I'll Lean on What Matters because Everything else Unravels

They don't really notice Jack's absence at first (they're far too busy to even pay him much attention to begin with), eventually, though, it's Sandy who brings up this troubling development. He rounds them all together one evening-much to the protest of Toothiana ("That's when I'm at my busiest you know!"), but with a single glare from the averagely pleasant small man; she settles.

Plucking unhappily at a feather, Toothiana demands, "What do you want us here for Sandy?" The sandman's eyes slowly rest on each of them, when he finishes, his eyes widen and he exaggerates looking for another person.

Quickly catching on after a quick glance around, North inquires, "Ah, yes, you not invite young Jack?" The man scowls and sighs, golden sand morphs a picture of a forested area with a teenager by what appears to be a lake and Sanderson flying above it all; suddenly, the boy pops out of existence. "Hmm..." North murmurs, "He's disappeared?"

Eagerly the sandman nods. Bunnymund scoffs and crosses his arms and legs, "Frostbite's probably just out and about having fun," he grumbles.

However, the rest of them are beginning to doubt this assumption. "Sandy," Toothiana starts, "When was the last time you saw Jack?" An image of a tree rises before them, it goes through an entire cycle of the season before disappearing. "A whole year?" Is her strangled reply. Turning desperately to her other two companions she asks, "What about you North,? Bunnymund?"

Uncomfortably, the Pooka shifts to his feet and mutters, "A little longer."

Eyes desperate, Toothiana searches North's discontented face; "North?" She prods.

The man shakes his head, shoulders slumping dismally. "I-over a year...I think," he utters.

"We need to look for him!" Toothiana cries, wings fluttering, "What if-if something terrible has happened to Jack!"

This is met with unanimous agreement, soon, everyone splits up searching where they know best for the missing Frost sprite. The four remaining Guardians search for days, none finding any sign of Jack Frost. Feeling quite desolate that their inability to keep an eye on Jack has likely brought some great disaster on the young spirit, they re-group.

"No luck?" North inquires of everyone, seeing that no one has anything but a frown and shadowed eyes to share.

"'course not!" The Pooka snapped, "Wouldn't we a told you if we found Frostbite?"

"Calm down Bunnymund," Toothiana sighed, "There's no reason to be mean about it." Eyes scanning everyone's features, Toothiana taps her chin. "What are we missing?" She questions, "Surely there's something we know that could help us find Jack? Is there...Is there anyone that has it in for us?"

Everyone gasps as the realization comes to them. "Pitch Black," North hisses.

"Did anyone check his lair?" Toothiana demands, when no answer is given, she orders, "Let's go!"

They come to Pitch's lair and after a careful search of avoiding every nightmare and other shadow creature, while simultaneously thoroughly searching each and every cranny; they come to the conclusion neither Jack or Pitch is within the residence.

"Where are they, do you think?" Bunnymund asks miserably; because as much as he finds Jack annoying, he wouldn't ever wish someone as horrible as Pitch on him. Just as upset, Toothiana can only shake her head; causing the gathering tears in her eyes to fall. If they'd paid more attention to what the sprite was doing, would they be in this mess?

North puts a hand on each of their shoulders. "Do not give up comrades, " he begs them, "We continue to search! Jack's not lost forever!" This sentiment is met with a hearty show of gold fists pummeling a gold Pitch Black. It draws a few chuckles from everyone, North makes to say something when a rustling not too far away sounds. They all nearly shriek with joy at what they hear;

"D'you think you could show up at Sophie's slumber party next week and tell the kids a ghost story?" Jack asks someone.

"I thought you didn't like me scaring small children," is the deeper timbered answer the frost sprite receives. Slowly, the Guardians realizes just who Jack's talking to.

"It's not the same!" The teenager argues, "This is a fun scare," he stresses to his companion, "It's scary for a little bit, but you always know after that it isn't real." He concludes quite triumphantly.

The king of Nightmares snorts. "What's in it for me?"

Jack scoffs. "Please, I know you get just as much of a kick from it as the kids," he teases.

The sound of feet is even closer as Pitch sighs dramatically. "If I must," he relents.

"Cool!" Is the crowed reply, "You're the best uncle Boogey!"

"Unc-" Bunnymund starts, but he finds himself unable to finish the word as Pitch Black and Jack step into the little clearing; shoulders nearly touching and heads bent close.

The boy's eyes dilate and (surprisingly) Pitch steps forth; blocking Jack from them. "Step away from Jack!" North commands.

The man crosses his arms and glares at them all. "He's mine," the tall man growls.

