A/N: Haha did some of you think I would actually leave it on a cliffy?

Chapter 32 – Jack's Wrath and Aster's Markings

3rd POV

Jack came to a stop at the clearing where he found Pitch's lair, the hole was still there as well as the old wooden bed that lay over it.

"This is the entry, not all of you will be able to get down it." Jack hummed before closing his eyes and raised his staff before slamming it on the ground. His eyes popped open as he watched the hole widen to the point the bed was sucked down into the darkness. It looked hungry; it looked like a monster waiting.

Jack looked over his shoulder before dropping down, his blades slashing the dirt to control his speed and direction. He knew the tunnel was coming to an end as he could see the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. The others were close behind him, all ready for the battle that was about to begin, though Sandy was glad that they were fighting sand and not fearlings. He didn't know how Jack or the others to come across the beasts Pitch had corrupted.

North let out a holler of surprise as he found himself from dirt to ice as the tunnel ended several feet off the ground, enough to hurt him and the others that could not fly. Tooth gasped as she looked around to see her little fairies still locked in cages, their cries for her louder than that of the battle that had begun with the nightmares.

She quickly flew to each cage and let them open, "Start taking the teeth boxes back and then when you can begin to collect the teeth." She rushed out before taking off in the direction of the others. Who knew that Pitch's lair was a mass of hallways that lead to nowhere and everywhere?

The baby teeth quickly began to do as they were told, not once looking towards the sounds where the others were pushing the nightmare creatures back.

Phil kept close to North and Jack but out of reach of their blades. He was shocked to see Jack move so lithe with the extra arms and size on top of a new fighting style. Before he fought with his staff, just his staff and powers, which was the only time he saw the boy fight and now he was using hand to hand combat with weaponry with little power. He was going to have a long talk with the boy when this was all over.

Pain began to bloom within Jack's chest in the very depth of his soul as he jumped and sliced his way over another nightmare, bursting the beast into black sand as Sandy's whip curled around it. His chest began to heave as he came to a sudden stop; the pain still there but now resign and acceptance trickled in. He dropped a blade and pressed his hand to his chest and blinked.

"Dam what's that?" Hellebores asked as he pointed to the mark on his dam's chest.

Phlox looked down and smiled warmly as she lifted her kit into her arms. "That there is my mating mark to your Da."

Hellebore cocked his head to the side causing his ear to flop down over one eye. "What's a mating mark? Will I get one too?"

Chuckling, she nodded. "Yes my sweet Hellebore. It will grow in when you and your mate are ready. First you will notice the slight change in your fur and then in time you will begin to feel an echo of what they are feeling. When both of you are ready and truly ready, the mark will grow in and give you the name of your mate as well as the clan."

The white around Jack's vision took over and he felt his body grow more as the rage spilled over. With a powerful roundhouse kick Jack sent the nightmare in front of him through the large door, the wind howling around him and through the room. His eyes scanned the room quickly before landing on Pitch and Aster.

A roar escaped his lips at the site of Pitch holding a scythe above his head while Aster lay bleeding at his feet, eyes trained on him but unfocused. He could feel the emotions fade as Aster's head lulled back and eyes closed.

"F-Frost?" Pitch asked shocked as he saw Jack's form in the door way, his eyes burning a sharp crystalized blue that trained on him.

"You harmed him…" Jack breathed out, letting the violent wind to carry it. "… you will suffer."

Pitch's eyes roamed Jack's frame, eyes widening as the familiar symbols of one of the Pooka clans littered his flesh and ice armour. A deep chuckle escaping as he looked at Jack closely once more, everything in what he had done coming back to him. The movements, the power and fighting style… even the name. Frost.

"Well, well…. You lived after all Tecomanthe. My blade didn't kill you like I had thought." Pitch laughed tauntingly, while holding his hand up to stop his nightmares. A smirk pulling at his lips the way Tecomanthe's eyes flashed with rage. "But why Jack hmm?"

He was waiting for it this time, his hands bringing up a wave of nightmare sand just as a burst of frost and ice shot towards him, creating another statue much like the one in Antarctica only this time it was shattered with the four blades Jack held.

