A Better Life

Summary: Jack is beaten and abused by the Guardians every day. His only friend is Pitch Black. When Pitch pushes him through a white portal, suddenly everything has change. The Guardians are suddenly caring. Pitch is suddenly evil. What's going on?

Hi guys, sorry this took so long. I'm really struggling with some sort of writers block right now that won't go away! Urgh! Anyway a little longer chapter than last time which is good because I still think chapter 2 was just to short.

Anyway I hope you enjoy. Not sure how this chapter turned out but I hope it will be okay. If there's any grammar or spelling mistakes, I'm been writing some of this on my tablet where it does not tell me it wrote the wrong word, it repeats words twice or it autocorrects it completely wrong. So I'm really sorry if there are loads of mistakes (like in the last chapter of Icy shadows, damn it I thought I checked that fully.)

Three

It was the fifth time Phil had to get the focus of the other yetis back on the toys they were supposed to be making and not on door that led to where North's office and the hospital ward was.

None of them would have have ever expected that Jack Frost, the annoying white haired teenager who had for constant of years had tried to sneak into the workshop unauthorised and bringing snowdrifts with him, would somehow wormed his way into their hearts. in fact if you had told them years ago that they would come to care for the kid that always pranked them, they would have probably thought you had gone insane. But somehow the youngest Guardian had won them over. Even though if you were to ask a yeti they would deny it.

So when their leader, along with the other Guardians, had came back to the workshop two years ago with a look of absolute devasation on his face, and had announced that Jack, their little winter spirit, had gone missing, they had all been struck down by the news. If it wasn't for the fact that North had given them orders to keep on working (there were still children out there that were expecting toys on Christmas day) they would have gotten up and searched for the boy themselves.

They had continued their work, reluncantly, but they would constantly find themselves watching the windows, still half expecting the boy to fly in. When one of the Guardians arrived at the workshop they would all turn their attention to them, all hoping for any news. The more months that went by, the sadder each of them got unti they had been almost a visble dark cloud of depression hanging over the yetis as they painted toys in a deep blue shade, the colour of Jack's hoodie.

When North had suddenly yelled at them from the living room telling them that Jack was back and shouting at Phil and a few others for assitant, toys (and elves that were unforntuante enough to be standing in reach) were all thrown up in the air as the yetis had whooped and, heck, even embrace each other in delight at the news that Jack was finally home.

The mood was immedietely sombre though as they heard that Jack was in a severe condition. While Phil and a few other yetis worked on stablising Jack and fixing his injuries, and the Guardians had paced the corridor outside the operating room, the rest of them had dithered helplessly in the main workshop, none of them bothering with work or keeping an eye on the misbehaving elves, as they waited, all of them worrying.

Now that they knew Jack was alright but had his memories tampered with, all the yetis were completed distracted from work with their concern for the winter spirit and the Guardians, who were taking that news even harder then they were.

Which was why Phil, as he snapped at them with an angry grunt, wanted them to focus on their work. Their boss had enough to deal with now, without having to worry about if there were going to complete the Christmas order in time this year.

Phil glared at the others yetis until each of them got back to work. Some of them glared back and grumbled under their breaths but none of them tried to argue with the second in command. Phil shot them all one more warning glance before he ordered Jingle - an elf that was a little brighter than the others (a little) - to keep an eye on the yetis and make sure they kept working. Once the elf was up to the task and was shouting at an yeti who wasn't paying attention to the toy helicopter he was supposed to be test piloting, the bells on his hat jingling wildly, Phil headed to the corridor, shutting the door behind him.

Only then did he let his tough demeanour drop as he leaned back against the door, placing a furry paw over his face. Only a few of the others had been in that operating room with him, and only they knew what had happened in there. The injuries they had seen, the fact that the yetis had to literally shove North out the room as when the Guardian had seen the full extent of thos injuries he had froze, the moment when Jack's heart had stopped and they had to shock him five times to get the mointor beeping again, the complications that followed after shooting elecritity (and thus heat) into a winter spirit...it still haunted the usually stoic yeti. That and the fact Phil had not only been the one that had to tell North and the other three what happen in surgery but also one of the yetis that had been at the door when Jack had awaken and had seen Jack think the Guardians had been the ones to hurt him and not recognise either he or his friend at the door...it was almost too much to cope.

