So. My foot's in a cast. I have to made up two midterms tomorrow because this morning I couldn't stand and make it to school T_T And we thought it was just a twisted ankle. Turns out it's a sprain that somehow was bad enough that I couldn't stand on it when I first woke up? Going to school tomorrow - but good news, the doc at the ER gave me a note that said I can't participate in Gym and have to get an elevator pass. Which means I don't have to ascend three flights of stairs with my heavy backpack between Gym and math.

AHEM

I DIGRESS

I'm not totally sure where the chapter is going to go. I haven't really planned this out much because I've been preparing for midterms, and I figured since I spent most of my morning that I would've been at school studying, that I could work on a chapter and get it out before I start my Spanish project and Living Environment stuff ~which is altogether going to take at least a day and a half if I worked straight~ and leave for vacation.

Playlist of Things I listened to as I wrote this:

Cops and Robbers - Hoosiers

The Great Deception - PsoGnar

Smoke and Mirrors [Yandere Song] – LittleJayneyCakes

Worst In Me – Unlike Pluto

The Bonnie Song – Groundbreaking

Left Behind – DAGames

Fire – Davin DeGraw

Kids in the Dark – All Time Low

Looking Like This – Lyre Le Temps

End of an Empire – Celldweller

Marching On – Krewella

Russian Roulette - Tungevaag & Raaban X Charlie Who?

Good Intentions – Dappy

Welcome to My Life – Simple Plan

MiM watched down from his moon, pangs of sadness shaking through his whole immortal being. He hadn't expected the Darkness to take such a strong hold within him as Nightlight, he hadn't known that it wasn't a separate conscience on his own... that instead, it had reached for Jack's mind and demanded an equality. Over all these years, MiM never saw him repress it, try to stay in control, and now, he just didn't know what to do. For now, he only hoped that his Guardians would.

Aster trailed behind the frost child quietly. He didn't fly, or run, or attempt conversation. He just walked quietly. Aster didn't mind - the calm of it allowed his nerves to begin to settle, but he knew that wasn't the case with Jack, and sooner or later they would have to start hurrying if his suspicions were correct.

Even from where he stood, he could see the stiffness in the boy's form. He was unsure, but that was fine too. He knew why. Still, at some point or another, he closed the distance between them and hopped to his side. He radiated an icy chill, different from his usual soft cool. If anything, it only went to prove the Easter spirit's point.

"Y'awright there?" He asked softly.

"Yeah," Jack responded in a low, raspy voice, keeping his eyes trained ahead.

"Y'sure? Not lookin' too cool there," he asked again, watching the body language.

"Yeah, yeah," he responded similarly as he had the first time, gripping his stiff a bit tighter in his fist while his fingers fidgeted. Aster decided to drop it that topic and looked to the horizon, where he saw the form of some kind of structure come into something more decipherable.

"Thas' where we're headin'?" He gestured forward, changing the subject of the conversation.

"Mhmm." He glanced to the Pooka from the corner of his eye. "Sorry, it won't be any warmer in there than it is out here," he added quietly as an afterthought.

"Thas' fine, mate. The fact tha' I'ma jus' a lil' cold ain't the issue here," Aster waved him off, but made it clear in his expression he was thankful for the consideration. He knew Jack had noticed it when he saw his face lighten up the smallest bit, like his burden was eased a tad or two, and he felt his chest swell a little at that.

The next several minutes were spent in a more comfortable silence as the pair walked alongside each other, the very thing they were heading towards getting larger and larger as they got closer and closer. There were several moments where Aster thought he heard sleigh bells ringing but put it off to his paranoia - the other Guardians would freak at the sight of Jack as he is now and assume the worst, and before he would even manage to thaw those people. He had to wonder how he would intend to do it, and what they would even look like. He got so caught up in his thoughts, that he forgot to listen.

Jack suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, and suddenly seemed scared. His posture froze and he refused to move another step.

"Frostbite? What 'appened?" Aster turned, to face the boy, but heard what exactly scared him as soon as the words left his mouth. Sleigh bells. He turns his head and with a look akin to horror he saw the red sleigh heading towards them in the distance.

"They're here," he said in a chilly tone that masked his terror.

"C'mon!' Aster yelled, double tapping the ground with his foot and dropping them both inside, it closing above them. He gripped the winter spirit's wrist, not tightly enough to hurt him, but enough to keep him still. Jack understood the implication and remained quiet, holding his breath.

