A/N: I don't think I've ever obsessed so much over a chapter as I did this one! There must have been ten different versions of this but I ultimately decided to keep it fairly simple and just try my best with it so I hope everyone enjoys it! :) Huge, HUGE Thank You to my reviewers for the last chapter for coming back after the wait and still making the effort to review: AlexatheNerd, JilianLo, SoccerLoverxoxo, The-Unnamed-Artist and Tala White 14! I appreciate it so much guys, Thank You!

Disclaimer: Not mine :(

Happy reading! :)

The Guardians, along with their honorary heavenly addition watched eagerly as Sandy fought to produce enough sand to resist the shadows of the room. They had all remained generally in shock, reeling from their emotions after watching what had happened to Jack, but were now determined to improve their situation. Sandy began gathering a reasonable amount of dreamsand in the middle of the room, in front of Jack. He infused it with every positive emotion, thought and memory he had, bolstering the golden sand's ability to reject and convert the dark nightmares that made up the shadows of the darkened room they were being held in. With a burst of energy, the ball of dreamsand erupted, tendrils shooting to the gags preventing his friends from speaking as well as the black strains that had stuck firmly to Jack's legs and those above and around himself, who so eagerly lapped at his light to feed their own darkness.

Sandy smiled to himself, pleased with his success. As the dreamsand dispersed, the room seemed that little bit brighter, an effect added to by the wide smiles now on the faces of the other Guardians, all directed towards him.

"Excellent work Sandy! Good job!" North announced, the optimism fuelled by Sandy's success returning his boisterous enthusiasm.

"Shh." Tooth and Bunny hushed in unison.

"Oh! Sorry." North replied quietly once he remembered they did not want to be heard.

Sandy nodded in acknowledgement of the compliments, but quickly redirected his focus back to Jack, his expression quickly morphing into one of concern. The eyes of all in the room mirrored his line of sight, shooting to their injured party. Jack was still unconscious; his head slumped forward slightly but his form kept upright from the chains holding his wrists, putting extra stress on the already damaged skin underneath. Since they were left alone they had had to struggle to tear their eyes from the horrendous burns that were now scorned on their friend's shoulder.

"So, what now?" Bunny questioned.

They all looked at each other somewhat hopelessly, silently rueing the fact that their restraints could not have been made from the nightmare sand just as their gags had been.

"I just want to go to him." Tooth admitted mournfully, looking desperately towards Jack.

North looked poised to respond but he was stopped by a sound not unlike lightning coming from beyond the door followed by sounds of a fight. He turned to his friends to see if they were hearing what he was hearing and judging from the reluctant hope forming on their faces, he assumed they were.

"The Winchester's!" He announced proudly as they burst through the door. Truly, he had begun to doubt whether or not they would be able to make it past so much opposition but he should not have doubted. These were the Winchester's; even among immortals their skills were legendary. Certainly, their antics had earned them a practically permanent spot on his naughty list.

The brother's had froze upon entering the room, eyes widening at the sight of Jack. Once they managed to tear their eyes away from the young Frost spirit, they glanced initially to Cas, checking for further injuries on him and then to the remaining Guardians.

"What happened?" Dean questioned, still slightly recovering from the sight he was met with upon entering the room. The descriptions of Jack had been accurate; he was a gangly thing, clearly about 17 or 18 and was remarkably thin. How anyone could lay a hand on him Dean did not know; he was so vulnerable looking.

"Dean, c'mon." Sam urged as he moved towards Jack, his concern evident on his face. He turned to their group, "Is everyone else OK?" He questioned.

They all nodded in response. "We're fine Sam," Tooth replied. "Help him down first, we can wait." She reassured.

Dean searched his pockets for his lock-pick, whipping it out with a grin. "Sam, get the water from the bag." Dean ordered as he got to work on the chain attached to Jack's right arm. Sam made a dash for the water, grabbing it and trying to urge Jack awake so he could take some. He began to stir slightly and Sam splashed some water on his face and was soon met with a pair of reluctantly opened blue eyes.

Jack groaned once he began to come back to consciousness. It was taking him longer to recover from being knocked out the more times it happened. His head was insanely foggy and his senses felt incredibly sluggish.

"Jack." Sam urged once he saw the boy was awake. "You're gonna be OK, we're gonna get you outta here?" Jack's eyes widened as he felt a burst of pain from his right shoulder. He looked at it in bewilderment, struggling to catch up with events. There were two men. One had just released his right arm, which explained why the muscle had protested, and was now picking at the lock around his left wrist. The other one was stood in front of him; a kind, but pleading look on his face as he held something towards him. Jack's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looked to see what the man wanted, and saw a bottle of water. His eyes widened slightly at the welcome sight. Water sounded good, and so he drank hungrily, and felt better than he had expected once he had; his head immediately beginning to clear as the water worked at easing his dehydration.

