this chapter was made in one day. My new record.

I was gonna rewrite this but thats a big reason why I procrastinate on this story so take this anyway before I change my mind.

TW: a...monster. Nice and scary, I think? Didn't seem scary to me, but whatever.

-o-

Jack had flown all the way into the outskirts of the city by the time his mind finally caught up to him.

The guardians suddenly showing up at such a small shop, weapons in hand...it was nearly unheard of. They didn't usually go out of their way to harm people, evil or not.

Or that's what Jack had thought before it happened.

Did they really just try to hurt him? Without Jack doing anything to warrant it?

Why?

What did he do wrong this time?

Nightlight and Katharine.

Jack's face scrunches up at the thought of the two. If a tear trails down his cheek, he doesn't make to wipe it away.

They lied.

They called the guardians, didn't they?

All that time he'd stuck around, if only because they were people, and they were nice, just to be tossed away like garbage.

Again.

If the moon was up, he'd blame Tsar right off the bat, but it was not up. In spite of how betrayed and awful he felt, the sun was still shining, the sky was clear, and the snow on the ground was still as white as ever.

Things continued to go on, even if he wanted them to stop.

He'd really started to like the two - they were so, so nice. They listened to him, they laughed with him. They even gave him things without asking for anything in return.

He was so convinced that there was some guardian who was nice. Who was as good as they advertised.

He thought he had someone he could trust. Someone he could talk to. Someone who would really look at him.

But no. No he did not.

He flies passed all the trees - the city he'd been in was surrounded by forests and mountains. He knows which mountain led where, and how to find the closest town by that alone.

He wasn't going to fly too far, though. He was without his staff - he'd left it at the doorway of...Nightlight and Katharine's home.

He recalls Nightlight also leaving his staff behind. Katharine had said they'll be there when they came back.

She lied, of course. Now the guardians had his staff, and he couldn't control his flight all that much, if at all - it took all the skill as he had to dodge the tops of trees, and even more skill to slow down.

His flight without his staff was much like a rocket - slowing down wasn't something he could do, and turning wasn't very easy.

Honestly, though, he couldn't care.

He'd been tossed away.

They didn't want him.

Every little thing they said to him was probably a lie. They probably thought they could catch him and send him back where he...where he came from.

He was not going back. Never. He'd much rather lose his staff to the guardians than let them take him...back.

Back to the moon.

He's a third of the way to Burk when he forces himself to slam into the snow - it hurt, as any unskilled flier would know, but nothing was broken, as the snow cushioned him enough he barely felt it.

He sits there for a moment, eyes downcast.

He didn't know what to do.

It was clear the guardians were not to be trusted. He'd been dancing with the devil without entirely knowing it.

Before, he knew the guardians would send him back if they ever caught him, but he never actually...knew. His thoughts were so far away from the idea of being brought to the moon, that he'd spent his time actively gaining the gaurdian's attention.

The reason being that they were like him.

In some weird way.

They were spirits - or, that's what everyone called them, anyway. They had weird powers, they could run, or fly, around the entire world if they wanted to, they could do nearly everything Jack could do.

He just wanted someone to understand him, yet love him anyway.

As weird as that sounded.

Looking back, he probably shouldn't have provoked them. He should have at least tried to gain their trust, while keeping his distance.

So, perhaps, all of this was his fault in the first place.

He was just a failure. A faulty experiment with no hope.

Something flickers are the corner of his eye, and has him turning his gaze to the brush, jumping up on his feet and preparing to fly away once more. The guardians could travel just as fast as he could.

They probably followed him here.

Something knocks on the tree to his right, and he snaps his attention toward it. The pine needles shook, causing the snow from it to fall. Just enough cover to hide in, Jack quickly thought, taking a step back from it.

It grew silent, then.

Not even a chirp from a bird. Not even the whistling of the wind.

Something moves to his right once more and he quickly turns to the movement, searching the brush and trees for whatever it could be.

He didn't want to fight - never did want to fight, but if the guardians were going to take him back, he'll be damned if he simply dropped down and let them.

He'd rather die.

And isn't that just a sickening thought? - That the guardians, who protected the world from fear and darkness, would kill him?