As North's right hand yeti, Phil had been the one who had dealt with Jack in the past when the boy used to sneak into the workshop, so that the winter spirit wouldn't end up disturbing the toy maker as he worked. And thus they had formed some sort of love-hate relantionship. Often, the yeti would get annoyed at Jack and Jack in response to the yeti not letting him into the workshop, would get annoyed with him. But when Jack hadn't been trying to break in or prank on him and the other yetis they did get along.

Phil remembered one time when the kid had hurt himself in a flying accident. The boy having noone else to turn to, had shown up at the door of Santoff Clausen, limping on his broken leg. And while Phil might appear hard as a rock, that didn't mean he didn't have a heart. He had let Jack stay in the hospital ward until that leg was fixed, on the condition Jack didn't go into the workshop or distrub North (who at time was in one of his working mood when he focused only on his latest creations and if anyone so much coughed near him would be shouted at for a month for distracting him).

North had been none of the wiser to his guest and soon Jack had flown off and the two of them had returned to their old ways. Still Phil couldn't help but think back to that time and smiled. It was the one time that the two hadn't been fighting and actually Phil had found himself getting along with the Frost boy.

When the yetis had heard Jack was going to be the newest Guardian, he had grumbled along with the others, but secretly he had rooted for Jack to prove to the Easter Bunny and the others that he was Guardian material. And at the Guardian cermemony - the real one - Phil couldn't help but shed a tear of pride (in private, of course).

Now Jack didn't remember that cermeony nor did he seem to recognise Phil in any way. Phil didn't know how to response to that. And the fact that the kid flinch whenever someone touched him...Phil sighed.

Moving away from the door, he shook his head and straightened up. If this was affecting him, then who knows how it was affecting his boss. After the boy had become a Guardian, North and Jack had become close, almost like father and son. The other Guardians too had formed a bond with the winter spirit. Before Jack, the Guardians had been just team mates to one another; just work collegues. After Jack had came along they had slowly come together as a family. When Jack had gone, it had crushed all of them. Now they had Jack back only for Jack to not remember that family bond. Phil couldn't even imagine the pain they were all going through that moment.

As he walked down the corridor and made a right turn, heading to the kitchen to check on the food prepartions, too busy wrapped up in his own thoughts, he failed to notice the figure that was hiding behind one of the statues that stood against the wall was the scrunity of his thoughts.

Jack slowly climbed back out of his hiding space, wincing a little. He quickly checked to make sure the yeti that walked past hadn't notice him, only sighing with relief once the yeti was out of sight.

He wasn't sure why the yeti had seemed so sad but he was glad he had managed to hide when he noticed the door swinging open. While the Guardians still seem to acting weirdly, Jack was pretty certain if that yeti had caught him , they would quickly return to normal and go back to beating him.

He sighed, running a hand through his white locks, unsure what to do. So far he had been wandering the corridors, trying to work out the Guardians behaviour, whilst also trying to find a way out.

He knew he should escape, go find Pitch and ask him just what the heck was going on. But right now Jack didn't trust his staff to fly him over the distance safetly.

Jack shot a glance at the object. He could still feel the icy power running through it and he knew that it was his. But that staff just couldn't be his. Jack knew he hadn't made it up, he had seen his staff get snapped, had felt the pain that snapping the outlet of his power had caused. Yet here it was in his hands...it just couldn't be possible.

It was just like the way the Guardians was acting. Jack thought back to the conseration he had just earsvedropped to. The pain he had heard in their voices, the hurt he had seen on each of their faces...they just weren't that good actors. Jack knew, he had seen when they had lied to other spirits, had been on the recieving end of it himself before he got roped into the Guardian thing. Even though he knew they could lie and seem geninue when doing so...they weren't this geninue.

