Darkness. That was the last thing Jack felt. It was cold, and it was dark. And yet, there was a faint smile on the winter spirit's face.

It had been two years since Pitch had lost the battle against the guardians, two years since Jack had found a place where he belonged. It had taken Jack time to adjust to his duties as a guardian, but he had been more devoted than any of them had expected, and still he never failed to bring fun to all of them as well.

That was why it came a such a surprise when Pitch returned so soon. The king of nightmares had spent the last two years hiding in the shadows, slowly feeding on fear to let his powers grow. He wanted nothing more but revenge on the guardians, Jack Frost in particular. Pitch gritted his teeth, his hands balling to fists as he merely thought of the boy. How could he have lost to someone like that? A nightmare neighed to announce its presence, and a menacing smile pulled at Pitch's lips.

''Jack!'' Bunnymund bellowed as he chased the laughing winter sprite through the forests that surrounded Burgess. ''Get down here, ya little rascal!'' Jack chuckled, glancing back at the angry Pooka that was chasing him, the smirk on his face growing as he saw the purple and blue patches of fur. He hadn't meant to blow up one of Bunny's egg bombs, it had simply slipped out of his hand after he'd snatched it from the Pooka.

Bunny had been working on smaller egg bombs that would contain just as much power as the larger ones so he could carry more bombs on him, and Jack had been curious about the design. He had simply been tossing it around a little when it slipped from his fingers, exploding right beside Bunny. Jack had bursted out laughing when he'd seen that not only half the Warrne, but Aster's fur had been stained purple and blue. Even now, as Bunny chased him with a scowl on his face, Jack couldn't contain another snort when looking back.

''I don't know, it looks kind of good on you, Kangaroo.'' Jack quipped as Wind carried him further up in the air and towards the lake.

Bunny growled softly, jumping up to one of the thicker tree branches and launching himself as high up in the air as he could with another kick, reaching out for the guardian of fun. Jack could feel Bunny's paw grazing his skin, but he quickly pulled his leg up and watched as Aster attempted to land in a soft layer of snow near the lake. However, the Pooka didn't realise how deep the layer of snow truly was and almost entirely disappeared with an 'oomph', only his ears still visible from the sky. Jack blinked, then started laughing again as Wind slowly lowered him onto the lake. Bunny pulled his head out of the snow, shook his head and shuddered.

''You alright there, Bunny?'' Jack asked playfully, leaning on his staff. Bunny glared at Jack, merely provoking another snort from Jack before the spirit extended his hand for Bunny to take.

''Ya think it's funny?'' Bunny asked as he reluctantly accepted Jack's extended hand to help him back up.

''Just a little.'' Jack retorted with a smile, waiting patiently as Aster brushed off some of the snow. ''Well, if you're alright, I'll be on my way.''

''Not so fast, Frostbite.'' The Pooka replied sternly, grabbing Jack by his hoodie when the winter spirit turned around and tried to get away. ''Ya didn't think I was going to clean up the mess you made, did ya?''

Jack looked back over his shoulder like a child caught stealing a cookie. ''I was silently hoping it?'' Jack answered with shrugged up shoulders before half-heartedly attempting to squirm away from Bunny.

''Not gonna happen, mate.'' Bunny said sternly, a content smile on his face. He knew that their little game of tag was over. He knew that Jack knew, that the spirit would have cleaned it up eventually even if Bunny hadn't asked him, but this was just the way they acted. They would tease each other, drive each other mad. It was their game, their –albeit odd- way of showing that they cared for each other, and Bunny wouldn't want it any other way.

He walked off the frozen lake and was about to open a tunnel to the Warren when they both got blown down by a shadow. Bunny landed on the snowy shore of the lake, Jack slipping from his grip and skidding over the ice before he came to a stop. Jack groaned, shaking his head slightly. He jumped to his feet the moment he looked up, seeing a nightmare approaching Aster.

