March 7

"It'll get better," Ana said, smiling up at North. The Russian frowned, looking at her like she was insane. "Really, I'll be back outside tomorrow. The day after by the latest. Don't worry about me so much."

"Ana, ya look like yer goin' ta puke again."

"I feel like it too…"

North leaned away immediately.

"Wait until the doctor gives you the okay before you starting fighting off bad guys again, okay?" Jack asked. She couldn't see him between Aster and North. "The last thing we need is to have to go find your unconscious body collapsed in a snow bank soon. That'd really make for a bad day."

"An' just imagine if a kid found ya."

"Or Wind. Her head could explode. Just imagine the grey brain matter all over the place."

"Okay, now I'm definitely going to be sick."

"Jack, shut up before I make ya. The warehouse already smells like pigeon crap an' –"

"Now you've done it." They all looked away as a wet splatter came from Ana's direction. "Stop with anything even remotely gory for a while, alright? I know it's a little hard for you two, but I'm sure you can manage for a little while." She rested her head back on the pillow. North scooted the pot away from him, waving a hand in front of his nose to blow the smell away. "Shoo. I just want to sleep right now."

"Yer not sleepin'."

"That's because you're all talking to me."

"We're talkin' ta ya 'cause ya weren't sleepin' an' looked bored."

Ana suddenly looked up, glaring over Aster's shoulder. "Sandy, don't you dare use that on me!" and Jack scattered, but Aster barely had time to cover his mouth before Sandy sprayed the canister he used to knock the kids out at Ana. She was asleep a minute later, relaxed and breathing deeply without any worries.

Manny was going to stop by at the end of the day to see how she was doing. He had said that morning to contact him immediately if her temperature was five degrees over the norm because they wouldn't be able to do enough to keep it from rising further in their current living situation. As it was, they were already discussing moving her to Manny's house because there were several times during the day when no one was at the warehouse. It had been pretty much assumed that was the case, even if Ana was still adamant against the idea. Unfortunately, her temperature was steadily rising and she couldn't keep any food down. To make things worse, North's skin was flushed and he had commented on not feeling well. The rest had been banned from touching either of them and were staying as far away from either person as possible to avoid contracting the illness.

Aster backed away from the gas further, blowing out his spare breath to push away any more of it before he dared to breathe in. With only four of them – and one feeling sick as well – they didn't have any use for someone asleep. "Okay, Sandy's makin' up more 'a the Dream Sand," he said, using the title they had started calling the mixture by, "an' North's buildin' us a 'ome in the middle 'a nowhere. Jack – "

"- needs to figure out how to run electricity out to the home, so anything you need me to do can just wait a moment."

Aster rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just didn't expect ya to not be slackin' fer once."

"Slacking? I'm sorry, who took a five hour nap this morning when North and I were in a fist fight with four of Pitch's people?"

"Hey, I-"

North and Sandy exchanged looks and walked away, leaving the two to their arguing.

-.-.-.-

They did indeed move Ana to Manny's home by the time he got off work. Her temperature was well over a safe point and they were afraid she could get someone else sick. North ended up going with her so Manny could treat him before he got any worse. As a result, Jack was going to be on a shift around the neighborhood that night by himself. He welcomed the solitude, but he was worried about North and Ana. They had known that they had to be careful to stop something like this from happening, but the efforts they had made had obviously not been enough.

He made it back at the end of the day after spending so long looking for a way to get electricity out to where the home was being built. The problem stemmed from the amount of rivers and creeks in the area, as well as the rough terrain and the amount of animals that could chew through any wires. They could always bring a generator out there, but they would have to not only get it out there, but find a way to keep it working. At this rate, they were going to be doing that science fair project of harvesting energy from potatoes to get this to work.

A caw interrupted his thoughts before he went inside. He turned around, spotting the two ravens sitting on the branch. Aster had apparently not passed this way yet or they would have surely harassed him into giving them food. Jack sighed, opening the door and going inside. He returned a moment later, a piece of bread in his hand. The birds flew down and snatched the bread before he even put it on the ground. Stuck between amusement and concern for his mental well-being, he turned around and went back into the warehouse.