Maybe...no, he was being silly. Pitch wasn't evil. How the hell could Jack even think that? And his memories were real; they weren't just some twisted lies some guy had placed into his mind. They weren't!

Then what was going on?

Jack felt a faint light white glow on him and he lookd up to see the moon shining a moonbeam through the window down at him. Slowly Jack stepped over to the window, glazing up at Manny silently. The moon didn't speak. Well, at least that hadn't change.

Reverting back to old habits when Jack would talk to the moon despite the fact he never seem to get an answer, Jack spoke, "What is going on?"

Manny stayed quiet.

"What happen to Pitch? Why are the Guardians acting like they care about me? Why haven't they beaten me up already? What are they planning?"

Manny didn't seem to have an answer.

"Why are they saying that I've been gone for two years and why...do I almost believe them?"

Jack's voice cracked, "I know they're lying. They have to be. I know Pitch wouldn't tamper with my memories. I know my staff was snapped to pieces. But...they don't sound like they're lying. And this...this is the first time that they ever been nice to me. Ever. I'm just so confused right now."

A few tears stream down Jack's face. Jack bit down at his hand, trying to stop crying.

"I don't know what to do."

Manny just shone his light down on him and didn't reply. Jack let out a sigh, leaning his forehead against the glass. What was he even expecting?

He wiped his eyes and looked down away from the moon, at his reflection. Seeing himself, he scoffed weakly. If this was just some huge ploy the Guardians had come up with to break him, then Jack was playing right into his hands. It hadn't been a few hours and he was already questioning everything he knew.

"You stupid idiot," He told his reflection, sniffing. It was one of the weaker names Bunny and Tooth often name called him with and yet it still stuck with him, almost as much as being called a piece of worthless trash did, another name they liked to call him.

Something caught his eye in the window and he froze. Fear quickly returning to his veins he spun around.

He might have questioned everything that was going on at the moment. But he knew that there was no way he could have simply made up the horrifying memories that were flooding back into his mind as he stared at the figure who stood before him…alone….without the ther Guardians nearby.

"Sandy."

Sandy stepped forward, a small smile on his face. A question mark popped above his head, asking why Jack was out of bed. Worry and concern crossed his face, knowing Jack should not be out of bed with the injuries he had, especially when Sandy notice Jack's arm was bleeding from the IV, some of his bandages were beginning to redden and the ankle of Jack's broken leg looked even more twisted as if the boy hadn't even thought of lightening the pressure on that foot as he walked through the maze of corridors that was a part of Santoff Claussen.

He did his best to hide that concern however as a sand image of Jack back in the hospital bed appeared above his bed. Knowing how Jack had flinched when North and Tooth had touched his arm but knowing Jack couldn't be up and running about, Sandy mentally prepared himself for that flinch as he took another tentative step closer so he could lead Jack back to the ward.

He had been prepared for Jack to flinch at his touch. What Sandy hadn't been prepared for was for Jack to literally jump away from him entirely before Sandy even lay a finger on him.

Jack stumbled back away from Sandy so quickly that his injured leg finally was unable to support him. Pain shot through his leg and Jack tumbled down to the ground, dropping his staff in surprise. He bit back a cry as he hit the floor, hard.

Startled, Sandy snapped out of his surprise and hurried over, reaching out to help Jack up.

"No!" Jack screamed, immediately shocking Sandy, "Stay back!"

Sandy hesitated but his concern for the boy's wellbeing took over and he once more tried to approach Jack.

Before he could reach him, Jack scooted back at lighting speed, panic in his widen eyes, "Don't touch me!"

Sandy had no idea what was going on. Jack had seemed scared of the others before but not as he was right now. Even more worry filled the golden man as he paused, lifting both his hands to show Jack he wasn't going to touch him.