''Bunny!'' Jack shouted, blasting a blue ray of ice into the nightmare's direction. It didn't hit its target, but it did draw the nightmare's attention to Jack, who slowly began to notice other nightmares glaring at them from the shadows.

Jack gritted his teeth. How was this possible? If the nightmares were attacking them, that meant that Pitch was back. He knew it would happen someday, Pitch was after all immortal, like them, but he'd never expected it to happen after a mere two years.

''Snowflake, down!'' Jack didn't have to think twice when he heard Bunny, ducking down as one of the Pooka's boomerangs raced over his head and hit a nightmare, which burst apart into black dreamsand. Jack leaped towards Bunnymund with Wind's help and together they stood back to back, carefully watching the nightmares that had surrounded the lake.

''We need to get the others.'' Jack suggested as he blasted down a nightmare that got a little too close to his liking.

''What, you can't handle a few sandponies?'' Bunnymund quipped half-heartedly. He knew Jack was right, but they couldn't just leave here either. Even if the nightmares didn't chase them through Bunnymund's tunnels, they couldn't run risking the safety of the children in Burgess.

The sun had almost set, and soon Sandy would and Tooth would begin their work, bringing sleep to the children and collecting teeth. They would come across Burgess, they would notice them. Jack and Bunny simply had to handle this on their own until then. Jack knew this as well and smirked.

''Alright, let's play whack-a-nightmare. The winner has to clean the Warren.'' And with that, Jack leapt towards a nightmare, freezing it before Wind launched him up into the sky, several nightmares chasing him.

''Oi! Not fair!'' Bunny called at Jack before turning his attention fully to the nightmares in front of him, a playful grin on his face. He jolted forward, throwing one of his boomerangs as he reached for one of the small egg bombs. Thanks to Jack, he at least knew they worked.

Jack frowned as he blasted yet another nightmare to pieces before dropping a little in the air to avoid a second attack. No matter how many nightmares he and Bunny defeated, they just kept going. As Jack looked down his eyes went wide. The nightmares he'd just defeated, the ones who had been nothing more than black sand, were slowly reforming, even growing in size.

As he watched the nightmares below grow, he was too late to react to a nightmare which hit him hard in the back. With a grunt, Jack landed harshly on the forest ground, not too far away from the lake where Bunny was still struggling with the nightmares surrounding him. Jack's staff clattered over the ground, laying still just below a tree.

''I'll take that for you.'' A sinister voice appeared from the shadows. Jack looked up just as Pitch appeared from the dark, his thin fingers wrapping around his staff.

''Give it back!'' Jack snarled, slowly getting back to his feet. He remembered the last time Pitch had taken his staff. The pain he'd felt as the king of nightmares broke it in two, the pain driving Jack to the point that he could no longer call for the wind to lift him up. He continued to glare at Pitch, dismissing the nightmares that surrounded them, snorting and neighing expectantly.

''I always wondered, Jack,'' Pitch began, playing slightly with the staff in his hands. He slowly stepped further out of the shadows and into Jack's direction. Jack didn't know how, but something in Pitch seemed different, and it didn't sit right with him. Pitch smirked when the boy tensed visibly, ready to attack. ''How did you fix it?'' The grin on his lips grew. ''Perhaps you could give me a demonstration.''

Jack's eyes widened as he realised what Pitch was about to do. He tried to jump forward and reached for his staff, but could do nothing more but watch as Pitch broke the staff in half like he had done at the South Pole.

Jack felt his chest clench painfully, an agonizing cry escaping from his lips as his insides seemed to burn. His breath became ragged as he stumbled to his knees, his hands clenching onto his hoodie, his eyes wide. This couldn't be happening again. Jack gritted his teeth as he heard Pitch laugh. He suddenly felt a thin hand grasping his neck, lifting him up into the air as he struggled to breathe. Jack saw the faint golden glow of Sandy's sand in the distance as darkness started to claw at his vision. Hurry up, he thought before he closed his eyes.