His ears twitched, listening for the sleigh bells. Soon, he could hear them again, and they got closer and closer. before hearing a loud thud on the ground right above. They had landed, and though he couldn't make out what they were saying, he could hear their voices. Deciding against staying put, he hopped forward a few steps, gestured for Jack to follow, and began down the tunnels, though not quickly. His companion followed quickly and mutely, the voices getting further and further away. Once he decided that it was a safe enough distance, he stopped and turn to Jack.

"Awright mate, I dunno where this palace or place of yours is, so I'm gonna open up the tunnel and y'er gonna pop up and see how far away we are, kay?"

"Kay," he nodded a few times, shifting back and forth on his two feet like he was getting ready.

"Okay... go," he tapped his foot again and Jack jumped up through the hole enough that he could hang off the ledge and glanced around for the place. Good news was, he could see it, and it wasn't that far away. Bad news was, they weren't too far away from the other Guardians. They spotted him the same time he spotted them, and he dipped back into the tunnels with a gasp of surprise. The hole closed behind him.

"We're not far away but they saw me," he said quickly, trying to get over the surprise. Aster seemed to think for a moment.

"At this point, I don' think it's any good for us to hide. They're gonna see tha' place sooner or later, if they haven' awready. Righ' now, we need to focus on gettin' there a'fore they do."

"How're we gonna do that?" He blurted out, visibly starting to sink into a panic again like he had done before, a chilly foreboding sifting through the tunnels in response. Aster swore he saw a shadow twitch from the corner of his eye.

"'Ey, 'ey, calm down, Frostbite. Breathe," he urged. Jack swallowed thickly and nodded, quickly getting a hold on his breathing.

"How are we, though?" He finally said a moment later, all that was left of his freak out just being a few gasps. Aster could see in his eyes that he knew exactly how, but he was scared, and he was doubting.

"Yer gonna fly," he said calmly, trying to instill confidence in the boy. "And I'm gonna run. Ah know you can go fast enough, I've seen ya flyin' and jumpin' around the way you do. Toothiana and Sandy don't stand a chance, and it'll take North awhile to get in the air. We'll get there long a'fore they do, awright?"

"But... but the wind..." he gulped. "It won't carry me anymore. It thinks I'm Jokul right now..." He allowed his head to sag in shame, getting caught up in his thoughts.

"Mate, the wind's been yer best friend since as long as yew can remember, hasn't it? An' I'm sure the wind heard what it was yew were yellin' to Manny earlier." Jack lifted up his head a little, looking at him from behind his bangs.

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Alright..." he nodded, having dropped his gaze yet again. It seemed more like he was trying to reassure himself at his point. "Alright..."

"On tha' count of three, I'm gonna open the tunnel and yer gonna fly out as fast as ya can, okay? I'll be right behind ya." He nodded again, getting ready for him to do as he said. Moments later, he did, and he shot out of the tunnel like a bullet. The sudden transition from 0 to whatever in the world it was Jack was doing left Aster taken aback for a moment, but then chasing behind on all fours afterwards. Behind him, he heard Tooth.

"There they are!" She called out, and began zipping after the two. But Jack was faster, the wind propelling its child faster, yet faster, whistling and screaming and crying ringing out that only Jack's ears ever understood. Despite his grief for the boy, he was somewhat glad he couldn't see his face. In the meantime, Tooth was beginning to gain on him and he forced himself to speed up, trying to convince himself in his head that this was a race between him and Jack and he had to catch up, trying to ignore Tooth's yelling and the jingle of sleigh bells and yells of reindeer as it began to move, and didn't try to think of whatever it was Sandy would be furiously signing.

In the distance, the building became huge and soon enough, it wasn't on the horizon anymore and they could see themselves getting closer rather than doing something akin to trying to chase the sun. At the same time, he could see snow and ice spiralling together, but a glance at Jack quickly informed him that this wasn't his direct doing. They came together to form massive and horrifying beings of ice and snow that North had described to him some time to go, but it seemed uninterested in Bunny and as Jack passed by, it tried to grab him out of the air. It didn't do that, but knocked against his leg and sent him to the ground. He got to his feet as fast as humanly possible despite the awkward bend to his leg and began to try to run inside, snow sinking under him and the large creature still reaching to him. Just in time, Aster dashed in and grabbed the boy, now switching to two feet but still heading right for the entrance.

He could hear its massive footsteps thudding behind him, ignoring the other Guardians. He assumed North would've landed his sleigh again right now, if the sound of blade scratching against hilt and heavy, crunching footsteps aside from the first was anything to go by.

