OK so this is a new chapter!

Thank you for all the follows/favorites/reviews!

What is this? Am I actually updating? I'm amazed! Shout out to Icypoolthewarrio for the staff idea. I hope i incorporated it ok for all of you reading this.

Also, I actually have the entire plot figure out for this story! Yay! Now that doesn't mean I can update daily or there won't be slow chapters I just know where it is going. OK?

Now, onto the chapter!

Jack- A fox kit about 8 months old

Aster- A rabbit about 4-5 years old

Tooth- A hummingbird about 5 years old

North- A bear about 7 years old

Sandy- A hedgehog about 9 years old

MiM- A wolf about 13 years old

Pitch- A wolf about 13 years old

Jack stumbled out of the crate as the human pushed him out. He was tired from all the tests the humans had done to him and all he wanted to do was take a nap, just as he had done after all the other experiments they had done in the past. But he couldn't. Whatever they were looking to test in him was now running through him with an uncontrollable flow. He had been fine, to an extent, beforehand but whatever they had been doing had not helped.

Jack took a shaky step forward and his ears barely twitched when he heard the door behind him close. Looking up, he noticed that the sky was different colors, like sunrise or sunset. He wasn't sure and he was only slightly sure that it was morning when he had been taken, but he wasn't completely sure because that morning was hazy. As he walked sluggishly forward, Jack heard steps coming from the trees and lifted his weary head to look.

"Jack?" The kit watched as the colorful feathers of Tooth came forward in his blurry vision. She flew before him, her magenta eyes gazing into his own ice blue ones. "Oh, Jack! What have they done to you?"

Jack opened his mouth to respond but all he could get out was a soft sound and his ears pressed against his head as his eyes clenched close. Tooth shushed him and told him to wait there while she went to get the others, telling him he should get some sleep as well. It was then Jack found his voice.

"I can't." He moan out with a whimper and he dropped to the ground and covered his head with his paws. "I-I can't get to sleep, not with what they worked up."

Tooth's heart broke at the sight of the fox. From under his paws she could catch sight of tears slipping from his clenched eyes and a broken sob come from his jaws. Tooth flew down to rest next to Jack and through her wing over his head as a sign of comfort. She felt him lean into the feathers and she cooed a soothing sound to him. Tooth debated leaving him or not. She felt wrong leaving him alone while he was like this, but she needed to get the others.

Thankfully, her prayers were answered because there were suddenly a pair of golden eyes watching her. She nodded in their direction and they vanished. It was only a few seconds later that the others were coming quietly toward them. Jack never looked up when the sound of their paws came toward him or when he felt more than one presence at his side.

"Jack-" Manny began but stopped. He was at a loss for what to say as he looked down at the broken fox. Jack had been gone a little more than a day and it was a miracle that he even came back conscious. Manny took Tooth's place beside the kit, curling around his smaller form. He felt Jack lean into him just as he had done with Tooth and sighed.

"You never deserved this." He whispered, pressing his nose to the kit's shaking head. His eyes moved to look at the others who all, except Pitch, had moved closer to comfort him. When their eyes met, he could see the worry in each of the others and knew they couldn't wait for the chance to escape.

A few days passed and Jack had nearly been there for two weeks and nothing had gotten better for the fox. The tests were done almost daily and Jack was given little time to rest, and they never even took the time to experiment with the others, their attention focused solely on Jack. The other's had no idea what the humans were looking for and they wanted some break for the poor kit. Trust them when they say they would have escaped sooner, but they would never get the chance to take the action, especially not with how worn down Jack was.

There was a saving grace though. After the few days into the new week, the door opened and they all looked toward the door, prepared to watch as Jack was taken away by another man in white. Even Jack sighed in defeat, his fight having left with how weak he felt, which never settled well with the others at the sight of the boy who should be the way he was during the beginning of his first week.

Only, when the door opened, a horrible man did not enter, but instead Jamie and Sophie entered. They all perked up at the sight of the two humans, even Pitch seemed a bit relieved that the sight of them. The door closed behind the two humans and they looked around for the group of animals. Sophie ran toward the usual spot and called out for the animals that hid in the plants.

"Bunny!" She called. "Foxy!"

Jamie followed behind and called out with his sister. It wasn't long before the group moved toward the humans, Aster staying back to help Jack if he needed it. They came out and their moods brightened at the sight of the two.

Sophie instantly pounced on Bunny and Tooth while Jamie moved toward the others, again except for Pitch. Jack was moving slower than the others but he regained enough energy to enjoy this time. Jamie laughed and greeted the North, Sandy, and Manny before he turned to Jack.

"Whoa." He breathed at the sight of Jack, reminding them that the last time he had seen Jack, he had been a combination of his original coloring and his current one. "You look so cool!" He reached forward to touch Jack, but he moved away making Jamie frown.

"Hey, it's ok. Remember? We're friends." Jamie continued to hold out his hand and soon, just as he had done before, Jack moved forward to let Jamie pet him. When Jamie placed his hand on Jack's head he gasped. "Wow, your actually cold. It's like you're some magical creature or something!"

