~7~

**Ending! Thanks for sticking with me for this story, finishing touch reviews would be great, and I hope y'all like the ending ;) ;) ;)**

Pitch didn't know what to do- he'd grown so used to having his Winter Spirit as his disposal that he couldn't do anything, even frighten children, without having Jack. He paced in his new lair, NightMares whinnying nervously from the shadows. It would be too risky to simply take Jack again from the Guardians, considering how on high alert they were. With a flick of his hand the NightMares rushed through the walls out of the room. He needed time to think. It was obvious Jack didn't belong with the Guardians anymore, not after what Pitch had done to him. Now, Jack was trained for darkness- not light.

But, as much as Pitch tried to push the thought through his head, he didn't want to lock Jack up again. He wanted Jack, but he also wanted Jack to be happy. If Jack was with him, he wouldn't be happy. Jack wasn't happy with the Guardians, either.

To love is to let go, Nightmare King…

He dissolved into shadows as he knew what he had to do.

J POV

Nothing made sense anymore. Not that things were making sense in the first place, but Jack thought, that however uneasy, he belonged with the Guardians. Pitch showed him that they worked together better, even if Jack wasn't willing.

After being in darkness so long, Jack didn't know up from down nor left from right. Time passing was a blur. His body ached to move but Jack couldn't gather the will. All he did was lie on his former bed, curled up and stared at the open door. Deep down he knew what he was waiting for, but Pitch could never reach him in here, could he? In a way Jack wished Pitch would take him again, so that he could return to the shadows and forget about the Guardians, but Jack knew that the easy way was rarely the right way, and giving up was not right. He was only ever lost in thought or dark memories, and didn't notice the slightly darker shadow in the corner of the room.

'Jack,' Pitch's voice reverberated throughout the room. Jack sucked in a breath.

'Pitch?' Jack tried to sit up, but his body obviously wasn't ready for it. His ribs screamed and his arms shook as he tried to haul himself into a sitting position. Pitch rushed forward and supported Jack before he knew what he was doing. The second Pitch came within arm-length, Jack reached out and pulled Pitch into a hard kiss. Pitch was obviously caught off guard, and as they kissed he lay Jack back down on the bed so Pitch was leaning over him. When they pulled apart, Jack looked deep into Pitch's amber eyes.

'I…' Jack began, but his voice was out of action, and he couldn't speak properly.

'I know, Jack,' Pitch whispered, 'me too.'

They shared a minute of silence.

'I'm sorry we didn't have longer…' Pitch said wistfully, as if he knew at that moment that Bunnymund was going to walk past the open entrance to Jack's room, and see Pitch leaning over Jack intently. Bunny leaned over the railing of the second floor and called out to North and Tooth for help. The other two Guardians instantly raced to Jack's room. In the split second they had left, Jack tried to say some last words to Pitch, but the Nightmare King simply kissed him gently and tenderly, then dematerialised out of the room. In his place Jack's staff fell to the ground.

Tooth, North and Bunny had made it in time to see the end of Pitch's kiss and his exit. They were standing frozen at the doorway, staring at Jack who was leaning up on the bed. It was the first time he'd moved in a week.

While they were frozen, Jack gingerly swung his legs of the bed and scooped up his staff. Leaning on his old companion heavily, he got to his feet. The Winter Spirit regained his posture and met his friends' gaze.

'I'm leaving.' Was all he said as he hobbled past them, heading for the stairs. The other Guardians didn't know how to respond for a moment. Bunny spoke first.

'Were you two jus-'

'What ever Pitch told you, wherever you're meeting him Jack, it is bad idea.' Said North steadily.

'I'm not meeting Pitch, North, in fact I have no idea where he is.' Jack said coldly.

Jack made his way out to the reindeer launch-ramp and stood at the edge, the Winter wind rushing through his hair and lungs. He turned around, balancing on the tips of his toes on the edge of an abyss. Standing under the cover of the North Pole base was Tooth, Bunny and North, all staring at him intently, as if they were wondering what he was going to do next.

Jack gave them a small smile and let gravity take him over the edge. He saw Tooth rush forward but North stopped her. Yes, Jack was a Guardian, but he wasn't like the others. So what if he worked better with darkness, what else went better with cold?

Jack streamed through the air, and before he crashed into the jagged ice, he summoned the wind and shot back past the reindeer ramp, where the other three Guardians were now standing.

He shot off into the distance, and it was exactly a week before he began making snowstorms, blizzards and snowball fights again, but when he did, the people (and Guardians) of the world rejoiced, for their Winter Spirit was back.

The Winter Guardian was not to bee seen by human or Guardian eyes for a long time, but everyone he knew could see traces of him in the frost on their windows and snowball fights in the park. No matter how much Jack looked, though, he couldn't find Pitch Black the Nightmare King. What Jack didn't know was that Pitch was always watching him- making sure he was all right.

One night Pitch laughed. Does this mean I'm a Guardian now? he asked the moon.

Jack Frost once asked the moon if he was good enough to be a Guardian; if he'd truly found his centre. Now, flying through the starry night, he had a feeling the answer was yes.

EPILOGUE, IF YOU DARE:

Some believed Jack had flown away to simply die in the forest on that first night. Sadly enough, that was actually Jack's plan.

He landed in the forest just over the horizon of North's base, and started walking. Jack knew he wouldn't see Pitch again, and he knew he didn't fit with the Guardians and probably never would, so he would be a loner, as he always had been. As he walked, he simply kept his eyes on the ground in front of him, moving one foot after another. Flying so soon had hurt him a lot, but he needed to get out of that place.

He didn't care what he found, or more likely what he wouldn't find other than spruce trees and snow.

As soon as it started to get dark, a blizzard gathered up around him. He felt his path begin to ascend, and the storm got worse the higher he climbed. Soon, visibility was zero. He stumbled forward, clutching his aching ribs, and before he could react, he felt himself falling! He held on to his staff, and luckily too, since it hooked onto something and halted his fall. Jack pulled himself back onto the snowy ledge and inspected what had saved him. His hands traveled up his staff to a bit of ice that it'd hooked onto. Jack felt the ice, and it was smoother than anything he'd ever felt. Jack decided he needed to take a better look at it. With a sweep of his staff to call off the storm, he found the ice wasn't actually ice at all, in front of Jack Frost who was now very much dumbfounded, stood a huge purple castle made of ice.

**Hehe, I feel like a bit of a troll for leaving you with that, but if you'd like to hear what happened in the week Jack was AWOL, simply leave a review and suggestion, and I'll get right on it :D Thanks again for reading**