*whispers* hello lovely readers. Im baaaaaaaaaaaack ~

At the sound of the angry and familiar voice Jack took off at a run down the dirt path.

In a narrowed portion of the trail he found Baby. Cornered by some thug in all black with a duffle bag tossed on the ground, it had camera equipment peeking out. The two looked as if their argument was about to come to blows, Baby's little hands clenched in tight fists as the other leered down at her. Before either could notice him Jack reached down and quietly picked up a large stick, just in case.

"Get out of my face you creep! You and your people aren't even supposed to BE here!" Baby shouted, her bright violet eyes flashing with anger.

"Whatever Babycakes, not like you're the boss of me. And what the hell is up with your eyes, girl? They freaky looking!" the creep sneered at her, leaning in close.

"I SAID GET AWAY FROM ME."

"Hey there." Came Jack's voice suddenly, making Creeper Dude jump and whirl about. Jack held the stick up with a bright, yet eerie grin and shook it a bit. "Looky looky. I got a stick! And you seem to be bothering my friend here. I'm pretty sure she said you need to back off, dude. So do that."

Creeper Dude eyed the stick in Jack's hand warily before looking up at the pale haired teen's now solemn face. Jack narrowed his eyes with a growl and took a threatening step forward. "GET."

"Ya know what? FINE. FINE!" the thug said, flailing his arms in the air at the pair angrily. "I'm out! See how my boss likes this though!" Still fuming he snatched his duffle bag up and stomped off down another path. Jack tossed the stick into a nearby bush and put an arm around Baby's shoulder to guide her away. He could feel her still shaking with rage as they turned away. "C'mon there warrior girl, let's go."

"UGH! Those Golden Empire cronies are just a bunch of – of…NIGHTMARES!" Baby shouted angrily over her shoulder in the direction of the path. She wrapped her arms around her body with a slight shiver as she let out a sad sigh. "Golden Empire used to be a fantastic agency too. They were one of the very best; they were respectable and everyone knew them."

Ha, not really. Nope. Jack thought to himself with a small smirk. "So what happened to them then?" he asked.

"Kozmotis Pitchiner happened." She muttered bitterly. "He was their top model, now he's the director of the agency. He was supposedly really nice before but then…his wife died. And something happened to his daughter and I think he was locked away in a rehab or something… according to Aster and Sandy he used to be someone. They called him the General of the Golden Empire's army." She let out a sigh, shaking her head despairingly. "He's something else now..."

"Huh." Okay, so he really had no idea how to respond to all that. Talk about out of his league. Ever since he had joined this Guardian modeling agency it was like he entered another world. And he was completely lost with only North and his crazy eyes of wonder as a guide. Fantastic.

Jack let out a huff of frustration as they finally approached the frozen pond, where standing along the bank were the others. With one new creeper of a face. Beside him Jack heard Baby mutter something under her breath as she clenched her fists. He looked back up as they joined the group, standing beside Sandy who seemed intently focused on the exchange going on between Tooth and the dark stranger.

The man was severely thin and tall, with ashen skin and features that screamed 'Hello I can cut you with my cheekbones.' all in all; this guy looked like nothing by bad news to Jack. And apparently he was well known to the others, infamously that is. Whoever this creeper was there was one thing about him that stuck out to Jack. Dude practically had no eyebrows. Jack tilted his head as he stared at the man. All that was left were severely thin lines of hair. Seriously where had they gone?

"We claimed this place first Pitch. Get your people and your gear and GET." Tooth said, glaring up at the dark man. "You have NO right to be here and interfering with our shoot."

"Odd how I don't seem to care." He replied haughtily, arms crossed against his chest as he turned his bored gaze away from her to wander. That was when he caught sight of Jack standing between Aster and Sandy "And just who is that?" Pitch asked, gesturing to Jack with an upraised brow. Clasping his hands imperiously behind his back, he turned a penetrating gaze on the teen. Jack felt an involuntary shiver run through him and gulped. Pitch's eyes seemed to bore into you, stripping away with teeth like…an eclipse. Jack gave himself an internal shake and returned the other's stare. "Name is Jack Frost. I'm… a new model."

Pitch let out a dry laugh as he seemed to glide closer, circling around Jack and the others around him. "Jack Frost? How utterly quaint. You look like one of those people that are… rather invisible." Pitch smirked cruelly, and turned away. "Nothing but an amateur, I'll just ignore you then. Of course…" He looked over his shoulder, "You're probably used to that."

For some reason those words stung somewhere deep inside Jack, he mentally stumbled back a bit staring up at Pitch as the dark man turned away. A sudden grip on his shoulder startled him as he found himself thrust behind a seriously ticked off Aster whose face was twisted into a fierce glare, and a fist raised. "OI! PITCH, YA RUDDY-"

Pitch merely danced back lightly from the Australian, letting out an eerie laugh, "Oh go suck an egg….. Bunny." A deep guttural growl escaped from Aster's throat, but before he could launch himself in an attack on the dark man North's heavy hand descended upon his shoulder. "What is it you want Pitch? Why you do this?"