Bunnymund had lost sight of Jack halfway through the fight, preoccupied with the creatures that continued to appear in front of him. It seemed that for every nightmare he defeated, two more attacked him, and Bunny was becoming impatient for backup.

''It's like there's no end to these bloody mares.'' He growled to himself when suddenly he heard something that made his heart sink. He caught his boomerang and looked into the direction of which he'd heard that dreadful cry.

''Jack…'' He breathed, annoyed when he found his path blocked by even more nightmares. ''Get out of the way ya pests!'' Bunnymund tried to get past the mares, but it was like there were even more than before. He turned around startled when a nightmare tried to attack him, only to watch it get blown away by a whip made out of golden sand.

''Took ya long enough, mate!'' Bunny called up. Sandy decided not to mention the sigh of relief he'd noticed from Bunny and simply hit another nightmare. A symbol of a snowflake appeared above Sandy's head as he got closer to the Pooka, looking at him with a frown.

''We got separated.'' Bunny admitted reluctantly as he caught one of his boomerangs, instantly throwing it back at another mare. ''I don't know where he is, but he needs help.''

Sandy nodded sadly in understanding, then showed a picture of a tooth, an arrow and a Christmas tree, indicating that Tooth had gone to get North. Bunny smiled gratefully when suddenly they saw how Jack flew backwards, his back colliding with a tree before he fell limply to the ground.

''Jack!'' Bunny cried out wide eyed, gritting his teeth when he heard a menacing chuckle coming from the dark. ''Pitch! Where are ya?!'' Bunny was furious, noticing that Jack still hadn't moved when he looked back at him. He caught his boomerang again and held it tightly, his eyes scanning over the shadows in search of their attacker.

''Did you miss me?'' Pitch asked softly, appearing from behind a tree. He grinned like a Cheshire cat, tossing something onto the frozen lake. Bunny and Sandy watched in horror as Jack's broken staff clattered on the ice.

Though it had been an accident, a simple slip of the tongue, Jack had mentioned how Pitch had broken his staff before, he had even gone as far as to admit that it hurt. They just hadn't realised how much, and now that Bunny thought back to that terrible scream he'd just heard, the Pooka was fuming.

He leapt forward to attack Pitch only to get stopped by another nightmare. Sandy quickly whipped it out of Bunny's way, but Pitch had already disappeared into the shadows once more.

''Get back here ya coward!'' Bunny bellowed, turning around when he heard a faint noise behind him. His eyes went wide when he realised the nightmares they'd defeated had returned to their previous shape, and if Bunny wasn't mistaken, they'd grown.

''Neat, don't you think?'' Bunny twisted around again, gritting his teeth as Pitch held Jack up by his hair. Jack was clearly in pain, his eyes closed and his chest heaving, yet he didn't appear to have the strength to get away from Pitch.

''They have learned to feed on a lot more than just fear.'' Pitch chuckled, his grip on Jack growing, making the boy gasp softly. ''Anger, despair, annoyance, exhaustion… Pain.'' And with that he tossed Jack onto the hard ice, making the boy groan. Sandy and Bunny moved quickly when several nightmares turned to get to Jack, protecting the boy from any more harm.

With every second that passed, Bunny and Sandy started to become more desperate for backup. The Pooka could barely remain standing on the ice, but he refused to leave Jack's side, nor was there time to move the kid elsewhere. Sandy was beginning to get tired from the fight, it never seemed to end. He couldn't begin to imagine how Bunny felt, or Jack for that matter, although the boy had hardly stirred since Pitch had broken his staff and tossed him onto the ice.

Bunny bit back a pained cry when one of the nightmares bit one of his paws, instead kicking the beast away before throwing an egg bomb at it. He glanced back at Sandy, who appeared to be in just as much trouble, fighting off three mares at once. Bunnymund looked up at the sky pleadingly, wondering what was taking Tooth so long to get North.

