A/N: Forgot to mention this in the last chapter, but special thanks to bonbonpich, who so kindly beta-read these last 2 chapters for me! And if you haven't seen her supercute ROTG doujinshi (Place We Belong) already, go check it out on her deviantart (bonbonpichdotdeviantartdotcom)! It also be Bennefrost hehe :P

I also posted on my deviantart some of my cosplay photos from Otakon! (finally)

Edit: I didn't mean the LAST 2 chapters, just the last 2 chapters I wrote ^^;; Sorry for confusing some people! There are definitely many more chapters to come, so don't worry!

Nightmares of Past IV

Something had distracted him. In a rare moment of clarity, Jack struggled to open his eyes. He immediately shut them however, as even the distant shouting seemed to rattle his brain, making his head feel like it was about to explode. Still, he forced himself to concentrate on the voices, those voices that he instinctively knew weren't the same as the malicious whispers still plucking at the edges of his barely coherent mind.

"...are you doing to him!?"

Loud, grating laughter. His mind couldn't grasp at the moment who it was, but he knew he hated it. "I'm only giving him what he wants."

"What are you talking about, you're just hurting him-" That voice. Who was that voice? It was someone important...

"Am I, really? Do you even know what it is his heart desires?"

"Oh, and you do?" Gruff, righteous anger, the whooshing sound of something being thrown...he didn't exactly hate that voice, but it did inspire some mild sense of rivalry...

"I do in fact. His sister. Or more specifically, memories of his sister. And since your silly little teeth couldn't give him the complete set, I'm giving him the next best thing. Her nightmares."

Something about those words seemed to jar him from within. The sensation seemed to give him a bit more strength, and Jack struggled to sit up from the fetal position he hadn't even realized he was in. "Night...mares..."

He looked up to be met with pale yellow eyes, staring down at him with scorn. "Now now, Jack. What are you doing up?" A swirl of black sand engulfed him, and the voices from within his own head soon overpowered the panicked shouts calling his name.

"Your sister awaits you."

"You let him go!" Tooth cried out, whirling forward to slash at the smirking Pitch with her razor sharp wings. The attack was in vain as his figure temporarily dissolved into a whirling mass of black sand at the point of contact.

Before he could escape however, a stream of Sandman's own sand quickly surrounded the Nightmare King, trapping him within a golden cocoon. The little Guardian clapped his hands together, tightening the cocoon around its captive.

The four Guardians surrounded the immobilized bogeyman, grim determined looks adorning all their faces. "Now let Jack go."

Despite his position, Pitch only smiled. "And why should I wake him from his lovely dreams? I'm sure he's enjoying them so much right now"

Jamie didn't wait any longer to listen to any more banter. He quickly ran past the rest of the Guardians and their captive, falling to his knees in front of the prone form of his winter spirit. "Jack! Jack, wake up!" He pleaded, pulling the lifeless form into his lap. "Jack!"

Pitch laughed again at Jamie's vain attempts to rouse the young Guardian. "Isn't that sweet. Sweet, but useless."

"How you do this?" North growled, fists tightening around his swords. "Why? Didn't you learn from last time you just can't beat us? No matter what, the children WILL believe in us."

"Oh there's no grand plan here. Do you know how long it took me to figure out how to work Sandman's sand? Then, he just strolled in, joined the Guardians on some stupid whim and ruined everything. As for how, well it wasn't that hard at all. You keep your memories in your filthy little teeth," Pitch pointedly stared at Tooth, "while I keep my nightmares in here." He cocked his head. "Once I figured out what Jack had been moping about these past few weeks, it wasn't that hard to find the ones I gave his sister. He was the main star of her nightmares, after all. Don't you find that so sweet?"

"Stop it." Tooth whispered, a pained look on her face. Her plea went unnoticed as Pitch seemed to revel in the topic.

"I must say, they were one of the most delicious nightmare series I could make. Perhaps it was because she flavored them quite nicely with her deliciously overwhelming guilt." He grinned as they all heard Jack release a pained cry, followed by Jamie's distressed pleas to wake up. "She had quite the imagination, that girl. Speculating over and over how our dear Jack must have felt when he died. I wonder if she got any of it right? Shall we find out?"

"SHUT UP!" Bunny roared, rushing forward to deliver a powerful punch to the bogeyman's face. He drew his arm back once more, only to freeze in place as Jamie suddenly screamed.

"Guys! Come quick!"

Both North and Tooth quickly went over, Sandman and Bunny staying in place to keep an eye on the still grinning Pitch. "What's wrong Jamie-"

Tooth abruptly cut herself off as the two Guardians got a closer look at Jack. They could only stare in horror at the darkening tips of Jack's hair, engulfing more and more of those silver locks right before their eyes. Tooth whirled around in anger, zipping back to Pitch with murder in her eyes. "You were stalling! What are you doing to him?!" She practically screamed in his face.