"Hey, get ready to catch him." Dean advised his brother, before the click of a lock opening was heard. Jack fell forward as the tired muscles of his body crumpled once they were free to do so. Sam caught him, being careful to avoid any injuries as he did so, while Dean slowly brought Jack's left arm to his side.

"I got him, you go." Sam instructed his brother, nodding his head towards the rest of the group as he lowered Jack slowly onto the ground so he could run a quick assessment of his injuries and check if there were any that required immediate treatment.

"Water?" Jack requested as the younger Winchester removed his jacket and placed it under his head as a makeshift pillow.

"Of course," Sam replied, bringing the bottle to Jack's mouth. Jack reached for the bottle, determined to not appear weak, and as he drank, Sam's eyes scanned his body for the worst of the injuries. There was quite a deep and jagged cut on his side, as well as some more superficial marks scattered on his chest and arms accompanied by some bruising. However, neither of these compared to the sight of burn marks on the Guardian's shoulder, and Sam inwardly cringed as he thought of what would've caused such an injury. Thankfully, none seemed to need immediate attention, they would just have to wait to see what Cas could do for them once they got out of the building.

"Thank you," Jack sighed in sincere appreciation after taking a mouthful of water.

"It's no-" Sam began in response before he was thrown of his feet and held to the wall of the room by a crushing force. He grunted in surprise at the sudden movement, and could only watch as the same happened to his brother across the room.

"Hello boys." Crowley greeted.

Sam grunted angrily, glaring down at Crowley as he strode arrogantly towards them. Sam's eyes shot towards Dean, noting that he had managed to get one of Cas' hands free.

"Crowley." Dean growled as he fought against the invisible force that kept him attached to the wall.

"Did you really think, that you could just walk in here and start taking my stuff." He challenged, gesturing to Jack as he did so.

In an instant, he was met with protests from the Guardians but they were quickly shushed by the demon.

"He's not yours to hurt Crowley, he doesn't belong to anybody." Sam argued.

"That's not the point, he's still at my mercy and you can only have him, when I've finished with him." Crowley turned away from Sam and sauntered toward Jack, who had managed to get himself into a sitting position.

Eager to make his point clearly, Crowley lifted his hand and squeezed, and in an instant Jack began to choke. He scrambled at his throat in panic as he felt the demon begin to lift him higher. He gasped frantically as he tried to get air into his lungs and his right hand scrambled to his side, instinctively searching the ground for his staff. He felt a pole and grabbed it like a lifeline.

Jack swung the bar desperately at Crowley, putting as much strength as he could muster into the hit. It hit Crowley on the underside of his jaw and the demon reeled from the impact. As he lost focus, the pressure on Jack's throat vanished and he fell to the ground, greedily gasping in air as he did so.

Simultaneously, Sam and Dean also were dropped and they automatically moved towards Crowley as he righted himself from his knock. Sam pulled out Ruby's knife from his belt, preparing to strike the demon before him.

Crowley looked around, dabbing at the blood which had started leaking from the corner of his lips. He smirked ruefully as he saw Sam and Dean approaching him, both ready for a fight. He realised it was time to go; as fascinating as the boy was, he was not worth dying over, nor making himself a bigger target in the eyes of the Winchester's.

"Until next time." He chuckled.

Sam lunged with the knife, trying to get Crowley before he could disappear but he didn't make it, the knife simply going through thin air.

"Dammit." He growled in frustration.

"We'll get him again, c'mon." Dean urged; Crowley was gone; so long as he wasn't bothering them, he could wait. "Hey kid, you OK?" Dean questioned Jack who was still clutching at his throat.

"I will be." He replied, his voice raspy. On hearing it, he reached once again for the almost empty water bottle and finished it off. "Get them loose, lets get outta here." Jack urged as Sam handed him another bottle of water.

Dean and Sam grabbed their lock-picks and hurriedly began to unlock the chains of the Guardians, working quickly as they knew that even with Crowley gone, they still had to deal with the Bogeyman and his army of Nightmares.

As they worked at the various locks, Jack slowly began to struggle to his feet, pushing the pain of his injuries out of his mind as he focused on standing. He watched as the angel was freed, and as he then proceeded to help the two humans free the rest of his friends. As each were released, they moved towards Jack, clamouring around him with concerned looks on their faces and supportive words flowing from their tongues.

"Ok, that's everyone. Let's go." Dean announced as he freed Sandy and joined the others.