The others stood back and watched, Sandy using his whips to cull the nightmares in the shadows as they watched their master fight.

"Tecomanthe? Why call Jack wrong name?" North asked causing Sandy to shrug.

The air dropped as the sound of ice cracking filled the room, Jack laughed as Pitch dropped his broken scythe with rage before charging forward with a blade. A more corrupted version of the blade he had when he was Kozmotis Pitchiner appeared and their blades clashed with a loud clack.

They watched with wonder and awe as well as curiosity on how Pitch could keep up to the six armed Jack who was spinning and flipping constantly. His arms striking randomly at yet organised at the same time, never in the one place or one move. He would mix with kicks and slashes and yet the boogieman still only got minor cuts.

"We need to get to Aster and Jamie!" Tooth gasped out as her eyes locked onto the scared child that kneeled next to the bleeding Easter Bunny, his hands pressed into the wounds as he cried.

"Da, but we cannot without being struck by blades." North said thoughtfully before looking at Sandy. "Sandy, can you possibly go in there with shield of sand? Will it block hits from Jack and Pitch?"

Sandy's brows pulled down as he thought before nodding and smiling, forming a large shield made of sand and began to fly towards Aster and Jamie. He felt several blows to the shield before it grew heavy, his eyes popping open as he saw ice begin to form around it, fortifying his shield followed by Jack's laughter.

"You will not harm them; your darkness cannot penetrate my frost. I will protect them this time, I will not fail again!" Jack hissed out through grunts as he blocked another blow to the shield.

Pitch snapped his teeth close to Jack's face in his rage, "Tell me how you came this way Tecomanthe, tell me! Tell me why is it that you fear the death of that pesky rabbit when you lost your own mate? Is it because you are trying to make up for what you did? After all it was your fault that Blackhaw died; you're the reason why my blade sliced through the queen of spring." He taunted and with each word Jack's vision turned another shade of white until he could only flecks of black as his instincts came over.

Why Pitch thought he was his father he didn't know, but he wasn't going to correct him… yet. But this, he knew it was a lie, he was there… Blackhaw Bunnymund died by Pitch's sword yes, but it was to save him… She told his father to save him against Pitch's blade and by doing so she had suffered the fate he would have had.

"It is a debt I owe yes…" Jack rumbled out, his voice cracking sharp in the frosted air. He could see now that a blizzard had formed and icicles had formed both on structure and people. His rage was one that was admired in his class, on the battle field.

"ASTER!" At the sound of the cry, Jack spun and kicked Pitch away before shooting frost out to catch the body of Aster as a nightmare had attacked the cloud he was sitting on. Sandy stared peeved and wide-eyed as it happened; he was unable to do anything due to Jamie being asleep in his arms.

He felt the blow before he heard it and a cry escaped his lips as he felt the blade sear through his back where the ice wasn't protecting it. Blades and staff clattered to the ground as Jack found himself sprawled across the ground from the impact.

At the intake of breath from others and the cries, Jack flipped himself over and froze. Aster was held dangling in Pitch's hand by the scruff of his neck and a blade held to his throat. Jack's eyes watched as a drop of blood trailed down the blade, pooled before dropping and freezing in the air before clinking with the ground.

His eyes twitched as he watched the drop of garnet shatter into shards before snapping his eyes to Pitch's face once more.

Sandy formed a protective bubble around Jamie before gesturing to the others to back up behind the icicles that formed.

"What iz happening?" North asked as he watched the distorted image of Jack rise to his feet.

Sandy pressed his hand to North's and Tooth's face, 'Pitch has gone too far and unleashed something within Jack… I am unsure if we will have our Jack after this…'

"W-What do you mean?" She asked, causing Sandy to look at her sadly before showing them an image of the only Pooka he had met in a violent rage. It was vicious and the Pooka succumbed to the darkness the beast in him had unleased and destroyed himself. When threatened to that extent there is nothing to stop the rage that explodes, their magic fuelling them.