It didn't seem to calm Jack down as the boy found himself pressed against the wall, looking up at Sandy with absolute terror on his face. His breaths were coming out in hard pants and Sandy realised the boy was hyperventilating.

Knowing he needed to calm the boy down, Sadny did the only thing he could think to do. Somehow, even before he conjure up the golden sand in his hands, he knew in his gut he had made the wrong decision.

As soon as Jack saw the golden sand, Sandy realised he should have trusted his gut.

Meanwhile the other Guardians hadn't notice when Sandy slipped out to find Jack as they went over what Tooth had just said.

"So Jack's age regressed? How the heck did that happen?" Bunny asked.

His confusion had overruled the anger and sadness he was feeling before for a moment and he perched on the side table, his glaze diverted between North and Tooth, hoping one of them would explain.

"I'm not sure...I've heard that sometimes abuse can make a person regressed mentality - but never physcially before." Tooth said.

"Could be because Jack is Guardian." North interjected.

"Maybe..." Tooth murmured. Somehow she didn't thik that was it but there was no other logical theory she could come up with.

A chirp besides her interuppted her thoughts and Tooth glanced up as little Baby Tooth left her sisters' side and flew over to her mother, tweeting softly, a look of hope on her face as she asked Tooth something.

Tooth let out a sigh, "Sorry, Baby Tooth. I'm not sure if it's a good idea just now." She said.

Sadness spread across the little fairy's features and she hung her head sadly, her feathers and wings drooping. Tooth held out her hand and Bay Tooth settled down upon it, resting her head on her mother's fingers as Tooth cupped her hand her gently like how someone would wrap their arms around soeone in a hug.

"What the Sheila say?" Bunny asked.

"She wanted to see Jack." Tooth answered. Baby Tooth let out a sad chirp, "I'm not sure if that would be good for either of them right now. She and Jack were very close, especially during Jack's first battle with Pitch. i'm not sure if..."

"If Pitch has corrupted Jack's memories of her as well." North finished off for her.

Tooth nodded sadly, "Yeah,"

She looked back down, stroking the feathers on top of Baby Tooth's head, trying to comfort the depressed fairy. The fairy just stared down the floor, barely noticing her mother's comforting touch. During that Easter just before Jack became a Guardian the two had formed a friendship, ever since Jack had plucked her out the sky, saving her from the fearlings. Their friendship only got stronger after Jack had become a Guardian. Whenever she wasn't on tooth collecting duties or with her mother, Baby Tooth would often hang around Jack. She had gone past the days when she adored Jack just for her white teeth and no longer fawned over him as her sisters still did. Instead she would groaned at her sisters cooing or even cheekily tease Jack about it. The two were almost inserpable even closer than Jack was to the other Guardians and she was with her mother and sisters.

When Baby Tooth had seen Jack appear in North's living room, tumbling to the floor, she had been the first to get over the shock and rush to his side, cheeping with fright and concern. Seeing the extent of Jack's injuries had horrified the little fairy and she hadn't stopped crying as she waited helplessly with her sisters while Jack was in surgery. She had been angry when Tooth had told her to go with her sisters when Jack was coming to but after seeing the sadness on her mother's face when she returned, Baby Tooth realised maybe it was for the best she wasn't in there to see Jack not recognise her or worst think she had cause harm to him. Baby Tooth wasn't sure how she could take it.

She wanted to see Jack though. Even if he flinch away from her or scowled at her, she just had to see him. She needed to see that he was alright.

There was a silence in the room as the little fairy and the three Guardians were all wrapped up in their thoughts, the three Guardians all sharing the same thoughts. Bunny was the first to voice them.

"Just what sort of memories do you think Pitch's put in Jack's mind?"

North and Tooth glanced up at the rabbit before glancing at each other. North answered for both of them.

"I don't know."

A loud scream caused them all to jump to their feet.

Sharing a frighten glance, the three rushed out the room and hurried down the corridor, Baby Tooth flying after them.

