This was new.

He couldn't count the number of times he'd left a battlefield with a limb iced back on his body. There were times too where he couldn't retrieve the limb. He left a battle limping, or crawling, or lying there in pain. In fact, there many times he was actually hiding, because the survivors were looking for him.

Plenty of stray bullets had hit him during the war. Once, a long time ago, a catapulted rock had caught him, smashing him for three days straight until he managed to get free.

Jack opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling.

This was definitely a first, though. He couldn't remember many times when he had closed his eyes in one place, and opened them somewhere else. Jack Frost didn't sleep. He didn't faint, either.

Although apparently, he had been wrong about that.

He tried to sit up, only to find that he was tied down to the bed. With heavy-duty rope, too. Panicked, Jack froze his bindings and shattered them, leaping away from the bed. What the hell? He instinctively looked around, taking in the wooden floor, the half-frozen wall, and the window.

Er, well, if you could call that a window.

He walked over to the pane of glass, studying the boards nailed to the outside of it. They were painted a cheerful shade of red, which contrasted greatly with the feeling of unease growing in his stomach.

Jack pulled back his right arm, then punched through the glass. It scraped his arm but he ignored it. Instead, he stared incredulously at the wood, which had held. He tried freezing it, only to find his ice wouldn't touch the boards.

They were enchanted for sure. Jack was surprised the ropes hadn't been enchanted too, but then again, oversights were common when it came to spirits. The door was probably enchanted.

The door was not enchanted.

Bemused, Jack froze the knob and broke it, swinging it open slowly. Ice crept out from his feet as soon as he stepped into the hallway, making him relax. He needed the cold. However, he tensed again as he realized he was at the North Pole. That meant the Guardians were the ones who'd brought him here.

That meant the Guardians had tied him up. Jack sighed. He'd thought they were nice people, he really had. Idiots, maybe, who were childish and stupid - did he mention they were idiots? - but still nice. Even caring.

Betrayal was nothing new, though.

He felt his power flowing through him. It wasn't as torrential as he remembered it being, but it felt more natural. Inhaling deeply, Jack called up his power. A wintry breath spilled from his lips, raging down the hallway. Snow, hail, frost, ice - it all flooded the hall. There was enough momentum to cover the entire interior of the Workshop.

Jack narrowed his eyes. Alright. He forced magic out of his shoulder, forming an arm made of pure power, just as he had done when fighting with Sandy. In both hands, scimitars appeared, made of ice. Then he leapt into the rafters, knelt, and waited.

Soon enough someone came barrelling down the hallway. A yeti. He pounced, driving his blades down the monster's back, tearing through flesh and fur. Kicking the thing into the room, he shut the door, freezing shut. A roar of pain erupted from the room, followed by pounding.

Jack flicked the blood off his scimitars, leaping back into the rafters. Jumping from beam to beam, he ignored the other yetis that ran below him, most of them slipping on the frosted floor. Instead, he sought out a better place to fight. A place with lots of room.

He emerged onto a balcony that overlooked the Globe Room. His eyes flashed as winter fell over the railings, the Globe, the tables and floors… In seconds everything was white, obscured by swirling snow.

Moonlight poured through the skylight, but Jack make a cutting motion. Snow gathered up, blocking out the sky. Then suddenly he shot into the air, narrowly dodging a small projectile that smashed into the opposite side of the room. A colorful cloud rose from the impact.

Jack immediately catapulted back down, avoiding another egg bomb. Man, Bunny sure didn't waste time, huh? He weaved, flew, and twisted, trying to make sense of where the rapid-fire eggs were coming from. However, Bunny was moving too, blending into the snow and making it impossible to tell where he was.

Never let it be said that the Easter Bunny couldn't hold his own. For a moment Jack marveled at how Bunny's fur matched a completely different season.

He was a little less impressed when a boomerang hit his arm - his makeshift left arm, thankfully - cutting it clean off. Stumbling, Jack hastily threw himself behind a table, curling up to make himself as small as possible.

The boomerang had sliced off the layer of skin on his shoulder, making it sting. He pulled off his hoodie and used it to staunch the bleeding as he looked for his arm.

It wasn't hard to find. The damn time-bomb Bunny had created was lying right in front of him. He quickly twisted, kicking the arm - which was pure power, remember - up into the ceiling. As it hit the ceiling it burst, a wave of winter magic that knocked him back.

He groaned.

This was going to take a while. He strengthened his scimitar a bit before darting out from behind the table. He caught a glimpse of grey before ducking behind a pole, then abruptly sitting. The boomerang, which had apparently been flying around this whole time, had come straight at his face. It was now planted in the wood above his head.