He grabbed his staff and a small bag of quarters. With the Tooth Fairy under with the flu, someone had to pick up the slack. Sandy and Aster would do the same, although they would probably only visit two houses. Sandy was fast, but not that fast. A detailed dream was different than a simple dolphin. They were going to have to learn if quantity or quality was better. Maybe giving a detailed dream was better for a child with a lot on their minds, but when no one was in need of specific attention, just painting something small might be enough to make them smile.

He set out. The ravens were gone, having eaten up the last of the crumbs and flown off. The sun was setting in his eyes as he walked towards the neighborhood closest to the school. They had broken in the day before Ana had gotten sick to make sure their records were all up to date, which had proved to be a smart move since they had made two changes about home addresses and four changes about after school activities that students participated in. The neighborhoods were spread out far enough that it was better to have to break in than to have to cross a few miles to find the right house.

Sometimes they would take bikes around, wanting to visit as many houses as fast as they could. Wind would help about once a week, ferrying them around. She ended up carrying Jack around the most, although no one was exactly sure why. Most of the time, though, they just walked. With Pitch not acting out as much, it was nice to have something relaxing they could do every day.

Jack started his rounds, checking to make sure none of Pitch's people were around. He caught sight of one climbing up the side of a house, but he ran forward silently and smacked their legs out from underneath them with his staff. They cursed and fell a foot, reaching out to grab the rain gutter with their hands. The man dangled in the air, glaring at Jack. The white haired teen gripped his staff tighter and stepped forward. The man dropped and took off before Jack could smack him again. Most of the interactions were like that. None of Pitch's people seemed to be able to put up much of a fight unless it was Onyx. They really needed to work on that.

It looked like the man had brought friends. Jack saw a few shadows dart between two houses, but they were gone a moment later. Pitch's people were much better at hiding than they were at standing their ground. He wondered what they were doing here, watching instead of leaving, but didn't mind so long as they didn't try and stop him. The shadows appeared on the other side of the street now, but he didn't think there were more than four of them, including the one he had knocked off the house. He could take on four.

"Guys, this is getting a lit-tle weird," he said, drawing out the adjective to make it more teasing. "Come on, are we all middle-aged guys stalking the teenager on his way home or something?"

Unsurprisingly, there was no response. He hummed a few notes to himself without having a song in mind, gliding across the snow with ease. Some of the driveways had been cleared off, but a snowfall in the afternoon had buried a few of them once more. Those that were cleared had ice on them, negating all the hard work that had been done. Jack stepped off the road and onto the sidewalk. He jumped forward, onto one of the driveways, and slid forward with his arms out like a surfer. His momentum took him a fair distance, and he spun once and jumped in the air to increase it. He kept sliding until his feet hit the snow on the other side.

As he slid across the driveways, increasing the distance he could go each time, he kept an eye on the shadows around him. They kept growing in numbed but weren't approaching. It was unusual for them to keep an eye on him like that. The Guardians had spotted someone tailing them once or twice, but they usually just let them be. There wasn't any point in attacking them when they were watching. If Pitch wanted to attack on sight, that was fine, but they weren't going to do it too.

He stepped off the sidewalk, footsteps quiet and light as ever. It felt natural to be outside in this weather, staff in hand and walking along the road without anyone noticing him. Snow had started falling and it wasn't cold enough to feel like he was going to freeze. For a few minutes, it didn't matter that he had nine tails and that he was steadily picking up more.

He paused, not bothering to hide his action as he spun in a slow circle. He recounted the people, making sure to get the one behind the Harris's trash can and the one on Lily's porch. When had he gotten seventeen people following him? He had been trying to act nonchalant, but apparently his act had fooled himself as well. There were way too many people on this street and not enough of him to fight them off.

He considered his options for a moment, bouncing on the balls of his feet for a moment and tilting his head to one side. The shadows waited, watching him for a moment. Jack frowned. This was clearly an ambush. For something this dramatic, Pitch had definitely orchestrated it. Pitch also liked seeing his hard work play out in front of him. So where was he?

Speak of the devil and you will hear his horse's doomsday hooves clopping on the snow covered street towards you.