When they got them got there they found a frightened Sandy and a screaming Jack. He was having a panic attack.

Sandy had immedieatly cut out his sand as soon as Jack started screaming. It didn't calm the winter spirit though as he whimpered, icy blue hazed with fear as he whimpered. What scared the Guiardians even more was the continued mumbling in between the screams.

"No, no, please, stay away, stay away, no, no..." It went on like that for a whille, the words repeating over and over, again and again.

Tooth and North cautiously stepped forward, trying to calm the boy down. It only made things worse as the pressence of all the Guardians there only heightened Jack's fear even more and he let out another bloodcurdling scream, his throat feeling raw from how loud it was. He barely heard the words of worry and concrn, too lost in his panic.

Body unable to take the pressure, Jack's eyes rolled back and his body shut down. If North didn't reach out and grab him, he would have fallen to the floor again.

"W-What the heck was that?" Bunny asked. If anyone noticed his stutter, no one commented on it.

North lifted Jack into his arms, the boy too unconscious to flinch away from the older man's touch.

"Let's take Jack back to room first." He said.

The others nodded and North carried Jack down the corridor, Tooth and Bunny one step behind. Sandy hesitated, faltering in his step. He picked up Jack's forgotten staff, staring at it for a few moments. Then he followed the others to the hospital ward.

When he got there North had already place Jack back on his bed and was replacing the red bandages with fresh white ones after cleaning the wounds and re-stitching any open stitches. Tooth was kneeling on the floor next to Jack, watching Jack quietly, an anxious expression on the mothering fairy's face. Bunny had decided to pace around the other beds in the ward, knowing he would only get in North's way if he lingered by Jack's bedside.

Sandy just stayed by the door. No sand picture popped above his head as he remained quiet, so quiet, no one noticed that he wasn't in the room with them until North looked up. What he saw was the small man, usually the most confident out of the four of them, standing in the door frame, chewing his golden lip, emotions flickering across his face, worry, confusion, hurt, hestitation, all of them appearing at a quick speed, as he was uneasy about entering the ward.

"It's alright Sandy." North said, reasurring before glancing down at Jack. Carefully he wrapped a bandage around Jack's bleeding arm from where the boy had ripped the IV out, "He probably thinks your sand is Pitch's sand and is what gives him nightmares."

Sandy, although he did step into the room, wasn't so sure North was right. Jack had indeed reacted violently to the golden sand but….the more Sandy thought about it, he realised that Jack had acted terrified when he had seen him when there hadn't been any sand in sight at that time. If Jack simply thought Sandy's sand was the nightmare sand, wouldn't he have only shown fear when he saw the sand and not before?

There was just something in the way Jack had reacted, something about the complete utter fear in his eyes...that terrifield the golden man a little. It made Sandy wonder just what type of memories Pitch had conjured up about him that would make anyone react so violently as Jack had. Sandy didn't know, but he did know that right now Jack was absolutely pertifield just by his mere presence. With the state Jack was in, it was important that the Guardians helped him recover so that he would realise that whatever Pitch had told him was false. And, right now, Sandy could not see Jack even start together if he was still there.

So, tapping the bed post to gain everyone attention, he created a sand image above his head of him backing away from Jack before leaving.

"Sandy, you don't have to keep away-" Tooth said but was cut off when Sandy held up his hand to stop her. He turned to North, hoping he would understand.

After a few moments, North sighed.

"If you are sure it will be best for Jack," He said.

"What? But North!"

Sandy nodded, ignoring Bunny's outburst. Right then, Jack had been so terrified, he started to have a panic attack. If that didn't show that it was best if Sandy kept away, then Sandy did not know what would. It wouldn't be too long, just until Jack had started to recover again. Then Sandy would try and show Jack that he meant him no harm.

"Alright," North said. His large hand reached out and covered Bunny's mouth before the Pooka could shout again and wake Jack up in the progress, "But keep in touch."

