"I'll KILL you, Frost!"

The icicle sliced through iced flesh again and again, then the dark came, depriving the ice spirit of his staff, wich was then snapped five times. The fifth break was the last, and brown eyes watched in horror as the winter sprite fell, his own element sealing him in a casket of ice right before the life left the iceblue eyes forever.

"No! JACK NO!"

Jamie sat up in bed, sweating and frightened. The nightmares were getting worse. The boy stroked his brand, taking comfort in the knowledge that it was pleasantly cool under his touch. That meant Jack was in good health and happy. He was probably making winter somewhere, far from Burgess and the lair of Pitch Black.

Jamie hoped that his Nightmare had not summoned the Boogeyman. Looking around, he found that it hadn't, and lay back down to sleep.

ROTG

"Pitch Black can totally kick the Easter Bunny's butt!" Donnie declared, thumping his cousin hard in the back. Kurt, one of Donnie's friends, laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah! The Boogeyman would totally win!"

Suddenly, the two boys stopped talking as a chuckle filled the air.

"That may be true, but that's nothing compared to what he might do to that wimpy Jack Frost!"

While the other boys were excited to see the new arrival, Jamie was not .In fact, the Bennett boy disliked the figure that came out into the light. A LOT.

"Greg Tyme." He growled lowly

"Bennett." Sneered the older boy that was twice his size and build.

The reason for their rivalry was simple. Greg was a cruel boy, imagining things that made him smile but made his parents and Jamie question his sanity. The redhead loved twisting the younger kids' views of the Guardians and sent Sophie home crying because he had showed her a picture of a drowned and skinned rabbit, telling her it was Bunny.

But the real reason Jamie detested the older boy was because, like Donnie, he was one of Pitch's believers. That in itself wasn't that suprizing. Most children in Boise were avid Pitch Black fans. No, it wasn't his love for the Boogeyman Jamie hated. It was the fact that Greg had an unhealthy and rather disturbing hatred for Jack Frost. He also never hesitated to flaunt it in front of the person he knew was Jack's First Believer.

"Pitch would tear his throat out, but before that he would drain him dry of fear, and string him up like a marionette. He'd snap that twig like kindling and fling it in a fire, burning him from the inside!"

Jamie shuddered, the mental images sure to haunt him later. "Stop it!"

"Awe come on, Bennett, you know it's totally true! After the Battle of Burgess you think Pitch would honestly let the shrimp go free, unharmed? Not him! He'd make that popsicle suffer! Just like I did!"

Jamie was reminded of the cruel trick Greg had played on the Winter Spirit some full-moons back. Jack was actually just coming to visit Jamie, and his First Believer had foolishly told his cousin about it. Greg had milked the info from Donnie, and had immediately laid a trap outside and inside the window of the guest room while Jamie and Donnie were out. That Night, Jamie waited eagerly for Jack to arrive. What he witnessed next would fuel Pitch for months. As soon as the Winter Sprite's bare feet touched the floor, he burst into flames. Jamie panicked and ran outside with a bucket, gathered as much snow as it would hold, and dumped it onto Jack, dowsing the angry flames. Greg was outside, laughing. Jack was inside, suffering.

"What you DID was tick him off!" Jamie snarled back, hiding the fact that his friend had been just as frightened as he had been.

"Is that why he doesn't come through the window anymore?" Greg taunted.

"Shut up, Greg!"

"Awe little Jackie boy is afraid of getting burned again! Bet Pitch uses that to his advantage."

"SHUT UP!"

Jamie made as if to tackle the much bigger boy, but a cold hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Woah woah WOAH Kiddo! Look I'm all for you defending my honor, but is this really the right approach?"

Brown eyes cleared and looked up with the sparkle of excitement that only showed when the Guardian of Fun was around

"Jack!"

Greg smiled wickedly

"Jack Frost. You enjoy my little present last time?" he goaded.