Of course. Because who needs the laws of physics when kangaroos hide eggs all over the world?

Jack slid across the room, eyes scanning the place. Movement made him reflexively raise his sword, his arm trembling as another boomerang slammed down on his blade. Bunny's face loomed out of the blizzard.

He didn't look much like a friendly Easter Bunny now.

Jack pushed back, then swung low, scoring a cut on the rabbit's leg. Blood ran down the limb, a splash of red on white. Jack blocked another swing, then grunted as Bunny caught him in the side with another boomerang, sending him flying. It was really inconvenient, having only one arm.

However… he wasn't keen on growing another. If it got cut off again, who knew what would happen.

He twirled his scimitar, thinking. He ducked low, then spun past Bunny, tapping the rabbit's paws with a touch so light a person would mistake it for the wind. He didn't stop at the wall, instead pushing off and soaring upwards until he clung to the ceiling.

A slew of curse words reached his ears. Jack looked down to see Bunny hitting his feet. Well, he was hitting the ice on his feet. Six-inch ice that wouldn't melt naturally for a very long time. Considering that Bunny was a spring spirit, it would be a little quicker than that.

Jack adjusted his grip on his sword, then let go of the ceiling, plummeting straight down. Unfortunately, Bunny's kangaroo-like reflexes had him leaning back. So instead of his head, Jack slashed a shallow wound down the rabbit's chest. The blade slammed into the floor and broke.

"Why?" Jack griped, dissipating the now-useless scimitar. He ducked a hook from Bunny, dancing back out of reach. He opened his hand, gathering magic into the form of a crystalline garrote. He launched himself back at Bunny, only to slam back into the ground. He glanced over his shoulder to see a jump rope lassoed around his ankle.

He rolled over, slicing away the rope with his garrote. North emerged from the snow with both swords drawn, the blades glittering dangerously. Jack flew straight up, escaping through the skylight.

The moon was unnaturally bright, with not a single breeze stirring the surface of the North Pole. Jack reached out, pulling the blizzard up from the Workshop to fill the air around him. Winds howled, clouds gathered, and sleet blocked out almost all visibility.

Which allowed Tooth to slam into him.

Jack tumbled backward, righting himself in time to dive as the Tooth Fairy zoomed overhead. He gritted his teeth as she wheeled back around, eyes blazing. He blocked a book, then drove his fist into her abdomen. She huffed, clutching her stomach as she hastily flew back.

He charged forward, keeping the momentum as he aimed punch after punch. Surprisingly she blocked all of them, though she still looked like she was struggling.

He leaned, feinting a punch at her face. When she moved to block him, he shifted, tapping a wing. It froze instantly. Tooth's expression turned shocked as her wing haltingly tried to keep up it's lightspeed pace before failing. She dropped like a stone.

However, she grabbed his garrote, yanking him downwards. Unable to stop his momentum, he crashed into the ground seconds before her.

As he stood, a beam of moonlight somehow made it's way through the storm, shining on him. Jack squinted, looking up at the moon in irritation. Then, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the silhouette of the sleight rising up from the ground. He turned to run, then paused.

No… No, he was tired of running. These stubborn, traitorous idiots were the ones who should be running. Eyes flashing, Jack raised his right arm directly upwards, straining.

The surrounding blizzard funneled upward, coalescing into a tight, swirling column of snow, ice, and magic. He clenched his fist, causing the storm to freeze. Ice crystals hung in midair, ornaments without hooks. Snow elongated and stretched into delicate ribbons of white.

Then he swung his arm down.

With a scream, the wind whipped downward. It smashed down into the Workshop, crashing through wood and rock alike. Tearing through floors, when it finally dissipated, there was an enormous rift in the middle of the Workshop, reaching deep into the earth.

Jack swayed on his feet, feeling exhaustion beginning to creep in.

Three Guardians stood before him. Faintly, he registered shouting. They must be shouting at him. He changed his garrote into a lance, shoving it forward. "Don't come any closer," he warned.

Bunny's eyes widened. "Jack…?"

"I'm not going to go down easy!" Jack shouted. He pulled back his arm, shifting the lance into a spear, before whipping it forward with inhuman speed. It struck the ground in front of the rabbit, stopping him in his tracks. Tooth jumped back while North swiped his swords reflexively.

Jack flexed his fingers, causing the spear to explode in snow right in their faces. Inspired by Bunny's egg bombs. While they were blinded for a short second he lunged, kicking Tooth's legs out from under her while freezing North's hands to his swords.

Then each of them fell flat on their face.

