North and Tooth were cuddled together as the mayhem went down and the moment they brought Jack inside, Jack rose up and kicked Bunnymund hard in his gut, causing Bunnymund to release him and hold his pained stomach. Sandy watched in shock as Jack had a sinister and abnormally wide grin across his face. Soon, he ran out of the work area with a loud-unnatural cackle, causing all the toys to fall down after his presence left the room.

Everything was silent once more.

Everyone seemed to stare off in the direction the teen had run off to. Yetis started to clean up in slight shock while the Elves helped the fairies. Everything was a disaster. What else were they meant to do? Sandy, however, was scared of the theory he would unload with them, but he wasn't too sure if he wanted to find out if it was true or not.

He knew the look in Jack's eyes when he saw it. Whatever he saw in the boy's eyes wasn't his own. They were dealing with a new threat, probably more powerful then Pitch. A threat they can't, seemingly, touch or see. An uninvited guest has taken over Jack's mind, and some part of Sandy hoped he was wrong.