Jack Frost was sitting on a tree limb by his pond in Burgess, Pennsylvania. It was fall, so he wasn't allowed to cause any snow days just yet. It was getting close to sunset and man people of all ages were making their way home. Jack spotted a young couple holding hands as they walked down the sidewalk. He smirked as he smoothly waved his staff and sent a small gust of wind to toss the leaves at their feet. The orange and brown leaves danced around them, and the couple giggled. It was a slow but rather peaceful day.

As the sun finally set, Jack was debating if he would wait for Sandy to come around with his wonderful magic sand that Jack loved to play with so much or if would fly to a cold climate and chill in the snow. In the cooler weather, Burgess was at a nice temperature, but he was still a winter spirit and preferred to say close to the ice.

Trails of golden sand soon came flowing in the air. It was early in the night, which most likely meant the dreams were for the smaller children. Those dreams were always Jack's favorite. He could card his hands through the sand and catch glimpses of the dreams. The small children always had more funny and happy dreams full of unicorns, mermaids, dolphins, and dancing carrots. One stream sailed past him, so he decided to follow it.

It flowed through the crisp air and seemed to be leading to a familiar house. Jack grinned as he realized the dream was leading to no other than Sophie Bennett. He used the help of Wind to suspend him in the air as he sat on his staff by her window ceil. The glass started to frost, but he didn't mind. The golden sand reached her, and dreams of fairies started to form above her head. He laughed, always glad to see happy children, and turned his head away in hopes of going to find Sandy.

But something changed.

The other streams of sand around him started changing color. They were turning black.

Panicked, he looked back at Sohpie and saw her dream sand was turning black as well. She was having a nightmare.

Jack quickly thought of a new idea. He flew to Jamie's window, hoping he was still awake and looked in. The boy was sitting on his bed reading a comic book. Jack frantically knocked on the window. Jamie looked up and gave a look of surprise before he scrambled off his bed and slid his window open.

Jack explained, "Go wake Sophie. She's having a nightmare."

Jamie didn't question it and ran to his sister's room. Jack flew back to the window and sighed in relief as the dream sand stopped flowing into her bedroom. Jack looked in and saw Sophie crying in her brother's arms. It wasn't ideal, but at least she wasn't having a nightmare anymore. He blew on the glass and wrote a quick "Thanks" before heading off to the source of the sand.

He found Sandy flying in the air in a golden sandy airplane. He seemed busy and distressed and was shooting out dream sand in all directions. Jack flew up to him, "Sandy, what's wrong?"

The silent golden man made a frantic exclamation mark with sand followed by a small child, and a long claw hand.

"There are more kids having nightmares?" Jack guessed.

He nodded and made a wide gesture with his arms.

"A lot of them?"

Again, Sandy nodded. He frowned and shift his sand to make a thin silhouette.

Jack frowned too, "You don't think Pitch is back, do you?"

Sandy nodded.

Jack looked around at the dreams. More of them were turning black. He said, "Okay. So what do we do? Should I freeze them?"

Sandy shrugged. He waved his hands, asking for Jack to try, while he reached for one flowing by him and turning it back gold.

Jack took that as a go-away and let Wind let him fall. After he was closer to the ground, Wind rushed to pick him up again. Like a snowflake, he floated and practically danced from one nightmare to another, freezing it in its tracks. It seemed to be working, so he and Sandy kept going.

It was well into the night when no more nightmares were flying about. Jack and Sandy breathed heavily, though Jack wasn't sure how Sandy was able to huff without any sound. Jack puffed, "We- We need to tell the others." Sandy puffed his cheeks as he nodded in agreement.

They didn't need to, it turns out, because the night sky was suddenly filled with green and purple lights. North was calling for them at Santoff Claussen.

Sandy and Jack made eye contact before Sandy formed his plane to have two seats. Jack shrugged, not questioning it, and they flew to North's workshop together.

The first thing Jack noticed when they stepped into the workshop was that it was warm. Uncomfortably warm. It was warm every time he visited, but he never stayed for long. He understood that not everyone liked the cold, but what about the yetis? They were covered in fur. Surely they had their own cold area. Do they just step outside when need be? It didn't make sense. He would ask to have to ask them.

Jack and Sandy realized they were the last ones to arrive when they entered the Globe Room. North was pacing in circles, a poor elf stumbling behind him with a tray of cookies, and Tooth was fluttering about, barely noticing them as she talked a mile a minute with her fairies. Bunny was standing with his arm crossed. He looked ready for action. Jack announced their presence, "Hey, guys."

They all looked over at the two. North said, "Jack! Sandy! We have problem."

As they joined the group, Jack said sarcastically, "It wouldn't have anything to do with Pitch, would it?"

North eagerly nodded, "Yes, exactly! Bunny gave us news. Same thing happen to you?"

Jack shrugged, "Don't know. Sandy and I had to fight off a bunch of nightmares that were attacking some kids, including the Bennetts. Why? What happened?"

Bunny stepped forward, "He went to my Warren."

A look of shock graced Sandy's face. Jack asked verbally, "What?"

The bunny nodded, "I was thinking of new design ideas when one of my warrior eggs walked over. I knew something was wrong and followed it. And who else did I see than Pitch turning my river black? He ruined so many eggs. After he saw me, he tried to throw black sand at my face. I swatted it away, and all he did was laugh and disappear."

North said solemnly, "You say he's attacking children. Bunny says he's attacking Guardians. He is back."