When Jack's eyes fluttered open, they were surrounded by nightmares that continued to grow. Feeding on their exhaustion, their anger. Their pain. His sight was blurry, but he could see Bunny's back to him as well as Sandy's golden whips. Jack gritted his teeth when his eyes fell onto the two broken pieces of his staff, laying only a short distance away from them.

Without either of the other two guardian's noticing, Jack struggled up to his feet, using his strength to quickly move over the ice and towards his staff. If only he could mend it now, he would be able to help. Not that he didn't have any power without it. He was actually far from powerless, but that was the problem.

The staff helped him control it, helped him direct his powers rather than allowing himself to be consumed by his own frost magic. If he were to fight as he was now, he couldn't guarantee Bunny's and Sandy's safety. He couldn't guarantee his own safety. The staff was what he had created to direct his power, it had become part of his very being. Which was why it hurt so badly when it was broken.

He had nearly reached his staff when he got tackled by Pitch himself. Jack looked into those golden eyes and cringed at the smile on Pitch's lips.

''Look at you, Frost,'' He almost whispered, his nails digging into Jack's skin as he once again clenched his hands around Jack's neck. ''You're nothing without your little stick or your little guardians to protect you.''

''…'m not… we-…'' Jack breathed, his hand sliding up to grab Pitch's wrist. Pitch laughed sadistically, tightening his grip on Jack's throat to stop him from talking altogether.

''I'm sorry? What was that?'' He asked, his eyes narrowing at the fingers that wrapped around his wrist. He pulled back in shock, though, once ice started to spread over his arm, looking at it incredulously. Impossible, he thought. Jack needed his staff. He was meant to be powerless, so why?

''I said I'm not weak!'' Jack growled, jolting towards Pitch. Somehow, appeared much more threatening than before, his eyes glowing with determination. The moment his fingers merely brushed over Pitch, who quickly jumped aside, ice began to form on Pitch's skin.

Bunny and Sandy had finally realised that Jack had come to and watched in awe as Jack went straight for Pitch once again. They couldn't watch it for long, the nightmares still demanding their attention. Bunny kicked down a smaller nightmare, smiling faintly to himself knowing that Jack was still alright, although he didn't quite understand how.

Pitch struggled to avoid Jack's attacks, still unable to believe that Jack was using his powers. He backed away into the shadows and vanished, requiring some time to pull himself back together. Jack looked around cautiously, trying to find Pitch in the shadows.

''Well, that was an unpleasant surprise.'' Jack whirled around, but still didn't see the king of nightmares. Pitch appeared behind Jack, silently creeping up to him. ''Not that it matters-''

Before Pitch could say anything else, Jack attacked again. Pitch avoided it and jumped back onto the frozen lake. Jack went at him three more times until he finally hit his target, landing on top of Pitch and pinning him down.

''What are you going to do now?'' Pitch snarled, suddenly enraged. ''My nightmares have been perfected! You cannot kill an immortal, and as long as I'm here, my nightmares will continue to grow!''

Jack glanced back at the fight that was happening not too far away from them. He could tell that Bunny was close to his limit, that even Sandy was beginning to struggle, and still the nightmares grew. Pitch was right, this wouldn't be over until Pitch himself was gone.

''And did you really think these were the only nightmares I had?'' Pitch continued, seeing how he was getting through to Jack. A smirk spread across his face again when Jack looked at him with realization. ''Your little tooth fairy would never take that long to get North. You know it.''

Jack continued to stare at Pitch, much to the other's pleasure. ''I win, Frost.'' He grated, grinning from ear to ear.

Jack swallowed thickly as he tried desperately to think of an answer. Pitch was right, you couldn't kill an immortal. But you could stop them, stop their time, Jack realised, pursing his lips.

Bunny frowned as he glanced back at Jack. The boy had Pitch pinned down to the ice, and yet it looked like Pitch was the one who was winning. The look in Jack's eyes worried him the most, his heart sinking when he saw the faint smile spreading on Jack's lips. He knew Jack was up to something, but even from this distance, Bunny could tell from the fact that his smile never reached Jack's eyes that it wasn't anything good.

