Sorry if the beginning is a little confusing, I didn't want to go back in time to explain things, so this starts exactly where the previous chapter left off (also, I kind of forgot a line near the end of the previous chapter (sorry, I suck))


Jack ripped the glowing staff out of the nightmare's hands.

"I'll be taking this back."

The nightmare gasped and looked behind.

"Y-you!" His nightmare double gaped, then raised his hands to stare at them. The fingers were frozen, the ice shattering the illusion of pale skin to show the black sand they were truly made of. The frost spread upward along his arms. "What are you doing to me?"

At another time, Jack might have sympathised with the panic in the nightmare's voice. Panic was one of the last thing he remembered feeling before he died. It only took one look at Jamie for his sympathy to die. The man lay on the ice with one hand pressed to his bleeding side and the other over his head to protect himself from and incoming attack. He was shivering, which was Jack's own fault. The Guardian sidestepped the nightmare to reach his friend.

"J-Jack. What a surprise." Pitch plastered a smile on his face. "A good surprise, of course."

Jack gave Pitch a single glance. One last glance, to let him know just how disappointed he was, before turning his back on him. He was done with the Boogeyman. Even as he turned away, he saw the smile slip.

"Jamie. I'm here."

"Don't you dare ignore me, Frost."

Jamie raised his head up from the ice. His eyes went from Jack to the freezing nightmare, to Pitch, to the thick ice beneath him, then back to Jack.

"You... you're here? This isn't a dream, right? You're real?"

Jack smiled. "Of course I'm here. This is real."

"M-master! S-save me! I'm–"

"You, shut up! You failed me," Pitch snapped at the nightmare. "Jack. Look at me. This wasn't supposed to happen like this. You weren't supposed to get hurt."

Jack didn't dignify this with an answer. He didn't try to explain to Pitch how much more it would have hurt him if he hadn't saved Jamie. There was no point. He didn't turn, didn't make any sign that he heard Pitch. He knelt next to his friend. Snowflakes fell around them, the warm weather gone. Bunny wouldn't be happy with him. Or maybe this spring snow would bring some hope.

Jamie wasn't paying Pitch any heed either. He pushed himself up, but couldn't do much more than collapse into Jack's lap. He laughed and wrapped his arms around the Guardian's waist like he didn't care about the pain or the Boogeyman anymore. Jack could feel warm blood soak through his clothes.

"You're here! You're really here!" He shivered and it made him laugh harder.

Jack ruffled his hair. "I'm sorry it took me so long. Looks like a lot happened."

"M-master, please! I'm freezing," the nightmare begged. "Jamie? Help me! Hel–"

Jack looked with an odd fascination as the frost kept spreading up the nightmare's throat, silencing him. He wondered if he had looked like that in his last moments, panicked and terrified. He hoped not. The kids had been watching. Jamie gripped him a little more tightly as the ice finished its work, turning the nightmare into a statue of black ice with Jack's features. It was eerie to watch.

Jamie shivered and it was only in part due to the cold. Jack felt guilty for making him watch a replay of the events from that other night. But the cold was the most pressing issue. Jamie wasn't dressed for this weather and hugging a winter spirit wasn't helping any. Jack unpinned his cloak and wrapped it around his friend.

"I'm sorry, you know?" Jamie said. "About what happened. You shouldn't have gotten hurt. It was all my fault."

Jack gaped at Jamie. "Sorry? You should never have been dragged into this mess in the first place. It wasn't your war and you shouldn't have to pay for saving us. Besides," he said with a grin, ruffling Jamie's hair again, "I'm the one who can miraculously come back to life."

"Frost! This isn't over. Look at me!"

Jamie laughed. "That's a good point. You're back. You're really back."

"Thanks to you. You saved me again. Don't make that into a habit."

"As long as you don't make a habit of needing it."

"Deal."

"Frost! Don't pretend you can't hear me! Stop acting like a child and giving me the silent treatment."

Sorry, Pitch, but I am a child.

Jamie scanned the area around the lake. His eyes went over Pitch without stopping. "Is he gone?"

"What? No! I'm right here!"

"Yes. He's gone. Now, let's get you taken care of."

Jack ignored Pitch's increasingly desperate pleas for attention. He made Jamie lie down on his back, making sure to keep the thick cloak between him and the ice. The last thing his friend needed was to get sick. A quick look was all he needed to know that the wound needed medical attention.

He had to figure out the best way to get Jamie the help he needed. He didn't get very far into planning before that problem was solved for him. A beam of light swept an area close to them. A familiar woman's voice followed.

"Jamie Bennett, you come back home right now! If you think you can just disappear in the middle of the night to go take a walk, I got something to—" Jack smiled. The flashlight's beam swept over the ice and stopped on the form lying there. "Jamie? What are you doing lying there? That ice isn't safe!"

Ashley looked like she had just fallen out of bed, still wearing her pajama, with black circles under her eyes, her hair tousled, her feet hastily shoved into untied shoes and her coat falling off one shoulder, but she was here and she would see that Jamie got help. Even if she seemed to want to hit him with the flashlight.

Jamie gave his wife a taut smile."Oh, hi Ash! Sure it's safe."

Ashley placed a tentative foot on the lake's surface. When it held, she took a step, then another, before resuming her rant. "Just what do you think you're doing? I'm done with this, Jamie. I'm done. I'm tired of wondering what's going on when you won't talk to me! If you won't—Oh my god, are you bleeding?"

"It's nothing."

"That's not nothing, that's—why are you grinning like that?"

"He's back. Jack Frost is back." Jamie laughed, then passed out in her arms.


Pitch was gone. The statue of black sand had crumbled, leaving frozen black sand scattered across the ice. This one wasn't going to cause them any more troubles. He just hoped there wasn't any more where it came from. Jack shook his head and looked back at the shore were the paramedic were getting his friend into an ambulance.

A little off to the side, Ashley held the discarded cloak, running her fingers on the silver stitches still slightly covered in frost. A snowflake landed on her nose and she looked up, staring across the still solidly frozen lake where she used to come to play as a child. Jack remembered her and, in that moment, she remembered him too. Her eyes stopped on him. She opened and closed her mouth a few time before saying anything.

"This is yours."

She held up the cloak. He accepted it back with a smile.

"Thank you."

"He said you were back."

"I am. Sorry for causing you so much troubles."

She stared, at a loss.

"Ma'am, we'll be leaving, now," one of the paramedic called.

"Go. I'll join you later."

"I'll be expecting answers, Jack Frost."

"Of course."

He watched the departing ambulance until it was completely out of sight, then turned north. He didn't know exactly how long he'd been gone, but he knew the others must have learned about it. He had been part of their little family long enough to not doubt that they'd worry.

Once upon a time, no one would have cared if he died. Once upon a time, he would have stayed dead. Now, he needed to go tell his family that he was alive and well.


So, the main arc is finally over, with only some aftermath chapters left to write. Sorry this took a while!

I'm not sure I'll ever do an arc again, but I think I've said that before.