A glow in his peripheral caused him to spin around, coming face to face with Sandy. To his shock, the Guardian of Dreams quickly made symbols - a two, an arrow pointing at each of them, and a sign that he'd seen on exit signs in buildings, a little man running away.

"Are you… still on my side?"

A quick nod.

"I don't want to run."

An insistent tug on the edge of his shirt. Jack vaguely remembered throwing away his hoodie, given to him by North and the yetis. He hesitated.

Then his shoulders slumped. "Where? Where could I - we go?"

Sandy raised both his hands, forming a carpet and tugging Jack down into a sitting position.

"Thanks," Jack said, a smile tugging at the side of his mouth. He leaned against Sandy as the landscape beneath them blurred. "What happened? I don't remember anything. Not after the fight… Actually, that's blurry too."

Sandy shrugged. He made a so-so gesture, then formed an image of a clock.

Jack frowned. "How much time passed?"

The clock turned into a calendar, which flipped through 1, 2, 3… 11 months before it stopped. Then the days were checkmarked until the very last day, which was then circled. Sandy glanced back at Jack with a solemn expression.

"Eleven months and twenty-nine days? Was I really out that long?"

To Jack's surprise, Sandy didn't answer right away. The Sandman nodded, then shook his head, then finally shrugged.

"Sorta, kinda, not?"

Sandy made a dismissive gesture. Forming a picture of the two of them, he then made an image of the other Guardians with an X over them. They vanished in a puff of sand, leaving the two of them in the air. They were followed by a checkmark, a safety belt sign, and a snowflake.

Jack chuckled drily. "Where're we going then? Somewhere safe?" He peered over Sandy's shoulder, confused. "I don't… I don't understand why they attacked me."

A snowflake, replaced by an icicle, which smashed into a Santa hat.

"Ah. Well, they tied me down."

The icicle and Santa hat got bigger before repeating the same action.

"They even enchanted the freaking window. How else was I supposed to get out?"

He swore he saw Sandy's shoulders rise and fall, as if the little man were sighing. Instead of answering, Sandy formed a pillow and patted it, a request for Jack to lie down.

Jack hesitated, then complied with the request. Though his eyes were closed, both of them knew he wasn't sleeping. Sandy thought about sprinkling some dreamsand over the boy, then decided against it. Moon knows they didn't need another scenario like the last one.

He opened his eyes, staring up at the sky. It was white and grey, a blend of clouds and colorless sky. For a moment, his mind was blank. A strange feeling tingled along his skin, almost cold. But, he realized as he began to wake up, he was never cold.

It must be very cold, then. Yawning, he rolled over, coming face to face with the dead.

He sat bolt upright, startled. He thought he must have been mistaken, but the woman before him was most assuredly dead. Her eyes did not move at all, and her chest remained still. And her skin… much of it was shriveled, blackened, frostbite coating her limbs.

Fearful, he looked around to find that he was in a village. Others seemed to share her fate, lying scattered around the square. Windows were coated in such thick ice, seeming more ice than glass.

The snow was not disturbed by anything. No footprints marred the white surface, while still more snow fell, piling up endlessly.

He knew he'd collapsed here. He recalled flying over, feeling a snapping, a breaking within him. The staff had slipped from his fingers as he fell, darkness taking over. He realized…

In the middle of a battlefield, he could hear the men yelling desperately. The warriors that shouted at each other, each having family, nations, people whom they wanted to protect. Blades burst from backs, coated in blood. Arrows flew in the air, falling mercilessly on their prey.

He avoided what he could, and hid when the fighting got worse. It had only been seconds ago that the field of snow had been pristine, untouched.

Now it was littered with the dirty footprints of soldiers, and pools of their blood. Warriors slipped and tripped over their comrades remains, while enemies struggled unyieldingly with each other. It was chaos, it was hell on earth.

War takes a very long time, but this was only a skirmish. Soon enough, all lay dead. All but a few, who trudged back with the heavy shoulders of those who know they have more mindless battles ahead, if they don't die soon. As they moved away, Jack quietly moved forward to do his work.

He dragged his staff along as he walked, frosting over the bodies. Some could have been sleeping, while others looked every bit the ferocious fighters they had been in life. He summoned the snow, perching on a rock as he watched their bodies begin to vanish beneath the peaceful element.

Colder.

And colder.

The feeling was familiar. Not in a good way, and not in the manner something often done would feel. He felt his walls crumbling a little. He clutched his staff, upset.

The conduit should help.