The Winter sprite gave him a glare, causing the youth to laugh hard. Jamie growled, then winked at his cousin, who franticly shook his head. Jamie ignored him and bent down, gathering up snow, and pelting the cruel boy in the face with it.

Jack of course laughed uncontrollably, and pelted everyone with snowballs laced with his Fun. Everything was going great, until a haunting chuckle filled the air.

"You are an idiot, Jack Frost."

Jack paused in his merriment and encouraged the others to continue playing while he followed the voice into the woods.

"Pitch? What is it?" he asked loosely.

"I would keep a very close eye on your believer and yourself now."

Jack perched on his staff, curious, "Why? Come to make an appearance?"

"You just laced one of my favorite believers with Fun! That wouldn't be a problem except for HIS kind of fun involves pranks such as ripping fairy's wings off, killing rabbits, and setting you on fire, idiot!"

Jack gulped.

"Well crap."

"As I said, keep an eye on your first believer and yourself." The Boogeyman disappeared, leaving only his voice behind, "and tell everyone I said, happy Nightmares."

Returning to the fight, Jack did indeed keep a close eye on Jamie, but all too soon he realized that the Bennett child was not, nor was he ever, the true target. The sprite was constantly the victim of rock snowballs, and had gotten hockey checked thrice while creating more even had to dodge some icicles, much to Jamie's protests.

The real horror came when Greg began targeting Jamie to get to Jack. The older boy had gone so low as to try and stab him with an ice shard the size of a dagger. Donnie was frantically trying to call it off, to no avail. The cruel boy lunged, and so did Jack, his body curling around the Bennett boy as he felt the shard dig into his ankle. He was about to scold the older boy, when all of a sudden, he realized that Greg had again tricked him. The tipoff? The boy now had the shepherd's crook in both hands, retrieved from the ground where Jack had dropped it when he had leaped for Jamie.

"You really are pathetic, Frosty."

Jamie gasped "Give it back to him, Greg!"

Jack twitched as Greg's fingers stroked the conduit of power, his face a mixture of panick and anger. "Come on, very funny. Jamie's right. Give me my staff."

He shivered as the grip tightened, and nails teased the wood, feeling to the winter spirit like a coarse brush on his core. It paralyzed him.

"Greg come on!" Jamie snarled "Give it back! He needs it!"

"What if I said no?"

Jack shot him a pleading glare, but was rewarded with an increase in pressure that literally dropped him to his knees.

The older boy grinned wickedly. "Interesting. So I wonder what would happen if I.."

CRACK

"NO!" Jamie hollered as Jack cried out, holding his stomach, "Greg stop PLEASE STOP!"

"But Bennett, I'm having FUN! I thought he liked it when we have fun!"

Jack collapsed, writhing, as the cracked wood was twisted, the sick laughter of a child monster ringing in his head. His first believer dropped to his knees and held out his hand pleadingly, eyes filling with angry tears, the other hand on the sprite's shoulder, offering him small comfort.

"I'm begging you, please...You're torturing him!"

Greg smirked, making a gesture as if to give the staff to Jamie. "Well, you are literally on your knees begging me to stop."

Jamie grabbed for the staff, only to watch in horror as it was yanked away and snapped in half.

The cry of pure agony that ripped from the throat of Jack Frost echoed for miles, and was choked out as unconsciousness finally embraced him.

"It's a shame really. I wanted to set the thing on fire, and watch it burn." The staff was tossed to Jamie, who clutched both pieces of it like he was possessive. Greg sneered and turned away, walking back to his own house.

Neither his cousin nor Gregory noticed that Jamie Bennett was shivering in his own silent agony, the brand on his back an angry red. Nor did they notice the haunted look in his face as a nightmare revealed its true colors to the boy's mind. A nightmare that had depicted this exactly, down to a figure that was smaller than Pitch tormenting the winter sprite.

One of Jamie's night terrors hadn't been just a dream. It had been a warning.

Something worse than this was going to happen to Jack Frost, and sooner or later, the newest vision would come true.