He wouldn't put it passed them, now that he knew them.

Just as he turns left, back to the tree, he trails his eyes over the tree's shadow.

It was...dancing?

The shadow was a lighter color due to the snow surrounding it, but it was indeed dancing. Or, well, what seemed to be dancing. It swayed from side to side, curling in on itself to the right, only to expand when it moved to the left.

Jack couldn't find the words to describe it.

It was just weird. Unnatural.

Shadows don't dance. At all. They go in the opposite direction of the sun, and they stay there. The only time a shadow should move is when the object it comes from moves as well.

Jack finds himself taking yet another step back, "hello?"

The shadow halts in it's dance, and Jack's breath hitches in alarm - any one of the guardians could have some weird magic with shadows, as far as he knew. Any spirit could, actually.

Unless, of course, this was just some weird...anti-wisp thing. He's only ever seen wisps in DunBroch.

That was only once, though, before he had to leave for summer. The wisps thrived in colder weather, sure, but they mostly came out in the spring or summer. A time when Jack had long gone.

An anti-wisp was a silly idea, but he had no other ideas to go on.

"Hello?" he tries again, voice louder this time. He wishes he had his staff - it was both a weapon, and a comfort. Sadly, though, he couldn't wrap his arms around it, as it was not here, and so shoved both hands in the pocket of his hoodie.

He flinches back when the shadow slowly moves toward him.

And it does the most...strangest thing.

Jack stands there, mouth open in awe as the little shadow grows, pulling itself from the ground and taking a shape of its own.

His blood runs cold when two yellow eyes stare him down, the shadow towering over him.

It was beastly - it looked like some inky version of a wolf, but had many, many legs. It was about as tall as the top of most street lights, looking down at him as if he were nothing but an insect.

It had a human face.

That was what had Jack taking several hurried steps back, pulling his hands from his pocket in fright.

It stares him down, and he had no idea what it was, nor its intentions.

The inky mass moves slowly forward, dragging its few back legs behind it grotesquely. Jack froze in place, his body unwilling to move further, seizing up.

The beast lowers its head above Jack, unblinkingly.

"Hell...Hello?" Jack shakily greets.

The being opens its mouth, revealing rows of sharp, jagged teeth. He flinches away, eyes closing tight on their own accord, his knees nearly buckling in fear.

And then the being laughs.

This laugh wasn't the friendly ha-ha that most people are accustomed to. This laugh was a howl, with several growls following afterwards.

It was hard to tell it was a laugh, but that was what Jack thought it was.

"Uhm?" he asks, opening an eye to look up at the creature.

But, when he looked to where the creature had been, it was nowhere to be found.

The growls were gone, the beast was gone.

"What?" he asks himself, looking over the various shadows nearby in hopes to find a dancing shadow, "hello?" he calls aloud, turning in a circle, looking, "where did you go?"

A thump sounds out somewhere deep in the forest - much like a heavy clump of snow falling off a tree.

Now, normally, if he didn't have his staff, he'd never, ever think of running into the woods after something so...monstrous.

But the creature had his interest, and it wasn't like there was anything else for him to do.

And...and maybe he just wanted to know if the spirit was okay or not.

Because, oddly enough, the howl reminded Jack of...the moonclipper. There were so, so many other experiments up on the moon.

Jack felt guilty for many of them, even the ones who said they'd kill him. No one deserved what the man up there did to them. No one.

The shadow reminded him of being up there, listening to the pleading whispers coming from the other cells.

So...he just wanted to know if the shadow was okay, is all.

That was it.

It was not an experiment. It wasn't. It couldn't be.

Jack's walking through the forest before logic could catch up to him.

-o-

After an hour or so of nonstop walking, following the trail of broken tree limbs and dodging the odd bush that got in his way, he finally caught up to it.

Man, that thing could walk fast.

Must be what all the extra legs were for? - It didn't look to be using the extra legs, though. It stuck to four, as far as he could tell. Maybe it switched legs when they grew tired?

"Slow down!" he pants, jogging to keep up.

The monster doesn't listen to him, though, and continues onward, its giant mass bending the trees and rocks that were in its way unnaturally, bullying its way through the forest, creating a path of its own.