Jack groaned silently, shoulders slumping as he saw the black horse turn the corner and come to a halt. Pitch was settled in the saddle with his dark cloak wrapped around him to keep warm, probably smirking his head off. This was just great. Not only did he have a limited amount of space to run in, any running he could do wasn't going to be fast enough when the one chasing him had a much faster ride than his feet.

Jack didn't waste another moment, sprinting towards one of the houses. Pitch and his shadows paused, surprised he was going to someone for help. Jack jumped, foot hitting the porch railing and propelling himself up. His hands grabbed the edge of the roof. He heard everyone start moving behind him, running out from their hiding places as they tried to grab him. Before the closest was able to make a snatch for his ankle, he had pulled himself and was running over the roof. He dropped down on the opposite side in the fenced in area. Pitch would have to ride all the way around the back to get to him now.

He climbed over the fence in the back and started running between two rows of house. The shadows were dropping down around him, moving swiftly over the fences and approaching as fast as they could. Apparently, they outnumbered him enough to feel safe. He sure felt like they had the right to feel that. Before they could get close enough, he backtracked and went back over the fence he had just climbed over. He unlocked the gate from the inside and ran out the front, letting the gate swing closed behind him and latching into place. The shadows were stalled for a moment by the unexpected gesture, but they were pouring out the gate behind him a few seconds later.

He crossed the street and ran between two houses. He ran around behind three before he hid in a small crevice in the side of one. The shadows ran past, looking for him somewhere else entirely. He waited until the last one had passed before running back out into the road. The forest was that way. The warehouse was closer and in a different direction, but he couldn't lead them that way and he was much better at losing them in the confines of the trees than he was at losing them in the sprawling mess of the suburbs. It hadn't taken too long for the shadows to realize they had lost their quarry, and one peaked out between two houses to spot him. She cried out to the others and they were after him a moment later.

Jack ran from the hunt, moving over roofs and between houses. They startled dogs and cats, scaring nocturnal creatures and causing enough noise to wake up a few people judging by the lights turning on every once in a while. They were in an emptier area now, almost to the forest. It was only a half block away. Jack lengthened his stride, a grin spreading across his face. This was going to be fun. With the river frozen and snow covering slick patches of ice, there was no way he wasn't going to be able to lose them and give them a few bruises to remember him by. Violence wasn't really his thing, but doing stupid stuff to the point where someone got injured was almost always hilarious.

Something dropped into view, wrapping around his midsection and lifting him off his feet. His breath went out of his lungs as he slammed into the ground, dragged backwards by the rope under his arms. He tried to dig his heels in, but the rope pulled him along. He only succeeded in losing a shoe and scraping his heels open on the ground. His clothing was getting steadily torn up and the skin beneath was already bruised without needing to lose that much skin. He would have cried out in pain if he had been able to breathe around the tight rope. His ribs were probably cracked from the force of it around his chest. Every other part of his body was getting knocked around as he was dragged along, trying to stop himself but unable to.

Glancing up, he caught sight of the rear end of Pitch's horse. He had the other end of the rope and met Jack's pained expression with a grin. Jack reached up to try and yank the rope out of Pitch's hands, but Pitch held on tighter. He turned away, looking forward again. He pulled to the right with one of his reins and the horse made a sharp turn. The rope was abruptly dropped and Jack skidded to a stop. He heard the hooves slow to a stop.

It took a great deal of effort to not groan as he wheezed on the ground. He looked up, not even sure he could stand. Before he could make the decision to try it or not, the shadows that had been following him closed in, grabbing his limbs and holding him down. He kicked out instinctually, but there wasn't much he could do besides cause small scratches or bruises. By the time Pitch arrived a few seconds later, he was stuck, unable to move anywhere. He glared, however useless it was.

"A lasso?" he spat out. "Really?"

"My weapon choice is hardly what you should be focusing on right now," Pitch said.

"Yeah? And what would you say my priorities are?" he said sarcastically, the effect almost entirely negated by how out of breath he was. Running that fast and that far had hardly been easy, but being dragged around by a horse wasn't the best idea for air flow either.

Pitch crouched down beside him, smiling. "If you're here and Ana and North are sick, then how many of you are there left?"

Jack gritted his teeth together, hearing Pitch laugh even as someone kicked him harshly in the head. The first time didn't work, but his world went black after the second hit.

