This takes place after I'm Not Sorry


Jack stared in dismay from where he stood on a power line as snow kept falling over Burgess. He was not doing this on purpose, but he did not doubt that he was the one responsible. Snow could fall without his help, but this was his snow. Even if it felt wrong to him.

The children weren't happy. Their parents forced them to dress warmly, ruining their Halloween costumes. He spotted a sulky looking princess, her sparkly dress all deformed by the coat she had been made to wear underneath. Most only had some visible accessories, with most of the outfit hidden from view, to their obvious disappointment. It was mortifying, to the Guardian of Fun. He was ruining his favorite holiday.

He had return north immediately after settling that mess with Bunny, but he had not really known was to do. He could not really bring himself to visit any of the others. He was too afraid to mess things up again. And he could not even do the one thing he was supposed to be good at: bringing fun to children. As a Guardian, he was a failure, lately. Ever since his brush with Pitch. There was likely some connection to be made there, but his mind refused to make it. He sighed. He should just leave, before making things worse here.

"There you are!"

He looked down at the street as Jamie's familiar voice called him and tried a small smile. Some distance behind, he could see a blonde girl with angel wings strapped to her back over her coat and a halo over her head run to a door with her bag of candies, lifting the hem of her white dress. Sophie did not look bothered by the snow. Jamie himself wore no costume that Jack could see. He made a show of looking at the teen up and down.

"I'm trying real hard here, Jamie, but I can't guess what you're dressed as."

"I'm dressed as Jamie Bennet. I'm getting a bit old for this. I'm just accompanying Soph, tonight. What about you? When I saw all that snow, I expected to see you dressed as Santa, giving out candy canes."

Jack's smile turned strained. He wished he had done that. Maybe the children wouldn't mind the snow so much if Santa was there. They were always exited for Christmas and it was coming closer. But his heart just wasn't in it. Maybe he should go visit North, when he left here. He could burry himself in the frantic Christmas preparations and forget his worries. The excitement at the workshop when Christmas neared always brought a smile to his face.

"Jack, are you alright? Get down from there, will you?"

With a sigh, he jumped from the power line and let the wind gently carry him down. He landed in front of Jamie and raised an eyebrow when he noticed the two of them were eye-level. The teen had grown again. He'd be an adult soon and that thought scared him more than he cared to think about right now. Jamie stared for a moment before tilting his head to the side.

"That's weird. I still remember the time when I thought you looked so tall and old. But I guess I'll be taller than you soon."

Jack smiled a little, hoping it did not looked too strained. He poked Jamie in the chest.

"I'm still older than you."

The other teen frowned, looking worried. He opened his mouth to speak but whatever he might have said was lost when Sophie all but tackled the Guardian.

"Jack! You're back! Jamie was so worried for you all summer and it made me worry too. You're alright, right?"

The winter spirit threw Jamie a look. He had made sure to drop by before heading south, to visit Jamie and Cupcake so they would know everything was fine. He had been in much better health then when they last saw him. And in much better spirit then he was now. His emotional state had gone downhill from there, even before his visit to Bunny. Maybe he would have been a bit less willing to pretend, had he been his normal, cheerful self. Maybe he should have pretended a little longer and let the Pooka care for him some more. But he had been afraid of Bunny's reaction should he discover the lie. He clutched his staff. Around them, the snow fell more heavily.

"I just... I couldn't shake off the memory, alright?" Jamie explained, rubbing the back of his head. "Even if you looked a lot better when you visited, the last time we saw you before that you were being carried away wrapped in North's coat, barely conscious. You're not looking so fine now, either. Are you okay?"

Jack plastered a grin on his face. Sophie looked nervously between him and her brother.

"I'm fine," he lied.

Sophie smiled at him and took one of his hands in hers in excitement.

"Can I have a snowflake?"

His false grin turned into a small, but genuine smile. He briefly closed is hand before opening it again, revealing a six-pointed, crystalline form. It was beautiful, but it looked all wrong to him. Sophie clapped her hands happily before closing her eyes, waiting expectantly. Uneasy, Jack sent the large snowflake to touch her lightly on the nose. Her eyes shot open but it wasn't joy that filled them. Rather, he saw unease, anxiety and fear. A reflection of what he himself had been feeling for the past few months. Jack stared in horror.

"J-Jack w-what? What's t-this? I don't feel good. Jamie... I want to go home."

Jack couldn't look away from Sophie's terrified eyes. She looked at him as if he had betrayed her. He took a step back. Jamie pulled his sister against his chest and threw Jack a confused look.

"Jack, what happened? What have you done?"

Those last words echoed in his head. He heard them before, when he had failed people who counted on him. He could barely see the siblings anymore through the flurries of snow. Panicked cries rose around them as parents urged their children to return home. Jamie held Sophie more tightly as the storm battered them. He threw Jack a pleading look.

"Jack, stop this!"

He opened his mouth to speak but he didn't know what to say. The fear clouded his mind and he was no longer controlling his powers. When Jamie reached out to him with a gloved hand, he reacted without thinking. In pure panic, he thumped his staff on the snow-covered street, sending a blast of icy wind at the siblings. He only registered his action when the two fell on the ground, screaming. Utterly terrified, Jack spun around and flew off. He heard Jamie's voice call his name but he did not look back.

His flight brought him to a place he had not expected to return to. When he could finally see the world around him again, he saw that he was currently starting a blizzard in the Sahara, in that same spot where they had defeated Pitch and recovered his broken staff. Shakily, he raised up the staff to take a closer look. Thick, dimly glowing ice covered it and that too looked wrong to him. Looking closer, he could see why.

Thin, wispy tendrils of darkness ran through the ice, barely visible. He followed them with his eyes, easily finding their origin at the point where the staff had previously been broken. Dread rose in him, though he was not truly surprised. Now that he acknowledged it, he could feel the parasitic invasion, like a disease that had slowly taken root into his soul and grown over the past few months, clawing at his sanity. He took a shaky breath, trembling like a leaf.

"Pitch. What did you do to me?"


This arc is a continuation of the You Will Fear Me arc and, to some extent, the Going Too Far arc.