"Who are you?" he asks, finally catching up to its side - keeping a far enough distance in case he needed to run, of course.

The beast turns its heard toward him, and it takes all of Jack's strength not to turn away from it.

It doesn't answer, though, as when it opens its mouth, it turns back to its path and continues onwards, mouth left agape.

It...was haunting, to say the least. The creature would most likely give Jack nightmares by the end of this.

"Are you okay?"

There, the only question he really needed to ask, and he'll be on his way, back to avoiding the guardians.

The creature, mouth still agape, eyes unblinking and wide, groans.

Jack takes that as a no, as the being quickens it's pace.

Just as he's about to follow it, another groan sounds out, "go away." a gravely voice says.

He pauses, staring at the retreating back of the monster, "what?"

"Go away!" the beast quickly snaps its head to look at him, pushing itself toward him.

He leaps out of the way, landing out of arm's reach - or, well, leg's reach.

"Why?" he asks, spreading his arms wide, "you're hurt!" he exclaims. Whether it was true or not, he didn't know, but it sounded like it was hurt.

The being wheezes out a breath, "go away! Go away!" it shrieks, diving toward him.

He jumps out of the way once more, a claw narrowly missing the top of his head.

Okay, if that's how the beast wanted it, who was he to say anything?

He takes to the skies, just as it howls, loud and guttural.

With the amount of control he has while flying without his staff, he didn't have the time to look back.

Nor did he think he wanted to.

First the guardians, and then that thing.

Could his life get any stranger? - What next, a giant leprechaun is going to come out and throw rocks at him?

He changes course, flying ahead of the monster, to Burk.

Maybe if he told the dragons there about it, they'd know what to do.

-o-

-o-

The day after Jack Frost flew off, a hasty call came in from Burk; Panicked screaming could be heard just behind the man's voice as he tells them the problem.

The problem?

A fearling.

Bunnymund had hopped into his tunnels before the man on the other end of the call could even finish, Nightlight following close behind.

Toothiana abruptly told the man to hide, and try to remain calm, before closing the call and running to North's sleigh.

Katharine was already on her Himalayan Goose, flying to Burk with a speed that could rival North's sleigh any day.

Sandy had flown straight passed them all, having already sensed the fearling hours before the call. He hadn't been certain about the feeling, though, as fearlings had long since been destroyed.

Or so they thought.

Fearlings meant that Pitch is stronger. Strong enough to turn people into the...things.

This made their hearts race. No one wanted another dark age. No one wanted to see a fearling ever, ever again.

They were the very reason Bunnymund was the last pooka - the very reason the night sky was less brighter than before. They were the cause of many, many things. Terrible things. Things only the darkest of minds could even ponder.

No one wanted to see a fearling again.

Especially now, when fearlings had long since become history.

When they arrive, not but five minutes later, they are relieved to know that the people of Burk had flown off to safety - they had dragons here, after all.

Sadly, even dragons weren't enough to hinder the fearling's destructive path.

Houses were torn apart, farm animals all slaughtered, staining the fields in red streaks. Trees and crops carelessly pushed to the side, and few fishing boats strewn about like nothing but children's toys.

It was a scary sight. The dragons flying high in the clouds above proved that they, too, knew that a fearling was not something to be trifled with.

The scariest thing about a fearling, to Toothiana, was that they were once people.

They were much like zombies in that, but they didn't devour; They destroyed.

Bunnymund is the first to attack, tossing his dye bombs at it, a fierce growl ripping through his throat as he rushes from his tunnels and into the messy streets, looking more like a blur than a pooka.

Dye bombs wouldn't harm it, yes, but it would be painted bright colors, so if it decided to run and hide, it would be easier to find, even if it turned into a shadow.

Bunny learned through experience how to kill fearlings. He never forgot. He knew that the very first thing one should do is paint them, mark them, anything to keep track.

Sandy whips his sand at the beast, drawing its attention away from the house it was just about to

climb onto. It follows him, a dark, bloody drool dripping down its chin.

The way it looks makes them pause for just a few seconds.

It wasn't an ordinary fearling.

In fact, it didn't even look like a fearling, save for the yellow eyes, and twitching limbs.