-.-.-.-

The dream was of a unicorn prancing across a field this time, scaring off a horrible troupe of little gnomes that were threatening a castle up in the mountains. Aster watched from the window, dividing his attention between watching the Sandy and keeping an eye out from trouble. Sandy had started bringing a step stool so he could reach the ceiling and the highest parts of the wall, rather than using furniture already in the room. They were in the room of a girl who was new to the town, having only moved in last week. She had a gruff exterior because she didn't smile a lot and usually growled at the other kids, but her clothes were cheerful and her room was entirely pink. Maybe this would make her feel welcome.

Sandy finished his work and woke her up, hiding with Aster on the roof as she marveled at the drawings. They could hear her giggling and laughing, trying not to wake her parents but ecstatic over the "dream" none the less. The two of them smiled at each other as she danced happily around the room, examining every inch of the pictures with the fervor of an artist who had discovered a painting that had been lost for centuries.

They gave her half an hour to calm down before putting her back to sleep and erasing the dream. The plastic and sand went into Sandy's backpack and they started out the window, closing the window behind them. The drop to the ground was easy and quiet enough, and they were walking along the street a moment later.

Aster glanced across the asphalt at a man doing the same thing, despite the late hour. He was obviously one of Pitch's men, but usually, they weren't so forthcoming about being there, even when it was obvious that they were. Sandy had seen the man too and was frowning. He tugged on Aster's sleeve and came to a halt. If the man was going to try and push them towards an ambush, then they weren't going to fall for it. Aster stopped beside him, turning to face the man and make it clear that this was a game they weren't going to play. The man looked at them, pausing and coming to a halt across the road. They stared at each other for a minute, neither sure about who should make the first move. The man's gaze flickered over their shoulders.

Aster glanced behind, seeing three more walking up behind them. From both ends of the road, there were more coming. It seemed like they were going to be ambushed anyway. Sandy kept glaring at the first man, more irritated about being stopped from getting to the next house than he was irritated about having to fight again. A bout with Pitch's guys was becoming a nightly thing. There was something odd about these people, though. They walked different and acted cockier than they ever had before. That, and Aster was pretty sure he could recognize all of Pitch's shadows by now. These people didn't even look familiar.

"You lost or somethin'?" Aster growled as the first man walked across the street and came to a stop in front of them. "'Cause yer definitely not where ya should be. Scat."

"It's funny that the Easter Bunny would have such a temper," the man said, amused. "Nah, we're not lost. Pitch has said he'll fund us if we give him a hand every once in a while. It sounds like he can't take care of five pesky over-sized rodents running around his town. Know of anyone like that?"

"The only rodents I see are the ones actin' like a pack 'a hyenas right now. An' let me tell ya, those things are annoyin' as hell." Aster stepped forward, a dangerous glint in his eyes and body poised to attack. "Run home before the lions eat ya up."

The man smirked. "We're not like Pitch's normal goons. We can actually fight for ourselves. And we outnumber you, oh…" He glanced around casually. "Eight to one."

"Great, that means ya have no confidence in yer fightin' skills whatsoever," Aster snapped. "I don't have time ta deal wi' ya tonight."

"Yeah, you really should be running along," the man mocked, sarcastically pretending he cared. "Your friend's out on the streets alone. Maybe he's the one who's lost. He could've run into some trouble."

Sandy's eyes narrowed and Aster tensed up further.

"After all, if you were the only target tonight, Pitch would definitely be here to watch."

Aster lashed out, punching the man in the face before anyone else could react. Sandy threw out everything he had, moving right into the mass of people and elbowing, kicking, kneeing, and slapping anyone he could. He didn't have the height or build to literally throw people into each other as Aster was doing, but he could certainly cause the same amount of damage. One of Aster's thrown people landed in the midst of his fight breaking the lull of monotony for a split second before Sandy grabbed someone's arm and twisted it behind their backs, shoving them headfirst into one of Aster's opponents.