"Bunny!" North roared. "Put 'im down! That's not Jack!" Aster tried not to look at Jack's hurt expression. They had more pressing things to deal with, but he would undoubtedly deal with the turmoil soon. He body slammed the icy doors and skidded across the floor for a moment, before finding stable footing in the scratched ice left by massive footprints. He immediately knew what exactly it was that left them when he saw a smaller version of the same monstrosity outside turn the corner and begin to yell. He ignored it, dashing around it and taking care to land on the less than pristine patches so he wouldn't slide. Tooth and Sandy continued after him and North had to do the same as him, but continued after despite lagging behind a bit. Jack made a near mute noise of pain from where Aster held him, and he muttered out a quick apology and a promise that he would fix him up as soon as possible.

"Where to?" He said, continuing to hop through.

"L-Left," he groaned. "Left into the parlor, and down the foyer attached there... two rooms down," he forced out, trying to be strong for the moment.

"Ya did good Snowflake," he assured Jack. "Being brave enough to come back here and try to help 'em, ya already did good." Jack could only allow a stark nod and hold the staff in his death grip. Aster turned his attention back to where he was going and veered left at the next turn just as he had been told into large, bare room, decorated with a single chair made from frost. Towards the right he saw the foyer and continued down it, Tooth calling after him desperately.

"Aster, please stop! That's not him!" Her voice tapered off at the end. Jack let out a slight whine at the words and Aster knew he could do nothing at the moment, so he just tried to get there as fast as he possibly could. As he moved down the foyer he passed the first doorway, an fully empty room with nothing but frost designs and shadows all over the room and, suspiciously enough, smelled entirely of Jack. With a sinking feeling he realized this was where he had stuck himself for all that time he was totally missing with nothing to hear about Jokul.

He was pulled from his realization as a ball of dreamsand whizzed by his head. He ducked as he heard another one incoming and dashed sideways into the second room down and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight before him. Statues of ice, too realistic to be carved. People cowering in fears, unsuspecting couples, sleeping children, and everything in between. Jack pushed himself away from Aster and fell to the floor in his moment of shock, and hopped on his one foot so he was a bit closer.

Moments later, Tooth, Sandy, and North rounded the corner and stopped in their tracks as well.

"Oh no..." Tooth's frail voice rang out, a hand raising to her mouth before dropping her eyes to Jack. He could feel the eyes on him and he raised his staff weakly, arm shaking from sheer hesitation and beginning to wave it like a mage. Sparks of magic followed above his staff in the circular motion, condensing gradually in the center. Sandy began to conjure up yet another ball of dreamsand and Aster put a paw on Sandy's little hands, lowering them. He looked confused, glancing from Aster to Jack. Once it seemed the frost child had decided the magic was strong enough, that enough had been conjured up, he drew his arm back like he was going to throw a fishing line and cast his arm forward, staff never leaving his hand but the magic following him back and flying over, exploding in the room. When the light subsided, the cold but live bodies of who these people used to be lay unconscious on the ground.

Jack slowly turned around to face the Guardians with the help of his staff, gave a tired, weak grin, and collapsed before them. Aster rushed forward to catch the boy, then gently turned him over so he was laying on his back on the floor.

"Good job," he whispered to him as though he could hear. "Good job." Tooth knelt beside Jack, and carded a hand through his hair, before turning her head up to Aster just the slightest bit.

"Care to explain?" Her voice had no malice, no anger towards Bunny. She was upset, understandably, but now just wanted to know.

"Well..."

The Guardians looked absolutely defeated with the newfound information. They had nothing to say, and could only look at the boy before them who had faced too much of the world, and had experienced things that couldn't be washed away.

"...He really has the Darkness in him?" Tooth asked quietly after a few moments. "He's not... possessed?"

"Naw," Bunny shook his head, responding just as quietly. "It's part a' 'im, and 'e was ashamed of it and didn't know what to do with it. 'E tried to repress it, an' it eventually... blew up in 'is face," he gestured to the still asleep people around them now.

"...What do we do now?" She continued.

"Well... Ah think first Sandy should give every'un 'ere a dose a' sand. Keep 'em under longer, and try to start movin' 'em back their homes..."

"And Jack?" North spoke now, his usual deep and booming voice absent.

"Take 'im back to the Pole, wait for 'im to wake up." Aster shrugged. "We'll jus' hafta see wha' happens when 'e comes to. We shoul' pro'lly fix 'is leg first though."