Pitch's face darkened with a fierce glare at the old Russian, a sneer curling over his features. "Perhaps I am sick of games and tired of living in your shadows. GYG's shadows. Perhaps I want what you have." He spoke menacingly, seeming to grow with each word spoken. "I believe it is time I stepped out of your shadow and back where I belong."

"MAYBE where ye belong is in a ruddy institution!" Aster barked, taking a threatening step forward towards Pitch. North tightened the steel grip on his shoulder and shot him a warning look. The last thing you would want is to have to deal with your top model being charged with assault and battery. Pitch's eyes flashed at Aster's comment – a type of pain soon coupled with rage as he balled his fists. "You will pay for that comment, rat." He replied in a low dark voice. With that last word he immediately whipped about, long dark leather coat flapping at his feet as he strode away, two cronies soon attaching themselves behind him.

With Pitch gone the tense atmosphere seemed to lessen slightly. North released Aster's shoulder with a tap and turned to go to Tooth's side, where Sandy was holding one of her hands and patting it in comfort. Jack slunk out from behind a red-faced and angry Aster, gaze cautiously flickering from the Australian's tense shoulders to clenched fists to twitching brow. He offered up a small smile and reached out to lightly prod the other's chest. "Um, thanks by the way. For er, that thing you did. It was – it was nice." He coughed out awkwardly. "You actually kind of stood up for me?"

The prod seemed to wake the other up as he blinked down at the pale haired teen. Aster turned away; face flushing a bit as he awkwardly scratched behind his neck. "Ya well… don't get used ta it. If anyone is gonna call ya things, it'll be me." He muttered before brusquely turning back to the others. Behind his back Jack gave a small grin.

Tooth was kneeling upon the ground looking forlorn as she gently scooped up a broken camera that had fallen to the ground in the midst of the fight with Pitch's crew. Beside her Sandy placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as if to comfort her. North gazed about them looking rather lost. "Where is people? The crew of our people?"

"They're gone." Tooth rasped out with a sigh, shoulders sagging as she turned her gaze up to North. "Pitch and his…cronies. They- they chased them off. Literally sent all my people packing or running. Nobody left…." She trailed off before looking up to catch sight of Baby. "Oh! Thank goodness, you're alright!" In a flash she was holding her younger sibling in her arms. Baby spluttered a bit at the abruptness before returning the embrace, she caught Jack's eye and gave him a sheepish grin. He returned it with a slight twinge in his chest before looking away. Family eh?

"So what now?" the question seemed to linger heavily in the air, with nothing to answer it but an uneasy silence. The Tooth sisters both seemed to slump down while Aster and Sandy seemed to have a silent conversation with their eyes; the outcome seemed to leave both clueless. "I suppose… nothing." Tooth whispered, she puffed out her cheeks and shook her head. "There is no way our people would come back if I called -Pitch might return as well. So… we go home. Plan another shoot in a way he hopefully cannot ruin it. Again."

Jack took a shaky step back as she spoke with a defeated tone. So no shoot. No pictures. No having to prance around and pose like a model – he was happy about this… right? As he took in the sight of the of Tooth and Baby's downtrodden faces something inside his chest clearly said NO. "NOTHING we can do? Are – are you sure? I mean –" he hastily bit his lip as Aster turned to look at him dubiously. "I mean, er – I just… wanna get paid you know?" he mumbled out trailing off awkwardly. He looked determinedly at his feet unable to face the others. Being this… seen was new and unnerving to him honestly.

"Pft. Shudda known." Aster muttered. Jack shrank further inside of himself and grit his teeth – why had he even opened his mouth?

North however, through all of this had been pacing furiously, fingers writhing, massive eyebrows furrowed as the gears in his head worked to a point of eruption. "NO! Is not too late! Never! Is NO such thing!" He swung about grinning like a madman in Aster's face, startling the Aussie into jumping back. "WE will do shoot! Ourselves! No people! US!"

"What?" Tooth asked in disbelief as she rose up. "You can't be serious North. Do you have any idea how work there is to do? Run a shoot with just us?" North merely laughed and waved her concerns up and away as he wound an arm around her shoulder. "Please. I run entire company of GYG for many years – I can do this. No problem. How hard can be, eh?"

"I – "

"And I always have and will take anythin' ya throw at me, Tooth." Aster flashed a confident smile and nodded. Sandy seemed to float to Tooth's side offering a thumbs up. "And you Jack?" North asked, a knowing smile on his face. Jack returned the smile with one of his own grins.

"I'm in."

Okay so FIRST I want to apologize for the extremely long delay in getting this chapter up. I have been very very busy and working on this and other things off and on. The chapter following this should be up pretty quickly though! *crosses fingers and toes* I hope you like where this is going and please PLEASE REVIEW!

ya know I love dat feedback.