Chapter Two: Reunion

Jack is lying rather comfortably over the back of one of Pitch's night-mares (which Jack found to be a rather clever pun) when he feels rather than sees the signal. A pinch of the darkness is shot into his heart, and he lets out a groan. Although he and Pitch had practiced that, he still finds it a good deal uncomfortable, as if he's allowing himself to be corrupted by madness.

For a moment, the only thing that goes through Jack's head will be the reaction of the Guardians, how his former friends will think of his defection. If they choose to hate him, well, he can't say that he'd blame them.

But Pitch had sworn to Jack that he was only to be used as back-up, for when and if Pitch was overpowered. It had seemed unlikely to happen, so Jack had just prepared himself for a night of relaxation.

Now, though, he has to worry. Not that he should. Of course he shouldn't. Why should he care what they think? They were never really his friends, anyway. How could they, people who were determined to protect children, be friends with someone like him, who stole the lives of others?

So Jack takes a deep breath, sits up so that he's riding the mare correctly, and caresses the mane of the beast. "Take me to Pitch," he whispers, the command firm. The mare lets out a shrill cry and then, without warning, dives down almost vertically, beneath the clouds. Jack yelps and clenches onto her for dear life, unused to such swift movement. The only thing he'd felt like this was when North forced their posse onto the sleigh, and even then it had been enjoyable.

For some reason, this wasn't quite the same.

In the span of a second, Jack finds that the night-mare has escorted him to the Warren. Pitch is cornered against one of the huge egg-shaped boulders, all of the Guardians standing around him with what Jack can only imagine are glares filled with hate. Pitch catches sight of Jack, and after a moment, he grins.

"Jack, will you finish up here?" he calls, completely ruining any chance Jack had of a surprise attack. Pitch's words cause the Guardians to turn, to stare at Jack – and Pitch seizes the moment to escape, clinging to the night-mare which had brought the Winter Spirit.

"Finish up?" Bunnymund repeats with a scoff. "What's that supposed to mean? As if Jack would…"

Jack tightens his grip on his staff, and lifts it up. The action causes Bunnymund to stop where he's at, and his eyes narrow. "Jack…" His voice is edgy; he can tell Jack's no longer on their side.

"What is going on?" North demands, looking at Jack Frost as if he's nothing but a child. "Jack, is something wrong?"

Jack grits his teeth. Of course. North doesn't even look at him with respect as a colleague. They just treat him like — like —

Then Tooth suddenly appears next to him, having flown quickly across the gap between them, and she places a hand on his shoulder. "Jack, dear," she whispers soothingly, "we won't understand if you don't talk to us."

He glances at her out of the corner of his eye, the touch making him bristle. He's always had a soft spot for Tooth, but for her to join in this sickening treatment—!

Jack spins to her and slams the butt of the staff into her chest, knocking her back at least a few hundred feet. "Tooth!" he hears the others cry out; and then Jack breaks into a run, heading straight for them.

The blades of grass that his feet touch become frostbitten as he dances across them. Jack breathes deeply as he charges, struggling to find his center.

Just have fun, Jack.

A grin takes his face, and Jack lets out a laugh as he swings his staff. Shards of ice condense out of the water in the grass, causing a good few blades to die, and then are hurled towards North and Bunnymund. Bunnymund jumps out of the way, but North's size works against him – he's now sporting several new incisions, his clothes cut through.

This is just the beginning of his attack. He hears Bunnymund try to say something to him as he reaches for his boomerang – Jack swings his staff, and ice forms around the rabbit's wrists, freezing them together. North screeches and charges with his dual swords, but Jack is nimble and Jack is quick, and he avoids his slices – which obviously do not have the heart in them that Jack would like – and he sends an explosion of ice North's way, causing the man to tumble over.

Bunnymund wrenches out of the melting cuffs and finally swings his boomerang. Jack dodges, sending another round of sharp ice projectiles. Bunnymund ducks these, growls and says, "Jack, you'd better stop killing my Warren, or I'll—"

Jack doesn't hear the end of it; he gets banged in the head with the boomerang and, disoriented, he stumbles forward, groaning as he holds his head. He struggles to keep his eyes open, and he sees five Bunnymunds coming right at him—

He stumbles backwards this time, trying to run while his vision is still a mess but he goes in no particular direction, just I need to move I need to get out of here I need to stop and get my bearings and think before I…

Jack runs straight into North, who stands with his hands on his hips. Jack sees four of him before his head finally screws back on straight, and when Jack lifts his staff to fend off the huge man—

Bunnymund grabs him from behind by the hem of his shirt, lifting him up off the ground roughly. The action takes Jack by surprise and he lets out a yelp, almost losing his grip on his staff; North confiscates it before he can get a firm hold on it again.

"What in blazes do you think you're doing, frostbite?" Bunnymund growls, though he sounds more frustrated than anything else. Jack resists the urge to yell; yet again they are treating him like a spoiled child!

They don't know what it's like. They don't know what it is to have no one believe in you. They don't know what it means to be Jack Frost!

Jack can't help it anymore; he lets out a snarl and kicks Bunnymund's knee, and when the force of it causes the Pookah to drop him, Jack grabs the staff. North scowls and refuses to let go of it, but Jack just grins darkly at him as his power begins to come into effect. He begins to freeze North's feet to the ground.

"Watch out, big guy," Jack says teasingly. North looks confused, and Jack just gestures to the man's feet.

North follows the gesture and lets out a cry of surprise, dropping the staff. Jack snatches it, lifts it up, and almost has a chance to freeze North entirely—

There's a sharp pain in the back of his head, and Jack drops to his knees and his hands, struggling against the blackness at the edge of his vision. He groans loudly, and when he glances up he sees all three of them staring down at him.

Tooth has a sizable rock in her hands, and pity in her eyes.

Finally, Jack loses this fight; he collapses entirely onto the ground, his will taken by the darkness. For a moment the Guardians can only stare at their fallen ex-comrade, unsure of what to do.

Then North sighs. "Alright," he says with a small, firm nod. "Let's bring Jack to the Workshop. The yetis will guard him."

Bunnymund gets to work immediately, tying an elastic rubber band around Jack's wrists after pulling them behind his back. Tooth shoots him a look, to which he scowls. "Oi," he says in his defense, "better to be on the safe side."

Tooth shakes her head and picks up Jack's staff. The wound he'd inflicted on her chest still hurts terribly; she can still feel the frost searching through her body, her soul, trying to overcome the beat of her heart.

But the frost isn't malevolent. Though it's trying to freeze her from the inside out, she can tell it's not an evil power.

It's just scared.

Elsa's Note: It took forever to decide the ending for this chapter… But after much inner conflict I decided to have Jack lose. I wrote an ending in which Jack won, but none of my betas seemed to like that one as much. Even though it got really intense… (sigh)

Who knows, though? Maybe after this is complete, I may post scrapped writings at the end (if there are any more than just this one)… We'll see.

That's it for this one! I hope you all stick around for the next update! ;3