Edging out around the taller spirit so they stand next to each other, Jack frowns. "I belong to myself, thank you!"

"Jack?" Toothiana calls, "Are you okay? Has he hurt you?" She inquires.

"What!" The teenager cries, "Of course not!"

"Mate," Bunnymund frowns, "He's the bad guy, remember? Hell, you fought him!" He shouts.

Coming fully in front of Pitch-which obviously irks the man, if the way his brows furrow is an indication-Jack stubbornly stares at all of them. "He's not a bad guy!" He counters, "He's a good dad, good dads' can't be bad guys...right?" he finishes uncertain; glancing in Pitch's direction.

The man's gold eyes seem to melt just slightly, this is obviously faulty logic; yet, the man doesn't call the youth on it. "You're right Jack," he answers.

This buoys the boy's thrumming agitation to excitement as he babbles, "Seriously, he's really good; he let's me call him uncle Boogey and doesn't get mad at me when I make snow in his lair and he let's me ride his nightmares..." he trails off, seeing that this argument doesn't necessarily count to his overall goodness. "Okay, um, he only gives kids nightmares to keep them from being a bunch of idiots and Sophie and Jamie have really gotten to liking him since he knows the best scary stories and all..." Anxiously, he begs them, "Don't be mad at him, okay? He let me decide if I wanted to hang out with him and stuff."

This seems to stun everyone one into silence for a time. Putting a hand on the frost sprite's elbow; Pitch says, "Jack, you can't have both the Guardians and me."

"What?" The boy stutters, "Y-You never said anything before!"

The king of Nightmares looks very sad for a moment. "That was before they knew, my boy," he tells him.

Desperately, Jack looks to the other guardians. "He's-he's wrong isn't he? We can all still be friends and I can still stay with uncle Boogey, right?" The boy begs and it causes no little heart-wrenching pain, but the guardians know Pitch isn't wrong.

"He's not wrong Jack," North whispers, "In fact, he's absolutely right. We need you dedicated to only the guardians or not at all. We no can have you switching sides or refusing to help if he does something wrong." He explains to the distraught winter spirit.

Jack stumbles back, body leaning heavy on Pitch's taller frame. "I-" he begins, eyes rimmed with tears. "I pick uncle Boogey," he breathes.

"You can't be serious!" Bunnymund explodes. "He tried to take over the goddamn world!"

This seems only to upset Jack further. "So! You guys ignored me until I was useful and then after I wasn't useful again! At least he was offering to have me rule the world with him!" He screams back at them.

"Jack-" Toothiana warbles, just as upset as the younger spirit; but, the boy refuses her and wraps his arms around a shocked Pitch.

"Dad.." Jack says, voice muffled by the Nightmare King's body.

A hand comes to rest gently on Jack's white hair. "I'm here," he murmurs to the boy. His eyes then find all of theirs one by one, "Jack's made his choice," he reminds them, "You have no reason to stay."

"Don't think we won't be back!" Bunnymund snaps, "Jack's made the wrong decision, he'll realize it soon enough! When you've-" waving a hand at him, sneers, "Given up this charade."

The boogeyman watches them go; he doesn't dare look away until he's absolutely sure they are all gone and far away from his boy and him. Once he's sure, he pulls away just slightly from Jack so he may kneel before him. "Are you alright-considering?" He inquires.

The boy smiles just a bit and shrugs. "I don't know," he admits, "But, they left so quick...I don't think they cared at all."

Rubbing away the tear tracks, the boogeyman feels the need to defend the guardians (somewhat). "I don't think it's that they don't care, it's they're shocked and it hasn't quite sunken in yet. Besides, Bunnymund said they'd be coming around, didn't he?" He implores.

Jack chuckles. "He did," he concurs. "Hey...do you mind that I'm calling you dad now?"

Gold eyes gentle and warm, the man shakes his head. "No," he answers, "In fact, I'm already more fond of it than the last moniker."

Jack laughs a little louder and smiles. "You are way cooler than even Santa Claus!" He proclaims.

Face impish, Pitch says, "Say that when he comes around, won't you?" Jack giggles. After a moment, the two walking side by side return to the darkness that is the king of nightmares lair where they feel more content than do anywhere else in the world.

This will probably need a follow-up...or two. This here is the follow-up to the companion pieces The Finest Thing I've Ever Done and Now that the Calm's Returned (I know I can't Manage). What do you think? I know the Guardians left with little fight; but, they were out of their depth and all. I feel like I need a follow-up to show them actually trying to win Jack over after this because this one made them look like a bunch of losers.

Anyway, tell me what you think. Thanks for reading and please review! :)