Chapter 7

Once they reached the North Pole Jack was poked and prodded to make sure that he was free from Pitch's control. "Okay! Enough," Jack commanded. "Stop playing doctor, I'm fine!"

"No." North stated. "Not until Sandy confirms it. Sandy, no more black sand?" Sandy shook his head with a smile. "Now you're fine! Music!" Russian music began to fill every corner of the pole. North grabbed Bunnymund's paw. "Dance with me Bunny-man!"

"Crikey!" Bunny screamed as the guardian of wonder forced him to dance. Sandy leaned against the fireplace, sipping his hot chocolate, and grinning at what a fool North was making of Bunnymund.

Jack laughed, wishing he had a camcorder. Tooth flew towards him, a smile on her face. "It's great to have you back Jack."

"It's really good to be back." Jack smiled, but grew nervous when he saw Tooth eying his throat.

"Jack, what happened to your neck?" The half human, half hummingbird asked. She pointed to the slightly brown and red marks scattered about his neck.

The frost elf pulled his collar up slightly. "Those are just bruises, he choked me a few times."

"Those don't look like bruises Jack. They look more like hicke-"

"Don't finish that!" Jack interrupted, a slight blush in his face.

Tooth looked slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry, that was rude." The two remained silent for a minute, unsure of what to say. "You know, we could beat him up!"

"Whoa-whoa, what?" The shocked snow spirit replied.

"Well you know where his lair is right? We can make him pay for what he did to you." The guardian of memories encouraged.

"Oh, well I don't know where it is. As soon as I came back that was erased from my memories," Jack lied. He wasn't sure why he hadn't told the truth, but he knew it was for the right reason. "But thanks for the offer, I'll be sure to call you the next time I wanna gang up on someone."

"Well I do have an army." Tooth said laughing.

Sandy walked over, his dreamsand translating as: "Who do you think North will make dance next?" Then a snowflake appeared over his head.

"Oh yeah, it's definitely going to be Jack," Tooth replied.

"What? There is no way I'm doing some Russian dance!" Jack assured.

"Jack!" North shouted. "You're next!" Sandy and Tooth laughed as Jack backed away.

"No, no, no. Trust me I'm good where I am-" Suddenly he backed up into a yeti who pushed him towards North.

"Come on!" North encouraged, grabbing Jack's arm.

"No wait, I can't dance!" Despite Jack's protesting, North dragged him about the floor, forcing the boy to do a dance he never heard of.

Bunnymund sat down next to Tooth and Sandy, panting. "Ugh-it's-finally-over," he said between breaths. However, when he saw the distressed look on Jack's face he brightened. "Ha! He looks ridiculous!" Sandman pointed to Bunny with the number two over his head. "Way to ruin my mood, mate."

Finally the song ended and Jack was able to detach himself from North. "We are never doing that again. EVER."

"Yes we are!" Bunny shouted. "Soon as I get my hands on a camera!" Jack made an annoyed face, and threw a snowball at the guardian's face. "Ahh! Crikey!" Bunny shouted, wiping the snow off his face. "You're gonna regret that mate."

Jack couldn't help but smile. "I that so?"

North stepped between the two. "Alright, that's enough. You can get the revenge later. Right now, we celebrate!" Yetis brought out refreshments, and the group relaxed, enjoying having the whole group back together.

Jack looked out the large window, and wondered what Pitch was doing. Jack felt a strange sadness in his heart, when he thought about how the Nightmare King was once more all alone. The frost elf wondered if Pitch missed him, he wondered if Pitch was in pain. And for some reason the idea of Pitch being in pain made him upset.

Jack shook his head, trying to get the thoughts to leave, but they stayed nagging at his brain. The snow spirit told himself it was just pity and that it would pass, but deep down he knew there was something wrong.

"Frost!" Bunny yelled, snapping Jack out of his zoned out state. When he turned to face Bunny, an elf hit him in the face. The elf fell to the floor, and Jack had a surprised look on his face.

"Did you just throw an elf at me?" The boy asked, still in a state of shock. Bunnymund nodded his head, with a devious smirk. "Well, just remember I'll get ya back when you least expect it."

