Chapter 3

The two mischevious boys had been playing outside for hours. Burgess' citizens were now awake, except they coundn't perform their daily routines like driving to work or walking to school due to all the hazardous snow. Giggles filled the air as Jamie hid behind a car while Jack floated above him. "Ok now, steady your aim. Thats it. Good- No a little to the left- Yeah there ya go!" With a nudge of Jack's magical shepherds crook, the little boy's arm was in perfect position. In his hand lay a flawless spherical snowball just waiting to be thrown.

Jamie locked his eyes on the target, carefully making sure he was unseen by the unsuspecting victim. "One... " He threw his arm back a tad. "Two... Three!" The snowball flew through the air and landed squarely on a mans shoulder. The man swiftly turned around, puzzled. Jamie ducked, "Aw man he moved at the last second! I almost had him!"

Jack let out a hearty laugh and stood on the roof of the vehicle with a grin,"Watch and learn Jamie. Let the master show you how its done." The teen blew a frosty breath into his curled palm, creating another snowball. His friend chuckled and rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah whatever."

Blue eyes scanned the area in search of another helpless victim. The few people that actually went outside to face the harsh weather were wearing layers upon layers of clothing. Speaking of which, a funny looking women just walked round the corner wearing the most ridiculous fur coat Jack ever did see.

Clenching the snowball, he propelled his arm behind him and flung it. It sliced through the wind and hit the women right in the face. She let out a shriek, "Wha-what? Who through that?" Both boys let out a roar of laughter at the sight. Jamie slid down to the ground in a fit and leaned his head on his hand, "Ohmygosh did you see her face? She totally wasn't expecting that."

Gently hoping off the car, Jack laughed and let out a high pitched sigh. "I know right? He offered Jamie a high five, who glady returned it.

Jack was delighted that his little friend was having a great time. He was laughing with joy and playing in the snow. And with the two words "Joy" and "Snow" together in the same sentence, the guardian knew he was doing his job right. But that thing from earlier crept back into the depths of his mind. Thoughts and a forgotten memory clouded his brain. This thing... this kid, tried to attack Jamie. And most likely caused the horrible dreams all the children were having, but none of this added up. Some weird mini Pitch replica appears out of now where, sending children into comas and giving them nightmares? Not to mention Jack was positive he knew him from somewhere.

"Hey Jamie... "

Said boy sat up from his spot by the car and the two began a slow pace down the road. Before answering, Jamie quickly glanced around, making sure no one was close enough to hear him talking to thin air. "Yeah?" he said in a hush tone.

"Ok. I'm probably gonna make you re-live bad thoughts, but its really important that I know, what exactly happened in your nightmares?"

The boy noticably stiffened. Truthfully, Jack wasn't sure if Jamie stopped speaking because of him or the lady walking her dog nearby. "Its ok. You can tell me. Theres nothing to be afraid of." He flashed a reassuring smile. He ment those words, both of them knew that. But Jamie still feared the images that plagued his sleep. There where just to...creepy. Would Jack think he was odd for dreaming of such nonsense?

"There to scary... I dno'... they start out normal. Everythings the same, and all of you are there... The Easter Bunny, Santa and the Tooth fairy and the Sand man...but then... I... " He stopped dead in his tracks and was suddenly captivated by the pair of damp boots on his feet.

"Hey, you ok?" The guardian crouched down so he was looking up into two brown eyes. Apparent confusion was plastered on his face. "Its just, it was so real... I actually was-."

"Was what?"

"I feel bad though, cause-!"

"Jamie?"

"Like, you're guardians. I know you'd never do that but I was so scared it felt so real and I-"

Jamie babbled on about feeling guilty, for feeling scared, which Jack thought was utterly ridiculous. He patted the younger one on the shoulder in a comforting manner. "Slow down! You don't need to feel sorry for anything. It was scary, I get that. Just take a deep breath in...and start from the begining." Nodding his head, Jamie stuffed his hands in his pockets and continued walking. "Okay okay... we were all there. You and the guardians... and everyone else." Jack smiled slightly, encouraging him to go on. "Mm?"

"Then everything got suddenly dark, I wasn't afraid though, but then Bunny started acting really weird. Really really weird. He was hopping around the place knocking everything down. And then Santa Clause laughed and it did not sound like him at all! It was way more lower... and almost... I dno' evil... I know hes actually NOT evil, but it sounded like that. And the tooth fairy. She was so creepy, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. I hated it so much."

"Its alright." Jack reassured him. "Go on." He rolled his pale hand around in a circle, "Keep going."

"You all started acting funny and running around like crazy, and just doing things that didn't seem like you. The scary thing was, the Tooth Fairy chased me everywhere-" He began to blush in mid sentence for sounding so foolish. "-and tried to rip my teeth out. Like jabbed her fingers in my mouth while other small Tooth fairies kept me down.. she looked different. I couldn't move. I woke up just before she was about to actually do it."

The winter spirit couldn't help but snicker. "That doesn't sound to far fetched if you think about it."

"No jack, she wasn't herself, she was a completely different person. I don't know how to explain it, but something was off."

The snow spirit shrugged "Ok, I guess." Jamie's dream was definately weird judging by his vague description. It was still fuzzy but Jack was getting the main jist of it, just more information was needed. "What else happened? What about me? I hope I'm still the most handsome guardian in it."

"Stooop. You're not talking this seriously!"