The first man hadn't gotten up yet. Aster had hit him hard enough to take him out, and he was lying on the ground with someone else at his feet. Someone had landed on top of them after being log chucked through the air, and the back of their head had hit the ground pretty hard. A third person fell on Aster's side, not unconscious but just not willing to fight anymore. On Sandy's realm of things, the fifth person was just now crumpling. Aster reached over, slamming two heads together and stepped over them as they fell down, too dizzy to continue. Someone was running away, and as Aster and Sandy could focus on the individuals more, three more dropped.

Aster slammed one more out of his way, kicking him once in the shins and then kneeing him in the gut. He shoved him down, pointedly telling him to stay there with a simple look. The man didn't look like he was going to get up, less injured and more afraid of what would happen if he did. They both jumped as a crack split the air.

Aster whirled around as Sandy crumpled. His last opponent stood there, shocked by his own actions for a moment. He looked at Aster, scared by what he was capable of and the angry Australian.

Aster snarled, fast paces pushing him across the ground. He had the man – no, he wasn't a man, he couldn't even be older than Jack – in a vice-like grip a moment later, his shirt bunched up his fist. The boy gave a cry of pain as his feet left the ground, hands gripping Aster's arm in panic. The gun dropped from his hand. For a moment, the only sounds were the ragged breathing of the two of them and Sandy. The teenager's mouth was working furiously, open one moment to gasp in breaths and closed the next to frantically gnaw on his lip.

Damn it, there was no way he was older than Jack.

Aster threw him backwards. He skidded a few yards, sliding across the snow and thumping to a stop against a mailbox. He looked up in surprise, having expected Aster to rip him to shreds right in the middle of the street.

"If I ever see you again," Aster snarled, "nothing will save you."

The boy scrambled to his feet and sprinted away. He was gone before Aster even turned around to look at Sandy.

Part of him wished he hadn't looked.

There was so much blood.

-.-.-.-

"You should be fine," Manny said as North hopped off the counter. "Stay here for the night so you don't get the others sick and so I can make sure you're really going to be fine. I don't think they'll need you tonight anyway."

"When should Ana start getting better?" North asked.

Manny paused. "That… I don't know. I hope soon, but only time will tell."

North nodded, frowning at the ground. "She's still asleep?"

"Yes-"

The back door slammed open. "Manny!" Aster screamed.

North and Manny sprinted out of the kitchen and to the back of the house. They nearly ran into Aster in the hallway, but North put out to hands to stop Aster before they could. Aster was breathing hard, looking like he'd run the entire way. He looked like a mess, with blood streaked across his left cheek and hands torn open from a fight.

Even worse than him was Sandy. The small teenager was clenched tightly in his arms, blood dripping down onto the floor from his stomach. Both of his hands were pressed against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. He was grimacing in pain, head lolled back against Aster's shoulder. His face was white and he was shaking from blood loss and the lack of adrenaline.

Manny barely paused, pulling Aster forward into the kitchen. North ran ahead of them, grabbing the table cloth and hauling the leftover dinner plates off that way. Aster laid Sandy down on the table while Manny hurried to go get his medical bag. North lifted the shirt to unveil the wound, putting pressure on it as soon as he found it. Aster went to the sink and scrubbed his hands with soap and water, filing a pot with water as soon as he had. He grabbed a clean washcloth and replaced North, holding the cloth over the wound and pressing down with it. North cleaned his hands and returned a moment later.

Manny entered the room, pulling a chair out from the table and setting the bag down. He began pulling out supplies and handed them to Aster, who moved to start cleaning them off to avoid infection. Sandy's hand shot out, suddenly, to grab Aster's arm.

"Jack," he said unsteadily, panting. "Pitch…" He broke off, trying to get his breath back.

North gave Aster a confused look. "One of the guys who attacked us very strongly hinted that Jack was attacked tonight," Aster said hurriedly.

Manny shoved the rest of the equipment at Aster and grabbed the phone off the hook. He tossed it at North, who grabbed it out of the air and dialed Wind's number. It rang several times until the dial tone came on. North swore in Russian before trying again.

"This is my fault, I'm sorry," Manny said wearily. "I should've known he would try something."

"No way ya coulda known," Aster said as Manny injected Sandy with something to knock him out. The teenager slowly relaxed into sleep. "Let's just worry about getting' Sandy back to normal. Jack can handle whatever Pitch throws at 'im."