Instead of answering her question, Pitch turned to stare almost fondly at Jack's prone form. "She thought he regretted it. That he died hating her in the end. And that's really the best part - I didn't have to change anything of hers to make Jack one of mine - that perceived anger and hate will be enough to turn him." He turned back around to grin at the horrified looks on the Guardians' faces. "And there's nothing you can do to stop it."

Jamie was only vaguely paying attention to the conversation going on behind him. No, his primary attention was currently focused on the deathly still form tightly clutched within his arms. Tears slipped down his cheeks as he stared down at Jack's pale face, tenderly brushing aside the now dark bangs away from his forehead.

"I believe in you, Jack Frost. I know you'll come back to me." He whispered the words over and over into black and silver locks. So intent was he on Jack's unmoving face that he didn't notice the creeping black sand reaching for him from within the folds of Jack's clothes.

"I believe in you…" Jamie suddenly began to blink furiously, struggling to stay awake. His suddenly foggy mind barely managed to grasp that he was falling into an unnatural sleep, but all he could really think of was that he couldn't let go of Jack.

He subconsciously tightened his hold around the unconscious Guardian as his chocolate brown eyes finally slid shut completely.

He was dying. He was leaving everyone behind.

And it was all her fault...how could she do this to him? How? He was usually strong for his family's sake, but in a moment of weakness he had confided in her...at her insistence too. How afraid he was of leaving them behind, of leaving mom behind...it was just so hard without dad, so how much harder would it be without him too?

She knew that. And she'd killed him.

...But if he didn't die, she would be in his place, wouldn't she? She would be the one floating here in the darkness, feeling the ice cold water filling her lungs, suffocating and freezing her at the same time. As much as it hurt, as much as he didn't want it to hurt, how could he wish this fate on her? Sophie was his sister. He was her brother. It was the older brother's job to look out for her, to protect her, no matter the cost.

So it wasn't right to blame her...not really. The minute she'd been born, he'd subconsciously accepted the responsibility. He would give his life for hers, over and over again if that was what it took to keep her safe.

Ice blue eyes shot open, and Jack jerked upright as he gasped in huge lungfuls of air. It took him a few seconds of trembling to realize someone was holding him. It took him another few seconds to realize that someone was Jamie, and he too was gasping for breath as if his life depended on it.

"Jamie...what - what just h-happened?" Jack stuttered, alarmed when he realized he was still shaking. He was the bringer of winter, and he felt too cold for comfort? It was reminiscent of how he'd felt drowning in the frozen lake...from his dreams...

His dreams. What was going on? One second it had been about his sister, and then it had shifted to someone else...Sophie?

"I-I don't kn-know." Jamie stuttered, lips looking a little blue. "I think I f-fell asleep...and I w-was drowning in a lake. And S-Sophie...it felt like I died s-saving her I think? But for some reason I was blaming her, and that didn't seem right at all..."

Before either boys could say another word, a scream of rage sounded from behind them. Whirling around, they were met with the sight of Pitch Black, vainly struggling to free himself from the confines of Sandman's sand. Looking around at where they were, Jack finally realized what was going on.

"Pitch...it was you..." He growled, shakily getting to his feet. It didn't take him long however to realize his staff was nowhere in sight, so he settled for clenching his fists.

But Pitch's attention was focused not on the winter spirit, but the human standing next to him. "What did you do! How did you break the nightmares?!"

Jamie only stared in confusion. "Huh?" His confusion was short-lived however, as he felt Jack suddenly sag against him. "Jack! Jack, are you alright?"

Thankfully, the young Guardian only appeared to be sleeping, not that deathly still state of unconsciousness he'd been in before. Still, he'd feel a lot more comfortable if the other Guardians could take a look at him, far far away from the Nightmare King. "Guys! Can we please go?" He practically begged.

The others seemed to wholeheartedly agree. Before any of them could move however, Pitch let out another scream of frustration. "How dare you! You're just a silly little human, how dare you ruin everything! AGAIN!"

Despite his years-old promise never to be afraid of the bogeyman again, Jamie felt a flicker of fear as the Nightmare King dissolved into black sand once more. He was no match for the original however, and before he could escape, Sandman quickly encased every single black grain entirely within his own sand. Jamie watched, fascinated, as the large struggling golden globe shrank to the size of a pea and was simply left there, lying on the ground as Sandman cheerfully gestured they could now leave. He was burning with curiosity as to what exactly that had done to the Nightmare King, but that was the last thing he really needed to worry about right now.

No, right now his main concern was of the currently unconscious Guardian nestled tightly in his arms, and getting him as far away from the gloomy confines of Pitch's lair as possible.