"My staff." Jack stated, his head nodding towards where he remembered Pitch discarding it. "Can someone grab it? If I reach down I'm not too sure I'll make it up again." He joked in an attempt to keep things light but he was fooling no-one; through the brave facade and the light humour, Jack was in agony, he was just too stubborn to let it show. Sandy floated over to the dark area where Jack had a hunch his staff was located, using his natural light to help him search. He soon came across the familiar curved top of his friend's most prized possession. Smiling, he reached to retrieve it, but as he came closer, he saw what he presumed to be the bottom of the staff lying parallel to the top. He frowned and picked up both pieces of the old, twisted wood and gasped when he saw that it was indeed snapped in two.

The group watched as Sandy rejoined them, a sorrowful look on his face. He made his way through the others to Jack, who was leaning slightly on North for support and presented the pieces of staff to their owner.

"It's ok Sandy, Pitch broke it, but I'll get it fixed, don't be worrying." Jack reassured as he took what was left of his beloved staff in his right hand. Broken or not, he could not deny how good it felt to have the wizened old stick back in his possession. "Thanks." Jack looked towards Dean and gave him a small nod to signal that now they were good to go.

"Ok let's move." Dean ordered. The door hadn't been locked since Sam and Dean had entered the room so they got out pretty easily. Once back in the hallway, they fell into a formation; Dean and Cas led the way, constantly poised to defend themselves, Bunny followed them, followed by Jack who was flanked on either side by Tooth and North with Sandy and Sam bringing up the rear, again ready to defend the group from any attackers that tried to sneak up on them.

Jack tried his best to continue moving unaided, however, his stubbornness waned the longer they moved through the building. As his knees began to give in underneath him, he found himself relying more and more on the support from Tooth and North to help him get through the building. He allowed himself a small smile as he silently thanked both of them for not drawing attention to his weakness or teasing him, however lightly, about it.

They made their way through the building without incident, and the longer they went without being confronted, the more tension was built up among the group. They felt they were being led into a false sense of security, just to be ambushed as they were to leave. Yet still they arrived at the oversized front foyer and found it, as far as they could see, empty.

"Any of this seem too easy?" Dean questioned, his voice suspicious as he paused briefly.

"I agree. It would seem they are trying to lead us into a trap of some sort." Cas mumbled seriously in reply.

"What can we do?" Dean pressed, silently relieved that Cas also had experienced the same feeling of danger as himself.

Cas sighed, glancing around the room and towards their odd group of companions. "There is little we can do until they reveal themselves." He admitted, "Just be ready." He added as a poor substitute for a plan.

They slowly moved across the large entrance hall towards the exit, everyone keeping their focus tight and eyes sharp as they remained on the lookout for any sort of trouble. They neared closer to the door, not daring to hope that their escape would be that simple. Yet for the moment, it seemed that it was.

Then, without warning, Jack cried out as he fell to the floor, sparks of electricity sparking across his body as his body spasmed in pain. The entire group turned towards him in shock, all confused and terrified by what had hit the youngest Guardian that would cause such a reaction.

"Jack!"

"Crikey, frostbite!"

"What happened?!" Dean questioned loudly over the exclaims of shock and concern emitted from the Guardians. He looked to Cas and Sam as the others tried to find a way to stop the shocks as Jack cried out in pain, but he was only met with two equally astonished expressions.

The Guardians were frantically trying to help their newest member, but without knowing what was causing the electricity to ravage through their friend's body, there was little they could do to help apart from try and hold him still and hope the shocks would subside.

"It's the ankle cuff!" Tooth cried out once she had gripped Jack's ankle to try and keep his leg still and felt the heat emanating from the small black restraint. She grabbed the black band, crying out and jerking her hand back as the heat from the device burned her hand. "It's too hot, I can't get it off him!" She cried, her voice higher than normal in all the panic.

Cas flicked out his angel blade, ready to cut through the black band but before he could get close, Jack became incredibly still, the small flashes of electricity dissipating before coming to a stop. Again, they all paused in bewilderment at how sudden the shocks had stopped, seemingly with no prompting from them.

"I'm afraid Jack is not permitted to leave the building at this time." Seven pairs of eyes shot towards the direction of the voice, and they were met with the sight of an infuriatingly arrogant Bogeyman stood at the top of one of the sets of stairs.

"Pitch!" North exclaimed angrily. "Enough! Let us leave and we will not hurt you." He had had enough of the stress, fear and panic caused by Jack's disappearance and he was ready for it to be over.

"Oh you are free to leave, but Jack stays. As you can see," Pitch began, gesturing to Jack who still lay vulnerably on the floor, "he cannot leave without my permission."

"Take it off him ya bloody goony! You can't just go around hurting people!" Bunny yelled out, reaching for his boomerangs and holding them firmly in his grasp as the others followed his lead, each holding their individual weapons with a hard glint in their eye.