It was big, and animalistic, sure, but it had...that face.

It took all Katharine had not to scream once she got a good look at the beast.

Nightlight jumps into the fray, then, swooping down from the air and slashing the tip of his spear across the beast's back.

It roars, rearing up on one too many legs, it twists its body abnormally, facing Nightlight, and lunging itself into the air after him.

Before it had the chance to reach out for the glowing spirit, North, along with Toothiana, ram the sleigh right into its head, knocking it down to the ground, smashing one of the boats previously mentioned in a show of dirt and broken wood.

The reindeer jerk the sleigh around, afraid of being so close to such a creature, and North has to forcefully yank on the reigns to keep them from flying away. No one mentioned the curses he throws at the deer - they were too busy with the fearling to even take notice.

The beast stands up slowly, eyeing the sleigh.

The thing about all fearlings, though, was that they only focused on the last person to attack them. It didn't make it any easier, but it did help in the long run.

It opens its mouth, jaw seeming to unhinge with a resounding, sickening pop.

It lets loose another roar, running in the direction of the sleigh, tearing the few buildings in its path carelessly apart as it leaps across the town.

Just as it nears North, A few bombs tossed beneath it catch its attention.

Bunny tosses some more, egging the monster to follow him, now.

And, the fearling being a fearling, horribly disfigured or not, stomps its way to the pooka, releasing an ear-piercing shriek.

-o-

Most of Burk's residents had to make a trek to the city of Claussen, after the fight.

The damage was far too much to be repaired within a week. It'll take months, if not an entire year to fix what the fearling had done.

It was all over the news - first fearling in centuries! Guardians save the day once more!

Sadly, as good as the news made it out to be, the guardians were left in a state of unease. Up to the point Katharine and Nightlight decided that they should move in with one of the guardians, just in case.

They may be retired, but Nightlight had experience with fearlings, and Katharine had a natural skill for healing magic. If fearlings were to show up once again, at least they would be ready for it.

Bunny had secluded himself in on of the workshop's many guest rooms, most likely making more bombs, or thinking about the fearlings he had to fight centuries ago.

Toothiana had to leave a few of her daughters in charge of getting teeth, and was now fluttering nervously back and forth, ignoring the concerned suggestions of her taking a seat.

Nightlight and Katharine both sat at one of the living room's couches, next to one another. North was mumbling to himself from his recliner, turning the pages of the old book he held much faster than it should take to read them.

Sandy had fallen asleep. He'd been the one to stop the fearling, in the end, wrapping it in his sand and, well, squishing it.

It wasn't pretty, but that's how he did it, and as long as they didn't have to fight it again, that was alright.

Katharine was far too busy looking into fearlings on her laptop to take too much notice, though. If anything, Nightlight was the only one who tried to get Toothiana to sit down, and was the only one who offered North a glass of water, in an attempt to calm the man.

Nightlight sighs, slumping down until he was almost laying on the couch. So much had happened within the past few days, sure, but everyone was worrying over this.

They had every right to, of course, but worry was one of the starting emotions for fear, and the more fear they let Pitch have, the more of a chance they'll have another fearling show up.

Speaking of fearlings, what was up with the one they fought?

Throughout Nightlight's many, many years fighting against thousands upon thousands of fearlings, that one looked nothing like a fearling. At all.

The same mannerisms were there, yes, but that was not a fearling. He was sure.

It worried him, yes, but he wasn't afraid.

He couldn't stop from worrying, no matter what he could do, but he wouldn't let himself become afraid. He'll be afraid when it mattered.

It's just that...Jack had flown in the direction of Burk.

Earlier, right after Bunnymund and North had scared off Jack, Nightlight had run to the door of the shop as fast as he could.

He only saw a glimpse of Jack before he'd flown too far.

Nightlight would have flown after him - should have, actually, but sadly, he couldn't fly all that fast without his spear, and he'd left that at home on Katharine's request.

Jack, though, Jack had left his staff there as well.

Jack flew to Burk without a weapon, and a day after a fearling shows up?

It didn't sit well with him. It was...it was too much of a coincidence.

Katharine speaks up, tearing Nightlight from his thoughts, "That didn't look like any of the fearlings I've seen."