"He told me that you guys would be dealt with by the time the month was over," Manny said wearily. "He's not one to make idle threats."

"Don't worry about it. We shouldn't 'ave slacked off an' gotten sloppy," Aster said. "D'ya think ya can fix Sandy up?"

"Let's find out," Manny said grimly, reaching into the blood.

-.-.-.-

Wind pulled up an hour later. She had gotten home and found twenty-four missed calls, all from Manny's house. Her cell phone had been broken while sparring, otherwise she would probably have found a similar amount of alerts there too. As soon as she had seen the calls, she had driven straight to the house without even bothering to check the voicemail. She ran inside, fearing what she would find.

It was worse than she expected. Blood was splattered over the kitchen table and floor, and Sandy was almost unrecognizable from the paleness and the sheen of sweat and blood covering him. The other three all had tense, panicked expressions as they worked over him. Without asking, Wind went straight to the sink and started washing her hands.

"No!" Aster said sharply.

"What?" she said. "I want to help!"

"Jack may be worse," North said. "Pitch may have attacked him. We do not know where he is."

"He never returned to the warehouse?" Wind asked, backing towards the door.

"We haven't had the time ta return there," Aster said, "so there's no way to know. We need someone ta check an' go after Jack if he's gone."

"Where was he patrolling?" she demanded.

"You know where the Harris's live?"

"Around there?"

"Yeah."

"I'll call you," she said and then ran out the door, slamming it closed behind her. She was out of the driveway a moment later, pushing past the speed limit to hurry to the warehouse. It took her eight minutes to get there, and she was unsurprised to find it empty. She was to the Harris's house even sooner, pulling to a stop outside. She threw the door open and ran out, scanning the ground. The nice thing about it being winter was that she could clearly see the footprints crisscrossing the road. She followed them, through several backyards and over multiple fences.

She searched for four hours, until the sun came up and it was obvious she wasn't going to find them. The fallen snow had long since covered their tracks, leaving no way for her to follow them the rest of the way. Whatever had happened and wherever they had gone, she had no clue. Right before she was about to stop, a glimpse of brown-on-white caught her eye.

Jack's staff was lying broken in the snow.

-.-.-.-

March 8

Ana was laying on the couch, trying futilely to sit up. She couldn't see the kitchen from where she was and she found it frustrating. Everyone kept giving her vague answers whenever she asked how Sandy was doing. She didn't really need anyone to tell her, though. The ashen expressions on everyone's face was enough of an answer to know he wasn't doing well. Even worse, Manny and North were talking in hushed voices in the kitchen, but she had heard the word "hospital" when Aster had helped her past the room and to the couch. If they were even thinking about taking him there, things must have been looking extremely dire.

Wind had been gone for hours, and with each minute Aster was growing increasingly twitchy. It hurt Ana to see him so upset, looking horribly similar to his situation when his parents had died and his brother had been in a coma. He was once again waiting for word on two people very close to him to know if they were going to survive or not. In fact, he was even sitting by Ana's metaphorical bedside and waiting for her to be well enough to move again, just like he had while waiting for his brother to wake up. His face was drawn and tense, hands tightly gripping his knees. He stared at the opposite wall, not willing to look around and face Ana in case she got worse.

Ana reached out, grasping his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Aster," she murmured. He looked at her in surprise. She gave him a hesitant smile. "Your life kinda sucks right now. It's going to be okay. Sandy's stronger than he looks, and Jack's been on his own for a long time. He can deal with whatever's thrown at him. Everyone's going to be okay. You'll see."

Aster gave her a strained smile, grateful for her attempt at soothing his nerves. "It's not about me."

"But you wish it was."

Aster flinched. He took a deep breath and sighed. "Sometimes I wish I was the one who died in the car crash, or the one who was in a coma."

Ana sat up with a wince. Aster looked worried, trying to make her lay back down. She swatted his hands away and placed hers on his shoulder. She looked at him, hard, as if there was something she wanted to say. After a moment, though, she leaned back, realizing there was nothing to say. She sighed. "Get some sleep. You look like crap."

He smiled wryly. "Thanks. You too. Don't puke on me if I lay down next ta the couch."

"I make no promises."

"I'll put my feet below yer head, then."

"I'll try to aim between them."