''You're right.'' Jack said softly, much to Pitch's surprise. ''I can't stop those nightmares, nor can I kill an immortal.'' His grip on Pitch tightened when suddenly the ice around them began to crack. Pitch looked around wide eyed, realization dawning on him. ''You wouldn't.'' He gasped as he began to struggle a little against Jack's grip.

''You're mad!'' Pitch cried out bitterly. ''You realise that you will also-'' Pitch stopped speaking when Jack looked at him blankly, taking a calm, deep breath.

Bunny watched in horror as the ice around Jack and Pitch broke, the two figures disappearing into the ice cold water.

''Jack!'' Bunny cried out hysterically, drawing Sandy's attention to the lake. Almost as fast as the ice had broken, a blue light glowed from the lake, making it freeze over faster than anyone deemed possible, even with magic.

Just like the lake, the nightmares seemed to freeze over. Sandy touched one, which fell apart as dark grey snow. Bunny scurried over the ice to where Jack had disappeared into the water with pitch, Sandy not too far behind. He tried to look down, but the ice was too thick to make anything visible below it.

''No…'' Bunny breathed. He attempted to use his boomerang to break the ice, but didn't manage to make as much as a scratch on it. ''No, no, no!''

Sandy landed quietly on the ice, his lips pursed and his shoulders slumped. He watched as Bunnymund continued to hit the ice with his boomerang and didn't even stop him when the Pooka tossed down an egg bomb, but nothing seemed to work. Bunny simply sat on the ice, for once not minding the cold.

''Come on, snowflake…'' He murmured sadly, his voice breaking a little.

North and Toothiana arrived not much later, calling for their friends to ensure they were alright. North landed the sleigh on the lake and jumped out, Tooth flying close behind him.

''Sorry for delay,'' North bellowed, not yet taking in the defeated looks on Sandy and Bunny's faces. ''Nightmares attacked us at the Pole.''

''Are you alright?'' Tooth asked nervously, flying up to Sandy and Bunny to ensure that they were fine. That's when she realised they were one guardian short. ''Where's Jack? Is he ok?''

North now also began to frown, a nasty feeling growing in his belly. He looked at Bunny, whose ears were lowered down his back. He was still kneeling down on the ice, staring silently at the purple blast his egg bomb had created.

Tooth began to dread the silence, her heart sinking in her chest as she looked over to Sandy, who sadly shook his head. She covered her mouth in shock, tears stinging in her eyes as realization dawned on her.

All four guardians remained silent, their heads hanging. Tooth didn't hesitate to shed the tears that welled up. Sandy tried to comfort her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder as he pursed his lips. North growled something in Russian, wiping at his eyes as he, too, couldn't hold back the tears. Bunny simply sat still, his posture slumped.

They decided that they all needed their space that day. Tooth and Sandy still had their tasks to fulfill, but they did it with a heavy heart that night. North went back to the Pole, retreating into his office and instructing no one to bother him. The yeti's could hear how North wrecked his office though, though he never had the heart to break the ice train he'd finally managed to make with Jack's help.

Bunnymund returned to the Warren. The others were especially worried about him when they realised he hadn't said a single word since they'd reunited. He'd not even replied to Tooth when she asked if he would be alright on his own, instead simply disappearing into his tunnels.

He still hung his head when he arrived at the Warren, only to stop when he stepped onto purple-blue grass. Bunny looked up at the blue and purple paint that coated the ground and walls, recognized the spot he'd been standing when the egg bomb had exploded. Jack's laughter rang in his ears as he thought of how this had all started, and once again Bunny fell to his knees. This time, he couldn't stop the tears from falling freely.

Darkness. That was the last thing Jack felt. It was cold, and it was dark. And yet, there was a faint smile on the winter spirit's face.