North pauses in flipping another page, "I'm only seen one before that - the bear, if you remember?"

Katharine nods in reply. North, back when Santoff Claussen was still around, had fought off a fearling that had shown up, and taken the form of a bear.

It was a small fearling, when you compared it with others, but North beat it on his own.

From the inside out, nonetheless.

But that was a story for another time. North had only witnessed the one, before yesterday's monster had shown up, as he'd never bothered to enter any of Pitchner's caves, nor had he been around the dark side of the moon when they fought fearlings on the moonclipper.

North had been on the lighted side, away from the battle, searching for Tsar at that time.

That was before Pitch had been truly cast to Earth. Tsar had used his magic to keep the boogeyman on the planet.

Which was both a good idea and a bad idea. Good, because no other planets, or stars, wouldn't be harmed should Pitch be able to make fearlings again.

Bad, because now that he could make...whatever he made, the creatures, and Pitch, were stuck on Earth.

The guardians were assigned the task of protecting the world for a reason, you know, but they were only a few, and compared to how many fearlings Pitch had a long, long time ago? - They only made it passed that due to Tsar, who cast Pitch off the moonclipper about ten minutes into the battle.

So, unless they found something that could destroy a fearling instantly, they would surely lose.

"That wasn't a fearling," a voice, Bunnymund's, speaks from behind the couch. The pooka makes his way to the other side of the couch, claiming a seat, "it was like one, but it wasn't one."

He had his old, green-tinted glasses on, but no one bothered to say anything about it. North's workshop was brightly lit in many rooms, so it made sense that the pooka wore them.

"You're sure of this?" Toothiana asks, lowering herself to the floor at last. She didn't bother moving to a seat, though. She was far too wired to sit still.

Nightlight huffs, sitting up from his slouch and quickly signing, 'it wasn't a fearling at all. It was too different.'

Bunnymund nods in agreement, "It was too deformed. In order for a fearling to take a form, they need to posses a person or animal. And once they do, they're stuck with that form until they are destroyed."

"They take over the bodies." Katharine states, almost as a question, but not quite.

"Yes," Bunny says, "and, as far as I know, there is nothing on Earth that looks...like that." He sighs, rubbing at one of his ears, "I didn't think Pitch would ever come back. Nightlight knocked 'm silly about four hundred years ago. I thought it'd be nothing but small nightmares from then on."

No one really says anything to that, but they all felt the same way - Nightlight was oddly proud that he'd been able to knock Pitch out for so long, but that didn't help much now, did it?

They had all suspected Pitchner was still active. Just...hiding away. Maybe trying to out-wait the guardian's immortal lifespans or something. All the man had done was send out nightmare after nightmare - and many of those were easy to defeat.

It was a surprise to them all.

A fearling out of nowhere? No...Pitchner had something planned.

And that plan didn't seem good. At all.

Katharine chews her lower lip nervously, "I didn't think so, either."

"What do you think he did?" Toothiana asks, rubbing her arm. It was clear that the monster they'd fought left her uncomfortable and on edge. She didn't really hide the fact.

"To make the...whatever it was?" Bunnymund asks, leaning back into his seat, "beats me. It's impossible for such a creature to live, even if it were something on Earth - the anatomy should have rendered the thing nearly immobile, or, well...slow."

He glances around the group, "you saw how it was. A beast of that size, with all those legs? - I can see how it was able to stand and move, but it wasn't using more than four of them. The weight would have been too much if it were something from Earth. The legs would most likely break."

"So..." Katharine takes her hands away from the keyboard of her laptop to look at the pooka, "it's not from this world? How? - Manny trapped him here, so he couldn't have grabbed it from anywhere else."

Bunnymund nods, "that's the question I've been meaning to ask as well."

"Maybe the creature is from underground?" North suggests, "There's many strange things there, yes?"

"No." Bunny says, adjusting his glasses, "I've been everywhere underground - it's my domain, as you all well know. The only strange things even close to the monster we fought would be a centipede."

"And there's no way a centipede could grow to such a size?" Katharine asks, typing slowly on her laptop, making sure to write this all down.

"Not a snowball's chance in hell."

-o-

O if you liked, X if you didn't!