Sandy made a golden thumbs-up sand image to indicate he would, before he headed to the window. Creating a sand helicopter, he hopped onto it and flew out of the window into the night sky.

"North, ya really think this is a good idea?" Bunny asked, frustrated, "You know that, apart from Jack, Sandy's the only one who can calm a child down."

"He could not calm Jack down." North replied, striding over to the door to let Jack sleep in peace. Bunny and Tooth followed, too busy watching the unofficial leader of the group to notice when little Baby Tooth stay behind.

"That doesn't mean that he should go! If we just get Jack to see that Sandy only gives good dreams and not bad ones-"

"We can only do that if Jack will let Sandy's sand near him. Right now he will not. Is not one of those times when Sandy can simply chuck sand into eyes and knock Jack out. Remember, Pitch has fed Jack lies about all of us. If we are to convince Jack that Pitch was lying, we will need to show him that he can trust us. Chucking sand in his eyes without his permission will not do that. In fact, will make things even worse."

"I still don't get why Sandy wanted to leave," Bunny muttered as they walked down the corridor.

"He has his reasons. Sandy is wiser than rest of us. He knows what he's doing and he knows what's best for Jack. He wouldn't have decided to leave if he didn't think it's what Jack needs right now."

Bunny sighed and gave in. He still wasn't sure why the sandman had chosen to leave right now, when they needed him. But North was probably right; the golden man wouldn't have left if he didn't think it was necessary.

"So what do we do now?"

Jack woke up groggily, not sure what was going on. His throat still felt sore from all the screaming and he coughed weakly. He couldn't remember what happened, he just remembered Sandy and the golden sand...his eyes squeezed shut and, shaking a little, he tried to put the thoughts running around in his head in the back of his mind for now.

Once they were gone, he reopened his eyes and paused. Jack wasn't quite sure, but he felt like something very small was perched on him.

He jumped in surprise and looked up to see one of Tooth's mini fairies as she left his arm and flew up into the air, staring at him as she hovered. Her perplexed expression was what confused him the most.

She was staring at him hard, as if something was dawing upon her, only she didn't want to believe it yet. She had only meant to check on him when the Gurdians left, while he was asleep, but a realisation had sudden hit her and she had stayed, trying to figure out if that realisation was true. As he stared back, not understanding why one of the baby teeth was even there, staring at him, sadness slowly spread across her features. When Jack sat up, she slowly shook her head, wings drooping sadly.

"What... is it?" Jack asked.

He had never really talked to these fairies before, they had never seemed interested, scoffing and turning their beaks up at him before flying after their mother. However he couldn't help but feel concern. From the expression on her face, it looked as if she had just lost her best friend in the world.

She looked up at him, purple eyes watering a little. Knowing he wouldn't understand her chirps, she mouthed the words slowly instead.

You're not the real Jack.

Jack frowned, "What do you mean by that?"

Before she could reply a white light burst into the room from the window, so bright Jack and the fairy were forced to cover their eyes.

When they could finally see, both of their mouths dropped open.

There, hovering over the bed, with a crooked smirk was another Jack.

"Hey," He greeted.

Jack could only stare back in response. The other Jack didn't seem to expect a response, Jack was staring at a replica of himself after all.

The little tooth fairy besides Jack suddenly let out a shrill shriek of delight and flew over to the flying Jack, wrapping her arms tightly around his cheek, hugging him as best as her tiny arms would let her.

"Hey, Baby Tooth," The Jack dressed in robes said and the fairy cooed softly, pure happiness washing over her face.

"Who...who are you?" Jack asked, still staring at the almost splitting image of him.

The fairy let go of the older Jack and he turn to face the other Jack sitting up on the bed.

"I am you from this universe." He said simply.

...

Jack: Don't you usally go dun dun dun right now?

Me: Can't just realise there's two Jacks in the same room. 8D

Jack: Three if you count me.

Me: ...*faints from excitement*

Jack: Why do they eep doing that?