Jack has a nightmare.

It is not a nightmare caused by Pitch. Instead, it is a nightmare caused by ignored fears making themselves known. Jack had an unhealthy habit of repressing his fears and hoping they would go away - a habit that tended to backfire when his subconscious had its way with his dreams.

And Jack had many new fears to deal with. Drastic life changes always bring new hopes, dreams and fears. And even if becoming a Guardian was a great change for Jack, it did not solve all of his problems, no matter how much he would like to think so.

When Jack first finds himself sitting on a window ledge in North's Workshop, he has no reason to suspect anything bad might happen. All of the Guardians are there: North is laughing as Bunny glares at him; Tooth is zipping around the room, talking to dozens of mini tooth fairies that flit about her head; Sandy stands slightly off to the side, smiling as he creates sand shapes above his head.

The room is brighter than it should be, Jack notices. And louder.

He feels a bit of disconnect with the other Guardians, which is not unusual. He still is, after all, fairly new as a Guardian. And he still has very little experience with interacting with other people that can actually see and hear him. So it really is not unusual at all, that Jack would feel slightly separated. He can still see the pane of glass, separating him from the warmth and light inside, frost slowly covering the window and obstructing his view.

Don't let Jack Frost inside.

Except he is inside. Jack has friends now.

So he joins in the fun. He jumps into the conversations, allows himself to feel, once again, what it is like to belong.

Jack can feel the slight distortion before anything happens. He knows something is wrong as the nagging doubts at the back of his mind make themselves known again.

You're not one of them. They'll never accept you; not really.

Bunny is the first to say something.

"Why don't ya rack off, ya bloody show pony." It is a joke. A light jab. Jack and Bunny banter all the time. But the look on Bunny's face, a look of genuine annoyance, is enough to make Jack falter.

Tooth and Sandy are gone. Bunny looks annoyed; North looks disappointed. Trepidation mounts in Jack's chest; hope wars with the fear of being hated and alone again.

They're only using you. They hate you.

"Leave, Jack. We were wrong to have trusted you." North's voice is heavy, devoid of any of the joyful enthusiasm it usually contains.

And why shouldn't they? You are unlovable.

Jack can't speak. There is a lump in his throat, and a pain in his chest. How could he have let this happen? He just became a Guardian. How could he have ruined the best thing to ever happen to him so quickly?

It is because you are horrible. You make a mess of everything. That's all you ever do.

North has turned away from him. Bunny is still glaring, angry. He is speaking, but Jack has long stopped listening. All he can hear is a ringing in his ears as the truth sets in.

It's over. He is alone again.

The environment shifts, and before Jack can realize what happened he finds himself in front of Tooth and Sandy. They are talking to each other, and don't acknowledge his appearance.

There's a spike of fear, a rush of adrenalin, as the remaining shreds of Jack's hope appear. Maybe, maybe…

"Sandy? Tooth?" Neither reply, but they aren't angry, either. Jack knows, deep in that empty place inside of him, exactly what this means. He can't think. He can't let himself think, or hope, or fear.

Jack steps forwardly tentatively, and reaches out to touch Tooth's shoulder.

His hand passes through her.

And then Tooth and Sandy turn around, moving to leave, walking right through Jack. It hurts worse than when any kid did the same, because Jack knows Tooth and Sandy. They were his friends.

They were supposed to be there for him.

Being walked through, being treated as if he didn't even exist, hurt worse than any insult. It hurt worse even then what had just happened with Bunny and North. The ache in Jack's chest is unbearable. Where before there had been a hole, there is now an open wound.

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Jack knows that is not true; it would have been so much easier if he had never become a Guardian at all.

He is used to loneliness. He is not used to abandonment.

Tooth and Sandy are gone, North and Bunny are gone, and Jack feels more alone than he ever did in the first 300 years of his life. He feels like he did on Easter, in Antarctica. When he had first been trusted, and let everyone down. When Bunny's heartbreak and anger, when North's and Tooth's disappointment, had hurt as badly as the first time he had been walked through.

Jack should not have hoped. He should have known better than to think he could ever have friends that tolerated him, let alone that liked him.

And now he is alone. It is snowing. Jack is cold, numb, empty. The snow obscures the world, muffles Jack's thoughts.

He wakes up with an empty ache in his chest.

A/N: I lied. I wrote a sequel. For one of my least popular stories. Incidentally, shout-out to the people currently following this story, and therefore might actually read this. You know when you think of something in your head, how it sounds so much better than when you actually write it out? And I've spent the last several hours reading really good fanfiction, which makes this look even worse. But, hey. I tried? Oh, and happy Easter. Yay. Easter.