Before we get started, I'd like to thank avathtimelord for following the story. So, thanks!

Now, on with the show.

The next morning I went to the lake to wait. My side was lined with bruises, my back was slightly bruised and there were stitches in my arm, done expertly by Alec. I had a bag of food for the day, since I didn't know exactly when Jack might show up.

I sat in the usual tree and waited.

"Jackie!"

I looked down to see Jamie below me. He scrambled up the tree and hugged me. I wish people would stop doing that.

"Careful! Bruises there." I gasped, my throat had recovered, but I had hoped to rest it for a while.

"Sorry, but what happened?" He asked, pulling away and sitting more comfortably on the branch. "Even Jack was worried, he came to mine last night when he found your place was empty."

I explained what happened to him, with his eyes growing wider and wider each minute. When it got to my freak out I paused, I didn't want to tell him that I'd killed.

"Then what happened?" He asked.

"Well, um..."

He peered around to look at my face.

"I know that look, something really bad happened, didn't it?"

"I..."

"It's okay, you can tell me."

"I flipped out. More powerfully than I ever have. I blasted Pitch and his Descendants with snow and ice. Some blocked it, others were knocked aside, others well, well."

I sighed and just said it. "They had icicles in their chests."

"Oh, oh no."

I shook my head in an attempt to dislodge the image of motionless bodies surrounded by red snow.

"Yeah, and after that..."

I finished telling the story with waking up in Alec's house and my idea to save Sally.

"Oh, so that's why you're out here."

"Yeah, it's a long shot, but I hope it'll work."

"Can I wait with you?"

"If you want."

We waited for hours until the sun had set. Then out of the dark came a figure of blue and white.

I nudged Jamie awake and we jumped down from the tree to meet Jack.

"Hey you two! Jackie, what happened to you? I wasn't sure if you were back yet, but I came to check." He said as he landed.

"I'll explain later, right now I need your help with something."

"What?"

"How well do you know the Sandman? Outside of Guardian stuff."

"Well, I often see him doing his work, why do you ask?"

"Sally, Sandman's Descendant, has been 'contaminated' by black sand. Other Descendants
have done their best, but apparently we need either a really powerful Descendant or the actual Sandman, otherwise she'll die."

Jack's face grew serious as he caught on to what I was asking. "Alright, he won't be here for a few hours, but we can go looking for him. Reckon you can keep up with me?"

"I can try." I turned to Jamie. "You wanna come?"

Jamie nodded excitedly, a grin plastered on his face.

"Alright, skates on."

I formed an ice bridge and Jamie and I jumped to allow skates to form. Jack took to the air and we followed.

Jack easily pulled ahead of us, but a quick control change on the skates allowed us to catch up.

We flew by the world, I didn't care that there was a chance we could be seen, we were moving too fast and I melted the bridge behind us. We didn't leave the state, heck we didn't leave the county, we weren't travelling fast enough to be able to search a whole continent.

It became late and we hadn't found him yet, panic rose but I kept a lid on it.

Finally we were circling back to Burgess when we saw golden light coming from the sky.

"That's him!" Cried Jack. He turned to me. "Are you sure about this? I thought you said there were rules...?"

"I have a habit of breaking them, and I would class this as a dire circumstance."

Jack nodded, grinning, then flew up to where the golden sand was coming from, we followed not too far behind.

Thankfully we didn't go too high and we were greeted by a small floating man standing on a platoon on golden sand, with more of the stuff coming from his finger tips. He almost seemed to be wearing golden sand as robes and his yellow hair was standing up in huge spikes.

"Sandy!" called Jack as we approached. The Sandman turned and waved, not seeming to mind that Jack had brought company.

"Sandy, this is Jackie, and you've met Jamie."

I glided to a halt on the ice and got straight to it.

"Mr. Sandman, we really need your help."

We explained the situation to him and he nodded, his face serious.

"So you'll help?"

He nodded again.

"Great! Follow me."

I set off at a cracking pace, allowing my power to control the skates than my own leg power, the former was faster.

"Slow down Jackie!"

I looked over my shoulder to see Jamie was struggling to follow me. I sent my power to his skates and he caught, skating beside me.

"That better?" I asked.

He nodded in answer as Sandman and Jack came alongside us. With that I powered on towards Sally's house.

I had been told the address of every member of my Branch of HOG, so it didn't take long for me to get to Sally's.

We stopped by the upstairs windows and we looked in.

Inside the side window was Sally and Tina. Sally was still out cold, with patches of black in her hair. Tina was sitting next to the bed, her back straight as she kept vigil over her friend.

I carefully knocked on the window.

Tina started and looked over, her eyes went wide and she ran over to the window and pulled it open.

"What on earth are you doing?!" She hissed, "It's the middle of the night! What if someone sees you?"

I shrugged and moved to the side to reveal the Sandman.