"But-But Jack isn't a Pooka! He's human!" She squeaked before flying up and looking over the glacier. Her eyes widening as she took in Jack's vibrating frame, his hands clenched as snow and ice swirled around his feet; jaw clenched. Sandy remained silent as he raised everyone to the top corner of the room and looked down; he hoped this was far enough away.

Hellebore Jack locked his eyes on Aster before locking back on Pitch, his face blank of emotion and it caused the nightmare king to become wary. He had expected rage; he had expected something more than what stood before him.

"S'motis, you will suffer my wrath and you will feel the power of my ice. Hand me Aster, hand me him now and I will show mercy." The voice was bland and yet it cracked sharply across the silent chamber causing the remainder of his nightmares to neigh warily.

Pitch wisely lowered the unconscious Pooka to the ground before smirking and pushing himself forward, tackling Jack into the wall behind them, his vest shattering against his own ice. An animalistic snarl escaped Jack's lips before his arms curled around Pitch's frame and then an electric zap filled the room. Phil let out a cry of surprise as he saw Jack disappear.

"Did he juz?" North asked Sandy who nodded enthusiastically. Yes Jack just teleported.

Jack with each teleport landed a kick and punch, a slice of blade here and there while they plummeted to the very depth of Pitch's lair. A loud boom sounded just as the foundation rumbled causing many bricks, cages and icicles to fall to the ground and the snow to fly up.

"Okay, o-okay Tecomanthe! I will…" Pitch trailed off as he raised a dagger and slashed through the air, only to stop as his arm froze the tip of the blade millimetres from Jack's flesh.

"Let me tell you a story Pitchiner, a long long time ago there was a great war on the Pooka home world that lead to their death. There was a great warrior, one from the Winter Clans who had sacrificed his life for that of his son. A son who had been saved by Mother Nature and Tsar, he found himself one day in a strange world with a strange body then he found himself all alone with no memory of his family or the whys." Jack whispered in a rumble as he closed one of his hands around Pitch's throat.

"Then one day the said son was brought into face the man who slaughtered his race, yet besides the flashbacks of agony and scents of burning fur and flesh took over, after many accidents, he found himself face to face in Antarctica in the bottom of a ravine where he got. His. Memories. Back." Jack hissed out while squeezing tighter.

Pitch stared up at the face before him, the softness of youth and joy gone and in its place was hardened with anger, and the smoothness gone as was the joy. Replaced with a violent array of emotions swirling in his eyes and the haunted look of a warrior.

"Wh-Who-o are you?" He gasped out causing Jack to laugh.

"I am Hellebores Jack, Tecomanthe was my father." He laughed out darkly just as the ice encased the rest of Pitch, freezing him in a slow defrosting ice.

With a satisfied smirk, he rose to his feet and grasped his staff in one hand before flying towards Aster. There was ice forming over the wounds and his breathing was shallow but Jack was relieved to know Aster was alive. Gently lifting him in his arms, he carefully began to walk towards where he could sense the others.

As the frost began to settle, the others squinted through the haze, their eyes widening as they saw the frozen form of Pitch on the other side of the room; before landing on Jack who held Aster in his arms.

"Oh Jack! You're okay Sweet Tooth!" Tooth blurted out as she flew to his side, hands running over his face before touching Aster. "North! He needs medical help now!"

North and Phil quickly rushed to their side and went to take Aster from Jack only to stop with a piercing stare as he clutched the form closer. Sandy narrowed his eyes as he took in the tattoo like mark on Jack's chest, his eyes widening as his eyes flick between that mark and the markings on Aster. He quickly flew forward before pointing to Jack and then Aster, huffing when no one noticed tell he yanked on Tooth's hand and then pointed with sand images till she got the point.

"Jack?" Tooth asked as she caught onto what Sandy was trying to say.

"Hmm? Yes Tooth?" he replied not tearing his eyes from Aster, voice still sharp.

"Why do you have Aster's marking on your chest?"

It was one simple question that made everyone curious and look, but it was one simple question that made Jack look down and stiffen. "Oh god."

A/N: there you go! He knows now! It'll be a while yet till Aster finds out though.

E