Disclaimer: I don't own any aspects to this story.

Chapter 17

A Dream Concluded

Jack stood in front of a large desk. The desk had a map and several small troop figures, both light and dark. The map seemed to be displaying the Arctic Circle, with light figures on one side and dark figures on the other. It kinda looked like a war table, when Jack thought about it.

A large sigh was made to Jack's right. He turned, and saw North standing there. He looked a little younger than when Jack saw him last. Jack didn't care. Maybe he had been transported back to the Pole. Sure he would miss his new Arendelle friends, but he was glad to see his old friends.

"Hey, North. It's great to see you. How did I get back here?" Jack asked.

But North didn't turn his way. Didn't so much as twitch his eyebrows in response to Jack's question.

Jack frowned. Well, this was weird. He tried waving his hand in front of North. No answer. When Jack tried to touch North, his hand passed through.

Jack's breath became ragged. Had he turned invisible to the other Guardians now? Could nobody see him at all anymore?

Then Jack remembered. North looked exactly like he had in Jack's dreams. Maybe that was it. Jack was back in his dreams again. He couldn't remember how he had come here, North couldn't see him, which was impossible, and Jack didn't even recognize the room they were in. All the signs and feelings within Jack pointed to this being a dream. Jack frowned. This dream seemed to be more focused, if Jack could see himself and be present in the dream.

"There you are," said a voice.

Jack turned around to see Bunny, Sandy, and Tooth coming over. They all looked a little younger as well.

"We've been looking all over for you, mate," Bunny said.

Jack was puzzled. Could the other Guardians see him?

Then Bunny and the others walked around and through Jack. Guess they couldn't.

Bunny approached North. "Why the long face, mate? We won the battle with Pitch. There's been no sign of him for the last two months since the battle and most of his forces were frozen. We seem to be in a state of peace, mate."

North turned back to Bunny. "Apologies, old friend. I am simply thinking."

Tooth approached North. "Thinking about what? And why did you call us for a meeting, North?"

A picture of a question mark appeared above Sandy's head.

"You said it, Sandy. Why are we here, North?"

"I will explain, Bunny." North replied.

North then stood up and faced the group as a whole. "Alright, it's time we get down to tacks of brass. I know I called you all here on short notice, but it is for important reason. Well, two reasons actually.

"One reason is to address our recent victory. Yes, we defeated Pitch and his forces, I am not discrediting that. There is no way Pitch can get force that large through other means. But my northern friends have discovered terrible danger of lake. Ice is slowly breaking."

Bunny looked warily at North. "What do you mean, breaking? We were able to stand on that frozen lake with ease. It wasn't cracking or anything."

North nodded. "I know, but yetis have confirmed it. The fearlings and nightmares are constantly pushing against ice. Even if they fall asleep under there, they will put pressure on ice and cause it to break. If that happens, we could have another battle, and I know we don't want that.

"So, I have called meeting to try and figure out how we can keep ice secure. A guard is good place to start, but I am unsure what else we could do. Any thoughts?"

All of the Guardians looked at each other. This was indeed a serious business. They had barely survived the recent battle, and that was with supernatural help. There was no way they wanted to go through that again.

Jack looked at each of the Guardians. North was looking at the other Guardians for ideas. Weird symbols formed above Sandy's head. Clearly thoughts as Sandy was pondering what to do. Tooth was fiddling with one of her teeth, a pondering, concerned expression on her face.

Bunny's face, on the other hand, started to look more and more certain. "Actually, North, I might have an idea."

North turned to Bunny. "Yes, what is it Bunny?"

Bunnymund took a breath. "Ok, you know that yearly Christmas Eve project of yours. The one that always takes place five minutes to midnight?"

North nodded. "Yes, I do."

"Well, I was trying to think of a way to speed up the process. Don't get me wrong, it's great as it is. Nothing like horse-drawn sleighs moving up north. However, the process is a little slow, what with making sure that everything in your project gets up north and gets back before sunrise. That can make things risky, especially if you're off schedule."

Tooth looked over. "Where are you going with this, Bunny?"

"Glad you asked, Tooth. I have actually been working on some blueprints for a more efficient way for North's project to proceed. If we could build something into this machine to refreeze the ice as we pass, or even after we pass the lake, then perhaps the ice would stay frozen every year. Your project would be on time, so it would be a win-win for everyone."

Bunny then moved all the pieces off the table, ignoring a yeti's slight indignation. "Sorry, mate. Hope you weren't using that. I'll help you clean up afterwards."

Jack couldn't quite see what the blueprints Bunny laid out were. They seemed to show a lot of parts, and didn't show the machine as a whole. But North was looking over the plans and chuckling to himself.

"Very good idea, Bunny. I like the idea of steam-power. And this mechanical wonder can also help with my re-bi-cycling project. Yes, we can use that. It will save horsepower, literally. Horses can then be used to help in…"

North then trailed off. Tooth looked over at North. "In what, North? Is this related to the second thing?"

North nodded. "Yes. There is no easy way to say this, so I'm going to be hitting ground running." He took a deep breath. "I am moving away from North Pole."

All of the other Guardians looked straight at North. Even Jack felt his jaw dropping.

Bunny then broke out in a good laugh. "Ha, ha. Good one, North. You actually had me fooled there for a second."