He reigned it in, wanting to remain as he was. It was a solemn, silent time that he did not want to disturb. But they cracked and crumbled, flooding his veins. He collapsed, falling to the ground with a thud. He lay next to a soldier who lay face down, limbs sprawled…

"I'm sorry!" Jack cried, taking a step back.

The Easter Bunny would not be deterred. "You blew a blizzard all the way across the world!" he raged. "There's a bloody storm in the Pacific!"

Jack winced. "I didn't mean to! It's just, I -"

"No, you listen to me. Don't be such a showpony! You just had to ruin my holiday, didn't you? What in the blazes were you thinking? You weren't, were you!" Bunny shouted. "Next time you decide to make it snow all over the bloody world, don't!"

"I won't, I didn't -"

"I'll find you," Bunny threatened. "Do this again, and I swear you'll regret it!" He opened up a tunnel and hopped down, leaving Jack alone in the forest. A small aster popped up from the ground, but it quickly wilted as Jack reached out to touch it.

He slumped in defeat. "I thought I found a solution…" he muttered to himself, clutching his staff. He turned his head, looking at the nearby town through the trees. Burgess. It had always been his home.

When it had happened, he'd had time to run. But he was tired of running. So he'd stayed, and tried, and had managed to thin out his burst of power. The Easter Bunny wouldn't forgive another one, though. Jack shook his head.

"It won't happen again," he swore to himself. "I'll die before it happens. I'll get stronger, and I won't crack. I swear it to the moon, to the sky, and to the stars."

A light tap of his shoulder had Jack opening his eyes. He was greeted by Sandy, whose expression looked peaceful. Jack sat up, looking around.

"Wow," he breathed.

What greeted his eyes was the sight of a glittering, golden landscape that stretched on for miles, fading into the distance. Slopes of gold sand dipped into glittering pools of honey-colored liquid. Fantastic buildings rose up from the ground, only to collapse, over and over again.

Some resembled the pillared temples of old, where priests and priestesses would pray. Others were magnificent castles, with turrets, towers, drawbridges, and anything else imaginable.

Jack swore he saw a skyscraper emerge from the sand, though it was quickly hidden by a pyramid made of glistening sand.

He leapt forward, using the wind to boost himself up. Landing on the balcony of a castle, he froze the entire thing instantly, preventing it from returning to the dunes. Excited, he darted inside, eyes taking in every inch of the interior. It was magnificent. Tables filled with goblets, flowers, and food - sadly all made of sand - stood in the dining room while torches flickered in the halls. Windows looked out on the ever-changing landscape, curtains gently waving in the breeze.

"This is awesome!" he yelled, jumping out the window to land in front of Sandy. He grinned. "Is this your home?"

Sandy nodded, his face unreadable. He made a snowflake, an X, a castle, followed by an arrow pointing at the castle he'd frozen.

"Huh? Oh. Is it not supposed to be frozen?"

Sandy nodded.

"Sorry." Jack looked up at the behemoth of a building, thinking. "If I busted that open, it's gonna explode. It's so damn big…" He backed up. "Cover your face." Running forward, he leapt to the top, landing on his hand atop the highest tower. He quickly pushed off, watching as the castle shattered.

Ice flew everywhere, forcing him to twist, tumble, and dive in order to avoid the debris. Jack ducked behind the sand shield Sandy had created. The other Guardian gave him an exasperated look.

"I wasn't thinking," Jack admitted sheepishly. "I'll try not to freeze anything else."

Sandy nodded. When everything settled, he let the sand fall back down. Then he sculpted a small bed, put a pillow on it, and pointed. Then he summoned his regular mode of travel, a cloud of sand, tipped a spontaneously created hat, and flew off.

That was a pretty cool exit. Jack wasn't planning on sleeping, though. He cast his gaze over the spectacular landscape before him, then made a split-second decision.

Sandy couldn't possibly spread dreams all over the world and come back to check on him any time soon. He really, really wanted to see the place. Just for a little bit. Then he'd come straight back. He promised this to himself.

Rising up on the wind, Jack soared into the sky.

I wanted to make the fight more epic, but I'm not good at having them fight magic-to-magic. And the Guardians have weird, inconvenient magic (minus Sandy) that seem overall useless against other magics. Magicks. Magicness. I have no idea how that would be spelled. Anyways, someone commented that they enjoyed seeing Sandy and Jack bonding, so I decided to go with that. But there's gonna be some bonding with Bunny too, so… That'll be fun.

On another note, I'm having fun making Tooth 'mean.' Not like, cruel mean, but just the more antagonistic sort of character. Just because she's always the mom figure or the caring one or the gentle fairy. But she's such a warrior queen too, right? I dunno. Hope you enjoyed!

...This is such a long author's note.