"Appreciated."

North walked in, frowning. They both looked at him eagerly, waiting for the news he was surely bringing. "Wind called," he said hesitantly. "She needs to go to work and she will be on the lookout for him as soon she starts patrolling. She is going to convince her partner to look for him too, but she does not know how she will do that yet. Jack's staff was on Isla Avenue, but that was all she could find."

Aster gritted his teeth at the delay but bit back any remarks. North wasn't going to be able to do anything about it. "No sign at all?"

North shook his head.

Aster stood up. "That's it, I'm goin' out." North and Ana both grabbed his arm to try and stop him. He snatched it away angrily. "Don't stop me! Pitch 'ates 'im. I don't even want ta think about what he'll do ta 'im."

"He also hates you," Ana said. "He hates you two more than the rest of us, and he knows you two are good friends. He knows you'll go after him. Don't play into his hand, Aster. You're afraid about what he'll do to Jack, but I'm terrified of what he'll do if he has both of you. With only North and I able to go after you, there would be no hope we'd ever get you back."

"Ya mean wi' only North."

Ana huffed. "I'm sure I could get up if I really set my mind to it."

"Great. You'll be able to stand. That'll do a lot."

North put a hand on his shoulder before he could continue. "Ana is right. You will just cause more trouble if you go out alone. Wait until we know how Sandy will be. I will help you look as soon as we know Manny will not need our help with any complications. Wait a few hours. It will be okay."

"A few hours?!" Aster yelled. "Jack could be killed in the next few minutes an' ya want ta wait hours?! There won't be anythin' left 'a 'im to save!"

"Aster…"

"No, Ana, I'm going."

"Aster!"

"Don't try an' stop me!"

North grabbed him from behind, getting him in a choke hold. Aster growled, kicking backwards and smacking North with his hands. The Russian dodged most of it, holding on as his struggles got weaker and weaker. Ana looked on, not even sure who she should side with. Aster tried to wiggle free, but his air supply ran out before he could succeed. He finally slumped down in North's grip.

North checked to make sure he was actually unconscious before setting him down on the floor. Ana sighed. "He really can't go after Jack, can he?"

"He will only get himself hurt," North said dismally. "We have to worry about Sandy now. Jack will be able to hold his own until we can get there. Pitch will not kill him as long as he can use him as a bartering chip. Jack may be who he hates the most, but he knows we will fight harder if Jack is killed. He also knows Wind works for the police and will go after him with everything the force has. No, Pitch will not kill him yet."

Ana bit her lip. "I'm worried, too. About what Pitch will do to him. Even if Jack isn't killed… At least Emma isn't in Maine anymore. Pitch can hardly use her against him."As she spoke, North pulled out a pair of handcuffs Wind had given him to restrain any of Pitch's people so she could arrest them later. He put one link around Aster's wrist and the other around the leg of the couch.

"We are here, though. Jack does not know what happened to us," North said.

Ana leaned back, closing her eyes. "I want this to be over. Why are we doing this?"

"Because no one else will."

She smiled weakly. "And we were the only ones stupid enough to nominate ourselves?"

"No, we were the only ones brave enough." She opened her eyes and North gave her a small smile. It faded and he looked down at Aster. "But… I think…that I am beginning to believe this job will take our lives."

-.-.-.-

a/n: Pitch's guys suck at fighting because the nightmares in the movie really didn't do much other than stand there, unless they outnumbered their opponent by thirty to one or something crazy like that. Obviously, the ratio won't be so exaggerated in here as to when they'll stand and fight and when they won't.

We had no intention for Aster's situation to come out so similarly to the time with his family, but it did and we jumped out the opportunity. As Ana said, his life sucks. Oh, and Wind's partner, Nimoy? He's not random. ^.^

Jack's staff was found on Isla Avenue. The actress who voiced Toothiana is named Isla Fisher.

Zephyrus Genesis decided we needed to be more creative about injuring people, so Jack got lassoed. He will most likely riddle her with snowballs as soon as he stops by her home to get revenge for being dragged through the snow by a horse. (Zephyrus Genesis: "Too bad I don't get snow more than once every five+ years at home ^_^. And never enough to make so much as a single snowball." This will be one of those years.)