"Ohhh, I'm scared mate." For the rest of the day the guardians joked around, and pretty much did whatever they wanted as a reward for defeating Pitch a second time.

Eventually however, the guardians had to leave, and they all went off in their separate directions. "Jack," North called.

"Yeah?"

"If you want, you can stay here for night." North offered, worried Pitch would go after Jack again.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine. He's weaker, and I'm on high alert." They said their goodbyes, and Jack headed towards Burgess. The guardian just reached the city limits, when he stopped and looked towards the wooded area a ways from the town. The frost elf knew exactly where Pitch's lair was, and he wanted to get revenge on the man who hypnotized him. Jack knew he should forget it, but he was mad and when that happened he tended to throw caution to the wind.

In a few minutes he landed outside Pitch's lair, a look of both anger and confusion on his face. The snow spirit flew into the lair, desperately trying to find the Nightmare King in the darkness, using his staff like a flashlight. "PITCH!!"

"Well well, my frost elf is already back. I must admit you came sooner then I thought." Upon seeing Pitch, Jack shot him with a surprisingly large amount of ice. The Boogeyman blocked the attack with sand. "My, a little hostile aren't we?"

"SHUT UP!" Jack screamed as he jumped into the air and shot Pitch again. Pitch blocked it once more.

"Why do you think you came back here Jack?!" Pitch shouted as he flung sand at the boy. The guardian quickly dodged it, and threw spikes of ice at the Nightmare King.

"To get back for what you did to me!!" Using his sand Pitch shot the spikes back at Jack, who quickly flew out of the way.

"YOU'RE LYING!" Pitch shouted, while laughing.

"NO I'M NOT!!" Jack replied, but he had hesitated. It was a mere second, but Pitch noticed it.

"You aren't even fooling yourself anymore!"

"STOP IT!" Jack yelled, shooting Pitch with more ice and snow. The Nightmare King easily blocked it, as if the boy hadn't put all his strength into the attack. When the dust cloud finally settled, Jack was back on the ground, staring intently at the floor.

"Jack," Pitch said with a smile, "I know why you came here." The Boogeyman stepped closer to the boy.

"Don't come closer," Jack said, but his voice was weak. Pitch continued to move towards the guardian. Jack stepped backwards, and immediately ran into a wall.

"Oh come now Jack, even you know why you're here. So why try to hide it?" Pitch was right in front of him now, and the frost elf refused to look up at the man. The Nightmare king laughed slightly, and bent down so they were the same height. "Now Jack, why are you being so shy? Shall we see if we can change that?"

Pitch grabbed the snow spirit's shoulders, and kissed him passionately. The second their lips met, Jack kissed back, and wrapped his arms around Pitch's neck. The Boogeyman grabbed the boy's waist and pulled him close, as Jack sunk his fingers into the man's hair. Pitch's tongue took over the guardian's mouth, and Jack enjoyed every moment of it.

Suddenly Jack's eyes became huge, as he realized what he was doing. He quickly pushed Pitch away, and flew out of the lair. The Nightmare King laughed, as he wiped his mouth with his hand. "You can't hide Jack, not now."

The frost elf flew faster then he thought possible, until he reached the other side of the woods. Jack landed unsteadily in a snowbank and ended up on his knees. The boy panted, a look of fear and concern on his face. "Shit," he stated. "Shit...What did I do?"

Jack quickly used the wind to take him to Burgess, and sat on a large billboard, trying hard to clear his thoughts. Without warning he saw Tooth and a few of her fairies flying by. She saw him and flew towards him. "Hi Jack, how are you feeling?"

"Um, light headed, a little dazed." The guardian of fun replied.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Huh, oh nothing." Jack assured, with a smile. "Just landed a little hard in a snowbank. I'm fine."

"Well if you say so. I'm afraid I have to get going, a lot of kids lost teeth today. See you later, okay?"

"Yeah, enjoy being out in the field."  With that Tooth flew away, and Jack sighed with relief. Jack stared up at the moon. "Please, don't tell them. Please." The moon said nothing.

Meanwhile Pitch was lying in bed, his grin broad. "You'll come back Jack, and I'm looking forward to it."

To be continued.