North's face didn't change, looking somber and serious. Tooth bumped Bunny, who looked at her. "What?"

Bunny then turned back to North. His face turned serious. "Oh, you actually mean it."

North looked down. "While my engineers have developed way to generate North Pole force field, one piece of it must be outside. Besides, Pitch is still out there. We need a more defensive position to place piece of generator and hopefully distract Pitch.

"That is why my yetis, elves, and I are working on building fortess. It will be located here." North pointed to a small pass between two mountains on a part of the map that wasn't covered by the blueprints. "It will be good defensive position. We can put one part of force field device there. Even if Pitch ever damages that part, force field will only be weakened on Christmas Eve. And you all know that field is very powerful even at half power. Strong enough to erase memories of true North Pole to all except Guardians and repel most of Pitch's forces until Christmas Eve. Another aspect that Bunny's machine can be involved in. Give energy from machine to renew force field as well. Thus, I think that this is best move."

Sandy created a picture of a fortress, followed by a checkmark, above his head.

"You said it, Sandy, mate. North, while I would miss you working at the North Pole itself, your logic seems to make some sense. So I, for one, will respect your decision."

Tooth nodded. "Same here, North. If you need any help with the building, my fairies and I would be happy to help."

North looked around at the other Guardians. "Thank you, friends. And don't worry, once I move in, I will make place look like my office at North Pole. The yetis will make one-third of toys that need to be delivered, so that will take pressure off of hardworking elves at North Pole. As to the elves, only mischievous youngsters will work at this new place. Community service. The yetis have already come up with a name and acronym. The Polar Operations and Logistics Environment, or P.O.L.E."

Bunny frowned. "But where's the A?"

"Beg pardon, Bunny?"

"The A, North. Polar Operations and Logistics Environment. It should be P.O.a.L.E. for the 'and' part."

"But Bunny, sometimes the 'and' is silent in acronym. Ask any government agency. They would agree."

"Right, right. Ask the people who can't see us if they include words like 'and' in their acronyms. I'm sure I'll get an answer, mate."

Before North could respond, Tooth fluttered between them. "All right, everyone. Let's focus on the important thing, like how we now have a clear plan for the ice lake and the defense of the North Pole. Why don't we go over Bunny's plans here and see how it will look."

North and Bunny glowered at each other, but slowly nodded. They then turned their heads down, looking at the blueprints. Jack started to make his way over to get a look, but his eyes started getting heavy. The last thing he saw before closing his eyes were the numbers 1225, complemented by two silver bells on the corner of the blueprints.

When Jack opened his eyes, he was back in his room in Arendelle. He blinked. It was surprising that Jack was now starting to think of this spot as his room. It wasn't that long ago that he had considered himself a stranger here.

As Jack started getting up, he pondered the dream. He couldn't quite tell what was so important about it. The battle had been successful, since the Guardians had won. And it was good to know how Pitch was defeated and why he almost never came up north. He couldn't with the force field around the Pole. Well, the North Pole, that is.

That was something that surprised Jack. This whole time, the place he had thought was the North Pole was actually the main outpost protecting the real North Pole? And only the Guardians and yetis seemed to know the truth. Why hadn't anyone told him? But as Jack thought about it, an answer popped into his head. Security reasons. If the enemies of children could be fooled, they would try attacking the Pole instead of the North Pole. Thus, only a select few outside of North's people would know the truth about the Pole. Besides, North was one for surprises. He was probably waiting to surprise Jack with the news after things had died down on Moving Day.

Come to think of it, the explanation about the Pole did seem to explain Moving Day. The yetis had been packing up and moving all the toys to a 'launch point,' as North had called it. This launch point must have been the North Pole itself. North must have gone there with the yetis to gather up all the toys and prepare his sleigh to make its annual delivery. It was all making sense. Now if only Jack could figure out what Bunny's machine was.

A knock on the door interrupted Jack's thoughts. "Hello?" Jack asked.

"Hey, Jack," said an excited voice.

Jack smiled and opened the doors. In walked Olaf with a big smile on his face.

After giving Olaf a warm hug, Jack stood up. "Hey Olaf. What's up?"

"Nobody's standing up Jack, except for you."

"No, Olaf. It's just an expression. Actually, never mind. How are you?"

Olaf smiled. "I am doing good, Jack. Elsa sent me to get you."

Jack's face grew confused. "What for?"

"To help with preparations."

"Preparations for what?"

"For the Christmas party."

"But Christmas Day is the day after tomorrow. Shouldn't we wait until tomorrow to get ready?"

Olaf shook his head. "Elsa wants to make sure that most of the decorations are up today. That way, tomorrow, we can actually have a work-free Christmas Eve. One where we do some holiday traditions and celebrate and we don't have to worry about labor unions or overtime."

Jack frowned a little. "That seems a little overprepared."

Olaf shrugged. "Well, overprepared is the new underprepared, I guess. Let's go and put up some decorations. It'll be fun."

With that, Olaf turned around and went down the hall. Jack shook his head. Well, now he knew what he was going to be spending the day doing. Jack grabbed his stick and went down the hall, prepared to start preparations for Christmas.

And now we have finished our dream and its aftermath. What does this have to do with everything Jack is doing? You will have to wait and see (though if you look in a past chapter or 2, you might see an additional connection outside of the dream and Moving Day). Please wait and review.