Jack was indeed taking it seriously! He listened to every word Jamie said. Absorbing his words along with their meaning. He was simply trying to lighten the mood was all. Waving his hands in defeat he sighed, "Ok ok I'm sorry. Im serious! Look at my face. It's over flowing with serious-ness. Totally serious." The guardian's pale lips pinched together in a tight line and his dark browns knitted together, making Jamie giggle.

"Tooth Fairy tried to rip my teeth out. Santa was chasing me and my other friends around with swords, and he almost got us! I never knew Santa even used weapons... and the sandman was so freakin creepy with his black sand attacking us and-" "Wait. Did you say black sand?"

"Yeah. He completely changed. Bunny was like a wild dog or something, kicking and biting us. He made these weird growling noises and I swore he was a ware-rabbit or something. You Jack..." The younger one turned to face the teen. "You tried to drown me."

Jamie contineud to ramble once more while a faint blush began colouring his cheeks. He thought that having nightmares about the guardians, who protected them and GUARDED them, attacking him and others his age was absolutaly insane. When these strange visions began the other day, he brushed them off as if they where nothing but a dream gone wrong. Then the images converted and twisted into something gruesome. So greusome that they forced him out of his slumber at quarter to three in the morning and cause his whole body to perspire. He always needed to change. His Mother was concerned, thinking her 11 year old boy was wetting the bed.

"I-I tried to what?"

"You shoved me under the water by the lake. Stupid right?"

The young man the boy looked up to, litteraly and figuratively, was not respoding. Ocean coloured eyes stared into the deep abyss of nothing, clutching his staff in a silent grip, apart from his already pale knuckles turning a shade lighter. His friend tried to shoo away the worry knawing at his stomach.

"Jack? Hellooo?"

The guardian of fun was frozen in place, not due to the sudden drop in climate but because Jamie had a dream that he fucking drowned him. Old memories molded into fresh memories and his throat bobbed. All of the images whizzing through his mind came to a halt. Yes. Jack did drown. If he hadn't it would of been his sister. Fate had planned for one of them to die that day, and Jack's baby sister certainly wasn't going to be that victim. You'd think that if you died to save a blood relative would be tragically beautiful-Or make you're heart swell with overwhelming emotions because you performed such a noble act that deserved praise? Jack didn't think like that at all. He acted upon instinct. Save the other. He didn't think highly of himself, nor did he have low self estem. Jack was simply a good person, now a good guardian. But the image alone of drowning, no, KILLING a child, tore his soul apart. However, irony was really playing its part today with the whole drowning method.

"Woah. Did I just space out?" Jamie nodded his head causing his brown hair to shake. "Yeah you did. Did I say something wrong?" In his mind he pleaded Jack didn't feel betrayed.

Nonetheless, this wasn't about Jack Overland Frost's history. This was about Jamie's present, and possibly future. If Jamie was to go under a coma and stop believing... or worse, never woke up...

"No!" A joyfull smirk came to his face, "Those nightmares sound terrifying. And no, they're not stupid. This is serious, remember? The complete opposite of stupid. We're going to find out whats giving you and you're friends nightmares. Then we're going to stop it. No more comas or nightmares."

Only now did the two realise they where infront of Jamie's house looking the same before they headed out. "Do you...It can't be Pitch- I mean, hes gone, right?" They began to make they're way to the porch.

"Honestly-" Jack shrugged, "We don't know for certain if Pitch is back."

Jamie frowned, which made Jack doubt his decision letting that piece of information slip. "Hey, what time is it? Are you heading over to Claude's now?" The brunette took a seat on the highest step and with a forcefull tug pried his green boot off. Wet feet were hidden by damp socks and his toes wiggled in an attempt to shake off the cold. "Yeah i'll be going over there soon. Wanna come with me?"

Jack began to rise a few inches above the ground, "Yeah, I'd like to see him. Do you know if he's having the same nightmares?"

"Sometimes they're the same."

The guardian brought a finger to his lips in thought, "And other times?" The brunnette took a brief look at him and almost fumbled over his words, "It doesn't matter! They're still scary. Everyone else is freaked out by them too." Automatically, he rubbed his arms in a trying-to-comfort-himself manner. Jack let out a brief sigh, "I wanna ask him about his dreams aswell. It could help- any bit of information would be great right now. Are you sure there was nothing else in you dream? Besides the biting chasing drowning thing? I wan't you to really-" He brought his pale hands down onto Jamie's small shoulders. "Really think about it. Any small detail." The younger one looked down for a moment, had he missed something? Was there really a detail in those horrible dreams that could be a possible clue to solving all this?

In a small voice he uttered the words, "No, I-I can't remember..."

"Jamie, who are you talking to- And what are you doing outside in wet clothes with no shoes on?" His Mother was standing inside with the front door wide open, hands on her hips, with a look of discontent. Her son rapidly spun around looked up at her, "M-Mom? No one! And I was going to go change right now!" Jack laughed as he leaned his shoulder against the old porch ballinster. Jamie grumbled under his breath as his Mother lead him into the house. However, before the front door shut, Jamie glanced behind him and mouthed the words "Wait here."

"And did you know about Caleb? His Mom rang me awhile ago, poor thing she was so upset. I'm coming with you when you-"

The conversation continued behind the closed door. Jack smiled and waited.

Haha wow a big thanks to everyone who's out there reading this story! Really thanks so much! I'm not sure if I should answer questions privately or what I don't know whats the normal here lol