Jack gave a smile to the boy, happy that Jamie accepted his new changes openly. It wasn't long before the two began to play and when Jamie went to search for a stick to play fetch with Jack, he found an oddly shaped on the ground. It was small, a little larger than his middle finger and its form was similar to the shape of a shepherds crook. He picked it up and carried it over to where the group was.

While Jamie had been off doing that, Jack had been playing with the others in a game of tag. Sophie had started it and somehow they had all gotten involved. Jack was running away from Sandy, who happened to be it, when he bumped into Jamie. The boy laughed as he bent down to show Jack what he found.

"Look at this." He said opening his palm. Jack poked his head toward the stick in his hand and tilted his head in confusion

"It's a stick." Jack yipped at him. "What do you want to do with it?"

While Jamie didn't understand the words behind the yipping, he understood Jack's confused expression. "We could use it as something to play with and maybe, when I'm gone, you can use it to remember me."

Jack liked that idea. He gave a smile and yipped, jumping in a circle around the boy. Jamie laughed at his excitement and prepared to through the stick. When Jack saw this he got read to chase it. Jamie let out another laugh and through the stick, watching as Jack chased after it.

Jack laughed as he chased after the odd stick. He heard it hit the ground and was now sniffing around for it. When he found it, he smiled and picked it up.

It was then something happened.

When Jack picked the staff up in his mouth, he felt the cold that flowed through him race toward the stick. He quickly dropped it, but it didn't stop the stick from glowing an icy blue and, when it hit the ground, sparked with a crack of ice. He yelped and jumped away from it, watching silently as the glow died down. As he drew closer to it, it was then he noticed that ice had not spread from his fear. Confused, he went over and poked the staff. When his paw touched the wood, frost crawled across it.

Deciding not to question it at the moment, Jack picked up, trying to ignore the frost on the stick, and began to slowly walk toward the others. It was then he heard the door open and, quickly hiding the stick, went back to the others.

He came and stood next to Manny as Jamie and Sophie were moved from the room, his ears drooping as they left with a wave.

"It was nice while it lasted." Manny spoke looking down at him.

Jack sighed. "Yeah." He turned around letting the others stare after him, but he ignored them in favor of uncovering the stick and laying down with it in his paws.

"Jack? What is that?" Tooth asked flying near him to look at what was in his paws.

"It's a stick Jamie found." Jack said. "He said I could use it to remember him by."

"It seems to do more than that." Pitch spoke up, finally coming out of his hiding. His golden eyes traced the frost patterns on the stick that traveled up to the length of it but not the hook. "Whatever they did to you seems to be absorbed into it."

"So it's taking away his experimentation?" Aster asked raising an eyebrow.

"Don't be so foolish," Pitch replied rolling his eyes. "What it seems to be doing is asking like a conduct or something to help balance out whatever is going on with him."

"And how do you know all this?" Manny questioned as he turned his gaze to Pitch.

"With simple observation my dear friend." Pitch said with a smile. "His…abilities are not as free as usual and with the way the stick looks it most likely is tied to that in some way. I wouldn't lose it, if I were you." His last words were directed toward the fox. Jack didn't reply, he just curled more around the stick.

"Perhaps you can finally get some sleep." North spoke up making them all look towards him. It was true. For the past days Jack had not gotten much sleep, only a small nap at most. Now though, Jack felt as though perhaps he could do just that, sleep.

Jack nodded and picked up the stick as he and the others went back to the cave. It didn't take long after he lied down that his eyes slipped close to a dreamless sleep.

Jack was forced awake by a large hand on his neck. He yelped and scrambled away from the human who was forcing him out of the cave. He looked around, noticing the others were still unconscious. Why? He didn't know. He looked around and spotted the stick nearby, the human had obviously ignored it. He squirmed in the man's hold, eventually resorting to biting his hand so he would let him go.

As soon as the man's grip loosened, Jack forced his way over to the stick and grasped it in his jaws. He turned to face the man and instantly the stick started to glow. The man noticed this and lifted a devise to his mouth, speaking into it as his eyes rested on the object within Jack's teeth. The next moment, another man was beside him and they were separating the stick from Jack, who yelped and struggled as he was forced into a crate.

Just like every time before that, he was brought to the one room that now was home to his nightmares. Inside, the same man that ruled his nightmares was there and he was holding the stick.

"Well, well, well." He spoke as he gazed at the fox. "It seems we've finally found what is needed to control that ice you have flowing in your veins. Now you just need to keep it." He turned around to grab what looked like a collar and hook the staff onto it, locking it in. He then picked up the collar and turned toward Jack with it and moved towards his neck.

Figuring it would be in his benefit, Jack allowed the collar to be place on his neck with little effort, feeling the heavy cloth there.

"Now," The man said moving away as he gazed at Jack with a smile. "Let's see what you can do."

I swear this is never going to end happily!

Anyway, feel free to comment, ask questions, etc.

Until next time! :D