"Oh suck an egg rabbit." Pitch snarled in reply, quickly becoming bored with the conversation. Bunny glared back angrily, a small but threatening growl breaking past his lips, but his attention was soon drawn by a horde of nightmares that were beginning to surround them; taking form from the shadows on the walls. Pitch sneered from his vantage point of the first floor, feeling satisfied as he watched his foes shift nervously together as they were faced with the oncoming threat. He knew the game was over, they would get Jack; that device wasn't indestructible, especially to an angel blade, but he was not going to simply let them walk out the doors unhindered.

"Plan, anyone?" Dean muttered under his breath to the group.

"Er…" Sam began, not really having any ideas that could help them in their current situation. Even after destroying the warding sigils, Cas' powers were muted, presumably Pitch and the nightmares having something to do with it, Sam didn't know, but either way, their only way out of here was through the heavily guarded door.

"We can't fight them all, we're just gonna have to make it to the door and get outta dodge." Dean continued urgently.

"But, Jack...?" Tooth squeaked anxiously, unnecessarily reminding the older Winchester that Jack couldn't just stroll out of the building.

Cas crept closer to the young spirit, not wanting to give away what he was planning until it was absolutely necessary. Without warning the nightmares charged, and everything began happening at once.

Sandy slashed his whips fiercely, taking advantage of the fact they were more opportune for longer range combat compared to knives and swords, and creating the first line of defence. He rose into the air, buying himself enough time to form his large sand animals and he sent them forward to combat the dark nightmares who were eagerly attacking. Bunny's boomerangs swished through the air, hitting several targets at once. The Winchester's, as well as North, ran at their enemies, easily slicing through the nightmares, effectively destroying them and determined to not be overrun until they could make their escape, while Tooth zoomed past them; razor-sharp wings destroying nightmares on impact. Though they were all faring well, they knew it was only going to be a matter of time before they were overrun by the horde of dark sand-horses. They needed to get out. Quickly.

Cas dove beside Jack once the fighting broke out, grabbing the strap around his ankle, ignoring the burn that formed on his hand once he made contact with the black material, and sliced it cleanly off with his blade. He reached for Jack, helping him stumble weakly to his feet and ignoring the boy's stubborn assurances that he could 'do it himself.'

"We have to go." Cas shouted over the roar of the battle. The Guardians, along with the Winchester's all turned to the angel, relieved to see Jack once again on his feet next to him, and they began to battle their way to the door. From the corner of his eye, Sandy saw Pitch begin to turn away to disappear into the shadows. Without a second thought, he lashed his whip towards the Nightmare King, and caught him on the ankle. He used the connection to slam Pitch to the ground, cutting a path for their team to the doors at the front of the building as the Nightmares all dispersed to make room for their King. Pitch groaned, attempting to recover quickly from the painful impact. He struggled to his feet as the Guardians approached him, faces all displaying their fury at the being before them.

"Pitch! Going somewhere?" North teased as the Winchester's, along with Cas, looked on in astonishment as the lovable, jolly man became one fuelled by indignant anger at what had been done to the boy he looked upon as a son.

"Oh no, we're not finished with you yet mate." Bunny shadowed.

Pitch simply sneered in response, unwilling to let his arrogance break in the face of his foes.

"That's where you're wrong rabbit. I think we are." He drawled in reply. Before any in the group could respond, Pitch nodded his head, and, as if they had been waiting for the signal, the nightmares surrounding them pounced on the golden Guardian. Sandy reacted instinctively to the surprise attack, wielding both his whips and slashing them across the horde of Nightmares. As he acted in his defence, he involuntarily released the Bogeyman, who used the opportunity to escape, a maniacal grin on his long face.

"No!" Dean called, once he saw what had happened as the others all rushed to Sandy's aid. However, once their King disappeared, the Nightmares slinked back into sand form, returning once again to the shadows.

"Dammit." Sam muttered under his breath. North and Bunny both growled angrily, venting their frustration before enabling themselves to think strategically.

"It is no matter, no matter." North muttered before turning to Jack. "Come. It is time to go home."

He put his arm around the young Guardian, helping support him as he hobbled weakly out of the doors. Once they were outside, they were greeted by a cool breeze. Jack inhaled deeply as he gripped his broken staff even tighter, a small smile gracing his face in recognition of his oldest friend's greeting. The effects of the device which had been attached to his ankle were quickly abiding, and his returning power helped return a portion of his strength as it came, as well as starting to take the edge off the pain from his injuries.

"Ready?" Cas questioned, breaking the relieved silence that had came over the group as they took in their escape. They all nodded in response, looking towards the angel as he raised his hands. They had agreed that North's snowglobes would be too jolting for Jack in his state; Cas could fly them, and although it would be at a much, much quicker speed, Jack was still more familiar with flying. "Hold onto each other." He instructed, before they all disappeared.

A/N: Thought Jack had put up with enough, it's time to get him home! Thanks so much for reading and if you feel like making my day, leave a wee review? Please? Thanks guys! x