"I brought help."

Her expression softened. "Come in."

I grabbed the top of the window frame as she moved away and swung myself in. I helped Jamie in as Jack and Sandman floated in.

Sandman floated over to Sally's bed and I felt a small amount of relief as I saw her chest rise and fall. She was still alive.

"How is she?" I asked Tina.

"Nothing's changed; she's been like this since the attack. The only difference is the hair."

She sighed and looked over at me.

"How about you? I heard stories from Nigel and Billy."

"I don't want to talk about it right now."

Her eyebrow raised and she looked at me with a knowing look on her face.

"You freaked out again didn't you?"

"Maybe." I responded, shoving my hands in my jeans pockets.

Before she could reply a golden glow caught our attention. Sandman had grasped Sally's head and golden sand seemed pour from him and onto her.

His eyes were closed and his seemed to be straining as his sand began to remove the blackness from Sally's hair.

We waited with baited breath as the black colouring slowly faded, then disappeared completely.

There was a sigh from Sally and as Sandman removed his hands her eyes fluttered open.

"What-?"

"SALLY!" Cried Tina as she rushed over to her bed and gave her friend a hug, causing
Sally to gasp as the air was squeezed from her lungs.

I turned to the Sandman, who looked a bit tired, but was overall alright.

"Thank you, thank you so much."

Sandman smiled and tipped a hat he formed out of sand.

"Jackie, Mr. Frost, Mr. Sandman, young man, what are you all doing here, what happened?"

"I'd like to hear this as well." Said Jack, sitting back in the air.

Jamie and I looked at each other, then at Tina, who sighed.

"It's going to get told eventually Jackie, might as well get it over with."

I leaned back against the wall as everyone's eyes turned to me and I began from the top, again.

Once again I faltered when it got the point when my wall got broken through.

"That's when you flipped, wasn't it?" asked Tina.

I nodded reluctantly. "I just got so angry, Nigel and Billy were down, there were thirty of them, plus Pitch, although he wasn't doing much. I just lost it. I summoned the largest ice and snow blast I think I ever had and sent it right at them, some got blown back, some blocked, the unlucky ones... The unlucky ones got an icicle to the chest."

There was a collective gasp.

"S-seriously! Jackie I've been teaching you how to get it under control!" cried Jack.

"And it is under control, more under control than it ever was, it's just, I've never been that angry before." I admitted, not looking at him.

Jack sighed and I looked up to see him rubbing his eyes, "You really need more help than I can give you."

"I'm not denying that."

Sandman motioned for me to continue the story.

"I would have done it again actually, if one of Pitch's Descendants didn't freak out. That snapped me out of it, and then I freaked out even further. As in, ball on the ground screaming in horror and miniature snow storm."

I continued from there, finishing at when we met the Sandman.

When I was done Sally and the Sandman's mouths were hanging open in an identical manner. At this point Tina took control.

"Well, we'll have to deal with the rest of this in the morning. Thank you very much Mr.
Sandman and it was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Frost, but Sally needs to get her strength back."

"You don't have to call me Mr. Frost." Muttered Jack, but I got the feeling that he quite liked it.

"We'd better go as well Jamie, both your parents and mine are probably freaking out." I said, moving away from the wall.

"Didn't they get you a phone for when this happened?" He asked.

"I turned it off." I replied matter of factly.

Jamie chuckled, "they're going to be so mad!"

"I think I can handle it."

I heard Tina sigh, "Jackie..."

I turned to her and shrugged. "What?"

"...Nothing, you'd better get going."

Jamie and I looked at each other and shrugged, then we left the way we came in with us dropping to the ground below the window.

"Thank you again Mr. Sandman." He bowed and smiled, then rose into the sky to continue his work.

"Need a walk home?" asked Jack, "You seem to have a magnet for trouble after all."

"Thank you for the offer, but I think we'll be fine. See you tomorrow for practice?"

"Yeah, see you then!" With that he took off into the sky.

I walked Jamie home and helped him sneak in and after a goodnight I walked home.

Naturally my parents were mad even when I explained what happened, then they just had a go at me for not telling them.

I lay in my bed and stared at the ceiling. The vision of the bodies kept running through my mind. I did my best to think of something else but I managed to fall asleep with them still in my head.

High above the city Jack flew, heading straight for Sandman.

"Hey, Sandy!"

Sandman turned and waved.

"Say, I know you've done a lot today, but reckon you could do me a favour?"

Jack explained his plan to Sandman, who nodded and gave a thumbs up in agreement.

"Thanks, this way!"

Sandman followed Jack to Jackie's place. Looking through her window they saw her tossing and turning. Even though the glass was thick they could tell she was shouting in her sleep.

Sandman sent his magic through the window and in a golden glow she calmed down. Above her head the sand formed the picture of a snowball fight with a large group of people.

Something she'd never dared to have.