Chapter One - Something's Up With Jack

After defeating Pitch in Burgess, the Guardians decided that it was time to get to know each other better, but the youngest guardian didn't seem to want to share...

"So Jack, ya got your memories back, what'd ya learn?" Bunny asked him.

Jack shrugged, "Not much, nothing I found... shocking" Jack told them, but Tooth noticed a far away look in Jack's eyes.

"Are you okay Jack?" Tooth asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm good, I'm great! We just defeated Pitch, we should celebrate" Jack said jovially, but the smile on Jack's face didn't reach his eyes, and now Bunny could see it too.

"Are ya sure mate?" Bunny asked with the same tone as Tooth.

"Vriends, leave ze poor boy alone. He is tired, we are all tired. We can celebrate tomorrow, but tonight we rest" North declared loudly.

"Ooh! Sleepover!" Tooth exclaimed excitedly.

"You and Jack will share room" North said looking at Bunny and Jack.

"Sure, some sleep sounds good to me right about now" Jack agreed.

Later that night in Jack's dream...

"Jack, Jack!" Catherine called to him. She was wearing her favorite dress, a pale blue that nearly matched her eyes, with white lace that nearly matched her hair.

"Did you hear?" Catherine asked him, and it snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Heard what?" Jack asked her, his then brown hair blowing in the cool October winds.

"Well, a new family is moving into town, they came all the way from London! They're supposed to get here today" She told him.

Suddenly an ominous carriage pulled up, it was driven by large black horses, and it reeked of death. A tall man stepped out of the carriage and pointed his walking stick at Catherine.

"I want her" he said simply, from out of nowhere two men grabbed her and began dragging her away, she kicked and screamed at them, but they wouldn't let her go, Jack ran after her, and suddenly, it was dark and many of the houses were on fire, but he kept chasing after her and suddenly the were in a clearing together. Jack could hear the growling of wolves all around them, and knew with instant dread that they were surrounded, Catherine turned to him, her dress was bloody.

"Jack, you have to run, go, go!" she shouted, but then there was the deafening noise of a gunshot, and Catherine was laying on the snow covered ground, slowly being surrounded by a pool of red. Blood, so much blood...

Jack awoke with a start, tears were streaming down his face, but he made sure to be quiet, so that Bunny wouldn't wake up. He looked down at his shaking hands and went to the window to get some fresh air.

Bunny had been awake all night, Frostbite here was sure a loud sleeper, but as the night progressed on, he began to mumble and toss and turn, and Bunnymund realized that Jack was having a back dream. Bunny was about to wake Jack up, when he woke himself with a start. Bunny could tell Jack was crying, and his hands were shaking. Bunny pretended to be asleep so that he could observe Jack more. He watched as Frost walked towards the window, he put both hands on the sill and looked out at the moon.

"I guess you took my memories for a reason, so I wouldn't drive myself insane after having that dream every night for hundreds of years. So I wouldn't miss them every day of my life, miss her..." Jack trailed off, "Thanks for taking them, part of me wants them gone again, why didn't you do this to her too? She was always talking to you like she knew someone was there, maybe she did..." Jack trailed off again before turning away, "Don't worry, I don't expect a response." Jack walked back to his bed and went to sleep again pretty quickly, and Bunny made a note to tell Sandy that Jack might need some better dreams in the future.

The Next Morning...

Jack hadn't woken up yet, so Bunny decided to convene a meeting.

"I'm tellin' ya, something's up with Frost" Bunny finished, as he told them the nights events.

"I knew it, something just wasn't right with him ever since he got his memories back" Tooth added.

North shook his head, "If something was ze matter with Jack, he vould tell us"

"I would tell you what?" Jack asked coyly from the arched doorway.

"Jack, we're worried about ya mate, last night ya barely slept" Bunny said.

"I-yeah I didn't, but it was just a dream, I'm fine though, a missed night of sleep isn't really that big of a deal." Jack said, but was met with unbelieving glances.

"Jack... Aster heard what you said" Tooth said again with concern.

"I-I don't know what you want me to say, I won't tell you, and I really don't appreciate the secret meeting" Jack said, and the rest of them looked down. Sandy began to create scenes out of golden sand, but no one was really sure what they meant, and after a few seconds he gave up, and the discussion continued.

"Vhy vould you not tell us Jack?" North asked, "If something is bothering you, you can share it with us, ve are family now."

"I just-" Jack was cut off as a moonbeam shone through the skylight and onto a pedestal.

"Oi! Manny! Tell Jack-o here he's being a right bloody wanker" Bunny said, speaking at the podium.

A boy with a staff appeared in the moonlight, representing Jack, the other guardians appeared, but they were on the other side of a wall.

"Oh! I got it!" Tooth exclaimed, "You think that we are separated from Jack because of what we don't know?" Tooth guessed.

The moonlight disappeared, but it left behind what looked like a memory canister, but it was blue, and pulsating. Tooth reached to grab it, but Jack swatted her hands away.

"Please don't" Jack said, "Please don't make me watch that again." Tooth and Bunny shared a very concerned glance, and before anyone else could say anything, Sandy had snuck behind Jack and grabbed the canister. He opened it and the whole group was surrounded by a bright blue light, and all sucked into the box.