Tooth said, "It's not good. He's starting small, giving kids nightmares, turning Bunny's eggs black. Some of my fairies said a few teeth here and there have been going missing. Not all of them of course, but about three a day. It's building himself back up, and since it's always night somewhere on Earther, I'm sure he's sending new nightmares to other children and getting stronger by the minute."

North nodded, "It's not safe. Not for children and not for Guardians. We need to think of a plan."

Tooth fluttered over to Jack, "What were you and Sandy doing? Can't we keep doing that?"

Jack answered, "Sandy turned the nightmares back to dreams and I froze before they could go anywhere."

North shook his head, "Will not work. Delay, yes, but not stop. We need better plan."

Bunny grunted, "Anyone got a better plan?"

When no one answered, North said, "Okay. Pitch is hunting Guardians now. We will not leave until we have plan. Can't risk using all our energy from getting attacked."

Bunny flailed his furry arms, "Woah! Woah! Woah! Listen here, mate. We can't stay here! Pitch was already at my Warren. I need to protect it, and I can't do my job from here."

"Eggs are self-sufficient," North tried to reason. After he saw Bunny's face become even more enraged, he said, "Okay! Okay, we make visit."

Without a second thought, Bunny tapped his foot on the ground and opened a portal to The Warren. They slid through and popped inside. It was worse than they had thought.

The entire egg-dying river was black. The eggs, still plain, sat by the riverbank not knowing what to do. Even though they had no faces, Jack could still feel their sadness. Tooth flew over the water to get a closer look. She asked Bunny, "Can you turn it back?"

Bunny sighed, "I don't know. The nightmare sand's floating in it. I'll need to get the sand out."

Jack looked at it as well and asked, "Do you have a bucket or something?"

He stood on the riverbank. Bunny looked at him confused. Jack shrugged and tapped his staff on the river. Using the crook of his staff, he scooped up the ice and offered it to Sandy, "Can you fix it?"

The little man shrugged, cracked his knuckles, and touched the ice. It turned from a frozen black to a frosty pink. Jack giggled and Sandy silently laughed. He made a thumbs-up with his sand. Bunny excitedly asked, "Can you fix it, mate?"

Sandy nodded and Bunny, Tooth, and North quickly led him over to the river. While they were doing that, Jack decided to take the opportunity to cool down. Bunny's warren, much like North's workshop and Tooth's palace for that matter, was always warm. He understood it. Bunny lived in Australia, which is known for being hot, and he was a creature meant for Spring. Tooth was more like a hummingbird than a human, and hummingbirds liked warmer temperatures, though at least she preferred it under 90 degrees. He had never been to wherever Sandy lives, though he's heard about it. North always kept his workshop warm with its fireplaces and ovens that were always on. It was always so warm. So when he didn't have attention to him, he took the opportunity to leave.

He had been to The Warren numerous times since properly meeting Bunny, and he knew which one of the tunnels lead outside. Outside wasn't much cooler than The Warren, dare he say it hotter, but he could always freeze it. Bunny didn't allow him to freeze inside The Warren. He usually kept to that rule, except when handing Sandy the polluted water, but he figured Bunny would allow him to make the exception. When Jack resurfaced, the first thing he did was completely froze the grass under his feet. He sighed in relief at the cool sensation. It was short-lived as it had already begun to melt and was soon a lukewarm puddle of water. He was going to freeze more when a gust of black sand flew across and scratched his cheek. He looked with shock in the direction of the sand. There stood none other than Pitch Black. Anger seethed from his face. He called, "Jack Frost! Why is it that you're always ruining my plans? First, you escape that pit in Antarctica. Then you got that child to believe in you. Now you're ruining my plans for Easter! Why are you always in the way!?"

He lashed out another gust of sand and Jack quickly froze it. He tried to throw more, but just like their fight in Antarctica, they clashed and created sculptures of black ice. "Why Jack?" he cried out, "I swear, I'll kill you myself. Stay out of my way!"

He formed a spear out of sand and threw it at Jack, and the teenage spirit prepared himself to freeze it. It didn't get that far as a boomerang knocked it out of the air. Both of them looked over and saw Bunnymund, North, and Tooth with battle stances and their chosen weapons. Tooth yelled, "Get away from him!"

Pitch glared at Jack, "I'll get you one way or another. Mark my words." With a swoop of his hand, nightmare dust covered The Nightmare King. When it disbursed, he was gone.

Tooth dropped her twin swords and flew over to Jack. She cupped his face while checking for any injuries, "Are you okay? What happened? Did he hurt you? Your face is bleeding."

Jack calmly shooed her hands away, "I'm alright. I didn't know he was here."

North and Bunny studied the rapidly melting black ice. North shook his head, "This settles it. It's too dangerous for Jack. Pitch is targetting him.

Bunny agreed, "He can't stay here. Pitch has already made that clear."

North said, "Then where will he stay?"

Bunny shrugged, "He doesn't have a place of his own. Sandy's busy here. How's your palace, Tooth?"

Tooth looked over from where she ignored Jack's reassurances and currently had her fingers in his mouth, "Huh? Oh, my palace is running ragged. Like I said, a couple of teeth have been going missing before we collect them. It's quite hectic."

North grunted, "Bad idea then. Tooth, fingers in mouth."

She released the boy, "Oh, sorry."

North nodded, "Then no choice. Jack will stay with me until we get Pitch under control."

Jack ran his hand across his brow, "Now wait a minute. Don't I get a say in this?"

The three other Guardians looked at each other before looking back at him, "No."