Pitch paced back and forth, his nightmares sticking to the shadows cautiously. Pitch was mad. No, he was furious. Jack was in his hands, and then that oversized pumpkin of a Guardian had to come to the rescue.

"Be patient, Pitch," he told himself. "You'll get the child in due time. Everything will go according to plan."

"Of course it will," said a familiar voice. Yellow eyes peered from the darkness. "And then we'll rule the world."

Laughs echoed throughout Pitch's lair.

Jack had fallen asleep hours ago. North had grabbed a spare blanket he kept in the sleigh and had wrapped the teenager in it. Sandy sat by Jack's head, twirling dreamsand over his head, giving him dreams about playing with his little sister. Tooth had sent the few mini fairies that had come with her back to her palace to be put in charge of collecting teeth for a while. They all needed to stay together for protect Jack.

Bunny reached a paw out and placed it in Jack's hair, slightly ruffling up his hair. Bunny chuckled as Jack's sleeping face turned into a sleepy smirk. Around that time the sleigh had landed in the North Pole, so Bunny scooped Jack into his arms and began carrying him into the workshop. Bunny smiled, only imagining the mischief Jack might cause trying to have some fun. After all, not many kids got to stay in the workshop.

Jack woke up a little ways before they reached the Globe Room. They led him in and North stood in his normal spot and looked up towards the moon. Jack watched with curiousity.

"Manny, we've got him," North spoke. "He is safe."

A moonbeam shot into the room and turned into a little ball of blue light, circling around Jack. Jack watched it in awe before it exploded into blue sparkles right in front of him. They fell onto the ground, forming a picture of a sheperd's staff. Then the image disappeared. Jack looked up at the moon, confused, but not questioning. He turned to the other Guardians.

"You talk to the moon?" he asked.

"Man in Moon is our leader," North explained. "He is the one that sent us to protect you." Jack looked up at the moon. "You're very important, Jack."

"But why?" Jack asked himself under his breath.

Jack's eyes widened when he saw a face appear on the moon's surface. It genuinely smiled at him before slowly disappearing.

Jack turned his head towards the door at the sound of several jingles. Elves burst into the room, carrying trays filled with cups of milk and plates of cookies. Each Guaridian recieved a tray, and Jack watched in awe as an elf ran to him and offered him a tray of his own.

"For me?" Jack asked, pointing to himself.

The elf smiled and nodded before holding the tray up again. Jack, still in shock, took the tray, and the elf led him to the seating area where the Guardians had already gathered around. As they happily munched their cookies and sip their milk, Tooth noticed Jack was just staring at his tray.

"You like cookies, don't you, Jack?" she asked. "And every boy needs milk to grow strong bones. You know, teeth are bones, too.."

"I ... I don't know," Jack confessed. "Milk's a luxury where I'm from, and I've never had cookies before." He looked up to meet the Guardians' confused looks. "My dad, Chris, died sortly after my sister, Pippa, was born. I was left to be the man of the family, and we weren't very wealthy to start out with, and it got even worse after Dad was gone. We're able to get by, but we starve a lot, and we barely have enough clothes to keep us warm."

Jack looked away to avoid the Guardians' pained looks of empathy. He had seen so little of the North Pole, but from what he saw, they lived in immortal luxury, something Jack would never have. They had all the food, clothes, and neccessities, along with basically everything else they wanted with a snap of their fingers. Jack worked for days hunting just to get, at the most, two nights worth of dinner. He took worn out fabric that had been thrown out to make their clothes. He had been reduced to stealing once just to get medicine he couldn't afford to save his mother's life.

"Jack," North sighed. "I may not know why you're important to Manny, or why Pitch wants you, but I do know this: you are destined for things much greater than your living situation now. Otherwise, you'd be back there, still fighting for survival, and not here."

Jack looked at North, his brown eyes locking with North's baby blue. He couldn't help but smile and hesitantely took a cookie, looking it over before biting into it. The Guardians watched in anticipation, and felt relieved when Jack smiled, dipping the cookie into one of the milk cups before taking another bite and giving another satisfied smile. He picked up the milk cup and took a long drink, leaving the Guardians to laugh at his milk mustache that was left behind. Jack smiled once again. He had a feeling he'd enjoy his time here.